At the beginning of the battle for Brest, the first battle for Kiev had entered its most difficult and brutal stage, and at the end of August, the German army crossed the Dnieper River and penetrated the rear of Kiev, cutting off Kiev from Kharkov and Moscow. In other words, Kyiv at this time is really surrounded by regiments!

However, Shaposhnikov did not particularly care about this issue, because even if Kiev's ties with Moscow were not severed, the Politburo and the Military Commission would not agree to him abandoning Kiev's retreat. The responsibility for abandoning Kyiv is too great, even Trotsky and Sverdlov have to weigh it.

What's more, it is too late to abandon Kyiv at this time, in front of the huge German Army Group South, the dozen or so regular divisions and half-hung militia divisions in Kyiv with relatively large losses abandon the city and flee There is only one way to die, and they will be crushed into powder by the German army on the way to escape. It is better to rely on the city to fight street battles, maybe it can delay the pace of the German army and buy time for the troops in the rear to regroup on the front.

So Shaposhnikov knew that he couldn't walk and couldn't go, so he could only stay in Kyiv and slowly grind his teeth with the Germans. As for the issue of being surrounded, thanks to Tukhachevsky, who had previously hoarded a large amount of supplies in Kyiv for the "Salefa River" operation, coupled with the fact that there were helicopter units using the cover of the night to airlift supplies, the soldiers and civilians in Kyiv were not alive well, but they were able to hold on.

According to Timoshenko's estimates, food Kiev can last for a month, ammunition can last for half a month, and the only thing that hurts a little is the lack of fuel, whether it is coal or gasoline, diesel and kerosene, which are in short supply.

The direct cause of this phenomenon is that most of the fuel was supplied to the front line for the previous operation "Salefa River". As for coal, it is also scarce. That's mainly because Kyiv is overpopulated. Ordinary people have to consume a lot of coal to cook. And after Kyiv is surrounded, coal will naturally not be able to be transported in, and helicopters cannot be used as trucks!

Of course, the lack of coal is not a big problem, it is only the end of August, and the climate in Kyiv is still warm enough, if it is changed to winter, I am afraid that it will really freeze to death!

So for Zhukov's concentration of part of the armored forces to open up the supply line of the Tiyì. Shaposhnikov did not agree, the living forces are too precious, the defense of Kyiv is already stretched, and the precious forces cannot be consumed in advance at this time.

"The strength of the German army is more than three times that of our army, and even if we can open the line of communication for a while, they will soon reunite with the advantage of strong forces," Triandafilov also supported Shaposhnikov's opinion, "What's more, our army's armored forces are really limited, and whether we can open the line of communication is still two words." The issue of communication lines is still left to the CMC and the General Staff to solve. What we need to do now is to do everything possible to secure our defenses! ”

Let's put it this way, until September 1st. A considerable part of the positions on the outskirts of Kyiv have already fallen. The Germans relied on their superiority in strength, coupled with the help of trains and artillery, and crushed the Red Army's outlying positions little by little. Not only are all soldiers now required to stay in their positions, but Shaposhnikov has been forced to remobilize Kyiv citizens to the battlefield, including some women, cadets and veterans between the ages of 50 and 55. It was only in this way that tens of thousands of people were gathered, and only then did they stabilize the precarious line of defense.

"The threat of the enemy's train artillery is too great, most of the permanent fortifications that our army relies on for survival are destroyed by these train cannons, if we can't destroy them, we can only be beaten passively!" Zhukov proposed a new one: "It must be destroyed as soon as possible!" ”

Both Shaposhnikov and Triandafilov agreed with this construction, but believed that the German train artillery was far away from the German positions, and the Red Army artillery, even 130-mm and 203-mm cannons, could not reach it.

"This task can only be undertaken by the Air Force," Terry Dafilov sighed, "let the Air Force do its best to find out the location of the enemy's train guns, and then destroy them as much as possible!" ”

Will the Air Force be able to accomplish this task? Truth be told, very reluctantly, after three days of reconnaissance, the Air Force found out the positions of the German train guns, but it was very difficult to take down the opponent. Because the Germans had built a strong position near the train guns and also arranged a considerable number of anti-aircraft guns, during the last reconnaissance of the air force, it was even found that the Germans had arranged piles of blocking balloons near the train guns.

On both sides of the train gun position, the Germans arranged a large number of anti-aircraft guns, and if the Red Army fighters were to break through from this direction, it was inevitable that they would die. Anyway, the Air Force did not have enough confidence in this bombing, thinking that the difficulty was too high.

Of course, high difficulty does not mean that nothing will be done, and the Air Force gritted its teeth and opened up in order to eradicate this biggest threat to Kyiv. On the morning of September 6, 18 Su-2 multipurpose bombers and 24 Il-2 were organized to launch a strong attack.

