Chapter 323 Air Raid

The German 8th Air Force performed outstandingly in the Polish campaign. In the process of preventing the Russian Ninth Army from escaping, their air strikes not only caused a large number of casualties to the Russian Ninth Army, but more importantly, delayed the retreat of the Russian Ninth Army. During the frantic pursuit of the German army, it was impossible to evacuate in time. It eventually led to the end of the Russian Ninth Army, except for a very small number of generals who escaped, and the rest were annihilated.

This time, in the battle against the Russian Southwest Front Army, the German 8th Air Force is also an important force of the German 8th Army. For this reason, the 8th Army specially forced tens of thousands of Russian prisoners of war. In the southern part of the Kingdom of Poland, several large airports were built for these planes of the 8th Air Force to take off and land. In this case, in terms of the range of the fighters and bombers of the German 8th Air Force, they can almost participate in the entire battle, which further increases the chances of the German army's victory.

The shelling of the German 17th Army had just begun, and the fighter planes of the 8th Air Force had already taken off one after another. It's just that they didn't enter the battlefield immediately, but were waiting for the opportunity. What they waited for was undoubtedly the appearance of a more valuable target for the Russian army. The Russian artillery is undoubtedly a very valuable target.

Before the fighter planes of the German 8th Air Force arrived on the battlefield, the German artillery had already begun to suppress the Russian artillery. A pair of 105mm light howitzers and 150mm heavy howitzers attacked the Russian artillery positions under the guidance of observation balloons.

"Boom! Boom!"

The shells hit the artillery positions of the Russian army like raindrops, causing great losses to the Russian army.

A 76.2mm field artillery position of the Russian army was attacked by a German 150mm heavy artillery. A series of more than a dozen 150mm artillery shells accurately hit the artillery position.

A violent explosion sounded on the battlefield. Black gunpowder smoke enveloped the position.

When the gunpowder smoke dissipated, it could be clearly seen that one after another bullet craters appeared on the artillery positions of the Russian army. And those 76.2mm field guns were blown up and down, and even many cannons have been destroyed.

As for the loss of the Russian artillery, it goes without saying that very few of them survived such fierce shelling, unless they were really lucky, otherwise they would all have a dead end. The entire position was covered with the remains of these Russian artillerymen.

The heavy artillery of the German army continued, and the artillery positions of the Russian army were called one after another, causing great losses to the Russian army. But even so, the Russian army still did not issue an order to stop the shelling, and they still gritted their teeth and insisted.

Because the shelling of the Russian army is not useless at all. At least, their shelling also destroyed some of the German artillery. Although the quantity is not much, it has made them very satisfied. In addition, under the interference of the Russian army's shelling, the German army's artillery strikes on the Russian army's forward positions were also affected to a certain extent.

Although the loss of artillery made Admiral Dimitriev and others very painful, it would undoubtedly be very cost-effective if they could hold on for a longer period of time until the arrival of Russian reinforcements.

However, the goals of Admiral Dimitriev and others will soon be shattered. Because a large number of German aircraft are about to enter the battlefield. Under the bombing of these aircraft, it is probably very difficult to say how many Russian artillery positions can survive.

In the northern sky, small black dots appeared one after another. These small black dots seem to be very slow, but they are actually moving towards the battlefield very quickly. It's just that the Russian army's thoughts are all on the battlefield at the moment, and they didn't find out immediately. These small black dots are all aircraft of the German 8th Air Force, bombers and fighter jets loaded with bombs.

"General, the aircraft of the 8th Air Force has arrived." The adjutant reported to Lieutenant General Zeckert.

"Immediately guide them to attack the Russian artillery positions. This time, the Russian artillery must be eliminated. After the Russian artillery is eliminated, the armored forces and infantry can launch an attack." Lieutenant General Zeckert ordered.

The artillery of the Russian army has always been the key target of the German army. After solving them, the German armored forces and infantry will be much less threatened when they attack.

"What is that?" A Russian military officer noticed the approaching German aircraft.

When they used binoculars and saw the planes and the Iron Cross symbol on the wings, all of them couldn't help but change their expressions.

"My God! The German plane is coming."

"Hurry up, the German plane has appeared, take cover immediately!"

The arrival of the German plane immediately caused the generals of the Russian 4th Army to change into a mess.

According to the information they received, they already knew the power of the German aircraft. After all, the demise of the Russian Ninth Army has an inseparable relationship with these German planes.

Admiral Dimitriev and others immediately began to evacuate. They are the commanders of the Russian army. If they suffer heavy losses from the German planes, there will be no way to fight this battle.

However, when General Dimitriev and others retreated to a safe place, they discovered that the German planes were not aimed at them at all, but at the Russian artillery positions.

"Ready to attack! Destroy the Russian artillery positions." The commander of the 8th Air Force issued an order.

One after another, the bombers took the lead in lowering the altitude. When the altitude dropped to 800 meters, these bombers opened their magazines and started dropping bombs.

Bombs one after another, like raindrops, fell on the artillery positions of the Russian army. The artillery positions of the Russian army were instantly enveloped by explosions and flames.

When the gunpowder smoke dissipated, what appeared in front of everyone was a piece of land like the surface of the moon. As for the artillery of the Russian army, they have already been blown into a pile of scrap iron. Those Russian soldiers were bombed to the point where there was not even a scum left.

The bomber unit of the German 8th Air Force began to destroy the Russian artillery positions one by one. The Russian army without anti-aircraft weapons was powerless in the face of German air strikes.

"Evacuate! Evacuate immediately!" Admiral Dimitriev almost gritted his teeth when he saw this scene. He immediately ordered the Russian artillery to evacuate, otherwise, these artillery would probably be killed by German planes.

However, it was obviously too late by this time.