Chapter 1660

Zhukov finally got us 30 C47 transport aircraft, accounting for almost half of the aircraft assisted by the United States. He told me on the phone, "Rita, I've already reported to Comrade Stalin about opening up air transportation lines. He approved our whole plan and ordered the logistics department to give priority to the supply of fuel to the air force of our front army. "

"Great, that's great." In fact, I was inspired by the famous "air supply line" built by the US Army over Berlin a few years later. Although this mode of transportation can store a large amount of materials in the shortest time, due to the excessive number of aircraft used, the fuel required every day will be astronomical, At the moment, I was overjoyed to hear Zhukov say that the air force of the front army can give priority to fuel supply: "marshal, if this is the case, then we can hoard enough materials to launch a new campaign at the two landing sites on the West Bank of the visva River in the shortest time."

"I'm still a little worried, Rita." Zhukov hesitated to say: "we use 50 transport planes to transport materials to the landing sites of magnushev and pwawi respectively. Sooner or later, the Germans will find us. If the enemy uses bombing and shelling to destroy our air transportation, what are you going to do? "

"Comrade marshal, I have taken into account what you said for a long time." When I heard Zhukov's question, I was relieved, saying that fortunately I had been prepared, otherwise I really didn't know how to answer: "in order to prevent the enemy's air attack, we not only sent more fighters to patrol over the airborne field, but also transferred several anti-aircraft artillery divisions to the West Bank of the visva River, which greatly strengthened the air defense force of the landing field, So that the enemy can not indiscriminately bomb the airborne field. "

"You have already considered the air raid, which is very good." After praising me, Zhukov asked, "what measures have you taken to deal with the enemy's shelling?"

I quickly opened the notebook in front of me and read the contents to Zhukov: "Marshal comrade, according to the report of general trakov, commander of the eighth group army of Jinwei, they have completed the engineering and facilities operation in the first defense zone. In front of the two continuous trenches with full cross-section, mine fields and barbed wire barriers for anti tank and anti infantry were built. The trenches are 200-300 meters apart and connected by traffic trenches. "

After reporting a series of boring data, I finally said: "general trakov chose the landing site behind their second defense zone, where there are dense forests. Even if the enemy shelled this area, it would be difficult to cause substantial harm to our airborne field."

After listening to my explanation, Zhukov was at ease. He finally said, "Rita, since you are so confident, my heart is secure."

After I finished the conversation with Zhukov, I told the conversation to malining and jerekin, and then picked up the phone again, ready to tell the good news to trakov.

But it was his chief of staff who answered the phone. After hearing my voice, the chief of staff immediately reported to me, "report to deputy commander comrade, general trakov is not in the headquarters."

"Not in command?" When I heard what the chief of staff said, I couldn't help asking in surprise, "do you know where he has gone?"

"Well, an officer of the health battalion died in the battlefield when he was rescuing the wounded." The chief of staff youyou said, "general trakov has gone to preside over his funeral."

I frowned and thought for a moment. Under my influence, the health camp officers who usually go to the battlefield to rescue the wounded in the face of the enemy's bullets are at best like Nina and ulanova. They are a little lieutenant, and they can actually work with trakov to attend the funeral in person. It's incredible.

But I didn't ask his chief of staff, because if they knew the reason, they would have reported it to me. They didn't have to wait for me to ask before they told me.

Since I couldn't find trakov, I called Air Force Commander Pauline and informed him of the good news of the upcoming acquisition of 30 C47 transport planes and the priority of oil supply.

Although boleynin knew from other sources that the superior would allocate transport planes, when I told him about it, he was still very excited: "great, comrade deputy commander, this is really great. As long as we have enough fuel, then the number of fighters will be greatly increased every day. In this way, we can control the air power on both sides of the viswa River in a short time. "

Paulenin's words give me a new view. If our air force can really control the air on both sides of the visva River, then the "air supply line" now being established will become a chicken rib. Instead of using so many transport planes to transport goods every day, it is better to build more floating bridges on the river and repair the bridges destroyed by the German army, In this way, our troops and technical equipment can continuously cross the river.

However, I just think about these things in my mind. After all, the primary task at present is to establish an "air supply line" to provide enough materials for the troops on the landing site. After discussing the details of the airlift with Pauline, I put down the phone.

As soon as the phone was put down, trakov called in. He asked eagerly, "Rita, I heard from the chief of staff that you just came to me. Is there anything important?"

"Marshal Zhukov informed me that the superior provided us with 30 latest C47 transport planes." I said slowly into the microphone: "so every day there are at least 25 different types of transport aircraft, which can deliver the materials you need for the army. I just called to tell you the good news. Who knows, the chief of staff said you went to the funeral. "

"Thank you, Rita. Thank you for the good news." After he said this, his voice suddenly became heavy: "yes, I did go to the funeral just now. It was a brigadier named sidorenko, an officer in the health camp, who died. By the way, you may know him

"I know him?" When I heard what trakov said, I searched for the name of sidorenko in my mind. I didn't feel impressed. I asked, "have I met him anywhere?"

