What Shulka didn't expect was that what he thought was impossible happened.

Two hours later they were dropped off in the city of Voskohead...... The train could only reach it as far as possible, and the railway line beyond it was blocked by German artillery fire.

The 4th Tank Brigade continued in the darkness of the night and reached the second line of defense after walking for more than an hour.

It was only the second line, to be exact, but Shulka saw that the ground was full of craters and dead bodies, and there were dense crowds of people in sackcloth who dug trenches in the mud, and they did not rest even at night, or rather, they took turns resting in several groups.

The troops marched into a camp that could not be called a camp, because there were no walls, no sentinels, and it was difficult for soldiers and even civilians from other units to see in the darkness...... The organization of Soviet units has always been so chaotic that Shulka is no longer surprised.

By this time, it was the middle of October, and the sky was already snowing lightly, and the branches and ground were already covered with a thin layer of snow...... The weather was a test for the soldiers and the people who were building the fortifications, the ground would have been better if it had frozen to ice or thicker snow, but now it was sometimes snowing and sometimes raining, and the alternation of rain and snow was always confusing, because it would drench your clothes and freeze you half to death.

If you don't have a dry change of clothes, it's best not to go outside in this weather.

That's what the Soviets used to do, and by this time they should have finished the harvest and stocked up on food for the winter.

But the war doesn't bother with that, so they have to fight between rain and snow outside.

Then, when Shulka wanted a hot dinner, the first supply they got turned out to be a bucket of lacquer, a bucket of white lacquer.

"Paint all vehicles, tanks, and artillery white!"

It's easy to understand that white is a protective color under the camouflage of snow, and it may not be obvious from the ground, but it is likely to be white when viewed from the sky.

Then, a white cloak was issued, which wrapped the uniform, and even each soldier received a small bundle of white cloth...... It was used to wrap a rifle or something else exposed.

Shulka's brow furrowed tighter and tighter.

This looks like preparation for an offensive, and in this case the offensive ...... It's unimaginable.

Sure enough, Shulka's fears were soon confirmed.

"Tomorrow at six o'clock, we will launch a counterattack against the enemy!" Katukov said.

These words exploded in the conference room, and unlike Shulka's complexion, many officers were excited:

"It's finally time for this moment!"

"We are going to drive those invaders out of our territory!"

"The end of the Germans has come!"

……

At this moment, Shulka suddenly understood the meaning of the counterattack.

A counteroffensive is clearly more morale-boosting than a defensive counter-attack, although that doesn't mean it's correct.

"Do we have enough troops to counterattack?" Major Gavrilov asked Shulka what he wanted to ask.

"Our counteroffensive forces include the 17th, 20th, 24th, 44th, 50th Cavalry Division, as well as the 78th Infantry Division, including the 27th and 28th Tank Brigades in addition to our 4th Tank Brigade!" Katukov replied: "All these units were incorporated into the 16th Army under the command of Comrade Rokossovsky!" ”

It sounds like there are a lot of numbers, to say the least, there are tens of thousands of people, and there are three tank brigades...... But Shulka saw a different message in Katukov's eyes, and Katukov did not seem to have confidence in this counteroffensive.

So Shulka understood that these were just numbers.

At this time, the Soviet army had a lot of such situations, a lot of numbers, but few people and not much equipment...... They are all troops that have broken through or been scattered by the enemy.

In fact, as Shulka guessed, what division mentioned above, in fact, the total strength of a division is only 3,000 people, at most it can only be regarded as a regiment.

What other tank brigades, except for the 4th tank brigade, the other tank brigades are temporarily formed with T26 plus a small number of KV tanks or a few T34s, and the 27th and 28th tank brigades together have only more than 20 T34 tanks.

But Shulka didn't say anything, because he knew that he shouldn't say anything at this time, and the helplessness in Katukov's eyes had already given the answer...... It's not something he can influence, and certainly not Shulka.

What Shulka didn't know was that it wasn't just the counteroffensive forces that were like this, but the entire 16th Army was pretty much put together in this way.

The native forces of the 16th Army had already been surrounded in Vyazma, and the command had escaped by chance.

Speaking of this paragraph, it is still a legend that the command of the 16th Army received an order to receive reinforcements from the three divisions of the second line, but when they arrived at the designated place, they did not see the three divisions mentioned in the order at all, but instead ran into the interspersed units of the German army...... After a tense battle, the command escaped on the edge of the German encirclement.

Then flee all the way to receive the rout, which even includes the militia, and flee and flee to have the 16th Army.

When they received the order to defend Volokolamsk, the Supreme Commander even gave them an order: "There is no problem with insufficient troops, all the troops you encounter when you go to your destination are under your command!" ”

The absurdity of this order lies in the fact that it shows that the Soviet High Command does not know where its troops are.

If, in the meantime, a unit sent to the front with an urgent mission happened to be bumped into by the 16th Army, does that mean a repetition of orders?

Katukov glanced at Major Gavrilov and Shulka, then pointed to the map and said: "Our mission is to capture the German 10th Panzer Division stationed in the vicinity of the villages of Skirmanovo, Mabeno and Kozwo. According to our intelligence, this panzer division has more than a hundred tanks, and more than fifty assault guns, which poses a great threat to our lines, and we must destroy them after dawn to open a gap in the German line and then continue to advance west......"

"Comrade Katukov!" Shulka couldn't help but ask: "Are we ready for a counteroffensive in other directions?" ”

"Yes!" Katukov replied: "There is also a counteroffensive of an army in the Serpukhov direction!" ”

Shulka sighed secretly, it was only a counteroffensive in one direction, which was obviously not enough.

Because if there was no counteroffensive from other directions to fully contain the Germans, all the victories achieved by the 4th Tank Brigade ...... In fact, they are all about getting themselves into the encirclement of the enemy.

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