Chapter 691: German-Soviet War (35)
The German battalion commander watched in surprise as the Soviet troops who retreated were driven back by their own people. "Supervise the battle team?"
Supervising troops is not a new thing. Not to mention modern times, officials who supervise the troops' execution of operations have already been established in ancient Rome. In ancient China, there were also military supervisors.
There is a movie called "At the Gate", which made the Soviet Army Supervisory Team of World War II "famous". There is a scene in which a group of Soviet recruits charged at the German position under the command of their commander, but were shot by German machine guns and submachine guns. Everyone was so frightened that they ran back, but they did not expect to be shot to death by the supervising team behind them while running back. These recruits did not die under the German machine guns, but died in the hands of their comrades.
Some people believe that the Soviet Red Army, one of the strongest armies in modern times, would not be so bad that it would need to rely on daily machine gun fire to rout troops to maintain the cohesion of the troops, let alone be stupid enough to waste precious human resources in such a futile manner (although the Soviet Red Army Frontal assaults without any structure or organization, with heavy costs and little effect, were not uncommon during the Soviet-German war). But this does not mean that the use of medium and heavy weapons to supervise operations has never existed in the Soviet Red Army.
"The 395th Infantry Regiment stubbornly held its line of defense and supported the 875th Infantry Regiment with firepower. However, a large group of enemy tanks came from the direction of the train station and attacked the combination of the 395th Infantry Regiment and the 535th Infantry Regiment. Despite the heroic resistance of the soldiers, unexpected chaos and bad events occurred: when enemy tanks broke into our battle formation, a large group of reinforcements from Kursk The total number of people was about 900. They betrayed the motherland! They raised their hands collectively as if they had received an order, threw away their rifles and surrendered to the enemy tanks. I saw this with my own eyes at the forward command post. Obviously this was the case! It had a very bad psychological impact on other troops of our army, but I lacked the necessary means to save the situation and send these traitors to a military court. However, the traitors should immediately receive the punishment they deserve, so I ordered two artillery battalions. Fire coverage was directed at these traitors and enemy tanks. A large number of traitors were killed or injured, and the enemy tanks were also dispersed. "
On September 24, 1941, the German 2nd Armored Group launched a partial attack on the Bryansk Front, preparing to obtain a good starting position for the subsequent "Operation Typhoon" attack on Moscow. The Soviet Red Army troops who bore the brunt were guarding Cherny. Wo Village, the 2nd Guards Infantry Division received the title of Guards less than a week ago.
This content is from the memoirs written by Colonel Andrei Zakharovovich Akimenko of the 2nd Guards Rifle Division in 1953, revealing the methods he used to prevent the division from "not taking a step back." , fight to the last man standing.” (What’s interesting is that the 2nd Guards Infantry Division, which was once full of traitors/deserters, played an extremely critical role again fifty years later on August 19, 1991: the division was ordered to participate in the National Emergency Committee’s final mission to save the Soviet Union. However, he fell to Yeltsin at the critical moment. Yeltsin climbed onto a T72 tank of the division and left a photo full of historical significance. Four months later, the Soviet Union officially disintegrated.)
However, during World War II, it was not just the Soviet Union that had combat supervisory teams. At that time, all countries participating in the war, including the United States, Britain, Japan, and Germany, had combat supervisory teams. Among them, the military police of the US military assume the function of supervising the combat team. However, the military police of other countries must also fight the enemy and perform more tenaciously when necessary. However, the US military police do not regard "fighting bloody to the end" as their code of conduct.
The performance of the German military supervision team was not inferior to that of the Soviet army.
At the end of 1943, the German Army General Headquarters required all divisions and corps on the Eastern Front to form fire-line interception forces to "restore the discipline of the retreating troops and hold their positions with direct fire." This approach was quickly popularized by the German army. In July 1944, the Soviet army launched the Baltic Coastal Campaign. The German Narva Line of Defense was breached and the defeated troops fled in all directions. In order to restore discipline, the newly appointed commander of Army Group North, Schörner, decided to punish deserters with an iron fist.
