The decisive battle against the Third Reich

80 transport planes only drop 1,600 people in each batch.

Peterkov didn't realize that this was a taboo in airborne operations... The most important thing in airborne operations is to be able to put troops into the battlefield in large quantities at one time. Only in this way can a greater combat power burst out and make the enemy respond hastily.

Otherwise, a batch of more than a thousand people will be eaten by the enemy as soon as they are dropped, and more than a thousand people will be eaten by the enemy who rushes over soon... In this way, airborne operations are actually sending prisoners to the enemy.

The actual situation is even worse than this.

The first batch of 80 Li2 arrived over Baku at around five in the morning. Their mission was to drop two miles outside Baku City and then occupy Baku with lightning speed... Obviously, the Soviet army wanted to use the power of the people of Baku.

If the German army was not prepared, this plan would indeed cause great trouble to the German army.

But now, their plan is almost suicide.

Qin Chuan and others looked at the parachutes falling in the sky with incredible expressions... They couldn't believe that the Soviet landing site was in Baku City.

"What are they doing?" Eberhard asked, "Don't they need to scout before the airborne landing? They should know the preparations we made in Baku, right?"

"They are Soviets, Major!" Kuhn replied, "Anything you can't imagine could happen to them!"

"Are you going to discuss until the Soviets land on the ground?" Qin Chuan ordered, "Do it now!"

"Yes, Major!" The officers and soldiers responded, and then drove to the Soviet parachute point immediately.

The result of this battle can be imagined... This can't be said to be a battle at all, but a hunt.

The Germans drove motorcycles and cars to the Soviet parachute point quickly, and then waited for the Soviets in the air to fall down.

Many Soviet soldiers raised their hands before their feet touched the ground, because they knew that there was no hope for this airborne landing.

Of course, some Soviet soldiers were blown to a farther place by the wind, but generally speaking, this Soviet airborne force was defeated by the Germans before they had time to assemble.

More importantly, the frontline commander, Major General Glazunov, had just landed on the ground and sent a telegram to the headquarters saying "smooth landing" and then the radio broke down... The major general was blown by the wind in the dark to a place five kilometers away from Baku. He did not see his troops being attacked by the Germans for the time being, so it was indeed a "smooth landing" for him.

The radio was never repaired afterwards... It was normal for Soviet radio stations to have problems.

The result was that the headquarters had not received any warnings about the failure of the first airborne landing and the Germans' full preparations in Baku.

So the second batch landed again near Baku... This batch was half an hour apart from the previous batch, and was composed of 25 newly arrived Li-2 transport planes and 50 Tuber 3 bombers assembled by Peterkov as guest transport planes.

This stunned all the German officers and soldiers. They were familiar with airborne operations and they simply could not believe that the Soviet army would do this.

But they could not believe it, so they still attacked in time and easily defeated the Soviet elite airborne soldiers who were hanging on parachutes and had no resistance again.

It was not until then that the Soviet command received a warning, because the commander of the second airborne Soviet 8th Brigade hurriedly reported to the command on the way to escape: "Comrade Peterkov, the situation is very bad. The troops in Baku are not a regiment (the first airborne) at all. The Germans are there. We were attacked by them as soon as we landed!"

Peterkov realized that something was wrong at this time, and hurriedly changed the parachute plan, changing the landing site to a basin ten kilometers away from Baku... In this way, the paratroopers have time to assemble and use favorable terrain for defense.

But everything was too late, and it was already dawn.

The third batch of transport planes flying to Baku were intercepted by German fighter planes without surprise.

Of course, the Soviet army also sent fighter planes to escort, and even the 4th Air Army in the North Caucasus sent more than 60 fighter planes to join the battle.

But all this could not stop the German army from slaughtering Soviet transport planes... German fighters basically ignored the Soviet Seagull fighters, and went back and forth between the clouds and the Soviet aircraft groups, and they could always shoot down a few transport planes every time they dived or climbed.

The speed of 710 kilometers per hour is completely different from the speed of 240 kilometers per hour. The Seagull fighters at a speed of 442 kilometers per hour could only stare blankly at the side.

Moreover, it was still very beautiful when the transport plane was destroyed at this time, because from time to time there would be paratroopers jumping out of it and hanging on parachutes and falling down.

In the end, the Soviet transport planes were almost beaten before they reached the destination, and only more than 300 people could successfully land at the destination.

These more than 300 people would certainly not be a big deal. The German army only sent a battalion and ended the battle half an hour later.

In the blink of an eye, half of the 10,000 people of the 4th Airborne Army that Stalin intended to use to play a big role in Baku were lost.

After receiving this information, Stalin was furious. He was always calm and composed, but he couldn't help cursing: "Shameful, incompetent, these rubbish, they always find a way to lose to the Germans!" But objectively speaking, Stalin's curse was unreasonable, because fundamentally, all of this was actually caused by him... such as the appointment and removal of commanders, the development of transport aircraft, and the training of airborne troops.

To take a step back, even if Stalin was powerless, he should at least know that with the speed of the Li-2 transport plane and the capabilities of the Soviet airborne troops, it was impossible to quickly assemble and send them to the battlefield within a few hours.

However, despite the criticism, this mess still needs to be cleaned up.

After calming down and thinking about it, Stalin knew that the Baku oil fields could no longer be taken back.

Although Stalin was unwilling to admit this, he had to face reality. Especially even if the Soviet Union takes back the oil fields, it will not help... because the German army will definitely blow up all the facilities at the last minute.

On the other hand, if the war situation is allowed to develop like this, the entire Caucasus region, including the Transcaucasus and North Caucasus Fronts, will be completely surrounded by the attack of German Army Group A.

By then, the two front armies will have lost the barrier of the Caucasus Mountains, and without the oil and military factories in the Transcaucasus. The two front armies will have no other choice but to surrender.

Thinking of this, Stalin could only grit his teeth and order: "Order the Transcaucasus Front and the 4th Aviation Army to destroy the refineries and oil fields as much as possible, and then withdraw from the Caucasus and move to Stalingrad!"