At the end of the cannon pass, the three flights pulled back over the Danube. The first wave of the transport helicopters was right behind them. Several flights of armed Mi-17 transport helicopters went in first. As they orbited the river, Leonov could see why it had been chosen for the crossing. The river was not particularly wide at this point, and the banks on both sides were open, with little tree cover.
Kurasov's Air Direction team had been in the first wave. Kurasov was using the code name Indyuk One for the main Air Direction center. He reported that the helicopters had landed without encountering enemy troops. After all the apprehension about Stingers and Gepards, the attack had gone almost unmolested by the enemy.
By 1630, the flight was securely landed. It was an eerily attractive autumn evening. There was thick cloud cover at about 4,000 meters, and the setting sun had burned through near the horizon. It bathed the clouds in a pale salmon pink, a curious contrast to the dismal gray of the day preceding. It looked as though the weather would clear up that night. The 1st Squadron headed back to Dorfl for refueling and to await further missions.
Leonov and his gunner decided to sleep in the rear compartment of the helicopter. It was cold, and smelled of aviation kerosene. But it was better than a muddy tent. At about 0400, Leonov was woken up.
"OK, my fine princesses, time to get going. We're back in business."
It was his friend Shurko. Leonov was still in his flight suit. He put on his boots and numbly stumbled out into the cold night air. There were faint lights coming from a building several hundred yards away. He could barely see other members of the squadron making their way there, cursing as they stepped on cow turds or slipped into muddy puddles.
In fifteen minutes, the pilots from the 1st Squadron and the survivors from the 2d Squadron were gathered together, and Major Frolov began the briefing: "Comrades, we will be taking off at daylight for the bridgehead at Irlbach. The air assault battalion there has been subjected to a strong enemy counterattack. It doesn't look like our troops on the eastern side of the Danube have managed to reach the river. We have to try to give the bridgehead some fire support. If the situation gets bad enough, we may have to extract them.
"The enemy reacted very quickly last night. They must have been expecting an operation like this. They threw an armored unit against the bridgehead from Deggendorf in the east and Straubing to the west. They overran Landing Zone Afrika near Stephans-posching about two hours ago. We lost contact with Kurasov's team in Landing Zone Peru about thirty minutes ago. We don't know if they have been overrun, or if it's just because of the enemy radio jamming. The artillery boys have their hands full trying to cover the attack on the eastern bank of the river. This map here shows you the main artillery areas. We will have to avoid these on our approach. We will come in from the southeast and send in one flight from 2d Squadron about ten minutes in advance to do a quick reconnaissance. When we receive word back, we will provide each flight with instructions about their objectives. The air assault boys are very weak in antitank weapons. Our primary objective will be to eliminate enemy tanks. We have no word on enemy air defenses, but you will have to be careful. The enemy is fighting for the river on both sides. The east bank yesterday had few enemy troops. Today, there will be plenty. Supervise the arming of your aircraft. We will lift off about 0530. Questions?"
"Comrade Major, could you please explain the attack approaches? If we attack parallel to the river, won't that expose our left flank to enemy fire?" "Lieutenant Dudarek, you are quite right. We will be attacking westward, not southward like yesterday. The main enemy attack seems to be from the east, from Deggendorf, against Landing Zone Kanada. Kanada's rear is protected by a wooded area. But the enemy may be attacking from the west as well. Our communications with Kurasov were interrupted by jamming, and we didn't get a complete situation report. However, the lead elements of the main attack assure us they will reach the opposite bank of the Danube this morning. So the air assault boys have been told to hold the bridgehead on the west bank at all costs. We're being sent in to help them do that. If that's all, let's get to our aircraft and get ready. It's going to be a busy day!"
Leonov stumbled out into the dark. He was a bit more awake than before the meeting. But the bright lights of the meeting hall had deprived him of night vision: The farm field now looked totally black. He thought about wandering back into the building for a flashlight, but then he noticed that the ground crews had begun to turn on the position lights on the helicopters. It looked like a feeble attempt at Christmas decorations. The little red and green lights on the stub winglets flickered in the distance, outshone by the main position lights on the top of the fuselage. Leonov trudged forward.
