After losing so many pilots, even if there were still a lot of planes, they could not find enough pilots to operate them.
As a result, the number of aircraft that the Soviets sent out every day became fewer and fewer. Later on, they simply did not send out any more because pilots were also humans. They were also afraid. In a situation where there were German fighter planes everywhere, if they rushed out, it would be no different from sending themselves to their deaths.
Therefore, they simply refused to fight!
The morale of the pilots was low and they were unwilling to fight. The Soviet Air Force had no good solution. After all, they knew very well that the performance of their fighter planes was obviously inferior to the German army. Moreover, with the number of pilots greatly reduced, forcing them to fight would really be sending them to their deaths.
As a result, the Soviets 'air force stopped moving.
And this was equivalent to directly handing over the air superiority to the German army!
The German Air Force was also a little surprised. They had been having a good time fighting, but in the past few days, the pilots on the front line had shot down many enemy planes.
Some of the young pilots gradually grew up through the test of actual combat. Some of the pilots who had already grown up became even stronger after this baptism.
Moreover, there were many pilots who had successfully promoted themselves to the ranks of ace pilots by relying on their combat achievements in shooting down the enemy in aerial combat!
The treatment of an ace pilot was very different from that of an ordinary pilot!
Therefore, those who had not been promoted to ace pilots were now looking at the Soviets, waiting for the Soviets to take off and give them credit!
In the end, the Soviets did not come!
This made them feel quite disappointed!
Although the fighter pilots were very disappointed, it was good news for the German Air Force and other combat aircraft pilots that there was no threat or harassment from the Soviets.
The German army, which had gained control of the air, naturally did not hold back. On the one hand, they sent a large number of reconnaissance planes to closely monitor the Soviets 'every move. On the other hand, they continuously sent bomber planes to bomb the Soviets.
At this moment, the Stuka Bombers, who were completely free of pressure, began their performance on the battlefield!
The Stuka dive bomber was different from the ordinary bomber. This kind of bomber would lock onto the target, dive down at high speed, complete the fatal blow, and then quickly rise to leave the battlefield.
When they swooped down, Stuka wasn't too far away from his target. When they dropped the bombs, they had already adjusted their angle and speed. This made the bombs they threw almost like guided missiles. They almost never missed, and every bomb accurately hit its target.
Their side had lost their air superiority and was completely reduced to being passively beaten. This made the Soviets suffer every day.
They had to be on guard against the planes flying above them at all times because they did not know which plane would drop a bomb on their heads at any time and take their lives!
When the ground forces were attacked by the air, they were really powerless. They could not find a good way to deal with it, especially when the anti-air artillery was almost destroyed. Their response methods were even more lacking!
……
Marshal Rokossovsky originally planned to advance at full speed and reach the Pena River as fast as possible before crossing the river. However, he did not expect that his troops would be held back by the German planes before the German army could launch a general attack!
After all, it was almost impossible to fool the German planes with the movement of millions of troops!
The moment they moved, the German planes would come and they would have to stop for cover.
After the German planes finally left, they dared to move forward, but after a few steps, the German planes came again...
This cycle repeated itself, and the Soviet soldiers were exhausted!
The German army obviously had no intention of letting them go!
Under Manstein's orders, the Air Force mobilized almost all of their forces. Not only did they release all of the bomber planes, but even the reconnaissance planes and fighter planes took off to carry out the mission of bombing and strafing the ground!
Such a high-intensity bombing not only caused the Soviets to suffer heavy losses, but it also dealt a greater blow to their morale. What was even more excessive was that the German troops were even eating at the Soviets and bombing them specifically. The explosions caused them to be thrown off their feet, pots and pans to fall to the ground, and even the food that had been prepared was made inedible by the soil that had been blown up.
It was not easy for them to get beaten up until the sky turned dark. They thought to themselves, the sky is dark now. The German planes won't come again, right?
He could finally have a good rest!
In the end, they were disappointed again. The German army used hundreds of high-powered searchlights on the battlefield to light up the airport runway so that the pilots could take off and land as usual during the day!
As a result, the German planes actually moved out at night and continued to launch air strikes against them!
And this time, the German planes clearly lowered their altitude, hovering a few hundred meters above the Soviets.
The German planes circled at a low altitude, and the roaring of the engines almost made them curse. It was already good enough that they didn't die from such a loud noise.
Dream on!
For a few days, the German Air Force's bombing not only caused huge casualties to the Soviets, but also greatly affected their morale.
The morale of the Soviets had clearly started to drop, and the soldiers were almost being tortured to the point of being overly sensitive…
On the march to the north, there were dispirited, listless, and dark circles under their eyes. The soldiers were staggering forward.
If they didn't know that this was the Soviets, they would probably look like a lifeless zombie to outsiders!
……
Just like that, the advancing speed of the Soviets was greatly slowed down. The originally less than 100 kilometers of distance had actually taken them five days!
He hadn't reached…
At this time, on the northern battlefield, on the banks of the Pena River, the largest tank battle since the outbreak of the Battle of Kursk had officially begun!
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