Chapter 237: The Imperial Guards' Transformation

The troops of the Moscow Military District can be called the Royal Guards. The main mission of this force is to guard Moscow.

Historically, the Moscow Military District had the most powerful troops, such as during World War II, when there were sometimes as many as one million troops. But now, as the war fades away and the threat to the Soviet Union's homeland security gradually weakens, the Moscow Military District no longer has the opportunity to face the war head-on.

At the same time, the composition of this army began to change. Senior officials in Moscow wanted their children to serve in the army for a few years to gain some experience, so they naturally chose the troops directly under the Moscow Military Region without hesitation.

As a result, there were many children of high-ranking officials in this army, and such an army was quite difficult to manage.

Colonel Mironov was certainly aware of his subordinates' fraudulent behavior, but even as a division commander, he could not stop them. For example, before Colonel Shelov came, he was greeted by General Tsvigun. Not long after he arrived, the commander of a tank regiment here was transferred, and the vacant position was given to Shelov, who was promoted to lieutenant colonel and led the 6th Tank Regiment.

After that, the title of training model in the division went to the 6th Tank Regiment, and Captain Shelov's tank was the number one model among them.

Colonel Mironov had no idea what to do. As a division commander, his job was like that of a logistics director, coordinating the relationships among the big bosses. Fortunately, he was about to make it. In another two months, he would be transferred to the military region, and a position of a military region staff officer would be vacated for him.

When the 4th Tank Division was selected as the first batch of troops to be reformed, Colonel Mironov was not happy at all. He was worried that nothing would go wrong!

As a result, problems arose. In the past, when superiors came to inspect, the tank shooting performances would easily satisfy them, but this time, they were unexpectedly exposed.

The 4th Tank Division has also become a model for the entire army!

Marshal Ogarkov was very angry when he discovered the problems with the 4th Tank Division. He personally sat in charge and watched Andrei evaluate the officers and soldiers of this armored force.

Not to mention operating a tank, just a physical fitness test, one in ten people in the entire division failed to meet the standard! As a soldier, they couldn't even run a five-kilometer cross-country run with a load, and they had diarrhea before they finished halfway!

After that, the live ammunition shooting was even more outrageous, with less than one-fifth of the targets hitting the target! Some tanks even had shells that flew out and no one knew where they went!

"I think the 4th Tank Division should be disbanded! What combat effectiveness does such a tank division have?" Marshal Ogarkov cursed in the headquarters of the 4th Tank Division.

It was not Ogarkov's decision to cancel a division's designation, but the 4th Tank Division was indeed too bad! Ogarkov couldn't help but curse.

We were hoping to reform the 4th Tank Division to be even stronger, but now? This is just a weakling unit! If it were really like World War II, we would have been wiped out with just one charge!

"Marshal, according to our test, 3,000 people in the 4th Tank Division will be laid off," said Marshal Ogarkov's deputy, Mahmut Akhmatovich Galeyev. "The combat troops, about two tank regiments, will have to retire. The 4th Tank Division will be left with only an empty shell."

After several days of assessment, the 4th Tank Division has indeed become a paste division, a skeleton division, and the troops have absolutely no combat effectiveness!

Ogarkov drummed his hands on the table. In the past two days, he also understood that the reason why the combat effectiveness of the 4th Tank Division declined so much was entirely due to those unqualified people, who were the children of a group of high-ranking officials in Moscow.

In the past two days, Ogarkov also withstood the pressure. The children of that group of high-ranking officials were expelled from the 4th Tank Division. They were so embarrassed that they came to Ogarkov to plead for mercy, but were all rejected by Ogarkov. In this way, Ogarkov also offended a lot of people.

In the end, it even alarmed General Secretary Brezhnev, who came in person to inquire about the situation of the 4th Tank Division. Only after receiving Ogarkov's explanation did he let the matter go.

Now, the reorganization of the 4th Tank Division has come to an end, but such a tank division no longer has the conditions to be improved into an informationized force! Without people, what's the point of improvement!

Hearing his deputy's words, Ogarkov tapped his fingers on the table with a helpless expression on his face.

If you want to reform a modern information-based force, you must select from the elite troops in the army. The 4th Tank Division was originally thought to be the elite among the elite, but it turned out to be such a mess.

"Or, how about we look for a more combat-capable army from other units in the Moscow Military District?" Mahmut said.

"No, the other troops in the Moscow Military District are probably the same as the 4th Tank Division." Andrei, who was standing by, immediately rejected such a plan. If he found another troop, it would still be the same kind of trolls! If he cleared out a large number of people, he would still offend people! Even now that Ogarkov was in charge, many people had already begun to point the finger at Andrei. It was Andrei who started it all!

"Andrei, what do you think we should do?" Ogarkov had great trust in Andrei. If it weren't for Andrei, Ogarkov would have been fooled. Choosing such a unit to carry out reform, one could guess with his toes what the outcome would be.

"Select outstanding soldiers from other units and have them join the 4th Tank Division." Andre said, "Especially from those brave and combat-savvy units!"

Brave and skilled troops! In the battle of Hokkaido, the ground forces of the Far East Military Region were quite capable. The 5th Tank Division rampaged in Hokkaido, and the 14th Tank Division fought hard against the island nation's Type 74 tanks, beating them so hard that they lost their way. The entire team was wiped out, and many combat heroes emerged.

Such troops are what the Moscow Military District needs most! Only such troops can successfully embark on the path of reform!

After hearing Andrei's words, Ogarkov made up his mind: "Yes, transfer troops from the East German and Far Eastern troops to supplement the 4th Tank Division! Andrei, do you have a suitable candidate for the division commander?"

"Tikhonov, the commander of the 67th Tank Regiment of the 14th Tank Division, is very suitable," Andrei said. "In the last battle of Kushiro, he creatively turned off the infrared headlights and used cannon-fired missiles to kill the Japanese Type 74 tanks at a long distance. He is a smart commander and is most suitable to be the vanguard of our reform."