Chapter five hundred and sixty fifth supply battle
That night the Soviet army collected more than 300 ships.
These ships were not landing ships reinforced by the navy, but fishing boats requisitioned from the people.
Because Shulka quickly thought of something...
If the German pilots could not distinguish the landing ships, could they also distinguish the other ships?
After all, we are on a high-speed flying fighter plane, and we can only rely on the light of flares to identify targets...
The radar of night fighters can only detect large or dense metal targets. The reason why they need the cooperation of ground radar stations is because even if the target is detected, it cannot know how far away from the ground it is in the dark.
This is the scariest thing, especially the ground attack.
Because as mentioned before, if you are intercepting British fighters and bombers in China, since the target is flying at a certain height in the air, there is basically no need to consider the distance from the ground.
But if it is a ground attack, especially if you need to dive, strafe or bomb the target, if you don't know the height from the ground, you will often commit suicide by crashing into a dive.
Ground radar plays a role in this aspect.
When night fighters are flying in the air, the German ground radar base station does not actually help the night fighters detect targets, but detects the altitude of one's own night fighters and transmits the data to the pilots via radio in a timely manner.
Coupled with the timely firing of flares by reconnaissance planes, attacks were completed again and again.
It is no exaggeration to say that this is the result of the high degree of coordination between German fighter jets, reconnaissance aircraft, and radars, and such ground attacks are quite dangerous.
This was already a tactic that was at the forefront of the world during World War II.
However, the advanced comes first. Due to limited conditions, it is still difficult for German pilots to distinguish between a bunch of ships of similar sizes.
Therefore, before the naval landing ships arrived at Stalingrad, Shulka requisitioned a large number of fishing boats from the people, and even bamboo rafts, canoes and the like were not spared.
The bamboo raft is indeed a bit exaggerated, but as long as a few wooden boards are nailed on, it can be quickly disguised as a landing ship.
Then, Shulka quickly thought... If this is the case, why do we need to requisition it? Why do we need a landing ship? Just mobilize the troops to build rafts, and bamboo rafts will be enough, right?
The order was passed on that night.
When transportation was suspended, the entire Guards Infantry Division responsible for protecting the transportation line had nothing to do, and they were responsible for building bamboo rafts.
When the commander of the Guards Rifle Division heard this order, he thought the bamboo rafts were used to transport supplies, so he complained several times to the army headquarters.
"Comrade Golikov!" said the division commander Colonel Petshikov: "I think these bamboo rafts will be of little use. They have a small transport capacity, and once they are attacked or even if a shell or bomb explodes nearby, they will be destroyed.
It will turn over and let the supplies sink to the bottom of the river!"
"Do you think these bamboo rafts are used to transport supplies?" Golikov asked.
"Then they are..."
"They are indeed used to transport supplies!" Golikov replied: "But not in the way you think. You only need to do your job well, and you don't need to care about the rest!"
"Yes, Comrade Golikov!" Colonel Petshikov was a little confused, but he didn't dare to ask any more questions.
Golikov on the other end of the phone shook his head and sighed to Krylov: "Look, this is my right-hand man... At this time, he doesn't know what those bamboo rafts are for!"
"There is only one Shulka, Comrade Golikov!" Krylov comforted: "You can't ask too much of your subordinates!"
Golikov smiled bitterly and said nothing.
Before this, Golikov always thought that his failure on the battlefield was due to other reasons, such as the soldiers were not brave enough, the quality of the officers and soldiers was not good enough, the equipment was not as good as the enemy, etc.
In fact, the Soviet army's quality and certain aspects of equipment were indeed inferior to those of the enemy. This is one of the reasons why the Soviet army often had superior strength but was defeated by the enemy without counterattack.
But now, Golikov thinks this is not the case.
Because facts have proven this... Under Shulka's indirect command and layout, it was still the Southwest Front Army. It could even be said that it was the remnant of the Southwest Front Army. However, it blocked the German attack. Not only that, but it also had the upper hand.
momentum.
What is this indicating?
Golikov vaguely understood the problem: troops with poor quality had poor fighting styles, backward equipment and backward tactics.
For example, everything Shulka did in Stalingrad actually boiled down to one principle: make every effort to use your own strengths to find the enemy's weaknesses.
Thinking of this, Golikov felt that he had learned something useful and strengthened his confidence in holding Stalingrad.
Shulka on the other side was unaware of Golikov's psychological changes. He was busy preparing to deploy transportation for the next day.
"Two transportation lines are deployed in the south and three are deployed in the north!" Shulka said, pointing to the map.
"Fake or true?" Major Mikhailovich asked: "In other words, which one is true?"
"It's all fake!"
"Is it all a lie?"
"Yes!" Shulka replied: "At the beginning, the Germans had sufficient ammunition and fuel, and their fighter planes and pilots were also well prepared... Therefore, the first few transportation lines were all fake, and they were allowed to go all out.
field!"
Major Mikhailovich couldn't help but said "Oh": "By the middle of the night, their ammunition and fuel will have been almost consumed, right?"
"Yes!" Shulka replied: "Maybe we don't need to wait until midnight, because the Germans didn't expect that we would have so many landing ships..."
"That's right!" Major Mikhailovich said: "If you add in the bamboo rafts and wooden rafts we made temporarily, excluding the landing boats reinforced by the navy, we have more than 500 boats, which is enough for them to fight for a while.
of!"
This actually refers to the consumption of supplies. The Germans do not have sufficient supplies, especially at this time...
At this time, Stalingrad has entered May. As the temperature rises, ice and snow melt in large areas, making roads and railways muddy everywhere.
In fact, the road conditions in the Soviet Union at this time could not only be described as "muddy", it could simply be called another kind of swamp, with mud everywhere and even knee-deep water.
In addition, there are a lot of troubles caused by the stagnant water, such as mosquitoes, diseases, etc.
In addition, the Soviet army actively deployed guerrillas in the rear to destroy German transportation lines, making it very difficult for the German army to supply supplies in the direction of Stalingrad.
This made the Battle of Stalingrad more like a battle for supplies. (To be continued)