Chapter 555

"Confirmed? Is the Soviet Union experimenting with sniper teams on a large scale? Are you sure it's the team? Not alone? " The statistics officer of the division headquarters looked at the notebook sent by the front line in detail, and even found a Russian translator to translate the contents of the notebook carefully.

That little book recorded the sniper's teaching contents, including how to clean and maintain the gun, how to adjust the sight and how far to fire, etc. There are also places where it's easy to find German snipers and so on. It's all inclusive and quite comprehensive, which makes the German people think it's incredible.

"It can be printed and distributed for reference." After reading the translated version, the division commander said, "send it to the military headquarters in the name of our division headquarters to see how they can make use of it."

So the two men were arranged to get on a car to the military headquarters, and they had to personally state to the commander of the army and the chief of staff the problems they met on the front line. It seems that the German army attached great importance to the sniper training of the Soviet Union.

Just as the two of them came out of the division headquarters, the Soviet and German sides were engaged in a fierce exchange of fire dozens of kilometers away. Since the Soviet and German tacit understanding of a mutual cease-fire and the beginning of negotiations in Berlin, the Soviet and German troops have not carried out such a large-scale operation.

The Soviet Union used four artillery regiments and five infantry divisions to launch a crazy attack on the German positions. It seems that the Soviets think the progress on the negotiation table is too slow. They need to speed up the whole Soviet German battlefield a little.

"The Soviet troops are attacking! yes! The fire was quite fierce! They're trying to get close to the East Bank of the Dnieper! " On the phone, the commander of the front-line German command was very anxious. He was ordered to defend the East Bank of the Dnieper River and cover the troops to strengthen the defense system of the West Bank.

On the phone, we could hear the Soviet artillery fire all over the mountains and fields, hitting the German army's position like raindrops. Since the Soviet Union's failed invasion of Germany, there has never been such a large-scale Soviet offensive. The German position is crumbling, and it seems that it may be broken at any time.

After Zhukov arrived at the front line, the Soviet Red Army began a round of "trial attack" with all its strength. After arriving at the front line, the famous Soviet general from the Far East guessed the strategic intention of the German army, so he wanted to disrupt the opponent's campaign deployment as much as possible.

He was keen to find that the German army was ready to retreat to the Dnieper River for defense. If it did not take countermeasures as soon as possible, the German army with almost no loss would complete its defense deployment in Ukraine. At that time, even if the Soviet Red Army used millions of people to fill the Dnieper River defense, it would not be able to conquer it. Once Ukraine has been out of the control of the Soviet Union for too long, everyone knows that this place can no longer be the territory of the Soviet Union.

So Zhukov immediately changed his plan of operation and advanced the offensive which was postponed to the autumn to the present. He ordered the troops to immediately recapture the banks east of the Dnieper River, and then use artillery to interfere with the progress of the German fortifications along the coast.

Facts have proved his judgment. In fact, there are not many German troops left on the east coast, and almost no decent armored forces are reserved. Most of the German troops only give up their defensive positions after a symbolic resistance. Even the Soviet negotiators in Berlin are getting more and more straight with the victory of the Soviet troops.

The Soviet soldiers rushed to the German defense positions like a tide. Sometimes, when a German machine gun position hit all the spare gun barrels, it was still unable to stop the enemy's desperate charge regardless of casualties.

Zhukov was never a general who cared about the casualties of the troops. When he faced the Japanese troops on the eastern front, and on the premise of mastering a large number of advantages in the early and middle stages, he was able to win humiliating battles in the later stage because he ignored the losses of the troops in order to achieve quick victory.

In the front command headquarters of the Red Army of the Soviet Union, a combat staff officer and several political workers are reporting to Zhukov the progress of the front attack. One person is responsible for pointing the pointer to the map and explaining the specific combat area. One person is reporting the number of ammunition left in the unit, and the other is counting the loss of the unit.

"We are only 17 kilometers away from the nearest place of the Dnieper River. Here and here, we are organizing more large-scale attacks, but the casualties of the troops are very serious, and the defense of the other side is too efficient." A staff officer whispered.

