At present, there is only one type of German strategic bomber, the butcher, which uses a four-engine design, and the appearance refers to some American B-17 designs, but the overall line is more streamlined and slightly larger. So when these butcher strategic bombers were overwhelming, it was difficult to feel the development of German strategic bombers.

However, the German aviation industry did not stand still in the design of strategic bombers, on the contrary, they made numerous modifications and innovations to their own designs. The soldiers on the outside may not know very well, but just inside the Luftwaffe, there are already a total of four overhauled models from Butcher A to Butcher D.

The Butcher A is the most primitive German butcher bomber, after improving the design of the belly cannon turret, the birth of the most original German self-designed model, the mass production of this aircraft has been stopped, because after intermittent production of almost 90 units, it was completely replaced by the more advanced Butcher B strategic bomber.

The largest number produced by the Luftwaffe was the Butcher B long-range strategic bomber, which replaced the original expensive metal materials with many new materials, and improved the assembly line, which was more reliable and cheaper. However, it was not yet considered the best strategic bomber by the Germans, so after producing 350 of these aircraft, the Germans began to equip the new bomber unit with more advanced Butcher C bombers.

Strictly speaking, the biggest improvement of the Butcher C bomber is the use of British technology engines with Rolls-Royce design pedigree, this new engine that combines British engine and German engine technology allows the Butcher C to have a faster speed and longer range. Of course, the C type has other improvements, such as a more reasonable layout of self-defense weapons and a more sophisticated production process.

However, after producing 190 Butcher C bombers, the Germans improved their strategic bombers once again, this time in terms of bomb sights and the structural materials of the aircraft. The Butcher D bomber has a lighter fuselage so it is faster, and the new bomb targeting equipment makes high-altitude bombing more accurate, so the production of the Butcher D bomber has exceeded 280 units, which is likely to exceed the production of the Butcher B.

If you count the original 50 original Butcher bombers, the total number of Butcher strategic bombers owned by the German strategic bomber force is more than 900, and these aircraft maintain an impressive uptime rate due to strict quality control and the efforts of Luftwaffe ground technicians.

Of course, this also has something to do with the fact that the German Air Force's strategic bomber units have not carried out many missions in the past year due to lack of fuel - most of these aircraft are new, so they are easier to maintain, and the attendance rate is higher. This time, the Germans concentrated all the butcher bombers they had deployed on the Eastern Front to turn the city of Ulyanovsk into ruins.

"Drop bombs!" With one command after another, the German bombers, who had lowered their altitude, began to drop hanging aerial bombs from the open bomb bays, which were responsible for destroying as many heavy Soviet buildings as possible and destroying those fortified houses.

A second batch of 100 bombers followed, loaded with incendiary bombs that set the collapsed houses on fire, burning the wooden structures inside and everything else that could be burned. This arrangement was intended to intensify the effect of the bombing and completely destroy this important Soviet transport hub.

From the moment the first bomb was dropped on the streets of Ulyanovsk, all the Soviet officers here knew that Ulyanovsk was finished. A year ago, the anti-aircraft weapons here were requisitioned to the front lines in all other directions, and it was only recently that there was barely a pitiful anti-aircraft force here.

In the words of Zhukov and Stalin, air defense should be based on a frontal defense that can hold back the enemy, otherwise if the front line is lost, what is the use of so many anti-aircraft guns?

The ground shook with the explosion of German bombs, the glass windows clicked as they shook, cries and cries for help everywhere, and buildings collapsed one by one over time, and the dust kicked up began to obscure the sky.

With almost no fighter interception and little anti-aircraft gun interference, the German bombers threw their ammunition at what seemed to be their most valuable target, and compared the map they quickly found the valuable area, where the railway line was clearly visible in the sights of these butcher bombers.

"Click!" Gently pressing the bomb drop button under his finger, one huge bomb after another broke free from the constraints of the plane due to gravity, and they swayed and adjusted their posture in the air current, and flew irregularly along the parabola towards their target.

