USSR 1941

Shulka led his men to build fortifications on the ground.

After the victory of the tank ambush, Volokolamsk must not be able to stay. The German army will obviously not let go of the houses in those villages...whether it is revenge or to avoid being used by the Russian army again.

Therefore, the Fourth Tank Brigade immediately withdrew from the area west of Volokolamsk.

As expected, German artillery fire and bombers appeared above it and blew up houses one by one.

The German "Stuka" bombers used a tactic. They would combine several bombers, usually six, into a squadron. Then the squadron circled a bombing target in the sky, and then a bomber followed closely One dive bombs the target.

It's a bit like Shulka makes a team of tanks and anti-tank guns to correct the trajectory of the impact point to improve the hit rate.

Therefore, when the German army is determined to blow up a certain target, they are usually difficult to escape.

The same is true for the houses in the village, plus the Germans also dropped gasoline... At this time, the Germans seldom dropped gasoline on the battlefield. not enough.

From this we can also see how much the German army hated this failure, or it can be said that it hated the Fourth Russian Tank Brigade.

Soon the village was filled with smoke and flames, except that the 4th Tank Brigade was no longer there.

Commanding the 4th Tank Brigade at this time was Major Zakhakovich, commander of the 4th Tank Regiment (Colonel Katukov was still in Tver).

There is no doubt about this. Perhaps Major Gavrilov has more combat experience and command experience in comparison, but after all, the Fourth Tank Brigade is a tank force mainly based on tanks. In this regard, Zahakawi Major Qi was clearly superior.

But Colonel Katukov ordered: "Major Gavrilov must be fully listened to!"

In fact, there is another meaning hidden in this sentence, "to fully listen to the opinions of Comrade Shulka".

Because everyone knew that Major Gavrilov "took Shulka's advice fully."

For example, now, the fourth tank brigade is not deployed on the front line, but retreats to the line of defense and hides.

They continue to adopt the strategy of "mobile defense\

,"It's just that the "mobile defense" has narrowed its scope and is limited to the defense line around Volokolamsk.

This may seem like a normal tactical shift, but it was not easy to implement in the Soviet army.

The reason is that it looks like an "escape" and even technically a violation of Order 270.

Therefore, Major Zaha Kavic hesitated.

As a result, Major Gavrilov made a very firm suggestion: "We should retreat immediately, and I will bear any problems!"

Commissar Fumin also made a similar guarantee, so Major Zakha Kaewicz dared to withdraw his troops to the second line.

Therefore, although Order No. 270 has a positive effect, that is, to dispel the idea of ​​some soldiers who originally planned to escape with a fluke mentality, it also has some negative effects.

For example, it will affect the commander's command to use tactics flexibly, and another example will force some people to simply surrender to the German army.

It can even be said that some Soviet officers and soldiers will become German spies because of the indirect relationship with Order No. 270... If they are captured, they will be characterized as traitors. After they are released, as long as the German army casually discloses a little information, they will die, so they can only Gan was used by the German army, and even hoped that the German army would win in the end.

Of course, Shulka didn't need to think about this, he concentrated on the fortification in front of him.

There are many ways to hide the tank, such as driving into the house as before, or setting up a tent outside the tank, or even covering it with a layer of canvas and putting some muddy water on it to camouflage it.

But the best way is to dig a tank bunker for the tank, that is, dig a hole for the tank to drive in and only expose the turret or not even the turret... The ideal tank bunker is to divide the bunker into two layers, take a step back The turret is not exposed, and the turret emerges one step forward and the body is level, which can be fired immediately.

Such a bunker can make it difficult for the tank to be destroyed even if it is found by the enemy: it is difficult for the aircraft to find its exact location, and the shell must hit the bunker directly otherwise it is difficult to cause damage to the tank.

Shulka is building such a bunker.

Its difficulty is that water will seep all around, and it is necessary to build drainage ditches for it and tamp the bottom with logs, stones, etc., otherwise it is not a good thing for the tank to be flooded by accumulated water or the tank will be stuck in it and cannot get out.

At this time, the instructor went to the top of the bunker and called Shulka out.

"As a company commander, you don't need to do these things!" The instructor shook his head at the muddy water on Shulka's body, and then handed him a dry towel.

Shulka took the dry towel and wiped his face and hands. After shivering, he couldn't help rubbing his frozen hands... It's really not a good experience to do these things in the cold October.

"It's a means, understand?" Shulka replied as he walked towards the fire.

Compared with the German army, the Soviet army has another advantage in that it dares to light fire on the front line.

The reason is that there are too many civilians building fortifications on the front lines of the Soviet army. If they don't light fire, they can hardly survive.

But it was soon discovered that there is a benefit... more fires will not expose the target but will become a cover, because the Germans can't tell which fires belong to the civilians and which fires belong to the army, and there are so many fires that the Germans cannot bomb one by one. So I can only let it go.

"Means?" the instructor asked.

"Yes, means!" Shulka sat down in front of the fire, and then put his almost frozen hands on the flame to bake, he wished to roast his almost unconscious hands.

"Only in this way will they not have a sense of distance from you!" Shulka said: "Just imagine, if I am not shivering with the cold like them at the moment, how many people will be willing to fight when they are asked to charge in the war?" obey my orders?"

The instructor couldn't help but nodded, and then said to the orderly: "Go and get me an engineering shovel!"

Shulka looked at the instructor suspiciously.

The instructor raised his eyebrows and said, "If you don't shiver with the cold like them, how many people are willing to believe me?"

Shulka couldn't help laughing, the instructor was a quick learner.

"You've won again!" said the instructor.

"Yes!" Shulka said, and then took off his boots and put his feet in front of the fire. Immediately, an unpleasant smell wafted in the air.

The instructor frowned and covered his nose and said, "However, there is one thing you didn't expect. They don't plan to withdraw the troops attacking Tver!"

"What?" Shulka couldn't help being stunned.