There was silence in Command.

As a soldier, the saddest thing is to know that the decision of your superiors is wrong but you have nowhere to argue, and you have to do it knowing that it is a dead end if you know that going on like this is a dead end.

The 4th Tank Brigade and indeed the entire breakout force seemed to be at a dead end...... If you don't advance, you will be punished, and if you don't advance, you will be surrounded by enemies!

"Can we react to our superiors?" Major Gavrilov asked.

"I said so, Major!" Katukov replied: "But ......"

But there is no need to say much about what is behind it, the order issued by the Supreme Command, no matter how much the subordinates oppose it, it will not be useful.

For example, in the Battle of Kiev, Zhukov, Budyonny, Kirponos and a large number of well-known generals proposed to abandon Kiev one after another...... But one by one, he was dismissed, and if it weren't for the fact that he was commanding on the front line, he would not have escaped the fate of being removed.

The same is true of this counteroffensive.

"Shulka?" Major Gavrilov looked at Shulka and asked: "Do you have any ideas?" ”

"No, Comrade Major!" Shulka replied helplessly: "It seems that we can only carry out orders!" ”

The officers nodded in agreement.

There is only one consequence of continued opposition, and that is to be removed, and then the troops will still attack Tver, which means that nothing can be changed except to cause trouble for themselves.

The meeting ended unhappily, but after the meeting Katukov kept Major Gavrilov and Shulka behind.

"We need to discuss the next step in terms of synergy!" Katukov said.

When the others had left, Katukov poured a glass of wine for Major Gavrilov and Shulka before taking his assistants away.

"Now you can tell you what you think, Comrade Shulka!" Katukov sat down in front of the two and poured himself a glass of water...... Colonel Katukov had kidney disease and could not drink alcohol.

Major Gavrilov couldn't help but look at Shulka in surprise, and then at Katukov.

Shulka secretly said that Katukov was still an old eye, and he did have some ideas, but he was not suitable to say them at the conference.

"We may have another choice!" Shulka said.

"Another option?" Katukov raised his glass and took a sip of water, but his eyes never took off Shulka.

Katukov was the one who most wanted to find a solution, because he did not want his hard-earned 4th Tank Brigade to fall into the enemy's encirclement, if not even Moscow's hopes.

"If we continue to attack Tver!" Shulka pointed to the map and said: "The most likely thing the Germans will do is to gather forces to retake Volokolamsk, cut off our retreat, and surround us." So, why don't we take advantage of this? ”

"What does it mean to take advantage of this?" Katukov asked.

"Leave the main forces to ambush the Germans!" Shulka said: "The rest of the troops continue to advance towards Tver by order of the Supreme High Command!" ”

Colonel Katukov and Major Gavrilov were stunned when they heard this.

After a while, Major Gavrilov said: "But this is disobeying the orders of the superiors!" ”

"Yes!" Shulka said: "That's why I didn't mention it at the meeting!" ”

As I said before, there is never a shortage of people in the Soviet army who make small reports, and mentioning it at a meeting is equivalent to telling everyone.

"You mean to say...... We have to fool not only our enemies, but also our own people? Katukov asked.

"Yes!"

"How?"

"Radio silence!" Shulka replied: "At least radio silence in the 4th tank brigade!" ”

After thinking about it for a while, Katukov nodded: "It's not difficult to do, we can use military secrets as an excuse!" ”

This is exactly what Shulka thinks, the 4th Tank Brigade has more radio stations than other troops, for example, some command vehicles in the tank are equipped with radios, if there are any secret operations, especially at this time are already fighting on the front line, in order to ensure that the position of the tank troops is not known by the enemy, radio silence is very normal and can even be said to be a very common practice.

Everyone would think that this should have been done in the first place, and another reason why they would not think of radio silence was the fear of someone making a small report...... If the military order is that all radios are not allowed to be turned on, then even if the political workers notice that something is wrong, they will not be able to report it to their superiors.

"Where's the tank?" Major Gavrilov said: "If our main forces stay in Volokolamsk, they will find out something!" ”

"Tank units can march at night!" Shulka said: "And we can make some fake tanks and mix them in real tanks!" ”

"Fake tank?" Katukov asked.

"The barrel carts we captured from the Germans!" "We can build a tank on the outside with planks and spray it with white paint......

Katukov nodded in agreement, the tanks and equipment had just been sprayed with white paint, so it was not difficult to camouflage, plus it was a night march and a mixed advance in real tanks, it was indeed difficult to tell if it was not a close look.

What's more, even if some careful soldiers found out, they would only think that it was a ploy to deceive the Germans or to deceive spies...... Even orders can be given in this way, and in fact this is one of the purposes, so it is natural to ask the officers and men of the 4th Tank Brigade to keep it secret.

Of course, they don't know that the target of this deception is their own people.

"Do this...... What will be the result? Major Gavrilov asked, "I mean, if the superiors knew about this!" ”

"You don't need to worry about that!" Katukov replied: "This is my responsibility. What's more, if the Germans had not attacked Volokolamsk, as we had guessed, then these ambushes would have rushed to Tver to join the battle. If the Germans had been guessed by us, then we would have achieved another victory in Volokolamsk, and at the same time the High Command would have realized the mistake they had made......"

Colonel Katukov analyzed it quite reasonably, so Major Gavrilov did not say anything.

In fact, this is also what Shulka considered.

Katukov, as the commander of the 4th Tank Brigade, can actually have many excuses for doing this, such as discovering that the enemy is massing in the direction of Volokolamsk, so he left a unit to protect logistics, etc.

Such an explanation is a mistake in command and not a disobedience to orders.

"The question is......" said Katukov, "how can we leave the main forces without the enemy noticing?" ”

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