Chapter 736 Grenadier
As the saying goes, Feng Shui turns around. Not long ago, many officers and soldiers were envious of being incorporated into the Don River Front Army and joined the ranks of liberating Stalingrad. Some officers even used their own connections to be transferred to the Don River Front Army... Listen to Shulka It is said that more than a dozen officers were successfully transferred.
Although war is a filter that can filter out the dross deposited in the army during peacetime, it is not a one-day cold freeze. The intertwined network of relationships in the army is very complicated and deep, and it is necessary to destroy it. Uprooting is not something that can be achieved in short-term wars.
However, these officers who were transferred by virtue of their connections soon regretted it.
I originally thought that the 51st Army was an abandoned and sacrificed force. Unexpectedly, the 57th Army suddenly turned around and fell into a bitter battle... Most of the officers transferred from the 51st Army were transferred to the 57th Army.
Of course, these self-inflicted officers are not what Shulka needs to consider.
What Shulka should care about is how to break through the defense line of the German 29th Panzergrenadier Division in front of him.
The term grenadier originated in the middle of the 18th century, that is, the time when the enemy and the enemy lined up to shoot... At that time, the grenade was large, so it was necessary to select elite soldiers with strong arms as grenadiers. Only in this way could they use the grenade Throw from your own team to the enemy camp to kill the enemy.
So after that, grenadiers were used to refer to "elite troops" in general.
The number of the Panzergrenadier of the German army was just obtained last month...Because the German offensive in the Soviet Union was at a stalemate, in order to boost morale, Hitler used this sense of honor of the old Prussian army to inspire the fighting spirit of the soldiers, announcing that the Panzer Division The attached mechanized infantry and mechanized infantry were renamed "Panzergrenadiers".
That is to say, the 29th Panzergrenadier Division is actually a mechanized infantry, and mechanized infantry means that its tank and anti-tank capabilities are not as strong as the armored division.
The problem is... When the Soviet army crossed the Don River and attacked westward, many German anti-aircraft artillery units that were walking on the west bank of the Don River successfully withdrew from the theater.
The reason for this situation is that the Soviet army was blocked in Prodovitoye for a long period of time, so that the Soviet army lost the opportunity to chase the German anti-aircraft artillery units.
On the other hand, it is also due to the strategic and tactical mistakes of the Soviet army... As I said before, the Soviet army mainly attacked with mechanized troops and even cavalry. In order to speed up, the mechanized troops only mounted light tanks or even reared cars. The mounted artillery was discarded by the roadside.
This directly led to the German anti-aircraft artillery battalion being able to block the Soviet army's vanguard and causing heavy casualties... The firepower of the German anti-aircraft artillery battalion is very terrifying, because it has anti-aircraft machine guns, small-caliber anti-aircraft guns with a high rate of fire, and even can destroy the enemy. 88MM AA gun for any tank.
These high-speed equipment are sharp weapons for dealing with group charges, and the Soviet army just happens to only be able to use group charges.
As a result, when the Soviet army dealt with these German anti-aircraft artillery battalions, they often needed to encircle and annihilate them, that is, to surround them from both wings and take them down like a colony of ants with a large number of people.
Major Bauer, who was developed into a "spy" by Shulka, was captured by the Soviet army in this way.
As a result... At least a dozen anti-aircraft artillery battalions of the German army successfully fled back to the German-controlled area, and these dozen anti-aircraft artillery battalions were requisitioned by the German 29th Panzergrenadier Division and deployed their firepower on the ground in the Soviet Union. On the Lovikino line, there are two anti-tank trenches and a "tank cemetery" that are very troublesome...Because in the previous attack, teams of tanks rushed up and teams were wiped out, countless tank wreckage was left on the ground, so the Soviets called this line of defense the "tank graveyard".
Such a line of defense can almost be said to be an iron wall.
And Shulka's plan must break through this iron wall.
Just as Shulka was worrying about it, Andrianka came to the side and reported: "Comrade Shulka, Comrade Rokossovsky is here!"
"What?" As soon as Shulka looked up, he saw Rokossovsky walking in from outside the headquarters.
As soon as Rokossovsky saw Shulka, he laughed heartily and stepped forward to give Shulka a big hug.
"Long time no see, my friend!" Rokossovsky said, "I didn't think we could meet here!"
"Comrade Rokossovsky, I'm afraid you have come to see me specially!" Shulka said.
Rokossovsky nodded with a smile and said: "You saw through, Shulka! Then, you know why I came to you... I thought you would be transferred to the Don Front Army, but I didn't expect You actually refused!"
Only then did Shulka know that Khrushchev had previously said that Shulka would be transferred to the Don Front Army to participate in the battle to liberate Stalingrad not just because of "relationships."
Shulka guessed right.
In fact, Rokossovsky knew from the beginning that the siege of Stalingrad was not as simple as the Supreme Command imagined.
Regardless of the fact that the Don Front Army has become very powerful because of the dismantling of the Stalingrad Front Army, Rokossovsky has more and more troops and more power, but in fact Rokossovsky is not Hope so.
Because for Dirokossovsky, although the Don River Front Army was the weakest of several front armies, its task was to contain, harass and cooperate with the 62nd and 64th Army and the German 6th Army. fight.
In this case, Rokossovsky has a lot of freedom. He can command the troops to deal with the enemy as he likes, which is also his strength.
However, after receiving most of the troops of the Stalingrad Front and changing the strategic target of the Don Front, the Don Front suddenly became the main offensive force of the entire battle.
This is not to say that Rokossovsky is afraid to take on this important task, but that in this way, his command will be interfered by the Supreme Command... If Rokossovsky is allowed to command, this battle will not be possible at all. It wouldn't be like this.
The biggest role of the Supreme Command is to command remotely and if it fails, the frontline commanders will be blamed.
At this time, Rokossovsky is the front-line commander who is responsible...Karachi is in trouble, and the headache is not the Supreme Command but Rokossovsky.
"We tried various methods to prevent the enemy from encircling Karachi!" Rokossovsky pointed to the map and said, "For example, building defensive positions on both wings, such as breaking through from the middle, but none of them succeeded! Manstein He is a formidable opponent, he has no intention of going into Karachi to fight us in the streets, and they don't need to, but we have already lost!"
(end of this chapter)
