Leningrad, Northwestern Front Headquarters.
At this moment, the atmosphere in the war room was almost stagnant. Even though Timoshenko was a battlefield veteran who came out of the October Revolution, he could not help but feel nervous at this moment. But what made Timoshenko even more irritated was that , Alexey, Ivan and other combat staff officers were still making noises in their ears.
When Timoshenko was about to tell a few people to shut up, a female communications soldier suddenly walked in in a hurry.
Seeing the female soldiers coming in, the noisy Alexei and several other combat staff members immediately fell silent.
The female soldier walked quickly to Timoshenko, stood at attention and reported: "Commander, the Fifth Flying Regiment reported that they encountered a Finnish Air Force fighter group over Tovorsok and are now heading northeast as planned. direction, but the Finnish Air Force fighter group was already very close to them."
The Fifth Flight Regiment is one of the two bomber flight groups that serve as decoys. The bombers are large in size and have sufficient load capacity and space, so they are equipped with airborne radios. However, due to the very limited load capacity of the fighter jets, there is no way Installing a large and unwieldy radio.
Therefore, the bomber regiment can report its position to the headquarters at any time.
Hearing that the bomber regiment had encountered a Finnish Air Force fighter group, the atmosphere in the war room suddenly became more and more tense.
Timoshenko took a breath and asked in a deep voice: "Where are the fighter groups? Did the three fighter groups that launched the mission reach the designated airspace?"
The female communications soldier shook her head silently.
Even before the battle began, the Seventh Army sent several squadrons carrying radios to the designated airspace, specifically responsible for guiding and positioning three fighter regiments. What is disturbing is that since the three fighter flight regiments led by Xu Rui flew over Wo Contact with Erkhov was lost after it took off, and there has been no news since.
All the dozen communication teams deployed on Lake Lagado lost contact.
In fact, all these dozen communication teams were hunted by the Finnish infantry ski team, because on the endless lake, as long as they came within five kilometers of each other, there was almost nowhere to hide. Therefore, the Soviet army More than a dozen communication teams sent to the lake to guide and locate all were hunted down by the Finnish army without exception.
This added variables to this aerial ambush out of thin air, and the atmosphere suddenly became tense.
Timoshenko could still keep his composure, but Alexei and several other senior staff officers could not.
"I have long said that this plan is too risky!" Alexey couldn't help but said, "Sure enough, the two bomber regiments acting as bait have been bitten by the Finnish Air Force fighter group, and the three groups led by Xu Rui There are two fighter groups but I don’t know where they are yet, now it’s better, the two bomber groups are gone.”
Ivan also echoed: "To be honest, our Chinese comrades can only talk on paper!"
Alexey said: "I really can't figure out what considerations the high command had in appointing such a young Chinese comrade who has never had experience in large-scale combat to serve as the commander of our Northwest Front Army. Director of the General Staff Department? What’s even more outrageous is that he was actually designated to perform the duties of the Chief of Staff!”
Ivan said: "It's good now, it finally caused irreparable heavy losses!"
"Shut up!" Timoshenko couldn't bear it anymore and shouted loudly, "The high command invited Comrade Xu Rui to serve as the staff director of the Northwest Front Army at my request, and it was at my strong request that he was appointed Are you questioning my decision by exercising the duties of Chief of Staff?”
Ivan said: "Commander, we are not questioning your decision, we just feel that Xu Rui cannot shoulder this responsibility."
Alexey also said: "Commander, please forgive me, there are so many combat staff in the headquarters, any one of them can draw up a combat plan, it will be more reliable than this crazy plan."
"That's enough." Timoshenko said angrily, "The battle is not over yet, it is too early to draw conclusions now!"
"Is it early? Not really." Ivan said, "In my opinion, the result of this battle has already come out."
"Yes." Alexey also said, "The two bomber flight groups serving as decoys have been bitten by the Finnish Air Force's fighter group, and it is also a huge group consisting of more than twenty Hurricane fighter jets. At this time, We still don’t know where our three IL fighter flight groups are, so will there be any suspense in this battle?”
While he was talking, another female communications soldier suddenly came in hurriedly and reported: "Commander, we just received an emergency call from the 5th Flying Regiment. The 1st, 3rd, and 7th Flying Regiments have rushed to the designated airspace and are targeting Finland." The air force's fighter group launched a stranglehold in the air, and now the two sides are engaged in a fierce battle in the airspace in the middle of Lagado Lake."
"Bah!" The pencil in Ivan's hand dropped to the floor.
Alexey just picked up a cup of coffee and was frozen in mid-air.
