In other words, at any time, even if Stalingrad is occupied by the German army, these people will have to go back.
This gave Shulka the idea of "being born as a Stalingrad man and dying as a Stalingrad ghost".
However, Shulka had some doubts about Khrushchev's words... These words were more of an attitude. At the last moment, it would be impossible for a "political commissar" in a high position like Khrushchev to
We must stay in Stalingrad and live and die with it.
Then, Khrushchev handed Shulka a stack of documents and said: "He is the one you need to convince at this meeting!"
Shulka took it and saw that it was the information of a general, with a photo on the first page.
After taking a closer look, I couldn't help but be shocked. This information clearly belonged to the Soviet Union's first air marshal Novikov, but he was still a general at this time.
"I think you should know why it was him!" Khrushchev said.
"Yes, Comrade Political Commissar!" Shulka replied in the rickety carriage while flipping through documents in the dim light of dusk: "Is it because Comrade Novikov disagrees with our plan?"
"Yes!" Khrushchev said: "He thinks this combat plan is too risky and will lose a large number of aircraft and pilots, and our pilots cannot be replenished!"
This was one of the problems of the Soviet Air Force. Pilots were poorly trained and had no room for growth.
Under normal circumstances, the training duration of pilots should be several years... After three years of training, Japanese pilots could only reach the level of entering the kamikaze and flying planes into US warships.
The average training duration for Soviet pilots is only ten months, which is less than a year. Some of them were even pilots of pesticide spraying aircraft or civilian aircraft before. After a few hours of training to familiarize them with the weapons and equipment, they were dispatched.
It's a battlefield.
This is no joke. The air force is different from the infantry. The infantry may take advantage of its numerical advantage to "beat the master to death with random punches." The air force basically plays with technology, and pure numerical advantage has almost no effect.
Therefore, you must first be proficient in piloting an aircraft, and then learn aerial combat tactics step by step to perform various actions. Otherwise, you cannot even guarantee your own life while flying in the sky, let alone fight with enemy aircraft and shoot them down. That is purely
Send your rookie pilot and aircraft to the enemy to score points.
Therefore, objectively speaking, Novikov's relatively conservative idea is right.
If we launch a large-scale counterattack now, the result will be that a large number of pilots will fly into the air and kill people before they have grown up, so all the previous efforts will be wasted.
On the contrary, if the pilots are allowed to "hide their capabilities and bide their time" and train under the intense pressure of the battlefield for a year and a half, each of the rookie pilots will grow into aerial elites, and then the situation will be completely different when the time comes for a full-scale counterattack.
(Note: The Soviet Air Force did not compete with the Germans for strategic air supremacy until April 194 in the Kuban air battle)
"I think you must have told him about our tactical initiative!" Shulka said.
"Yes, of course!" Khrushchev replied: "He agrees with you, but he still thinks that we can't win. That's a stubborn and stupid guy. He doesn't realize that even if the air force suffers losses, we can't win."
It is very likely that he will eventually win this battle, but he will never know how important this battle is to us!"
Shulka did not speak. In fact, he knew in his heart that Novikov was not stupid. Not only was he not stupid, he was also very smart. He had probably guessed that the air force might be sacrificed in this battle, so he
Refuse without hesitation.
Immediately, Shulka looked at Khrushchev with some confusion... He remembered that Khrushchev once said that the Air Force must make sacrifices even if it is not willing, but this is not the case now.
Khrushchev seemed to understand the meaning in Shulka's eyes, so he said with a slight embarrassment: "Although I can choose to report to Comrade Stalin and order the air force to implement it according to the plan, I think it is best not to do so, because Novi
Comrade Kove is an expert in air combat!"
"Yes, Comrade Political Commissar!" Shulka replied.
Although Shulka knew that this was probably an excuse, because Shulka believed that Khrushchev might have reported it to Stalin long ago, Novikov did not give in, and even Novikov might have used his
Professional knowledge convinced Stalin, so this meeting took place.
However, Shulka had to admit that Khrushchev's excuse was reasonable.
This matter should indeed be discussed with the Air Force rather than enforced with orders. The main reason is that Khrushchev, Stalin, and even Shulka are laymen in air combat, while Novikov is an air combat expert and commander-in-chief. From the formulation
The rigor of the operational plan should also be discussed with the Air Force.
The car drove on the road in the dark all night, and then crossed the Volga River before dawn and arrived at the Stalingrad Front Army Headquarters.
In order to save time, a group of people, including Khrushchev, hurriedly filled their stomachs with canned beef before crossing the river...canned beef sent by American reinforcements.
This canned beef may not be much to Khrushchev and others, but it is a solid meal to Shulka.
It was good to know that he had enough to eat in Stalingrad. Usually it was just a pitiful little bit of black bread and occasionally some millet porridge, but now he could eat plump and juicy canned beef... Shulka couldn't wait to put it in the can
Licking all the sauce clean.
But Khrushchev told him there was no need to do this.
"It's okay to have as many as you want, Comrade Shulka!" Khrushchev casually handed two more to Shulka and said, "But be careful not to push yourself to death!"
The guard beside him couldn't help but laugh.
This made Shulka realize that he was already outside the German blockade area... If he were inside the blockade area, even Khrushchev would not be able to say "it's okay to have as much as you want".
There were considerations in setting the meeting at the Stalingrad Front: the German army's main attack and blockade directions were Stalingrad and the east bank of the Volga River. The Stalingrad Front in the north was "left out" by them, so it was very safe here.
The car drove into the forest and stopped in front of a two-story villa... It was carefully camouflaged, with the roof covered with green turf and the walls covered with camouflage canvas. From a distance, it looked like
Only rows of shrubbery and birch trees can be seen, some of which are even disguised as anti-aircraft guns.
In this way, it will be difficult for German pilots to find this place, unless they have enough bombs to blow up the entire forest. (To be continued)