Having fought almost 800 kilometers, the summer of 1944 the Red Army was in Poland on the banks of the Vistula. They managed to capture and hold on the west bank of the river Pulavsky, Magnushevsky and Sandomierz bridgehead. Throughout the autumn and early winter, the Red Army has accumulated strength for the next throw - the Oder. Breaking the resistance of the Wehrmacht was not possible without the participation of attack aircraft that would support the advance of tanks and infantry. Ground attack aircraft - it is well armored aircraft armed with powerful cannons, machine guns, equipped with bombs and rockets. Such specialized aircraft later called IL-2, appeared at designer Sergei Ilyushin in the late '30s. IL-2 was destined to become the most massive attack aircraft of World War II and, moreover, the most massive combat aircraft in the history. At first, the Il-2 does not provide for air gunner. Therefore, the German fighters could attack with impunity behind Soviet planes. To cover and protect the rear group of planes lined up in a circle, when each was responsible for the protection running ahead of the aircraft. IL-2 has demonstrated extraordinary vitality - the aircraft returned to the airfield with huge holes, but with a crew alive. Assault carrying bombs PTAB shaped charge. By the beginning of the Vistula-Oder operation the coherence of joint action by ground attackers and fighters was perfected. In the offensive attack aircraft destroyed enemy headquarters and communications centers, artillery, mortars and enemy firing points. In the episode - history of one of the oldest orders of the USSR - the Order of the Red Banner.