Lyudmila, a pilot who participated in the attack, recalled: "It was a death assault, in order to accurately destroy the enemy's train artillery, we tried to keep the altitude low and enter the attack route, the ground was covered with anti-aircraft guns of the German devils, and you could hear the sound of explosions constantly ringing around...... I clung to the joystick and shuttled between the enemy's bullets, and suddenly, the fuselage shook violently, and my whole body was bounced up and hit the cockpit canopy hard...... At that moment, I thought I had been hit, and there was no time to parachute at this altitude, and I made up my mind that if I really couldn't fly back, I would immediately aim at the enemy's anti-aircraft artillery position and rush down and kill these dogs! ”

Speaking of this, Lyudmila took a heavy breath: "I looked at the engine and the propeller, both were working, and then turned my head to look at the rear of the cockpit, and the tail seemed to be normal. At this moment, the exclamation of the bombardier Alexei came from the headphones: 'Andreusa is dead, he has been shot!' At that time, I was a little confused, Andriusa is my good comrade and good brother, as a radioman and a rearblock machine gunner, we have carried out dozens of missions together, and suddenly I heard that he died, and for a while I could not accept it......"

"But then. I can't take care of Andreusa for the time being. Because the enemy's fire was too fierce. The front of our route was almost full of shells, and soon friendly planes were shot down or directly shredded by 88mm anti-aircraft guns, and by the time we crossed this corridor of death, there were only a dozen fighters left. ”

"For those of us who were lucky enough to break out of the corridor of death, the next move is still fraught with risk. The positions of the German train guns had begun to release a large amount of smoke, and from a distance, a radius of one kilometer was shrouded in white smoke. It was impossible to see where the enemy's gun emplacements were. ”

"Just when we were at a loss, the squadron leader's command came from the headphones: 'Lower altitude. Do a super low-altitude search and be sure to find the enemy's location and destroy it! As soon as the words fell, the squadron leader took the lead in lowering the nose of the plane, and in a cloud of white smoke, we flew almost at the height of a treetop. This is quite dangerous, because in the next second, you may be able to spot an enemy train cannon, or you may be able to crash headfirst into trees or the ground. ”

"My face was almost against the windshield to get as good a view as possible. But it didn't help much, because soon the exclamations of his comrades came from the headphones: 'Vijken has crashed. Gavril is also finished, be careful, Gerasim, there is a large wooded ...... ahead'. I was frustrated by all the bad news I heard, and the shadow of the enemy's train guns could not be seen...... At this moment, Alexei in the back seat suddenly shouted: "I see it!" I see it, right below us! ”

Suddenly, I was shaken and quickly turned around and turned back, my eyes wide in an attempt to find the damn train cannon. I flew back and forth two times in a row, and it was only on the third time that I spotted the enemy, these damn Germans are so good at camouflage, from the air it looks like a hut, but if you look good enough and look good enough, you can see that the area around this hut is very abnormal, and you can faintly see the shadow of the enemy. After entering for the third time, I finally felt a lightness in the fuselage, and needless to say Alexey finally dropped the bomb! ”

"Two FAB-500s fell with a whizz, and I could see the hut being blown apart in an instant, and the shock wave blew away the camouflage net, revealing the long barrel of the train cannon. Without saying a word, I switched over again and fired fiercely until I had all the shells before returning. ”

"Compared to the difficult entry, the return is much easier, at least I don't have to lower the altitude anymore, and I can destroy the enemy's cannons, which makes my heart start to improve. But after I landed, all this good mood disappeared...... In the entire squadron, only two Su-2s, including me, flew back, and even the squadron leader sacrificed ......"

This time the bombing of the Red Army can be said to have suffered heavy losses, in total only nine aircraft returned to the airfield, of which three were seriously damaged, of course, it was worth it if it was possible to completely destroy the German train guns, but it did not turn out like this.

The next day, aerial reconnaissance showed that only one of the 6 K5 train guns involved in the shelling of Kyiv was completely destroyed, and another was seriously injured, and the rest of the K5s basically maintained their combat effectiveness, which means that the Air Force paid a heavy price but only scratched the enemy's itch.

Naturally, such a result could not satisfy Shaposhnikov and Trian Dafilov, but they saw that it was not that the air force was not strong, but that the enemy's defense was indeed too tight, and it would be an egg to hit a stone to continue to let the air force bomb.

"Is there any other way to destroy these damn train guns?" Shaposhnikov was asking questions almost through gritted teeth.

However, after he asked the question, there was a dead silence in the conference room, the artillery could not reach, the air force could not move, what other tricks could there be? After all, the position of the train guns is deep behind enemy lines, and there is really no way!

"Or, give up the positions on the periphery, shrink again and fight street battles with the enemy? At that time, their train guns were useless......"

This construction was categorically rejected by Shaposhnikov, who believed that the outlying positions must not be lightly ceded to the enemy, and that the Red Army had little room to maneuver at that time, and Triandafilov also thought that it was of little point to take the initiative to shrink again, and he felt that it was not impossible to destroy the enemy's train artillery.

