Chapter 61 Cabin camouflage
There is actually another reason why Colonel Ovic is unwilling to admit that Major Gavrilov's suggestion is correct.
At this time, it is no longer a simple question of right and wrong. Colonel Orvich considered one point:
If one day this battle gets the attention of the superiors, that is, the information that the 333rd regiment blocked the German attack on the front line reaches the army commander or even the commander of the army group, then it goes without saying what will happen...
Why can the 333rd Regiment stop the Germans?
Use log cabin camouflage tactics!
But why only the 333rd regiment used this tactic while other units of the 79th Division were defeated? Major Gavrilov did not report this tactic?
Major Gavrilov reported, but Colonel Ovich did not accept this suggestion!
What? How could such a good suggestion not be accepted? The idiot! This sinner of the people, he is fully responsible for the defeat of this battle!
Needless to say what will happen next.
For Colonel Ovich, this was much more serious than the failure of the 79th Division to effectively block the German attack.
The reason is simple. There are hundreds of thousands of troops stationed on the defense line. The 79th Division is just one of them. There are many other troops that are as good as the 79th Division or even worse, so it is nothing. He does not need to bear too much responsibility .
But did not accept Major Gavrilov's suggestion and did not report... This is a big problem.
After thinking for a while, Colonel Ovich lowered his voice and said to the staff: "Major Gavrilov has never been here, and there is no camouflage tactic of log cabins, understand?"
The staff officer couldn't help being taken aback when he heard the words, and then replied: "Yes, Comrade Colonel!"
This further suppressed the wooden house camouflage tactic... Originally, this tactic could be carried forward in the next line of defense. After all, the entire line of defense is one to six kilometers deep.
Colonel Orvich thinks it does not, but his enemy, the German General Kleist, does not think so, but General Kleist also does not pay enough attention to this, although the first attack suffered The loss caught him by surprise.
"Interesting!" Kleist said to the map: "The Russians disguised the bunker as a wooden house!"
"Yes!" The adjutant replied: "So, our previous reconnaissance was no problem!"
"The problem is that these 'wooden houses' do cause some difficulties for our offensive!" Admiral Kleist said.
"General!" said the adjutant: "We can use artillery to distinguish these wooden houses!"
"Perhaps you are right!" Admiral Kleist agreed: "Also, bring the assault gun over!"
"Yes, General!" The adjutant responded and conveyed the order.
One thing, Admiral Kleist and Colonel Orvich have the same thoughts, that is, he believed that the reason for the first failure was that he underestimated the enemy and was ambushed by the enemy. After knowing that the enemy used a wooden house to hide the bunker...he decided to I won't be fooled a second time.
So, it's time to teach these Ivans a lesson.
The whistling sound of the artillery shells sounded soon, and the dense shells swept back and forth on the position like a comb, and the wooden houses were quickly blown into piles of ruins.
Then several "Stuka" bombers also joined the bombing. They dropped the gasoline barrels and bombs together as before, which caused raging fires on the position, and even many camouflages outside the bunkers were burned. .
Of course the flames couldn’t burn through the bunker, but thick smoke kept pouring into the bunker from the perforations, making Shulka and the soldiers cough with snot and tears.
"Can we go outside for some air?" the thief asked.
"If you want to die in the hands of the enemy, go!" Shulka replied: "But remember to close the door when you go out. I don't want the Germans to throw grenades in from outside the door!"
"Okay!" The thief replied with difficulty: "They should improve the ventilation system!"
"Forget it, Comrade Fovalikov!" The veteran replied: "All the facilities here were shut down two years ago, and the machine guns we use may have been added not long ago!"
"The enemy is coming!" Shulka shouted.
The soldiers all stood up and returned to their posts.
"What's that?" The veteran cried out in horror as he looked out through the perforation.
"It's a tank, isn't it?" The thief replied without thinking.
"No, I've never seen a tank like this!" said the veteran.
"I don't see any difference between them!" The actor backs up the thief.
But Shulka knew that the veteran was right. He recognized that it was the German "No. 3 assault gun", which can be said to be a sharp weapon designed to attack bunkers and permanent fortifications.
Its characteristic is... there is no weak side armor, its side armor and front armor are both 50MM thick.
The M1930 37MM anti-tank gun used by the Soviet army has a penetration depth of only 34MM when firing armor-piercing projectiles at a distance of 100 meters, which is still a vertical penetration.
That is to say, whether it is front or side, it is difficult for the Soviet army to pose a threat to the "No. 3 Assault Gun".
Cannon plus assault guns seem to be enough to deal with the Soviet defense line, because the assault gun is equivalent to a mobile bunker, the German army can "bunker" to suppress the bunker, and then the German engineers who have more space and freedom outside can play their best role. The function is to blast the bunker of the Soviet army.
However, if the Germans think that "log cabin camouflage" is only so simple, it is wrong.
"Comrade Major!" Shulka called Major Gavrilov:
"I think it's time for Option 2!"
"You recognize those tanks?" Major Gavrilov asked.
"No, I've never seen them!" Shulka lied, he could only say so, because at this time the German army's "No. As a soldier, of course he can't know more about it.
Shulka gave a reason: "But if the Germans use them, it means that we probably cannot pose a threat to them!"
"That's right!" Major Gavrilov agreed.
This actually exposed a fatal weakness of the Soviet army... The "No. 3 assault gun" has been used in other parts of the "Stalin Line of Defense" and even poses a great threat to the Soviet army.
If it is other armies, such as the British army and the US military, then of course the entire army will be notified of the threat of this equipment and even the possible countermeasures as soon as possible.
But this is not the case for the Soviet army. This is not only because their communication equipment is extremely backward and information dissemination is not smooth, but also because the quality of their officers is generally not high. The officers and soldiers on the front line use tanks to describe "assault guns", while the commanders in the rear are confused Some people thought it was just tanks, so many bunkers were breached under such "ignorance".
Of course, this situation will not happen in the defense zone of the 333 regiment.
(end of this chapter)
