The 333rd Infantry Regiment was ordered to build fortifications north of Lobnya, which is 70 kilometers away from Moscow. It is expected that the tanks of the two tank battalions will arrive before dark and join the infantry regiment... This is also a mechanized infantry without cars.
One of the flaws is that infantry and tanks advance separately, so there must be some kind of desynchronization between the two.
You must know that tanks cannot work without infantry, and infantry cannot work without tanks. This undoubtedly adds many artificial difficulties and dangers to the fourth tank brigade.
However, at this time, Zhukov was probably in a hurry to build a new defense line, so he did not consider this at all, at least not at this time.
Perhaps, Zhukov thought that there would be no problem with using trains to maneuver like this. Soon the tanks could catch up from behind and advance together with the infantry. Then the tanks and infantry could cooperate and continue to head north to meet the enemy when it gets dark... Once
When it gets dark, the speed of tanks will slow down sharply and may even be slower than that of infantry.
But things on the battlefield are always unexpected... When the German aircraft group attacked the train returning to Moscow, it accidentally blew up a railway bridge, which blocked the tank troops of the 4th Tank Brigade.
"Pick up your shovels!" Major Gavrilov shouted to the soldiers who had just finished building field fortifications: "We need to build an anti-tank trench in front!"
Anti-tank trench?
As soon as he heard this order, Shulka felt something was wrong.
In this battle, the Soviet army did not intend to block the enemy, but hoped to use the advantages of the T34 tank to repel the enemy or even drive the enemy back and fill the gap opened by the German army.
As mentioned before, this is what mobile defense does, launching a counterattack when the enemy breaks through.
In other words, the Soviet army's goal was to recapture Klin.
If this is the case, you should not build anti-tank trenches, otherwise your own tanks will also be blocked by anti-tank trenches.
"What happened, Comrade Major?" Shulka asked.
"They won't be able to arrive at the scheduled time!" Major Gavrilov replied: "The railway bridge was bombed, and they may be delayed by five hours!"
"Five hours?"
"Yes, five hours!" Major Gavrilov said: "This is just an estimate. It may be faster or slower. Who knows?"
Then Shulka understood.
If our own tanks lag behind for five hours, this means that the enemy's tanks are likely to arrive at the 333rd Infantry Regiment first. At this time, the 333rd Infantry Regiment does not even have basic anti-tank equipment... They all
Counting on the T34 tank.
There was a saying during this period that "the best weapon against tanks is tanks", so there is nothing wrong with counting on T34.
The problem is... without the T34 coming up, the 333rd Regiment would be the target of massacre when facing enemy tanks.
Therefore, it was necessary to build an anti-tank trench in front of the trench.
"Major!" Shulka walked up to Gavrilov and asked, "If this is the case, how should we counterattack next?"
Once the anti-tank trenches are dug, it will be difficult not only for the German tanks to find them, but also for the Soviet tanks to defeat them.
Of course Major Gavrilov knew this. He looked at the surrounding terrain, then shook his head slightly and said: "We can only take one step at a time, otherwise we will not be able to hold on here. We will be surrounded by the Germans and then all of them will be killed."
Annihilate those here!"
"I wonder if a light infantry company would be useful?"
"Light infantry company?" Major Gavrilov said: "You mean those mine dogs? Don't tease Shulka..."
"Why don't we try it?" Shulka said: "If we can succeed, we can create a very favorable offensive situation for our T34. Otherwise, even if we block the Germans... the result will most likely be failure!"
"
This is a matter of strategy and tactics.
The strategy requires the 4th Tank Brigade to attack. The 333rd Regiment's construction of anti-tank trenches is contrary to the offensive strategy.
Therefore, even if the 333rd Regiment defeated the Germans, this tactical victory could not make up for the strategic failure. In the end, the 4th Tank Brigade may still be unable to quickly counterattack Kling due to the anti-tank trenches, causing the entire defense line to collapse.
Major Gavrilov was stunned for a moment, and then said to the staff: "Go and call the commander of the light infantry company!"
After a while, a young sergeant stood in front of Shulka and Major Gavrilov.
"Comrade Major!" The sergeant stood up and saluted Major Gavrilov.
"What's your name?" Major Gavrilov asked.
"Tarasik, comrade major!" the chief replied.
"Tell me about your troops!" Major Gavrilov asked: "Have they fought before?"
"No, not at all, Comrade Major!" Tarasik replied: "This is our first time participating in a battle!"
"Where are the dogs?"
"Of course, it's their first time too!"
After asking this question, Major Gavrilov realized that the question was stupid. If those dogs had participated in the battle, they would not be alive today.
Tarasik also discovered this, so he wanted to laugh but immediately held it back.
"Laugh if you want to, sergeant!" Major Gavrilov said: "Otherwise you will most likely not have the chance to laugh!"
When Major Gavrilov said this, Tarasik couldn't laugh even more.
"We're going to fight, right?" Tarasik's eyes showed a bit of fear.
Major Gavrilov did not answer, but continued to ask: "They...I mean those dogs, can they really blow up tanks?"
Major Gavrilov was a little disappointed with Tarasik's answer. After thinking about it, he turned his attention to Shulka and said: "Even if they can explode, but there are only 108 dogs, we may have to place our hope."
Every dog can blow up a tank or a car!"
"No, Major!" Shulka said: "The problem is that the Germans don't know that we only have 108 dogs, and it may be dark by the time they get here!"
"You mean, we scare them?"
"Yes, Major!"
After a pause, Shulka continued: "At least we have another advantage, that is, we don't have to worry about these dogs getting under the chassis of our tanks!"
There are no Soviet tanks on this front line, so of course there is no need to worry about this.
Major Gavrilov nodded, and then asked: "Shulka, do you know what it means if you fail to scare them?"
"Yes, I know!" Shulka replied: "But we have no other choice!"