Time passed by little by little, and several gunshots were heard from time to time outside the headquarters. It was a cold-blooded demonstration between the enemy and ourselves.
The sound of gunfire seemed to have a certain rhythm, urging the officers, telling them that time was running out. If enemy reinforcements arrived, the possibility of occupying Chankoi would be reduced exponentially.
"Maybe we can attack in another direction!" Lieutenant Colonel Gavrilov said: "If it is the enemy's new tank, I don't think their equipment is large!"
"Perhaps their equipment is indeed small!" Lieutenant Colonel Zahakavich agreed: "Because if they are equipped with a lot of such tanks, they can even launch a counterattack without any scruples!"
This is just like the reason why the T34 tank fought against the German "Poseidon 3" and "Pop 4" tanks... If the "Pop 3" and "Pop 4" tanks can only penetrate the front of the T34 at a distance of 100 meters, then it will often fail on the battlefield.
It's not a problem that quantity can solve.
In particular, there is another point that is the strength of the German army and the weakness of the Soviet army: coordination.
This weakness allowed the German army to defeat the Soviet army even when the tanks were at a disadvantage.
Now, the German army has the advantage of coordination coupled with the advantage of the "Tiger". It can be said with certainty that if the numbers were not completely disproportionate, the German army should launch a counterattack no matter what.
Although Katukov agreed with this, he was not optimistic about this method.
"But those are tanks!" Katukov said: "They can move as our attack shifts, and they don't need many tanks to block our attack in this way!"
Shulka said nothing.
He knew that the analysis by Zahakavich and others was correct. The number of "Tiger" was indeed very small when it first went into battle. Shulka even knew that the "Tiger" at this time should have a high failure rate...
...It was the first time in history that it participated in the war. Three of the four vehicles had to be blown up with explosives due to malfunctions and being unable to move.
However, this problem can be avoided as much as possible in defensive battles. For example, the Germans let them hide in tank bunkers and shoot instead of driving on rugged snow.
Of course, Shurka didn't know at this time that Sponeneck even used rails to make up for the high failure rate of the "Tiger" tank.
Therefore, in fact, as Katukov said, even if the number is insufficient, they can adjust the direction of defense as needed.
On the other hand, because Zhankoi is in the center of the circle and the Soviet army is on the periphery, the distance that the German army needs to adjust will be much shorter than that of the Soviet army, so there will be more reaction time.
So the command headquarters fell into silence again.
"Maybe we should attack from several sides at the same time!" Shulka said.
Katukov laughed: "Shulka, we only have one tank brigade, and now there are only a hundred tanks left. We do not have enough strength to attack from several sides at the same time!"
There are one hundred tanks, even if divided into three directions, there are only thirty tanks in each direction. The impact of this attack is too small, and the number of tanks will become less and less, and eventually they will no longer even have the ability to attack.
"They don't know how many tanks we have!" Shulka said.
"No, they know!" Lieutenant Colonel Zahakavich said: "They may even know our serial number!"
"Don't underestimate the enemy's spies, Shulka!" Lieutenant Colonel Gavrilov said.
"That's not what I'm talking about!" Shulka explained: "What I'm saying is that they don't know in which direction our offensive preparations are real!"
Katukov couldn't help but raise his head suddenly after hearing this, then nodded slightly and said: "I know what you mean, Shulka, it is indeed a good idea! Why don't we play a guessing game with the enemy?"
So the plan was quickly launched. The 1st Guards Tank Brigade was divided into three parts to attack Zhankoy from three directions.
The information quickly reached Lieutenant General Sponneck's headquarters.
The adjutant's first reaction was that these Russians were crazy.
"They are just bluffing, General!" the adjutant said: "We know that they only have one tank brigade and they can only attack in one direction. They actually think they can deceive us this way!"
Lieutenant General Sponeneck didn't think so.
"Do you think it's that simple?" Lieutenant General Sponneck said: "Yes, they indeed only have the ability to attack in one direction. But... can you tell me which direction?"
The adjutant's smile couldn't help but freeze on his face.
"We basically rely on the defense line held by those 'Tiger' tanks!" Lieutenant General Sponeneck continued: "If they only attack in one direction, the problem is easy to solve. Now... we may need to attack in three directions.
Choose one, or spread them out?"
The quantity is indeed a flaw. Although the "Tiger" reinforcements to Jamkoy are a heavy armored battalion, there are actually only 4 "Tiger" vehicles.
But Lieutenant General Sponneck was not a friendly person. He whispered a few words to the adjutant and then asked him to make arrangements.
On the other side, Shulka and Katukov were in the trenches holding telescopes to observe the forward positions.
This is an opportunity for them. In fact, there are many Soviet scouts at the front of the position observing the front of the position, and they will fire a few illumination bombs from time to time.
This is because the Soviet army is at least now certain that the enemy's "new tanks" are in the tank bunkers in the forward positions. If the Germans want to move them to other directions, they must drag them out of the tank bunkers and move them in other directions.
However, at this time, a burst of artillery shells suddenly came from the direction of the German army, followed by several smoke bombs hitting the center of the position. Suddenly, a cloud of smoke and dust rose up in front of the position. Even with the light of the illumination bomb, it was impossible to see clearly what was inside the enemy position.
What's going on.
Then, the "rumbling" sound of a tank was faintly heard in the smoke.
"They were fooled!" Katukov said happily: "They moved the new tanks to other directions!"
Shulka felt something was wrong.
"No, Colonel, I don't think they moved the new tanks! They're still here!"
"You mean..."
"I think this is a hoax!" Shulka said: "They could clearly use the explosion of artillery shells to cover up the tank's motor, but they didn't do that, or they deliberately exposed this flaw for us to discover!"
Katukov half-opened his mouth, then nodded: "If we attack with all our strength, we will lose more than a dozen tanks!"
"Yes!" Shulka said: "So, I think we need to transfer the main force to the flank. No matter which flank it is, I don't think we will encounter the 'new type of tank'!"