Абзац из Luftwaffe Schlachtgruppen
(Aviation Elite Units 13):
Soviet tanks had already severed 9. Armee's lines of supply when all of Lufflotte 4's serviceable ground attack machines were ordered up to the Orel area. In the immediate aftermath of Zitadelle their numbers were few - 34 Fw 190s of Major Druschel's SchIG 1, 27 of Bruno Meyer's twin- engined Henschels and the six remaining Hs 123s of 7./SchlG 1. Few perhaps , but sufficient to help check the tide of `Red' armour that threatened to engulf 9. Armee, as this message of appreciation, sent by the Army GOC, Generaloberst Walter Model, to HQ Luftflotte 6 clearly indicates; `For the first time in the history of the war the Luftwaffe, without any ground support whatsoever, has succeeded in halting and destroying a complete armoured brigade'. In the months ahead the Luftwaffe would be forced to resort to such tactics with growing frequency, rushing units from one area of looming disaster to the next as Soviet pressure increased all along the front and each new counter-offensive followed close on the heels of the last. After Orel, SchlG I had returned to Kharkov-Rogan. Here, it narrowly avoided being overrun when the town was encircled and then captured on 23 August during the course of the latest Soviet thrust to the south of Kursk (for details see Osprey Aircraft of the Aces 6-Fw 190 Aces of the Russian Front). Then it was further south still, to Stalino, near the shores of the Sea of Azov, where yet another major counter-offensive had by now re-taken the entire Donets Basin. Hermann Buchner again; `All hell had broken loose along the River Mius. From dawn till dusk we flew against the enemy pouring westwards across the steppe - tanks, lorried infantry, even cavalry units. At one stage a column of Ivan tanks, with infantry on board, was reported heading straight for our airfield. 'Everybody turned to - cooks, clerks, the lot - to help rearm, refuel and keep us flying.'
