Chapter 24 Planning
The lack of experienced middle and lower-level commanders is an embarrassing situation facing the Soviet army. The rapid offensive of the Germans in Western Europe has made the whole world shudder, and the Kremlin naturally cannot relax its vigilance. The construction of the "Eastern Defense Line" is the strongest barrier for Moscow to deal with the German offensive, and the Kiev Special Military District is a key link in this barrier.
Before this, Moscow had held a "Red and Blue Army Exercise", with Pavlov and Zhukov as the commanders of the Red and Blue Armies respectively. As a result, Zhukov adopted the "blitzkrieg" method used by the Germans and almost effortlessly broke through the Red Army's defense line commanded by Pavlov. In that exercise, the Western Special Military District symbolized by the Red Army was actually wiped out.
It was this exercise that made Moscow begin to focus on the construction of the Kiev Special Military District. Zhukov, who performed outstandingly, was transferred to the commander of the Kiev Special Military District and began to adjust the largest special military district in the Soviet Union. After receiving this position, Zhukov's first requirement was to equip him with a sufficient number of middle and low-level commanders - they must have certain combat experience, or at least have received systematic military training.
Yuri was transferred to the 9th Army of the Kiev Special Military District, and the position he accepted was the battalion commander of a battalion under the army - this seemingly frivolous way of appointment is the current Soviet model, and it is a very common model.
Major General Ivan Nikolayevich Muzychenko, the commander of the Ninth Army, is a legendary figure. Before he was transferred to the Ninth Army, he was only a colonel, commanding the 4th Infantry Division in the Soviet-Finnish battlefield. It was not until June, when the Soviet army implemented military reform, that he was promoted from colonel to major general, and then skipped the level of army-level commanders and directly became an army-level commander.
The reason why Muzychenko was able to get a leapfrog promotion was, on the one hand, because of his excellent military qualities. The 4th Infantry Division he commanded performed very well on the Soviet-Finnish battlefield. On the other hand, it was because he was strongly recommended by Zhukov. Muzychenko should be regarded as an old subordinate of Zhukov. He has served under Zhukov since 1932 and is a commander that Zhukov values very much. This time, Zhukov was transferred to the post of commander of the Kiev Special Military District, and naturally he had to transfer this general over.
The Ninth Army was understaffed before Muzychenko took over. This time, the Army Headquarters was temporarily stationed in Korosten to receive troops and replenish troops and armaments. When the troops and armaments are replenished, the Army Headquarters will move to the Lviv area and organize defense on the Lviv front.
The infantry battalion that Yuri took over was organized according to the 1935 infantry division organization regulations. The battalion-level command had three infantry companies and one machine gun company. The three infantry companies were not fully staffed, but the difference was not big, while the machine gun company was fully staffed, with three machine gun platoons. Its 1910 Maxim heavy machine guns could provide effective fire support for the infantry.
Yuri arrived in Lviv in early July and reported to the army headquarters. After that, he took over the 209th Battalion, which was actually under his jurisdiction.
After Yuri took over the battalion affairs, he found out that the battalion's deputy battalion commander position was vacant and the political commissar was a young man named Vasily Romanovich Rulsjian, a native Ukrainian from Lviv.
On the fourth day after taking over the camp affairs, Yuri received an order from the headquarters of his 47th Regiment, and the entire battalion was moved to Lutsk, 40 kilometers west of Rivne.
Yuri almost fainted when he received the relocation order. He found that the damn fate was playing tricks on him unscrupulously. It seemed that there was a god of doom floating above his head, pouting and grinning at him.
In his previous life, Yuri was not a military history enthusiast, and he didn't know much about the Soviet-German War. As for those difficult-to-pronounce place names, he couldn't remember many of them, especially those places that were not very famous. And among the few place names he knew, there was this damn Lutsk.
I first came across this place name in a photo, in which the protagonist was the famous German general Guderian. This photo was bought by a friend of Yuri on eBay for fifty dollars. On the back of the photo was the words "July 1941, Lutsk". Yuri's friend looked up a lot of information about this photo. According to this friend, this photo is real and was taken when Guderian led his army into the Soviet Union in 1941.
