On the morning of July 5, before dawn had broken, the German Air Force's airfields along the front had already sprung into action. The airfields were brightly lit as ground crews refueled the aircraft and loaded them with ammunition. The pilots, meanwhile, were receiving their mission briefings.
This time, the Imperial Air Force's target was Chelyabinsk. Since Russia had dared to reject Germany's terms, Germany had to find a way to make the Russians submit. There was no method swifter or more effective than force.
"Everyone understands that our mission this time is to drop our bombs on Chelyabinsk and raze the city to the ground! The Russian Air Force does not have many aircraft left, so it poses little threat to us. Our escort fighters will also do everything possible to ensure the bombers' safety. So there is no need for anyone to worry," the Bomber Wing's Wing Commander said.
Whether traveling from the Moscow front or the Yuzefgrad front to Chelyabinsk, the distance was over a thousand kilometers. Due to their limited range, the German Air Force's BF-109 and FW-190 fighters could not escort the bomber formations. They could only rely on the Strategic Air Force's BF-110 long-range fighters.
Fortunately, the Russian Air Force had already been nearly bled dry in the previous battles. Therefore, the German Air Force only needed to dispatch a small number of fighters to provide secure protection for the bomber formations.
The German Air Force's strategic bomber force had a total of eight air groups. During the war against Russia, four strategic air groups had long been deployed on the Eastern Front to deliver strategic blows against Russia. Originally, after Russia's defeat, those air groups could have been transferred west. But unexpectedly, the Russians had rejected Germany's terms. That gave the German Strategic