Chapter Eighty-One
The skies of 1944 were still dominated by the Luftwaffe, but now faced strong challenges from the Americans and British.
The American devils rely on their powerful engines to make all sorts of monsters fly in the sky, such as the P-47, a big milk bottle in the sky, which flies high and fast with its engine, surpassing the BF 109 and FW 190 series in both defense and firepower. And then there are the P-51s, and the bombers that left the German devils several streets behind, each one a flying fortress of firepower, leaving the German devils' 109s and 190s speechless.
By the end of '43, the Messerschmitt 109 and Focke Wulf 190 were already fading from the Luftwaffe's lineup. The newcomers are now flying over Faubourg.
Fafnir's upper body was exposed outside the Tiger II turret, looking up at the German air force fighter jets flying in the sky. The familiar small 109 and 190 models were no longer visible, those guys had all become training planes. Now flying above his head were mainly two types of aircraft: the strangely shaped Do335 "Arrow" fighter with its tandem engines, and the Ta152 fighter that looked like an enlarged Fw190. Flying in smaller numbers before them was another familiar sight for Fafnir - the Me262 jet fighter he had once built a model of. In fact, Fafnir even spotted a few strange jet fighters among the formation - the Ta183.
They chased the planes of the Soviet Red Air Force in the sky, and the Soviet Red Army was unable to gain air superiority. With all their might, they could only barely maintain a low balance with the oil-poor German Air Force - trading quantity for time and space. Fortunately, most of the combat airspace was within the territory controlled by the Soviet Red Army's ground forces, so pilots could be rescued, while aerial bombing of German ground troops had to be abandoned - relying on heavy artillery instead.
Fafnir is now fighting the incoming Soviet troops on the outskirts of Odessa, and just a few days ago, the Soviet Red Army's offensive intensified. It seems that the encirclement circle in southern Odessa is about to be completed, and at sea, the Soviet Black Sea Fleet is working hard to blockade the German port in Odessa, for which they paid a considerable price - Ju 87 dive bombers sank several destroyers of the Black Sea Fleet, and even a cruiser was damaged and forced to sink. However, they still successfully completed the task of preventing the German army from retreating or transporting supplies by sea.
Now the Germans can only retreat by land, and Fawley is now fighting to open and maintain a withdrawal route. Dick Carl has removed the bandage from his face, and he can't smile anymore, as one smile would be a huge scar twisting into a ferocious expression. He is now commanding his own Tiger King with Fawley forming a combat group in battle, two Tiger Kings serving as the backbone of the combat group and breaking through Stalin 2 and T-34, just in one afternoon, the Soviet Red Army left more than 20 tanks on their positions.
The fighting was extremely fierce, and the Soviet Red Army had a huge numerical advantage in terms of personnel and equipment, launching wave after wave of attacks. The German army could withstand one or two rounds, but it was powerless to stop three or four rounds, as the fatigue of personnel and the wear and tear of equipment made the casualty rate rise linearly with time. At first, the Soviet Red Army suffered heavy losses, but now the Germans' loss per unit time has already caught up with that of the Soviet Red Army, and it seems that they will soon surpass them.
The Tiger, due to its advantages in armor and firepower, suffered the least losses, so far not a single one has been destroyed, and because it was fighting on the inner lines, all faulty tanks could be recovered. However, the Panther and IV tank suffered heavy losses, the Panther is still okay, but the IV is almost completely lost. In the combat group where Fafnir is located, there are only a few IVs left, and the Panther has about ten vehicles but they are all injured, they have been working hard to open and hold this passage for a week, and many German troops have withdrawn from the Odessa battlefield.
