"Comrade Political Commissar!" Shulka looked around with some embarrassment.
Khrushchev understood and waved his hand and let other unimportant people leave, leaving only Golikov, Akimovich and a few staff officers brought by Khrushchev. The headquarters was even emptied by guards.
, correspondents, staff officers, etc. were all kicked out.
"I hope it's worth it, Comrade Shulka!" said Khrushchev, "otherwise you're wasting my time! You know what the consequences will be!"
After a pause, Khrushchev stared at Shulka and added: "I know that you, Comrade Shulka, are the 'breakout heroes'. I hope you are not in vain, otherwise I will not be lenient, regardless of your previous
How much merit has been accomplished, do you understand?"
"Yes, Comrade Political Commissar!" Shulka replied, seeing the nervousness in the eyes of Golikov and Akimovich, and winking secretly.
Shulka knew what their looks meant. It was telling Shulka that Khrushchev was telling the truth and that Shulka should take it seriously.
In fact, there was no need for them to remind Shulka that Khrushchev was a ruthless man. As he said before, if Khrushchev thought that some officers were just vulgar people, then he would rather use them as ordinary soldiers.
.
In fact, this makes sense in some respects.
Because war is a cruel "survival of the fittest", the soldiers and grassroots officers fighting on the front line are fulfilled by the enemy's aircraft and cannons to complete this law of the jungle, while the middle and high-level officers are temporarily in a safe zone, that is, outside the law of the jungle.
.
To be precise, middle and high-level officers are not outside the law of the jungle, but they are not as direct as the officers and soldiers fighting on the front line.
Among middle and high-level officers, "survival of the fittest" is achieved more through victory in battles...they will be promoted if they win a battle, and they will be demoted or punished if they lose a battle.
The problem is that the reward and punishment system of the Soviet Army is not standardized at this time. In many cases, promotions are decided based on personal preferences, political stance or connections... This is the reason why a marshal with great military exploits will be defeated by the incompetent Maihelis.
it's here.
Although the Soviet army had to carry out internal reforms after the outbreak of the war and shifted its focus to officers and soldiers who could fight, it was only just beginning.
Khrushchev followed this set of laws of the jungle. He believed that it should be faster, tougher, and more direct. The high command level should carry out survival of the fittest. The method of survival of the fittest was to send those incompetent officers directly to the battlefield and let them
prove yourself.
To be honest, Shulka is not too worried about this because he has never left the front line.
The problem is, if Khrushchev really sends all the commanders of the Army Group Headquarters to the battlefield... the command system in Stalingrad will be reorganized, which will not be a good thing at that time, although there are indeed many incompetents in the Army Group Headquarters
A lot of people, but at least it still works.
Seeing Shulka looking at the map in a daze, Golikov couldn't help but cough lightly to remind Shulka.
Unexpectedly, Khrushchev reprimanded Golikov: "I don't care about this little time, Comrade Golikov, if there is a good way! On the contrary, those ideas you put forward in a hurry are wasting my time."
time, no doubt about it!”
It can also be seen from this that Khrushchev is a man who pays attention to efficiency. He has a clear sense of what is important and what is not important.
At the same time, this also puts a certain amount of pressure on Shulka, that is to say, the suggestions he puts forward must not be as fruitless as those of Golikov and others.
But Shulka was not worried at all. He was already confident at this time.
"The Germans have concentrated their main force on the front of Stalingrad!" Shulka pointed to the narrow strip between the Don River and the Volga River near Stalingrad and said: "These are mostly German troops, with hundreds of thousands of people. Their two wings
It is defended along the Don River by Romanian and Italian armies, which means that the German defense line is strong in the center and weak on the wings. Our army is just the opposite. Our army is severely lacking in supplies and personnel due to the blockade of Stalingrad in the middle, but it is in the north.
There are the powerful Stalingrad Front and the South-Western Front, and there is the Southern Front in the south..."
"What do you want to say, Comrade Shulka?" Khrushchev asked, a little surprised in his eyes: "I know this!"
"Why don't we surround the Germans?" Sulka said: "I mean, they have weak wings and are Romanian troops with poor combat effectiveness. We have absolute advantages over them in infantry, artillery, tanks and even air force.
!”
This is an undoubted fact. The equipment of the Romanian army is not comparable to that of the German army. As mentioned before, they are more of an army composed of "mules" and "horses". They seriously lack modern transportation tools, including tanks.
Some light tanks with poor performance.
Golikov and Akimovich were also shocked by this bold plan proposed by Shulka.
This does not mean that they agree with Shulka's plan, but that the boldness of this plan has exceeded their imagination...
First of all, Golikov and Akimovich's ideas are passive defense, that is, the Germans created some kind of trouble and they tried to solve it, but Shulka proposed an active counterattack, which can even be called
It is a comprehensive counterattack, which has an essential difference in offense, defense and initiative.
Secondly, what Golikov and Akimovich proposed were group army-level battles, limited to theaters such as Stalingrad or the east bank of the Volga River, while Shulka proposed large-scale battles of several front armies.
The battle area involves hundreds of kilometers or even longer fronts, which others, even Khrushchev, could not even imagine.
Khrushchev thought for a while, nodded and said: "It is a creative idea, Comrade Shulka, but it is not realistic. You also said that the Romanian army is stationed along the Don River, which will make up for their combat effectiveness.
Not enough!"
Khrushchev hit the nail on the head.
This is also the reason why the German army dared to use the Romanian army, which had relatively weak combat effectiveness and equipment, to protect its two wings. On the other hand, Shurka couldn't say, because the Soviet army's combat effectiveness was generally not strong, so Romania's defense along the river did not have much of a problem.
This is also the difficulty of Shulka's plan: in the Battle of Stalingrad in history, the reason why the Soviet army was able to break through both wings and encircle the German army was because the river froze in winter.
But now, it is obviously impossible to wait until winter comes.
But Shulka believed that the Soviet army at this time did not necessarily have to wait until winter.
because……
"We have an amphibious landing ship, Comrade Political Commissar!" Shulka said: "I think it can help us break through the Romanian army's defense line!" (To be continued)