USSR 1941

  Chapter 830 Community of interests

   Soon, the group army headquarters called Shulka.

"What's the matter, Comrade Shulka?" Zolotarev's tone was very unhappy: "How can you order the troops to retreat when the whole army is charging, do you understand that this will cause serious consequences? If every commander If everyone disobeys orders like you, then how can we win..."

   Shulka only asked a question: "Comrade Zolotarev, is it because of my retreat order that the victory cannot be achieved?"

   Zolotarev could not help but be speechless, because he knew that was not the case.

   On the other hand, not to mention that Zolotarev has a personal relationship with Shulka, his personality is relatively upright, unlike some political commissars who can open their eyes and tell lies in order to shirk responsibility.

  The other end of the phone was silent for a while, and Zolotarev said angrily: "Comrade Shulka, I order you to come to the headquarters!"

   "Yes, Comrade Zolotarev!"

   "Try not to conflict with them!" Akadyevich said: "I will report this to my superiors..."

   "I can solve it!" Shulka interrupted Akadyevich, he did not want to rely on anyone's strength.

   After handing over the affairs of the regiment headquarters to Andrianka, Shulka ran along the traffic trench to the army headquarters behind.

  The group army headquarters is not far from the front line, only less than two kilometers... This is because the combat plan hopes to quickly break through and pass through the breakthrough, so the group army headquarters is also located relatively forward.

  Of course, another reason is that the communication equipment is poor. Many troops need to use the phone to communicate. The farther the headquarters, the more inconvenient the communication.

  As soon as Zolotarev saw Shulka, he frowned and asked: "Comrade Shulka, as the commander of the 82nd Infantry Regiment, don't you know the importance of obeying orders?"

   "I know, Comrade Zolotarev!" Shulka replied: "However, some orders are obviously wrong. For the sake of the soldiers' lives, I can only disobey!"

   "You!" Zolotarev couldn't help walking back and forth in front of the desk angrily, but he couldn't do anything about Shulka.

  Trufanov stepped forward to persuade: "Comrade Shulka, Zolotarev did not report this matter to his superiors... You should know what will happen if this matter is known to the superiors!"

  Hearing this, Shulka couldn't help but looked at Zolotarev in surprise, wondering if Zolotarev didn't know or didn't realize that this was an open and secret struggle between the Political Department and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

   But then, Shulka understood in Zolotarev's helpless eyes that he actually knew.

  However, Zolotarev was powerless to stop him, he could only obey orders.

   "You can report this matter as it is, Comrade Zolotarev!" Shulka said.

Shulka didn't want to implicate other people because of this, he knew that this matter could not be hidden in the end... Too many people on the battlefield saw the retreat of the 82nd Infantry Regiment, including the political commissars of the various units, so sooner or later rumors would spread. to the top.

   And if Zolotarev does not report, of course he will suffer in the end.

   "Do you think I don't want to?" Zolotarev said: "But if you are taken away by them, who will fight this battle, who will break through the enemy's defense line?!"

   Several people were stunned for a while, and then suddenly laughed.

  The atmosphere is a bit strange. If Shulka is regarded as a member of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, then Zolotarev represents the Political Department, and Trufanov is the military.

  People from the three different systems actually have their own interests, especially the Political Department and the Ministry of Internal Affairs are somewhat incompatible.

but…

   These struggles may be intense at the top, specifically in Moscow or elsewhere, but they are minimized on the battlefield.

As Zolotarev said, if Shulka is convicted and punished for this, then the 82nd Infantry Regiment and even the 51st Army have lost a "backbone", and the fate can be imagined... Wait Their life is likely to be consumed by ruthless and useless use on the battlefield.

   That is to say, they are actually a community of interests on the battlefield, and Zolotarev has reasons to "protect" Shulka both in public and in private.

   It should be said that any far-sighted person knows that Shulka must be "protected" at this time, otherwise he will be the one who will be unlucky next.

"I told them it was my order!" Zolotarev said. "I mean the frontline troops. When they reported to me...my answer was that the 82nd Infantry Regiment was assigned to other tasks! Don't let it slip !"

   This is indeed a good explanation, so that no one in the frontline troops will report to their superiors.

   "Thank you, Comrade Zolotarev!" Shulka said.

   "Don't thank me, thank yourself!" Zolotarev said: "If you don't have a way, I promise, I have put a pistol on your head now!"

   "Thank you anyway!"

  Zolotarev shook his hand and said, "So, you think we can't attack in this way?"