"The German air force raided our material storage sites, and the troops on the front line were very short of supplies." An officer of the logistics department looked at the report and said helplessly: "the front-line air supremacy is very firmly controlled by the other side. Our air force has lost 310 fighter planes, but it is still unable to prevent the other side from using Stuka to attack our ground forces."

"The U.S. P-40 didn't work?" Zhukov frowned and asked a question which he was interested in.

"The performance of the P-40 fighter is not as good as that of the German fw-190d fighter. It can only relieve our air pressure. What's more... What's more, the news from the air force says that the German Air Force has put in newer fighters, and the gap between the two sides in weapon performance has widened again. "

"..." Zhukov heard the silence. Because this is a new situation. He thought that the participation of P-40 fighters could offset part of the air supremacy of the German air force. Now it seems that this hope is too naive. The technological advantages accumulated by Germany's deliberate efforts are not easy to surpass. Now, the new tank will not play a big role. At most, it can only add icing on the cake and slightly reduce part of the loss. Speaking of the loss, Zhukov frowned again. He didn't care about the loss of infantry. It was not unacceptable for him to lose 10000 people a day“ Order the troops to continue to attack! Use reserve division to replace several main divisions in continuous operations, but the offensive can never stop! Do you understand? " Zhukov gave the order to continue to fight. In his mind, the German army must need more rest than his troops“ General, can we change the order that the political workers take the lead in the charge? " A political officer complained to Zhukov with a sad face: "we can not set an example, and there is no doubt about our loyalty to Comrade Stalin, but... The other party's snipers are too fierce, and our losses are unbearable." As soon as Zhukov came to the Soviet German front line, he gave the order that the political workers must lead their hair to attack. He hated these people's giving directions behind him. He thought that instead of letting them have nothing to do all day long, it was better for them to set an example and take part in the war with others. These people always look like they are superior, and they claim to be extremely loyal to the motherland of the Soviet Union and Comrade Stalin, so Zhukov also used this as an excuse to let them set an example and "lead others to sacrifice for the motherland together". Although this order did have a certain effect in a few days, the loss of political workers was also very desperate. The snipers arranged by the German army on the positions are demons everywhere. Their shooting skills are accurate and ingenious. As soon as the commanders and political workers get up and shout slogans to mobilize the soldiers to attack, they will kill these leading commanders and fighters with one shot. And the newly organized offensive will collapse quickly because of the death of the commander. These German snipers are often more effective than a machine gun at this time. In one day, 4100 grassroots and middle-level political work cadres were killed, which was unthinkable before. Now many political work leaders are preparing to jointly submit a letter to Stalin, accusing Zhukov of his intention to crowd out the Bolsheviks in the army. Zhukov can't afford this crime. He has to come up with countermeasures to appease those political workers who have not accomplished enough but have done more“ I don't mean to crowd you out in the army. " Zhukov explained and proposed a compromise between the two sides: "the loss of people, you can choose to replace them, so that you can maintain the basic structure will not change. But the fighting must continue and cannot stop. " The two political commissars looked at each other and knew that Zhukov was taking the power of personnel to buy them off. However, they both saw a trace of joy from each other's eyes. After all, it was a good thing that they could not wait for to put in the right people in the army. Once they set up their own team with the power of life and death, it would be more natural. So they agreed to Zhukov's exchange terms almost at the same time, patting their chest to ensure that the fight could continue. Some losses can be made up. For example, it is easier to make up for the losses of political workers. However, some losses are obviously not easy to add, for example, sniper training is very difficult. The number of snipers lost by the Soviet Union rose sharply in the battle, which also made Zhukov clearly see the huge gap in sniper ability between the Soviet Union and Germany. Within seven days, the team of 300 snipers who had just been trained in the Soviet Union was killed by the Germans, and each of these snipers was regarded as a valuable asset of the Soviet Union. They are equipped with a 3-fold magnifying sight customized from the United States, which is a sophisticated special equipment for snipers that the Soviet Union can't produce at all. For these equipment, the Soviet Union loaded hundreds of tons of timber onto American freighters. As a result, almost one third of these expensive equipment has become the spoils of the German war.