"No, this is impossible!" the instructor objected: "If we break out to the south, it means that we have to capture at least two places, the central fortress and the Terespol Fortress or the Warren Fortress! And this is almost impossible.
Made it!”
"There is no forest in the south, soldier!" Venyakov reminded Shulka: "There is a swamp there, and we will be exposed to the sight of German fighter jets without cover!"
Venyakov is talking about the Pripyat Swamp, which is 600 kilometers long from east to west and 200 kilometers wide from north to south.
This is one of the reasons why the strategic position of the Brest Fortress is so important... To the north of the Brest Fortress is a large expanse of virgin forest, and to the south is an endless swamp. The German tanks, cars and other mobile units in the middle can only come from Brest Fortress.
This gap led into the Soviet Union.
"Soldier!" an officer mocked: "I think you can't tell the direction. Instead of breaking out to the south, we might as well attack the Germans to the west!"
There was laughter from the headquarters.
Compared with Shulka, a private, the officers would inevitably have a sense of psychological superiority. After all, they believed that Shulka had not gone through systematic military theoretical study, and the suggestion he made was just nonsense.
But they soon discovered that wasn't the case.
Amid their laughter, Shulka replied word for word: "Yes, you are right. It is almost impossible to break through to the south, so... the Germans think so too!"
"This alone is not enough, Shulka!" the instructor responded with a cigarette in his mouth: "Although this may indeed be unexpected by the Germans, there are many difficulties waiting for us!"
"For example?" Shulka asked.
"For example, coordination issues!" the instructor said, "How do we notify the central fortress? How do we ensure that the combat plan will be sent to the central fortress and get their support? If they don't support it, how do we notify us?"
Although the instructor was disgusting, what he said made sense.
The Central Fortress and the Kobrin Fortress have been divided by the German army. Last time, the Central Fortress sent a dozen correspondents to contact Major Gavrilov in the Kobrin Fortress, but except for the child from the military music platoon, no one else could.
success.
So, in this case, how can we ensure that the two forts have a unified attack plan?
Continue to send correspondents?
After coming and going, I'm afraid that the attack time is up and the two sides still haven't been able to contact each other.
"We don't need to solve the coordination problem!" Shulka replied.
Before he finished speaking, there was another round of ridicule.
"Damn it!" said one officer: "Maybe he doesn't even know what coordination is!"
Major Gavrilov did not laugh. He had heard Shulka analyze the battlefield situation before, so he knew that this soldier was not as simple as others thought.
"Why?" the major asked seriously, "tell me the reason!"
Shulka pointed to the map and said: "According to the original plan, after seven o'clock, the central fortress and the Kobrin fortress broke out to the north at the same time. But after changing the plan... I mean to choose to break out to the south. We have to do the same thing.
, use part of the force to launch an attack northward, which will make the Germans think that the information they received is correct!"
A strange look flashed across Captain Venyakov's face: "Then they will focus their attention on the north?"
"Yes!" Shulka continued: "They will mobilize the focus to garrison in the north to prevent us from entering the forest, and even set traps in the north. At the same time, the central fortress will attack Bright Bridge as originally planned. If we go further south
Attacking the bridge will form a pincer attack on the German troops stationed on the bridge..."
At this point, the disdainful looks on the officers' faces disappeared, replaced by surprise and solemnity.
The Bright Bridge is a bridge across the Bug River connecting the Kobrin Fortress and the Central Fortress. If you break out to the south, you must first capture this bridge. In the original plan, if the Central Fortress breaks out to the north, you must also attack this bridge.
Therefore, even if the two fail to successfully establish contact, Kobrin Fortress's unilateral change of the combat plan will still form a coordinated operation.
"You mean..." Major Gavrilov concluded: "We can tell Commissar Fomin the change of plan in person?"
"Yes!" Shulka replied: "With the capture of Bright Bridge and the successful rendezvous between the two armies, there will be no problem of being unable to communicate with each other and having inconsistent plans!"
"So..." Captain Venyakov asked: "What if the Germans notice this? As long as they make up for the defense of the southern fortress in time, we will be trapped in the central fortress and unable to move!"
Shulka understood what Captain Venyakov meant.
Brest Fortress is composed of four independent islands. The central fortress in the middle is connected to the three surrounding islands by bridges. This terrain is easy to defend and difficult to attack for both the enemy and us, because the bridge is the throat.
It doesn't take too many troops to seal it.
"They won't notice!" Shulka pointed to a location on the map and said, "Because we cross the river from here!"
At this point the officers were all silent.
The crossing point Shurka pointed to is in the east of the central fortress. From there, you can jump directly out of the Brest Fortress encirclement without going through the bridge.
Although this is dangerous, it is indeed possible to succeed in the dark and if it draws the attention of the German army to the east.
There was silence in the command post for a long time before Captain Venyakov nodded and said: "I think we can try this suggestion! As long as our feign attack in the north is done well, the Germans will always think that we are trying to break through to the north.
At this time, we had crossed the Bug River from the central fortress at a location they did not expect, and then headed south into the swamp!"
"Comrade Venyakov!" the instructor objected: "What if we enter the swamp? As you said, there is nothing in the swamp that can serve as our cover, and we will become a target for the Germans...!"
"No, we won't!" Major Gavrilov interrupted the instructor: "Entering the swamp means that the Germans cannot pursue them, because tanks, cars and even their motorcycles cannot move forward in the swamp."
"What about the planes?" the instructor said: "The Germans have a large number of planes!"
"Their planes have no time to take care of us!" Major Gavrilov replied: "I wonder if you have noticed that the Germans' attack on us is mainly artillery, not many tanks and aircraft!"
After a pause, Major Gavrilov continued: "This is because their main force is attacking the hinterland of the Soviet Union. If it is true... that is, our troops are retreating, then there are too many enemy aircraft.
Target, they won't even waste bullets and bombs or waste time searching for a small group of us!"
As he said this, Gavrilov glanced at Shulka and said to himself: If this private had considered this early on, it would be terrible!