Chapter 248 Program
The entire plan of the Soviet army is divided into three steps.
First of all, the infantry on the front line, let them know the direction of the battle in the future with an order.
The daytime tasks are somewhat similar to Kyiv's "rolling barrel defense". The troops are divided into several parts, and then a line of defense is separated by a few kilometers. It is not difficult. It takes several hours for the German armored division to advance a few kilometers in muddy and minefields and then organize an attack, and then a symbolic defense will take a while.
The task at night is relatively heavy, that is, to recapture the enemy's position, and it is carried out with almost no rest... This is caused by the lack of Soviet troops.
As mentioned before, because the Soviet army is in passive defense and the reserve forces are used for counter-offensive, although the total force is not less than the German army, in some areas there are always situations where the Soviet army is less than the German army.
For example, the 316th Division has more than 8,000 troops at this time, and the total strength of the 4th Tank Brigade with 5,000 troops is only 13,000.
The German army has two armored divisions and an infantry division with nearly 30,000 people. This is not counting the advantages of artillery and air force.
This makes the schedule of the 316th Division very tight. During the day, it retreats layer by layer, and after a few hours of rest, it will immediately launch a counterattack, and the counterattack is still only allowed to win but not to lose...Once the counterattack cannot reach the designated area, it means that the German army will be defeated the next day. It will push forward one step, that is, it will be closer to Moscow, and more seriously, it may threaten the flanks of the friendly forces on both wings.
Followed by preparations for the 4th Tank Brigade.
Needless to say about their preparations, they withdrew to twelve kilometers that night for night combat training, flares, tracers, communications, etc.
One of the more troublesome things is communication.
When the visibility is high during the day, waving the signal flag can easily be seen by the infantry behind the tank. At night, it is a big challenge to conduct a unified command, and it is even difficult for the infantry to communicate with the tank... Theoretically speaking, night battles are very important for communication. It is more beneficial for the German army with more advanced equipment and equipped with every tank.
However, this point was finally solved by supplementing the signal lights. The infantry and the following infantry all used flashlights covered with black cloth to communicate, expressing different meanings with bright and dark or circled.
The most important thing is actually engineers.
The engineers had a lot to do... laying mines, wire and roadblocks, and blowing up bridges, and after blowing up the bridges, they had to repair the bridges at night so that the Soviet army could counterattack at night.
In addition, several "secret passages" must be built, that is, roads that appear to be muddy on the surface, but in fact tanks can pass through.
Each of these is not a small project that requires a lot of manpower, but this is not a problem for the Soviet army, because the Soviet army has many civilians serving as engineers on the front line.
Looking at the civilians who were tensely building fortifications on the battlefield, Shulka was a little worried... I don’t know if they are one of them?
"They" refers to Shulka's family, and Shulka knows that they are building fortifications in this area.
"Don't worry!" The instructor patted Shulka on the shoulder and said, "I have transferred them to Moscow, I mean your parents!"
Shuerka looked at the instructor in doubt: "How do you know them?"
"Is there anything else I don't know?" the instructor asked back.
So Shulka understood that someone made a small report to the instructor... Sometimes the content of the small report is not completely bad. kind of "message".
"Thank you, comrade instructor!" Shulka said to the instructor.
"You don't have to thank me!" The instructor replied: "We need to let heroes fight on the front line with peace of mind, and besides...they can also become our publicity targets!"
"Promotion target?"
"Yes!" The instructor nodded: "A family of heroes, the whole family is fighting on the front line, this is a good example for others!"
Shuerka couldn't help but smiled bitterly. He didn't want this, but after thinking about it, he felt that this was indeed a good thing. At least it could keep them away from the battlefield, so he stopped talking.
The next day, it was a rare good weather, the sun just happened to be fresh and the air was fresh.
Getting up early in the morning, Colonel Jonas, the commander of the German 5th Armored Division, stood next to a "No. 3" tank in the vague snowflakes with a telescope and watched the movement in the direction of the Soviet army.
"Get ready to attack!" Colonel Jonas coldly ordered to the adjutant beside him.
"Yes!" The adjutant then communicated the order by radio.
As a result, fires were lit under the German tanks... The tanks designed by the Germans never considered fighting in severe cold conditions from the beginning of the design. (Note: During World War II, gasoline was mostly not added with antifreeze, and it was easy to freeze)
After observing for a while, Colonel Jonas put down the binoculars, with some doubts in his blue eyes: "Their strength seems to be less than before!"
"Perhaps they retreated!" said the adjutant, "or escaped!"
Colonel Jonas shook his head, and replied: "This is only a hundred kilometers away from Moscow, and it is also the last line of defense. They have nowhere to escape!"
After a pause, Colonel Jonas said: "I think they are using some kind of tactic, although I don't know what it is!"
"Tactical?"
"Yes!" Colonel Jonas put away the binoculars, looked at the map carefully for a while, and then suddenly understood something: "The reservoir, the Istria reservoir, they may retreat there for defense, and even...if necessary It can be blown up!"
"Blow up the reservoir? Would the Russians do that?" The adjutant couldn't believe it, after all, it would make the downstream flooded with water.
"If we threatened Moscow, do you think they wouldn't do it?" Colonel Jonas asked back.
The answer is yes, in order to defend Moscow, the Russians will sacrifice everything.
"We should warn the other troops!" Colonel Jonas said: "Let them beware of this, and besides... we should try to capture it before they blow up the reservoir, otherwise we will have to go north and continue to advance towards Moscow!"
In a way, Colonel Jonas is right to be worried.
To be precise, what Colonel Jonas is worried about has happened in history, that is, Rokossovsky's defensive measures.
However, what Colonel Jonas did not expect was that the Soviet army had already adopted another defensive tactic at this time.
Compared with blowing up the reservoir, this defensive tactic is what he needs to worry about.
(end of this chapter)
