"Attention, all wings. We will reach the target in ten minutes. Bombers, begin descending and prepare to drop bombs. Escort fighter formations, prepare to suppress enemy ground-based air defenses and cover the bombers' attack!" Lieutenant General Otto Dessloch ordered.
There was almost no need to guess—the Russian anti-aircraft troops on the ground had certainly already prepared for battle. It had taken the German aircraft group three hours to reach Kazan; the Russians could not possibly have failed to guess their target. Even so, Lieutenant General Otto Dessloch was confident that he could destroy all the city's vital factories in one stroke.
According to the intelligence obtained earlier, the factories producing Yak-1 fighters for the Bolshevik Air Force, along with their parts factories, were all concentrated in southwestern Kazan. That made this area a primary bombing target for the German Air Force.
"Quick! Quick! Prepare to attack. The German aircraft are coming!" Urged on by their officers, the Bolshevik anti-aircraft troops in Kazan rushed into their air-defense positions. Anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns were all raised toward the sky, awaiting the arrival of the German Air Force formations.
Most of these anti-aircraft guns were 40mm and 20mm guns. They posed little threat to German bombers flying at high altitude. But once those bombers descended, they would be able to destroy them. Even though the German Air Force's heavy bombers were extremely sturdy, they could never withstand these anti-aircraft guns.
However, the German Air Force bombers did not launch their attack immediately. Instead, they allowed the escort fighters to strike first.
The Bolshevik anti-aircraft troops on the ground immediately opened fire when they saw large numbers of German military aircraft diving down.
"Boom boom boom! Rat-a-tat-tat!"
The anti-aircraft guns and machine guns fired madly. Shells exploded in the air, leaving clusters