The troops of the 12th Tank Army, as soon as they entered the starting position, encountered the German air force. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoGerman bombers bombed the 30th Tank Brigade, which was the vanguard.

Tank brigades, usually in the event of bombardment, would line up in loose offensive formations and rush forward at a faster pace to avoid bombs falling from the air. But I don't know what the brigade commander thought, not only did he not let the tanks continue to rush forward, but he stopped in an open field without shelter anyway, and willingly became a target for German bombers.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Rokossovsky hurriedly gave Orlov an order to speed up the offensive and consolidate to occupy the area. Then he rushed to the battlefield in a jeep with Orel, ready to reactivate the tank brigade that had been parked in place and had been bombed.

And Orlov, who heard that the commander personally went out of the horse, after giving the order to the three subordinate division commanders to continue the offensive, also pulled the military commissar Ratshev and several staff officers and rushed to the position where the tank brigade was staying.

The jeeps they were riding in came to the battlefield one after the other, and at the sight of the burning tanks in the open field, Orel felt that his heart was bleeding. He glanced up at the enemy planes that were constantly diving down, and without looking back, he ran towards the nearest tank.

Orel quickly ran to the side of a tank, where he bent down to pick up rocks from the ground and struck them the tank's body, trying to get the attention of the tankmen inside. And Ratshev followed his example, knocking stones on the tank body.

Rokossovsky ran to a stop five or six meters away from the tank, and did not run any further, to be honest, when he saw a moving behemoth, his heart was always a little hairy, and he was afraid that the other party would roll himself into the track if he suddenly turned his mind. So he drew his pistol and fired two shots at the turret, shouting loudly in the hope of attracting the attention of the soldiers in the car.

His approach was as effective as the one used by Oryol. Soon he saw that the roof of the tank was lifted, and a serviceman in the uniform of a tank soldier climbed out of the hatch, stood on the body and looked left and right for a moment, then jumped down and ran quickly in front of Rokossovsky, quietly waiting for his instructions.

Rokossovsky saw that standing in front of him was a tank captain, who was supposed to be a tank battalion commander. He pointed with his hand at the German planes raging in the air, and then asked loudly: "Hey, Comrade Captain, why don't your tanks move forward, don't you know that if you continue to stay here, you can only become a target for German planes?" ”

"Comrade General," replied the tank captain aggrievedly, "we have lost contact with the brigade commander, and we can only wait for further orders in place until we receive new orders." ”

"Comrade Captain," Rokossovsky continued, "I now order you, immediately rush forward with your tanks and go to cover the infantry commanders and fighters who are fighting fiercely in front, understand?" ”

"Understood, Comrade General." The captain raised his hand in salute, turned around and ran back to the tank. Before he got into the hatch, he shouted two words inside, and then slipped into the small tank space.

The T-34 tank roared, a puff of black smoke erupted from its tail, and after starting slowly, it drove faster and faster in the direction where the enemy's defensive positions were located.

The actions of Orel and Ratshev were also effective, and the tanks, which had been parked in place, restarted one after another and rushed towards the enemy's position with a roar.

Seeing the tank brigade rushing towards the enemy's positions, Rokossovsky walked up to Oryol, raised his hand and slapped him twice on the shoulder, and then said: "Comrade Colonel, you are good. Thanks to your decisive actions, you managed to save the 30th Tank Brigade from the brink of annihilation. ”

Due to the appearance of German aircraft, the tank brigade belonging to the 15th Tank Army, which was originally covering the infantry attack, suffered heavy casualties, and the 30th tank brigade that joined the battle could play a very limited role at the moment. Because they had to expend a lot of energy to deal with the German tanks that had just entered the battlefield, and the German bombers constantly circling in the air.

Seeing that the situation on the battlefield had deteriorated, Rokossovsky decisively ordered his troops to stop the offensive and move to the defensive on the spot. The newly arrived tank brigades were scattered behind the various infantry positions and used as fixed turrets to assist the infantry in holding the occupied areas.

For the sake of the German Air Force, Rokossovsky called Zhukov again, and he said anxiously: "Comrade General, our attacking forces are being bombed by the Germans, and I hope you can immediately send the Air Force to support, even if there are only a few fighters." ”

Hearing that the attack on the Germans had to be temporarily interrupted due to air raids, Zhukov was equally anxious. As soon as Rokossovsky finished speaking, he immediately said: "I will immediately send the air force to support you, please hold on." ”

A quarter of an hour later, eight Soviet fighters appeared over the battlefield. As soon as they entered the battlefield, they immediately dispersed to chase the German planes that were strafing and bombing the ground. Although at the very beginning of the battle, two enemy planes that were hit exploded in volleys, the situation that followed did not turn in favor of the Soviet troops. Because the Soviet army had too few aircraft, and the German fighters and bombers were seventy, almost ten times as many as them.

After half an hour of aerial fighting, although the Germans lost eleven bombers and five fighters, all eight Soviet fighters were shot down. Except for the two Soviet pilots who successfully parachuted, the rest of the pilots drove the planes in the thick smoke and made a brave ramming towards the German tanks or positions on the ground.

Although the Germans firmly held air supremacy, their counterattacks had little effect at all, and they were never able to retake the places occupied by the Soviets after the attacks were repulsed again and again.

At the same time, the 10th and 61st armies, which launched attacks on the left and right flanks of the 16th Army, achieved very limited success. When they saw that the German air force had mastered the air supremacy of the battlefield, they also had to stop the offensive and switch to the defense on the spot.

When Zhukov heard that the offensive launched by the three armies had failed, because the Germans had controlled air supremacy and deployed a large number of reserves, he could not help but sigh, and then ordered Rokossovsky: "Since this is the case, then you will temporarily turn to the defensive, and when the time is ripe, launch a new attack on the enemy." ”