The bloody battle of Kharkov turned it into a ruin, so that the German army occupying there could not use this city in a short period of time, and used it as a strategic fulcrum, which was regarded as the Soviet Union achieving its own strategic goals. But south of Kharkiv, the Germans took the equally important Donetsk with almost no firing a shot, and the Soviets were a little uncomfortable.

Capturing a city and turning it into ruins is not the main purpose of the war, but the ultimate goal of capturing the city, including stockpiling supplies and using facilities such as airports and train stations near the city. You must know that a ruin is of little use to anyone.

Donetsk fell almost intact into the hands of the German army, which not only gave the German army such a good strategic fulcrum, but also provided a lot of convenient conditions for the German army. For example, field airfields, which were densely packed with more than a dozen places, fell into the hands of the Germans.

Soon, butcher bombers taking off from large airfields in Ukraine swept over these field airfields that originally belonged to the Soviet Union. After more than a year of accumulation, these huge bombers have exceeded the scale of 1,000 aircraft, but in general, it is impossible to dispatch such a huge number in one go.

However, the Germans already had the experience of commanding super-large formations of about 500 planes to bomb, so taking off hundreds of planes to bomb the opponent was just an ordinary task for these Luftwaffe commanders.

Above the sky, one butcher bomber after another covered the sky and the sun, dense like locusts. Because they are loaded with heavy ammunition, these planes fly at an altitude of 10,000 meters, which is cumbersome but awe-inspiring.

Under the belly of hundreds of planes, 30 mm cannons and 20 mm cannons were as dense as a forest and pointed murderously at their alert positions, and it was estimated that if any enemy dared to approach, they would meet a dense attack like raindrops.

"Take off!" On the field airfield on the ground, with the order of the ground crew, hundreds of fighters responsible for escorting these bombers began to turn the propellers in their noses, and the roar of the engines drowned out other sounds, and one after another FW-190D fighters rushed out of the runway and climbed quickly towards the high sky.

"Take off!" In a field airfield farther away, the more advanced squadron of Ta-152 fighters is also taking off their fighters at the fastest speed, and they are to form a higher airspace formation, responsible for covering the entire bomber formation above the entire bomber formation, and annihilating any Soviet fighter who dares to take off to meet the attack.

"Hartman, this is not a combat patrol, nor is it a take-off interception mission, are you sure you want to participate?" the squadron leader stood next to a plane with black tulips painted on the nose, and looked up to ask the pilot in the cockpit who was inspecting the plane.

Hartman, who has blonde hair, looked up from the cabin of the plane and nodded to the squadron leader: "Since the last time I took off to intercept American bombers, I have no prejudice against bomber formations. Whether it's a heavy flight or a smart flight, it's a flight. Right?"

"Looks like you've figured it out, and I don't have anything to worry about. I'm going to start the plane and take off behind you. The squadron leader smiled, then snapped his fur hat to his head, made a gesture of please, and walked briskly to his plane.

One Ta-152 fighter jet after another began to take to the skies, and more than half a year ago, these advanced fighters were distributed to some ace units on the front line as experimental aircraft. Now, hundreds of these fighters have become the standard configuration of the Third Reich Air Force.

In fact, there were many Soviet anti-aircraft artillery positions in the entire Caucasus, but these anti-aircraft guns were scattered over an extremely vast area and were not used intensively. Most of these anti-aircraft guns were deployed in the Baku oil field, the Stavropol gas field, the Chatura manganese mine and the Armenian copper mine, and only part of them were deployed in the Stalingrad direction.

It is a pity that this time the strategic bombing of the German army happened to be Stalingrad. 573 Butcher strategic bombers, escorted by 110 fighters, swept through the defense line of the Soviet Red Army with great vigour.

"Uh......h Whee......h!" The piercing anti-aircraft sirens sounded over the Soviet front-line positions, and the Soviet soldiers raised their heads in their trenches in despair to look at the darkened sky, where one German plane after another covered the entire sky like a dark cloud.

Yes, I am the commander of the 194th Infantry Division on the front line, and I ask you not to open fire lightly, because if the other side returns fire, it will be very troublesome on our side. "A commander held up the phone and begged his allies not to open fire rashly in this situation, if these bombers changed their purpose and dropped bombs on the front line, it could be a disaster for anyone on the front line.

