As a soldier, the saddest thing is that you know that your superiors' decision is wrong but you have no way to defend it, and you know that it will be a dead end but you have to do it.
The 4th Tank Brigade and even the entire breakout force seemed to be in a dead end... Failure to advance meant being punished, and advancing meant being surrounded by the enemy!
"Can we report this to our superiors?" Major Gavrilov asked.
"I said so, Major!" Katukov replied: "But..."
But there is no need to say more about what comes next. No matter how much the subordinates object to the order issued by the Supreme Command, it will be useless.
For example, in the Battle of Kiev, Zhukov, Budyonny, Kirponos and a large number of respectable generals proposed to abandon Kiev one after another... but were dismissed one after another. If not for the fact that Kirponos was commanding on the front line, he would have been
He cannot escape the fate of being dismissed.
The same goes for this counterattack.
"Shulka?" Major Gavrilov turned his attention to Shulka and asked, "Do you have any ideas?"
"No, Comrade Major!" Shulka replied helplessly: "It seems we can only execute orders!"
The officers nodded in agreement.
There is only one result for continuing to oppose, and that is to be dismissed, and then the troops will still attack Tver, which means that nothing can be changed except causing trouble for themselves.
The meeting broke up unhappily, but Katukov still kept Major Gavrilov and Shulka after the meeting.
"We need to discuss the issue of tank coordination for the next step!" Katukov said.
When everyone else left, Katukov poured a glass of wine for Major Gavrilov and Shulka, and then sent away his assistants.
"Now you can express your thoughts, Comrade Shulka!" Katukov sat down in front of the two men and poured himself a glass of water... Colonel Katukov had kidney disease and could not drink alcohol.
Major Gavrilov couldn't help but look at Shulka in surprise, and then at Katukov.
Shulka secretly said that Katukov still had an experienced eye. He did have some ideas, but it was not suitable to express them at the conference.
"We may have another option!" Shulka said.
"Another choice?" Katukov raised his glass and took a sip of water, but his eyes never left Shulka.
Katukov is the one who hopes to find a solution the most, because he does not want the Fourth Tank Brigade, which he has worked so hard to form, or even Moscow's hope, to be surrounded by enemies.
"If we continue to attack Tver!" Shulka pointed to the map and said: "The most likely thing the Germans will do is to gather forces to recapture Volokolamsk to cut off our retreat and surround us. So why don't we use
at this point?"
"What does it mean to exploit this?" Katukov asked.
"Leave the main force to ambush the German army!" Shulka said: "Other troops continue to advance towards Tver in accordance with the orders of the Supreme Command!"
Colonel Katukov and Major Gavrilov were stunned upon hearing this.
After a long while, Major Gavrilov said: "But this is disobeying the orders of the superiors!"
"Yes!" Shulka said: "That's why I didn't mention it at the meeting!"
As mentioned before, there is no shortage of whistleblowers in the Soviet army. Bringing it up at a meeting is equivalent to telling everyone.
"You mean... we not only have to deceive the enemy, but also our own people?" Katukov asked.
"Yes!"
"How to do it?"
"Radio silence!" Shulka replied: "Radio silence, at least within the 4th Tank Brigade!"
After thinking about it, Katukov nodded: "This is not difficult to do, we can use military secrets as an excuse!"
This is exactly what Shulka thought. The fourth tank brigade has more radios than other units. For example, there are command vehicles in the tanks equipped with radios. If there are any secret operations, especially when they are already fighting on the front line, in order to ensure that the tank troops
The location is not known to the enemy, and radio silence is normal and even common practice.
Everyone will think that this is what they should do. They will not think that another reason for radio silence is the fear of someone snitching... If the military order is issued and all radios are not allowed to be turned on, then even if the political workers notice something is wrong,
Nor can it be reported to superiors.
"Where are the tanks?" Major Gavrilov said: "If our main force stays in Volokolamsk, what will they detect!"
"Tank troops can march at night!" Shulka said: "And we can make some fake tanks and mix them with real tanks!"
"Fake tanks?" Katukov asked.
"The barrel trucks we captured from the Germans!" Shulka said: "We can use wooden boards to build a tank-like appearance outside and spray it with white paint..."
Katukov nodded in agreement. The tanks and equipment had just been sprayed with white paint, so it was not difficult to camouflage them. In addition, they were marching at night and mixed in with real tanks. It would be difficult to tell them apart unless viewed at close range.
What's more, even if some careful soldiers discover this, they will only think that it is a means to deceive the Germans or deceive spies... Even orders can be given like this. In fact, this is one of the purposes, so it can
As a matter of course, the officers and soldiers of the 4th Tank Brigade were required to keep it secret.
Of course they don't know that they are also deceiving their own people.
"What will be the result of doing this?" Major Gavrilov asked: "I mean, if the superiors know this!"
"You don't need to worry about this!" Katukov replied: "This is my responsibility. What's more, if the Germans do not attack Volokolamsk as we suspected, then these ambush troops will rush there soon
Tver enters the war. If the Germans had been fooled by us, we would have won another victory at Volokolamsk, and the High Command would have realized the mistake they made..."
Colonel Katukov's analysis made sense, so Major Gavrilov said nothing.
In fact, this is what Shulka has considered.
As the commander of the 4th Tank Brigade, Katukov actually had many excuses for doing this, such as finding that the enemy was gathering in the direction of Volokolamsk, so he left a force to protect logistics, etc.
This explanation is just a command error rather than disobedience of orders.
"The question is..." Katukov said: "How can we keep the main force behind without letting the enemy notice it?"