USSR 1941

  Chapter 150 Guerrilla

  Moscow's strategic significance mainly has two aspects.

   On the one hand, it is political.

  This sounds a bit empty...but it's just the capital, just move the command system to another city and change the capital.

   But the problem is not so simple.

   At this time, the Soviet army had been encircled and wiped out in large numbers under the sudden attack of the German army. What is even more popular is that many troops defected to the enemy as part of an organized system.

  This filled the Soviet army with a feeling of failure, that is, they believed that the Soviet army would lose the war, and the German army would soon occupy the entire Soviet Union.

  As a result, morale was low, and fear of the enemy became the norm, and the people rushed to flee the city to avoid it.

if…

  Under such circumstances, the fall of the capital, Moscow, will further fuel this negative sentiment and get out of hand. In the end, the whole territory may really be occupied by the German army.

   Another aspect is the meaning of reality.

  Moscow is located in the central part, where almost all roads and railways converge. That is to say, whether it is the transportation of ammunition, equipment, supplies, or reinforcements of troops, most of them must first arrive in Moscow and then go their separate ways.

  If the German army occupied Moscow, first of all, the Soviet army would be divided into three major blocks, east, south, and north, which could not reinforce each other... Railways and roads cannot be used, which means that they can only fight on their own.

  The second is that the German army can use Moscow, a transportation hub, as a transit point to deliver troops and equipment to various battlefields as needed at the fastest speed.

   This will undoubtedly put the Soviet army in a very passive position.

   Even the German army can concentrate its forces to divide and surround the Soviet army in all directions.

   "What should we do?" Shulka asked.

   "Supply!" Major Gavrilov said: "What Kyiv needs most is supplies. If they have more supplies, they can attack the enemy and threaten their rear!"

   "We've been sending supplies to Kyiv, haven't we?" Shulka asked.

"It's not enough!" Major Gavrilov said: "First of all, the blockade on the Black Sea. The Germans laid a large number of mines and strengthened the air blockade. Our transport ships can only be swept out by minesweepers in the dark. Advance carefully through the channel, and then return before dawn after unloading, otherwise it may be bombed and sunk!"

After a pause, Major Gavrilov went on to say: "But it's not worse. We can successfully transport a batch of supplies to Odessa every day after mastering the rules. The problem lies in these In the process of sending supplies to Kyiv: the Germans occupied the east bank of the Dnieper River and blocked it with artillery fire, and the waterway could not reach Kyiv. As for the roads and railways..."

   Speaking of this, Major Gavrilov gritted his teeth and shook his head: "The guerrillas are active in this area. Most of the supplies were either blown up or couldn't move forward because the railway was blown up."

   "Guerrillas?" Shulka asked suspiciously.

  In his impression, the guerrillas should be a headache for the invaders, that is, the Germans, because this is the territory of the Soviet Union and the people of the Soviet Union.

  But Shulka soon understood that those rebels who took advantage of the German army's offensive uprising.

   Sure enough, Gavrilov replied: "Most of them are Ukrainians. Because they are dissatisfied with Moscow, they regard the Germans as 'liberators'. The Germans are supporting them, giving them equipment and necessary information!"

   This is a headache.

  Because they're not German or Romanian, they're Ukrainian, they speak perfect Russian, they're even around and you don't know it.

  On the other hand, they are familiar with the terrain, and they can use this to destroy any point of the railway and road, which is hard to guard against.

   However, Shulka is quite experienced in things like guerrillas.

   "Comrade Major, to deal with such tactics, we should attack them from the root!"

"The root cause?" Major Gavrilov asked suspiciously: "You mean to investigate among the people? No, Shulka, they won't let us find anything, they won't write on their faces 'I am Traitor', this will even cause panic among the people and further aggravate the conflict between us and Ukraine!"

"No, Comrade Major!" said Shulka, "that's not what I'm talking about. First of all, we need to know that these people are usually scattered among the people, and only when necessary, they gather to attack. Then, why don't we implement wartime What about control? I mean, every household is registered, and martial law is enforced before dark to prevent people from going out..."

   Major Gavrilov nodded: "That's right, Shulka, we can say that this is to protect them or to better distribute food to them!"

"Yes!" Shulka replied: "In this way, there will be much fewer saboteurs who attack our communication lines at night. It is difficult for them to survive, after all, we have blocked the road and railway line, and the Germans' own communication lines have been cut off!"

   "Yes!" Major Gavrilov nodded, but he still said worriedly: "But it still can't be eradicated, because someone will secretly bring them food during the day!"

   "So we need more partisans!" Shulka said.

   "What?" Major Gavrilov looked at Shulka suspiciously: "What more guerrillas?"

  “The guerrillas are destroying in the dark, why can’t we prepare a guerrilla for these guerrillas to destroy them in the dark?”

   "You mean, like the Branfenburg troops of the Germans?"

"Yes!" Shulka said: "It is even very simple for us to build such a force. It does not need to learn the language, habits, etc. like the Germans built the Branfenburg army. They only need to be reliable, and then carry out basic training. Just let them rob trains and destroy traffic lines like guerrillas!"

   "Of course, they won't really destroy the line of communication!" Major Gavrilov laughed.

"Yes!" Shulka said: "We just need to let them put on a show, or cooperate with them to release some false information, and then...not just the guerrillas, I'm afraid even the German organizers will start to get confused. I don't know which ones are real and which ones are fake!"

  The weakness of the guerrillas is that the organization is not strong, and many members are improvised, so it is very easy to infiltrate and divide, especially for rebels who have just started uprising in Ukraine and have little experience.

   "Great, Shulka!" Gavrilov happily patted Shulka on the shoulder: "You seem to have fought such a battle!"