Chapter 307 Gap
Take a leave today, I feel a little uncomfortable, there are only two updates! Continue to five more tomorrow!
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Air supremacy has always been a big problem for the Soviet army.
The reason why the Soviet army was defeated at the beginning of the war was due to insufficient preparation, improper tactics, and insufficient quality of soldiers. A large part of the reason was that they did not have air supremacy.
Because there is no air supremacy, the Soviet army is always unable to grasp the direction of the German army's attack or even the retreat of its own troops...A considerable part of the intelligence in this era relies on aerial reconnaissance, especially the Soviet army with insufficient communication equipment.
Because there is no air supremacy, the Soviet army's hastily formed counterattack intentions are always discovered and prepared by the German army first.
It is also because of the lack of air supremacy that the Soviet ground forces are always easily disintegrated by the Germans when they have a superior force in battle... For example, the German army used more than 100 tanks to defeat the Soviet army's group attack of thousands of tanks. If there is no Air superiority is simply a fantasy.
"Do we have anti-aircraft units?" Major Zaha Kavic asked.
"No, Major!" Major General Panfinov replied: "We are fighting on the front line, and it is difficult for the air defense to play a role!"
Anti-aircraft units usually need reaction time, which is determined by the range of the anti-aircraft units and the speed of the German fighters... If the German fighters are targeting the Soviet frontline, such as tanks deployed on the frontline, they often appear suddenly from the German-controlled area Then launch an attack, then complete the bombing and leave quickly within a few minutes.
At this time, even if the anti-aircraft firepower is fully fired or even the enemy plane is shot down, nothing can be changed... The tank has been blown up by the enemy plane.
"Do we have an air force?" Major Gavrilov asked.
"Of course!" Major General Panfilov replied with some helplessness: "But they are mainly used to protect the security of Moscow!"
This is also one of the reasons why the Red Square military parade can go smoothly...The Soviet army concentrated its air force over the downtown area of Moscow.
According to statistics, the Western Front deployed a total of 4,451 sorties in October, of which only 325 directly provided cover for the frontline troops.
These 325 times are divided by the entire defense line, and the air support that each unit can get is pitifully small.
And this air support is obviously unable to provide air cover for the fourth tank brigade.
"Why don't we continue to hide ourselves?" Shulka asked. "I mean hide the tanks and fight!"
Zhakavic shook his head and said: "Our front line of defense is more than ten kilometers wide, and our tanks are only 33... If the tanks are hidden for combat, although it is possible to hide from the enemy's planes, where should they hide? What? Will the enemy definitely attack from here?"
Then Shulka understood.
It may not be difficult for tanks to hide in the snow. What is difficult is the "offensive superiority theory" mentioned earlier... The breakthrough of the German army may not necessarily appear in the hidden position of T34. On average, there are no more than 2 to 3 T34s per kilometer, which is far lower than the normal anti-tank density.
(Note: In general, an anti-tank density of 20 units per kilometer is required)
After thinking about it, Shulka said, "Perhaps, we have the right to choose!"
"What right to choose?" Major General Panfinov didn't understand what Shulka meant.
"Which position did the Germans attack most violently?" Shulka asked without answering.
"Paskovo's position!" Major General Panfinov replied: "That area is the junction of the defense lines of the 1073rd and 1075th regiments!"
The junction is always the focus of the enemy's attack. The reason is that the troops here are commanded by two different units. They often have poor coordination or lag in mobilization, and unclear intelligence...For example, in extreme cases, the 1075 regiment defending this area The soldiers had already suffered heavy casualties, but the soldiers of the 1073 regiment had little casualties. After reporting, the head of the 1073 regiment would often think that the fighting here was not fierce. At this time, if the 1075 regiment did not have enough troops to support it, there would be a gap in firepower.
Then Major General Panfinov searched the map for a while, then pointed to a point and said, "It's here!"
"Then..." Shulka said: "Just put us here! We need to make a gap here, and hide the tank around this gap..."
Several people in the headquarters could not help but "oh", and immediately understood the meaning of Shulka's words.
But it's easier said than done.
This is mainly because it is daytime and it is a hassle for tanks to go to the front line and hide and ambush at the predetermined "gap" while remaining undetected by the enemy.
The way is to build a snow road, just like the two-meter-high snow walls piled up on both sides of the road, and use the snow road as a cover for the tank.
At this time, the snow layer was already one meter thick. The snow was dug down and piled up next to it to a height of more than one meter, forming a snow wall of about two meters.
But in fact, this still cannot block the tank. The height of the T34 tank is 2.74 meters, and the higher part is almost a turret.
Of course, the Soviet army can choose to continue to raise the snow wall, but in fact this is not realistic.
First of all, digging down is the frozen soil. Compared with the soft snow layer, the frozen soil is two different things. It is very difficult to dig and the amount of work is too large.
Secondly, if you don’t dig down, you have to continue to pile up the snow wall... This is not realistic. The snow wall that is two meters above the horizon can easily attract the attention of the German army, and it will be exposed after a few shells.
The solution is to wrap the tank turret and even the barrel with a white cloth, and then launch a counterattack towards the enemy. At this time, the tank is deployed into an ambush position.
This is a counterattack launched by the 333rd regiment.
As Major General Panfinov said, there is a forest about one kilometer in front of the defense line, which was used by the German army as a rallying point.
Shulka had reason to believe that there were German observers in the forest staring at the Soviet positions and paying attention to the movements of the Soviet troops. If they were not interfering with them, the deployment of tanks would hardly escape their eyes.
So the counterattack soon began.
A rocket launcher company poured dozens of rockets into the forest in a short period of time, and more than ten howitzers also roared.
But the point is not this... Mortars fired smoke bombs in front of the position and even in the forest, and soon the entire battlefield was shrouded in smoke.
A battalion of the 333rd regiment immediately charged towards the German army.
But of course, this is just thunder and rain, they are more lying on the ground shouting and shooting indiscriminately.
This caused the German army to call artillery fire to intercept and shoot the open space between the defense lines of the two armies. The German army's light and heavy machine guns also "squeaked" into the smoke, so there was gunpowder smoke and smoke in front of the position, as well as the sound of "rumbling" guns. and dense gunfire.
At this time, the T34 tank entered the tank bunker along the snow wall that had been dug.
(end of this chapter)
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