"Major, Sergeant!" Seeing the two of them walking into the air raid shelter and discussing something with the staff over the map, General Kilponos nodded towards the two.
"Comrade General!" Major Gavrilov and Shulka stood up and saluted.
General Kilponos turned the map in one direction and handed it to the two of them, and said: "Look at this, Major, Sergeant, is there anything you need to add?"
It was a Kiev defense map. Under the light, you could see in detail the direction of the trenches and the locations of bunkers, mines, turrets and other facilities.
Major Gavrilov glanced at General Kilponos in surprise and said, "General, this is not a secret that we can access!"
Major Gavrilov was actually talking about Shulka.
On the surface, this looks like Major Gavrilov's distrust of Shulka, but Shulka knows that Major Gavrilov has a deeper meaning... The more you know about secrets, the better, although
It looks like some kind of trust and reuse.
The problem is, if the Germans learn these secrets from other sources, the first person to be suspected will be Shulka, who has a low military rank and a "criminal record."
General Kilponos spread his hands indifferently and said: "Don't care what other people say, Major! I know who can be trusted and who can't!"
"Yes, general!" Major Gavrilov answered.
"Watgar?" Admiral Kilponos asked.
"Of course!" Major Gavrilov immediately laughed.
"Oh, no!" Shulka hesitated for a moment, trying to keep his mind clear.
"No, you can't refuse, Sergeant!" General Kilponos said as he filled a glass and handed it to Shulka: "Because this is an order!"
"Yes, General!" Shulka could only accept the drink.
The general and the major laughed in unison and toasted to each other like old friends reunited after a long separation.
Compared with Chinese liquor, the difference between vodka and vodka is that it does not have that pungent punch, is not sweet, not astringent, and is not bitter. It is easy to drink, but soon your chest will burn like a flame.
At this time, General Kirponos looked at the map and continued: "We divided the defense line into thirteen districts, each district was garrisoned by a division. They formed a half circle along Kiev with their backs to the Dnieper River for defense!
"
This defense is certainly correct.
The defense of any area will have problems similar to the Brest Fortress... If it is fully enclosed, that is, forming a circle around Kiev for defense, the Germans will easily surround it from the outside and then go around and continue to attack in depth.
Unless the defense can lay down a hundreds of kilometers of defense line from north to south like the previously constructed field fortifications to block all German troops.
But there is another problem with this: the equipment and troops are too dispersed, and it is easy for the German army to defeat them from a certain point with local superior forces.
Admiral Kirponos' defense of Kiev used the Dnieper River as an insurmountable barrier:
On the left bank of the Dnieper River is the Southwest Front commanded by General Kirponos, on the right bank is the Southern Front commanded by General Tyulenev, and cruising on the Dnieper River is the Dnieper River Detachment of the Minsk District Fleet.
(Note: The Minsk District Fleet includes the Berezino Detachment, the Pripyat Detachment and the Dnieper Detachment, the first two of which are commanded by the Western Front stationed in Minsk)
So it was obvious that the German army could not encircle Kiev like they encircled the Brest Fortress, because what stood in front of them was the Dnieper River, and they faced the shallow-water heavy gunboats on the river and the Southern Front on the other side of the river.
At this time, the German army may be able to forcefully cross the Dnieper River. After all, the German army has air superiority, and air superiority can suppress the Soviet fleet.
The problem is that Kiev is on the left bank of the Dnieper River. The German army ignored Kiev and forcibly crossed the Dnieper River. The result was that its flanks were exposed to the guns of the Southwest Front in Kiev.
Therefore, the German army seemed to have only one option, to attack the Kiev defense line face to face.
"Every bunker on the defense line is disguised as a wooden house!" General Kilponos raised the hand holding the wine glass to Shulka: "In addition, as the sergeant said, every basement was used.
, we even dug many basements outside the wooden house. I seem to have felt the effect of this camouflage and lurking, because at a glance I can no longer see where the defense line is, and I believe the Germans are the same!"
The general and major couldn't help but laugh, and Major Gavrilov proudly patted Shulka on the shoulder.
But Shulka did not laugh, because he knew that this seemingly impregnable defense line could not prevent Kiev from being surrounded and the entire Southwest Front Army was almost completely annihilated. General Kirponos in front of him would also be sacrificed during the breakout.
"What's the matter, Sergeant?" asked General Kilponos. "Before this, I was worried that we might not be able to stop the German attack. You know, the bunkers on our old border didn't work.
What a great effect, but now... we have bought time and made full preparations. I believe we can keep the Germans out of Kiev!"
After a pause, General Kilponos continued: "These are all your credit, Staff Sergeant. Your tactics almost reversed the entire situation! What we have to do now is to further consolidate the defense. This is what I will do."
The reason why you were transferred back from the front line is that the 333rd Regiment has experience in relevant tactics, and you can use this experience to find more deficiencies..."
"No, Comrade General!" Shulka interrupted General Kirponos: "I don't think our defense can solve the crisis in Kiev!"
"What do you mean?" Admiral Kilponos asked.
Major Gavrilov also cast a doubtful look at Shulka.
"You mean the Germans can break through our defenses?" Major Gavrilov said: "No, this is impossible. You have to know, Shulka, we even used 37mm anti-tank on the old border defense line.
guns, and the Kiev defense line is already full of 45mm anti-tank guns!"
This is marked on the map, and it is also the result of General Kilponos concentrating his troops and equipment to defend Kiev... Otherwise, these 45mm anti-tank guns should be scattered everywhere.
"No, I believe the Germans cannot break through the Kiev defense line!" Shulka replied.
After all, the Southwest Front is the main force of the Soviet army, and the German Army Group South is not the main force. In other words, good horses versus bad horses... Even though the overall quality and combat effectiveness of the Soviet army are not as good as the German army, it still resulted in a stalemate on the Kiev defense line.
war.
"Then why?" Admiral Kilponos asked.
Shulka pointed to the direction of Minsk on the map and said: "The problem is not the German army on the front, but the German army in the center!"
Shulka could only refer to him as "Central German Army" because a staff sergeant was not supposed to know the number of the German Army.