Vatutin was stunned for a moment, and then he laughed: "Give me a reason, Comrade Shulka!"
There were many reasons, but Shulka found that he could not express them. For example, the quality of the Soviet army was low, and the offensive tactics were single and did not count casualties. This often led to a significant reduction in manpower and even a lack of support, which was taken advantage of by the German army. Past battles have already
Proved this.
But these will not be recognized by hard-line commanders such as Vatutin, because they think this is bravery.
If the Voronezh Front and other Soviet armies can be like the 8th Infantry Regiment, that is, know how to preserve their strength during the attack and continue to advance layer by layer with the help of artillery, it is indeed feasible to launch a counterattack before the German attack.
However, it is not.
Seeing that Shulka was in a daze, Zhukov came to the rescue and said: "Comrade Vatutin, why don't you first tell us the reasons for our counterattack!"
"There are too many reasons!" Vatutin replied: "The first is morale. Since the outbreak of the war, we have always been in strategic defense..."
The so-called "strategic defense" actually refers to being passively attacked, even the victory in the Battle of Moscow and the Battle of Stalingrad was no exception.
Although the two victories shattered the strategic intentions of the German army, strategically speaking, it was indeed the victory of the Soviet army and the defeat of the German army. The problem was that in the former, the German army reached the capital of the Soviet Union, while in the latter, they almost occupied the city named after Stalin and choked off oil transportation.
Wire.
More importantly, the Soviet army pursued victory in two battles but was defeated by the German army and suffered heavy losses.
"Therefore!" Vatutin continued: "Many people believe that our army can only defend passively and cannot take the initiative to attack. If we take the initiative to attack and win this battle, it will undoubtedly greatly increase the morale of our army!"
This does make sense, because morale is very important to the Soviet army... There are many hesitant losers in the surrounding areas. As long as the Soviet army proves through actions that they can win on the offensive, they will win the support of these losers. This will
This was no small matter for the Soviet Union.
but……
"You only consider the situation of victory, Comrade Vatutin!" Shulka said: "What if you fail?"
"Even if we fail, we will not gain anything!" Vatutin replied: "Because we launched the attack before the Germans and consumed their troops and supplies, we may disrupt the Germans' plans and make them unable to attack!
"
"It's just possible!" Shulka objected: "In fact, if the materials and troops of the enemy and ours are currently roughly balanced, while we use our offense to consume the enemy's materials and troops, we will consume more than the enemy.
Having far more troops and supplies will not only not give us an advantage, but will put us at a disadvantage!"
"So, why are the Germans not like this?" Vatutin objected: "I have studied the German tactics, Comrade Shulka! They often have the advantage because they take the initiative to attack, but we are exhausted because we are defending everywhere!"
Shulka couldn't help but be stunned. This was what he said before, "offense is greater than defense."
So Vatutin's promotion of preemptive counterattack is not entirely because of "bravery", "morale", or that he is eager to take revenge and regain the face he lost...
Of course, Shulka believed that Vatutin also meant this: in the previous Battle of Stalingrad, two of the three front armies that participated in the battle fought vigorously: the Dayton Army commanded by Rokossovsky
The River Front held Stalingrad and later became the main force in encircling and annihilating the German 6th Army. The Stalingrad Front commanded by Yereomenko successfully penetrated and cut off the German supply lines, and then repelled Manstein's reinforcements.
Only the Southwest Front commanded by Vatutin not only did not achieve much, but was also defeated in Kharkov in the subsequent pursuit of victory.
This made Vatutin unable to swallow his breath.
Or it is related to Vatutin's career... Does this result mean that Vatutin will not fight? Will Stalin have doubts about his ability? Will he be replaced in the next battle?
Therefore, Vatutin was eager to fight another battle to regain the situation, which would be beneficial to himself both militarily and politically.
However, after Shulka listened to Vatutin's point of view that "attack is beneficial", he knew that Vatutin was actually studying and learning the German tactics... Many Soviet generals were doing this, but they didn't
Just say it clearly, because it is imitating the invaders and is a dishonorable behavior.
"Do you know how the Germans fought?" Vatutin pointed to the map and said: "Our defense line is long. If we defend passively, we need to spread our troops along the defense line, and even the troops at every place
It cannot be less, because we don’t know from which point or direction the Germans will attack, but the Germans can concentrate their forces to break through our defense lines, so they can always have an advantage in strength and equipment, even though their total strength
In fact, it is less than us, and much less!"
"But it will be different if we take the initiative to attack!" Vatutin traced the Kursk defense line with his finger: "We will then become the active party. We can choose the location of the attack and save a lot of troops.
The Germans need to deploy a large number of troops to defend!"
Zhukov looked at Shulka, and his eyes seemed to be telling Shulka... This is the key point, and it is also where Zhukov cannot refute Vatutin, because the Soviet army has suffered from this aspect more than once in previous battles.
loss.
Now, the Soviet Union no longer wants to suffer such losses.
In other words, this was the reason why the Soviet army took the initiative to launch an attack in the Battle of Kharkov, but it was a failed attempt. Vatutin and others believed that this time, they would be more experienced.
Shulka sighed and said: "You are right, Comrade Vatutin! The problem is that we are not the German army!"
"What's the difference? You mean we're inferior to the German army?"
"No, I never think that we are inferior to the German army!" Shulka explained: "The problem is that our army and the German army have their own strengths and weaknesses. Our strengths lie in 'courage' and 'will',
Our strengths with the Germans lie in equipment and coordination. They have a large amount of advanced communications equipment, coupled with air superiority, allowing them to advance and retreat freely, and have a well-established offense and defense. Can we do this?"
After a pause, Shulka added: "If we cannot advance and retreat freely, how can we mobilize the enemy during the attack?" (To be continued)