Two hours later, the Soviets were on their way again.

Soon there were mines on the road, and it was apparently the Germans or the Romanian army who relented and continued to lay mines.

Although they know that the laying of mines will not make much difference, when "time is victory", it is even a little longer to be able to delay a little.

This idea is indeed correct, because the tank will indeed move slower with a mill, and it cannot march without scruples, and it must be rolled over with several modified tanks in front, and the anti-tank mines must be replaced from time to time.

At noon the next day, the vanguard of the 9th Army finally arrived on the outskirts of Odessa, forty kilometers from Odessa.

Everyone expected to encounter enemies here, especially some soldiers who were familiar with the terrain in the area.

One of them was the Cossack, who worked here for two years before joining the army.

"There is a Dniester to the west!" The Cossack shone a flashlight at the bottom of the carriage, where a thick piece of cardboard was padded, and he drew a map on the cardboard with a military thorn as he said: "This Dniester passes through the west side of Odessa, where it forms a bay of 40 kilometers long, to be exact, it is not formed by the Dniester River, but by the inflow of the sea into the low-lying inland, which we call the Dniester Bay or the Dniester Valley!" ”

"He's like a barrier on the western side of Odessa!" Shulka said.

"Yes!" "But this also means that supplies from the direction of Romania must bypass this bay, which is where we are now!" said the Cossacks!" ”

"But there are no enemies here!"

"We just have to occupy the top of this bay to cut off their supply lines!"

"There's no way the Germans will give up the supply lines!"

"Yes!" Shulka agreed: "I think ...... They will choose to go by sea, that is, across the Dniester Bay! ”

The Cossacks nodded in agreement, although it would be much more cumbersome than by land, since they had to reach the west shore of the bay to unload the cargo, then load it on ships, cross the bay, and then unload it and transport it by car in all directions.

But the Germans can do it.

Of course, the soldiers' spontaneous discussions did not make much sense, they just wanted to know what kind of difficulties they would face in the future.

Soon, Shulka knew he was right.

Because soon the car stopped and received an order to prepare for battle.

At the same time, a communications soldier on a three-wheeled bicycle parked his car nearby and shouted to Shulka from a distance: "Comrade Shulka, Major Gavrilov told you to go to the headquarters!" ”

"Where's Headquarters?" Shulka asked.

"Get in the car, Comrade Shulka!" The signal soldier raised his head at the empty seat next to him, and said, "This is from the Germans, I hope you don't mind!" ”

"No, of course not!" Shulka stepped up with a kick as he spoke, and after sitting down, he added: "I'm only worried about whether I will be mistaken for a German by others!" ”

The communications soldier laughed: "Don't worry, Comrade Shulka, even if they don't know me, they will know you!" ”

As soon as he stepped on the accelerator, the side three wheels drove towards the rear with a "rumbling".

The headquarters was located in a dwelling two miles away from the front line, leaning against the hill and facing north.

This location was chosen very professionally, because the enemy's main force was in Odessa in the south, so most of the shells were fired from the south, and choosing a house near the mountain in the south meant that it was a dead end for the enemy's artillery fire.

"Shulka!" When Shulka walked in, Major Gavrilov beckoned him to come forward.

Political Commissar Fuming intercepted Shulka halfway, he shook hands with Shulka and said: "Comrade Shulka, your performance Comrade Major has reflected to me, you have done a good job, and it can even be said that you are ...... The fact that our troops were able to get here and achieve such a big victory is largely due to your advice, thank you, thank you for your contribution to the motherland! ”

"This is as it should be, Comrade Commissar!" Shulka stepped forward and replied.

Commissar Fomin nodded, and then invited Shulka to walk with him to Major Gavrilov's map.

"The military situation is urgent, so I won't count your merits like the political commissar!" Major Gavrilov made a joke that was not very funny.

"Of course!" Shulka and the commissar smiled back cooperatively.

"The enemy has deployed the main force between the two lines of defense!" Major Gavrilov said: "They voluntarily abandoned the perimeter and used the outer defense line of Odessa to defend, which was originally our defense!" ”

"Are they sending supplies through the Dniester Gulf?" Shulka asked.

"Yes!" Major Gavrilov spread his hands and said: "It seems that you have an understanding of the situation!" ”

"I don't know much!" Shulka replied, then turned his gaze to the map on his desk.

Shulka was telling the truth, the sketches and dictations of the Cossacks were only vague thoughts, which slowly became clear after seeing the map.

Geographically, Odessa's advantages can be said to be unique.

It is not only protected by the Dniester Gulf on the west side, but also by Lake Tiligur, which is also long and tens of kilometers long, on the east side.

In other words, Odessa is actually surrounded by water on three sides: the bay to the west, the Black Sea to the south, and the lake to the east.

Odessa's outer line of defense connects the bay to the west and the lake to the east, so that a short 80 kilometers form a closed line of defense without gaps.

And there are even several "W" shaped lakes and swamps in these 80 kilometers, which is clearly quite beneficial to the defenders.

It was then that Shulka understood why it took 73 days for the Romanian army to attack this place, and in the end it was not captured by the Romanian army, but by the Soviet army on its own initiative.

"It is not suitable for mechanized troops to attack!" Major Gavrilov said: "At the same time, it is not suitable for the deployment of large forces!" It seems that we can only attack from the west side of the line! ”

This is clear from the map, and a large area on the eastern side is blocked by lakes and swamps that resemble several long snakes, and if you attack from the east, you have to swim between these lakes and swamps, and finally through the narrow passage between several lakes and then enter Odessa.

And these narrow passages can be blocked with only a few machine guns and a few guns.

"Our advantage is ......" Gavrilov said, "the Romanians lack anti-tank equipment, they are armed with 25mm anti-tank guns, which cannot penetrate the armor of the T300 at a distance of 26 meters!" ”

300 m ...... This advantage is actually not obvious, because it is a rainy day with poor visibility, and the Soviet tank gunners at a distance of 300 meters can also not see the enemy.