His approach of moving Romanian troops between the two lines of defense was obviously taking into account various circumstances: supplies in the Dniester Gulf, Romanian anti-tank guns, the armor thickness of Soviet tanks, etc.
But he still missed something...
"I think!" said Shulka, "the weak point of the enemy's defense is these lakes!"
Major Gavrilov was stunned for a moment and asked doubtfully: "Lake?"
No wonder Major Gavrilov was surprised, because it was these serpentine lakes that hamstrung the attacking troops, and Shulka said they were the enemy's weak points.
"Yes!" Shurka said: "Because these lakes cut the enemy's defense line into sections, and the lake water changes with the rainy and dry seasons, it is difficult to build defenses nearby!"
"But this is of no use!" Major Gavrilov pointed at the map and said: "They built several forts on both sides of the entrance to the lake and used the firepower from the forts to block the lake!"
"I'm not talking about attacking from the lake, Major!" Shurka pointed to the map and explained: "These lakes are all longitudinal. They extend from outside the defense line to inside the defense line, and some even span two lakes.
The defense line... why don’t we use these lakes to sneak into the outer defense line and attack from both inside and outside?”
"You mean... gas mask?" Major Gavrilov's eyes couldn't help but light up. He remembered the incident of modifying a gas mask in the Brest Fortress and sneaking across the Bug River to break out of the siege.
"Yes!" Shulka nodded: "As long as we sneak into a small force and attack from the inside out, at the same time we also launch a fierce attack from the front..."
Needless to say, all defense lines are facing outwards, which means that the enemies stationed on the defense lines will be attacked from both sides.
"Are the depths of these lakes suitable for diving?" Political Commissar Fu Ming asked.
Political Commissar Fu Ming also has experience with this. He knows that either too deep or too shallow is not suitable... too shallow cannot be hidden, and too deep will mean that the extension tube of the gas mask is not long enough.
"That's not a problem!" Major Gavrilov replied: "All the lakes in this area are deep in the middle and shallow on the two sides. We can change the position to adjust the depth!"
"Is the enemy prepared for this?" Political Commissar Fu Ming raised another concern.
This worry is reasonable. After all, the Soviet Army has used this method once, and now it will be used a second time...
"The enemy should not know!" Major Gavrilov thought for a moment and said, "You know, they did not publicize our battle in the Brest Fortress!"
As mentioned before, the top Soviet officials believed that the Battle of Brest Fortress was an "escape", so it was not worthy of publicity and therefore not a hero.
There are many such examples, and many heroes in the Kiev Battle in history were not recognized.
But this also has the advantage that the details of the Brest Fortress battle have not been exposed, such as modified gas masks.
"But the Germans may know the situation through the prisoners!" Political Commissar Fuming was still a little worried.
Political Commissar Fomin's concerns were justified. During the Battle of Brest, many Soviet troops surrendered to the enemy, including after crossing the river with gas masks.
Therefore, it is entirely possible that the Germans learned about this method through interrogation of prisoners or from traitors.
"That's Army Group Center!" Major Gavrilov said: "That battle was a shame for them, and they won't tell it to Army Group South, especially when we are facing the Romanians!
"
Political Commissar Fuming hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
Major Gavrilov said what Shulka thought.
The commander of Army Group Center may know the details. After all, they are cautious Germans. They are obsessed with war. They will want to know what caused their failure, so they will try their best to find out the problem. This is consistent with the Soviet Union.
The carelessness of the corps commander was exactly the opposite.
But the problem is precisely the sense of honor of the German officers... Because of their sense of honor, they will not publicize this "shame" everywhere, especially to the servants who are looked down upon by them.
Therefore, several people in the headquarters looked at each other, nodded to each other, and then decided to do this.
Shurka and others' guess was correct, although not entirely correct... The person commanding in Odessa at this time was not a Romanian, but the commander of the German 11th Army, Schobert.
However, Schobert was only a nominal commander or advisor, and he was unable to fully control the Romanian army.
This is also what troubles Schobert.
Schobert's headquarters is located in a bunker in the middle of the defense line, which is relatively close to the headquarters of the Romanian 4th Army. He can take care of both ends.
On this day, he found General Rakovitsa, commander of the Romanian 4th Army.
"We need to invest more artillery in the direction of Odessa, General Rakvitza!" Schobert said with some excitement: "This way we can capture Odessa as quickly as possible!"
"But we also need artillery to defend the outer line of defense!" General Rakvitza retorted: "The outer line of defense was violently attacked by the enemy. If we captured Odessa but the outer line of defense was breached, then
has no meaning?"
After finishing, General Rakovitza added: "I know how to fight this battle, General Shobert!"
Schobert couldn't help but cursed secretly, these Romanians really thought they were allies of Germany.
Schobert was right. At this time, the Romanians did regard themselves as Germany's allies rather than servants, so they also had honor and backbone. They would not hand over command casually, especially
It was when a battle was about to be won... Rakovitsa even thought that the Germans sent Schobert to take credit from him.
But Schobert knew in his heart that the focus at hand was Odessa and not the outer defense line.
There is no doubt about this.
The outer defense line is wide open, and although the enemy tanks are numerous in number, they are not a concern. The previous attacks have also shown this. The Romanian 25mm anti-tank guns are enough to withstand the Soviet T26, not to mention that they have also supplemented the equipment from the Soviet Union.
The captured 37mm and 45mm anti-tank guns.
On the contrary, it was Odessa, where the German 22nd Infantry Division's offensive was constantly hampered by the lack of artillery... What took place in Odessa was street fighting. The Russians occupied several buildings to hold on. Without artillery support, it was almost impossible to break through.
But Schobert was still powerless, because the arrogant Romanian general refused to move the artillery in the direction of Odessa, and the artillery did not even fire a few shots towards the outer defense line.
What Schobert didn't know was that although he was right about the artillery, his ideas were wrong... What he had more to worry about was not Odessa but the outer defense line.