USSR 1941

  Chapter 86 Defense

   "Major, Sergeant!" Seeing the two entering the air-raid shelter, General Kirponos, who was discussing something with the staff facing the map, nodded towards the two.

   "Comrade General!" Major Gavrilov and Shulka stood up and saluted.

  Admiral Kirponos turned the map in one direction and handed it to the two of them, and said, "Look at this, major, sergeant, is there anything you need to add?"

   That is a map of Kyiv's deployment. Under the light, you can see in detail the direction of the trenches and the locations of bunkers, mines, turrets and other facilities.

  Major Gavrilov glanced at Admiral Kirponos in surprise, and said, "General, this is not a secret that we can touch!"

   Major Gavrilov was actually talking about Shulka.

On the surface, this seems to be Major Gavrilov's distrust of Shulka, but Shulka knows that Major Gavrilov has deep meaning...Secrets are not as good as you know, although it Seems like some kind of trust and reuse.

  The problem is that if the Germans know these secrets from other sources, then the first person to be suspected will be Shulka, who has a low military rank and has a "convict record".

  Admiral Kirponos spread his hands indifferently, and said, "Don't care what other people say, Major! I know who can be trusted and who can't be trusted!"

   "Yes, General!" replied Major Gavrilov.

   "Vortega?" Admiral Kirponos asked.

   "Of course!" Major Gavrilov immediately laughed.

   "Oh, no!" Shulka hesitated, he wanted to keep a clear head and think.

   "No, you can't refuse, Sergeant!" General Kirponos poured a full glass and handed it to Shulka and said, "Because this is an order!"

   "Yes, General!" Shulka could only take the wine.

  The general and the major laughed at the same time, toasting like old friends after a long absence.

  Compared with Chinese liquor, the difference between vodka is that it does not have that pungent punch, not sweet, not astringent, not bitter, and it is easy to drink, but soon the chest burns like a flame.

At this time, Admiral Kirponos continued facing the map and said: "We divided the defense line into thirteen districts, and each district was garrisoned by a division. They formed a half circle along Kyiv and defended against the Dnieper River! "

   This defense is of course correct.

  The defense of any area will have problems similar to the Brest Fortress... If it is fully enclosed, that is, it surrounds Kyiv to form a circle for defense, it will be easily surrounded by the Germans from the outside and then go around and continue to attack in depth.

  Unless the defense can build a line of defense hundreds of kilometers long from north to south to block all the German troops like the field fortifications built before.

   But there is another problem with this: the equipment and troops are too scattered, and it is easy for the German army to break through from a certain point with a local superior force.

  Admiral Kirponos' defense of Kyiv used the Dnieper River as an insurmountable barrier:

  The left bank of the Dnieper River is the Southwest Front Army commanded by Admiral Kirbonos, the right bank is the Southern Front Army commanded by General Tyulenev, and the Dnieper River Detachment of the Minsk District Fleet is cruising on the Dnieper River.

   (Note: The Minsk District Fleet includes the Berezino Detachment, the Pripyat Detachment and the Dnieper Detachment. The first two are commanded by the Western Army stationed in Minsk)

  So it was obvious that the German army could not surround Kyiv like they surrounded the Brest Fortress, because what stood in front of them was the Dnieper River, facing the shallow water heavy artillery ships on the river and the southern front across the river.

  At this time, the German army may be able to forcefully cross the Dnieper River. After all, the German army has air superiority, and air superiority can restrain the Soviet fleet.

  The problem is that Kyiv is on the left bank of the Dnieper River. The German army ignored the result of Kyiv's forced crossing of the Dnieper River and exposed its flanks to the gunpoints of the Southwest Front Army located in Kyiv.

  So, the German army seems to have only one option, to storm the Kyiv defense line face to face.

"Every blockhouse on the defense line is disguised as a wooden house!" Admiral Kirponos raised his hand with a wine glass at Shulka: "In addition, every basement is also used as the sergeant said. , We even dug a lot of basements outside the wooden house. I seem to have felt the effect of this camouflage and lurking, because at a glance I can no longer see where the defense line is, and I believe the Germans are the same!"

  The general and the major couldn't help laughing, and Major Gavrilov proudly patted Shulka on the shoulder.

  But Shulka didn't laugh, because he knew that this seemingly impenetrable line of defense could not prevent Kyiv from being surrounded and the entire Southwest Front Army being almost wiped out, and General Kirponos in front of him would also be sacrificed when he broke through.

"What's the matter, Sergeant?" General Kirponos asked. "Before this, I was still worried that we might not be able to stop the German attack. You know, the blockhouses on our old border did not work." What a big deal, but now... we have bought time to prepare fully, and I believe we can keep the Germans out of Kyiv!"

After a pause, Admiral Kirponos continued: "These are all thanks to you, Sergeant. Your tactics have almost reversed the entire situation! What we have to do now is to further consolidate the defense. This is what I put The reason why you were transferred back from the front line is that the 333rd Regiment has relevant tactical experience, and you can use this experience to find more deficiencies..."

   "No, Comrade General!" Shulka interrupted General Kirponos: "I don't think our defense can solve the crisis in Kyiv!"

   "What do you mean?" Admiral Kirponos asked.

   Major Gavrilov also cast a puzzled look at Shulka.

"You mean the Germans can break through our defenses?" Major Gavrilov said, "No, it's impossible. You have to know, Shulka, we even used 37MM anti-tank on the old border defense line guns, and the Kyiv defense line is full of 45MM anti-tank guns!"

  This is marked on the map, and it is also the result of Admiral Kirponos's concentration of troops and equipment to defend Kyiv...otherwise, these 45MM anti-tank guns should be scattered everywhere.

   "No, I believe the Germans will not be able to break through the Kyiv defenses!" Shulka replied.

After all, the Southwest Front Army is the main force of the Soviet Army, while the German Southern Army Group is not the main force. In other words, a good horse is against a bad horse... Even though the overall quality and combat effectiveness of the Soviet Army are not as good as the German Army, it still became a stalemate on the Kyiv defense line. .

   "Then why?" Admiral Kirponos asked.

   Shulka pointed to the direction of Minsk on the map and said: "The problem is not the German army in the front, but the German army in the middle!"

   Shulka can only be referred to as "Central German Army", because a sergeant should not know the number of the German Army.

  (end of this chapter)