"Damn it! Are the Russians' tanks endless?!" Karl shouted over the radio. Favniel didn't even bother to respond, silently indicating for the turret to turn and aim. In the distance, a massive shape appeared - he saw again the multi-turreted monster, the GS-1 Super Heavy Tank! Now called the GS1-1M, the turret shape on the vehicle was
The next time I saw it in Kursk, it was different. The central turret didn't change much, but the front and rear turrets became more low-profile and streamlined. The tank's gun looked the same as before, still a thick and long 152mm barrel, which Fawkes learned from the previous one that was destroyed, is the Russian Navy's 152mm naval gun, and the front and rear ones are still 122mm guns. Now this GS1M no longer has a tall antenna tower, but it still comes over with overwhelming pressure. At a distance of 2000 meters, Fawkes fired a shot, and the 88mm L71 cannonball hit the front of the GS1 tank, resulting in nothing - this guy is still coming at 15 kilometers per hour, with at least 20 Stalin tanks following alongside. Seeing this situation, Fawkes directly ordered: "Withdraw! Each vehicle fires randomly, first use up all the smoke bombs! Call the air force, there are Russian heavy tanks in area X1, let them handle it!"
The current German air force's ground-attack troops are outdated, still relying on a bunch of Ju 87s or adding a few Hs 129s. However, in the skies over the Western Front, pilots who have flown to the Eastern Front say that American attack aircraft have appeared with monstrous capabilities! The terrifying attack aircraft has combat capabilities in low-altitude battles that are not inferior to those of fighter jets, and its defensive capabilities and hovering abilities are frightening - it can even fly for 10 hours in the sky! Its payload capacity far surpasses that of the Ju 87. It is said that in the Pacific, they have already made the Japanese cry out in despair, and at least four-fifths of the combined fleet has been sent to the bottom of the sea by them. This is the American A-1 attack aircraft "Skyraider".
The troops on the Atlantic Wall in the west were also miserable under this aircraft, fortunately the German mobile anti-aircraft guns and their numbers and quality were better than those of the Japanese, and several such aircraft were shot down, and it seems that the wreckage was sent for research and preparation for imitation.
The Odessa battle ended on June 11, the Germans lost Odessa and a large piece of Ukrainian land, retreated to the Dniester River, lost 110,000 troops, more than 300 tanks and self-propelled guns were destroyed and could not be recovered, lost more than 170 aircraft, and lost more than 1,400 artillery pieces. The Soviet Red Army recovered a large area of lost land, but also lost 120,000 soldiers and 350 tanks, more than 550 aircraft were shot down, and more than 400 artillery pieces were lost. However, the super-heavy tank GS-1 showed its power again, successfully breaking through the German army's position under the cover of air force and other tanks, and was only lightly damaged. The German tanks in front of it lost their effect again. The Soviet General Staff decided to increase production of this type of tank - re-produce 5 improved ones.
This time, Favry also reaped his 200th harvest. Due to the slight overlap of the world, a new type of person appeared in Germany today - although neither side noticed it, some secret organs may have noticed? Many terrible guys emerged: Captain Hartmann's score in the sky has exceeded 350; Lieutenant Gerhard Barkhorn's score is also approaching 350; Lieutenant Marseille did not die in Africa, and his score on the Eastern Front also broke through 330; The scores of other aces are much higher than those in history; Major Hans Rudel's ground attack score already has 480 tanks; The number one tank killer in the army is now Sergeant Favry, with a personal score of 200; Lieutenant Otto Carius' personal score is 195, and others have also increased. However, Warrant Officer Wittmann of the SS was different from history. Favry knew that he had died in combat on the Eastern Front at the end of '43, but his personal score exceeded history, with 150 tanks destroyed.
Actually, all countries that participated in the war had such cowards: Du Bois Dubois shot down 103 German planes; Pokryshkin shot down 98 German planes; American Richard Bong shot down 76 Japanese planes; McBeal shot down 58 Japanese planes; British James shot down 55 enemy planes before being shot down and killed. Lieutenant Semyon Konovalev has destroyed 53 German tanks; Captain Zinovy Krobanev was killed in Odessa, having previously destroyed 89 German tanks, by the way, the Stalin tank that destroyed him and killed him was Dick Karl's Tiger King, and Dick Karl also increased his score to 130 vehicles, earning a Knight's Cross medal.
