Chapter 426 White Devil

The facts were exactly as Zhukov expected.

After Operation Barbarossa was launched, the perceptive Germans quickly discovered that there had been a huge error in their previous estimate of the Soviet army's overall military strength.

At the beginning of the drafting of Plan Barbarossa, the German General Staff estimated that the Soviet Army had only 200 standing combat divisions in total, which became the biggest laughing stock.

After the outbreak of the war, the Germans, together with the Finnish intelligence agencies, went to great lengths to monitor every telegram exchange between the Soviet Army and the Soviet Army. They soon discovered that after the emergency mobilization of the Soviet Supreme Command, the Soviet Army only identified the divisions whose numbers were registered. There are as many as 360 troops, and these are all front-line field troops, not counting the third-line garrison troops stationed in various regions.

In addition, the Soviet Union, which has entered a nationwide mobilization mode, is constantly forming new units to supplement the front lines to fill the shortfall, and the Soviet Army is constantly annihilating the Soviet Army in the form of entire divisions and entire armies. The Germans in the prisoner-of-war camps were surprised to find out.

Not only did the Soviet troops not decrease as a result, but they fought more and more. There were even cases where the troops that had just been defeated and dispersed the day before were once again charged in full force the next day, shouting "Ula". I was amazed at the Soviet military power. The German army, which was so deeply hidden, could not understand this magic-like mobilization ability.

Because the numbers and deployment dynamics of the Soviet front-line field troops were too complicated, the German intelligence department, which was able to track the specific movements of the Soviet Army's first-level troops at the beginning of the campaign, quickly lost sight of the other.

The German intelligence department, which was always busy with its feet on the ground, even experienced a manpower shortage that had never occurred in the process of conquering the entire Europe. Realizing that this was not an option, the German intelligence department simply gave up on the Soviet Union. Dynamic tracking and monitoring of corps-level field troops, and then upgraded to continuous intelligence tracking and dynamic follow-up of Soviet frontline division-level field troops.

After all, in most cases, the Soviet army, which focused on fighting in large formations, would enter the battlefield with the entire division. It was rare for division-level troops to be dispersed into two different battlefields to fight separately. It is not surprising that the German intelligence department chose to do this. There is nothing wrong with that.

After many battles with German troops, it didn't take long for Zhukov to be keenly aware of his opponent's anomalies. Every strategic deployment and troop movement he made seemed to always attract the attention of the German troops immediately, and then mobilize the corresponding troops to make strategic decisions. respond.

After several difficult victories, Zhukov quickly identified the source of the problem as the fact that his own telegram exchanges were monitored by the Germans. This was the key truth that Zhukov had already believed before he was transferred to Leningrad. It was Zhukov's decision to prepare a telegram interception to deceive the German intelligence department with the intention of giving it a try.

Judging from the current situation, the plan formulated by Zhukov seems to be indeed effective. The German 4th Armored Division guarding the northern defense line of Tula City to prevent the Soviet counterattack has not made any obvious movements yet. A Soviet tank The regiment's defensive support may really be insignificant to the German army with on-call air support.

Compared to the excitement on the face of his partner, the political commissar, Colonel ****, who also breathed a sigh of relief, noticed something extraordinary.

"Comrade Malashenko, are those infantry friendly forces that came with you or troops under your regiment?"

Following the direction of the division commander's finger, he turned around and saw that the Red Army soldiers who had stuck outside the tank and used external plug-ins to reach the front line of the Tula city theater were getting off the car to rest. The division commander who was not sure why was obviously referring to these troops.

"Oh, I almost forgot to introduce you, Comrade Division Commander. These infantry units are the Siberian friendly troops who came with me. They are especially good at fighting in this kind of ice and snow in winter. Even the Germans are frightened. Call them "White Devils", you infantrymen should have a lot in common to talk about."

Before he finished speaking, Malashenko, who had turned around, immediately shouted at Lieutenant Colonel Yakov who was giving orders to his adjutant to make arrangements.

"Hey, Yakov! Come over here, Comrade Commander wants to get to know you."

The command arrangement that was still in the middle of the process was interrupted by Malashenko's loud shouting. He waved his hand to his adjutant to make the detailed arrangements just mentioned. Captain Yakov strode forward quickly.

Compared with Malashenko, who is widely publicized as a positive model in the entire Western Front, Lieutenant Colonel Yakov, who came all the way from the Siberian Military District, is naturally much less famous. At best, he is only called "Malashenko" by the Germans in horror. Just one of the Siberian troops of the "White Devil".

After the usual salutes and greetings, Commander ****, who was quite impressed by his first meeting with Captain Yakov, immediately noticed some details.

It’s no longer just a day or two that the troops belonging to the Far East Siberia Military District were transferred to the Moscow front line. The troops led by the division commander have previously cooperated with these friendly troops who are good at winter combat. They have shown that they are extremely powerful under specific circumstances. The combat effectiveness really impressed the division commander.

But in sharp contrast to the super combat effectiveness is the extremely poor equipment of the Siberian Military Region troops. Unlike several Western military regions in the Soviet Union, the Siberian Military Region has always been like a fourth-class beast among the US military. There are similarities in the characteristics of holding tattered equipment but having amazing combat power.

The Siberian Military Region troops I had seen before almost all had outdated Mosin-Nagant rifles, and even the machine guns that were the mainstay of the team's firepower were much fewer than those of the infantry division that I led.

But this time, the Siberian Military Region troops that appeared in front of Division Commander **** were somewhat different.

These soldiers who had just jumped off the tanks gathered in small groups to chat and rub their hands to keep warm. Quite a few of them had a slightly different but similar Finnish Somi submachine gun hanging on their waists. The brand-new weapons no longer look like the poor equipment they had when they first came to the Moscow front line.

Political Commissar Zelenkov, who also saw the scene in front of him and noticed something slightly wrong on the division commander's face, quietly stepped forward and covered his mouth with his hands before Malashenko turned around and faced the division commander's face. Whisper quietly in your ear.

"You can't be wrong, Comrade Division Commander, these infantrymen of the Siberian Military Region are holding the latest Bobosha submachine guns. I just heard two days ago that these latest batches of submachine guns were equipped with an elite army. The tanks accompanied the infantry to test their power, but I didn’t expect to meet them here.”