The mountainous region of the Caucasus contained the main force of Germany's most elite and powerful Army Group South, and the Tito guerrillas and the British in the Balkans also dragged a large number of German troops, so that the mobile forces available to the German army invading the Soviet Union were almost exhausted

Due to the rapid increase in US aid, the loss of Soviet equipment was quickly recovered, and it is especially worth mentioning that unlike the United States in history, which was only willing to aid the P39 "Flying Snake" fighter, a second-rate model that the US military itself could not look down on, the difficult situation faced by this space-time ally, and the current embarrassment that the US military itself could not go into battle, made the Americans no longer have reservations, and they even sent out the most advanced fighter P51D, which they have just begun to equip themselves. This kind of best fighter aircraft in history during World War II made the commanders and fighters of the Soviet Air Force overjoyed, and further strengthened the confidence of the Soviet high command to launch a large-scale counteroffensive.

Although the performance of the M4 Sherman tank assisted by the US military is slightly inferior to that of the T34/85 (provided that the T34/85 is not shoddy), and it is not as good as the medium tank T-44 that the Soviet Union has just begun to equip the troops not long ago, its huge number has enabled the Soviet armored forces that had been greatly damaged to be quickly rebuilt, and it is worth mentioning that the Americans also thoughtfully replaced these M4 tanks with diesel engines and Soviet-style caliber artillery, so that the Soviet commanders and fighters can quickly master this imported product and reduce the logistical pressure.

In addition to these war weapons supported by the United States, many new weapons developed by the Soviet Union itself were also unveiled in this general battle. In addition to the aforementioned T-44 medium tank, the more powerful Stalin-3 heavy tank was also finalized earlier than in history. In terms of the Air Force, the addition of the latest Soviet fighter La-7 to active service has also made up for the lack of P51D fighters to a certain extent, and the Il-10 attack aircraft, which was also finalized in advance, has also greatly strengthened the Soviet Air Force's ground attack capability, especially anti-tank capability

The reason why so many new weapons were put into the battlefield at the same time was that the Soviets also learned from the successful experience of the German army, hoping to gain an overwhelming advantage on the battlefield of Kursk. In the view of Stalin and Zhukov, with so many new weapons, coupled with the million-strong army that the Soviet Union had deployed with all its might, it was by no means able to withstand the German Army Group Center, which had now been massively drained. But what they didn't expect was. The Germans also have a secret weapon that has not been taken out, and they are waiting to deliver a fatal blow to the main force of the Soviet army!

The initial offensive of the Soviet army went very smoothly, and with the guarantee of its air supremacy, the Soviet regrouped armored flood dealt a heavy blow to the enemy. With little effort, they recaptured Orel, an important transport hub. More than 10,000 German soldiers, more than 30,000 servant soldiers, and more than 20,000 puppet soldiers were killed and captured. After getting off to a good start. The Soviets were directed at Kursk, but what they didn't know was that Manstein, the commander of Army Group South, had secretly returned to Kharkov at this time. And was appointed as the supreme commander of the Kursk counterattack, commanding the main forces of Army Group Center and part of Army Group South remaining in Ukraine.

The first thing Manstein did after taking office was to ask the mustache to use the three secret weapons that had been hidden for at least several months, and the mustache also saw that this battle was likely to determine the final outcome of the Soviet-German war, and immediately agreed

Due to the influence of secret cooperation between China and Germany, the Me262 of this time and space was almost half a year late to enter service with the model of the same name in history, but the performance has been significantly improved, and it is quite close to the level of the first post-war jet fighters (such as the MiG-15 prototype and F-84) of the United States and the Soviet Union in history, and the reliability is far from being comparable to the Me262 in history. At the same time, because of the relationship that has been hidden for several months, German pilots have more time to strengthen their training, so they have a better understanding and familiarity with this first mass-produced jet fighter in human history, and naturally they can give full play to its strengths and advantages in actual combat.

As a result, when the Me262 jet appeared on the battlefield, it quickly gave the Soviet Red Army a head-on blow, and more than 500 Soviet planes were shot down on the first day alone (most of them were Me262 records, but about 200 were the results of other aircraft and ground air defense forces). More than 200 pilots were killed, including 7 "Heroes of the Soviet Union", and even the Soviet army's number one air combat ace Lechkalov was shot down

With such an astonishing result, the Me262 jet fighter lost less than ten planes, and the exchange ratio was as high as 1:30, which shocked the whole Shijie. According to common sense, no matter how advanced the performance of a fighter is, as long as the attack weapons of both sides are the same, how can the exchange ratio not reach such a huge disparity, what is going on?

After listening to Rechkalov's report, Pokryshkin quickly realized the crux of the problem, because the level flight speed of the new German fighter is even faster than the dive speed of the Soviet aircraft, and the ceiling is far more than any kind of Soviet aircraft, so once it is targeted, the Soviet aircraft will not be able to get rid of it no matter how it moves, but will be shaved by the enemy because it cannot fight back in the action, but those Soviet pilots who are desperate with the enemy may shoot down the enemy plane, although it is still very difficult, But it's better than being swept away by the enemy at no cost.

Immediately after receiving Pokryshkin's report, Stalin personally signed an important order, requiring Soviet pilots to rush to fight the enemy's new aircraft unconditionally when encountering them, and if they escaped from the battle (and were discovered) they would be punished with surrender.

In addition, Stalin also listened to Pokryshkin's proposal to increase the caliber of the cannons on several major fighters to 30mm at the cost of reduced airframe stability, so as to gain an advantage over the range and power of German aircraft guns to balance the huge disadvantage of aircraft performance; At the same time, the Soviet Air Force also began to recruit a large number of veterans from the army field units to combat bravely and accurately shoot to train pilots, their flight jishu may be difficult to compare with the pilots from the professional class in a short period of time, but under the "air bayonet" tactics that will become the mainstream, their courage and shooting accuracy are difficult to match those pilots trained in the traditional mode (to be continued......