That night, the Soviets collected more than 300 ships.

These ships were not landing ships reinforced by the navy, but fishing boats requisitioned from the common people.

Because Shulka quickly thought of a little ......

If the German pilots couldn't tell the difference between the landing ships, could they tell the other ships?

After all, it is a fighter plane flying at high speed, and the only way to distinguish a target is by the light of the flare......

Night fighters' radars can only detect large or dense metal targets, and they need the cooperation of ground-based radar stations because even if they detect a target, they will not know how far they are from the ground in the dark.

This is the most terrifying, especially a ground attack.

Because as I said before, if it is to intercept British fighters and bombers in China, because the target is to fly at a certain height in the air, there is basically no need to consider the distance from the ground.

However, if it is a ground attack, especially if you want to dive, strafe or bomb the target, if you don't know the height from the ground, you will often crash and commit suicide by diving.

Ground-based radar plays a role in this.

When the night fighter is in the air, the German ground radar base station actually does not help the night fighter to detect the target, but detects the altitude of the night fighter and transmits the data to the pilot by radio in a timely manner.

In addition, the reconnaissance plane fired flares at the right time, so it completed one attack after another.

It is no exaggeration to say that this is the result of a high degree of coordination between German fighters, reconnaissance planes, and radars, and such a ground attack is still quite dangerous.

This was already a world-leading tactic during World War II.

However, due to the constraints of the conditions, it was still difficult for the German pilots to distinguish between ships of similar size.

So, before the naval landing ships were transported to Stalingrad, Shulka requisitioned a large number of fishing boats from the people, even bamboo rafts, canoes, and the like.

The bamboo raft is indeed a bit exaggerated, but with a few planks nailed to it, it can quickly be disguised as a landing ship.

Then, Shulka quickly thought again...... If so, why expropriate? Why landing ships? It's okay to mobilize troops to build rafts and bamboo rafts, isn't it?

That night the order was delivered.

At the time of the suspension of transport, the entire 33rd Guards Infantry Division, which was responsible for protecting the transport line, had nothing to do, and they were precisely responsible for the construction of bamboo rafts.

When the commander of the 33rd Guards Infantry Division heard this order, he thought that these rafts were used to transport supplies, so he complained to the headquarters of the army group a few times.

"Comrade Golikov!" The division commander, Colonel Pyotrshikov, said: "I don't think these rafts will be of much use, they are small in transport, and in the event of an attack, even if there is a shell or bomb nearby, they will turn over and let the supplies sink to the bottom of the river!" ”

"You think these rafts are used to transport supplies?" Golikov asked rhetorically.

"Then they are ......"

"They're really used to transport supplies!" Golikov replied: "But not as lucky as you think, you just need to do your thing, you don't need to care about the rest!" ”

"Yes, Comrade Golikov!" Colonel Petroshikov was somewhat inexplicable, but did not dare to ask anything more.

Golikov on the other end of the phone shook his head and sighed to Krylov: "Look, this is my right-hand man...... At this point, he didn't know what the rafts were for! ”

"There is only one Shulka, Comrade Golikov!" Krylov comforted: "You can't ask too much of your subordinates!" ”

Golikov smiled bitterly and did not speak.

Before that, Golikov had always thought that his defeat on the battlefield was due to some other reason, such as the soldiers were not brave enough, the quality of the officers and soldiers was not good enough, and the equipment was inferior to the enemy.

In fact, the quality and equipment of the Soviet army are indeed inferior to the enemy, which is one of the reasons why the Soviet army often has superior forces but is defeated by the enemy without resistance.

But now, Golikov believes that this is not the case.

Because it has proven itself...... Under the indirect command and layout of Shulka, it was also the Southwestern Front, and it could even be said that the remnants of the Southwestern Front were defeated, but it blocked the German attack, and not only that, but also faintly gained the upper hand.

What does this mean?

Golikov vaguely understood the problem: troops with poor quality had a bad style of play, and backward equipment also had backward tactics.

For example, what Shulka did at Stalingrad actually boiled down to one principle: to make every effort to use one's strengths and find the enemy's weaknesses.

Thinking of this, Golikov felt that he had learned something useful and strengthened his confidence in holding Stalingrad.

Shulka on the other side did not know about Golikov's psychological changes, and he was busy preparing for the next day's transport.

"Two transport lines in the south and three in the north!" Shulka said, pointing to the map.

"Fake or real?" Major Mikhailvich asked: "Or rather, which one is true?" ”

"It's all fake!"

"It's all fake?"

"Yes!" Shulka replied: "In the beginning, the Germans had plenty of ammunition and fuel, and the fighters and pilots were well prepared...... So, the first few transport lines are all fake, let them go and do it! ”

Major Mikhailvich couldn't help but say "oh": "By the second half of the night, their ammunition and fuel will be almost exhausted, right?" ”

"Yes!" Shulka replied: "Maybe we don't need to wait until the second half of the night, because the Germans did not think that we would have so many landing ships......"

"That's right!" Major Mikhailvich said: "If you add the bamboo rafts and rafts that we made improvly, not including the landing ships for naval reinforcements, we have more than 500 of them, enough for them to fight for a while!" ”

This is actually the consumption of supplies, and the Germans are not well supplied, especially at this time......

At this time, Stalingrad had already entered May, and as the temperature rose, the snow and ice melted widely, so the roads and railways were muddy everywhere.

In fact, the road conditions in the Soviet Union at this time were not just "muddy", it could be called another kind of swamp, full of mud and even knee-deep water.

In addition, there are a lot of troubles caused by these stagnant waters, such as mosquitoes, diseases, and so on.

In addition, the active deployment of partisans in the rear by the Soviet army to sabotage the German transport lines made it very difficult for the German army to supply in the Stalingrad direction.

This made the Battle of Stalingrad more like a battle for supplies.