USSR 1941

Early morning of November 7th.

There was no applause or cheers, the huge Red Square was silent, and the white snowflakes fell in due course, dancing in the air with the wind.

On Red Square, groups of Soviet soldiers lined up in square formations waiting to be inspected. Tanks, cannons, and cars were all covered in snow, including the soldiers standing on the square, with snowflakes on their heads and shoulders. .

Shulka's 4th Tank Brigade was also one of them. They had just withdrawn from the battlefield, and they didn't even have time to change into new uniforms. The faces of the soldiers were still black with gunpowder smoke. Scratches from bullets and shells are clearly visible.

But at this time, they can no longer take care of so much, which can be regarded as the only remaining equipment that the Soviet army can put on the table.

The National Defense Committee and government officials boarded the Lenin Mausoleum one after another.

Stalin walked slowly to the microphone and said: "All Soviet soldiers, commanders and political workers, workers, intellectual workers, comrades partisans! The power of the bandit armies of the German invaders. The enslaved peoples of Europe under the oppression of the German invaders look to you as their liberators.

The great mission of liberation has fallen on your shoulders. You will live up to this mission! The war you are waging is a war of liberation, a war of justice..."

The military parade was actually held two hours in advance, which also caught the German army by surprise.

It was only when Stalin spoke and broadcast the speech to the world that Hitler reacted.

He immediately made a phone call to the headquarters of the Central Army Group.

"It's unbelievable that the enemy is swearing to the world their victory under the wings of the Imperial Air Force, and we don't know anything about it!" To hear the news here instead of the Marshal at the front reporting it to me! This is nothing short of blatant contempt for the Empire, contempt!"

"Sorry, honorable Führer!" Von Bock replied, "They must have moved up the military parade!"

In fact, von Bock knew nothing about it. The information he got was that the Russians were not planning to hold a military parade... This is of course false news intentionally released by the Soviet army, and this false news is also reasonable.

"Give you one hour of redemption time!" Hitler roared: "Blow up their parade ground to pieces, and I will let the whole world hear the sound of our bombs exploding at the parade site! Let them know to Germany The result of the military provocation! Immediately! Immediately!"

"Yes, Your Excellency the Führer!" Von Bock responded, and immediately ordered the air force to take off to carry out the order.

In fact, von Bock knew very well that this bombing was of little significance to the German army. The sky over Moscow was full of anti-aircraft balloons. They made the German bombing inaccurate and very dangerous, especially at this time. The Russian army must have a lot of preparations.

However, in order to deal with the head of state, von Bock ordered the 12th Bomber Wing to take off.

As expected, when the German bomber formation flew close to Moscow, it was immediately fired by the Soviet anti-aircraft artillery units, and then the Soviet fighter jets also joined the battle, and many fighter planes even chose to directly crash into the German fighter jets... This is a kind of helplessness The choice, training and air combat skills are not as good as the enemy, and they are more likely to be shot down by the enemy in a dogfight, and hitting the enemy can also cause casualties to the enemy.

In the end, 25 German fighter planes were shot down by the Soviet army and could only be withdrawn.

On Red Square, this was called the most "unsightly" military parade in the history of the Soviet Union.

Because the soldiers were disorganized, their faces were covered with dust, and many soldiers even didn't know where they should go... There were many militia units in the reviewing troops.

The cadets in woolen coats and leather caps were the first to walk past the Lenin Mausoleum.

Then came the motorized infantry formation.

The formation of tanks then drove into Red Square, motors roaring across Red Square, followed by a car carrying a majestic soldier.

But the tank withdrew from the parade just after passing the Lenin Mausoleum, and then the 333rd Infantry Regiment also withdrew under command.

"Assemble!" Zahakavic ordered: "Target, train station!"

So the military parade ended in a hurry.

Shulka realized right away that the battle was not going to be easy.

Apparently the 4th Tank Brigade was not normally out during the day, but it was early morning.

Needless to say, there are dangers in rushing to the train station to take the train to the front line during the day.

This also means that the front line is likely to be extremely urgent, and the superiors no longer care about the safety of the fourth tank brigade.

Sure enough, after boarding the train, Major Gavrilov found Shulka.

"The enemy concentrated a large number of troops and violently attacked Volokolamsk!" Major Gavrilov said: "The superior sent us to reinforce them!"

"But it's daytime now!" the instructor said worriedly, "Can't we wait until it gets dark?"

"They may not last till dark!" replied Major Gavrilov.

"So, why don't we do what we did before!" said the instructor, "Wait until it gets dark and then call back?"

"We can't fight back!" Shulka said: "We only have thirty or so tanks, and we don't have enough reserves!"

"Yes!" Major Gavrilov nodded helplessly: "More importantly...the situation is different now than before. The muddy ground has been frozen, and there are wildernesses suitable for enemy armored troops to advance everywhere. , once Volokolamsk is broken by the enemy...it will be very difficult for us to stop them from advancing towards Moscow!"

The instructors could only nod silently when they heard the words, which meant that they had no choice but to go up.

The train stopped when it reached Istria, and the 4th Tank Brigade marched on foot, because it was too dangerous to travel to Volokolamsk from here by train or car.

The troops are advancing along a snow track.

The so-called snow road is that the Soviet people piled up snow on both sides of the road to form a snow wall more than two meters high.

While the white-painted tanks and cars advanced along the snowy trails, it was difficult for enemy aerial reconnaissance aircraft to spot them.

It is said that this method was discovered by a pilot flying a reconnaissance plane. He accidentally found a car driving in a deep ditch that could hardly be detected in the air, so he reported it to his superiors and then promoted it throughout the army.

Of course, the Soviet army is very willing to use this method, because they are never short of manpower.

As a result, Shulka had to lament the wisdom of people.

Somewhat ironically, this wisdom was inspired by the very war they loathed.