The problem of soldiers defecting that Konev mentioned is a fact! As for the root cause of this problem, Konev actually knows it very well, but now, he also knows that the facts cannot be told.
In fact, an important reason for soldiers to defect was the relatively high-level propaganda of the German army.
The two sides opened fire on each other during the day, and at night, both sides pulled out loudspeakers. The Soviet army shouted in German and the German army shouted in Russian, hoping that the other side would surrender.
In the propaganda battle, the German army was clearly superior.
The German army's propaganda machine was designed to encourage Soviet soldiers to defect, using all possible means, and the German army did achieve good results.
For the frontline soldiers at the grassroots level, their sadness is that when the war broke out, the entire army and the country did not respond quickly to the war. What did the army experience? Retreat! Failure! Terrible losses!
What did the soldiers hear?
Fight to the death! Defend at all costs! Anyone who dares to retreat will be shot immediately!
Ordinary Soviet soldiers are human beings, they are not born to be war machines and then used as disposable consumables in the war. However, their current situation is very bad.
The large number of front-line troops of the Kalinin Front and the Western Front could not be effectively supplemented, and the combat strength of many infantry divisions was maintained at around 6,000 people.
The situation for soldiers' daily necessities was even worse.
Many soldiers wore shabby uniforms, a pullover, and a boat-shaped cap that must have several holes. They did not wear socks on their feet, instead wearing foot wraps. The only bright decoration on the soldiers was the red color on the boat-shaped cap.
Five stars, of course, and some soldiers still have medals on their chests.
Their food situation is quite average. Their staple food is boiled potatoes, and they only eat bread occasionally.
Why is this happening? It stands to reason that the Soviet Union systematically gave bread priority to the army.
The problem is still the problem of material transportation.
Although the Soviet army liberated Rzhev and Sychevka, the German army was not stupid. Before the German army retreated tactically, they tried their best to blow up the railway. After they discovered that the Soviet army had begun to repair the railway, they dispatched the air force for bombing. Even this
The effect of bombing was extremely limited, but the Germans still used this method to affect the Soviet army's material transportation.
At least in September, this key railway did not perform very well. However, in the foreseeable future, its role will increase rapidly.
It's a pity that it is really a technical job to transport the materials transported by military trains to the hands of officers and soldiers scattered in various places.
After a fierce battle, the Kalinin Front, which suffered the most losses, fought another month of tug-of-war with the Germans. Most of the materials needed by the frontline troops were transported by horse-drawn carriages from the unloading site in Rzhev to the front line.
The Soviet Army is not as wealthy as the U.S. Army. The U.S. Army almost always travels in trucks and powerful jeeps. It is a blessing for the Soviet Army to turn its infantry into mules and horses.
How is this actually true? Quite a few Soviet infantry divisions were hastily formed during the war. Their horses and equipment were not high, and the soldiers were still as they were in the 19th century. No matter how far they marched, they had to carry all their belongings.
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Are these soldiers really happy to squat in the trenches on the front lines and fight in battles in which everyone will die?
The army command can only inspire the fighting will of the troops through empty slogans. Occasionally, art troupes will come to express sympathy and condolences, so that the soldiers crawling in the mud and smoke can see the beautifully dressed girls, and their hearts tend to collapse.
Only then did he calm down a little.
However, German aircraft always dropped tens of thousands of colorful leaflets over the positions, all of which were nothing more than advocating the victory of the German army and the defeat of the Soviet army.
The German army printed these leaflets in the hope that Soviet soldiers would believe that running to the German army was the only way to survive.
This kind of article in which the German army assumes a condescending attitude as a victor will often only inspire the Soviet soldiers to rebel. Then the description of the happy life in the German army in the German army article will very easily make the Soviet soldiers fall.
Soviet soldiers who escaped to the Germans could get a lot of bread and butter, be given jobs, and have various benefits. As long as they ran toward the German trenches holding leaflets high, the Germans would not shoot anyone carrying leaflets.
Those who surrender will have their lives guaranteed.
Stalin criticized Konev for being lax in running the army, but in fact he was really wrong.
