Chapter 624 Georgia (15)

"Oh, it's spectacular!"

In the Greater Caucasus Mountains, Fred and the others sitting by the fire watched the flames explode in the sky in the distance, cheering excitedly. They knew that a flame meant an enemy plane was hit and exploded. In a short time, more than 30 flames appeared in the sky, falling like meteors.

The company Fred belonged to was responsible for guarding the road marked as B-3 on the map. Because the Soviet army did not attack, they lived a very comfortable life. Today, they caught a wild boar to improve the food for the platoon. Of course, their usual food was also quite good. They could eat canned meat for at least one of the three meals a day; but there were all kinds of strange meats, but fortunately they were no longer surprised.

Amid the crackling of the bonfire, the wild boar legs on the fire exuded a strong fragrance, and the tempting oil dripped down the pig legs, and the hissing sound was endless.

"It's almost done!" Fred swallowed his saliva, took out his dagger, cut a piece of meat from the wild boar's leg, dipped it in the only seasoning salt, and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Ah, ah, hiss, it's so hot!" The hot barbecue rolled in his mouth, as if holding a ball of fire, but he was reluctant to spit it out, and swallowed it with pain and joy. "It tastes good, let's eat."

Just as the paratroopers on the ground were feasting, the battle in the sky also entered its climax. More than half of the more than 150 bombers were destroyed. The Soviet machine gunners frantically pulled the trigger, and tracer bullets of various colors were fired aimlessly in all directions, but unfortunately there was no effect, and the bombers were still blown up one after another.

The last bomber fell less than ten kilometers away from the Baku oil field. At this time, the oil field was searching for the bastard who set the fire and sent the signal.

Fred wiped the oil stains on his mouth and burped with satisfaction. "I'm so full."

After walking around and making sure the sentry was ok, he returned to his tent.

Although they had dug foxholes, they lived in cold-proof tents with a small stove inside because the Soviet army did not attack. It was very comfortable.

When Fred was lying comfortably on the camp bed, flipping through the "Playboy" magazine by the light of the kerosene lamp, another fleet entered the Black Sea through the Turkish Strait.

A fleet consisting of three battleships, three aircraft carriers, three heavy cruisers and several cruisers and destroyers joined the previous fleet and sailed towards Sevastopol, or to be more precise, to find trouble with the Sevastopol Fortress.

As early as 1783, when Russia acquired the Crimean Peninsula, it built fortifications around Sevastopol, but soon, the original fortifications gradually became old and could not even compete with the British battleships of the same year. Therefore, the old fortifications urgently needed to be renovated and upgraded.

In 1905, Russia summed up the lessons learned in the Russo-Japanese War and decided to rebuild two armored forts near Sevastopol. They were designed by the Nikolayev Engineering College and officially started in 1912. However, the outbreak of World War I, the fall of the Tsarist government, and the domestic revolution seriously affected the progress of the fort project. In the end, the two forts were completed one after another, dividing the north and the south. These are the No. 30 and No. 35 coastal defense forts. Among them, the No. 30 fort is the Gorky No. 1 fort, and the No. 35 fort is the Gorky No. 2 fort.

The No. 30 fort guards the wide fan from Cape Lucullus in the north, and the No. 35 fort controls the southern fan from Cape Khersones to Cape Violent, which can effectively control the vast waters in front of the entire Sevastopol fortress.

The two turrets were equipped with two Mb-2-12 twin turrets, and the ammunition was transported by underground rails. The range of this 305mm cannon was as high as 44 kilometers. Only the giant turret with 406mm thick armor was exposed on the ground. It was also equipped with 3 anti-aircraft guns, 4 anti-aircraft machine guns and 5 heavy machine gun fortresses, which formed an airtight defense system with the surrounding fortifications. The Soviet army assembled in Sevastopol could not only go north to Ukraine, but also send ships and aircraft to attack Romanian ports and oil fields, threatening the German logistics supply lines.

