Chapter 415: naval infantry brigade
They were dressed in black navy uniforms, carrying rifles and semi-automatic rifles on their backs, wearing beanies, and long bullet bags hung between their shoulders and waists, looking very energetic.
These units were known in the USSR as Naval Infantry Brigades...officially renamed the Marine Corps in 1942.
Although they are navy, they were used as infantry throughout the Soviet-German War. For example, most of the Primorsky Army stationed in Odessa and Sevastopol were composed of naval soldiers, even in the defense of Moscow. Naval Infantry Brigade.
Shuerka knew something about this army in modern times, and knew that they were of quite good quality in the Soviet army, and their combat effectiveness was comparable to that of the "Guard" troops named after their military achievements in actual combat.
The main reason is that the navy usually chooses soldiers with high cultural quality, such as high school and above, and the training and supplies are relatively sufficient. In particular, when the naval infantry brigade was formed, 40,000 people were drawn from various fleets as the backbone, and the expansion was based on these backbones. .
In contrast, the Soviet Army was mostly peasants with a low level of education, and there must be a gap in overall quality.
One thing that can explain this problem is that at this time the Soviet army has produced SVT semi-automatic rifles.
This semi-automatic rifle should be said to have quite good performance. It has a capacity of 10 rounds, and its weight is similar to that of Mosin Nagant, but its rate of fire is much faster.
The problem is that it is difficult to maintain, so it is not popular with the infantry and has a small amount of equipment... The quality of the infantry is poor. Many people have only undergone basic shooting training, and of course they cannot perform routine maintenance on the gun.
Not so with the Naval Infantry Brigade.
So there is a situation where the same equipment has two completely different prices for the army and the navy.
It was a rear admiral who walked into Mechelis's headquarters. With a gloomy face, he walked up to Mechelis, stood up and saluted, and said, "Comrade Mechelis, Vladimir, the commander of the Fifth Naval Infantry Brigade, Report to you!"
"Very good!" Mehlis was pretending to be reviewing documents, and when he heard the report, he got up and invited Vladimir to come to the map, and then introduced to Shulka who was looking at the map: "Shulka, I will send you Those who need it have been brought, I think you should communicate!"
Then Mechlis introduced to Vladimir: "This is Comrade Shulka, I believe you know him, 'breakout hero'!"
Vladimir looked at Shulka unexpectedly, then shook hands with Shulka politely, and said, "Yes, I have heard of you, Captain!"
"It's an honor to meet you, Comrade General!"
"So!" After Mechlis left, Major General Vladimir asked Shulka in a low voice: "Did you come up with this stupid plan?"
Shulka replied with some helplessness: "I'm afraid it is, Comrade General!"
Major General Vladimir let out a cold snort from his nose, without hiding the anger in his eyes, looked at Shulka fiercely, and said with a pun: "Very good, Captain! I will remember you, and me troops!"
Shulka knew what Major General Vladimir meant.
Obviously, the 5th Infantry Brigade of the Navy and even Admiral Kuznetsov did not agree with Shulka's plan... This is normal, and no one would think that it is right to implement an amphibious landing in this case.
But they had to do so, because this was an order from the Supreme Command representative Mehlis.
Otherwise, with Shulka as a captain, even if he is a "breakout hero", how could he mobilize the naval infantry brigade.
Shulka shrugged indifferently, and replied: "I know, Comrade General. Many people remember me, most of them are Germans, but quite a few of them are dead!"
Major General Vladimir couldn't help being taken aback. He didn't expect Shulka to answer like this, and it was also the first time he experienced Shulka's courage.
Actually, this is a trivial matter to Shulka. At this time, he has come out of life and death on the battlefield several times, so he would not be intimidated by Major General Vladimir with a few words.
"Let's talk about your attack plan, Captain!" Vladimir said sarcastically: "Others say you are a war genius, I also want to see how you want to plan this battle!"
"Do you have an air force?" Shulka asked.
"Yes!" Major General Vladimir replied: "Our air force once attacked Berlin. I think you have heard about it!"
This happened more than a month after the outbreak of the Soviet-German War. Fifteen DB-3 bombers of the Naval Air Force took off from Osser Island and made a long-distance flight to Berlin (the straight-line distance between the two is 900 kilometers, which is already the limit of the bomber’s range. , as long as it is delayed for a second, it may not be able to return smoothly).
Then, they dropped 7,500 kilograms of aerial bombs to Berlin, the capital of Germany.
This action is actually more symbolic than practical. The Soviet army can use this to boost morale and combat the arrogance of the German army.
However, the effect was not ideal, because the Soviet Army at that time was retreating in an all-round way and hundreds of thousands, hundreds of thousands were surrounded and annihilated.
So, a little news of victory from the navy can't dilute the blow caused by the failure on the frontal battlefield.
"I know, Comrade General!" Shulka said: "But what I want to know more is how many planes you can dispatch and what type of aircraft each is!"
"Does it make any difference?" Major General Vladimir asked back. "I know what you want to do, Captain. You want to bomb Feodosia. I think I should remind you, Captain! The Germans have air superiority, we don't Possibly an effective bombing of Feodosia, because the Germans will spot us, intercept and shoot down our bombers halfway!"
In a way, Major General Vladimir was right. The German army would deploy reconnaissance planes around the Kerch Peninsula. In addition, they also had radar. Once they found the Soviet bomber fleet, they would immediately send fighter planes to intercept it.
But of course Shulka's idea is not that simple.
"We will organize a counter-offensive on the Kerch Peninsula, Comrade General!" Shulka said, pointing to the map.
"Counterattack?" Major General Vladimir couldn't help laughing: "Who commanded it? Kulik? I heard he has fled to Moscow!"
The Soviet Navy generally looked down on the Army, one of the reasons is that the Army had many commanders like Kulik.
"It doesn't matter who commands, Comrade General!" Shulka said: "The important thing is that a batch of our fighters will come from Moscow, and then we will put them into the counterattack in Kerch... Do you understand what I mean? ?”
Major General Vladimir couldn't help being taken aback, he had already begun to feel that this battle might be a fight.
(end of this chapter)