The German bomber was followed by a second and third, which were also dropping their bombs on their targets, and the ground began to pour out of the exploding flowers, one after the other, as if they were painting on a huge canvas.

"Keep the altitude! Steady your speed! Maximize the accuracy of the bombing, gentlemen! We are the farthest German troops have reached the territory of the Soviet Union, and we can cheer and celebrate when we return!" the commander reminded with some joy as he pinched the radio in his hand. He was answered by more German planes dropping more bombs, which rained down and covered the whole of Ulyanovsk.

In the factory area, the shock wave from the explosion shattered the glass on both sides of the tall building, and the steel welded roof broke apart due to the shock and began to collapse along the wall, burying the machinery inside and the workers who had no time to dodge.

In the lush factory area, many workers ran along the boulevard to safety, and from time to time smoke from explosions rose from their side, and flying shrapnel took countless lives. Pieces of iron and steel balls flew everywhere and were embedded in the trunks of the trees, like throwing knives stuck in the cracks of the masonry, and some of them were still stained with blood, which looked eerie.

Unfortunately, the German planes overhead were not far away at all, most of them had not yet flown over the city, and everything showed that the suffering had just begun, and the nightmare was only the beginning of a big drama. Everyone ran desperately and hid in the surrounding bomb shelters, Ulyanovsk actually had very good air defense facilities, but the German planes in the sky came too suddenly to cause such chaos.

At this time, only a dozen Soviet fighters arrived belatedly, and in front of the German bombers that had already formed a bombing formation and slowly flew over the city of Ulyanovsk, they had almost no combat effectiveness, and could only hover around the periphery of the German planes' self-defense fire circle, but they did not dare to rush into the enemy plane formation to interfere with the bomb dropping.

The second group of German bombers began to pour incendiary bombs on them, and the fire immediately spread through the streets of the city, and the smoke that had been ignited by the explosion turned into a red fire at this moment, devouring everything that could be burned. Broken wardrobes, clothes curtains and even desks and bed sheets in collapsed houses, there were so many things in the city that could be burned, so the Molotov cocktails dropped by German planes set fire to too much, too many things.

......

"Comrade Stalin! I just got the news that the Germans had concentrated their bombers and raided Ulyanovsk. Vatutin walked into Stalin's office and immediately reported: "There are now heavy losses, and the German bombardment continues to this day." ”

"The roads and railways were very badly damaged, some of the train cars were not camouflaged and some factories were destroyed. Vatutin, who no longer knew how to describe the catastrophic consequences of the bombing, finally paused and said to Stalin in a slightly tired tone: "We have suffered heavy losses, and the German air raids have made our situation even more difficult." ”

"Don't care so much, Comrade Vatutin. Stalin, who did not seem to hear what his men were saying to him, pointed to the map spread out on the table and told Vatutin's plan: "I have ordered Chuikov to send 100,000 troops to support, and they will soon be able to reach Moscow." Zhukov's troops will be able to counterattack in the south and recapture Bryansk, then the encirclement of Moscow will be eased......"

Vatutin no longer wanted to listen to the now slightly crazy Comrade Stalin explain the strategic plans that would not work at all, and he knew that even if Zhukov's group could recapture Bryansk, it would not be able to hold it there under the front and rear of the German army.

He had long known about the transfer of troops from Chuikov's Far Eastern Theater, and this transfer also allowed Japan to gain a more comprehensive strategic initiative in the Far East. Unfortunately, most of the troops were held up by increasingly unreliable politicians in Siberia, with only a few tens of thousands of troops heading west, but they were expected to remain stranded in Ulyanovsk for a long time.

Two days earlier, Vatutin had already reminded Stalin, but for some unknown reason the other party chose to forget his reminder. Stalin insisted that his reinforcements would arrive in Moscow at once, and that Zhukov's cluster could return to Moscow to help him out of the situation.

Vatutin bowed his head, slowly exited Stalin's office, and quietly threw the report of the attack from Ulyanovsk into the trash can at the door, never to look at it again.