Liberators. Stormtroopers
After fighting nearly 800 kilometers, in the summer of 1944 parts of the Red Army began in Poland on the banks of the Vistula. They managed to capture and hold on the western bank of the river Pulavsky, Magnushevsky and Sandomirsky bridgeheads. Throughout autumn and the beginning of winter, the Red Army accumulated strength for the next throw - on the Oder. It was not possible to break the resistance of the Wehrmacht without the participation of the assault aviationthat would support the promotion tanks and infantry.
Attack aircraft are well-armored aircraft, armed with powerful cannons, machine guns, equipped with bombs and rocket projectiles. The project of such a specialized aircraft, later named IL-2, appeared in the design of Sergey Ilyushin at the end of the 30. IL-2 was destined to become the most massive attack aircraft of the Second World War and, moreover, the most massive combat aircraft in stories of humanity. The first IL-2 attack aircraft did not include an air gunner. Therefore, German fighters could attack Soviet planes from behind with complete impunity. To cover the rear and protect themselves, a group of attack aircraft lined up in a circle, when everyone was responsible for the protection of the forward aircraft. Therefore, the aircraft, in order to seat the arrow in it, had to be improved on the move, until the industry began to produce a new model. IL-2 showed extraordinary vitality - the aircraft returned to the airfield with huge holes in the planes, without half the tail, but with a live crew. The attack aircraft carried a shaped-bomb PTAB bombs.
By the beginning of the Vistula-Oder operation, the coordination of joint actions of attack aircraft, ground forces and fighters was brought to perfection. In the attack, attack aircraft destroyed enemy headquarters and communications centers, artillery, mortars and enemy firing points. In the series - the story of the creation of one of the oldest orders of the USSR - the Order of the Red Banner.
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