Shulka was right, because while Shulka, Major Gavrilov and others were discussing in the headquarters, the battle on the front line had already begun.
Two tank divisions went into the attack... The tank divisions had more tanks, so of course they should be responsible for the main attack mission.
This is also the reason why Shulka and others got a short rest.
The commander of the battle was Major General Tolichka, the commander of the 9th Army. The reason why he was so eager to launch the attack was for two reasons:
First of all, the situation does not allow Major General Tolichka to delay.
News that the Soviet 9th Army had arrived in Odessa reached Odessa... This was good news. At the same time, Petrov finally believed that what Moscow said about the support army was true.
Because the telegram sent from Moscow said this: "The 9th Mechanized Army has arrived in Odessa and will soon launch an attack on the outer defense line. Please cooperate with the 9th Army's attack!"
No one would lie like that because it is easily exposed.
"We have arrived in Odessa", "will launch an attack soon"... Liars will not use these words, because they only need to wait a few hours to hear the sound of attacking artillery to know the truth.
But things often have two sides. When reinforcements arrive, it also means that the German army must end the fighting in the city as soon as possible.
That is to say, the German army and the Romanian army stepped up their offensive against Odessa. They even took the risk of using bombers to bomb Odessa... The bombers dropped gasoline barrels and bombs into Odessa, and the entire Odessa suddenly fell into hell.
In the flames, the Luo and German Allied forces launched a fierce attack on the Soviet army like a tide.
Petrov's telegram to Moscow was: "The reinforcements had better move faster, otherwise they will have to collect our bodies!"
Moscow conveyed this sentence to Major General Tolichka word for word.
Major General Tolichka may not need to worry about the issue of "collecting corpses". He does not know Petrov, although they both graduated from the Frunze Military Academy.
The problem is that if Odessa is completely occupied by the enemy, its defense line will be further consolidated, making it more difficult to attack... This is related to the vital interests of the 9th Army and even Major General Tolichka.
Secondly and more importantly, the earlier you attack, the less time you give the enemy to prepare.
This is of course true, especially when the German defense line is still the Odessa defense line that was taken from the Soviet army.
Obviously, when attacking the defensive line, the Romanians must also bombard them with a barrage of artillery fire or blow up the bunkers one by one.
So the Odessa defense line was in dilapidated condition when it fell into the hands of the Romanians. Before that, the Romanians didn't even think they should repair these fortifications...until Rundstedt deployed the main force between the two lines of defense two days ago.
The command.
Two days.
The Romanian army needed to dig trenches that were almost destroyed by bombing, lay mines in front of the positions, pull up barbed wire, repair bunkers, deploy firepower, and even dig anti-tank trenches, etc. This preparation time was obviously not enough.
So obviously, the earlier you attack, the easier it is to attack.
So Major General Tolichka did not hesitate and immediately organized two tank divisions to launch a fierce attack on the Odessa defense line.
At least one thing Major General Tolichka learned: Use rollers to modify tanks to clear mines.
In fact, two tanks had learned this before, especially the 20th Tank Division.
The 20th Tank Division is the main force of the 9th Army. It is advancing along the railway from Kiev to Odessa and is in the lead... The two tank divisions advance along the railway one after the other.
The reason is that for tanks, the road condition of the railway will undoubtedly be much better than that of the road... The railway has a solid roadbed and even sleepers. Even in this heavy rain, the tank will not get stuck in the mud and become unable to move.
But one thing is the same, that is, the Germans also lay mines on the railways.
Useful tactics on the battlefield will spread quickly, and Nianzi's modified mine-clearing tank is one of them.
It is said that Major General Tolichka couldn't help but sigh when he learned about this method: "It's unbelievable... So many of us, so many staff officers, have been fighting for many years, but we have never thought of this simple and practical method!
Finally, I was discovered by this sergeant!"
Major General Tolicchka was a little annoyed. Although he already agreed with Shulka, he still couldn't suppress a little jealousy in his heart... A major general in a mechanized army who commands tens of thousands of people is jealous of a sergeant?!
Then naturally, this kind of minesweeper tank was used to attack the Odessa defense line:
The dozens of tanks driving in front were all equipped with rollers, and dozens of tanks followed behind them, ready to be replaced at any time. They pushed forward slowly in the rain curtain, and then heard the sound of landmines "expanding" and exploding in front of them.
If this were the case in the past, the Soviet army would have used artillery shells to blast forward row after row to create a safe passage.
But now... there is no need to waste so many shells at all. All the problems are solved by just rolling the roller forward. Even the barbed wire can be rolled underground one by one. (Note: If the tank is rolled directly
Crossing barbed wire often gets stuck in the tracks, making it difficult or even impossible to move)
Then the infantry moved forward under the cover of the tanks.
At this time, the following infantry behind the tank armor played a considerable role.
It is usually very difficult for tanks to fight in such poor sight conditions.
From an outsider's perspective, a tank looks like it just drives forward and fires at the target, but only by actually hiding inside the tank will you know... its field of vision is completely different from the open state of the outside world.
Tank crews rely on narrow observation holes or periscopes for observation. Things that can easily be done by the outside world, such as estimating the distance to a target, can only be guessed by tank crews who were not equipped with rangefinders during World War II... People have a wide field of view.
You can locate the target based on the surrounding scenery and two eyes, and then make a broad estimate. Observing inside the tank will weaken this perception to a great extent.
In addition, the narrow field of view inside the tank makes it difficult to detect and find one's natural enemy in time...the anti-tank gun.
Therefore, there is a popular saying among tank gunners: "Measuring range depends on guessing, and firing depends on feeling." Of course, survival also depends on luck.
But it's different if there are follow-up infantry who keep in touch with the tank crew at all times... The follow-up infantry can report their ranging status to the tank crew at any time.