Beiyang 1917

1918年7月22ri6：30喀山

In late July 1918, seeing that Kolchak's temporary all-Russian government territory was getting smaller and smaller, he first officially ceded West Siberia east of the Ural Mountains to the Sino-Japanese Alliance, of course, to recognize the autonomy of West Siberia In exchange for the form of Zheng Fu, the Allied forces marched west of the Ural Mountains and blocked the Soviet Red Army from eastward to Ufa.

Then I watched the Allied forces wipe out the invading 30 Soviet Red Army in the Battle of Ufa. I should have been extremely happy, but I didn't expect that the Allied Forces would negotiate a truce with the Soviet Russian regime after the Battle of Ufa. This made Kolchak and those subordinates who had been following him who were at odds with the Soviet Russian red regime so embarrassing.

These big bourgeoisie, big nobles, former Tsarist Russian soldiers, big landlords, rich peasants, and their children followed Kolchak's temporary all-Russian government, and they were just waiting to fight back to their hometowns in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In the torrent of redness in Russia, which family has not forged a blood feud with the Bolsheviks and the Soviets?Revenge and regain lost ground is their only thought.

Therefore, Kolchak did not accept the olive branch offered by Wang Geng in the end. He would rather actually give up the Ufa Great Plain and the open support of the coalition forces, and lead the All-Russian Autonomous Government and the main force of the White Guards in Kazan to die with Soviet Russia and Moscow. Knock to the end.

In the eyes of Kolchak and those who followed him, the Soviet Red Army and the Soviet Russian regime, which suffered a disastrous defeat in the Battle of Ufa and lost 30 main forces, are now the weakest. How can they let the tiger go back to the mountain at this time?At this time, if the Soviet Union and the Bolsheviks cannot be defeated, Kolchak is worried that he will never have such an opportunity again, so he is desperate, even if he loses the open support of the coalition forces, he will fight the war with the Soviet Union. Follow through.

The Red regime in Soviet Russia and Kolchak's White Guards are irreconcilable contradictions in this era. This is a life-and-death struggle, and it will never end!

Although Pepelyaev's betrayal dealt a huge blow to Kolchak, judging from the statements made by the Allied Forces Command before and after, as well as the neutral attitude of the Volga Federation after the establishment of the Volga Federation, Kolchak smelled that the two sides were in Ukraine at the beginning. There is something behind the meaningful gaze of the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces Wang Geng when the meeting collapsed.

"Well, maybe there is no permanent enemy in this world, but it seems that there is no permanent enemy now! I, Kolchak, am alone, and I have to fight to the end!" Kolchak no longer thought so much, from Wu After France returned to Kazan, it actively began to prepare for the war. Although the Allied Forces and the newly established Volga Federation claimed to remain neutral, they promised to hand over nearly 5000 White Guard troops and [-] Russian Mosin Nagant rifles that participated in the Battle of Ufa. Still shipped to Kazan as promised.

Just as the staff in the war room of the Allied Forces Command predicted, Kolchak divided the 20 elite White Guards armed in Kazan into three groups. The West Route Army consisted of 2 Cossack cavalry divisions and 3 infantry divisions. Detouring west along the north bank of the Volga River, the Western Route Army broke through the main attack area of ​​the Volga River defense line, just between Cheboksary and Maria Alexandrovna (Mariinsky Town)

between. **

The commander-in-chief of Kolchak's West Route Army is Vice Admiral Sergey Nikolaevich Timilev. This guy has followed Kolchak since he was in the Black Sea Fleet. He is a very capable member The generals, who were also born in Tsarist Russian nobles, also studied at the St. Petersburg Naval Academy.

Dimirev is not like Pepelyayev, who is a playboy and a dainty master. Dimirev, who was born as an admiral, has a mustache. Quite decent, as a general who was born in the direct line of the Black Sea Fleet under Kolchak, he won the trust of Kolchak, the highest consul in Russia.

The West Route Army of the White Guard led by Dimirev, with more than 5 infantry, had quietly marched westward along the north bank of the Volga River three days ago. For Cheboksary, of course, this must be after the main force of the Eastern Route Army led by Kolchak himself started in Kazan.

