USSR 1941

  Chapter 113 Gasoline barrel

   "I think magnetic mines are effective against all iron floating objects!" Shulka said.

   Shulka of course had to use "I think", because he, a little soldier, shouldn't know so much.

   "That's right!" Admiral Kirponos said, "But what's the use?"

   "Gasoline cans, General!" Shulka said: "We can clear mines with petrol cans!"

  Admiral Kirponos couldn't help but let out an "oh", and then nodded heavily.

   This is indeed a simple and easy method.

  This method is not feasible if it is in the sea, because the flow direction of the sea water is not certain, and the sea surface is too wide. Once the gasoline barrel is thrown into the river, it will quickly disperse and lose sight of the shadow.

  The river water is different, it is just a river, and the direction of water flow is also the same, that is, from top to bottom.

  For example, the section of the Dnieper River in Kyiv is 864 meters wide, so it is not difficult to operate.

The army may be in short supply of other items such as bullets, food, fuel, etc., but there is no shortage of empty gasoline barrels... Steel is a heavy industry, and gasoline barrels do not have high requirements for steel, so the empty barrels are often sold after they are used up. Discarded everywhere, or used to remove the cover and fill with soil at the front line for building fortifications.

  Collecting these things can be said to be effortless.

  So, soon a carload of gasoline barrels were transported to the Kyiv Bridge... Although the bridge was blown into two sections, this did not hinder the plan.

  Then, the gasoline cans were thrown into the river one by one.

These gasoline barrels have been filled with half a barrel of water... This is to make the oil barrels sink deep enough, on the one hand, so that the magnetic mines sinking at the bottom of the river can better sense the oil barrels, and on the other hand, it can Detonate ordinary mines... The mines laid by the German army are not necessarily all magnetic mines.

   "What's the use of doing this?" A Soviet soldier asked suspiciously: "Did they think they could defeat the Germans by doing this?"

   "I don't know!" Another Soviet soldier replied as he pushed the oil drum into the river: "But this is an order, you just have to follow it!"

  This may be a shortcoming of the Soviet army. Soldiers don't know much about the situation, and sometimes they don't even have the necessary information.

   On the contrary, German soldiers often know what they are going to do or why they are doing it from top to bottom. Facts have proved that this often plays an important role at critical moments, because every soldier knows what to do.

  These are later words.

At this time, under the work of the Soviet soldiers for some reason, in a short while, the entire river was covered with oil barrels. Driven by the river water, these oil barrels sank and floated downstream, like a The army, mighty and mighty, went straight downstream.

   Needless to say what happened next.

   From time to time, there was a loud "boom" on the river, and with the loud noise, there were water jets soaring into the sky.

  The German troops stationed on both sides of the strait didn't know what was going on at first, but they understood when they saw the gasoline barrels floating down one by one.

   "General!" The adjutant immediately reported the situation to Admiral Kleist: "Our mines may not be effective, they threw the gasoline barrels into the river!"

"Barrels of gasoline?"

   "Yes!" The adjutant replied: "Thousands of gasoline barrels, they detonated the mines along the way!"

   "A very good idea!" Admiral Kleist could not help but praise.

   After a pause, he said again: "However, if they think that shallow-water ships can pass through the river, they are wrong!"

  Admiral Kleist is right, the Soviet shallow water ships are still unable to pass, because German artillery is everywhere on both sides of the bank, and they will use artillery fire to blow any shallow water ships that appear on the river to pieces.

   But soon, the adjutant sent another telegram to Admiral Kleist.

   "Your Excellency, General!" The adjutant reported: "The No. 1 pontoon bridge has been blown up!"

   "What? How did they do it?" Admiral Kleist asked.

"Barrels of gasoline!"

   "I don't understand, those gasoline cans are used to detonate mines, how can they blow up the floating bridge?"

   "Not all of them!" The lieutenant replied, "Some were loaded with explosives and gasoline! They floated up to the pontoon and got blocked, and then..."

   Needless to say what happened next, the pontoon bridge was blown up or burned in bursts of explosions and flames.

  It would be fine if it was just a few gasoline cans, but the gasoline cans are in pieces, only some of them are mixed with bombs and gasoline... so it is difficult to do.

   After thinking for a while, Admiral Kleist ordered: "Order the 29th Armored Division to cross the river immediately!"

Admiral Kleist's decision may be right. Although they cannot deal with this kind of gasoline barrel attack, it will take time for the gasoline barrel to blow up all the way to the downstream pontoon bridges. If the 29th Armored Division moves quickly, it is completely possible It is possible to cross the river before the floating bridge is blown up, or at least part of it (it is very difficult for tanks to use the floating bridge to cross the river in the rainy night).

   But Admiral Kleist soon found out that he was wrong again, because after a while the adjutant rushed up again and reported: "General, the pontoon bridges No. 5 and No. 6 have been blown up!"

   Admiral Kleist couldn’t help being speechless when he heard the words, and asked after a while: “How did they do it? There are three pontoon bridges ahead!”

  "Yes!" The adjutant replied: "It's the guerrillas. They dropped gasoline barrels and mines downstream of No. 4 pontoon bridge..."

Therefore, from a perspective, the large number of gasoline barrels in the upstream is more of a role in the east and west. When everyone focuses on the upstream and thinks that the Soviet fleet will launch an attack, they only use a batch of gasoline barrels filled with explosives. The key pontoon bridge was blown up by sea mines.

   In fact, Shulka's preparations are not limited to this.

  The scouts sent by Admiral Kirponos still have diving equipment in their hands. Once the gasoline tanks and mines fail, it is time for divers to dispatch.

  This is the most difficult thing to prevent, because any point on the river may be a place for divers to enter the water. Once they dive into the water, especially in the river water at night, finding them is tantamount to finding a needle in a haystack.

  It is very difficult to build a floating bridge, but it is very easy to destroy a floating bridge, that is just to install a waterproof time bomb on the bottom of the floating bridge.

  These were done by the sailors of the Dnieper River Detachment...Divers are not available in all troops, which requires professional training.

   At this point, Admiral Kleist knew that his previous judgment was correct. The Soviets would not let the tanks of the 1st Armored Group return to the west bank of the Dnieper River so easily, even if it was only an armored division.

  Therefore, Admiral Kleist could only pin his hopes on the 11th Army, which was composed of Germany and Luo.