USSR 1941

There was silence in the headquarters.

As a soldier, the saddest thing is knowing that the superior's decision is wrong but having nowhere to argue, knowing that going on like this is a dead end but having to do so.

The 4th Tank Brigade and even the entire breakout force seem to be at a dead end...not advancing means being punished, advancing means being surrounded by the enemy!

"Can we report to our superiors?" Major Gavrilov asked.

"I said so, Major!" replied Katukov, "but..."

But there is no need to say more about what is behind it. No matter how much the subordinates object to the order issued by the Supreme Command, it will not be useful.

For example, in the Battle of Kyiv, Zhukov, Budyonny, Kirponos and a large number of prominent generals proposed to abandon Kyiv one after another...but they were dismissed one by one. He could not escape the fate of being dismissed.

The same goes for this counteroffensive.

"Shulka?" Major Gavrilov turned his attention to Shulka and asked, "Do you have any ideas?"

"No, Comrade Major!" Shulka replied helplessly: "It seems that we can only follow orders!"

The officers nodded in agreement.

There is only one result of continuing to oppose, and that is to be dismissed, and then the troops will still attack Tver, which means that nothing can be changed except for causing trouble for themselves.

The meeting broke up unhappy like this, but Katukov still kept Major Gavrilov and Shulka after the meeting.

"We need to discuss the coordination of Tanzania in the next step!" Katukov said.

When everyone else left, Katukov poured a glass of wine for Major Gavrilov and Shulka, and then sent away the assistants around him.

"Now you can say what you think, Comrade Shulka!" Katukov sat down in front of the two of them and poured himself a glass of water... Colonel Katukov has kidney disease and cannot drink alcohol.

Major Gavrilov looked at Shulka in surprise, and then at Katukov.

Shulka secretly thought that Katukov's eyesight was still good,

I do have some ideas, but they are not suitable for speaking at the conference.

"We may have another option!" Shulka said.

"Another option?" Katukov raised his glass and took a sip of water, but never took his eyes off Shulka.

Katukov is the one who most hopes to find a solution, because he does not want the fourth tank brigade he has worked so hard to build, or even the hope of Moscow, to fall into the enemy's siege like this.

"If we continue to attack Tver!" Shulka said, pointing to the map, "the most likely thing the Germans will do is to recapture Volokolamsk and cut off our retreat and surround us. So why don't we use at this point?"

"What does it mean to take advantage of this?" Katukov asked.

"Leave the main force to ambush the German army!" Shulka said: "The other troops continue to advance towards Tver according to the order of the Supreme Command!"

Colonel Katukov and Major Gavrilov were stunned when they heard this.

After a while, Major Gavrilov said: "But this is disobedience to the orders of the superiors!"

"Yes!" said Shulka, "that's why I didn't mention it at the meeting!"

As I said before, there will never be a shortage of whistleblowers in the Soviet army, and mentioning it at a meeting is equivalent to telling everyone.

"You mean... we have to fool not only the enemy, but also our own people?" Katukov asked.

"Yes!"

"How to do it?"

"Radio silence!" Shulka replied: "Radio silence at least in the 4th Tank Brigade!"

After thinking about it, Katukov nodded: "It's not difficult to do, we can use military secrets as an excuse!"

This is exactly what Shulka thought. The 4th Tank Brigade has more radio stations than other units. For example, some command vehicles in the tanks are equipped with radio stations. The location of the enemy is not known to the enemy, and radio silence is normal or even a very common practice.

Everyone will think that this should be done in the first place, and they will not think that another reason for the silence of the radio is that they are worried about someone making a small report... If the military order is issued, all radios are not allowed to be turned on, so even if the political workers are aware of something wrong, Also unable to report to superiors.

"Where are the tanks?" Major Gavrilov said, "If our main force stays in Volokolamsk, they will notice something!"

"Tank units can march at night!" Shulka said. "And we can make fake tanks and mix them with real ones!"

"Fake tank?" Katukov asked.

"The barrel wagons we captured from the Germans!" Shulka said. "We can build a tank outside with planks and paint it white..."

Katukov nodded in agreement. The tanks and equipment had just been sprayed with white paint, so it was not difficult to camouflage them. In addition, they were marching at night and marching among real tanks. It was really hard to distinguish without a close inspection.

What's more, even if some careful soldiers discover these, they will only think that this is a means to deceive the Germans or spies... Even orders can be issued in this way. In fact, this is also one of the purposes, so they can It is a matter of course that the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Tank Brigade are required to keep it secret.

Of course they don't know that the people who deceive them like this are their own people.

"Do this ... what will be the result?" Major Gavrilov asked: "I mean, if the superiors know this!"

"You don't need to worry about this!" Katukov replied: "This is my responsibility. What's more, if the Germans did not attack Volokolamsk as we guessed, then these ambushes would rush to Tver enters the battle. If the Germans have been guessed by us, then we will have another victory at Volokolamsk, and at the same time the High Command will realize the mistake they made..."

Colonel Katukov's analysis made sense, so Major Gavrilov said nothing.

In fact, this is also what Shulka considered.

As the commander of the 4th Tank Brigade, Katukov actually had many excuses for doing this, such as discovering that the enemy was gathering in the direction of Volokolamsk, so he left a unit to protect the logistics and so on.

This explanation is just a command error and not a disobedience.

"The question is..." Katukov said: "How can we keep the main force without the enemy knowing?"

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