Beiyang 1917

1918年7月13ri18：35莫斯科克林姆林宫

"At present, the troops that can be used on the left bank of the Volga River are nothing more than the Third Army of the Eastern Front and the Tenth Army of the Southern Front. However, the strength of the Kazan Kolchak gang on the opposite side of the Third Army is at least twice as strong as ours. It is unknown whether they can hold the position on the left bank of the Volga River on the other side of Kazan, let alone send them south to Syzran to open the gap for crossing the river!" Trotsky sighed.

"Wars do not depend solely on strength and numbers. Without enough cannons and machine guns, we cannot compete with Ufa's coalition forces, and the opponent's air force is also quite powerful. Without air supremacy and effective anti-aircraft weapons, this battle may be very difficult. Difficult to fight!" Zinoviev obviously reminded the present members of the Central Committee not to ignore that the main reason for the failure of the Southern Group on the right bank of the Volga River was not due to lack of troops!

"The Battle of Ufa has only been fought for a short week. Where can I get aircraft, artillery, anti-aircraft guns, and machine guns for the Soviet Red Army? Without these, can we Bolsheviks and the Soviet Red Army have nothing to do? The key is the will to fight And courage, without these, no matter how good the equipment is, it will not lead to victory, but instead, the enemy will be sent prisoners and captured for nothing!" Ulyanov shouted, waving his hands.

"I agree with Comrade Zinoviev's view that modern warfare is obviously impossible to rely solely on crowd tactics. We and Kolchak's main force fought inextricably in Kazan because of Kazan's White Guard equipment. It’s not too different from ours, of course the enemy’s cannons on the Kazan Fortress have a range advantage, but the difference in firepower between the Eastern Front Army and the opponent’s troops is not too big.”

Trotsky was thinking with his hands behind his back while talking about his own analysis,

"The direction of Ufa is completely different. The earlier telegrams of Tukhachevsky and the South Group both emphasized that although the opponent's front-line troops defending Ufa have only 8 infantry divisions, three of them are Ufa volunteer divisions recruited temporarily. The level of training and combat effectiveness are quite different.”

"However, the enemy's heavy machine guns in the direction of Ufa are equipped with a high density, at least twice as much as ours. We only have one Maxim heavy machine gun battalion in one infantry division. The White Guards guarding the position in Ufa seems to have one for each infantry company's position. Maxim heavy machine guns, so that the opponent’s regiment must have at least 16 heavy machine guns, and a division must have 64 heavy machine guns. The firepower of this machine gun alone is twice that of ours.” Trotsky walked to the wall and drew on a small blackboard. Digital Road.

"The other party seems to have more cannons than us. Our division has only one or two artillery companies. The Southern Group first brought 1 artillery companies, which is already quite a large artillery scale. However, according to the Ufa Battlefield No. Judging from the two-day combat situation, the number of artillery of the opponent is at least three times that of ours, and they have a large number of 2mm caliber heavy artillery," Kamenev said.

"And the enemy finally dispatched an air force with a large fleet to carry out air strikes. Yegorov's troops were bombed and swept away by at least 150 fighter planes from the enemy air force. In this case, the Soviet Red Army on the right bank of the Volga River retreated across the board The only choice!" Dzerzhinsky finally spoke.

"You are only talking about weapons and equipment. You must know that the decisive factor is people. As long as all the commanders and fighters of the Soviet Russian Red Army are strong-willed, these difficulties are temporary and can be overcome. We fought in the February and October Revolutions. At that time, we only had rifles in our hands, and the average bullets for each worker were only five rounds, but we still beat Kerensky to the ground and won the victory!"

Bukharin, the People's Propaganda Commissar of the Central Committee of the Soviet Union, couldn't help waving his arm habitually and shouted.

Ulyanov continued circling in the meeting room with his hands behind his back, occasionally stopping to listen carefully to the analysis of Trotsky and the Central Committee members, listening to Bukharin's statement, this guy showed a look of appreciation, and then Frowning and continuing to circle.

"Comrade Bukharin, mental will and fighting spirit are of course very important and crucial, but after all, in modern warfare, it is not enough to rely on crowd tactics and soldiers not afraid of bloodshed and sacrifice. War is fought with steel and logistics. It's an aircraft cannon and a machine gun!

If we don't improve our weapons and equipment as soon as possible, if the coalition forces cross the Volga River and march westward, neither the remaining Eastern Front nor the Southern Front in the direction of Tsaritsin will be able to stop the enemy's footsteps. Can't you expect that it will rain all the time and the river will soar and the opponent's air team will never be able to dispatch? "

Trotsky said this to Ulyanov rather than Bukharin. Kamenev and Zinoviev nodded slightly when they heard the words, obviously agreeing with Trotsky. Lotsky's point of view.

