No wonder Lieutenant General Goldov was so surprised, because Shulka could see at a glance that the focus of the Soviet defense was on the north of Stalingrad, not the south.
This is actually not difficult to guess. The Soviet army deployed a 4th Tank Army on the Stalingrad Front in the north, while the Southeast Front in the south only had a few tank divisions.
Another obvious point is that to the north is the newly formed Stalingrad Front.
The so-called "Stalingrad Front" is the front army that defends Stalingrad, so it is of course the focus of defense.
It can also be seen from this how nervous the Soviets are. The Germans can tell where their main force and main defense direction are just by looking at the names of their troops.
"This is impossible!" Major General Filipovich said: "The terrain in the south is complicated and there are many rivers, which is not conducive to the attack of the German mechanized troops! But the north is flat!"
"The Germans also know this, Major General Filipovich!" Shulka said: "That's why they attack from the vulnerable south!"
The officers couldn't help but look at each other.
It is actually not difficult to guess. It is basically impossible to attack from the front of the Don River. As mentioned before, the ice and snow have melted at this time. It is especially dangerous to attack the river where the ice and snow are melting because no one knows what is on the river.
The ice will crack at any time, even if a person steps on it, and there are also bullets and cannonballs fired from the enemy... Risking the chance to cross the river is almost to death.
On the other hand, because the ice has not completely melted, it is not possible to cross the river with a rubber boat or an inflatable boat.
To the north is the stronger Stalingrad Front, and the Germans will not be stupid enough to confront it head-on.
So only the weaker Southeastern Front in the south was left.
This is indeed the case, because after two months of fighting, the Soviet army's development of the Stalingrad Front in the north did not play a role in defending Stalingrad at all, because it was fundamentally blocked by the German army's use of the Don and Volga rivers.
Unable to attack.
On the contrary, the weaker Southeastern Front has been shouldering the main defense task.
Then, as expected, the Stalingrad Front was renamed the Don Front, because its main task was to defend the Don River line.
The Southeastern Front was renamed the Stalingrad Front.
Of course, these are all things for later. At this time, the Soviet army made this mistake in its defense in the direction of Stalingrad. It did not hide its strength at all before the German attack. It was taken for granted that the complex terrain in the south was not suitable for the German attack.
.
"In other words, we should transfer the main force to the south?" Lieutenant General Goldov said.
"I'm worried that it's too late to mobilize now!" Major General Filipovich replied with a pale face: "The Germans have been bombing our railway lines during this period, especially in the Stalingrad area... If we want to mobilize our troops
From the north to the south, we may have to bypass Stalingrad from the rear!"
Major General Filipovich told the truth.
Although Stalingrad was stuck in the narrow throat between the Don and Volga rivers, because it was only 100 kilometers wide, several railway lines and bridges passing through it could easily become German bombing targets and be destroyed. The German air force used
It is not difficult to block traffic at this choke point.
Therefore, if the Stalingrad Front in the north wanted to reinforce the Southeast Front, it could only make a large circle from the rear.
The German army obviously would not give the Soviet army such a long time to prepare.
"Order them to prepare immediately!" Lieutenant General Goldov ordered.
But this order actually doesn't have much effect... Because the Southeast Front Army has been making preparations, it doesn't make much difference whether it has this order or not.
After a pause, Shulka continued: "I think the German army will continue to use air power to blockade Stalingrad. On the one hand, it will cause panic in Stalingrad and make it difficult to get reinforcements. On the other hand, it can also initially cut off the north and south.
The connection between the two front armies. So we seem to have two front armies, but in fact only one front army faces the German attack!"
Facts have proved that in this era of air force, dangerous places that cannot be accessed by one man can also be exploited by the enemy.
"Is there a solution?" Major General Filipovich raised his head and asked.
"I don't think the Southeastern Front can withstand the enemy's attack!" As he said this, Shulka turned his attention to Major General Filipovich.
Major General Filipovich nodded in agreement.
The Southeastern Front was the main force in the attack on Kharkov. Most of the hundreds of thousands of people who were surrounded and annihilated were elites of the Southeastern Front. At this time, the Southeastern Front was composed of second-line troops with poor combat effectiveness and motley crews temporarily formed and transferred.
Troops, some are even militias drawn from Stalingrad... The Soviet army has a strong mobilization ability, mainly because Soviet workers and farmers are conducting necessary military training in their free time. Once necessary, they will be issued with
A rifle can turn a soldier into a battlefield.
But such a force will obviously not be an opponent of the German army under the coordinated combat system of air, infantry and tank.
"So!" Shulka said: "If there is any way, I think we should gradually retreat in a planned way..."
"Retreat?" Lieutenant General Goldov interrupted Shulka: "What does retreat mean?"
"Comrade General!" Shulka replied: "It is difficult for the Southeast Front Army to resist the enemy's attack in the wild. The result of this is to send batches of equipment, ammunition and soldiers to the front line and hand them over to the enemy!"
This is also one of the reasons why there was a shortage of equipment and supplies in the Battle of Stalingrad.
On the one hand, Stalingrad was almost surrounded by the German army and lost contact with the outside world.
"Almost" is used here because Stalingrad is backed by the Volga River, so it cannot be completely cut off from the outside world for a while.
However, the German army could use its air force to block ports and rivers, so the equipment that could be transported to Stalingrad through the Volga River was very limited.
This resulted in a situation where two people even used one rifle in the late stages of the Battle of Stalingrad.
On the other hand, the Soviet army continuously sent precious supplies from Stalingrad to the hands of the miscellaneous troops on the front lines in the wild... As the miscellaneous troops were defeated, these materials were almost transferred to the enemy and then given to the enemy.
"Why don't we retreat in a planned way?" Shulka: "This way we can reduce the casualties and material losses as much as possible, and then use Stalingrad to block the enemy!"
"No, Comrade Shulka!" Lieutenant General Gordov refused without thinking: "That's Stalingrad. We should defend it just like we defend Moscow. Any retreat towards Stalingrad will bring trouble to Stalin."