Retention of Supremacy in the Air, Major Air Operations in Europe
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Hero of the Russian Federation Pyotr Deinekin General of the Army, Doctor of Military Sciences Retention of supremacy in the air, major air operations in Europe Dear ladies and gentlemen, comrades! At this conference, I was committed to speak on such an important military factor in the armed struggle, as supremacy in the air. A famous doctrine of General Douhet that victory can be achieved only through military operations of Air Force, is incorrect. The experience of two world wars confirms that to win in modern warfare is possible only with cooperation of all branches of the armed forces on land, at sea and in the air. Along with that, «Since the beginning of the last century to the present time, the most important expression of the state’s military power is supremacy in the air. Fleet and land army must come to terms with their secondary position.» These wise words were said by Winston Churchill in 1940, during his speech in parliament after the «Battle of Britain» between the German Luftwaffe and the Royal Air Force of Great Britain. — 75 — This position was deeply understood by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Under his winged motto «Fly above all, beyond all, the fastest of all» he created the Soviet aviation industry before the beginning of the Second World War. During the war, the aircraft factories delivered more than 100,000 combat aircraft to the Red Army, and flight schools trained 100,000 pilots. War propaganda was in full swing on foreign soil. In June 1941, the Luftwaffe inflicted a severe defeat on our troops, won control in the air and on 22 July bombed Moscow. Reasons: Heavy losses in team personnel as a result of Stalinist purges; - The decentralized structure of the Air Force. Tens of thousands of combat aircraft were evenly dispersed along the meridian of Odessa - Murmansk between the navy and ground forces. Combined-arms commanders powerfully blocked aviation within their frontage, and deprived it of the ability to maneuver. - Aviation missed radio control and management in general, as such. On both operational and strategic levels. — 76 — photo: Defense Commissar Voroshilov with the heads of the Air Force and Navy. Picture taken after 1935. Shortly before the war all, including the Chief of Air Force Alksnis, were shot. All except the marsha Unlike the Red Army Air Force: - Air fleets of the enemy were managed centrally; - Luftwaffe squadrons maneuvered freely between the fronts, and with im- punity sank Allied convoys in the Atlantic; In the battlefields reliable radio control was organized. photo: a German «Junkers» attacks an allied convoy in the Atlantics At the same time, during the first month of air battles, the Luftwaffe suffered heavy losses, and in August 1941, Russian pilots were already bombing Berlin. — 77 — V. Reshetnikov A. Molodchiy M. Vodopyanov Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel General Vasily Reshetnikov in 1941 in- flicted strikes over Berlin, when the Germans were in Khimki. Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Alexander Molodchiy was burned and fell over Berlin. He sent a telegram to Stalin: «I am over the lair of the fascist beast. Job complete.» He stamped a fire out from the engine, pulled the plane on a sin- gle engine here, to an airfield outside Moscow, and an hour later the radio op- erator received a telegram: «We are waiting for you. Congratulations on win- ning. Stalin.» The famous polar pilot Mikhail Vodopyanov, who formed from pilots of Northern Sea Route a regiment of heavy bombers, and also bombed Berlin. Though not entirely successful. It would be fair to mention that the first pilots who bombed Berlin were from naval aviation. Throughout the war, the Germans lost about 100,000 aircraft, of which 72,000 were lost on the eastern front. I recall that a second front was opened only in 1944, when control of the air was already won. landing operation of the Allies — 78 — Superiority, but not air supremacy, was for the first time achieved in the Bat- tle of Moscow. The Luftwaffe suffered its second major defeat at the Battle for Stalingrad. During the preparation of the counteroffensive Stalin sent Georgiy Zhukov a telegram which said: «The experience of military struggle shows that the battle with the Germans can only be won if there is air supremacy. And if Novikov (Air Force commander of the Red Army - ed.) is not ready, then the operation should be rescheduled.» Nobody dared to disobey the Supreme commander, and the operation was suspended for a week. During this time, the Red Army Air Force commander General Novikov gathered the best forces in the sky of Stalingrad, and the operation «Big Saturn» began. Goering also showed vigilance. He sent Field Marshal Milch, organizer of the Luftwaffe, to the front. He gathered the best pilots and even instructors from flying schools. — 79 — However, at Stalingrad Luftwaffe suffered such losses that the German army could no longer fulfill till the end of the war. In the spring of 1943, Soviet pilots fought successfully with experts from the squadron «Rihtgoffen» in the sky of Kuban. Here the famous formula of air combat was born: «Height, speed, maneuver, fire!» In summer of 1943, opponents clashed over the Kursk Salient, and after that battle the air supremacy was definitively passed to the Russian side. Then there was operation «Bagration» and 10 Stalin Attacks, the liberation of Europe and the storming of Berlin, and no questions were addressed to the Air Force by Stalin. Causes of a breakthrough: 1. The military industry of the USSR had been evacuated to the depths of the country and began to produce military products. One of the heads of factories received a severe telegram from Stalin: «The front needs IL-2 like bread, like air. And if you do not commercialize the release of ten stormtroopers a night, you will be brought to justice.» Thus the production of new aircraft and engines was started, and flight schools made up for the losses in personnel. — 80 — 2. Reorganization of Red Army Air Force. In March 1942, long-range air force was restored, and in May were formed Air armies and air corps in General Headquarters reserve. 3. The replacement of Air Force leaders. Frontal Aviation was headed by General Aleksandr Novikov, and long-range air force by General Golovanov. 4. Commanders and pilots gained new combat experience, aircraft began to be under radio control, the number of losses significantly reduced. For example, if in June - December 1941 long-range bombers lost up to 1,000 flight crews in battles, then in the following years of war the number of losses reduced by half. 5. Aid of allies in the framework of Lend-Lease. — 81 — Only along the heroic airway Alaska - Siberia 7,352 combat aircraft, including the legendary «Cobras», B-25 «Mitchell», A-20 “Boston” and C-47 were delivered to Russia from the United States. By the way, in 2015 young aviators from Russia and the United States are preparing to repeat such a hop on vintage aircraft of World War II. 6. In the struggle for supremacy in the air a big role was played by Allied aircraft. At the beginning of the war Goering said that no bomb will fall over the Reich capital. However, up to 1,000 airplanes of the United States in the daytime and about 700 machines of the Royal Air Force of Great Britain at night participated in massive raids on Germany. flying fortresses of the U.S. air force Berlin under the bombing of Allies — 82 — One example was the operation «Frentik», a common Soviet-American military operation with shuttle movement of American bombers. The U.S. strategic bombers departed from England, bombed Ruhr, continued their flight to the east, and landed on the airfields in Ukraine. There the crews rested and aircraft in the meantime were prepared for combat missions on the reverse route. The victory over fascism in World War II was achieved through the joint efforts of the peoples of all the anti-Hitler coalition. The signing of German capitulation treaty was at the cost of heavy losses, especially in the battles on the Eastern Front, but nevertheless, this does not detract the famous role of allies in providing assistance to the Soviet Union in the armed struggle against the common enemy. To confirm this, let me cite the words engraved on the pedestal of the monument to the Soviet and American pilots in Fairbanks (Alaska): — 83 — The structure of world peace cannot be the work of one man, or one party, or one nation... it must be a peace which rests on the cooperative effort of the whole world.President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In conclusion of my report, let me present the photo of the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Russian President — 84 — Vladimir Putin. The photo was made after the flight on a strategic Tu-160 in August 16, 2005. The assessment of the Russian Air Force: «Accurately. Competently. Beautifully. Thank you. Putin.» — 85 —.