What does this mean? There is no doubt that this means that the damned place of Lutsk is right on the path of Guderian's armored group's advance, and judging from the month, this place should have been occupied by the German army in the first phase of the Soviet-German War. Now, Yuri has received an order to move to Lutsk, which means that in less than a year, he and his troops will face the German armored group that is surging like a tide.
Looking at the map again, I found that Lutsk was almost on the border, only 80 kilometers away from the famous Brest Fortress.
Oh God, Jesus, oh my God, is my luck really so bad?
Yuri was a little overwhelmed. He was very confident in his recent studies and had a great interest in the skill of military command. But the problem was that on the damn battlefield, sometimes the commander's military quality could not determine the final outcome of the battle. For example, when the gap in military strength between the two opposing sides was too great, what's more, Yuri did not think that his command ability was better than that of Guderian.
Yes, Yuri has the golden finger of rebirth, but can this golden finger change the situation? Can he still rely on this golden finger to stop the German steel torrent with the strength of a battalion? Yuri is not that crazy.
What to do? Escape? That's not an option. According to the current domestic atmosphere in the Soviet Union, deserters caught will be shot, no questions asked. Find an excuse to leave the army? What excuse? Illness? That won't work either, it will be discovered. Self-harm? It seems that he can't do it.
Yuri thought about this problem for several days, but after thinking about it, he suddenly realized that he had no effective way to escape the fate of going to Lutsk.
The day when the battalion headquarters was relocated happened to be the last day of July. Western Ukraine ushered in a short rainy season. Lutsk is a small town, and the previous five-year construction plan did not improve the traffic conditions here. Once the rainy season began, the roads around the town became extremely muddy.
The continuous drizzle brought damp and sticky air. The brand new military uniforms seemed to emit a faint musty smell when worn on the body. When hit by the rain, they felt sticky and very uncomfortable.
In such weather, vehicles could not travel at all, and Yuri had to leave the military jeep equipped to him by the regiment headquarters in Levotski where the regiment headquarters was located and march on horseback.
Levotsky is located 15 kilometers east of Lutsk, right on the railway line from Kovel to Kiev. Its strategic importance is obviously higher than Lutsk. From this perspective, it was right for the Army Group Command to place the main force of the 47th Regiment there. However, Yuri has also been checking the map these two days and studying it carefully. He found that Lutsk is just outside the heavily fortified positions of the Soviet army. Guderian chose this place as the direction of the assault, obviously to bypass the heavily fortified positions of the Soviet army and go to the rear.
Let's take a look at the terrain of Lutsk. It is located in the plains of western Ukraine. There is no favorable terrain to defend around it, and there is not even a high ground. However, Lutsk also has a very advantageous location. Less than 15 kilometers west of Lutsk is the vast Bredev Forest. This vast forest is next to the winding Vistula River, and on the north side of the river bank is the endless river network swamp.
There is a narrow corridor between the Bredev Forest and the river network swamp, connecting Vladimir-Volynsky and Lutsk. Of course, this corridor is not the main passage between Vladimir-Volynsky and Lutsk. The main passage between the two places is the border trunk line of Western Ukraine. However, that trunk line relies on the Volynsky Bridge on the Vistula River. If the steel bridge built in 1927 is blown up before the Germans attack, then the Germans can only choose to bypass the Bredev Forest and go to Lviv, except for attacking the heavily guarded Kovel regional defense line of the Soviet army.
Yuri had never thought of commanding his battalion to fight the German armored forces. He only hoped to fight a beautiful blocking battle, delay the enemy's attack, and then choose to retreat quickly. If he could achieve this combat goal, then he might be able to save his life and avoid being sent to a military court.
This battle plan had already been formed in Yuri's mind before the move to Lutsk. However, he dared not tell anyone about it, not even Comrade Rulsjian, the political commissar. He could only hide this plan deep in his heart and prepare to implement it silently.
Since being reborn into this world, Yuri felt the approach of war for the first time. In the previous Soviet-Finnish War, he had been running for his life, and the battles he faced were against a dozen Finns at most. But this time was different. Although there was still nearly a year left, he still felt that time was very tight. He had to set up the most secure defense line in the swamp corridor area in less than a year. At the same time, he had to find a safe passage in the river network swamp for the troops to retreat quickly. The realization of these goals would directly affect his life and death.