Whether it was the Kalinin Front or the Western Front, the German army sent out planes to drop leaflets at least half of the time throughout September. At night, the German army used high-power loudspeakers to talk about their surrender policy over and over again.
In this regard, Konev's options are very limited.
If there was a way to silence the enemy, he would have done it long ago. Now he can only do it from within.
After Konev arrived at the Western Front, he found that the situation of soldiers fleeing was more serious than that of the Kalinin Front. Is this perhaps because his predecessor was not fully aware of this problem?
To avoid more defections, Konev came up with some ideas.
Landmines are laid on possible escape routes near forward positions, which not only prevents our own soldiers from defecting, but also prevents enemy saboteurs from sneaking in.
The anti-retreat team established by the Ministry of Internal Affairs was also set up in the Western Front. Their only job was to catch deserters.
All deserters who are caught will be put into a punishment camp. If there are enough people, they will become a company or even a battalion and serve as the vanguard of the next battle. This can be regarded as atonement for having escaped.
For junior officers, those who were platoon leaders or sergeants, if one of their subordinates deserted, Konev ordered that such people were no longer suitable to be officers and would be directly demoted to privates.
If more than three people in the grassroots troops flee collectively, the platoon leader will also be tried by a military court!
This practice was immediately implemented in all front armies after Stalin issued the order. Konev followed the rules, but he did not know that in the direction of Stalingrad, the Soviet army there had a tougher attitude towards deserters. Konev was rarely seen here.
Those who deserted were executed, and in Timoshenko’s case, in September alone, he ordered 300 deserters to be shot!
If everyone firmly believed that victory in the war belonged to the Soviet Union, there would not be so many deserters.
In fact, the mentality of millions of grassroots soldiers in the Soviet army is very subtle. Most of them only joined the army in 1942, and what they learned was the series of disastrous defeats of the Soviet army in 1941.
I am afraid that only after the victory in the Battle of Stalingrad can the soldiers' confidence in defeating the powerful enemy be gradually built up.
After all, humans are creatures that seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, and they are also emotional. If they believe that the Soviet Union is going to be defeated, then running away to the enemy and living as a dog is a way to survive, although there is no shame in it.
If everyone believes that Germany must be defeated, who will voluntarily defect to the enemy who is bound to lose? Even if they die in battle, they will die generously because they know that their camp will surely win.
The problem of desertion has plagued the Soviet Union since the beginning of the war.
By now, Konev felt that the problem was becoming more and more serious. He knew that Stalin did not like to hear this, but he still wanted to make this cruel reality clear.
"The problem now is that I have taken many methods but still can't curb the deserter problem. I think I need more methods, but..."
Stalin knocked on the table hard: "You are too merciful! I think there is only one way to deal with deserters and traitors, and that is to shoot them."
"This... I'm worried that the morale of the military will be disturbed."
"No! You are just too merciful, Comrade Konev. In my opinion, your problem is that you have not killed enough people. Who are those deserters and traitors? Are they still citizens of the Soviet Union? No! They belong to the invaders.
Accomplices already belong to the category of enemies. As for enemies, I see no problem in shooting them all."
Konev nodded. After his hard work, including placing mine arrays and holding frequent meetings, the problem of deserters on the Kalinin Front was alleviated.
Now that I have moved to serve in the front army next door, do I need some cruel measures to curb the trend of defection?
Suddenly, Zhukov spoke: "As for the issue of deserters, this matter is indeed very difficult."
"Oh? Do you have any opinions?" Stalin asked eagerly.
"Yes, we must contain it. What I care about is not how many people escape a day, or whether one division defectes a month. In my opinion, it is six thousand people who escape every month, and we can recruit 10,000 more people."
The key to the problem is not this at all, but the fact that these traitors will tell the enemy intelligence. Especially the intelligence that we are about to launch a large-scale attack! We held this meeting seventy meters underground to avoid the leakage of intelligence.
But the information still needs to be conveyed to each division. If a soldier learns of the situation and uses the information as a bargaining chip to defect, we will have no privacy here."
"Ah! This is a big problem!" Stalin suddenly cheered up: "It seems that we must deal with this matter. Before the campaign begins, we'd better not have a single deserter."
