Liberators. Fighters

It was spring 1943. Soviet troops seized a bridgehead on "Malaya Zemlya" near Novorossiysk. In the Caucasus, the Red Army is confidently moving forward, preparing to break through the Blue Line, a powerful system of German fortifications in the lower reaches of the Kuban. In the upcoming operation, a special role is assigned to Soviet fighter pilots. It was they who were to end the rule of the German aviation in the sky of the Kuban.

Before the war in the USSR, only film actors could compete with the popularity of pilots. Young people were literally eager to conquer the sky, practicing in flying clubs. The air force grew in size. But the first blow of German aircraft on June 22, 1941, most of the Soviet airfields and aircraft were disabled. The pilots lacked not only vehicles, but also experience in air combat. It was especially hard for Soviet fighters in the skies of the Battle of Rzhev, where they clashed with the German aces of Melders' squadron. The turning point in the situation was outlined only by the end of 1942. Soviet pilots began to switch to German combat tactics, mastering new types of aircraft - Yaki, LaGGi, MiGi.

The series details the various types of German and Soviet fighters during the war. Veterans will share their memories of the everyday life of this kind of troops: what they flew in and how, about "free hunting", about rewards for the downed enemy plane, about the battle in the air of Taman.

A separate part of the film is dedicated to stories Order of Lenin.

Comments

[Konnick]

The landing operation and the 225-day holding of the bridgehead had no impact on the course of the fighting or the liberation of Novorossiysk. 75 soldiers and officers entered the bridgehead, and 25 died—practically two divisions. Continuous minefields around Malaya Zemlya allowed the Germans and Romanians to maintain limited forces for control. Constant artillery shelling and bombing forced our troops to remain permanently in the trenches. And speaking of aviation, we were forced to maintain a fighter division, which was forced to cover the bridgehead from bombers under anti-aircraft fire. These troops and aircraft were so insufficient to break through the Blue Line. When the Blue Line was breached, the Germans and Romanians evacuated Novorossiysk.

[Konnick]

The air battle occurred for a reason not revealed in the film. The Germans were retreating from the Kuban and preventing our troops from being pursued by their attack aircraft, so our tank and cavalry units were behind the rifle units due to heavy losses from the air raids. Stalin dispatched Air Force Commander-in-Chief Novikov and the best fighter regiments in the best aircraft to replace the fighter regiments with LaGG-3s, I-16s, and I-15s. That's when the Air Battle of the Kuban began, but the German 1st Panzer Army managed to escape through Rostov-on-Don... Stalin's plan to bottle up the tank army in the Caucasus failed. And the film also made the nonsense that the liberation of Novorossiysk meant breaking the Blue Line.

[nedgen]

Quote: Konnick

Stalin's plan to bottle up the tank army in the Caucasus failed. And the film also made a nonsense claim that the liberation of Novorossiysk meant breaking the Blue Line. It didn't.

Well, not Stalin, but rather the General Staff. However, in the first two years of the war, many of the General Staff's plans failed.

[Konnick]

Quote: nedgen

Well, not Stalin, but rather the General Staff. However, in the first two years of the war, many of the General Staff's plans failed.

Perhaps, but the plan and execution for encircling the southern group of forces began in January 42 with the decree on the construction of the Volga Rocade. The plan was to lure the Germans into the Stalingrad steppes and stretch the front instead of a concentrated offensive in the Caucasus toward the Baku oil fields. And accordingly, the disinformation operation "Monastery" began. The history of the Battle of Stalingrad is not very simple...if the Germans had not advanced to Stalingrad, they would not have been able to hold the Caucasus.