The Soviet army's strategy at this time is undoubtedly to attack steadily.
Even the people at the Supreme Command knew this at this time, because there is no doubt that victory belongs to the Soviet Union as long as it holds the current position. Then the Soviet army has no reason to disorderly position itself and give the enemy a chance... If anyone proposes to continue to attack the Soviet Union at this time...
If the enemy attacks, he may be regarded as a traitor and handed over to the Ministry of Internal Affairs for interrogation.
Therefore, the 51st Army and the 57th Army did nothing. They just pushed the defense line westward to the German Miloway Defense Line and then organized the defense honestly.
It is necessary to push the defense line to Mirowe. This is to gain defensive depth for Karachi's garrison. Otherwise, Karachi will always be under attack from the east and west sides of the German army and accidents will happen at any time. This is obviously unsafe.
Since the German 6th Army was fighting fiercely with several other Soviet armies east of the Don River, the German Don Army was reorganizing in Milowe, which gave the 51st Army and the 57th Army a rare chance to breathe.
.
If there is a battle, it is that the air defense forces compete with the German Air Force from time to time... The German air transport plan is still going on, and its transport aircraft have to cross the Soviet encirclement, so the Soviet army deployed anti-aircraft units near Karachi
.
So naturally, there was a competition between anti-aircraft guns, anti-aircraft machine guns and the Luftwaffe.
None of these have much to do with infantry.
Because the German Air Force no longer regards the Soviet troops near Karachi as a target...their main battlefield is Stalingrad, and using ammunition for the infantry in Karachi is a waste for the German army.
Therefore, when the German Air Force was fighting with the anti-aircraft troops, the infantrymen built trenches while watching the excitement and making a few jokes from time to time:
"Look, where did they put the bullets and shells? Why didn't they leave those bullets for us!"
"Damn, those gunners were totally fooled by the Germans!"
"If I had been here, I would have shot down those planes long ago!"
…
The Soviet anti-aircraft gunners were also inexperienced, so they were always deceived by the Luftwaffe's fake moves, which made the soldiers anxious on the sidelines.
But these are just the kind of worrying and gossiping.
The 51st and 57th Group Armies have no worries about ammunition and equipment... Everyone knows that these two group armies are the key forces encircling the German 6th Group Army, so no one will be missing these two group armies.
On the night of the capture of Karachi, the first batch of supplies was delivered by the automobile troops, and the railway was opened two days later... It is said that there were several engineering camps, plus more than 10,000 migrant workers composed of ordinary people working day and night.
The result of emergency repairs to railways and railway bridges.
The slogan issued to them by the Supreme Command was: "Repairing the railway is victory! It is victory in the Battle of Stalingrad!"
These words are not empty talk, because the railway determines the supply, the supply determines whether the Karachi defense line is stable, and the stability of the Karachi defense line determines the outcome of the Battle of Stalingrad.
Then, several trains of equipment and supplies were driven into Karachi at night for emergency unloading... Transportation during the day was too dangerous, especially on a railway like this headed for the front line. The trains may be attacked by enemy fighter planes even at night.
If it had not been for the capture of Karachi, it would have been almost impossible to use trains to transport supplies.
The reason is that trains are very dangerous on the front line, especially the smoke and sparks emitted by the locomotive, which are very conspicuous even in the dark.
But it's a little different if you occupy a city. Several large "train bunkers" can be built in the city as a shield.
The so-called "train bunker" is actually some canvas and the like stretched between several buildings to cover the sky. There is a railway below. The train parked there is not easily discovered by the enemy air force, even if it fires flares.
A stronger "train bunker" is to transform it into a tunnel or air-raid shelter. The train can drive directly into the air-raid shelter and there is no need to worry about enemy air attacks.
However, due to the small number of tunnels and air-raid shelters and the large amount of engineering work, they are usually only used for trains transporting important supplies, such as ammunition, or trains transporting tanks.
As a result, the equipment of the 51st Group Army was quickly replenished: brand-new T4 tanks that had just come off the production line, mortars, rocket launchers, machine guns, and of course soldiers who had received relevant training...
…None of these equipment can be controlled by just anyone on the battlefield. If there are no supporting personnel, the equipment transported to the front line will probably become a pile of scrap metal.
The 57th Army is similar.
The tank units lost by the two armies in the battle were recovered at the rate of almost one tank regiment every night.
This was especially true for the 51st Army. In addition to equipment, they also received a large amount of canned beef and compressed biscuits from the United States.
The commotion this caused to the 51st Group Army was no less than when the first batch of T4 tanks were transported into the army.
Zolotarev immediately distributed the canned beef and compressed biscuits. Each class received a can of beef, and each class received two palm-sized compressed biscuits. Then he took the opportunity to launch a wave of political propaganda.
"Comrades!" Zolotarev spoke on the radio. The Soviet army usually set up radios wherever the troops went, so it was very convenient for the commander to say something to all the soldiers.
"This is encouragement from our superiors and an affirmation of our heroic battle and victory in Karachi! We firmly believe that as long as we unite, we will drive the enemy out of our land and let all the people regain a life of ample food and clothing...
…”
These are indeed rewards for the victors, because the 57th Army does not have such "special care".
Shulka was also given some beef and compressed biscuits, the portions were the same as those of the soldiers... This was Zolotarev's way of showing unity between officers and soldiers.
The beef is indeed delicious, but the compressed biscuits are difficult to swallow.
It's just that after winning such a big victory, the reward he received was just this "reward", which made Shulka feel a little unbalanced.
At this moment, Andrianka, who was answering the phone, turned to this side in surprise and said: "Comrade Shulka! The superiors sent a reporter to interview you..."
Shulka said "hmm", reporters were nothing special, Shulka had never seen him before, and compared to being interviewed, Shulka would rather give himself an extra can of beef.
But Shulka soon discovered that he was wrong.
"Do you know who this reporter sent by your superiors is?" Andrianka asked.
Shulka couldn't help but stopped while eating beef. He had already guessed who Andrianka was talking about. (To be continued)