Under the command of General Kilponos, the work of forming a commando team began vigorously.
This force is more of a reorganization than a formation, because it was established with the 9th Mechanized Army of the 5th Group Army as the backbone... However, in the previous battles, the 9th Mechanized Army suffered heavy losses like other units, and the entire mechanized army
There are no more than a hundred combat-capable tanks.
(Note: At this time, a fully mechanized Soviet army had 1,031 tanks.)
Of course, the reorganized 9th Mechanized Army was different. The tanks on the defense line came back one by one. No matter which unit or even which front they belonged to, all light and medium tanks that could be found and in good condition were registered and registered.
Incorporated into the 9th Army.
But even so, only more than 500 tanks were gathered in the end, and the various tank models were uneven: t26, t28, bt2, bt5...
Like the reorganization of other troops, the first step is to classify these tanks... This is because each type of tank has its own different characteristics, such as firepower, protection and mobility, so they must be classified and organized before they can be used on the battlefield.
Command according to its characteristics.
Naturally, Shulka did not need to worry about these things. At this time, he was being incorporated into the 131st Motorized Division along with the 333rd Regiment and became a member of the 9th Mechanized Army.
Admiral Kilponos has very good reasons for this.
"Just like the sergeant said!" General Kilponos said: "This commando team needs elites. If the 333rd Regiment cannot be called elite, then what other troops can shoulder this task?"
The formation process was very confusing.
The 131st Motorized Division has lost most of its equipment and troops in previous battles. Although the 333rd Regiment has joined the full force, since the 333rd Regiment was infantry before, becoming a motorized division must be equipped with vehicles.
, motorcycles, and tank regiments must be incorporated into tanks, etc.
So the rain curtain was full of troops, cars and tanks coming and going, and the soldiers commanding the cars and tanks were very busy. Sometimes there were even incidents where vehicles collided with each other, drivers and even troops clashed with each other.
Shulka's second row was also assigned to a car.
Shulka was a little dissatisfied with this, because his platoon was stuffed with a few more recruits, bringing it to 35 people... These recruits came here because of their reputation.
Sergeant Pukarev pointed at a few new soldiers and shouted at Shulka: "Sergeant, these people are under your command!"
"But Comrade Tushi!" Shulka said inexplicably, "My platoon is already full!"
"This is an order from the superior!" Pukarev spread his hands: "I can't help it, let alone... is there any problem with having more people?"
"No problem, Comrade Tushi!" Shulka replied helplessly.
If it's infantry, that's no problem. There's nothing wrong with having more people, more guns, and more errands.
The problem is that now in the motorized infantry, everyone has to ride in a vehicle, and each platoon is only assigned one vehicle.
A car can usually only carry 30 soldiers... The carriage is divided into four rows, with 7 people in each row, two rows with their backs to the carriage and two rows in the middle. Plus the driver and co-pilot seats, there are exactly 30 people.
But now there were five more people, making it even more difficult to turn around in the already crowded carriage.
But the veteran helped Shulka solve this problem.
"We can sit one more person in each column, comrade sergeant!" the veteran said: "Let the extra soldier go to the front of the car!"
At this time, the car had a wide pedal next to the cab. The soldier could stand there and grab the window or something else to follow the car. The soldier could even be responsible for reconnaissance. For example, he could see outside on a rainy day.
With a clearer view, you can observe whether there are enemy aircraft in the sky and issue warnings, etc.
The disadvantage is that you have to suffer from wind and rain.
Although the problem has been solved, Shulka is still a little worried. He believes that the extra few people will slow down the reaction speed of the troops... Soldiers traveling in cars must get out of the car quickly in case of emergency. As long as it is slower, it will be better.
It may cause tragedy for everyone, because it is just a matter of one artillery shell or a shuttle of machine gun bullets.
Therefore, Shulka asked the recruits: "I don't understand why the superiors put you into my army. Soldiers, you better have something commendable, otherwise one day I will still put you in my army."
Kick you out!"
"I know why, Comrade Sergeant!" A white-skinned recruit stared at Shulka with a pair of blue eyes.
"What?" Shulka didn't understand what the new recruit meant.
"Please allow me to introduce myself, Comrade Sergeant!" The recruit handed him a German cigarette and approached it with Shulka: "My name is Avmovich, and several of us are from Makaryv (a small town near Kiev).
, this town is on the German road to Kiev)!"
Shulka took the cigarette and then looked at Avmovich suspiciously and asked: "You mean, do you know why you are here?"
"Yes!"
"Why?"
"I asked for it!" Avmovich replied: "I asked for your troops!"
Shulka stopped lighting the cigarette in his hand and cast his doubtful eyes on Avmovich. His first reaction was that Avmovich was the person assigned to investigate him, just like the deputy instructor.
But Shurka soon overturned this idea, because if this was the case, he should not say it at this time.
"That's it, Comrade Sergeant!" Avmovich said smugly: "Comrade Battalion Commander is our fellow countryman, so..."
So needless to say, they used this relationship.
"But why my troops?" Shulka asked: "You can't get anything more here, right? The same cars, the same ammunition, the same mission!"
"No, Comrade Sergeant!" another recruit explained: "We have heard about you. You escaped from the Brest Fortress with your troops and other things!"
"Oh!" Shulka seemed to understand somewhat, it was the "escape hero" who was to blame again.
"The battlefield is not what you think, comrade!" Shulka shook his head and smiled: "If you are thinking about making achievements, you'd better give up this idea as soon as possible!
"We are not trying to make any achievements!" Avmovich replied.
So Shulka understood that they thought they were safer with the "escape hero", which meant they had a better chance of escaping from this land of right and wrong...
This made Shulka dumbfounded. If they knew what the 333rd Regiment was going to do soon, they would have jumped out of the car and ran as far as they could.