"Yes!" Shulka replied: "This kind of 'fire charge' may be effective against the enemy's insufficiently prepared and deep lines, because it can catch the enemy by surprise. But the part of our attack is the enemy's flank, which is very critical. On the flank, once this area is broken through, the entire Don Army will be in danger of being surrounded. Therefore, we don’t need to think about it. We are facing a well-prepared, deep and long line of defense. It is definitely not possible to rely solely on infantry assaults. The coordination and chaos between the tanks cannot launch an effective attack and the casualties are heavy!"

   Zolotarev and Trufanov were speechless.

   Shulka said the truth, and it just happened on the battlefield.

   Actually, this is not difficult to explain. The coordination between the various parts of the Soviet army was originally difficult due to the lack of training level, soldier quality, and insufficient communication equipment, especially the coordination between infantry and tanks.

  In this case, the tactics should be simplified in order to exert their due combat effectiveness, and a fancy tactic... The result is that the advantage is not occupied, but it is a mess.

"We probably lost a chance to break through the enemy's line of defense!" Shulka said with some regret: "We know that the enemy has transferred almost all the tanks to the east to attack Karachi, that is to say, only the anti-tank remains in the line of defense. guns. And these anti-tank guns are dead, immobile, and it is even very limited, because the Germans also sent anti-tank guns to Karachi to fight. We have two armored divisions and sufficient ammunition, and our army In Karachi, the troops also tried the tactic of coordinated and steady advancement of infantry and artillery... Therefore, they may suffer some losses in the early stage of the offensive, and when they reach a certain level, the Germans may collapse due to the large loss of anti-tank guns that cannot be replenished in time!"

  Trufanov and Zolotarev couldn't help looking at each other when they heard the words.

Shulka's analysis is reasonable, that is to say, in the attack just now, the Soviet army only needs to fight hard with the enemy according to conventional tactics to win the victory. At this time, I am afraid that they have already broken through the enemy's defense line and penetrated deep into the hinterland. A trick turned out to be a bad thing.

   "An order from the Supreme Command?" Shulka asked.

  Zolotarev nodded silently, and replied: "To be precise, it is an order from Comrade Khrushchev!"

   Shulka said nothing more after hearing this.

At this moment, there was a noise outside the headquarters, and then the guard reported: "Comrade Zolotarev, there is a group of soldiers outside. The leader said it was the commander of the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the 82nd Infantry Regiment. They strongly demand to see you." !"

   Sokolov?

   Shulka was a little surprised, then looked at Trufanov and Zolotarev who were also puzzled, spread his hands, and said, "I don't know about this, I didn't call them here!"

  It turned out that something happened to the 82nd Infantry Regiment when Shulka rushed all the way to the headquarters.

  The commander of the Second Battalion, Sokolov, didn't understand what was going on at first, but he suddenly received an order to withdraw during the charge.

   But he also thought he was lucky because of this, because those troops who rushed up according to the order either died in the hands of the enemy or died in their own artillery fire, and few of them could come back alive.

   Sokolov knew that as a soldier, he should not be greedy for life and fear death, but no one would want to die like this, which could be said to be meaningless, including the soldiers of the second battalion.

   Sokolov, who had a lot of paint on his body, thought more and more that something was wrong when he was bandaging his wound... The whole army withdrew his second battalion. There was no reason for this to happen.

  Thinking of this, Sokolov decided to ask for clarification, so he hurriedly bandaged and went straight to the headquarters.

  When Sokolov arrived at the headquarters, Shulka had already set off, so he couldn't meet anyone.

   "Comrade Shulka has gone to the headquarters!" Andrian responded without raising his head.

   "Commander?" Sokolov asked, "Do you know when you'll be back?"

  Andrianka looked at Sokolov with incredible eyes, and said, "You don't know anything about it!"

   "Don't know what?" Sokolov was puzzled.

   "Don't you think about why Comrade Shulka is going to the headquarters?"

  When Andrianka said this, Sokolov probably guessed it.

   "So..." Sokolov said: "The withdrawal of the second battalion was ordered by Comrade Shulka?"

"Otherwise who do you think it is?" Andrianka replied angrily: "Otherwise you and your subordinates should all be lying on the ground at this time, right? Shulka ordered you to be withdrawn. Now I'm afraid Inevitably charged with 'disobedience to military order' and possibly even responsible for the failure of this attack! You know what happens!"

   Saying that, Andrianka ignored Sokolov again, turned around and went about her own business.

   Sokolov felt ashamed by this burst of ridicule, but he had no choice but to think about it after returning to the army, so he called the officers of the second battalion for a meeting.

  (end of this chapter)