Chapter 109 The Roller

Shulka understood what Major Gavrilov meant.

Although the Ninth Army has been marching day and night... This is actually very difficult for mechanized troops. It is not as ordinary people understand that they just need to stay in the car and the car is driven by several people in rotation.

A car may indeed be able to, but a tank driver cannot.

The first reason is that there are few tank drivers, and the second is that driving a tank is physical work. To change gears, you need to hold the gear lever with both hands and then use all your strength to break it. You have to step on the accelerator and brake hard.

Not long ago, Shulka saw a driver who was carried out after driving a tank for more than ten hours.

Therefore, the tanks are divided into several batches during the actual march. They don't stop and go like cars, but take advantage of other people's stagnant blank space to take a break and catch up in one breath.

From this point of view, the tank driver still hopes that there are mines ahead to slow down the marching speed.

However, from a strategic point of view, this will at least delay the arrival of the Ninth Army in Odessa for three days, and will also lose a large number of tanks and cars. In addition, it will also make the troops exhausted.

If the German army succeeds in taking Odessa, the 30,000-strong Soviet army will have to face more than 100,000 Romanian troops and 10,000 German troops, and they will also occupy favorable terrain... This almost means that The Shulka anti-siege plan went bankrupt.

"It's not your fault!" Major Gavrilov noticed Shulka's guilt, and he comforted Shulka: "Your plan is obviously successful. Such a brilliant victory under such circumstances!"

What Major Gavrilov said may be right. After all, the main force of the Soviet army was basically in a state of defeat at this time, but the 9th Army was able to launch a counterattack against the German army. Not only launched a counterattack, but also defeated the German army time and time again... …

Even Moscow was stunned by the bold plan and its success.

However, they are temporarily conservative about this victory.

The reason is that Moscow is worried that the Ninth Army's plan will not be successful. It would be embarrassing if the Ninth Army was defeated or even annihilated when it started propaganda.

It can also be seen that Moscow is not optimistic about the results of this plan. They only sent a verbal telegram of commendation and approval to the commander of the Southwest Front, General Kirponos:

"Your plan surprised us, although you did not retreat as ordered by Moscow, Comrade General! But we cannot blame you, because this is an act of heroism, and the courage shown by you and your soldiers is for everyone to learn from example!"

After seeing this telegram, General Kirponos breathed a sigh of relief... In this day and age, no one knows what will happen if you disobey Moscow's order. This telegram is equivalent to an amnesty, which means telling Admiral Kirponos was free to go ahead with his plan.

But none of that concerns Shulka.

All kinds of reasonable and unreasonable, admitting or not, or extenuating circumstances, etc., are actually meaningless to the soldiers on the front line.

Because this is a battlefield, even if it’s all reasonable, it’s justifiable to be recognized and supported by Moscow at the same time... A battlefield is a battlefield, and the word “death” is the last word for failure.

At this time, the convoy in front started moving again, and Major Gavrilov patted Shulka on the shoulder and said, "Don't think too much, just do what we should do, let God consider the result! "

"Yes, Major!" Shulka replied, and returned to the car.

The car staggered forward again, and suddenly a stone mill broke into Shulka's sight when turning a corner.

Shulka's eyes lit up... It was a traditional roller, with a huge roller on the roller plate, a roller in the middle, and a pull bar on the other side of the roller, which was convenient for being tied to a mule to drag and roll ,

This kind of roller is also often found in Northeast China.

"Major!" Shulka yelled at the barrel cart passing by, "I have a solution!"

The barrel cart came to a stop with a "squeak", and Major Gavrilov looked at Shulka with a puzzled expression.

Shulka just jumped out of the car... The car is not fast, soldiers often do that.

"What can be done?" asked Major Gavrilov.

"Mines!" Shulka replied: "The way to deal with mines!"

Major Gavrilov looked at Shulka in disbelief: "What else can we do to deal with landmines?"

"Of course!" Shulka raised his head towards the village: "Did you see that roller?"

"You don't mean to crush mines with it!" Major Gavrilov laughed, but his smile froze in the next second.

"Oh, you're right, Shulka!" Major Gavrilov stood up from his seat unconsciously: "We can use that thing to detonate landmines!"

"Yes, Major!" Shulka nodded.

In fact, it is not difficult to detonate landmines, which can be done by tanks.

The problem was that the tanks of the Soviet army had a lot of failures, and the tracks of the tanks could not withstand the bombing of mines again and again, even if they were anti-personnel mines.

What's more serious... The German army planted anti-personnel mines and anti-tank mines together.

Therefore, it is unrealistic to use tanks to crush landmines. This will only make Soviet tanks one after another into scrap iron.

This is also one of the reasons why the Ninth Army's advance speed has slowed down.

But if such a roller is installed in front of the tank, it will be different. The tank will push the front of the roller at the back, and the roller will detonate the mines at the front. The rear tank will not be affected at all, so this problem is perfectly solved.

Even anti-tank mines can detonate... anti-tank mines need a certain weight to detonate, and the roller made of stone has weight.

"Great, Shulka!" Major Gavrilov quickly figured out these reasons, so he no longer hesitated, and the next sentence was to order the staff sitting next to him: "Move quickly, order the reconnaissance troops Stop! Bring another team and requisition those rollers!"

"Yes, Comrade Major!" The staff officer paused, and asked again: "How much do you need?"

"Everything!" Major Gavrilov yelled angrily: "All the rollers you can find, understand?"

"Yes, Major!"

Then Major Gavrilov jumped out of the car, walked up to Shulka, and suddenly laughed and gave Shulka a bear hug.

"I was wrong, Comrade Shulka!" Major Gavrilov said happily: "The outcome is not a matter for God's consideration, but a matter for you!"