Golikov and Shulka looked at each other, then got out of the basement of the headquarters and raised their telescopes to observe.
In fact, you can see it without a telescope. A dark mass of fighter planes and bombers are flying towards the east bank of the Volga River, and then there are explosions and the screams of Stuka dives on the east bank.
"What's going on?" Golikov said: "They focused their bombing on the east coast!"
"And there are obviously more fighter planes!" Shulka said worriedly.
Golikov didn't notice this, but he nodded after Shulka said: "They got reinforcements and changed their tactics!"
"Maybe..." Shulka said: "They knew they couldn't block the Volga River, so they stepped up their attacks on the east bank!"
Sure enough, after a while, the correspondent reported: "Telegram from the front army headquarters, the enemy air force bombed the east coast communication lines, ports and military facilities!"
Golikov frowned and then asked Shulka: "How much impact do you think the Germans will have on us?"
"I don't know!" Shulka replied: "If they have enough fighters..."
This is indeed a good tactic.
Although this seems to be much more difficult than directly blocking the Volga River... Strictly speaking, only 0 kilometers of the Volga River need to be blocked, and the east bank is a vast continent with countless transportation lines and military facilities that need to be bombed.
number.
However, it was the Germans who caught the Soviets by surprise first.
Before this, German fighter planes and bombers always focused on bombing Stalingrad, and at most they sent out a few reconnaissance planes to the east of the Volga River.
This is because the German army has no idea of attacking the east bank for the time being. As long as it takes Stalingrad, it can conquer the river and control the traffic arteries. It would be a waste to invest precious air force on the east bank.
On the other hand, it was because the Soviet Air Force still had some strength on the east coast... It should be said that there were only a few remaining fighter planes deployed on the east coast, which made the German army not dare to act rashly.
Therefore, the Soviet army deployed most of its anti-aircraft firepower on the Volga River: either on the sandbar in the middle or on both sides.
But now, the German Air Force suddenly entered the hinterland of the east coast to bomb, and the Soviet army was unprepared and had no time to call back its anti-aircraft firepower.
Even at this time, the Soviet army faced an embarrassing question: Is this a plan by the German army to divert the troops away from the mountain? If the air defense firepower is dialed back, will the German army turn to blockade the Volga River?!
On the other hand, although the east coast has many land military facilities that are easier to supply, it also means that it has many loopholes.
For example, railways and roads are fixed compared to the pontoons, amphibious landing ships and transportation channels on the Volga River: pontoons can change their positions at any time, while railways and roads are there, and even some transportation hubs are bombed.
An outage will affect the transportation of many lines.
If they can force supplies on the east coast to be stretched thin, then of course they will not have more supplies shipped to Stalingrad.
Then Shulka and Golikov soon realized that this was just one of the problems they would face.
"Comrade Golikov!" When Shulka and Golikov estimated the adverse effects of the new German tactics, Akimovich handed over a telegram: "This is our reconnaissance personnel
Telegram from Karachi…Germans opening new airfields at several different locations!”
"New airport?!" Golikov couldn't help but be stunned, and then immediately took the telegram, read it, and said to Shulka with a sad face: "It seems that we must re-estimate the impact!"
Shulka nodded.
There is no doubt about this.
If the German army only intensified its bombing on the east coast, Stalingrad might still be able to survive. But now that the German army has built several new airports, it means a two-pronged approach, that is, while blocking the east coast, it also significantly increases the German air supply.
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Shulka knew what this meant.
At this time, the ice and snow in the Soviet Union melted and there was mud everywhere, which made ground transportation very difficult. In addition, the Soviet army deployed guerrillas everywhere behind enemy lines to conduct sneak attacks, destroying railway lines and highway lines, so that the German army's supplies could not keep up with the front line.
needs.
This is one of the reasons why Stalingrad has persisted until now.
However, air supply is not limited by these natural conditions and guerrillas: the muddy roads have no impact on the aircraft. If it does, it will be more difficult to maintain the airport. The guerrillas are also unable to threaten the aircraft unless they can attack the airport and bomb it.
Destroy the plane, but this is obviously impossible.
It is conceivable that the German supply situation will improve exponentially, so the German army will invest more troops and equipment in the Battle of Stalingrad, and the pressure on Stalingrad will increase exponentially.
Even Shurka's "cold gun and cold gun" campaign can be said to have little effect... The purpose of this campaign is to consume the enemy's supplies and troops, but now the German army's supplies and troops are increasing rapidly, which means that it can play no role
It was rendered invisible.
"These bastards! Where did they get so many planes from?" Golikov couldn't help but cursed.
"Maybe from the direction of the Caucasus!" Akimovich replied: "The information coming from the Caucasus shows that there are many fewer German planes!"
Golikov replied without thinking: "Then they should increase their offensive intensity and hit the enemy hard in the Caucasus direction to win early!"
There is truth to what Golikov said.
Because if victory is achieved in the Caucasus, it will be a form of support for the Battle of Stalingrad. Even if the German army collapses, the Soviet army in the Caucasus can attack the German logistics supply line and even surround the German army.
but……
"That is a mountainous area, Comrade Golikov!" Akimovich replied: "And it is a high-altitude mountainous area. Although the German army has lost its air superiority, it will be difficult for us to attack once they take a defensive position!"
Any mountainous area is easy to defend but difficult to attack, especially high-altitude mountainous areas where supplies are difficult to transport. This is especially true if the Germans occupy the commanding heights.
Therefore, it is unrealistic to hope that the Caucasus will win first and then relieve Stalingrad.
"What about those transport planes?" Golikov asked again: "If they can use so many transport planes to transport supplies, why didn't they do it before?"
"Those are also transport planes that originally transported supplies to the enemies in the Caucasus!" Akimovich replied: "The Germans probably only provided land supplies for the mountain divisions in the Caucasus, and all the transport planes were diverted to Stalingrad!" (