If the German Navy wanted to sail recklessly in the Black Sea, it had to destroy the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, including the fleet's base. The coastal artillery positions here were the focus of their efforts.

In October 1941 of the original time and space, while attacking the Battle of Moscow, the German army formed the 11th Army, commanded by General Manstein, with the aim of destroying the Soviet heavy forces gathered in Sevastopol, seizing the entire Crimea, and ensuring the stability of the southern front. The newly formed 11th Army consists of two German infantry armies and a Romanian mountain army, with a total strength of about 350,000 people, more than 100 tanks, more than 700 artillery pieces and a number of heavy mortars. They also received full support from the 8th Air Force commanded by Richthofen, which controlled the air supremacy over the Black Sea.

In early November 1941, the Soviet army formed the Sevastopol Defense Command. At the beginning of the war, the Soviet garrison in Sevastopol had 20,000 people, equipped with 350 artillery pieces, 37 ships and several tanks. Later, a large number of troops were sent by sea to strengthen the defense force. The Black Sea Fleet of the Soviet Southern Front, the Independent Maritime Army, and the 51st Army's approximately 23 divisions and attached units, totaling approximately 270,000 people.

The Soviets established three lines of defense around Sevastopol. Later, for the convenience of command, the lines were adjusted to four defense areas. Each defense area was divided into three parts: the frontier defense area, the main defense area and the rear defense area, which could resist for a long time. The Soviet artillery batteries such as "Stalin", "Siberia" and "Gorky-I" located outside Sevastopol were equipped with 305mm caliber cannons. The outer layer of the artillery batteries was wrapped with 200-300mm thick armor plates, and there were three layers of concrete compartments under the artillery batteries. The basic ammunition of the fortress was stored in the main ammunition depot "Kurabe" 30 meters underground on the south bank of Sevastopol Bay.

The most noteworthy thing about this battle was that the German commander Admiral Manstein was well aware of the strong defense of the fortress. In order to ensure the success of the attack, he carefully planned and allocated three super cannons, namely: 420mm fixed mortar "Gangma Equipment", 610mm self-propelled mortar "Karl Equipment", 800mm train cannon "Gustav Equipment".

The first target of the German army was the Soviet "Kurabe" ammunition depot. To this end, the "Gustav" fired a series of armor-piercing shells weighing 7,100 kilograms, which directly penetrated the 8,000-mm protective layer and hit the middle of the underground ammunition depot, causing a huge explosion that shocked the entire island, thus cutting off the ammunition supply of the Soviet northern fortress group.

Then, the "Gustav" turned south along the temporary 4-track large railway and began to attack the "Stalin" fortress. At the same time, the northern German artillery began to enter a full-scale siege of the "Gorky I" artillery operation. At this time, the protagonist of the northern artillery attack was replaced by the 610 mm "Karl Cannon", which is also known as the "Thor's Hammer". The "Karl" has a fast firing rate, and the 610 mm high-explosive shells weighing 2,200 kilograms are poured around the "Gorky I" fortress. The 4,000 mm thick permanent cement armor plate was broken into pieces, and the interior of the fortress began to be exposed. In order to suppress the Soviet infantry's breakout and reinforcement, the 420mm "Gangma Gun" carried out carpet bombing around the fortress, and the 1,000-kilogram 420mm shells smashed all the roads and railway networks around the fortress like raindrops.

The Battle of Sevastopol lasted 250 days. It became an example of long-term persistence and tenacious defense when surrounded by the enemy's deep rear. As far as the entire battle was concerned, the Soviet army focused on peripheral operations and established a deep defense system. With the development of the battle and the increase in troops, the Soviet army gradually increased the density of firepower, from an average of 4 support points per kilometer of front at the beginning to 17 support points, effectively improving the toughness and elasticity of defense. More importantly, the Soviet army continued to obtain reinforcements, ammunition and food from the rear. This war of attrition seriously weakened the German army's vitality.

Now that the German army has basically mastered the sea and air supremacy of the Black Sea, Yannik does not intend to waste time on land and is ready to blow up the Sevastopol fortress.