USSR 1941

  Chapter 93 Tactics

   Admiral Kirponos said so, and the others dared not say anything more.

  Looking at the crowd, General Kirponos raised his head at Shulka, motioning him to continue.

   To be honest, this will be a bit difficult to open, because Shulka can't tell the siege plan that will be implemented in the near future.

The reason is simple. There are many spies in the Soviet army, and there are many uncertain factors, such as the surrender of officers... This is not only the experience that Shulka summed up in the Brest Fortress, but also the experience of Kirponos. General’s experience, because there are not a few people from the Southwest Front who surrendered to the German army, and there are even many Ukrainian officers, soldiers or civilians who voluntarily provided intelligence to the German army.

   This is mainly because of the "agricultural collectivization" movement, which led to a severe famine in Ukraine, and a large number of Ukrainians starved to death.

  This directly made Ukraine more dissatisfied with Moscow. When the war broke out, there were a large number of rebellions in Ukraine, and even hoped that the German army would "liberate" Ukraine.

  Under such circumstances, of course, plans such as anti-encirclement cannot be announced too early.

After thinking about it, Shulka pointed at the tank model with his baton and said: "We should fight in this mode: the front is the reconnaissance team, which is composed of faster motorcycles, cars or light tanks. Reconnaissance and report the situation to the follow-up troops, including enemy situation, road situation, bridge situation, etc., if possible, you can occupy important traffic hubs first!"

   Speaking of this, Shulka turned his attention to the officers present at the meeting, especially the commander, Major General Toliczka.

  Major General Toliczka nodded. There is nothing wrong with reconnaissance. Every unit needs reconnaissance and intelligence. The Soviet army did this before, but they generally used infantry and rarely used light tanks.

   Now in a war situation, there is nothing wrong with Shulka adding a few light tanks to increase the combat effectiveness of the reconnaissance team.

   But Major General Toliczka raised a little objection.

   "But this is useful in mobile warfare, Sergeant!" Major General Tolic said: "We are mainly defensive now!"

   "Panzers should be mobile, General!" Shulka said. "Otherwise they are useless, which is one of the reasons we take tanks off defense!"

  Major General Toliczka smiled noncommittally. He did not agree with this point of view, but because it was an order from General Kirponos, he didn't say anything.

   Shulka was a little unaccustomed to this.

  Because tanks need to maneuver This is no doubt in modern times, but it seems to be quite controversial in this era.

But this is not surprising. The tank tactics of this era are immature. The fact is that all kinds of tactics are immature... World War II can be said to be a watershed in tactics. The main reason is that too many people were misled by the trench warfare in World War I. The future wars will be like World War I, where the enemy and us will dig a trench and stand deadlocked. This is one of the reasons why so many countries, including Germany, have dug and built trenches on their borders after World War I. The most exaggerated one is France. A "Maginot Line of Defense" that is "famous through the ages" was built.

As for the tank, this thing appeared in the middle and late period of World War I, and it was very primitive and was not widely used on the battlefield. That is to say, its tactics and experience are basically blank. Military strategists from various countries can only use imagination, drills, and speculation Establish tank combat theory.

  So some countries understand it as defensive, some countries are offensive, some disperse it as equipment for coordinating infantry, and some use it as the main force.

   Germany is obviously correct on this point, which is one of the reasons why the German army swept across the entire European continent in a short period of time.

   "Actually, we should have some aerial reconnaissance!" Shulka turned his attention to General Kirponos: "This will give us more preparation time!"

   This is of course, the so-called standing high and seeing far, the reconnaissance plane flies around the sky, and the enemy's deployment within a radius of tens of kilometers can be seen at a glance, which is incomparable to land reconnaissance.

  Admiral Kirponos nodded without thinking about it and said: "Leave this to me, but we can't seize air supremacy!"

   Of course Shulka knew this, so he didn't dare to expect it from the beginning.

   "The one following the reconnaissance unit..." Shulka continued, "It's the auxiliary unit!"

Pushing several tanks and cars to the second echelon, Shulka said: "They are composed of mechanical units and engineering units with more combat effectiveness, with more tanks, artillery and anti-tank weapons. Their task is to reinforce Reconnaissance detachment, quickly destroy the enemy when they are blocked by the enemy, and the engineer will then repair the bridge, road or demining, etc.!"

   "The main force is the last one!" Shulka pointed to the last large group of models and said, "If everything goes well, the main force should be able to rush towards the target at the fastest speed!"

   "What should we do if we are blocked by the enemy?" Major General Toliczka asked.

"The enemy should be evaluated first!" Shulka replied: "If you have the ability to eliminate them in a short time, then resolutely eliminate them and move on. Otherwise, consider going around in other directions... I mean, the assessment is in the The reconnaissance phase should be completed. This will give the sappers time to open another channel so that the main force will not wait in place or wait too long!"

   "So!" Admiral Kirponos said: "The reconnaissance, auxiliary and main forces must be closely coordinated and under unified and effective command!"

"Yes!" Shulka nodded in agreement. This is what worries Shulka the most... The communication system has always been a flaw of the Soviet army. At this time, they lack radio communication at the regiment level and even at the division level. equipment.

  If communications rely on signal soldiers, carrier pigeons, or even signal flags...how can the reconnaissance unit pass the information to the auxiliary unit in a timely manner, and how will the auxiliary unit know whether to attack or bypass the next step? How does the main force know the road conditions ahead?

  Admiral Kirponos thought for a while, and said to the staff: "Immediately apply to the superior to add 30 radio stations!"

   "Yes, Comrade General!" The staff officer turned around and walked towards the mail room.

   "Is there any problem with this tactic, Comrade Major General?" Admiral Kirponos turned his gaze to Major General Toliczka.

   "No, of course there is no problem, Comrade General!" Major General Toliczka replied: "It's just that I don't think this tactic will be of any use!"

   "You don't need to know what it's useful for!" Admiral Kirponos replied: "You just need to train with such tactics and prepare for battle. You have a few days!"

   "Yes, Comrade General!" Major General Toliczka stepped forward and replied: "Resolutely carry out your order!"

  (end of this chapter)