Chapter 389 Eagle on the Eastern Front

Just like Karl Wusse, Michel Wittmann, and Ernst Bachmann on the ground, if there is any representative trump card on the German Stuka dive bomber as the leading representative of the sky blitz, Hans U Errich Rudel is definitely the most representative super king among them, bar none.

As a fanatical Nazi, Rudel had a fanaticism that was difficult for ordinary people to understand for any war initiated by the German army. In order to be able to participate in the German army's war against the conquered countries, Rudel, who was originally working as a relatively safe reconnaissance aircraft pilot, voluntarily submitted an application to his superiors and actively requested to be deployed to a highly risky area. Perform dive bombing missions in the Ground Attack Air Wing.

With a strong ambition in his heart, Rudel lived up to expectations after being transferred to the Ground Attack Air Wing. With his superb flying skills and extraordinary talent, he immediately distinguished himself in his Stuka dive bomber.

As of the end of 1941, Rudel, who holds the rank of lieutenant, has flown more than 300 sorties and achieved many brilliant results. The targets he destroyed ranged from Soviet infantry trucks to Soviet light and heavy tanks.

But if we want to talk about Rudel's most proud and famous achievement, it is the glorious result of destroying the Soviet Red Navy battleship Marat during the Battle of Leningrad.

In this battle, Rudel drove his Stuka, carrying only half of the fuel and removing the additional armor. He carried a one-ton heavy-duty mine that was not used in normal dive bombing missions. The aerial bomb attack was aimed at the Red Navy battleship Marat, which was anchored outside Leningrad and was bombarding the attacking German forces.

Working closely with his comrades and wingmen, Rudel broke through the weak anti-aircraft fire network on the battleship Mara and launched the Scream of Death. The one-ton heavy aerial bomb dropped by his hands accurately hit the Soviet Mara. The rear of the battleship's bridge is near the middle.

The one-ton heavy aerial bomb, which relied on gravitational potential energy to smash through the upper deck of the battleship Mara, detonated inside the lower compartment of the battleship Mara. The earth-shaking explosion severely damaged the battleship Marat and forced it to sink into the harbor. Young Rudel ushered in the most glorious moment in the history of his military career - he sank a battleship.

Rudel, who continued his efforts, launched several attacks on the Leningrad battlefield, severely damaging the battleship October Revolution, and again severely damaging one Soviet cruiser. He also took down four Soviet armored trains on the ground. Three artillery positions and fifteen bridges destroyed the Soviet tanks and killed the infantry.

Such brilliant results were not only placed in Rudel's own unit, but even among the ground attack aviation units of the entire Eastern Front Air Force at that time, they were the absolute number one ace. Rudel himself was awarded the Air Force Cup of Honor and the Knight's Iron Cross for his outstanding performance in Leningrad. His comrades who admired and envied him gave Rudel a resounding nickname - East Line Eagle.

He was trapped at the airport by the snowstorm for nearly half a month and could not move for nearly half a month. Rudel, who did not take off for a day to drop several tons of bombs and destroy some targets, felt inexplicably uncomfortable. If there is such a thing in this world, If people were born for war, then Rudel would definitely be counted among the best.

Rudel, whose ears were ringing with the joking jokes of his comrades, never joined in and chose to keep a straight face. This situation does not mean that Rudel is a rigid person who is not good at communicating with others, but that he has been doing this for several days. The bad situation of not being able to take off for combat had already made Rudel's mood extremely bad.

"Damn, who knows how many days we haven't taken off for combat? Sleeping on that shabby camp bed all day almost makes me sick. If this continues, I feel like I will get rusty and broken, just like those who were Just like a fighter jet abandoned in a hangar."

The German pilots who were laughing and making a fuss immediately turned around after hearing such sudden words, and saw Rudel, who had already put his flying lint hat and goggles on the top of his head. He put his hand on his neck and shook his head gently, as if he had rested for too long and his body was not very flexible.

The young German pilot, who had already expected that Rudel would eventually join in, smiled even more after hearing this, and then spoke again in the same joking tone just now.

"You should think about good things, Rudel. For example, how many Russian tanks can we destroy later? The mission briefing mentioned just now that there are Russian heavy tanks everywhere on the front line. I'm looking for Colonel Strauss. I’ve asked about it. The Russian heavy tanks move as slowly as the stupid bears on Russian soil. They can’t escape our attacks. You will probably add a batch of Soviet heavy tanks to your record soon.”

The face of the young German pilot, who became more and more excited as he talked, was filled with smiles and longing.

In his opinion, those Soviet heavy tanks that could only crawl slowly on the ground were not worth mentioning. After all, no matter how powerful the heavy tanks were on the ground, they could still reach the sky. As long as there is no interception by Soviet fighter jets, all they have to do later is to drop aerial bombs on the foreheads of these iron turtles. Strictly speaking, it is not even much more difficult than ground attack training.

The relaxed and happy smiles on the faces of his colleagues in front of him didn't seem to change Rudel's rigid face.

In just six months since the launch of Operation Barbarossa, Rudel has flown into the air and dispatched more than 300 combat missions. Rudel, who has repeatedly fought with Soviet ground troops as a daily routine, is very aware that the Soviet ground anti-aircraft firepower cannot be underestimated. watch for.

The 7mm Deshka heavy machine gun equipped by the Soviet infantry can easily perform air defense tasks when supplemented with a tripod. This powerful heavy machine gun is very common even among ordinary Soviet infantry divisions.

Rudel had suffered a big loss from this device when he bombed a Soviet infantry division position before. The dense 7mm tracer anti-aircraft barrage almost tore the wing of Rudel's plane in half. If it hadn't been for Stu The Ka's solid fuselage structure is relatively resistant to hits. Rudel, who dived straight down to a height of only 300 meters above the ground, would probably not be able to come back.