It was only then that Trufanov could be said to have truly agreed with Shulka's suggestion to use tank troops as the main offensive force.
It didn't take long for Trufanov to learn that Shulka was right.
Because there is an armored grenadier division waiting for them in front of the Soviet attack. If the Soviet army uses mechanized troops as the main offensive force to attack quickly...the Soviet army, which is only equipped with light tanks, armored vehicles and cars, will be ruthless.
If you bump into a German armored division equipped with heavy tanks, it will be like kicking hard but hitting an iron plate.
As soon as it got dark the next day, the rested Soviet troops set off from Prodovitoye as their base.
The capture of Prodovitoje provided great convenience for the Soviet army's advance.
First of all, in terms of defense, because of the base point of Prodovitoje, the Soviet army's logistics is much safer... Prodovitoje controls an important transportation hub of the German army. Even if the two German divisions have inserted into the rear of the Soviet army, they can still
Forced to retreat.
From this aspect, marching and fighting is a bit like playing Go. Taking Prodovitoye is like placing a piece on the chessboard. This piece can echo the Soviet army's defense on the Don River. Once an enemy enters the general
If you try to cut off the connection between Lodovitoye and the Don River, you will soon be surrounded by the Soviet army and hunt down "calling to death" all the way.
Secondly, Prodovitoje can become a logistics base for the Soviet army.
Prodovitoye is a city with sturdy warehouses of various sizes. Materials can be safely stored in these warehouses without worrying about being bombed by enemy fighter planes.
Once ammunition is needed on the front line, it can be shipped from Prodovitoje.
In this way, the reaction time can be improved exponentially.
More importantly, there are several east-west roads and railways starting from Prodovitoje, two of which are especially suitable for tank troops to advance at high speed.
At the same time, engineers will follow behind to build the railway as they advance... Once the railway is repaired, subsequent reinforcements, ammunition, supplies, and even tanks can be transported forward in batches. I don't know how much fuel and tank operation can be saved.
time.
In fact, material saving is secondary, and the more important thing is the tank assembly time.
For example, the Soviet army rested for about eight hours in Prodovitoje for a whole night. Only two tank regiments and more than 80 tanks arrived at Prodovitoje. (Note, at this time, the Soviet army had command problems.
The tank regiment is relatively small, with about fifty tanks per tank regiment).
If all the remaining tank divisions were to cross the river and assemble, it would take several days and nights, and many of the tanks would get stuck in the quagmire, break down, and be abandoned.
But after capturing Prodovitoje and repairing the railway...all the tanks only need to be assembled at Prodovitoje. Once they arrive at Prodovitoje, they will be transported directly to the front line by train in batches and put into battle.
This is also the main reason why the German army always likes to attack along railway lines when launching attacks. It can use less fuel and fewer resources to achieve more investment in equipment and troops.
China also faced similar problems in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War: China's railway lines basically ran north-south. When the war started, the Japanese army attempted to use these railways to attack from north to south... If this was the case, it is estimated that China could be divided from north to south in one month.
It was divided into two halves, so the expression "China died in one month" was used.
Fortunately, the National Army launched the "Battle of Songhu" at this time, forcibly transferring the main force of the Japanese army to Shanghai, completely changing the direction of the Japanese army's attack, and buying time for the National Army to relocate China's coastal industries to the west.
The ground troops' attack was carried out in a state of close coordination between air and ground, just as Shurka had discussed with Khrushchev before.
At this time, the air force was still the main force.
Needless to say the reason...the air force was the top priority, especially since the Soviet army had to march during the day.
If the air force is defeated by the enemy, then as many tanks as there are in the Soviet army are waiting to be bombed.
Only if the air force wins a victory, or a partial victory, can the Soviet tank troops advance safely and have the power to compete with the enemy.
This is also the core of the German "Blitzkrieg"... The fundamental reason why the German Army was able to "dodge" in the "Blitzkrieg" was not how powerful the tanks were. In fact, the German tanks were once very lagging behind. During the "Blitzkrieg" they often relied on "
"No. 1" and "No. 2" tanks.
The key point is to have air supremacy, and then use the air supremacy to destroy the enemy tanks, and the German tanks quickly advance to deal with the enemy infantry... so the battle is invincible.
In the later stages, after the US and British forces established air superiority over the Soviet army, the German army's "blitzkrieg" could no longer "dodge".
Therefore, the Army Group Headquarters contacted the Air Force Headquarters before departure.
There is an Air Force Major in the Army Group Headquarters, a young man named Alexey... He is sent by the Air Force to assist the Group Army in commanding, so as to prevent the Army Commander from giving blind orders without knowing anything about air combat.
This young man named Alexey is very interesting. As soon as he saw Shulka, he rushed forward to shake hands with Shulka and said: "Hello, Comrade Shulka! I'm glad to see you here. I don't know.
Have you heard that there are many people in our Air Force who hope you can become one of us..."
"What? Be one of you?"
"Yes, becoming an airman, I wonder if you are interested?"
"But... I don't know how to fly a plane at all!" Shulka said: "And I heard that it takes several years of training!"
"No, no, you may only need a few months!" Alexey said: "You are so good, not to mention that we don't mean to let you fly fighter planes to fight the enemy, but to command us!"
"Are you kidding, Comrade Major!" Shulka said: "If I can't even fly a plane, how can I command you to fight?"
"You are so humble!" Alexey said: "You have promoted the reform of the Air Force and formulated a series of tactics that are effective. Who else is more suitable to command our operations than you?"
After a pause, Alexey added: "Many of us believe that if you had promoted the reform of the Air Force a year earlier, this war would not have ended like this, and we would not have suffered such heavy losses!"
In some ways, Alexei was right.
A large part of the reason why the Soviet Union collapsed completely at the beginning of the war was that the air force was almost completely defeated at the beginning of the war. Thousands of fighter planes were shot down by the Germans or blown up at the airport within a few days.
This put the Soviet ground forces in a comprehensive passive position and could only be beaten. (To be continued)