"I have read the reconnaissance reports of the Air Force in the past few days, and the enemy's defense around the train gun position is indeed very tight, and it is both anti-aircraft guns and anti-air balloons, which looks impregnable. But I don't think it's really invulnerable! ”

"The enemy's defenses were basically aimed at air attacks, and the ground defenses were not very good, and only two companies of defenders were stationed in this position," said Teandafilov with confidence. And the nearest friendly forces are also three kilometers away. And their attention is mostly focused on the air and our front. There are a lot of defensive dead spots to the north of them, and we can take advantage of the enemy's negligence! ”

This is a fantasy to many of the participating generals, how to make an article? Can the ground forces still fly behind enemy lines?

Zhukov blinked and asked: "You mean to conduct an airborne operation, let the airborne troops parachute behind enemy lines, and then go to raid the enemy's positions?" ”

Suddenly, the generals attending the meeting nodded again and again, thinking that this method was good, and the only problem was. There are no airborne troops in Kiev, and as Tukhachevsky's heart, all the airborne troops of the Red Army are under the direct control of him, the chief of the General Staff, and are basically located in the second line as reserves.

"Or shall we immediately send a telegram to the General Staff and ask them to organize a raid?" Temoshenko built yì road.

Shaposhnikov was just about to nod his head, when he noticed that Triandafilov's expression was wrong, and he seemed to be a little disdainful and a little impatient, which showed that he did not agree with the airborne raid, so what was his attitude?

Triandafilov really did not agree with the plan of the parachute raid of the Airborne Forces. Because in his opinion, this is not easy, first of all. In order to achieve suddenness, and to avoid the attention of the Germans, this raid could probably only be carried out at night. And it is well known that the risk of parachuting at night is quite large, and it is questionable whether the paratroopers can be assembled in accordance with the lì (as evidenced by the parachute landing during Operation Overlord, and later in the market garden, the Allied paratroopers chose to parachute during the day).

Secondly, this raid can't be a one-shot deal, right? It's easy to throw the paratroopers down, but how do these brothers come back after completing their mission? You know, the enemy's train artillery positions are deep behind enemy lines, and these paratroopers can't be allowed to cross the German defense line on foot, right?

Some comrades may have said that in order to defend Kyiv, the necessary sacrifices are also worth it, so it should be a hammer deal!

However, Trianda Filov could not agree with this statement, he thought that there were better tactics, why hang himself on the parachute tree? Isn't a helicopter landing raid better than a parachute drop?

When he proposed this idea, the Red Army generals, including Shaposhnikov, were dumbfounded, because they had always had a deep-rooted concept in their minds - helicopters were to do miscellaneous, that is, to help transport small goods, at most to go to the battlefield as tank openers for tanks and armored vehicles. As for troop raids, will they be able to do it?

"Why not?" "We have enough helicopters, and the role of helicopter units in the previous siege was obvious to all. If you can transport goods, why can't you carry warriors to carry armed raids? ”

Without waiting for these buns to react, Trian Dafilov said: "In my opinion, helicopter landing is much more convenient than parachuting, there is no trouble of assembly, it will not be detected by the enemy during the parachute jump, even if there is no professional paratrooper, it can land behind the enemy......

Shaposhnikov thought about it and immediately agreed, compared with parachute landing, except for the small combat radius, almost all other advantages are advantages, so why not try it?

Soon, with the help of Timoshenko and Zhukov, the specific battle plan was completed, and taking into account the suddenness of the landing and the small number of enemy defenders, only two companies were enough for this raid. Of course, in order to be sure, it is better to give the enemy something to do, such as having the air force carry out a horizontal bombardment of the enemy's anti-aircraft artillery positions to divert the attention of the German devils from the ground.

Late at night on September 7, 12 West-6 helicopters and 4 West-4 helicopters for fire support left Kyiv with soldiers and explosives in a twisting and turnaround way. After about an hour and a half of flight, the group went around behind the German train gun position without any danger.

At this time, the German positions were dead silent, and most of the German devils were sleeping soundly, not noticing that about a kilometer away from them, the Red Army raiding troops had completed their assembly and were quietly rushing towards them.

"Attention Zero, please note Zero, One has arrived at the intended location, repeat, One has arrived at the intended location!"

Shaposhnikov immediately gave the order to the bombers in the air: "Start bombing!" ”

More than 20 SB-2 bombers immediately began to enter the bombing route, and after a rough aiming, they poured one FAB-100 bomb after another on the German anti-aircraft artillery positions. Objectively speaking, this bombing was really not very powerful, the sky was too dark and the bomb height was too high, and most of the bombs were off target.

"The Russians are probably frightened," said the German anti-aircraft artillery commander, looking at the sky, "and this time they only dared to bomb from high altitudes." As he spoke, he shrugged his shoulders and sneered contemptuously, "But what is the use of this? ”

And at the same time that the commander was laughing, the Red Army raiding units had already touched the sentry posts of the German artillery positions, and when the deafening bombs exploded, they began to sweep the German defenders from the positions with submachine guns.

"The first platoon and the second platoon are responsible for destroying the artillery, and the remaining troops suppress the enemy's counterattack, sue the helicopters, and come to pick us up in fifteen minutes!" (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank you to Lonely Heart, cjsky, Parasite Schistosomiasis, Plane Wanted, and Comrade Juventus!