What Shulka didn't expect was that what he thought was impossible happened.
Two hours later, they got off the train at Waskohede... The train could only reach here as far as possible, and the railway line further forward was blocked by German artillery fire.
The 4th Tank Brigade continued to advance in the dark night and reached the second line of defense after walking for more than an hour.
To be precise, it was only the second line, but what Shurka saw was a vast field full of bomb craters and dead bodies, as well as densely packed people wearing linen clothes digging trenches in the mud. Even at night,
There was no rest, or rather they were divided into groups and took turns to rest.
The troops entered a camp that could not be called a camp because there were no walls or sentries. In the darkness, it would be difficult for soldiers from other troops and even civilians to find out... The organization of the Soviet troops has always been so chaotic, Shu
Erka was already used to it.
It was already mid-October, and light snow had begun to fall in the sky. The branches and the ground were faintly covered with a thin layer of snow... Such weather was a test for the soldiers and the people who were building fortifications. The ground
It would be better to simply freeze into ice or have thicker snow, but now it snows and rains sometimes. The alternation of rain and snow is always confusing, because it will soak your clothes and then freeze you.
Half dead.
If you don’t have dry clothes to change, it’s best not to go out in this weather.
This is what the Soviets usually do. At this time, they should have completed the harvest process and stored food for the winter.
But war doesn't care about this, so they have to fight outside in the rain and snow.
Then, when Shulka was hoping for a warm dinner, the first supply they received turned out to be a bucket of paint and a bucket of white paint.
"Paint all vehicles, tanks and artillery white!"
This is easy to understand. Under the camouflage of snow, white is a protective color. It may not be obvious from the ground, but when looking down from the sky, it is probably a vast expanse of white.
Then, another set of white cloaks were issued, which could wrap the military uniform. Each soldier even received a small bundle of white cloth... which was used to wrap rifles or other exposed items.
Shulka's brows frowned more and more.
This looks like preparation for an attack, and an attack under these circumstances... is simply unimaginable.
Sure enough, Shulka's worries were soon confirmed.
"Tomorrow at six o'clock, we will launch a counterattack against the enemy!" Katukov said.
These words immediately exploded in the conference room. Different from Shulka’s expression, many officers looked excited about this:
"Finally I have waited for this moment!"
"We will drive those invaders out of our territory!"
"The end of the Germans has come!"
…
At this moment, Shulka suddenly understood the meaning of counterattack.
Compared with blind defense, counterattack can obviously improve the morale of the troops, although this does not mean that it is correct.
"Do we have enough troops to counterattack?" Major Gavrilov asked the question Shulka wanted to ask.
"Our counterattack force includes the 17th, 20th, 24th, 44th, 50th Cavalry Divisions, and the 78th Infantry Division, including our 4th Tank Brigade, as well as the 27th and 28th Tank Brigades!
Katukov replied: "These troops are all organized into the 16th Army and are commanded by Comrade Rokossovsky!"
It sounds like there are many numbers, at least tens of thousands of people, and there are three tank brigades... But Shulka saw different information in Katukov's eyes. Katukov seemed to have no confidence in this counterattack.
.
Then Shulka understood that these were just numbers.
At this time, the Soviet army had many situations like this, with a lot of numbers but few men and not much equipment... They were all troops that broke out or were dispersed by the enemy.
The facts are indeed as Shulka guessed. The division mentioned above actually has a total strength of only 3,000 men, and can only be regarded as a regiment at most.
What other tank brigades are there? Except for the 4th tank brigade, the other tank brigades are temporarily formed using T26 plus a small amount of KV tanks or a few T34s. The 27th and 28th tank brigades are added together.
There are only about twenty T34 tanks.
But Shulka didn't say anything, because he knew he shouldn't say anything at this time. The helplessness in Katukov's eyes already gave the answer... This was not something he could control, certainly not something Shulka could control.
What Shulka didn't know was that it wasn't just the counterattack troops that were like this, but the entire 16th Army was put together in this way.
The original strength of the 16th Army was surrounded in Vyazma, and the headquarters escaped by chance.
Speaking of this period, it is still a legend. The 16th Army Headquarters received an order to receive reinforcements from the three divisions on the second line. However, when they arrived at the designated location, they did not see the three divisions mentioned in the order. On the contrary, they
They ran into the intersecting German troops... After a tense battle, the headquarters escaped from the edge of the German encirclement.
Then they fled all the way to pick up the defeated army, which even included the militiamen. While they were running away, there was the 16th Army.
When they received the order to defend Volokolamsk, the Supreme Commander even gave them an order: "There is no problem with insufficient troops. When you go to your destination, all the troops you encounter will be under your command!"
The absurdity of this order is that it shows that the Soviet Supreme Command does not know where its troops are.
If, during this period, a unit sent to the front with an urgent mission happens to be hit by the 16th Army, does that mean a duplication of orders?
Katukov glanced at Major Gavrilov and Shulka, then pointed at the map and said: "Our mission is to seize the troops stationed in the villages of Skirmanovo, Mabeno and Kozvo.
The German 10th Armored Division in the village area. According to our intelligence, this armored division has more than 100 tanks and more than 50 assault guns, which poses a great threat to our defense line. We must
Eliminate them to open a gap in the German defense line, and then continue to advance west..."
"Comrade Katukov!" Shulka couldn't help but ask: "Are we ready to counterattack in other directions?"
"Yes!" Katukov replied: "There is also a counterattack by an army in the direction of Serpukhov!"
Shulka sighed secretly. It was just a counterattack in one direction, which was obviously not enough.
Because if there is no counterattack in other directions to fully contain the German army, all the victories achieved by the 4th Tank Brigade... are actually getting themselves deeply surrounded by the enemy.