Kolchak's Central Route Army has 2 White Guards Cavalry Divisions and 3 Infantry Divisions. The commander in chief is Roman Mikhainovich Krashinikov Cavalry General.

For Kolchak, this Cossack general was a meritorious minister who overthrew the Socialist Revolutionaries and the Menshevik temporary government in the Omsk coup. Of course, Krashinikov was originally a constitutional monarchist in essence. , can also be said to be a representative of the royalists, one of the backbones of the old Cossack generals of Tsarist Russia, but after the Tsarist era is obviously gone forever, General Krashinikov can only call himself a professional Cossack general , and one of the models of professional soldiers in the Tsarist Russian era, Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak became the object of his allegiance!

Excluding the 5 troops of the West Route Army and 5 of the Center Route Army, the remaining 8 main force of the East Route Army led by Kolchak himself consisted of three Cossack cavalry divisions, five White Guard infantry divisions, and finally mainly officers. The two infantry divisions formed by the regiment are the general reserve of the battle.

The main force of Kolchak's White Guards, each division is basically equipped with two 76mm caliber mountain artillery companies, and the number of wheeled Maxim heavy machine guns with shields is basically enough for one infantry company to deploy. The division also has a separate heavy machine gun battalion equipped with 24 Mala Maxim heavy machine guns.

At 1918:7 in the morning on July 22, 6, Kolchak gave an order that the Kazan White Guard East Route Army took the lead in launching in Kazan. The Kazan White Guards had tacitly dared not blow up the bridge in the previous battles for Kazan, but the two sides built fortifications at the bridgehead to block the bridge.

Of course, every time the two sides compete for the offense and defense of Kazan, the Volga River Railway Bridge is basically the main point of contention. High-grade high-quality bridge design of the era.

The Kazan White Guards launched an overwhelming artillery attack from the north bank to the Soviet Russian Red Army position on the south bank. 20 artillery companies with a total of 120 76mm mountain field artillery shells roared towards the Soviet Russian Red Army bridgehead position on the south bank. At the same time, The large-caliber fortress guns on the Kazan fortress also roared.

For a while, the Soviet Red Army's south bank position was bombed and the chickens and dogs jumped and bricks flew around. Fortunately, it was not the first time that the two sides competed and fought in Kazan. Therefore, the fortifications repaired by the Soviet Red Army along the coast were relatively complete. The artillery positions, trenches, and traffic trenches are all covered with thick roofs. Except for the continuous attack of the Kazan Fortress's heavy artillery, which can have a fatal blow to these fortifications, the 76mm mountain field artillery of the White Guards is not a big threat to these fortifications.

Of course, Kolchak is not a fool. The 76mm mountain artillery that launched the first attack targeted the infantry positions along the coast of the opponent, and the fortress artillery attacked the opponent's fortress. The artillery of the Soviet Red Army on the south bank soon began to counterattack one after another sparsely, because the White Guards on the north bank had already begun to cross the river under artillery fire, and the infantry of the White Guards also rushed to attack on the northern section of the bridge.

Due to the disastrous defeat and loss of the previous Ufa battle, the main group army and artillery company of the Soviet Russian Eastern Front that had been transferred from the direction of Kazan to the southern group to participate in the Ufa battle no longer existed, while the newly established Volga River front army, Responsible for guarding the front line of Kazan is the 7 infantry divisions of the entire Third Army Army, and there are only less than 10 artillery companies with cannons.

Of the ten artillery companies of the Third Army of the Volga Front Army of the Soviet Russian Red Army, six artillery companies were deployed on the Kazan line of defense, the remaining two were in Cheboksary, one was in Zelenodolsk, and the last one was in Zelenodolsk. An artillery battery is as far away as Nizhny Novgorod.

Although Chicherin, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union, brought back 10 former Tsarist Russian prisoners of war from Germany and Austria, the Germans also promised to supply Russian rifles for 20 divisions, Russian cannons for 50 artillery companies, and even 20 high-level guns. The anti-aircraft guns of the She Artillery Battalion, but due to time constraints, and because the Soviet Russian government can't get enough food and cotton to exchange for these equipment at the moment.

