On June 22, 1941, "Operation Barbarossa", the German invasion of the Soviet Union, began, and the Luftwaffe was the first to launch the attack as the vanguard.
On this day, 1,500+ Soviet fighter planes were destroyed on the ground before they could take flight, and another 300+ fighter planes were destroyed in the air by Germany's Messerschmitt.
On the first day of the war, the powerful German fighter force severely damaged the Soviet Air Force. On this day alone, Germany produced nearly a hundred ace pilots.
This result was so great that neither Hitler nor Göring could believe it.
At first, Hitler suspected that the pilots' combat reports were untrue. For this reason, Goering ordered a verification of the results achieved by the Luftwaffe on the first day, because too many false reports by pilots would affect the relevant departments' assessment of the remaining strength of the Soviet Air Force.
After careful investigation, a few days later, the relevant German departments concluded that the actual results of the Air Force's combat report were indeed incorrect.
However, the "error" here refers to the fact that the extent of damage to Soviet airports and the loss of fighter aircraft were far more serious than the reports of German pilots.
This unprecedented result made Goering very happy.
The failed invasion of London kept Göring at the forefront, and had Hitler not always believed in him unswervingly, he would have become the scapegoat of the war.
In this battle on June 22, Göring silenced all doubters.
What made Göring even more proud was that despite achieving nearly 2,000 victories, all German aircraft types combined only lost 35 aircraft.
This is another miracle.
In just one day, the Luftwaffe severely weakened the Soviet Air Force and laid a solid foundation for the subsequent ground attack.
During the War in London, it turned out that many of Germany's pre-war theories were worthless in the face of actual combat.
The Luftwaffe became the scapegoat for the failure of the Sea Lion program. During this period, they suffered huge losses and some outstanding pilots died in battle.
Goering believed that the reason why the British were not defeated was because the British had a steady supply of fighter jets and pilots, while Germany's supply was very slow. This was one of the fundamental reasons for the failure of the war.
Another point that Göring was very dissatisfied with was that most of his frontline commanders were ace pilots from the First World War. Their combat concepts were outdated. They were late, lacked aggressiveness and courage, and made repeated mistakes during their stay in London. Fighter planes, this was also a major reason for the failure of the London air battle.
It’s a painful lesson!
Therefore, Goering carried out a drastic reconstruction of the Imperial Air Force. Most of the veterans from World War I retreated from the position of frontline commanders to the background, allowing young leaders to enter the important position of frontline commanders. , among them are Moldes and Garland who are at their peak.
During the London air battle, the German air knights proved that the Red Baron's famous saying "find the enemy and shoot it down, everything else is nonsense" is the magic weapon for winning in air battles.
The Luftwaffe proved to be the best interceptor pilots in the world during the war with the British, but from 1941 onwards, the 41st and 26th Wings were assigned to defend the French coast. The advantage of the line is no longer there.
The reason is that at this time, Hitler decided to conquer Russia first and then take care of Britain later. Therefore, German fighter jets resounded throughout the Balkan Peninsula. They became the first force and the most important vanguard force of Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union.
After the invasion of Poland, the occupation of Belgium, the occupation of the United Kingdom, and the Battle of London, the air combat skills of the German air force pilots reached their peak. Against Russian pilots who had little actual combat experience, they achieved easier results. In the words of the German pilots For them, it was as difficult for them to shoot down a Russian plane in the sky as it was to shoot a duck with a rifle.
Because of the previous Great Qingxi (1), the strength of the Soviet Air Force was greatly reduced. Many ace pilots left important positions and were not reused. As a result, at the beginning of the war, the Soviet Air Force lacked spiritual support and did not fight back under the strong attack of the German Air Force. Power.
After the initial pain and panic, the Soviet army changed its generals. Under the command of Zhukov, the army took advantage of its vast geographical advantages to resist. The Air Force also took this opportunity to stabilize its position and launched a desperate battle with the German Air Force. However, due to Messersch Mitt dominated the skies of the Soviet Union, and the I-15 and I-16 simply could not compete with it.
Although three new fighter jets, the Yak, the Lager and the MiG, have been launched, these aircraft have had constant problems from the beginning and have not yet reached the conditions for large-scale equipment for the army. The Yak-1 engine is too small and unreliable, and the Lager-1 3 and MiG-3 lack maneuverability. To make matters worse, these three fighters are difficult for new pilots to get started, especially the La-3 fighter, which is called an out-and-out iron coffin by pilots.
