"Air power will play a role after we break through the enemy's defense line!" Shulka said: "They will compete for local air supremacy for us, allowing us to quickly move closer to the Southwest Front, while providing us with cover and performing reconnaissance missions. But this
A line of defense..."
Shulka shook his head: "I have to admit that it is very difficult. It was originally the defense line built by our army in Surovino. The Germans transformed them. Many of them are underground fortifications and permanent fortifications. In addition, there are
There is a fort!”
Rokossovsky stared at the fortification map of Surovino in silence for a while, then raised his head and said: "Maybe we can carry out targeted elimination of them! I mean, if we know the location of these fortifications, we can use
Artillery destroys them!"
To put it bluntly, it is actually to use the turret to hit them one after another until they are blown up.
Shulka shook his head: "We don't have that many artillery shells, and it is impossible to consume so many artillery shells to blow up these fortifications one by one. What's more, this is the fortification map left by our army..."
As he spoke, Shulka raised his head towards the fortification plans on the table, and then said: "Let's not talk about whether these fortification plans are accurate. I'm afraid that after the Germans modified them, they will be very different from before!"
"I can give you more tanks!" Rokossovsky said, "I know you lost a lot of tanks!"
"It's not about the tanks!"
"I can give you more artillery too!"
"Artillery won't do much good against this line of defense!"
"In addition, there are infantry and cars...after all, you will turn to the main attack!"
Shulka said nothing more, he understood that Rokossovsky was pretending not to understand.
"But!" Rokossovsky continued: "The issue of breaking through the defense line seems to have nothing to do with me!"
"Karachi's problems have nothing to do with me!" Shulka replied.
"Who asked you to tell me the solution?" Rokossovsky spread his hands helplessly.
Shulka was speechless for a moment, as ten thousand grass and mud horses galloped past in his heart.
Rokossovsky burst out laughing. He patted Shulka on the shoulder and said: "I'm not worried about this problem at all, Comrade Shulka! I believe that the 'breakout heroes' will be able to solve it in a short time."
,Do you agree?"
Let me go, whether this is mentioned or not is the same, Shulka still has to solve it himself.
"It's time for me to go!" Rokossovsky looked at his watch and said, "You know, I'm going to make arrangements for Karachi! Well, I remember the underwater transportation of supplies!"
"If you still have problems next time!" Shulka said, "I will remember to negotiate terms with you!"
"Of course!" Rokossovsky smiled proudly: "But that's for next time!"
After Rokossovsky returned, he indeed used Shulkati's suggestion.
What Shulka was talking about seemed like a small thing, but it was actually the use of river channels for concealed transportation, but it could change the entire strategic direction of Karachi.
Because if Karachi does not have a long-term, relatively stable mode of transportation, then Karachi will run out of ammunition and food sooner or later... Karachi cannot wait for the day when the German 6th Army runs out of ammunition and food. The German 6th Army has the air
transportation.
Therefore, the 57th Group Army stationed in Karachi could only take the initiative to attack to avoid being surrounded by the enemy.
However, if Karachi can receive long-term and stable supplies, then the Soviet army does not need to take the initiative to attack at all. They only need to defend Karachi and occupy this point. Even if Manstein's Don River Army reaches the Don River, it will be considered
It was not possible to rescue the 6th Army, because the 6th Army was unable to cross the river safely, orderly, and on a large scale.
As a result, the Soviet army changed its previous rash advance and instead shrank its troops to the outer defense lines of Karachi and inside the city, waiting for the German troops to come in and engage in street fighting.
When faced with such a problem, Manstein was a little confused.
"What's going on?" Manstein said to himself: "They gave up the counterattack?"
"Maybe they gave up because they realized they couldn't stop us!" the adjutant said.
"Maybe!" Manstein replied: "But Karachi, whose supplies have been cut off, has only a dead end. Do they have other ways of supplying them?"
Manstein's first reaction was to think that the Soviet army would supply supplies by airdrop.
Because if the ground is surrounded, the only possibility is airdrop.
Therefore, Manstein immediately ordered the Air Force to replenish night reconnaissance aircraft and fighter jets in the Karachi area... There was no need to worry during the day. The German Air Force had fully mastered the air superiority over Stalingrad while transporting the 6th Army.
Therefore, Manstein believed that the Soviet army must be planning to use the darkness to carry out airdrops.
Rokossovsky did indeed do this. He had several groups of transport aircraft operating outside Stalingrad under the cover of night fighters that were still in the experimental stage... The Soviet Army actually began to develop night fighters in 1941.
This night fighter is equipped with a "gneiss" airborne radar for night positioning. In addition, the cab uses ultraviolet light and an instrument panel using fluorescent materials, which allows the pilot to see the instruments and control the aircraft in the dark.
However, Soviet R&D personnel had misunderstandings about the direction of air combat. They believed that future battles would mainly be large-scale operations during the day, so it was more important to improve the speed, protection and firepower of the aircraft.
Therefore, research on this night fighter was stopped during the industrial transfer after the Soviet-German war.
It was not until the German night fighters were wreaking havoc everywhere on the battlefield that the Soviet army put night fighters on the agenda again.
At this time, this night fighter, tentatively designated as "PE-", just needed to be tested, so Rokossovsky was sent to the battlefield. (Note: This type of fighter was finalized and mass-produced in 4 years, named "Katanma"
rock")
However, these transport planes and night fighters turned around after just one encounter with the German reconnaissance aircraft. When the German Air Force wanted to pursue them, they were illuminated by a large number of searchlights from the ground, followed by a heavy bombardment by anti-aircraft artillery.
This made Manstein feel relieved, because he was sure that the Soviets indeed wanted to use airdrops to provide supplies to Karachi.
This is the brilliance of Rokossovsky... He actually considered this problem early on: if the 57th Army was suddenly allowed to switch from offensive to defensive and allowed to be surrounded by the Germans, the enemy would definitely be suspicious.
Manstein to be exact.
Of course Rokossovsky knew that his opponent was Manstein.
If Manstein had become suspicious, he would have found out why this was happening in Karachi.
In order to prevent Manstein from discovering prematurely that the Soviet army was using the Don River for transportation, Rokossovsky had transport planes and night fighters perform a show.
Among them, especially the new night fighter... This kind of fighter has never appeared before, so Manstein believed it even more. (To be continued)