Sverdlov and Dzerzhinsky tried their best to put together all the jewelry and gold confiscated and confiscated after the suppression of hostile forces since the February Revolution, the October Revolution, and the January upheaval, and it was just enough to pay 20 The procurement funds for artillery company cannons or Russian rifles for 10 divisions, due to the loss of a large number of relatively skilled artillery in the Battle of Ufa, the commanders of the Volga Front Army for the first time on the issue of purchasing rifles or cannons. serious disagreement.

Voroshilov, the deputy commander of the Volga Front Army and the Second Military Commissar, advocated the procurement of cannons first, because the Eighth and Tenth Group Armies, the main force of the Southern Front Army, are almost fully staffed, and there is no shortage of rifles, and the more cannons, the better. , can effectively improve the combat firepower of troops!

The focus of Sverdlov and Kamenev's attention is to rebuild the first and fifth armies in the first place. How can we form infantry divisions without rifles?How to rebuild the two armies? How long did the artillery training of 20 artillery companies take?

Compared with training artillery so that they can accurately hit the enemy with shells, it is much easier for new soldiers of the Soviet Russian Red Army to learn how to shoot guns. Moreover, the reconstruction of the First and Fifth Army and the newly established Cavalry Army are the entire Volga River. The top priority of the front army!All of this is inseparable from rifles. The Soviet Red Army can no longer go back to the old road of the early days of the European War, when three Russian infantry divisions had a single gun. Facing an enemy armed to the teeth, it would be no different from death.

The battle between the rifles and cannons of the Volga Front of the Soviet Russian Red Army is behind the reconstruction of Moscow's direct troops and the further strengthening of the former Tsaritsyn Southern Front. Which one is more important and which priority is the battle is also in Moscow in the Volga Front The first head-to-head confrontation between factions and Tsaritsyn factions!

The unlucky nature is the Berzin Third Army, which bears the brunt of the Kazan front. The artillery provided by Germany and Austria has not been in place. 10mm caliber anti-aircraft gun.

And the anti-aircraft guns that Chicherin, the people's commissar for foreign affairs, bought from Germany and Austria, were first used for some reason and placed around Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod and other cities to defend the big cities of Soviet Russia. Instead of sending it to the Kazan front for the first time to help the Third Army guard the Volga River defense line.

In charge of the front enemy command of the entire Volga Front Army is the new Deputy Commander of the Front Army Voroshilov. Originally, this guy wanted to assign the anti-aircraft artillery battalion to the Eighth and Tenth Army. The threat to the army is too great. Although the truce between the two sides is peaceful, who knows when they will turn their faces and fight again. Therefore, it is the best choice to assign to the Tenth Army opposite the Volga Union.

As for the Berzin Third Army defending the Kazan line of defense, in Voroshilov's view, there is no need to equip anti-aircraft guns at all, because the Kolchak White Guards in Kazan on the opposite side have no air force, and even Voroshilov The husband said that the anti-aircraft guns were assigned to Berzin's Third Army. If they accidentally shot down the coalition reconnaissance plane flying in the sky, who would pay for it?

Therefore, there were no cannons in the end, and the anti-aircraft guns were deployed around the big cities for air defense. This made the Soviet Russian Third Army on the front line far inferior to the Kolchak White Guards who launched an attack on the other side in terms of artillery fire.

The artillery shells of the Kazan White Guards quickly chased the artillery positions of the Soviet Third Army on the opposite bank and swarmed past them. The casualties were exhausted, and on the five-kilometer-wide front on both sides of the Kazan Volga River Bridge, Kolchak invested three divisions of the White Guards and launched a river-crossing attack.

At 1918 o'clock in the morning on July 7, 22, after three hours of fierce fighting, the Kazan White Guards who crossed the river from both wings cooperated with the troops attacking along the bridge deck along the middle road, and finally captured the last bridgehead fortress guarded by the Soviet Red Army on the south bank of the Volga River Bridge. , Kolchak's White Guards won the first battle on the Kazan battlefield!