USSR 1941

Shulka slept curled up in the trench, and was woken up by the messenger in the middle of the night.

"Comrade Shulka!" said the signalman, "Comrade Zakhakovic wants you to go to the headquarters!"

Because the first battalion was reinforced on the other side of the defense line, the headquarters was a bit far away, and it took Shulka more than half an hour to arrive.

When Shulka walked into the headquarters, he unexpectedly found that Major General Rokossovsky was there, as well as the main officers of the 4th Tank Brigade.

"Comrade Shulka!" Seeing Shulka come in, Rokossovsky raised his head towards him: "I'm sorry to call you back from the front line, I think you should be there at this time!"

As he spoke, Rokossovsky took out an exquisite brocade box from his coat pocket, and said to Major Zakhakovic and others: "I am entrusted by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union to award a gold medal to the Fourth Tank Brigade." Order of the Red Banner, and named the 4th Tank Brigade as the 1st Guards Red Banner Tank Brigade!"

Rokossovsky opened the box and handed it to Major Zakhakovic: "Comrade Zakhakovic, on behalf of the commander of the army group, I wish you the honor you have achieved!"

Then Rokossovsky asked the staff to hand over a military flag to Major Zakhakovic.

Major Zakhakovic saluted Rokossovsky upright, took the military flag solemnly, and then unfolded it in front of everyone.

The officers cheered for a while, and then congratulated each other excitedly, only Shulka had no idea.

If it was just for this matter, Shulka thought that Rokossovsky should not call him back from the front line, he only needed to be notified.

Is it that Shulka has no sense of collective honor?

Shulka doesn't think so. He has always been proud of the Fourth Tank Brigade, but he thinks that this honor is earned in battle, and has nothing to do with whether there are medals or whether the designation is changed.

On the other hand, as a soldier, he is more concerned about life and death; as a second lieutenant, he is more concerned about the company's casualties; as a member of the 4th Tank Brigade, he is more concerned about reinforcements!

As for medals and honors...does it make a big difference how many medals you wear and how much honor you lay in your coffin?

"Comrade Shulka!" Rokossovsky noticed Shulka's plainness, and asked suspiciously: "Do you have anything to say?"

"Yes, Comrade Rokossovsky!" Shulka replied: "I think we should retreat!"

The officers couldn't help but fell silent. At this time, when the 4th Tank Brigade had just been honorably awarded the 1st Guards Tank Brigade, it was obviously inappropriate to say that it was inappropriate to retreat.

Major Gavrilov winked at Shulka, and at the same time shook his head slightly to signal Shulka not to talk nonsense.

"Retreat?" Rokossovsky said. "You mean abandoning Volokolamsk?"

"Yes!" Shulka replied.

"Give me a reason!" Rokossovsky's tone became serious: "Comrade Shulka, you should be very clear that every line of our defense is a barrier to defend Moscow, and every retreat in the direction of Moscow One step will make Moscow a little more dangerous!"

"I know, Comrade Rokossovsky!" Shulka replied: "But our fortifications are not suitable for defense, they lack longitudinal communication trenches, which makes us very passive in battle!"

This is a problem Shulka only discovered when he went to the front.

Perhaps in order to cooperate with Order No. 270,

Or maybe it was because of the need to defend Moscow, or more precisely... because of the fear of soldiers fleeing, the trenches of the 316th Division and even other lines of defense were basically horizontal rather than vertical.

In other words, soldiers can only stay in the trenches face to face with the enemy, and cannot retreat even in critical situations.

There are only two ways to retreat:

One is to climb into the trenches and expose yourself to the enemy's guns.

The second is to maneuver horizontally along the trench for a long distance and then enter the longitudinal traffic trench.

But the latter is obviously unrealistic. It takes time to maneuver laterally, and the process will be caught up and eliminated by the enemy.

What's more, trench intersections are usually guarded by political workers, who usually don't allow such maneuvers.

Shulka had been carrying out mobile operations with the tank brigade before, and did not discover this.

"It's very bad for our army to fight, Comrade Rokossovsky!" said Shulka, "I believe that by now the people who are afraid of life and death have almost left, or have almost died. Now those who are willing to stay on the battlefield and guard the line of defense, most of them are willing to sacrifice their blood and even their lives for the motherland, the army, and the Soviet Union! But ours still uses fortifications to prevent soldiers from escaping. It lacks effective mobility, and even It is difficult to replenish ammunition and equipment...We should be able to fight the enemy more flexibly on the front line instead of blindly defending!"

Rokossovsky turned his gaze to Major Gavrilov and asked: "Is Comrade Shulka telling the truth?"

Rokossovsky is more commanding at the strategic level. Tactics such as the construction of trenches are not his concern, so it is normal not to know this.

"Yes, Comrade Rokovsovsky!" replied Major Gavrilov, "I have also discovered that, although the engineering structures within the defensive zone of the front line help to protect personnel and firearms from German artillery and Mortars kill, but they cannot guarantee the strength of the troops, and the concealed maneuvering of weapons during the battle. Even maneuvering in the battalion defense area is very difficult. As Comrade Shulka said... There are not many communication trenches leading to the depth, Maneuvers from depth to front or forward to depth cannot be implemented, and any movement of the unit is exposed to enemy fire..."

"Then build the fortification immediately, now!" Major General Rokossovsky interrupted Major Gavrilov with a sullen face. He looked at his watch and said, "There is still time, and the longitudinal traffic trench will be completed before dawn." construction!"

"Yes, Comrade Rokossovsky!" replied Major Gavrilov.

This order was quickly conveyed to the entire 16th Army, and even spread to other lines of defense.

Because Major General Rokossovsky thinks that Shulka is right. This kind of fortification lacking in-depth mobility may be suitable for preventing soldiers from abandoning their positions and fleeing at the beginning of the war, but it is not suitable for the present.

But this was not Shulka's original intention.

Shulka actually wanted to find an excuse to retreat... At this time, the German army is unlikely to capture Moscow, so why can't the front line be slowed down and use a little space in exchange for time so that more soldiers can survive?

Clearly, though, Shulka was unsuccessful.

From top to bottom, even Major Gavrilov disapproved of the retreat.