USSR 1941

  Chapter 657 Surrounded

   "Comrade political commissar!" Shulka looked around in some embarrassment.

Khrushchev understood, waved his hand and let other unimportant people leave, leaving only Golikov, Akimovich and a few staff officers brought by Khrushchev, and the headquarters was even emptied by the guards , Correspondents, staff officers, etc. were all kicked out.

   "I hope it was worth it, Comrade Shulka!" Khrushchev said: "Otherwise you are wasting my time! You know what the consequences will be!"

After a pause, Khrushchev stared at Shulka and added: "I know you, Comrade Shulka, the 'breakout hero'. I hope you are not in vain, otherwise I will not be lenient, no matter you How much merit has been done, understand?"

   "Yes, Comrade Political Commissar!" Shulka replied, seeing the tension in the eyes of Golikov and Akimovich at the same time, and winking secretly.

   Shulka knew what their eyes meant. It was telling Shulka that Khrushchev was telling the truth and making Shulka take it seriously.

In fact, they don't need to remind Shulka to know that Khrushchev is a ruthless person, as he said before, if Khrushchev thinks that some officers are just vulgar, then he would rather use them as ordinary soldiers .

   Actually this makes sense in some respects.

Because war is a cruel "survival of the fittest", the soldiers and low-level officers fighting on the front line are controlled by the enemy's aircraft and cannons to complete the law of the jungle, while the middle and high-level officers are temporarily in a safe zone, which is outside the law of the jungle. .

  To be precise, middle and high-level officers are not outside the law of the jungle, but they are not as direct as the officers and soldiers fighting on the front line.

  Middle and high-level officers more often achieve "survival of the fittest" through victories in battles... If they win a battle, they will be promoted, and if they lose a battle, they will be demoted or punished.

The problem is that the reward and punishment system of the Soviet army at this time is not standardized. In many cases, the promotion is determined by personal preferences, political stances, or network connections... The reason why the marshal with great military exploits will be defeated by Mechlis, who has no skills. here.

  Although the Soviet army had to carry out internal reforms after the outbreak of the war and turned to focus on officers and soldiers who could fight, it is just the beginning.

Khrushchev pursued this set of laws of the jungle. He believed that the survival of the fittest should be carried out faster, stronger, and more directly to the middle and high command levels. The way of survival of the fittest is to send those incompetent officers directly to the battlefield and let them prove yourself.

   To be honest, Shulka is not too worried about this, because he has never left the front line.

The problem is, if Khrushchev really sends all the commanders of the army headquarters to the battlefield... the chain of command in Stalingrad will be reorganized, and then it will not be a good thing, although there are indeed many incompetent people in the army headquarters , but at least it still works.

   Seeing Shulka staring at the map in a daze, Golikov couldn't help coughing lightly to remind Shulka.

Unexpectedly, Khrushchev reprimanded Golikov instead: "I don't care about this time, Comrade Golikov, if there is a good way! On the contrary, those ideas you put forward in a hurry are wasting my time." time, there is no doubt about it!"

   It can also be seen from this that Khrushchev is a person who pays attention to efficiency. He has a clear latitude and longitude and knows what is important and what is not.

  At the same time, this also put a certain amount of pressure on Shulka, that is, of course his proposal cannot be as fruitless as Golikov and others.

  But Shulka is not worried at all, he is already confident at this time.

"The Germans concentrated their main force on the front of Stalingrad!" Shulka pointed to the narrow strip between the Don and Volga rivers near Stalingrad, and said: "These are mostly German troops with hundreds of thousands of people. It was defended along the Don River by the Romanian and Italian armies, that is to say, the German line of defense was strong in the middle and weak on the two wings. Our army was just the opposite. Our army was severely short of supplies and personnel due to the blockade of Stalingrad in the middle, and the north was There are powerful Stalingrad Fronts and Southwestern Fronts, and there is a Southern Front in the south..."

   "What do you want to say, Comrade Shulka?" Khrushchev asked, with some surprise in his eyes: "I know this!"

"Why don't we surround the Germans?" Shulka said. "I mean, they are weak on both wings, and they are the Romanian army with poor combat effectiveness. We have an absolute advantage over them in terms of infantry, artillery, tanks and even air force." !"

This is an undoubted fact. The equipment of the Romanian army is not comparable to that of the German army. As I said before, they are more of an army composed of "muses" and "horses". They are seriously lacking in modern transportation tools, and so are tanks. Some light tanks with poor performance.

  Golikov and Akimovich were also shocked by this bold plan proposed by Shulka.

   This does not mean that they agree with Shulka's plan, but that the boldness of this plan has exceeded their imagination...

First of all, the idea of ​​Golikov and Akimovich is passive defense, that is, the Germans created some kind of trouble and they tried to solve this trouble, but Shulka proposed to actively counterattack, which can even be called It is a full-scale counterattack, which has an essential difference in offense and defense and initiative.

Secondly, both Golikov and Akimovich proposed battles at the army level, limited to Stalingrad or the eastern bank of the Volga River, while Shulka proposed large-scale battles of several front armies. The battle involved a front of hundreds of kilometers or even longer, which no one else even Khrushchev dared to think about.

Khrushchev thought for a while, then nodded and said: "It's a creative idea, Comrade Shulka, but it's not realistic. You also said that the Romanian army is stationed along the Don River, which will make up for their combat effectiveness. Insufficient above!"

   Khrushchev hit the nail on the head.

  This is also the reason why the German army dared to use the Romanian army, which was relatively weak in combat effectiveness and equipment, to protect its two wings.

  This is also the difficulty of Shulka's plan: in the Battle of Stalingrad in history, the reason why the Soviet army was able to break through the two wings and surround the German army was because the river was frozen in winter.

  But now, it is obviously impossible to wait until winter comes.

  But Shulka believes that the Soviet army at this time does not have to wait until winter.

because…

   "We have an amphibious landing ship, Comrade Political Commissar!" Shulka said: "I think it can help us break through the Romanian army's defenses!"

  (end of this chapter)