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on the morning of november 7, 1944, the soviet 6th guards infantry corps was marching from the niš area of ​​yugoslavia to belgrade, pursuing the german "brandenburg" division. a large number of people and horses crowded forward on the long and narrow road in an orderly manner.

on the same day, the 82nd fighter group of the u.s. army stationed at the foggia base in italy launched a full-scale attack and launched 60 p-38s to cover bombers' air strikes on german targets in yugoslavia.

originally, both units were fighting for a common goal - to defeat the german nazis, but something very unpleasant happened that day.

▲the us 82nd fighter group stationed at the foggia base in italy is equipped with p-38 fighter jets.

at around 12:40 noon, a total of 12 p-38s in three 4-plane formations of the us military appeared over the 6th guards infantry corps. the soviet troops on the ground recognized the american p-38 fighter jets and waved red flags to greet their allies.

however, the soviet army advanced too fast. the leader, colonel clarence edwinson, did not receive any reports of friendly troops nearby and concluded that the troops on the ground were german troops.

after these p-38s passed the soviet column at low altitude, they quickly climbed into the distance, then turned around and rushed towards them. the first group of four p-38s dived shallowly, first fired rockets, then dropped bombs, and finally strafed with machine guns and machine guns.

the second group of p-38s followed closely behind, firing rockets, bombs, and strafing in one go, destroying many trucks and other supplies. two groups of p-38s attacked back and forth at low altitude, while the third group of p-38s stayed on guard at higher altitudes.

▲the p-38 can carry a large number of bombs and rockets to attack the ground. after the throwing is completed, it can be fired with machine guns and cannons.

being attacked unexpectedly by their allies, the soviet army was stunned at first and suddenly fell into chaos. however, the experienced red army soldiers quickly stabilized their position and began to fight back with various light weapons, and reported the situation to the nearby air force.

stationed in the nis area was the 288th fighter division of the soviet army. at that time, the division was holding activities to commemorate the october revolution. after receiving the alert, the pilots immediately took action.

after hearing the reports from the army's brother units, the soviet pilots learned that the "enemy aircraft" was a twin aircraft. the mainstream aircraft using this shape are the us military's p-38 fighter jet and the other is the german fw-189 reconnaissance aircraft.

what confused the soviet pilots was that the luftwaffe had not appeared in the sky for a long time. moreover, the fw-189 was a reconnaissance aircraft. although it was equipped with certain weapons, it was not good at ground attack.

if it were a us military p-38, a rash fight would cause a diplomatic turmoil. therefore, the soviet commander asked the pilots to shoot down the plane immediately if it was a german plane. if it was an american plane, they should identify themselves and not open fire.

▲the german fw-189 reconnaissance aircraft can also be armed. the aircraft has a small hovering radius and is difficult to shoot down.

just as they were preparing to take off, the fighting spread over the soviet airport. the air defense forces at nis airport fired back and managed to shoot down a us plane. the plane crashed one kilometer north of the airport.

at 13:00 sharp, nine yak-9s of the 659th fighter regiment scrambled to take off, but the "enemy planes" completed their assembly and came towards the airport again, hitting a taxiing yak-9. fortunately, the pilot survived.

colonel nikolay shmelev, deputy commander of the 707th assault aircraft regiment, saw clearly the "enemy plane" emblem - blue background with white heart, it was the us military! the soviet commander ordered the yak aircraft in the sky to identify themselves immediately and not to attack the allies.

however, the red-eyed us pilots did not intend to stop, thinking that they had discovered a secret german airport. moreover, they also lost an aircraft. before the soviet troops could get closer and display the red star, the us troops rushed over and opened fire to drive them away.

