Of course, this was just Zolotarev finding a way to get off.
In fact, everyone knows that Shulka had no other choice at that time... There was no time to use "other methods" for Shulka at that time.
In the end, Zolotarev did not report the incident.
In this respect, Shulka and Trufanov were lucky. Zolotarev was not the kind of person who would get angry and fight to the end.
But if you think about it carefully, this actually has nothing to do with "luck".
Because even if Zolotarev reported the matter, Shulka would not be guilty.
The reason is very simple. Shulka did this out of necessity, especially if Shulka also made such a good suggestion. If he successfully captures Surovino, it will undoubtedly be a great achievement... No one will not like victory.
, even the Supreme Command.
Therefore, if Zolotarev reported the matter, the most likely thing would be a sudden change of attitude. A telegram from the Supreme Command accused Zolotarev of being a self-willed political commissar who did not listen to the opinions of his subordinates and acted arbitrarily.
So, this statement actually makes sense no matter how you say it, it just depends on which side you stand on.
If there is any responsibility, it is Trufanov... As a commander, he should never unite with his subordinates to kidnap the political commissar. This would be suspected of forming a gang, which was a taboo for Soviet commanders. At the beginning
Shulka was transferred because of this.
But it was obvious that Zolotarev also knew that this was not a glorious thing, and reporting it would not do him any good, so he just pretended that nothing had happened.
Trufanov was also very interested and ordered the guards, correspondents and staff in the headquarters who were on the scene at the time to keep their mouths shut and classify the matter as a military secret.
So although the atmosphere was a bit awkward, the three of them still discussed the plan.
"Why don't we just open the Frelovo reservoir and release the water?" Zolotarev asked.
"There is not enough water to open the gate!" Shulka said: "Even if this can achieve the purpose of flooding Sulovkino, it will take a long time, such as a few days. During this time, the Germans may
React, such as withdrawing from Surovino and building another line of defense behind it! But it will be different if we blow up the reservoir. The water level will rise rapidly within a few hours, and the entire defense line will be over before the Germans can react.
It collapsed, and our army took advantage of the water to attack it..."
Zolotarev nodded, and at the same time he also realized the gap between himself and Shulka.
"So we should act at night!" Trufanov said.
"Yes!" Shulka agreed: "It is best in the early morning when the enemy is sleeping soundly when the water level suddenly rises, and it is already dawn when our army launches the attack! Therefore, we also need to ensure air supremacy, at least local air supremacy!"
Needless to say, the reason for this is that the enemy's aircraft are the most worrying thing in dawn operations, especially fragile small boats like amphibious landing craft... The "Henschel" can kill an amphibious landing craft with its crew with just one dive and strafing shot.
Take the boat and smash it.
Although this will not affect the outcome of the entire battle, the German army can be said to be defeated after being flooded, but the German air force may still inflict heavy casualties on the Soviet army.
"But..." Trufanov said: "We don't have much air force!"
"Contact Comrade Rokossovsky!" Shulka said: "He promised to support our aircraft. It's time for him to fulfill his promise!"
Trufanov turned his attention to Zolotarev.
This meaning is obvious. In the army, group army commanders like Trufanov actually have no say. The command power is actually in the hands of the political commissar, or more precisely, in the hands of the Supreme Command.
Therefore, to be precise, even Rokossovsky did not have the authority to transfer the air force to the 51st Army.
"I will report this plan to the Supreme Command!" Zolotarev did not hesitate: "I believe they will agree to this plan and mobilize the necessary reinforcements for us! I am confident!"
This is not a question of "confidence", but Shulka's plan is irrefutable. If there are no surprises, it is almost foreseeable that he will win this battle, so Zolotarev has confidence in this plan.
Sure enough, Zolotarev got a call back not long after he submitted the plan:
"Comrade Stalin greatly appreciated this plan. He personally instructed that in the coming battle, the Supreme Command will make every effort to allocate all possible resources for the realization of this plan!"
There was a burst of cheers in the headquarters. Having these words was almost equivalent to having a Shangfang sword.
Then the plan unfolded step by step.
The first is to contact the Frelovo Reservoir and obtain various data... These are the basis for formulating a combat plan.
Of course, these are all carried out secretly, and a considerable part of the work is even done by the Supreme Command.
Although this is a trivial matter not worth mentioning, it is inexplicably refreshing psychologically: originally, I was only suppressed by the Supreme Command, but now I can let the Supreme Command do something.
Once the data arrived, Shulka and others knew how much and how long the water level would rise after blowing up the reservoir.
What surprised Shulka and others was that the duration could last several days.
"This is due to the large amount of water stored in the Frelovo Reservoir!" Zolotarev said: "The construction of the reservoir is to adjust the impact of seasonal changes in water resources, so it will store water when there is a lot of rain.
!”
This is easy to understand. When there is a lot of rain, the river water rises and there will be floods. When there is less rain and the water level drops, there will be a drought.
The construction of reservoirs can solve or alleviate this problem to a certain extent, that is, storing water when there is a lot of rain to reduce floods, and releasing water when there is little rain to alleviate droughts.
So this is not a simple problem of storing water and generating electricity.
Therefore, this reservoir must be large enough to regulate droughts and floods. Otherwise, it will be empty after two and a half strokes, and it will not make much sense.
"But our superiors told us that we don't need to worry about this!" Zolotarev said: "They will control the duration of the flood peak, that is, directional blasting of a small section of the dam, and make preparations for repairing the dam before that!"
So this problem was perfectly solved.
Finally, after communicating with the reservoir personnel, the best data they got was that the flood peak would be reached within five hours... The reason why it took five hours was because this way the dam would not need to be blown up too much. They chose to open the gate and blow up a small section.
way to achieve this requirement.
Then, the water level returned to its original state at noon the next day.
This time is also calculated accurately and repeatedly.
Neither too early nor too late is good.
If it's too early, the amphibious landing ship's attack time will be too short.
If it is too late, the tanks will not have time to pass through Surovino during the day. (To be continued)