I was in a flakpanzer in the armored column. We were moving through the mouth of a valley when we noticed some specks moving through the next valley over. Sturmoviks on the hunt for us! But they passed behind a ridge and did not see us. We called to our fighters on the radio for help and grimly pressed on to our objective.
Our fighters arrived and we saw them fighting with some enemy planes, which gave us a feeling of relief. But as we neared our target we saw a schwarm of sturmoviks coming right at us, with their propellors nearly shearing the wool of the sheep on the plain! Our fighter cover had been decieved by the Bolshevik interceptors and left us wide open to attack.
The enemy came at us at great speed, but in a line astern formation which allowed our gunners to chew them up one at a time. I exploded one and ruined the engine of another as he turned to attack us again.
But this action distracted me from the attack of another who moved with such great speed that he appeared to jump several hundred metres in an instant. I had no hope of aiming my guns in time and he ruined my vehicle with his cannons before I could return fire.
Taking cover in a crater, I watched as our fighters screamed in from above and finished off the remaining sturmoviks except for one great pilot, reportedly a Polish conscript, who limped home with his kite badly damaged.
Thank God the flyboys showed up when they did, or the remaining sturmoviks might have had their way with our panzers. Although our anti-aircraft units suffered badly, the enemy aircraft suffered worse. Our remaining panzers were able to continue to their target and reduce the Bolshevik petroleum facility to a smoldering mountain of wreckage!