USSR 1941

Vatutin froze for a moment, then laughed: "Give me a reason, Comrade Shulka!"

There are many reasons, but Shulka found that he could not say it. For example, the Soviet army’s low quality, single offensive tactics, and no casualties were taken into account. It proves it.

But these will not be recognized by hardline commanders such as Vatutin, because they think this is bravery.

If the Voronezh Front Army and other Soviet troops can be like the 82nd Infantry Regiment, that is, know how to preserve vitality during the offensive and continue to advance layer by layer with the help of artillery, it is indeed feasible to launch a counterattack before the Germans attack.

However, it is not.

Seeing that Shulka was in a daze, Zhukov made a relief and said, "Comrade Vatutin, why don't you tell us the reason for our counterattack first!"

"There are too many reasons!" Vatutin replied: "The first is morale. Since the outbreak of the war, we have always been strategically defensive..."

The so-called "strategic defense" actually refers to being passively attacked, even the victory of the Defense of Moscow and the Battle of Stalingrad is no exception.

Although the two victories shattered the strategic intentions of the German army, strategically speaking, the Soviet army was victorious and the German army failed. The problem is that the former German army hit the capital of the Soviet Union, while the latter almost occupied the city named after Stalin and stopped the oil traffic. Wire.

More importantly, the Soviet army pursued the victory in the two battles and was killed by the German army and suffered heavy losses.

"Therefore!" Vatutin continued: "Many people think that our army can only defend passively and cannot take the initiative to attack. If we take the initiative to attack and win this battle, it will undoubtedly greatly increase the morale of our army!"

This does make sense, because morale is very important to the Soviet army... There are many hesitant morons in the surrounding area. As long as the Soviet army proves that they can also win the attack with actions, they will win the support of these morons. No small matter for the Soviet Union.

but……

"You're only thinking of victory, Comrade Vatutin!" said Shulka. "What if you lose?"

"Even if we fail, we won't gain nothing!" Vatutin replied: "Because we launched the attack before the Germans and consumed their troops and supplies, so it is possible to disrupt the German plan and make them unable to attack! "

"It's only possible!" Shulka objected: "In fact,

If the material and military strength of the enemy and the enemy are roughly in balance, while we use our offensive to consume the enemy's material and military strength, we ourselves will consume far more troops and material than the enemy. As a result, not only will we not occupy the Advantages, but will put us at a disadvantage! "

"Then why is this not the case with the Germans?" Vatutin objected. "I have studied German tactics, Comrade Shulka! They often have the upper hand by attacking actively, while we are exhausted by defending everywhere!"

Shulka couldn't help being taken aback, this is what he said before that "offense is greater than defense".

So Vatutin’s advocacy of a preemptive counterattack is not entirely due to "bravery" and "morale", or because he is eager to take revenge and regain his lost face...

Of course, Shulka believes that Vatutin also has this meaning: in the previous Battle of Stalingrad, two of the three front armies that entered the battle fought vigorously: the Duncan commanded by Rokossovsky The River Front Army held Stalingrad and later became the main force to encircle and annihilate the German Sixth Army. The Stalingrad Front Army commanded by Yeremenko successfully cut off the German supply line, and then repelled Manstein's reinforcements.

Only the Southwest Front Army commanded by Vatutin not only did not make much achievements, but also lost to Kharkov in the subsequent pursuit of victory.

This made Vatutin unable to swallow his breath.

Or it is related to Vatutin's official career... Does this result mean that Vatutin will not fight? Would Stalin have doubts about his abilities? Is he going to be replaced in the next battle?

Therefore, Vatutin was eager to fight another battle to win the game, so that it would be beneficial to him both militarily and politically.

However, after Shulka heard Vatutin's "offensive advantage" point of view, he knew that Vatutin was actually studying and learning German tactics... Many Soviet generals were doing this, but they didn't It's just a statement, because that's learning from the aggressor, and it's a disgraceful act.

"Do you know how the Germans fought?" Vatutin pointed to the map and said, "Our line of defense is long. If we defend passively, we need to spread our troops along the line of defense, and even every place has a large force." Not less, because we don't know from which point and which direction the Germans will attack, but the Germans can concentrate their forces to break through our army's defense line, so they can always have an advantage in terms of strength and equipment, although their total strength Actually less than us, and much less!"

"However, it will be different if we take the initiative to attack!" Vatutin stroked the Kursk line of defense with his fingers: "We will then become the active side, we can choose the location of the attack, and we can save a lot of troops. And the Germans need to spread out a large number of troops to defend!"

Zhukov looked at Shulka, and his eyes seemed to be telling Shulka... This is the point, and it is also where Zhukov could not refute Vatutin, because the Soviet army had eaten this aspect more than once in previous battles. loss.

Now, the Soviet Union does not want to suffer such a loss again.

In other words, it was because of this that the Soviet army took the initiative to attack during the Battle of Kharkov, but it was a failed attempt. Vatutin and others believe that this time, they will be more experienced.

Shulka sighed and said: "You are right, Comrade Vatutin! The problem is that we are not the German army!"

"What's the difference? You mean we're inferior to the German army?"

"No, I never thought we were inferior to the German army!" Shulka explained: "The problem is that our army and the German army have their own strengths and weaknesses. Our strengths lie in 'courage' and 'will', The strengths of the Germans lie in equipment and coordination. They have a large amount of advanced communication equipment, coupled with air supremacy, so that they can advance and retreat freely, and have well-founded offense and defense. Can we do this?"

After a pause, Shulka added another sentence: "If we can't advance and retreat freely, how can we mobilize the enemy during the attack?"