Soviet Assault, 1941

Still delayed along the 2000 mile Eastern Front was the long-expected summer offensive. Soviet airmen, however, were not idle. In repeated air assaults they battered Nazi-held rail centers, like the one in Bryansk, where connecting lines lead north to Smolensk and south to Kharkov. Pictured here is a low-level strafing attack by a flight of twin-engined DB-3A medium bombers swooping down over a Nazi rail point jammed with Axis troops and supplies moving to the front.