USSR 1941

The Southwest Front was commanded by Lieutenant General Vatutin.

This front army should be said to be second only to the Stalingrad front army in strength in the original plan.

Its ground forces consisted of only three armies, but they were elite: the 1st Guards Army, the 5th Tank Army and the 21st Mechanized Army.

Since it was the main force of the original plan and was tasked with attacking the enemy's supply line... After the Southwest Front was located on the German side, fighter planes could bomb the German railways and roads from its position.

Therefore, the air power of the Southwest Front has two armies: the 17th Army of the Air Force, which is equipped with more bombers and attack aircraft, is mainly responsible for attacking the German supply lines. The 2nd Army of the Air Force is mainly equipped with reconnaissance aircraft, attack aircraft and assault aircraft, and is responsible for covering ground troops in operations.

The offensive of the Southwest Front was originally very smooth, but after Hitler transferred an assault group formed by Manstein to the north to prevent its advance, the momentum of the Southwest Front slowly slowed down.

"30 kilometers east of Milove!" Andrianka reported to Shulka: "The Southwestern Front was blocked by the Germans and fell into a stalemate!"

Shulka roughly measured the distance and said, "130 kilometers!"

The 130 kilometers was 30 kilometers more than Shulka's previous estimate of 100 kilometers.

Although 30 kilometers is not a lot, it can be fatal for a battle.

Because 100 kilometers is about two days of marching speed for the Soviet army... Tanks and mechanized troops are advancing on muddy roads, and they can advance almost 50 kilometers a day.

Therefore, if there is an increase of 30 kilometers, it means that the Soviet army may advance 65 kilometers a day, or rest for one night and wait for the third day to advance the 30 kilometers.

It is very difficult to achieve the former with too much marching intensity, and the latter is too dangerous... On the third day, Manstein may have recovered and responded.

"Is there no possibility of going any further?" Shulka asked.

"I asked!" Andrianka replied: "The German army has laid a large number of mines and barbed wire along Miloway, and a forced breakthrough will cause a lot of casualties!"

A large number of casualties is definitely not acceptable, because the ground troops of the Southwest Front Army have only three front armies in total.

so,

It can only be forced to march 130 kilometers in two days, and the 51st Army will suddenly appear behind the German defense line to attack it on both sides.

But these are secondary issues.

While Shulka was frowning, Trufanov called.

"Shurka, although it is not suitable, but..." Trufanov said: "The new political commissar will arrive tomorrow!"

"Tomorrow?" It was three days earlier than Shulka thought.

"Yes!" Trufanov replied: "He took the fastest route!"

Shulka knew what the "quickest route" was, and that was to fly around in the rear.

This is a luxury in wartime when gasoline is scarce, especially if you only send a commissar with little real help in the battle.

However, the Supreme Command obviously does not think so.

In other words, Shulka must think of a way to break through the German defense line before tomorrow morning, otherwise, the 51st Army is likely to fall into the previous predicament, that is, attacking the enemy's defense line wave after wave.

Yet again, Shulka and Trufanov were wrong.

At two o'clock in the morning that day, Shulka was woken up by Andrianka just after he lay down on the map and took a nap.

"Comrade Shulka!" said Andrianka, "Trufanov has informed you to come to the headquarters for a meeting!"

Upon hearing this, Shulka felt bad.

Because if it is not something important, Trufanov usually will not call the frontline commanders to the headquarters for a meeting, especially a regiment-level officer like Shulka... Trufanov is the commander of the group army. It is enough to call a meeting of the army commander or division commander, at most it is to seek the opinion of Shulka.

Shulka had a vague feeling that the political commissar should have arrived ahead of time.

Sure enough, when Shulka walked into the headquarters, he saw an officer with a red collar insignia losing his temper at Trufanov.

"Don't you know that Karachi is surrounded by the enemy?" The political commissar said: "Karachi is at stake, and all of us are fighting bloody battles with the enemy! The Southwest Front Army and the Don River Front Army have heroic soldiers fighting against the enemy every moment. Falling down in front of guns and artillery fire! And you, here, did nothing, not only that, but also kept reporting to your superiors that you are attacking with all your strength! This is a shameless lie! It is a shameful act of traitor!"

It turned out that the political commissar's explanation to Trufanov was false.

In fact, he arrived two hours ago... During this period, he took a car from the Don River to Surovikino.

This is because the front line does not have an airport for aircraft to land at and the aircraft dare not fly to the front line when the enemy has air supremacy.

Then, the political commissar took advantage of this gap to inspect the situation on the front line.

For Trufanov, of course he wanted to delay as long as possible, so he did not launch an "active attack" on the enemy's defense line.

In fact, all the actions of the Soviet army that night were just lurking in front of the formation and attacking.

The political commissar also played a little tricky. He put on the uniform of an infantry major and went to the front to talk to the soldiers.

The Soviet soldiers didn't see that it was a political commissar, so they revealed the actual situation of the attack...

"I will report all this to the Supreme Command!" The political commissar said: "Comrade Trufanov, I think you are no longer suitable for the position of commander of the 51st Army. I think you should go to Moscow. Explain it to Comrade Stalin yourself!"

As he spoke, the political commissar raised his head towards the guard beside him, and the guard stepped forward to disarm Trufanov.

Needless to say what this means, especially "explain to Stalin personally".

Everyone knows that explanations are useless. If he is found to be defiant and disobedient, all explanations will become excuses, and Trufanov cannot argue with his mouth.

The other officers in the headquarters did not dare to say a word, and many even pretended to be ignorant and drew a line with Trufanov.

Shulka stepped forward without thinking, and said, "Comrade Commissar! We didn't back down. Comrade Trufanov did this in the hope of hitting the enemy better and more powerfully! We have a plan..."

"That's enough, I don't want to hear about your plan!" The political commissar interrupted Shulka: "Your plan is to use the plan as an excuse to hide in the trenches and cry like a coward!"

"No, Comrade Commissar!" said Shulka, "I have proof, we have discussed it with Comrade Rokossovsky, and Comrade Trufanov knows it!"