Something new and something exciting:
Very late in the evening of 7 July, the commander of Soviet 2nd Guards Tank Corps was ordered to assemble an armoured force with infantry support and strike westwards, from its position in the woods, around the village of Gostischevo.Its task was to assault the deep flank of the SS Panzer Corps, with a view to cutting off its supply route. Quite by chance, as this completely unsuspected Soviet unit was emerging from woodland and deploying for attack with infantry support, it was spotted by Hauptmann Meyer who was leading a flight of Henschel He 129īs in a routine reconnaissance of the area. the Henschels devastated the T-34īs with their 30 mm cannon. FW 190īs of battle formation "Druschel" flew in support, dropping anti-personnel bombs on the infantry. Within an hour fifty shattered T-34īs littered the battlefield. It was the first time in the history of warfare that a tank formation had been destroyed solely from the air.