Dzerzhinsky bit his nails and did not speak. In his opinion, there is a limit to the spirit and will of any bullshit. No one can withstand the torture of the Chekas. Of course, there is no need to say more at the moment What, the Central Committee of the Soviet Union is the arena for the two big men, Ulyanov and Trotsky, and I am just a small shrimp who plays a role.

"Send a telegram to Comrade Chicherin and ask him to talk to Ludendorff about emergency aid to our aircraft, artillery, and high-speed machine guns. We can negotiate at any cost! If our Soviet regime fails in Russia, the Eastern Front will once again become the Allied Powers The Germans will not sit back and watch us fail on the battlefield that the Allied Powers are attacking!"

Ulyanov weighed the pros and cons, and had to admit that relying on spirit and will alone cannot win the war. At this time, the whole world is the enemy of the Soviet Russian regime, and only Germany and Austria can barely be regarded as partners in the exchange of benefits. Borrow one or two.

"The Germans have a big appetite. Last time we negotiated a truce, we lost Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and a large area of ​​territory. Negotiating with Germany is not worth the loss!" Bukharin stood up and objected road.

"I think it is possible to talk, the enemy of the enemy is our friend, the Germans are practical, the last negotiation we made huge concessions in land and territory in exchange for a truce and peace for both sides, and at the same time we also got 80 Bolshevik-oriented prisoners of war After returning, I also obtained food from the Great Plains of Ukraine to meet the urgent need, I think we can buy a large amount of arms from the Germans to arm the Soviet Russian Red Army!"

Zinoviev supported Ulyanov's idea this time. Obviously, at the juncture of life and death, whoever can stretch out his hand to pull the Soviet Russian regime can become the target of cooperation.

"Is it possible for Germany and Austria to repatriate hundreds of thousands of Tsarist Russian prisoners of war from the prisoner-of-war camp? Now the Eastern Front has lost almost three-quarters of its strength. If the strength of the Eastern Front is not restored as soon as possible, Moscow's East Gate will be destroyed. Enough troops to defend!" Kamenev suggested.

"The last time 80 people were released, after screening and deletion, 50 people were mobilized to join the Red Army, and the remaining 30 people were demobilized and returned to their hometowns. As a result of the Ufa campaign, there was only one main force of more than 20 people. It will be wiped out after a week, which is tantamount to sending prisoners and coolies to the coalition forces, I think we must be cautious when replenishing troops from prisoners of war!" Dzerzhinsky interjected from the side.

"Dzerzhinsky was quite right. The failure of the Eastern Army's Southern Group in the Ufa Battle was closely related to the large number of former Tsarist Russian prisoners newly recruited by our Red Army. Since these old Tsarist Russian soldiers faced the German The Austrian army was able to lay down their weapons and surrender when fighting, so it is no wonder that Ufa lacked fighting spirit and surrendered when facing the coalition forces! Prisoners of war are not a reliable source of qualified soldiers for the Soviet Red Army!"

Ulyanov finally calmed down a little at this moment, and began to recover the state of the leader of the Central Committee of the Soviet Union, barely able to seriously think about the problem.

Trotsky frowned when he heard the words. To be honest, he did not agree with this point of view. In fact, among the 80 prisoners of war repatriated from Germany and Austria last time, 30 prisoners of war were considered unqualified after the second selection and could not join the Soviet Russian Red Army. He objected to being deported.

In his opinion, in the land of Russia in 1918, where there was a food shortage everywhere, these demobilized soldiers either became bandits or joined the White Guards. There was no other way out for survival and survival. and degree of reliability.

Thinking of this, Trotsky couldn't help saying, "Zhan Luan can't blame many ordinary people for being fools, and they will run with whoever is strong. In fact, most of the time they just want to let them and their families survive. Go for the bread.

As long as we win the battle well, consolidate our political power, and let those who support us have food, more and more people will naturally support us. If we lose all day long and the people cannot survive, sooner or later Will leave us to go to those forces that can feed them! "

"Comrade Trotsky, what is your attitude? If you continue to select soldiers from the repatriated prisoners of war to join the Red Army, can you guarantee that these people will not continue to surrender to the enemy when the war is unfavorable?!" Bukharin pursued asked.

"I agree to send a telegram to Chicherin, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs who is still in Germany as soon as possible, to negotiate with the Germans on behalf of the Russian Central Committee and ask Germany to provide a large number of anti-aircraft weapons, artillery and machine guns. It’s expensive and difficult to maintain, even if we bought it, we didn’t have time to train pilots, and we became a living target for the coalition forces to fly to the sky!” Trotsky said his plan.

"Also! Mobilize the working-class pickets in major cities such as Petrograd and Moscow to form a new Red Army worker division, rebuild and replenish the Eastern Front, block the weak links on the Eastern Front as soon as possible, and prevent Kolchak from rushing straight into Moscow! "Trotsky waved his fist and said.