Soon, a call from the army headquarters came to Shulka.
"What's going on, Comrade Shulka?" Zolotarev said in a very unhappy tone: "How can you order the troops to retreat when the whole army is charging? Do you understand that this will have serious consequences? If every commander
If you disobey orders like you, how can we win..."
Shulka only asked in reply: "Comrade Zolotarev, is the failure to achieve victory because of my order to retreat?"
Zolotarev could not help but be speechless, because he knew that this was not the case.
On the other hand, not to mention Zolotarev's personal relationship with Shulka, his personality is relatively upright, unlike some political commissars who can tell lies in order to shirk responsibility.
There was silence on the other end of the phone for a while, then Zolotarev said angrily: "Comrade Shulka, I order you to come to the headquarters!"
"Yes, Comrade Zolotarev!"
"Try not to conflict with them!" Akadiyevich said: "I will report this matter to my superiors..."
"I can solve it!" Shulka interrupted Akadiyevich. He didn't want to rely on anyone's help.
After handing over the affairs of the regiment to Andrianka, Shulka ran along the communication trench to the group army headquarters in the rear.
The group army headquarters is not far from the front line, less than two kilometers... This is because the combat plan hopes to break through quickly and penetrate through the breakthrough, so the group army headquarters is also located relatively forward.
Of course, another reason is that communication equipment is poor and many troops need to communicate by phone. The farther the headquarters is, the more inconvenient it is to contact them.
As soon as Zolotarev saw Shulka, he frowned and asked: "Comrade Shulka, as the commander of the 8th Infantry Regiment, don't you know the importance of obeying orders?"
"I know, Comrade Zolotarev!" Shulka replied: "But some orders are obviously wrong. For the sake of the lives of soldiers, I can only disobey them!"
"You!" Zolotarev couldn't help but walk back and forth in front of his desk angrily, but there was nothing he could do about Shulka.
Trufanov stepped forward and advised: "Comrade Shulka, Zolotarev did not report this matter to his superiors... You should know what will happen if your superiors know about this matter!"
"
After hearing this, Shulka couldn't help but look at Zolotarev in surprise, wondering if Zolotarev still didn't know or didn't realize that this was an overt and covert struggle between the Political Department and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
But then, Shulka understood from Zolotarev's helpless eyes that he actually knew.
However, Zolotarev was unable to stop it and could only obey the order.
"You can report this matter truthfully, Comrade Zolotarev!" Shulka said.
Shurka didn't want to implicate other people because of this. He knew that this matter could not be hidden in the end... Too many people on the battlefield saw the people of the 8th Infantry Regiment retreating, including the political commissars of each unit, so sooner or later they would
passed to above.
And if Zolotarev did not report it, of course he would suffer consequences in the end.
"Do you think I don't want to?" Zolotarev said: "But if you are taken away by them, who will fight this battle and break through the enemy's defenses?!"
Several people were stunned for a while, and then suddenly they all laughed.
The atmosphere was a bit strange. If Shulka was from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, then Zolotarev represented the Political Department, and Trufanov was from the military.
People in the three different systems actually have their own interests, especially the Political Department and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which are somewhat incompatible.
but……
These struggles may be fierce at the top, specifically in Moscow or elsewhere, but they are minimized on the battlefield.
As Zolotarev said, if Shulka is charged and punished for this, then the 8th Infantry Regiment and even the 51st Group Army will lose a "backbone", and the next fate can be imagined... etc.
It is very likely that those who follow them will be ruthlessly and uselessly consumed on the battlefield.
In other words, they are actually a community of interests on the battlefield, and Zolotarev has reasons to "protect" Shulka both publicly and privately.
It should be said that anyone with foresight knows that he must "protect" Shulka at this time, otherwise he will be the next unlucky one.
"I told them this was my order!" Zolotarev said: "I mean the frontline troops. When they reported to me... my answer was that the 8th Infantry Regiment was assigned other tasks! Don't let it slip.
Got it!"
This is indeed a good explanation, so that no one in the frontline troops will report to their superiors.
"Thank you, Comrade Zolotarev!" Shulka said.
"Don't thank me, thank yourself!" Zolotarev said: "If you hadn't had the means, I guarantee that I would have put a pistol to your head now!"
"Thank you anyway!"
Zolotarev shook his hand and said: "So, you don't think we can attack in this way?"
"Yes!" Shulka replied: "This kind of 'artillery charge' may be effective against an enemy's defense line that is not fully prepared and lacks depth, because it can catch the enemy off guard. But the part we attack is the enemy's flank, which is very critical.