Even veterans flying the above three fighter jets cannot compete with the Messerschmitt, let alone those rookies who have only undergone basic combat driving training.
At the critical moment, the Soviet Union turned to the United States and Britain for help, and under the U.S. Lend-Lease Act, rented American and British fighter planes to fight Messerschmitt, but the effect was insignificant.
Due to the serious losses of Soviet elite pilots at the beginning of the war, the rookies trained later will not be able to take the lead in the short term. Therefore, the Soviet Air Force urgently needs a group of experienced ace pilots to lead the rookies with the old to lead the new to change the current decline.
Therefore, some pilots from the United States, Britain, and fallen countries formed a volunteer army and went to participate in the war.
In order to boost morale, the Soviet Air Force launched a large-scale propaganda campaign, claiming that Soviet pilots were brave, tenacious, and always prepared for self-sacrifice. These excellent qualities and national characteristics were not possessed by enemy pilots.
But war is equal to everyone. Fear and fear are innate in people's spiritual consciousness. In battle, no one is not afraid of death.
Therefore, no matter how much the Soviet military tried to boost morale, the star-studded German ace pilots stood in the sky above the Soviet pilots like insurmountable chasms.
Germany's aces had excellent air combat skills and superior attack power. No matter whether they were fighting alone or in large groups, they were invincible to Soviet pilots. They created a psychological shadow on Soviet pilots, so much so that whenever Soviet pilots saw the ace logo on the tail of a German aircraft, , which creates a feeling of timidity before fighting.
Especially Germany's super aces, their presence has an unparalleled deterrent effect on Soviet pilots.
In order to break the myth that the German super ace was invincible over the Soviet Union, Zhukov sent a secret message to the commander-in-chief of the Chinese Air Force Zhou Zhirou.
Zhukov only asked Zhou Zhirou for one person.
A god-level ace who can make the final decision in aerial combat.
A god-level ace who can suppress Germany's super ace.
After receiving Zhukov's telegram, Zhou Zhirou immediately called Zhou Zhihan.
Zhou Zhihan agreed to go to Moscow to support the operation.
In the early days of China's Anti-Japanese War, especially after the Songhu Battle, when the Chinese Air Force was in decline, the Soviet Union extended a helping hand to China. Now that the Soviet Union is in trouble, China will naturally do its best to help, although China is now in the most difficult moment of the Anti-Japanese War. .
After everything was arranged at home, Zhou Zhihan took a Soviet military plane specially to pick him up and arrived at the station of the Soviet Sixth Fighter Air Force, which had secretly transferred to the outskirts of Moscow three days ago and was responsible for protecting Moscow.
In order to defend Moscow, almost all British and American fighter aircraft supporting the Soviet Union were concentrated in the Sixth Fighter Air Force, including P40BC Tomahawk, P39 Air Cobra, P51 Mustang, as well as a small number of Spitfires and a large number of Hurricanes.
These Mustang fighter jets are not provided by the United States, but are the first-generation Mustangs equipped with Allison engines provided by the Royal Air Force. They belong to the inventory of the Royal Air Force. They have some fatal flaws and the accident rate is extremely high. However, there is a serious shortage of fighter jets at this time. For the Soviet Union, it is still quite good. It is at least higher than the survivability of the I-153 and 16 when facing the Messerschmitt.
Since the take-off and landing conditions at Soviet frontline airports were very crude and the runways were bumpy, it was difficult to adapt to the take-off and landing of Hurricanes and Spitfires. Therefore, Spitfires and Hurricanes were all used to defend Moscow.
At the critical moment, Britain, which knew how to deal with the cold, decisively dispatched an entire combat unit of "Hurricane" and "Spitfire" fighter jets to help the Soviet Union defend Moscow.
The Soviet fighter jets and airports are lagging behind, and their combat concepts are even more lagging. Up to now, they still implement the outdated three-plane combat formation and intensive flight formation, so they are defeated by the German four-finger formation every time.
General Gromagin, the major general commander of the Sixth Fighter Aviation Force, led the captains and squadron leaders of each brigade to personally welcome Zhou Zhihan's arrival.
This Chinese ace was personally invited by the Soviet Union's most popular Marshal Zhukov. His importance can be imagined.
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Large(1)
Clean.
