USSR 1941

Of course, Shulka and the officers and soldiers of the 1st Guards Tank Brigade did not know what was happening on the front line.

The few days of stationing in Tver were simply holidays for the 1st Guards Brigade... The battle line moved westward, and the sound of gunfire and artillery became farther and farther away, and soon Tver became the second line.

So, what the soldiers did in Tver was to drink, chat, and then take turns standing guard outdoors to watch teams of ski troops pass by.

Timka's accordion played its part again, and the soldiers would always crowd into his room singing and dancing to the beautiful melody, sometimes all night long.

Although Shulka knows that this is not good, because it will make them not have enough energy to face the upcoming war.

But Shulka did not stop them.

This is partly because there really isn't much to do in this weather.

Do you train? At minus forty-five degrees, if you stay outside for an hour, you may be frozen to death.

So it is very difficult to fight at this time, whether it is the German army or the Soviet army.

In fact, the conditions of the German army were much worse than that of the Soviet army, because many German stragglers came to Tver to surrender to them... those were the German troops from the German Fourth Tank Army.

The Fourth Tank Army should be said to be the most pitiful. They fought bravely under the command of Hopner. This was true in the direction of Leningrad, and the same was true when they were transferred to attack Moscow.

It is precisely because of this that the Fourth Tank Army was able to penetrate the Soviet defense line and threaten Moscow from the north.

However, what they didn't expect was that the farther they attacked, the more difficult it would be to retreat at this time, especially when they attacked in a tank or a car, and when they came back they were hunted and killed on foot and hid in Tibet.

Many people couldn't survive in this cold and hungry environment outdoors, so they could only surrender to the Soviet army trembling.

When the soldiers received these German prisoners, they found that many of them were wearing self-made "sack clothes", that is, they cut a few holes in the sacks and tied them tightly to keep out the cold, while others wrapped bandages around their coats Inside, there are circles like zombies, and there are various tricks such as stuffing hay and shredded newspapers into military uniforms to tighten them.

Quite a few of them had various degrees of frostbite.

But of course, the Soviets didn't care about that, the soldiers just put them in schools and left them to fend for themselves.

There is also a small episode in this.

About one company of German troops retreated to Tver last night. Since they entered Tver in the dark and occupied a building with weapons, the Soviets did not dare to act rashly.

"We need a moment to start the tanks!" the instructor said to Shulka. "They're frozen!"

That's not to say that the Soviets couldn't take the building that the Germans were occupying, in fact it only took a bazooka and an infantry charge to do it.

The problem is that this is not necessary. It can be solved with tanks to minimize casualties. No one would be willing to risk their lives with a gun and rush forward.

"Maybe we don't need tanks!" Shulka said. "They probably came to surrender!"

"We shouted at them!" said the instructor, "but they didn't respond!"

"That means they are still hesitating!"

"Yes, they are still hesitating!" The instructor replied: "But we don't have that much time to spend with them!"

This is a typical Soviet temper, they are always single-minded, either surrender, or hit you until you surrender.

"Send them some padded jackets!" Shulka said.

"What?" The instructor looked at Shulka suspiciously.

"Give me some more food!" Shulka said. "Tell them we have a warm stove here, so they can eat and sleep well!"

The instructor was stunned for a while, then nodded and said, "I'll try it!"

So, the instructor came forward with a few captives, illuminated an open space in front of the building with a searchlight, threw some cotton jackets and cans of canned food, and shouted: "Come here, Germans! We have food and clothes here." Yes, we allow you to sleep in front of the fire, as long as you surrender! Otherwise, tanks and our relentless attack await you!"

This trick really worked. After being silent for a while, the German army stretched out a white flag made of bandages out of the window, and shouted: "We surrender, I hope you can keep your promise!"

They couldn't stand the temptation of those few cotton coats and the stove.

It may seem unimaginable, but in this extreme case, they are more alluring than anything.

Just like some captives later confessed: "As long as I can eat enough and sleep in front of the fire, they are willing to shoot me!"

From this we can also see how hungry, cold and exhausted the German army is.

Then the instructor really fulfilled his promise, and he even provided some French brandy for the German prisoners.

This made the German prisoners a little taken aback, and relaxed thinking that they would be treated as normal prisoners.

But Shulka knew that this was an extravagant hope... The instructor did this just because he didn't want to break his promise in front of his subordinates. He believed that as an instructor, he should do what he said, otherwise his dignity would be damaged.

On the third day, Katukov called a meeting of the officers.

"The battle situation is not as smooth as we imagined!" Katukov said, pointing to the map: "The pressure mainly comes from the 9th Army in the south. Not only did they not collapse under our army's attack, they also launched a counterattack... We have The troops of 9 divisions were surrounded by them in the Sychovka area after breaking into the German defense line! The superior ordered us to reinforce the 29th Army and rescue the 9 divisions that were surrounded!"

The officers in the conference room talked a lot. They didn't expect that the German army would have the ability to counterattack or even surround the Soviet army under such circumstances.

Shulka knew that this meant that Model's early plan had succeeded...His first step was to stabilize the 9th Army's defense line and threaten the flank of the Soviet offensive force to buy time for the collapsing and retreating German army.

The second step is to use a series of key support points that were just held by the German army.

For example, Holm, Staraya Rusa and Demyansk, these places are the main roads in the swamp.

Model asked the Air Force to provide reinforcements to these places no matter what, and to go all out. Because this is the key to the German army's ability to withstand the Soviet attack.

The Luftwaffe did so, for which the Luftwaffe even sacrificed many pilots.

But it turns out that Model is correct, and these key support points did play a role... When the temperature turns warmer next year, the supply lines of the Soviet army will naturally be cut off by these support points.

As a result, many regular Soviet troops had to stay west of the line of defense as guerrillas.