As the political commissar's hoarse roar rang out on the attack position, soldiers wearing the Soviet uniform's signature t-shirts rushed out of the trench where they had just been standing with their guns in hand.
Kilponos stood in his command post, pacing back and forth, his face as steely as stone.
Through the huge battle diagram on the wall, we can see that countless Romanian troops are lining up to attack the Soviet Southwest Front. More than forty Romanian divisions have gathered into a mighty torrent, repeatedly attacking the Soviet defense line.
And Kilponos also clearly realized that when the main force of the German army joined the attack, a tragic battle would begin!
Looking from the door of the headquarters, the thin and cold figure of Kirponos was in stark contrast to their previous commander Zhukov. This figure made every Soviet officer present worried that he would
A gust of wind would blow, and Kilponos would be blown down.
Just a year ago, the Southwest Front of the Kiev Military District welcomed their last commander, General Zhukov. But just six months later, Zhukov was replaced by Kirponos.
The staff officers of the Southwest Front have followed the new commander Kilponos for a short time, but at least one thing these staff officers have learned after working together for half a year is that General Kilponos never fights an uncertain battle!
Kirponos, who participated in the Soviet Civil War and served as battalion commander, regimental chief of staff, deputy regimental commander, and regimental commander in the Red Army, graduated from the Frunze Military Academy and served as the principal of the Kazan Infantry School. Whether in actual combat
Both experience and research on military theory can be said to be excellent.
During the Soviet-Finnish War not long ago, Kirponos, who served as the commander of the 70th Infantry Division, was one of the few Soviet army officers who could avoid being severely damaged by the Finnish army. Therefore, he also received the honor after the war.
The title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Everyone thought that Kilponos' order to attack with attack was based on sufficient assurance and was a decision made after careful consideration.
No one doubts that when he orders an attack, victory is guaranteed!
However, no one knew that the palms of this Soviet hero were already filled with sweat!
When he received the news of the all-out counterattack by the Allied forces on both the northern and southern fronts, Kilponos knew that he had been forced onto a road where he could only move forward and not retreat!
Moreover, Stalin's mandatory order to continue the offensive cut off Kilponos's last retreat.
Since more than 40 Romanian divisions were mobilized, Kilponos has been holding on for seven days in order to force out the main German troops hidden by Manstein, Model, and Paulus!
, he even dispatched a total of six infantry divisions and launched eight almost desperate attacks. The final result was a battle loss rate of nearly 40%! The troops under his command could still maintain combat effectiveness.
Reduced sharply from thirty-four divisions to twenty-six!
Originally, this was nothing to Kilponos. In war, people would die and there would be sacrifices.
Everything must be aimed at victory. As long as victory can be achieved, no matter how cold-blooded things are, a qualified commander must do it without hesitation!
This is also a fact that his predecessor, General Zhukov, repeatedly emphasized to these officers and soldiers when he was in charge of the Kiev Military District, the predecessor of the Southwest Front.
If the German generals are indeed hiding the main German force behind Romania's low combat effectiveness but large number of offensive forces, waiting for their main force. Then Kilponos will continue to implement the same tactics without hesitation.
He also left his elite Russian troops behind and let the Ukrainians fight the Romanians. Even at the cost of three times the opponent's sacrifice. It is bound to grind down the Romanian army with low combat effectiveness.
Consume it into powder!
But the current situation is that the Ukrainian army, which has long been dissatisfied with the heavy losses caused by attacking the southern German provinces with refueling tactics, has become very noisy and restless. The Ukrainian officers who have taken advantage of the situation are furious, and the people in the command headquarters
The Ukrainian officer had a cold face, and the sarcasm at the corner of his mouth was undisguised. The communication telegrams between the Ukrainian troops included everything.
From that moment on, Kilponos knew that he had no choice.
In accordance with Stalin's orders and his own original ideas, it is obviously impossible to continue to use Ukrainian troops to use oppressive tactics against the Allied forces.
At first, the Ukrainian commanders on the front line hoped to wait for the order to withdraw, so they could muster the courage to resist the Allied forces who suddenly switched from defense to offensive.
However, after the long-awaited retreat order did not come, and instead waited for Stalin's idiotic instructions to continue the attack, the Ukrainian Soviet troops on the front line no longer had the strength to hold on.
Due to the disagreement between General Pavlov and General Zhukov, the Southwest Front Army, as well as the Southern Front Army, have not received standard supplies of materials for a long time.
A large amount of weapons supplies and ammunition supplies were detained by Pavlov in the rear. He only gave a symbolic discount of 10% of the rear transportation volume to the frontline troops.
As a result, although they obviously have an excellent logistics and transportation network built with the help of the Germans, the two southern front armies, including the Southwest Front Army, are generally in a situation where the pre-stored ammunition has been exhausted and the ammunition carried with them is seriously insufficient.
There is really no better way to use such troops than to retreat. In other words, even if they are not allowed to retreat, as long as they can replenish the supplies that should be transported!
Now, many Ukrainian military officers have blatantly spread complaints and negativity within the army.
It’s no wonder that from their point of view, not giving weapons and not allowing retreat is a standard use of cannon fodder. In particular, Kilponos released the Russian troops in his hand in order to deal with the main German force that might appear at any time.
Avoiding fighting in the rear has created a strong imbalance in the Ukrainian army.
Not to mention that ordinary soldiers could not understand Kilponos' actions, even most Ukrainian generals concluded that Kilponos only cared about the few troops with the title of Guards in his hands and did not care about their lives or lives.
It is true that in Stalin's eyes, consuming Ukrainians and consuming local strength in the Ukrainian region was also a means to strengthen the rule of the Soviet government. However, Kirponos's purpose in doing so was not that.
After all, the combat effectiveness of the Russian troops is indeed higher than that of the Ukrainian troops. Of course, there are also reasons why the Russian troops are better equipped.
In other words, Kilponos really considered these Russian troops from the perspective of a commander and kept them under pressure as elites.
It's a pity that his Ukrainian subordinates think about their own situation and really can't think like this...
