"Amphibious landing ship?" Khrushchev asked: "Are you talking about the kind of ship used to transport supplies?"
Although Khrushchev was not a military commander, he still heard about the amphibious landing ship used to transport supplies to Stalingrad. This was not only because it was specially supplied to Stalingrad and opened up a new transportation method for it, but also because it was specially used for Stalingrad.
Because it is a "new equipment"...
People are naturally curious about novel things, especially things like the "amphibious landing craft" that can both "walk" on land and "swim" in the water. It can almost be said to have achieved quite a few achievements.
man's dream.
As a result, the "amphibious landing ship" quickly spread from one to another, and of course it also reached the ears of Khrushchev.
"Yes!" Shulka replied.
"I heard that you invented that?" Khrushchev asked again.
"You can say that, Comrade Political Commissar!" Shulka replied, secretly saying that Khrushchev knew a lot, and it seemed that he had investigated him before.
"Very good!" Khrushchev nodded and said, "It seems that it is not only used to transport supplies?"
"Yes, Comrade Political Commissar!" Shulka replied: "In fact, its development was originally intended for naval landing operations!"
Khrushchev nodded slowly and said: "I have heard about this. If I remember correctly, it was the landing operation on the Crimean Peninsula!"
"Yes, Comrade Political Commissar! That was the first time it was used on the battlefield!"
"But we are fighting across a river now!" Khrushchev asked again: "What role can it play?"
"Many difficulties in crossing the river almost do not exist in front of it!" As he said this, Shulka took the paper and pen and drew two lines on it to represent the river water, and then drew several amphibious landing ships... In fact
There are two extra wheels under a banana, and the painting skills are like the graffiti of a primary school student.
However, Khrushchev didn't care about this. He seemed to have entered the scene described by Shulka and was waiting intently for Shulka to continue talking.
Shulka bit the bullet and explained while drawing: "Usually there are two methods of crossing a river, setting up a pontoon bridge or using a boat to force a crossing, or both at the same time. But both have a problem, they are easily blocked by enemy fire.
On the river, even if a forced crossing is successful, it will often be pushed back by the enemy due to the inability of the troops, equipment, or follow-up troops and supplies to keep up. Among them, forcing a crossing by boat will inevitably require the process of land, and the ship and then to land."
This can also be said to be the difficulty of amphibious landing operations. It can be said that river crossing operations are a special kind of amphibious landing operations. The only difference is that the other side of the river is also within the enemy's sight and blockade range. At the same time, amphibious landing operations can be carried out by ships farther away.
Make preparations.
In this respect, river crossing operations are more difficult than amphibious landing operations.
"The advantage of the amphibious landing ship..." Shulka drew a circle for the amphibious landing ship, and then continued: "It is that it can omit the process of conversion between land and river water, and we can be prepared at a very remote location
Then quickly reach the enemy position through the river, which can cause a strong impact on the enemy on the other side of the river. On the other hand, the supply and follow-up troop replenishment can also be followed up in time... I mean, if there are enough amphibious landing ships,
!”
"It's just your imagination, isn't it?" Khrushchev said.
"No, Comrade Political Commissar!" Shulka said: "We have had actual combat. Near the train station, we used an amphibious landing ship to cross the Tsaritsa River!"
"Is there such a thing?" Khrushchev expressed a little interest.
It is normal for Khrushchev not to know about this incident. On the one hand, it happened within a few days, and on the other hand, it was only a small battle. It was short in time and small in scale, and had a negative impact on the entire Stalingrad battle.
It's nothing to say.
Golikov nodded to Akimovich at the right time. Akimovich understood and immediately found the relevant documents and handed them to Khrushchev.
"This is a report about that battle, Comrade Political Commissar!" Akimovich introduced: "Its purpose was to blow up the railway bridge occupied by the enemy. It was also commanded by Comrade Shulka!"
Upon hearing this, Khrushchev glanced at Shulka again, then sat down and slowly read through the documents.
Occasionally, Khrushchev nodded, and occasionally stopped to look carefully for a few minutes, and then asked: "Is this because the Germans don't know that amphibious landing ships can be used for cross-river operations? I mean, they don't think so.
No preparation so let’s get the win!”
Shulka knew what Khrushchev meant... This was actually not a literal problem, or the literal problem was not important. After all, the railway bridge had been blown up. Whether the Germans were prepared or not, they could not change it.
This ending.
What Khrushchev was worried about was that the Germans were prepared for this, which would extend to the defensive lines stationed by the Romanian troops on both wings. Therefore, the Soviet attack on both wings would not be as smooth as the attack on the railway bridge.
Shulka thought for a while and replied: "The Germans may be prepared, but the problem is that they will not be able to fill this gap in a short time!"
Khrushchev cast his eyes on the map and nodded in agreement.
The situation is obvious. The German army will use its main force to attack the Caucasus and Stalingrad. The Romanian army and the Italian army have a total of more than 200,000 people defending the 18-kilometer long bank along the Don River... From the German army, they have to do this.
, because they have limited troops, they can only use their weak combat units to defend the flanks and then concentrate their forces to attack Stalingrad.
Otherwise, it would be impossible for the German army to pose a powerful impact and threat to Stalingrad.
However, this is precisely the weakness of the German army, a weakness that cannot be compensated.
In other words, even if the German army realizes that amphibious landing ships may pose a threat to their flanks, they have nothing to do unless the German army retreats before the Soviet attack, but this is impossible. Hitler will not allow this to happen...
The last attack on Moscow failed. That failure could be attributed to weather problems or lack of preparation. However, this attack on Stalingrad was launched with full preparation. If it fails again, it will almost mean that the German army will never
There is no way to defeat the Soviet Union, because there will be a second and third Stalingrad.
After being silent for a while, Khrushchev said: "One more question, Comrade Shulka, how can we avoid the enemy's air superiority? If there is no air superiority, how can we penetrate the enemy's counterattack and defeat the Germans?