"Are you an idiot? We only have 37 mm antiaircraft guns on our side, and there is absolutely no way to deal with such an enemy plane flying at an altitude of 10,000 meters. On the other side of the phone, the commander of the artillery position was obviously annoyed that he had no way to fire, and when he heard someone ask for this, he immediately replied in an unkind tone.

After saying that, without waiting for the commander on the other side of the infantry position to say anything, he hung up the phone. Immediately afterwards he turned around and said to the signal corps beside him: "Hurry up and send a telegram to the air defense command of the army group, tell them that there is an invasion of a large number of German aircraft, and let them get ready." What are you waiting for? Go! Hurry up!"

Soon, a telegram reached several important Soviet air defense commands. A staff officer handed the telegram in his hand to the commander, and the air defense alarm was sounded throughout the Baku oil fields. There was a terrible sound everywhere, and on the hidden anti-aircraft gun positions, the camouflage nets were pulled apart by the soldiers, and the barrels of the 85 mm caliber anti-aircraft guns were quickly pointed to the sky.

The same scene is being repeated in the vicinity of the Stavropol gas field, where the nearby anti-aircraft artillery positions are busy, and farther away, the Soviet field airfield, which is responsible for the defense of this area, is also desperately taking off its own planes, even though most of the pilots know that they can't beat their opponents, but they are still ordered to fly their planes and take to the sky.

On the outskirts of Stalingrad, Rokossovsky, who had just arrived by plane, was descending the suspension stairs. On another runway, not far from the plane, two I-16 fighters were making an emergency takeoff.

An officer hurriedly ran to the transport plane, whose propeller had not completely stopped, and in front of Rokossovsky, he stopped and saluted: "Comrade General! I just got the news that the Germans have dispatched a large number of bombers to cross the border between the two sides......

"I know, the radio on the plane has just been announced, asking all planes in the entire Caucasus except fighter jets to evacuate immediately, and I am not deaf. Rokossovsky glanced at the officers who had come to greet him and waved for them to leave the runway first.

Walking to the lawn on the side of the runway, he re-spoken: "I'm here to take charge of all the defense affairs here, but I don't have a professional background in the Air Force, so I don't say much about air defense operations." All of them were handed over to the comrades, who were originally in charge of air defense operations. ”

He looked at the officers with worried faces and said lightly: "The air defense of our army on the front line has not been very good, and the reason is that our aircraft are not as good as the German aircraft. So I understand the difficulties of your comrades, but ......"

At this point, he paused, then solemnly continued: "But this is Stalingrad. This is not Minsk, not Kiev, not Donetsk, here is Stalingrad, the city named after the leader. I hope that you will join me in defending this city, which has been given high hopes, and defending the vital one, the Caucasus!"

"Yes, Comrade General!" everyone stood up and saluted.

While they were talking, the anti-aircraft gun positions near Stalingrad also began to raise the barrels of the anti-aircraft guns one after another. These anti-aircraft weapons are pointed at the sky, quietly waiting for the arrival of the invaders, and if there are enemy planes here, then the entire sky will be turned into a sea of flames.

"Observation posts along the way have found targets! German aircraft groups have been discovered! Targets have been found in Stalingrad! Targets have been ...... Stalingrad!" a soldier stumbled into the outskirts of the outskirts, and Rokossovsky's newly selected underground command bunker reported loudly.

His report was not much faster than the arrival of the enemy, and the Soviet anti-aircraft guns were already roaring in the distance near the horizon outside the bunker. The sound of cannons sounded on the outskirts of the city, and the people here finally realized that the war was not far away from them.

At an altitude of 10,000 meters, braving the intensive artillery fire of the Soviet troops, the German planes were unhurriedly approaching the targets they were about to bomb, and as these targets got closer and closer, the commander's voice came over the radio: "Open the bomb bay! Tell these Soviet fools! We are coming!"

The sound of metal rubbing, the sound of machinery turning...... Accompanied by the explosion of anti-aircraft shells, the bombing bays of the bomber group began to open. All the planes began to descend to their altitude.

"Below is Stalingrad. One of the co-pilots of the plane, while assisting his captain in descending the plane, joked to the captain next to him on the shaking and trembling plane: "Hey, you say, what we are doing now, is it a slap in the face of Stalin?"

Today's 4th watch, the dragon spirit has fought for the warriors of the empire! Soldiers of the empire, recommend a monthly ticket and fire at the dragon spirit! Shoot at me!