It took about thirty minutes to prepare the helicopters for action. The weather was finally changing for the better. It wasn't so overcast, and there were large clear patches with starlight shining through. The sky to the southeast was beginning to turn a dirty pink as the dawn arrived.
Shurko and the remnants of 2d Squadron took off at the first signs of dawn. They would perform the first scouting mission. As the landing zone had been narrowed, Major Frolov ordered the squadron to make a linear approach, with the four flights following in succession. Each flight would be separated by about three minutes. Once the firing passes had been made, the flights were to pass over the east bank of the Danube and circle around for another firing pass. Each helicopter had four Drakon antitank missiles, and they would probably fire one per pass.
"Kontsert One, this is Orkestra One, over." It was Roman Shurko over the battlefield. The 1st Squadron was already airborne and heading for the bridgehead. "We are in sight of the bridgehead. The enemy has overrun Landing Zone Peru. Our boys are around Landing Zone Kanada, mostly on the outskirts of Irlbach. The enemy has about a dozen tanks. We have already been fired on by at least one ZSU.[51]
We will try to eliminate the ZSU before you arrive. Out."
Leonov could see Captain Nalepka's 1st Flight about a kilometer in front of him, silhouetted against the dawn sky. The squadron was approaching the objective at treetop level, very fast. The sun was still not fully up, and the forest below looked black. The crews were using low-light television due to the darkness. In the distance, Leonov could make out three Mi-24s pulling to the right and over the river as they exited from their firing runs. There should have been four. Who had been hit?
Nalepka's flight was staggered in two pairs, with the wingmen slightly behind the pair leaders. The squadron had slowed down a bit to permit more accurate sighting. Nalepka's flight began firing off countermeasure flares about four kilometers from the landing zone. The flares dropped away in patterns of four, brilliantly white against the dirty pink dawn sky. They didn't do any good. Before the helicopters reached firing range, two Stinger missiles came leaping up from the ground. The helicopter on the fer left was hit near the rotor, suddenly lurching and felling to earth. The second Stinger missed, but kept coming toward Leonov's flight. Leonov felt helpless as the smoke trail of the Stinger came closer and closer. Before it reached the incoming flight, it exploded harmlessly several hundred meters in front of them. The three remaining helicopters from Nalepka's flight began firing their Drakon antitank missiles. A stream of heavy tracer fire began to spray into the formation. Two more helicopters were hit, and pulled off to the right, in flames. The damn Gepard was still there!
Leonov checked to make certain his electronic jammer was switched on. He would take care of countermeasures while his gunner steered the antitank missile. He got on the intercom and told Sasha to try to pick out the Gepard. He instructed his flight not to use flares. They didn't seem to work, and they only attracted attention. He could be reprimanded for this, but he would take the risk. About four kilometers from the landing zone, they zoomed over the last bit of woods and finally were over clear pastures. The scene ahead was confusing. There were a great many flashes and explosions from the fighting below. A slight mist from the river made it hard to pick out targets. The tanks revealed themselves by the occasional blast from their guns. The Gepard seemed to be down near a clump of trees. Sasha triggered the first Drakon missile and guided it toward the Gepard. He had indeed picked out the right target. A stream of 35mm tracer came up out of the trees toward the helicopters. Steaming red fireballs.. they seemed like harmless fireworks. The tracer fire hit the left side of the flight, raking Yevgeny Kunayev's helicopter. The Mi-24 number 57 toppled over to the right and crashed into the ground in a large fireball. The Gepard turned its attention one aircraft inward, hitting Pavel Demichev's helicopter. That was its last victim. Both Leonov and Mikhail Popov's helicopters had targeted the Gepard with Drakon missiles, and they slammed into it nearly simultaneously. Leonov made a hard turn to the right, with Popov following shortly after. No Stingers so far. They swung around to the tail of the formation, behind Roman Shurko's flight.
51
ZSU is the Russian acronym for self-propelled antiaircraft guns like the German Gepard.