"We must adopt an effective mechanism." Konev said impatiently.
An effective mechanism? Stalin felt that his family was waiting for his wise words to solve this thorny problem.
Stalin thought for a while, then suddenly stamped his foot and said: "Caesar's method of dealing with the rebel soldiers was to let them draw lots and kill eleven. This method curbed the rebellion. I think we can follow suit."
Killing at eleven? Zhukov had no idea that Stalin would have such an idea, and he quickly tried to dissuade him on the grounds of inhumanity.
"Inhumane? Their defection is a kind of inhumanity. Let's do this!" Stalin had another flash of inspiration, "One person in an infantry squad defected, and the remaining few people will be drawn by lot, and the person who wins the lot will be sent to the punishment camp. You
Look, I didn’t do any killing, I just locked up the winners.”
"But if the person who wins the lottery is not guilty, why should he be locked up with the captured deserters?"
"Are you really not guilty?" Stalin grimaced and shook his head. "They have an obligation to prevent their comrades from escaping. They should do this. Since they have escaped, they are guilty. By the way! I should give them certain powers! Whenever soldiers are found
Any soldier has the right to shoot him if he defectes! Such a shooting is regarded as meritorious as killing the enemy! Yes! This is how it should be done! My request is that there should not be even a single deserter in the army."
Here, Yang Mingzhi was speechless throughout the whole process. Listening to Stalin's words really made him shudder.
Stalin indeed had a tough personality, and his handling of the desertion issue was even more ruthless. Perhaps Stalin cannot be said to be ruthless here. If the soldiers were allowed to flee, the Soviet army would not be far from collapsing. An excellent army must have strong discipline.
, during the extremely severe war period, it is a last resort to use cruel means to eliminate the scum among them.
Since issuing that order, Stalin has indeed set an example. Even when faced with German bombings, he remained unmoved.
Since I am so tenacious, my subordinates must also be strong, and every soldier must also be tenacious.
"We must turn the most cowardly soldiers into the bravest heroes, and we must use some effective methods. Just now my idea seemed very extreme, and now I think about it again, maybe this extreme method is an effective way to deal with the current predicament.
means."
Taking advantage of the meeting, Stalin resolutely believed that grassroots soldiers could be given the power to directly kill deserters without reporting to anti-retreat groups and field military courts.
He also considered that there would be soldiers who killed good people and took credit, so he designed that soldiers who killed deserters would be investigated by the organization. If they confirmed that the deceased was indeed a deserter, they would be rewarded, and if they confirmed that they killed good people and took credit, they would be punished.
The definition of this kind of "desert" is a narrow deserter. They are not simply people who are afraid of war, but flee to the enemy's position. Specifically, they are traitors!
For a soldier, killing such a "deserter" will be counted as two merits for killing the enemy. Once a soldier captures a person who has thoughts of defecting, once verified, the soldier will also receive one merit for killing the enemy.
Establish a mutual supervision system at the grassroots level and implement it in every infantry squad.
Stalin felt that this extremely high-pressure method could even suppress the soldiers' mouths, so that the idea of defection would not be spread by word of mouth.
But he does not think that this method is simply high pressure and toughness, because for those real heroes who are willing to defend the country to the death, there is a method that can prevent the soldiers on the front from defecting or deserting in fear of war, and that is an excellent method.
, is a means to make them feel happy.
"So, let's do it! Thank you, Comrade Konev, your advice is very important. I will draft a document to confirm that this order to prevent soldiers from defecting will be effective throughout 1942 and apply to all battlefields
.”
Now, it's Konev's turn to feel gratified.
Konev quickly saluted with a military salute: "Thank you, Comrade Stalin. In this way, I believe that no more people will take the risk and betray the motherland."
Stalin shook his head expressionlessly, and then looked at the map again.
His face was solemn. Everyone looked at the old man's wide eyes and found that he had been staring at Smolensk.
After a moment of silence, Stalin finally spoke: "We must keep all subsequent actions secret. We must do our best to prevent soldiers from defecting to the enemy, and we must not let the enemy know our purpose. Comrade Zhukov!"
"arrive!"
"Now, please tell me, when do you plan to launch the campaign?"