Chapter 91 Reorganization
Under the command of Admiral Kilponos, the work of forming the commando team started vigorously.
This army is not so much formed as it is reorganized, because it was established with the 9th Mechanized Army of the 5th Army as the backbone... It’s just that the 9th Mechanized Army suffered heavy losses like other troops in the previous battles. The entire mechanized army has There are no more than one hundred tanks with combat capability.
(Note: At this time, a mechanized corps of the Soviet Army has 1031 tanks.)
Of course, the reorganized Ninth Mechanized Army is different. The tanks on the defense line come back one by one. No matter which unit or even which front army, all light and medium tanks that can be found and are in good condition are registered. Incorporated into the 9th Army.
But even in this way, only more than 500 tanks were gathered in the end, and the various tank models were uneven: T26, T28, BT2, BT5...
Like the reorganization of other troops, the first thing is to classify these tanks... This is because each type of tank has its own characteristics, such as firepower, protection and mobility, so they must be classified and organized in order to be used on the battlefield. Its characteristics conduct command.
Naturally, there is no need for Shulka to worry about these things. At this time, he is being incorporated into the 131st Motorized Division together with the 333rd Regiment to become a member of the 9th Mechanized Army.
Admiral Kirponos has very good reasons for this.
"Just like the sergeant said!" General Kirponos said: "This commando needs elites. If the 333rd regiment can't be called elites, then what other troops can take on this task?"
The formation process was messy.
The 131st Motorized Division has lost most of its equipment and strength in previous battles. Although the 333rd Regiment was fully formed, since the 333rd Regiment was infantry before this, it must be equipped with cars to become a motorized division. , motorcycles, and tank regiments have to be incorporated into tanks, etc.
So there were troops, cars, and tanks coming and going everywhere in the rain. The soldiers commanding the cars and tanks were very busy. Sometimes there were even incidents where vehicles collided with each other, drivers and even troops clashed with each other.
Shulka's second row is also assigned to a car.
Shulka was a bit dissatisfied with this, because his platoon was stuffed with a few more recruits to bring it to 35 people... these recruits came here for the name.
Master Pukarev pointed at several recruits and shouted at Shulka: "Sergeant, these people are under your command!"
"But Comrade Dashi!" Shulka was a little puzzled: "My platoon is full!"
"This is an order from the superior!" Pukarev spread his hands: "I can't help it, let alone...is there any problem with a few more people?"
"No problem, Comrade Dashi!" Shulka replied helplessly.
If it is infantry, then it is indeed no problem, and even a few more people can have a few more guns and a few more errands, which is not bad.
The problem is that now it is motorized infantry, everyone has to ride, and each platoon is only assigned one car.
A car can usually only take 30 soldiers...In the carriage, it is divided into four rows, with 7 people in each row, two rows back to the carriage and two rows sitting in the middle, plus the driver and co-driver's seats are exactly 30 people.
But now that there are five more people, it is even more difficult to turn around in the already crowded carriage.
But the veteran helped Shulka solve this problem.
"We can sit one more person in each row, Comrade Sergeant!" The veteran said: "Let the extra soldier go to the front of the car!"
At this time, the car has a wide pedal next to the driver's cab. The soldier can stand there and grab the window or something else to follow the car. The soldier can even be responsible for reconnaissance, such as being able to see when it is raining. To be clearer, you can observe whether there are enemy planes in the sky and warn you.
The disadvantage is to suffer from wind and rain.
Although the problem has been solved, Shulka is still a little worried. He thinks that the addition of a few people will slow down the reaction speed of the troops... Soldiers who are advancing by car must get out of the car to fight quickly in case of an emergency, as long as they are slower Potentially tragic for all, because it was only a matter of a cannonball or a swarm of machine gun bullets.
Therefore, Shulka asked the recruits: "I don't understand why the superiors will 'stuff' you into my army, soldiers, you better have something commendable, otherwise one day I will still put you in my army. Kick you out!"
"I know why, Comrade Sergeant!" A fair-skinned recruit stared at Shulka with blue eyes.
"What?" Shulka didn't understand what the recruit meant.
"Please allow me to introduce myself, Comrade Sergeant!" The recruit handed over a German cigarette and made a close relationship with Shulka: "My name is Avmovich, and several of us are from Makariv (a small town near Kiev) , this town is on the German road to Kyiv)!"
Shuerka took the cigarette and looked at Avmovich suspiciously, and asked, "You mean, do you know why you are here?"
"Yes!"
"Why?"
"I asked for it!" Avmovich replied: "I asked to come to your army!"
Shuerka stopped lighting his cigarette, and cast doubtful eyes on Avmovich. His first reaction was that this Avmovich was someone who had been transferred to investigate him, just like the deputy instructor.
But Shulka quickly overturned this idea, because if this is the case, he should not say it at this time.
"That's right, Comrade Sergeant!" Avmovich said complacently: "Comrade Battalion Commander is our fellow countryman, so..."
So there is no need to say anything, they used this relationship.
"But why my army?" Shulka asked: "You don't get more here, don't you? Same cars, same ammunition, same tasks!"
"No, Comrade Sergeant!" Another recruit explained: "We heard about you, you escaped from the Brest Fortress with your troops, and other things!"
"Oh!" Shulka seemed to understand a little bit, and it was the "runaway hero" again.
"The battlefield is not what you think, comrade!" Shulka shook his head and smiled: "If what you want is to make contributions, you'd better get rid of this idea as soon as possible!
”
"We didn't want to make a difference!" Avmovich replied.
So Shulka understood that they thought it was safer to be with the "runaway hero", that is, they had a better chance of escaping from this land of right and wrong...
This made Shulka dumbfounded. If they knew what the mission of the 333rd regiment would be in the near future, they should jump out of the car and run as far as possible now.
(end of this chapter)
