The battle begins from the air.

It should be said that this is completely expected, because the Soviet army has not had air supremacy in battles for a long time. They were suppressed for too long and desperately hoped to fight a battle with air supremacy.

On the other hand, in places like the Caucasus Mountains, it takes time for infantry to board and airdrop supplies. If you want to attack, the air force must be ahead.

Zhukov obviously made sufficient preparations in this regard.

First, he set the main force of the Air Force in Makhachikara.

Makhachkara is a port for large-scale landing and unloading of Soviet resources. The Soviet Air Force can easily obtain fuel, ammunition and parts here.

Secondly, Zhukov set up a large number of air defense forces around Makhachkara... Except for the sea-to-sea direction, two air defense regiments were arranged in each direction.

But Zhukov believes that this is not enough, because the air defense forces cannot stop the enemy fighter jets from bombing the airport, and can only be said to give the opponent's air force a certain blow and powerful shot.

So Zhukov transferred two hundred Jacques 1 and MiG3 fighters from other directions that the Soviet Union could fight against the German Air Force.

Air defense firepower plus advanced fighter aircraft protection can basically ensure the safety of Makhachkara.

Finally, Zhukov was equipped with more than 700 low-speed Seagull fighter jets and put them into the Caucasus battlefield in batches.

The Soviet Air Force obviously had an innate advantage in bombing, that is, most of the fortifications on the Caucasus Mountains were built by the Soviet army. They knew the specific locations of the fortifications, so they could carry out targeted bombing.

Moreover, this bombing did not seem to be difficult... The Soviet army had a large number of seagull fighters, and it was safe to fly in the peaks of the Caucasus Mountains. The German FW or BF fighters dared or were unwilling to enter the airspace of these peaks to chase the seagull fighters.

So as Zhukov imagined, the Soviet Union had at least part of the air supremacy in the Caucasus Mountains... For a moment, the figures of Soviet seagull fighter jets were everywhere in the sky, and they dived down one by one to bomb and shoot at the German fortifications.

The problem is that this is what the Soviet army believes to be the "German fortifications".

These fortifications were indeed constructed by the Soviet army, and the Soviet soldiers also knew their specific location... The problem is that the Soviet soldiers generally have low cultural level and military quality. If they were asked to visit the Caucasus Mountains in person, they would know that they were walking in their own homes from this road, this direction, and then there was a cave under a certain rock, and they were the bunker they built there.

But it would be difficult to let them point them out on the map.

"Is it here? I remember it's here!"

"No, I'm sure it's this place, because I can always see Elbrus Peak!"

"But you can see it here too!"

...

So the uncertain positions were designated by the Soviet soldiers and handed over to the Soviet pilots.

The Soviet pilot almost cried after seeing these positions:

"The left side of the Beicho Mountain Pass is a five-hour distance away, and it is about fifty meters away from Chik Rock (the name given by Soviet soldiers for a huge rock)!"

"Dick Mountain, three hundred meters west of Rome Creek, under the big tree."

...

What's worse is that when heavy snow covers winter, these rocks, big trees and other things are all white, and you can't see anything clearly when you look down from the sky.

Therefore, Soviet pilots often had to drop their bombs casually, or fire a shuttle bullet downward and then leave.

German soldiers often feel inexplicably... Have they seen people? Have they seen fortifications? Why throw bullets and bombs into places where no one is?

In addition, the Soviet army also faced a more serious problem, that is, the supply problem.

You should know that this is a snow-capped mountain, and it is also a large-scale army climbing snow-capped mountain. In a considerable number of areas, the altitude is more than 3,000 meters... The Soviet army's main offensive target is located in two passes in the eastern section of the Caucasus. If these two passes are occupied, it means that the Soviet army can pass through the Caucasus Mountains and enter the heartland of the Transcaucasus.

But mountain defense is often like this. To pass through a mountain pass with an altitude of more than 1,200 meters, you must occupy a high ground of more than 1,200 meters on both sides. To occupy a high ground of more than 1,200 meters, a high ground of more than 1,500 meters is crucial, so the areas that are competing for will become higher and higher and wider.

This will face a problem. It may take more than ten days to climb a high ground with an altitude of more than 3,000 meters, and the food carried by soldiers can only last about a week... Every soldier needs to carry ammunition, weapons, and mountaineering equipment, so the food he can carry is very limited.

Therefore, the army will starve to death before it arrives on the battlefield.

Zhukov took two measures to this point.

One is to set up supply points on the road.

Simply put, before the war begins, the engineers of each unit and the people who are not armed with weapons and equipment (mostly people familiar with the terrain and snow-climbing skills in the Caucasus region) carry food and follow the planned marching route of the unit to enter the Caucasus Mountains, and then arrive at a supply point about a day and bury the food in a safe position and mark it.

Next, set the second supply point based on the first supply point, and then set the third...

In this way, the large troops can use the food and fuel from these supply points on their way forward to save the food and fuel they carry.

(Note: The fuel is mainly kerosene. If the gasoline in this era has not been specially treated, such as adding antifreeze like aviation fuel, the freezing point will be around minus 30 degrees Celsius, and kerosene has the advantages of low cost and low freezing point. It is suitable for fuel in extremely cold areas, such as heating and eating...Bread and other foods will become very hard in extremely cold environments and need fuel to bake before eating)

The other is to set up a supply station in a deeper location.

Because this supply station is far from the starting point, the supply point can no longer extend to this hinterland.

So Zhukov sent several teams of professional soldiers with climbing skills to the hinterland to find suitable areas, such as the terrain is relatively flat, the wind is weak, and it is close to the marching routes of several troops.

Then, with the cooperation of these soldiers, a large-scale airdrop was used to use transport aircraft. The soldiers at the supply station did their job all day to find these supplies and drag them to the supply station.
Chapter completed!