Shulka slept for about five hours before being woken up by Major Mikhailvich.

"Comrade Golikov let us go to the command!" Major Mikhailvich said.

Shulka opened his mouth, rubbed his still jerky and aching eyes, and looked at the soldiers around him who were still lying on the ground and snoring, and couldn't help but envy them.

The advantages of officers are obvious, but there are also many disadvantages, for example, now Shulka has to report to Golikov.

The command of the army group has already moved to the place.

This was due to the fact that the position of the previous command was too close to the front line...... While the 82nd Infantry Regiment was fighting the enemy for the Mamayev post, the Germans were advancing in other directions.

The new headquarters was set up in the basement of a bungalow, and Shulka, who arrived here in a jeep, even took a nap in the car.

People are often like this, if they always stay asleep, their heads seem to be awake, and sometimes it is even a little difficult to fall asleep.

However, once you are woken up at the beginning of your sleep, the drowsiness will continue to flow like a surging river.

As a result, Major Mikhailvich had to wake Shulka again.

"Shulka!" Major Mikhailvich reminded in a low voice: "That's Comrade Golikov, commander of the army group!" ”

Shulka knew what Major Mikhailvich meant...... Golikov wants to see them, take them seriously anyway, how can they sleep so casually?

Shulka was a little helpless.

This is not that he looked down on Golikov, in fact, although Golikov's performance on the battlefield was not very good, for example, the Southeast Front was defeated, he once thought that he could not hold Stalingrad and gave up, and Chuikov's appointment and finally held Stalingrad proved him wrong.

But Golikov was a popular man in the Khrushchev era.

The reason why Shulka behaved like this is because he cares more about war, the battlefield, and life, rather than going to the headquarters to report the results of the battle and follow the formality...... If he had done this, Shulka would have preferred to continue lying in the warehouse and sleeping again.

However, Shulka soon learned that Golikov had called them to command more than just to report.

"Comrade Shulka, Comrade Mikhailvich!" Golikov warmly shook hands with the two when he saw them: "Thank you, and the 82nd Infantry Regiment, for saving the Mamayev Gang from falling into the hands of the enemy, which almost saved Stalingrad!" ”

"This is what we should do, Comrade Golikov!" Major Mikhailvich stepped forward to answer.

"Of course, your contribution is more than that!" Golikov patted Shulka on the shoulder as he spoke, and said: "We have fully extended your tactics to the whole of Stalingrad, and it has proven to be effective, the speed of the enemy's advance is almost measured in meters, and it will be recaptured by us at night!" Thank you, Comrade Shulka, for giving Stalingrad hope to survive! ”

"This is the effort of our whole army, Comrade Golikov!" Shulka replied.

Then Golikov invited the two to the map, and Akimovich was standing next to him with a baton, and saw Shulka and Mikhailvich nodding slightly.

As a staff officer of the army group, Akimovich should of course return to the army and apply what he learned from the 82nd Infantry Regiment to the battlefield.

"Tell us about our problems, Comrade Akimovich!" Golikov raised his head at Akimovich.

"The offensive of the Stalingrad Front on Kotluban is not ideal!" Pointing to the position north of Stalingrad, Akimovich said: "In fact, they have suffered heavy casualties and are expected to be unable to maintain the offensive soon!" ”

This plan was actually proposed by Shulka.

The Stalingrad Front was blocked north of Stalingrad and could not be put into battle, while the Southeastern Front was struggling to support it in Stalingrad.

Therefore, the offensive of the German army with the Stalingrad Front could share the pressure of the Southeastern Front in Stalingrad.

"So fast?" Hearing this, Shulka asked suspiciously: "It seems that the Stalingrad Front has only been attacking for more than ten days!" ”

Akimovich nodded and replied: "Until now, a total of twelve days!" ”

Shulka frowned.

In twelve days, the elite Stalingrad Front lost the energy to attack, which is somewhat unbelievable.

And all they had to do was to share the pressure on Stalingrad, that is, they only needed to feint, and they only faced the German army.

Akimovich seemed to see Shulka's confusion and explained: "They changed their strategic goals!" ”

"What?" Shulka looked up in shock.

Akimovich did not dare to say any more, and he turned his gaze to Golikov.

Golikov took over and said: "The strategic goal of the Stalingrad Front is not to relieve pressure on Stalingrad, Comrade Shulka, they are to break through the German line of defense and get in touch with Stalingrad!" ”

So Shulka understood.

This is not the same thing as what he said earlier.

For if the strategic objective was to share the pressure on Stalingrad, it would have been sufficient to carry out a feint and move the Germans' forces and air power to the north.

But if their goal was to get in touch with Stalingrad, it would be necessary to break through and occupy the German defenses and towns held north of Stalingrad.

This was indeed tempting, because in this way the siege of Stalingrad would be lifted, and it would not even need to transport supplies and troops from the east bank of the Volga, but directly from the Stalingrad Front in the north, and even repair the railway line and transport it by train, which would obviously greatly improve the situation in Stalingrad.

However, it was terrible to attack the German defensive lines without air supremacy, especially since the Germans still had a good position.

Because this means, first of all, that Soviet tanks will hardly be able to get close to the German lines...... One by one, they would be destroyed by German warplanes and bombers on their way.

Then there is the fact that the German artillery will not be able to play its due role, and they will be completely suppressed by German fighters.

The Soviet infantry then had to face the enemy's aircraft, artillery, tanks, and fortifications alone.

Shulka could almost imagine the senseless charge of infantry under artillery fire and then fall en masse.

"How many enemies are there in the north?" Shulka asked.

"Six divisions ......" paused, and Golikov replied: "Actually, five divisions!" ”

Six divisions is the figure that Zhukov reported to Moscow, and the actual strength of the German army was five divisions.