USSR 1941

Soon, Shulka was called from the Army Group Command.

"What's the matter, Comrade Shulka?" Zolotarev's tone was very unhappy: "How can you order the troops to retreat when the whole army is charging, do you understand that this will cause serious consequences? If every commander If everyone disobeys orders like you, then how can we win..."

Shulka only asked back: "Comrade Zolotarev, is it because of my retreat order that the victory cannot be achieved?"

Zolotarev could not help but be speechless, because he knew that was not the case.

On the other hand, not to mention that Zolotarev has a personal relationship with Shulka, his personality is also relatively upright, unlike some political commissars who can open their eyes and talk nonsense in order to shirk responsibility.

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a while, then Zolotarev said angrily, "Comrade Shulka, I order you to come to the headquarters!"

"Yes, Comrade Zolotarev!"

"Try not to confront them!" said Akadyevich. "I will report this to my superiors..."

"I can do it!" Shulka interrupted Akadyevich, not wanting to rely on anyone.

After handing over the affairs of the regiment headquarters to Andrianka, Shulka ran along the traffic trench to the army headquarters in the rear.

The group army headquarters is not far from the front line, only less than two kilometers... This is because the combat plan hopes to quickly break through and pass through the breakthrough, so the group army headquarters is also located relatively forward.

Of course, another reason is that the communication equipment is poor, and many troops need to use the phone to communicate. The farther the headquarters, the more inconvenient it is to communicate.

As soon as Zolotarev saw Shulka, he frowned and asked: "Comrade Shulka, as the commander of the 82nd Infantry Regiment, don't you know the importance of obeying orders?"

"I know, Comrade Zolotarev!" Shulka replied: "However, some orders are obviously wrong. For the sake of the soldiers' lives, I can only disobey!"

"You!" Zolotarev couldn't help walking back and forth in front of the desk angrily, but he couldn't do anything about Shulka.

Trufanov stepped forward to persuade: "Comrade Shulka, Zolotarev did not report this matter to his superiors... You should know what will happen if this matter is known to the superiors! "

Hearing this, Shulka looked at Zolotarev in surprise, wondering if Zolotarev didn't know or didn't realize that this was an open and secret struggle between the Political Department and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

But then Shulka understood in Zolotarev's helpless eyes that he actually knew.

However, Zolotarev was powerless to stop him, he could only obey orders.

"You can report the matter as it is, Comrade Zolotarev!" said Shulka.

Shulka didn't want to implicate other people because of this, he knew that this matter could not be hidden in the end... Too many people on the battlefield saw the retreat of the 82nd Infantry Regiment, including the political commissars of the various units, so sooner or later they would passed to the above.

And if Zolotarev does not report,

In the end, of course, you will suffer.

"Do you think I don't want to?" Zolotarev said: "But if you are taken away by them, who will fight this battle, who will break through the enemy's defense line?!"

Several people froze for a while, and then suddenly laughed.

The atmosphere was a bit strange. If Shulka was a member of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, then Zolotarev was from the Political Department, and Trufanov was from the military.

People from the three different systems actually each have their own interests, especially the Political Department and the Ministry of Internal Affairs are somewhat incompatible.

but……

These struggles may be intense at the top, indeed in Moscow or elsewhere, but they are minimized on the battlefield.

As Zolotarev said, if Shulka is convicted and punished for this, then the 82nd Infantry Regiment and even the 51st Army have lost a "backbone", and the next fate can be imagined... Wait It is very likely that they will be exhausted by ruthless and useless use on the battlefield.

In other words, they are actually a community of interests on the battlefield, and Zolotarev has reasons to "protect" Shulka both in public and in private.

It should be said that any far-sighted person knows that Shulka must be "protected" at this time, otherwise he will be the one who will be unlucky next.

"I told them this was my order!" said Zolotarev. "I mean the frontline troops. When they reported to me...my answer was that the 82nd Infantry Regiment was assigned to other tasks! Don't let it slip Already!"

This is indeed a good explanation, so that no one in the frontline troops will report to their superiors.

"Thank you, Comrade Zolotarev!" said Shulka.

"Don't thank me, but thank yourself!" Zolotarev said, "If you didn't have a way, I promise, I have put a pistol to your head now!"

"Thank you anyway!"

Zolotarev shook his hand and said: "So you don't think we can attack in this way?"

