"Damn it, where was our air force? Why were they just standing by and watching? Didn't the Western Front have two air armies?" Konev watched the German Air Force slaughter the Russian troops with impunity, his eyes reddening.
"The Western Front's two air armies are nothing but empty shells. In the previous battles, we lost huge numbers of aircraft and pilots, and they are still being rebuilt. Besides, our I-16 fighters and I-15 fighters are no match for German aircraft at all. The Yak-1, LaGG-3, and MiG-3 fighters are still undergoing test flights. It will still be some time before they can enter mass production and service. And even once they do enter service, I'm afraid they still won't be a match for the Germans. The Americans did provide a batch of aircraft, but their performance is not much better than ours. Expecting those men from the air armies to fly such aircraft and risk their lives against the Germans is simply impossible." General Zhukov shook his head with a bitter smile.
Although the Bolshevik Air Force was enormous in scale, that was merely a numerical advantage. As for quality, it was truly beyond praise. The vast gap in aircraft performance, along with the disparity in pilot quality, meant that the Bolshevik Air Force simply had no strength to contend with the German Air Force.
Lieutenant General Konev had nothing left to say. Yet under such circumstances, Joseph still stubbornly demanded that the Russian troops launch a counterattack against the Germans. He was treating war like child's play! But Konev could not say such words aloud. Otherwise, the political officers in the military would certainly not let him off.
The Russian soldiers on the ground suffered devastating losses under the German Air Force's attacks, leaving corpses strewn across the ground.