The three fighter jet groups led by that Chinese guy actually arrived at the designated airspace at the designated time and really strangled the Finnish Air Force fighter group? So, wasn't this ambush a success? Impossible, this is absolutely impossible. How could a yellow-skinned monkey who had never commanded a large corps in combat do such a thing
Not only Ivan but also Alexei, almost all the senior staff officers were stunned, they couldn't believe it at all.
However, Timoshenko let out a sigh of relief. He first glanced coldly at Ivan, Alexei and other senior staff officers, then walked to the coffee machine, poured a cup of hot coffee, and drank it leisurely.
…
Above Lake Lagado.
The air strangulation against the Finnish Air Force has officially begun.
At the beginning, the Finnish Air Force did pose a serious threat to the Soviet bombers acting as decoys. In particular, Leland piloted the Hurricane fighter, and shot down a Soviet bomber before the Soviet Air Force's fighter group arrived. However, this is the only result of the Finnish Air Force.
Because the bombers used as decoys are heavy bombers.
The heavy bomber is not only huge in size and has a huge fuel capacity, but also has thick armor and strong resistance to attack. Unless the fuel tank is directly penetrated and causes an explosion, it will be very difficult to shoot down the heavy bomber with the onboard heavy machine gun, but the fuel tank The outer wall has reinforced armor, which is difficult for machine gun bullets to penetrate.
But then again, being difficult to penetrate does not mean that it is impossible to penetrate. What's more, the cockpit, wings and tail of the bomber are all easily damaged. In addition, the bomber flies very slowly and cannot get rid of the fighter jet. Locked, so if the time drags on for a long time, being shot down is almost an inevitable result.
However, the Finnish Air Force did not have enough time to achieve its intention.
The Finnish Air Force's hunt for the Soviet bomber group lasted only five minutes. Three flight regiments and more than 120 Ilyushin 15 or Ilyushin 16 fighter jets had already arrived on the battlefield. Immediately afterwards, 120 More than a dozen Soviet fighter jets suddenly swooped down like passing locusts, and the aerial strangulation officially began.
Xu Rui's intention was very clear, to use his absolute numerical advantage to engage in group fights.
Traditional air combat thinking is limited to cost-effectiveness and only advocates formation confrontation. That is, both sides dispatch a two-plane or three-plane formation of similar numbers to determine the outcome through aerial combat. Unless the entire formation is shot down, there will generally be no new results. The flying formation takes over as a substitute. This is actually somewhat similar to the so-called knight's duel in the West.
Otherwise, the effect of multiple formations against one enemy formation may not be good, but the consumption of aviation fuel and bombs will be several times that of the enemy. There may even be accidental injuries during the melee. Therefore, until Chennault's Before non-mainstream pilots came to China to form the Flying Tigers, aerial dogfights rarely occurred.
It is unique to elevate aerial group fighting to a tactical level.
But now, Xu Rui has advanced the emergence of aerial group fighting tactics by two years.
The Il-16 fighter piloted by Xu Rui flew at the front of the entire fleet, so he was the first to make contact with the enemy.
Taking advantage of the inertia generated by diving down from high altitude, Xu Rui's Il-16 fighter jet reached extremely high speeds without fully opening the throttle, and then quickly selected a Hurricane fighter jet in the field of vision. Xu Rui chose this one. The reason for the Hurricane fighter is very simple. In the hunt just now, this Hurricane fighter performed the best!
The only Soviet bomber that was shot down was shot down by this Hurricane fighter.
Xu Rui has really good eyesight, and he selected the Hurricane fighter piloted by Leyland at just one glance.
However, it was not a fluke that Leland was invited to participate in the confrontation exercise of the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Group. He was a leader in both flight skills and air combat experience. Seeing Xu Rui's fighter jet dive down at an astonishing high speed, Leland didn't panic at all. He calmly pulled the joystick upwards, and the plane immediately began to climb upwards.
This is a very crazy choice, because the fighter aircraft needs to overcome the factor of gravity when climbing upwards. Not only will the speed become slower, but the maneuverability will also become worse. This gives the enemy aircraft that dives from high altitudes more time to lock on. , this is like showing your belly to the opponent in a tank duel.
Doing so is almost suicide! At least pilots who are not too technical are committing suicide.
However, everything has two sides. While this tactical move carries huge risks, it also hides the opportunity to turn passive into active in the shortest possible time and defeat the enemy with one blow.
This is because once the enemy aircraft that dives from a high altitude is unable to shoot down our aircraft, it will inevitably rush forward. In order to avoid hitting the ground, it must slow down and climb upwards. At this time, our aircraft that had climbed up before has just finished its flight. Somersaulting, he in turn bit the enemy plane from behind, and the situation was reversed.