"Yes!" Shulka replied: "This kind of 'fire charge' may be effective against the enemy's insufficiently prepared and deep lines, because it can catch the enemy by surprise. But the part of our attack is the enemy's flank, which is very critical. On the flank, once this area is broken through, the entire Don Army will be in danger of being surrounded. Therefore, we don’t need to think about it. We are facing a well-prepared, deep and long line of defense. It is definitely not possible to rely solely on infantry assaults. The coordination and chaos between the tanks cannot launch an effective attack and the casualties are heavy!"

Zolotarev and Trufanov were speechless.

What Shulka said was true, and it just happened on the battlefield.

In fact, this is not difficult to explain. The coordination between the various parts of the Soviet army was originally difficult due to the lack of training level, soldier quality, and insufficient communication equipment, especially the coordination between infantry and tanks.

In this case, the tactics should be simplified in order to exert their due combat effectiveness, and a fancy tactic... The result is that the advantage is not taken advantage of, but it is a mess.

"We probably lost a chance to break through the enemy's line of defense!" Shulka said with some regret: "We know that the enemy has transferred almost all the tanks to the east to attack Karachi, that is to say, only the anti-tank remains in the line of defense. guns. And these anti-tank guns are dead, immobile, and it is even very limited, because the Germans also sent anti-tank guns to Karachi to fight. We have two armored divisions and sufficient ammunition, and our army In Karachi, the troops also tried the tactic of coordinated and steady advancement of the infantry and artillery... Therefore, they may suffer some losses in the early stage of the offensive, and when the attack reaches a certain level, the Germans may collapse due to the large loss of anti-tank guns that cannot be replenished in time!"

Trufanov and Zolotarev couldn't help but look at each other.

Shulka's analysis is reasonable, that is to say, in the attack just now, the Soviet army only needs to fight hard with the enemy according to conventional tactics to win the victory. At this time, I am afraid that they have already broken through the enemy's defense line and penetrated deep into the hinterland. A trick turned out to be a bad thing.

"An order from the High Command?" Shulka asked.

Zolotarev nodded silently, and replied: "To be precise, it is an order from Comrade Khrushchev!"

Shulka said nothing more.

At this moment, there was a noise outside the headquarters, and then the guard reported: "Comrade Zolotarev, there is a group of soldiers outside. The leader said it was the commander of the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the 82nd Infantry Regiment. They strongly demand to see you." !"

Sokolov?

Shulka was a little surprised, then looked at Trufanov and Zolotarev who were also puzzled, spread his hands, and said, "I don't know about this, I didn't call them!"

It turned out that something happened to the 82nd Infantry Regiment when Shulka rushed all the way to the headquarters.

Sokolov, the commander of the Second Battalion, didn't understand what was going on at the beginning, and suddenly received an order to withdraw during the charge.

But he also thought he was lucky because of this, because those troops who rushed up according to the order either died in the hands of the enemy or died in their own artillery fire, and few of them could come back alive.

Sokolov knew that as a soldier, he should not be greedy for life and fear death, but no one would want to die like this, which can be said to be almost meaningless, including the soldiers of the second battalion.

Sokolov, who had a lot of paint on his body, thought more and more that something was wrong when he bandaged his wound... The whole army withdrew his second battalion, and there was no reason for this to happen.

Thinking of this, Sokolov decided to ask for clarification, so he hurriedly bandaged and went straight to the headquarters.

Shulka had already set off when Sokolov arrived at the headquarters, so he couldn't meet anyone.

"Comrade Shulka has gone to the headquarters!" Andrian responded without raising his head.

"Commander?" Sokolov asked, "Do you know when you'll be back?"

Andrianka looked at Sokolov with an incredulous look, and said, "You don't know at all, do you?"  "Don't know what?" Sokolov was puzzled.   "Don't you think about why Comrade Shulka is going to the headquarters?"   When Andrianka said this, Sokolov probably guessed it. "So..." Sokolov said: "The withdrawal of the second battalion was ordered by Comrade Shulka?" "Otherwise who do you think?" Andrianka replied angrily: "Otherwise you and your All of your subordinates should be lying on the ground at this time, right? Shulka ordered you to withdraw, and now I am afraid that you will be charged with 'disobeying military orders', and may even be responsible for the failure of this attack! You know this What will happen!"    Saying that, Andrianka ignored Sokolov again, turned around and went about her own business.   Sokolov felt ashamed by this burst of ridicule, but he had no choice but to think about it after returning to the army, so he called the officers of the second battalion for a meeting.