USSR 1941

  Chapter 739 Political Commissar

  The Southwest Front is commanded by Lieutenant General Vatutin.

  This front army should be said to be second only to the Stalingrad front army in strength in the original plan.

  Its ground forces have only three armies, but they are all elite: the 1st Guards Army, the 5th Tank Army and the 21st Mechanized Army.

  Because it is the main force of the original plan and is responsible for attacking the enemy's supply line... After the Southwest Front is located on the German side, fighter planes can take off from its position to bomb the German railways and roads.

  So the air power of the Southwest Front has two armies: the 17th Army of the Air Force, which is equipped with more bombers and attack aircraft, and is mainly responsible for attacking the German supply line. The 2nd Army of the Air Force is mainly equipped with reconnaissance aircraft, attack aircraft and assault aircraft, and is responsible for covering ground troops in operations.

  The offensive of the Southwest Front was originally very smooth, but after Hitler transferred an assault group formed by Manstein to the north to prevent its advance, the momentum of the Southwest Front slowly slowed down.

   "30 kilometers east of Miloway!" Andrianka reported to Shulka: "The Southwestern Front was blocked by the Germans and fell into a stalemate!"

  Shuerka roughly measured the distance and said, "130 kilometers!"

  130 kilometers is 30 kilometers more than Shulka's previous estimate of 100 kilometers.

   Although 30 kilometers is not a lot, it can be fatal for a battle.

  Because 100 kilometers is about two days of marching speed for the Soviet army... Tanks and mechanized troops are advancing on muddy roads, and they can advance almost 50 kilometers a day.

  So, if there is an increase of 30 kilometers, it means that the Soviet army may advance 65 kilometers a day, or rest for one night and wait for the third day to advance the 30 kilometers.

  The former is very difficult to achieve because the marching intensity is too high, while the latter is too dangerous... On the third day, Manstein may have recovered and reacted.

   "Is there no possibility of going any further?" Shulka asked.

   "I asked!" Andrianka replied: "The German army laid a large number of mines and barbed wire along Milloway, and a forced breakthrough will cause a lot of casualties!"

  A large number of casualties is definitely not acceptable, because the ground troops of the Southwest Front Army have only three front armies in total.

  So, we can only forcefully march 130 kilometers in two days, and then the 51st Army will suddenly appear behind the German defense line to attack it on both sides.

   But these are secondary issues.

   While Shulka was frowning, Trufanov made a call.

   "Shuerka, although it is not suitable, but..." Trufanov said: "The new political commissar will arrive tomorrow!"

   "Tomorrow?" This was three days earlier than Shulka thought.

   "Yes!" Trufanov replied: "He chose the fastest route!"

   Shulka knows what the "quickest route" is, and that's to take a plane and circle around from behind.

   This is a luxury in wartime when gasoline is scarce, especially if you only send a commissar who doesn't have much real help in the battle.

  But the Supreme Command obviously doesn't think so.

   That is to say, Shulka must think of a way to break through the German defense line before tomorrow morning, otherwise, the 51st Army is likely to fall into the previous predicament, that is, attacking the enemy's defense line wave after wave.

   However, Shulka and Trufanov again miscalculated.

  At two o'clock in the morning that day, Shulka had just taken a nap on the map in a daze, and was woken up by Andrianka.

   "Comrade Shulka!" Andrianka said: "Trufanov informed you to go to the headquarters for a meeting!"

  Hearing this, Shulka felt bad.

Because if it’s not something important, Trufanov usually won’t call the front-line commanders to the headquarters for a meeting, especially a regiment-level officer like Shulka... Trufanov is the commander of the group army, and the meeting is a problem It is enough to call a meeting of the army commander or division commander, at most it is to seek the opinion of Shulka.

  Shuerka had a vague feeling that the political commissar should have arrived ahead of time.

   Sure enough, when Shulka walked into the headquarters, he saw an officer with a red collar insignia losing his temper at Trufanov.

"Don't you know that Karachi is surrounded by the enemy?" The political commissar said: "Karachi is at stake, and all of us are fighting **** battles with the enemy! The Southwest Front Army and the Don River Front Army have heroic soldiers fighting against the enemy every moment. Falling down in front of guns and artillery fire! And you, here, did nothing, not only that, but also kept reporting to your superiors that you are attacking with all your strength! This is a shameless lie! It is a shameful act of traitor!"

  It turned out that the political commissar told Trufanov that his genius was a lie.

  He actually arrived two hours ago... During this period, he took a car from the Don River to Surovikino.

  This is because there is no airport on the front line for planes to land on and the planes dare not fly to the front line when the enemy has air supremacy.

   Then, the political commissar took advantage of this gap to inspect the situation on the front line.

  For Trufanov, of course he wanted to delay as long as possible, so he did not launch an "active attack" on the enemy's defense line.

  In fact, all the actions of the Soviet army that night were just lurking in front of the formation and sniping.

  The political commissar also played a little tricky. He put on the uniform of an infantry major and went to the front to talk to the soldiers.

  Soviet soldiers did not see that it was a political commissar, so they revealed the actual attack...

"I will report all this to the Supreme Command!" The political commissar said: "Comrade Trufanov, I think you are no longer suitable for the position of commander of the 51st Army. I think you should go to Moscow. Explain it to Comrade Stalin yourself!"

   As he spoke, the political commissar raised his head towards the guard beside him, and the guard stepped forward to disarm Trufanov.

   Needless to say what this means, especially "explain to Stalin personally".

  Everyone knows that explanations are useless. If he is found to be defiant and defiant, all explanations will become excuses.

  The other officers in the headquarters did not dare to say a word, and many even pretended to be ignorant to draw a line with Trufanov.

   Shulka stepped forward without thinking, and said: "Comrade Commissar! We didn't back down. Comrade Trufanov did this in the hope of fighting the enemy better and more powerfully! We have a plan..."

   "Enough, I don't want to hear your plan!" The political commissar interrupted Shulka: "Your plan is to use the plan as an excuse to hide in the trenches and cry like a coward!"

   "No, Comrade Commissar!" Shulka said: "I have evidence, we have discussed it with Comrade Rokossovsky, Comrade Trufanov also knows this!"

  (end of this chapter)