"Yes, Rita, you must have met him." "In the battle of Stalingrad, his health camp was stationed in the" Red October "factory. In that battle, he braved the enemy's fire and rescued more than 80 wounded officers and soldiers," he said in a positive tone

After such a reminder by trakov, I immediately remembered that there seemed to be such a man who dared to rescue people under the dense artillery fire of the enemy. It was always admirable and impressive. I quickly nodded and said, "yes, general trakov, I remember this comrade. He was very brave in the defense of Stalingrad. Can you tell me how he died? "

"This morning, the enemy infantry, under the cover of several Tiger tanks, launched an attack on our landing site." Trakov told me: "because our anti tank guns are not powerful enough to penetrate the enemy's armor in a long distance, an anti tank artillery company is deployed in the open area in front of our defense position.

After they destroyed two German Tiger tanks, almost all of the company died, leaving only the company commander and the telegraph operator, both seriously injured and unable to move on the open ground. Sidorenko crawled out of the trench, rushed to the middle, dressed the wounds of the two wounded, and dragged them back from the front in turn.

When he was towing the artillery company commander back, he was found by the enemy. The enemy immediately sent out a tank and stormed towards the middle zone. After he put the company commander into the trench, many officers and men advised him not to take any more risks, but he said with dignity: "as long as I am here, I will never leave any wounded on the battlefield." With that, he went back to the middle zone.

When he pulled the operator back, the enemy tanks rushed up, knocked him down and crushed him and the wounded under the track

When I heard that sidorenko was run over by the enemy's tank under the track, I shivered. I thought that in this case, there could be no complete body. What they put into the coffin might be a pile of meat sauce. As soon as trikov finished, I quickly added: "general trikov, you should immediately compile a material and report it to the military commissar of the front army to give our heroes the honor they deserve."

In the evening, 30 C47 transport planes from Moscow arrived at Lublin's military airport. Polenin immediately called me to ask for instructions: "Comrade deputy commander, the new transport plane Moscow has given us has arrived. How do you think we should arrange them?"

"The pilot must be very tired after flying for such a long time. Let's arrange for them to have a rest first." Considering that there are many pilots under paulenin's command, I generously let those pilots from Moscow rest and use others to fly instead of them: "however, we still need to seize the time to install the refitted aircraft. When the plane is full of supplies, use our pilots to transport these supplies to the landing site first. "

"I see, comrade deputy commander." "I'll arrange it as soon as possible," he promised

The reason why the United States wanted to establish an air supply line in Berlin in June of 48 was that the Soviet Union closed the HELMSTEDT checkpoint on the highway from Hanover to Berlin on the border of the occupied area; At the same time, all roads, railways and waterways to Berlin, which are closely related to people's lives, have been closed, and the supply of electricity and coal to West Berlin has been stopped.

West Berlin, occupied by the U.S. military, is located in the hinterland of a large Soviet occupied area. At that time, the city was still in ruins, but it was inhabited by more than 2 million residents, as well as Allied control committees and Western occupation forces. Because the city does not produce food or other necessities, its survival depends entirely on land and water transportation. In order to take anti blockade measures against Soviet occupied areas, US military commander in Germany clay decided to implement air supply to West Berlin.

Seven airports are used by the US Air Force in Berlin air transportation, among which Rhine, Wiesbaden, farsburg and Serry airports are loading and departure airports, and temperhof, Gato and Tegel airports are arrival and unloading airports. Due to the limited scope of airspace and terminal airport, and the large number of aircraft participating in the air transportation, the air corridor is crowded and the aircraft density is high. In order to strengthen management, Britain and the United States set up a joint air traffic control center in temperhof.

All transport aircraft flying in the air corridor must fly in accordance with the designated air corridor and the prescribed altitude and speed. The deployment of each flight echelon and aircraft shall be carried out according to the method of distinguishing time and altitude. During the Berlin airlift, more than 868 transport planes make forced landing at several specified airports every day, and almost one plane makes forced landing every minute. On average, 325 aircrafts land at temperhof airport every day, with an interval of 4-5 minutes for aircrafts and 3 minutes for aircrafts in the air. In the 13 month long Berlin air transport, according to statistics, there were 266644 aircraft shuttling back and forth in the narrow passage only 3 km wide, creating one miracle after another in the history of human air transport. The fake "air supply line" I built has only 50 transport planes and has to fly to two landing sites at the same time. Naturally, the busy level can't be compared with the "air supply line" established by the Americans over Berlin. Other people have one plane landing every minute, but I have one landing in half an hour, And it depends on the advantage of short flying distance. However, for the sake of safety and efficiency, I still forced bolenin to set up ground control stations at the two landing sites before the route was officially put into operation, so as to improve the transportation efficiency. The day after the route was officially put into operation, trakov called me and said that the materials transported by the transport plane in one day could catch up with the total amount provided by the truck in the previous week. After hearing the good news, although I was ecstatic in my heart, I said on the surface as if nothing had happened: "it seems that the efficiency of air transportation is much higher than that of land transportation. If we continue to develop at this speed, at most half a month, we will be able to accumulate enough materials to launch an attack against the enemy." After listening to me, trakov immediately said, "yes, if the air force can always maintain this speed to deliver supplies to our troops, then we can build up enough strength to attack the enemy on our own initiative by early December."