Chapter 585 Supply Battle
The Soviet army collected more than 300 ships that night.
These ships are not landing ships reinforced from the navy, but fishing boats requisitioned from the people.
Because Shulka quickly thought of a bit...
If the German pilots could not distinguish the landing ship, could they distinguish other ships?
After all, it is on a fighter plane flying at high speed, and the only way to distinguish the target is to rely on the light of the flare...
Night fighter radars can only detect large or dense metal targets. The reason why they need the cooperation of ground radar stations is because even if the target is detected, they cannot know how far they are from the ground in the dark.
This is the scariest, especially ground attack.
Because, as I said before, if it is to intercept British fighter planes and bombers in the country, because the target is to fly at a certain height in the air, there is basically no need to consider the distance from the ground.
But if it is a ground attack, especially if you want to dive and straf or bomb the target, if you don’t know the height from the ground, you will often commit suicide by crashing in a dive.
Ground radar plays a role in this regard.
When the night fighter is flying in the air, the German ground radar base station actually does not help the night fighter to detect the target, but detects the altitude of its own night fighter and transmits the data to the pilot via radio in due course.
Coupled with the timely firing of flares by the reconnaissance plane, the attacks were completed one after another.
It is no exaggeration to say that this is the result of a high degree of coordination among German fighter jets, reconnaissance planes, and radars, and such ground attacks are quite dangerous.
This was already a tactic that was at the forefront of the world during World War II.
But the advanced is advanced. Due to limited conditions, it is still difficult for German pilots to distinguish between a bunch of similarly sized ships.
So, before the naval landing ship was transported to Stalingrad, Shulka requisitioned a large number of fishing boats from the people, even bamboo rafts, canoes and the like.
The bamboo raft is indeed a bit exaggerated, but as long as a few wooden boards are nailed on, it can be disguised as a landing ship in no time.
Then, Shulka quickly thought... If this is the case, why requisition? Why land a ship? It is enough to mobilize the troops to build rafts and bamboo rafts, isn't it?
The order was conveyed that night.
When the transportation was suspended, the entire 33rd Guards Infantry Division, which was responsible for protecting the transportation line, had nothing to do, and they happened to be responsible for building the bamboo rafts.
When the commander of the 33rd Guards Infantry Division heard this order, he thought that these bamboo rafts were used to transport supplies, so he complained to the group army headquarters a few times.
"Comrade Golikov!" said the division commander, Colonel Peter Shikov, "I don't think these rafts will be of much use. Will turn over and let the supplies sink to the bottom of the river!"
"Do you think these bamboo rafts are used to transport supplies?" Golikov asked back.
"Then they are..."
"They are indeed used to transport supplies!" Golikov replied: "But it's not the way you think. You just need to do your own thing well, and you don't need to care about the rest!"
"Yes, Comrade Golikov!" Colonel Peter Shikov was a little puzzled, but he didn't dare to ask any more questions.
Golikov on the other end of the phone shook his head and sighed to Krylov: "Look, this is my right-hand man... At this time, he doesn't know what those bamboo rafts are for!"
"There is only one Shulka, Comrade Golikov!" Krylov comforted: "You can't ask too much of your subordinates!"
Golikov smiled wryly and did not speak.
Before this, Golikov always thought that his failure on the battlefield was due to other reasons, such as soldiers not brave enough, the quality of officers and soldiers not good enough, equipment not as good as the enemy and so on.
In fact, the quality of the Soviet army and certain aspects of equipment are indeed inferior to the enemy. This is one of the reasons why the Soviet army often has superior forces but is defeated by the enemy.
But now, Golikov believes that this is not the case.
Because the facts have proved this point...Under Shulka's indirect command and layout, it is also the Southwest Front Army, and it can even be said that it is the remnants of the Southwest Front Army, but it blocked the German attack. Not only that, but also faintly has the upper hand momentum.
What is this indicating?
Golikov vaguely understood the problem: troops with poor quality have bad styles of play, and backward equipment also have backward tactics.
For example, what Shulka did in Stalingrad actually boils down to one principle: make every effort to use your strengths to find the enemy's weaknesses.
Thinking of this, Golikov felt that he had learned something useful and strengthened his confidence in defending Stalingrad.
Shulka on the other side didn't know Golikov's psychological changes, and he was busy preparing to deploy the next day's transportation.
"Deploy two transportation lines in the south and three in the north!" Shulka said, pointing to the map.
"False or true?" Major Mikhailvich asked, "Or, which one is true?"
"It's all fake!"
"Is it all fake?"
"Yes!" Shulka replied: "In the beginning, the Germans had sufficient ammunition and fuel, and the fighter planes and pilots were also well prepared... So, the first few transportation lines were all fake, let them do a big job !"
Major Mikhailvich couldn't help but "Oh": "By midnight, their ammunition and fuel have been almost consumed, right?"
"Yes!" Shulka replied: "Maybe we don't need to wait until the middle of the night, because the Germans didn't expect that we would have so many landing ships..."
"That's right!" Major Mikhailvich said: "If we add the bamboo rafts and wooden rafts we made temporarily, excluding the landing ships for naval reinforcements, we have more than 500 ships, enough for them to fight for a while." of!"
This is actually the consumption of supplies. The Germans don’t have enough supplies, especially at this time...
At this time, Stalingrad has entered May. As the temperature rises, the ice and snow melt in a large area, so the roads and railways are muddy everywhere.
In fact, the road conditions in the Soviet Union at this time are not just "muddy", it can be called another kind of swamp, with mud everywhere, and even knee-deep water.
Besides, there are a lot of troubles caused by these stagnant water, such as mosquitoes, diseases and so on.
In addition, the Soviet army actively deployed guerrillas in the rear to destroy the German transportation line, making it very difficult for the German army to replenish in the direction of Stalingrad.
This makes the Battle of Stalingrad more like a battle for supplies.
(end of this chapter)