On the flanks, once this area is broken through, the entire Don River Army is in danger of being surrounded. So it doesn’t take much to think about it. We are facing a well-prepared, deep and long defense line. Purely relying on infantry assaults will definitely not work. Not only will it not work, but it will also make concessions.
The coordination between the tanks was chaotic and unable to launch an effective attack, resulting in heavy casualties!"
Zolotarev and Trufanov were speechless.
What Shulka said is true, and it happened on the battlefield just now.
In fact, it is not difficult to explain. The coordination between various parts of the Soviet army was originally very difficult due to the problems of training level, quality of soldiers and insufficient communication equipment. The coordination between infantry and tanks was especially obvious.
In this case, it is even more important to simplify the tactics in order to exert the due combat effectiveness, and use a fancy tactic...The result is that the enemy does not take advantage of himself but becomes a mess.
"We have probably lost an opportunity to break through the enemy's defense line!" Shulka said with some regret: "We know that the enemy has transferred almost all tanks to the east to attack Karachi, which means that only anti-tank tanks remain in the defense line.
guns. These anti-tank guns are dead and cannot move. They are even very limited, because the Germans also transferred anti-tank guns to Karachi to fight. But we have two armored divisions and sufficient ammunition. At the same time, our army
The troops also tried the tactic of steady advance with infantry and artillery in Karachi... Therefore, they may suffer some losses in the early stage of the attack, and when the attack reaches a certain level, the Germans may collapse due to the large loss of anti-tank guns and the inability to replenish them in time!"
Trufanov and Zolotarev couldn't help looking at each other after hearing this.
Shulka's analysis was reasonable. In other words, in the attack just now, the Soviet army only had to follow conventional tactics and fight hard with the enemy to win. At this time, it was afraid that it had already broken through the enemy's defense line and penetrated deep into the hinterland. Who knew what to do?
It's a trick but it's bad.
"Order from the High Command?" Shulka asked.
Zolotarev nodded silently and replied: "To be precise, it is an order from Comrade Khrushchev!"
Shulka said nothing more after hearing this.
At this moment, there was a noise outside the headquarters, and then the guard reported: "Comrade Zolotarev, there is a group of soldiers outside, and the leader is the commander of the 8th Infantry Regiment's Infantry Battalion. They strongly demand to see you!"
"
Sokolov?
Shulka was a little surprised, then looked at Trufanov and Zolotarev who were also confused, spread his hands and said: "I don't know about this, I didn't ask them to come!"
It turned out that something happened to the 8th Infantry Regiment when Shulka rushed to the headquarters.
The commander of the second battalion, Sokolov, did not understand what was going on at first. During the charge, he suddenly received an order to withdraw.
But he also secretly thought he was lucky, because those troops who rushed up according to the order either died in the hands of the enemy or in their own artillery fire, and few Liao Liao came back alive.
Sokolov knew that as a soldier, one should not be afraid of death, but no one would want to die an almost meaningless death like this, including the soldiers of the Second Battalion.
The wounded Sokolov thought more and more as he was bandaging his wounds that something was wrong... The entire army withdrew only his second battalion. There was no reason for this to happen.
Thinking of this, Sokolov decided to ask for details, so he hurriedly bandaged up and went straight to the headquarters.
When Sokolov arrived at the headquarters, Shulka had already set off, so he didn't meet anyone.
"Comrade Shulka has gone to the headquarters!" Andrian responded without raising his head.
"Headquarters?" Sokolov asked, "Do you know when you will be back?"
Andrianka looked at Sokolov with an incredulous look and said: "You don't know at all, do you?"
"Don't know what?" Sokolov was puzzled.
"Don't you think about why Comrade Shulka went to the headquarters?"
When Andrianka said this, Sokolov probably guessed it.
"So..." Sokolov said: "Comrade Shulka ordered the Second Battalion to withdraw?"
"Otherwise, who do you think you are?" Andrianka replied angrily: "Otherwise you and your subordinates should all be lying on the position at this time, right? Shulka ordered you to withdraw, and now I'm afraid
You will inevitably be charged with 'disobeying military orders', and you may even be responsible for the failure of this attack! You know what will happen!"
With that said, Andrianka ignored Sokolov and turned around to do her own thing.
Sokolov felt humiliated by the ridicule, but he had no choice but to do it. After returning to the army, the more he thought about it, the more uncomfortable he felt, so he summoned the officers of the second battalion for a meeting (to be continued).