▲the p-38 fired at the yak aircraft. since they could not fight back, the soviet army was very passive.

the soviet pilots maintained the greatest degree of restraint. while being chased everywhere by the p-38, they had to find ways to identify themselves and were very passive.

some yak aircraft were damaged, and the soviet pilots could no longer bear it, and an air battle between the united states and the soviet union broke out. low altitude is the advantageous airspace of the yak aircraft, but the p-38's low altitude performance was poor. it quickly fell into a disadvantage during the circling fight, and two "lightnings" were shot down.

colonel edwinson, the leader of the us military team, was anxious. while ordering the remaining p-38s to form the "lufberg" defense circle, he also called more than 40 other p-38s of the 82nd fighter group to come for support.

not to be outdone, the soviet army also came to reinforce the yak-3s of the 866th fighter division, arriving first under the leadership of captain alexander kordunov (46 combat victories).

▲the soviet yak-3 fighter jet is light and flexible at low altitudes and is good at dogfights.

at this time, the soviet pilots were faced with the situation that several p-38s were connected end to end at an altitude of 500 meters, forming a "lufberg" defense circle. no matter which p-38 they followed, the soviet aircraft would fall behind. the p-38's firing range.

to crack the defense circle, you can only start from the vertical direction, but the attack window is very limited, which requires the pilot to accurately judge the location of the enemy and friends, and has high requirements for shooting level.

moreover, the height of the us aircraft is only 500 meters. if it dives and attacks, it will directly hit the ground without paying attention. the soviet pilots were highly skilled and courageous, and they prepared to attack from below.

several yak aircraft lined up in a column, accelerated at an altitude of only 20 meters, pulled up when they rushed under the us aircraft, and shot at the p-38 at an almost vertical angle. after the attack ended, they leveled off, and then dived to the height of the treetops. cycle.

▲schematic diagram of the "lufberg" defense circle. no matter which spitfire the bf-109 in the upper right corner attacks, it will fall into the attack range of the spitfire behind it.

during multiple rounds of attacks, a p-38 was hit by the yak-9's 37mm cannon and crashed immediately. the remaining p-38s still insisted on circling, determined not to fight with the yak aircraft.

reinforcements of u.s. planes arrived quickly. seeing that the battle was about to escalate, soviet pilot captain nikolay surnev took the initiative to fly in front of the leader of the u.s. planes, swung his wings, and climbed at a high angle to show off the red stars on the wings.

this action is simply a gamble, and the american plane can easily shoot it down. fortunately, the team leader, colonel edvinson, finally realized his mistake, led the team to dive out of the battle, and accelerated back west.

this was the end of the accidental battle, which lasted for 15 minutes. the united states and the soviet union immediately launched an investigation into the matter. a total of 31 people of the soviet 6th guards infantry corps were killed and 37 wounded. the dead included lieutenant general grigory kotov, the commander of the army! a large number of military vehicles were also destroyed.

▲the yak-9t fighter equipped with a 37mm cannon accurately hit a p-38 during the conflict.

the soviet army claimed to have shot down 5 p-38s, two yakks were shot down, and another was accidentally hit by its own anti-aircraft artillery. two pilots were killed and one was injured. in addition, a parachuting us pilot was captured.

the us military claimed to have shot down 4 yak aircraft, two p-38s were shot down, the pilots were killed, and another p-38 was damaged by anti-aircraft fire and made an emergency landing.

the u.s. military quickly realized its mistake. u.s. ambassador to the soviet union harriman apologized to stalin on behalf of roosevelt and removed the person responsible, colonel ed vinson.

the united states believed that the mission of the us military pilots was to strafe the german troops on the skopje-pristina highway. however, the road map in the niš area was similar to that in skopje, and the us military had mistaken the target. however, the distance between the two places is quite large, and it is unbelievable that the us plane yawed so far.

colonel edwinson argued that he led his team to the location of the german army in the intelligence, but the german army withdrew too quickly and the soviet army bit too hard, mistakenly identifying the soviet army as the german army.

▲p-38 attacked the soviet 6th guards infantry corps, causing heavy casualties. a soldier in the lower left corner tried to fight back with light weapons.

although the nature of this accidental attack was bad, the war is not over yet. both countries still have common enemies, so both sides intend to reduce the impact.