The battle began from the air.

It should be said that this was completely expected, because the Soviet army had not had air supremacy in the battle for a long time, and they were desperate to fight a battle with air supremacy after being suppressed for too long.

On the other hand, in places like the Caucasus Mountains, it takes time for infantry to get on board, supplies need to be dropped, and the air force has to be ahead of the curve if it is to attack.

In this regard, Zhukov was clearly well prepared.

First of all, he set the main forces of the Air Force in Makhachkala.

Makhachkala was a port for large-scale landing and unloading of Soviet resources, and the Soviet Air Force had easier access to fuel, ammunition, and spare parts.

Secondly, Zhukov set up a large number of air defense units around Makhachkala...... In each direction, two air defense regiments were deployed, except for the seaside direction.

But Zhukov believes that this is not enough, because after all, the air defense forces cannot prevent enemy fighters from bombing the airfield, and can only be said to give the opposing air force a certain blow and deterrent.

As a result, Zhukov transferred from other directions the two hundred Yak-1 and MiG-3 fighters of the Soviet Union, which were the most advanced and capable of fighting the German Air Force.

Anti-aircraft firepower coupled with advanced fighter protection, so that the safety of Makhachkala can basically be guaranteed.

In the end, Zhukov deployed more than 700 low-speed Seagull fighters and threw them into the Caucasus battlefield in batches.

The Soviet Air Force obviously had an innate advantage in bombing, that is, most of the fortifications in the Caucasus Mountains were built by the Soviet army, and they knew the specific location of those fortifications, so they could carry out targeted bombing.

And this bombing doesn't seem to be difficult...... The Soviets had a large number of Seagull fighters, and it was safe to fly in the peaks of the Caucasus Mountains, and neither the German F nor BF fighters dared or were unwilling to enter the airspace where these peaks stood to chase the Seagull fighters.

As Zhukov envisioned, the Soviet Union had at least partial air supremacy in the Caucasus Mountains...... For a while, the sky was full of Soviet seagull fighters, swooping down one after another to bomb and strafe the German fortifications.

The problem is that this is what the Soviets considered to be "German fortifications".

It is true that these fortifications were built by the Soviet army, and the Soviet soldiers knew their exact location...... The problem was that the Soviet soldiers were generally less educated and militarily qualified, and if they were to go to the Caucasus Mountains, they would know as if they were walking in their own homes that they were from this road, from this direction, and then there was a cave under some rock, and they were building bunkers there.

But if they are asked to point it out on the map, it will be difficult for them.

"Is this it? I remember it was here! ”

"No, I'm sure it's this place because I can always see Mount Elbrus!"

"But you can see it here too!"

……

As a result, uncertain positions were designated by Soviet soldiers and handed over to Soviet pilots.

The Soviet pilots almost cried when they saw these positions:

"On the left side of the Bejo Pass, five hours away, about fifty meters from Chik Rock (the name given by the Soviet soldiers themselves for a certain boulder)!"

"Dick Mountain, three hundred meters west of Röhm Creek, under the big tree."

……

What's worse is that when the snow covers the winter, all these rocks and trees are so white that you can't see anything from the sky.

As a result, Soviet pilots often had to casually drop their bombs, or shoot a shuttle of bullets downwards and leave.

German soldiers often felt baffled...... Did they see people? See the fortifications? Why are bullets and bombs thrown where no one is around?

In addition, the Soviet army also faced a more serious problem, that is, the problem of supply.

You must know that this is climbing a snow-capped mountain, and it is also a large-scale army climbing a snow-capped mountain, and even a considerable part of the area has reached an altitude of more than 3,000 meters...... The main objectives of the Soviet offensive were two mountain passes in the eastern Caucasus, and the capture of these two passes would mean that the Soviets could cross the Caucasus Mountains into the heart of Transcaucasia.

However, mountain defense is often like this, if you want to pass through a mountain pass with an altitude of more than 1,000 meters, you must occupy the high ground of more than 1,200 meters on both sides, and if you want to occupy the high ground of more than 1,200 meters, the high ground of more than 1,500 meters is of great importance, so the area of contention will be higher and higher, and the area will be wider and wider.

As a result, it can take more than ten days to climb a high ground at an altitude of more than 3,000 meters, and the rations that soldiers carry with them can only last for about a week...... Each soldier had to carry ammunition, weapons, and climbing equipment, and the food he could carry was very limited.

As a result, there will be cases where the army starves to death before it reaches the battlefield.

For this, Zhukov took two measures.

One is to set up supply points on the road.

To put it simply, before the start of the war, the sappers of each unit and the unarmed civilians (mostly those in the Caucasus who are familiar with the terrain and have the skills to climb the snow-capped mountains) carry food on their backs and follow the planned march route of the unit into the Caucasus Mountains, and then arrive at a supply point about a day's journey, bury the food in a safe place and mark it.

Then, a second supply point is set based on the first supply point, and then a third supply point is set up......

In this way, the large army can use the food and fuel from these supply points on the way forward to save the food and fuel they are carrying.

(Note: The fuel is mainly kerosene, if the gasoline of this era has not undergone special treatment, such as adding antifreeze like aviation fuel, the freezing point is about minus 30 degrees, and kerosene has the advantage of low cost and low freezing point, which is suitable for use as fuel in extremely cold areas, such as heating and eating...... Foods such as bread can become very hard in extreme cold and need fuel to bake.)

The other is to set up supply stations in deeper locations.

Because this supply station is far from the starting point, the supply point can no longer extend into this hinterland.

So Zhukov sent several teams of professional soldiers with climbing skills into the hinterland to find suitable areas, such as relatively flat terrain, weak winds, and close to the marching routes of several troops.

Then, with the cooperation of these soldiers, a large area was airdropped using transport planes, and the soldiers at the supply depot did all day to find these supplies and haul them to the supply depot.

This work even began with the landing of Soviet troops in the Caucasus and continued until the end of the campaign.