Gorokhov was quite polite to Shulka. Perhaps this was because he knew the relationship between Shulka and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In particular, Shulka could be said to be someone Beria valued. With this relationship, it was
It's enough to make anyone in the Ministry of Internal Affairs put aside their disdain for ordinary troops.
He took Shulka all the way to the headquarters of the 11th NKVD Infantry Division, and then introduced Shulka to the commander of the 11th Division, Major General Sarayev.
As for Political Commissar Kirillovic, Gorokhov did not even look at him. Even the officers and soldiers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs who passed by did not hide their eyes when they saw the red military cap of Political Commissar Kirillovic.
Showing some hostility.
"Welcome, Comrade Shulka!" Major General Sarayev looked more generous. He also shook hands with Kirillovic and said: "Welcome to you, Comrade Political Commissar! Please forgive me for being busy with military affairs and unable to do so.
I’ll go and greet you personally!”
"That's right, Comrade Sarayev!" Kirillovic replied. At this moment, he actually looked a little frightened.
"Comrade Shulka!" Saraev casually handed Shulka a roster and said: "This is the information of the 11th Infantry Division. As long as you are ready, training can start at any time! Before that
, we have always been worried about the lack of combat effectiveness and lack of experience in the troops. Now that the 8th Infantry Regiment serves as instructors for training, it can be said that it has eliminated one of my heart problems..."
Shulka felt a little fake when he heard these words, especially the ones added at the end.
Shulka even believed that if it weren't for Beria's reasons, Sarayev might not even bother to look at him.
But Shulka didn't care about this. He opened the information and looked at it, and then he was stunned: "The 11th Division actually has five regiments?"
"Yes!" Sarayev replied: "This is the standard establishment of the NKVD army! Any questions?"
Shulka turned to the next few pages and looked at the number of people, and found that it was not because there were too many troops that they were organized into five regiments.
In fact, the 11th Division has only over 10,000 troops, but it is organized into five regiments, each with less than 2,000 troops. (Note: After deducting the division headquarters and directly affiliated troops, the average strength of each regiment is
less than two thousand)
After thinking about it for a while, Shulka understood.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs troops were originally mainly used to target domestic guerrillas, combat reactionaries and spies, and sometimes even maintain law and order, protect traffic, search for deserters, etc.
Their tasks are tedious but not heavy, just like chores.
In this case, the troop establishment should also be large but small, because only in this way can the limited troops be divided into as many parts as possible to complete the corresponding tasks, and at the same time, there will be no overlap in command, and overlap will lead to the same
The group has too many tasks to face.
The problem is that the current NKVD troops are used to fight on the front line rather than facing the guerrillas and maintaining law and order in the rear.
"Comrade Sarayev!" Shulka flipped through the information again and said: "If the 11th Infantry Division is going to go to the battlefield to fight the Germans, I suggest that it should follow the infantry custom, that is, one division and three regiments.
, a regiment with three battalions!"
"Why?" Sarayev was a little confused: "Aren't they putting the same troops into the battlefield? We are used to this kind of organization!"
"There is no problem if this kind of organization is used to deal with domestic guerrillas and other tasks!" Shulka said: "But if it is dealing with the enemy, you know... Infantry usually assigns tasks in regiments, and there are also provided
Arrange cars, train carriages, etc. for supplies and transportation. If the organization of the NKVD is different from the organization of the infantry, the direct consequence will be confusion or misunderstanding, which will often lead to serious consequences!"
Sarayev nodded in realization and said: "You are right, Comrade Shulka! We did encounter similar problems, but we solved them quickly. For example, the superior assigned a defense line that was too long.
Let one of our regiments defend, and we have to send two regiments up!"
The reason is very simple. The two regiments of the NKVD are only about the strength of one regiment of ordinary infantry, not to mention that the combat effectiveness of the NKVD troops is not strong.
"I don't think you have solved the problem, Comrade Sarayev!" Shulka said.
"What's the meaning?"
"What I mean is that an overly long defense line cannot be solved by simply sending two regiments to cover the task of one regiment!" Shulka explained: "If based on the organization of ordinary infantry, one regiment can be garrisoned.
The line of defense means that they have only one headquarters. This line of defense is under the unified command of one headquarters. The strength of the entire regiment, I mean infantry, artillery, and tanks, can achieve better coordination. But if it is controlled by the NKVD
The two garrison regiments of the army... Although the strength is the same or even greater than that of an ordinary infantry regiment, they inevitably have problems with command coordination between regiments, garrison boundary problems, and service coordination problems.
etc!"
Sarayev was so surprised that he could not close his mouth half open. It was obvious that these problems had occurred on the battlefield before, but they were easily dismissed by Sarayev and others as due to lack of battlefield experience and insufficient training.
neglect.
Things are like this on the battlefield. To be precise, many things are like this. There is a saying that "laymen watch the excitement." The NKVD troops may be experts in dealing with guerrillas, but they are amateurs in fighting on the front line.
Because they are laymen and disdain to communicate with ordinary troops, when problems arise, they often find other explanations and do not know where they are wrong, so they do not know about reforms.
A regiment headquarters directs more than 2,000 people in combat, which is in line with the equipment and tactics of this era.
To be precise, it is the best choice determined by factors such as communication equipment, tactics, and equipment in this era... If it is modern, because communication equipment is highly developed and firepower is improved in all directions, the combined battalion model becomes possible.
However, the NKVD abandoned this "best option". On the other hand, communication equipment and equipment have not improved, so of course many problems will arise.
"But..." Sarayev thought for a while and asked: "In addition to fighting on the front line, we also need to perform other tasks. For example, our current task in Miloway is to eliminate hostile forces. As you said,
Comrade Shulka, this large establishment seems unsuitable for carrying out these tasks!"
"Indeed!" Shulka replied: "But Comrade Sarayev, the security tasks we performed in Miloway are far less intense and dangerous than the battles on the battlefield. I don't think we have to do it for
Adapt to security missions and abandon battlefield norms!”
Sarayev nodded in agreement.
What Shulka said makes sense, because people will die on the battlefield, and many people will die. (To be continued)