The 162nd Infantry Division formed a supervisory team with four 20mm anti-aircraft cannons and a large number of machine guns. When fighting outside Riga, they directly opened fire violently on their own troops who had fled, forcing them to return to their positions or launch attacks on the Soviet troops. Counterattack. Many troops witnessed the tragic scene after the broken troops were strafed by anti-aircraft cannons, and their fear of retreat exceeded their fear of the Soviet army...
This approach was strongly supported by Scherner. Schörner himself was known for his toughness. His command and tactics may not be very clever, but his determination to persevere exceeds that of many German generals. He personally led the guards and shot deserters in front of the troops, and declared that "cowards can only be shot and will not be forgiven." However, while being hated by his subordinates, the situation of the German army's defeat on the northern front did improve. Some of the broken troops were intercepted by field military police and then unified into punishment camps. Punishment camps generally have 500 to 1,000 people, who are sent to the fiercest and most brutal battlefields. For example, Scherner believed that the punishment battalion should be used as a rear guard to attract Soviet firepower until all of them were killed in order to wash away their shame.
Of course, whether it is the German army or the Soviet army, in most cases the muzzles of the supervisory team will shift upward by 20-30 degrees, which means that they shoot mainly to "deterrence", and only after the warning is invalid, they will A real killer.
Now looking at these Soviet troops who were driven back by the supervising team, the German battalion commander couldn't help but shake his head. "Hey, these idiots. Let the mortars fire extended fire on their positions."
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Five self-propelled mortars roared again, and a terrible metal storm was set off on the Soviet position in the distance.
The political commissar, who was holding a simple loudspeaker and passionately conveying the spirit of Comrade Stalin, was hit by several fragments in an instant and fell to the ground with a heart-wrenching scream. When the medical soldiers rushed over, they found that he was covered in blood, breathing more than breathing out, and it was obvious that he would not survive.
He would not survive, but there were still many wounded screaming in pain around him. The medical soldiers could not waste time holding people who could not be saved, so they could only leave him to take care of other wounded.
The Soviet soldiers who rushed to the German position were repelled again, because the political commissar and the supervision team were almost wiped out, and no one could stop them from retreating.
The German deputy battalion commander said that the Soviet army had no tank cover because all the nearby tanks were concentrated together.
A large-scale tank battle broke out near Kiev. The Soviet army assembled nearly 200 tanks, while the German side had a tank reinforcement company with 25 tanks.
Although the Soviet tanks had an advantage in number, their quality was uneven. There were only more than 30 KV2s and more than 50 KV1 tanks, and the rest were T-26s, BT-7s, BT-5s, etc.; while the German tanks were all 88mm tank gun Panther tanks.
The distance between the tanks of both sides was constantly shortened, and soon it was 2,000 meters away.
The German tanks slowly stopped, and the black muzzles were aimed at the Soviet tanks 1,500 meters away.
"Boom!"
The 88mm shells fired by the Panther tanks directly penetrated a BT-7 tank running in the front, and penetrated into the body of a T-26 tank following closely behind. The two tanks exploded almost at the same time, setting off two huge flames.
The beautiful double explosion made the German tank soldiers excited. They were originally a little scared when facing the Soviet tanks that were several times their number. Seeing that their company commander had achieved two results with one shot, their nervous mood was relieved. After all, their tanks are quite powerful, so there is no need to be too afraid of the enemy.
"Distance 1,200 meters, aim, fire!"
25 tanks fired shells at the same time, and more than a dozen tanks in the opposite Soviet tank group were hit. Some of them stopped moving with black smoke, and some simply exploded and the turrets exploded.
The fastest of these Soviet tanks are BT-7 and BT-5; the maximum off-road speed can exceed 50 kilometers per hour. They can advance about 400 meters in 30 seconds, and the German tanks can fire three rounds of shells in these 30 seconds.