From this we can also see Veniamenko’s organizational skills.
But this was also because of the personal coordination of the Supreme Command and even Stalin... In these two hours, almost all transportation in the direction of Stalingrad stopped.
At this time, the Soviet army had the conditions to do so, because the German 6th Army had surrendered, and frontline transportation in Stalingrad was no longer so urgent.
As a result, all means of transportation, including cars, amphibious landing craft, and trains, were used to evacuate the thirteen Guards Infantry Divisions to the east coast of Stalingrad.
As soon as these troops withdrew to the east bank, they were immediately pulled into various camps that had been prepared long ago and controlled... These camps were actually easy to find, because before that, there were temporary camps on the east bank of the Volga River ready to reinforce to Stalingrad.
At the camp, all Veniamenko had to do was to mobilize reliable troops from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to pull up the barbed wire fence.
Soon, an airborne brigade with a total strength of 3,000 people was organized and boarded a train to Akhtubinsk.
The reason why it was shipped to Akhtubinsk instead of Znamensk was because Znamensk had been used as a forward base for the Soviet army to reinforce Stalingrad during the battle. It was obvious that there would be many German spies here, and the airborne brigade was here.
Being prepared is too conspicuous.
Akhtubinsk is different. There was originally an air force base here, and everything needed by the air force was shipped here.
Therefore, it is not surprising that a large number of transport planes and even gliders land here.
While the airborne troops were preparing, Veniamenko made a special trip to Milove.
He took a jeep and rushed all the way to Miloway in two hours.
Originally, this was the time when the airborne troops were most nervous and in need of command. As the commander, Veniamenko should not have left the air base, but Veniamenko did not think so.
"The command system of the Airborne Corps is not integrated into the infantry division!" Veniamenko explained: "So our command manpower is more than enough!"
This is a common practice of the Soviet army. Although the troops are split up, the command system remains. This is somewhat similar to the two command systems in the infantry. One of the command systems can be separated at any time to form a new unit, or even the entire unit.
Even though they were new recruits, they were unable to develop a certain level of combat effectiveness.
This approach is very wise, because if the commanders are integrated into the infantry, they will not be of much use. They are learning the command of airborne troops and may not be good at commanding infantry. In addition, they may conflict with the infantry commander.
More importantly, if these troops need to be reorganized, these command systems can quickly take effect.
This is one of the reasons why the Soviet airborne troops can be used as ordinary infantry again and again and suffer heavy losses, but can be quickly reorganized again and again (another reason is that the Soviet Air Force does not have high training and requirements for airborne troops)
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"It's an honor to meet you, Comrade Shulka!" Veniamenko held Shulka's hand tightly as soon as he arrived and said: "I think it is necessary for me to communicate with you. Only in this way can we cooperate effectively.
We are fighting in conjunction with the 51st Group Army, so I brought the command team with me! I hope I did the right thing!"
"Of course, Comrade Venyakov!" Shulka replied.
From this point of view, the Venyakov in front of him is a man who can fight and knows how to fight.
Later Shulka learned that this was indeed the case, at least as far as the airborne troops were concerned.
Before the outbreak of the Soviet-German war, the Soviet Union and Germany actually had military cooperation for 20 years... The Soviet Union was blocked by Britain and France in economic and military technology (at that time, Britain and France occupied leading positions in the world's economy and military technology)
, while Germany was restricted by the Treaty of Versailles.
As a result, the two countries hit it off immediately, held bilateral negotiations in 1919 in Rapallo, a suburb of Genoa, Italy, and signed the Agreement between Germany and the Soviet Russian Socialist Republic.
This treaty was actually a mutual benefit: Germany provided the Soviet Union with complete sets of weapons manufacturing production lines to help the Soviet Red Army establish a modern staff command and training system, while the Soviet Union opened its bases and factories to Germany, where Germany could train its armored forces without interference.
Pilots and other military personnel developed weapons strictly prohibited by the Treaty of Versailles.
Veniakov was the commander who cooperated with the German army in training pilots, and he was also a pilot himself.
This is why, needless to say, Venyakov was able to learn more or less the tactics and concepts of the Luftwaffe when he came into contact with the Germans, and even often discussed with German officers the role of airborne troops on the battlefield.
Question... The Soviet Union was the first to form airborne troops. In a sense, Germany stole troops from the Soviet Union.
Then, Venyakov handed a document to Trufanov and said: "This is our preliminary organization of the 9th Airborne Brigade. Please take a look!"
Trufanov flipped through the documents and couldn't help but ask: "The total strength of the airborne troops is only 3,000 people. Why don't you organize it into a regiment?"
"It's still because of the previous reasons!" Veniakov replied: "We have enough command personnel. On the other hand..."
As he spoke, Venyakov looked at Shulka and said, "I believe we may not have just one goal!"
Shulka nodded and secretly praised.
The battle of the airborne troops is basically not limited to one target. This is determined by the parachute... The airborne troops jump off the plane. If 3,000 people target a target at the same time, almost all of them will have to parachute into an area.
, this will make the airborne overcrowded, and if the personnel are spread too far, it will be impossible to complete the assembly and attack the target within a limited time.
What's more important is the strategic level: if you attack only one target, it will make it easier for the enemy to deal with it, because they only need to rescue one place.
On the contrary, if the airborne troops can make full use of their own advantages, that is, they can quickly descend from the sky to reach the target area and attack multiple targets at the same time, they will not only confuse the enemy and make them confused and do not know where to rescue them, but also disperse the enemy's forces.
Attacking multiple targets requires a huge command system, because in principle each target requires an independent command system.
Therefore, it is not an exaggeration at all to organize these three thousand people into an airborne brigade at this specific moment, and it can even be said to be necessary.
What Veniamenko did can be said to have saved Shulka a lot of time, and also greatly improved the success rate of this airborne operation. (To be continued)