Shaposhnikov had been pondering the same question these days, apparently thinking about learning from Kutuzov, the tsar's lackey, but fearing that the loss would be too great. Now when he heard Trotsky asking for his opinion, he shook his head slightly and said: "Comrade Trotsky, I am not very in favor of Tukhachevsky's method, because ...... The enemy's logistics are difficult, ours is even more difficult! ”

Trotsky looked at Khachevsky, who walked to a nearby bookcase stuffed with a folder, took out a folder and handed it to Trotsky, and said: "Comrade Chairman, this is a summary of the situation submitted by the General Logistics Department of the Red Army. In the past 1933, the Red Army had to consume an average of nearly 30,000 tons of various materiel per day, and if you include the aid we provided to the Allies, the average daily consumption of materiel was close to 46,000 tons...... The industry and agriculture of the Soviet Union could only provide about 80% of the material needs, and the remaining 20% could only be compensated by the consumption of reserves and imports. ”

"I know that our logistics are difficult, but I have instructed the People's Commissariat to find ways to increase industrial and agricultural output." Trotsky opened the folder and took a cursory look at it, and the numbers above were nothing new to him, because every month the General Logistics Department of the Red Army would submit a monthly report, and the situation was basically beyond his means.

"However, once we adopt the method of luring the enemy deep and clearing the wilderness, industrial and agricultural production will be greatly affected." Shaposhnikov frowned: "Especially on the Western Front, such tactics are adopted, because our industrial and agricultural production is mainly concentrated in the western regions of the country, and Ukraine is the most important grain base and steel and coal base." Leningrad is an important shipbuilding and military-industrial center. The three Baltic states are the centers of light industry, and Belarus is also an important base for machinery manufacturing and metallurgical processing, with a well-developed agriculture and animal husbandry...... Once these areas were destroyed, they were destroyed by the fighting. The USSR will not be able to sustain the war! ”

Shaposhnikov's opinion was obviously quite reasonable, so Trotsky frowned slightly, but did not immediately make a decision, but turned his head and asked Tukhachevsky: "What do you think?" ”

"I think the first task is to defeat the enemy's imminent general offensive," and unlike Shaposhnikov, who had a "long-sighted" vision, Tukhachevsky had only his eyes on the situation in front of him. "If we had failed in 1934, there would have been no future. Even if the industry and agriculture in the western region were preserved, they could only be left to the enemy. And...... We also do not need to destroy the entire western region, the enemy is not so strong that it is impossible to launch a full-fledged and powerful offensive against the entire western region. I reckon. The Germans will concentrate their forces in the direction of Ukraine or Belarus. ”

"Ukraine or Belarus? This is a multiple-choice question. Let me think about it......" Trotsky frowned and analyzed: "The attack on Belarus is similar to the historical route of Napoleon's attack on Tsarist Russia, taking Warsaw, Mingskes, Molensk, Moscow, quickly occupying the capital of our country, and subverting Soviet power; To fight Ukraine is to grab resources. Grain from the plains of Ukraine. The coal and steel mills in the Donetsk basin and the oil fields in the Caucasus are probably the things that the Germans dream of, right? But is it possible that the Germans will launch a fierce offensive in the direction of Ukraine and Belarus at the same time? They seem to have such strength. ”

"It's hard to say," Tukhachevsky said, pointing to France on the map, "and if it weren't for the French, Germany would have the strength to attack Belarus and Ukraine at the same time, and maybe a third battlefield in the north could be opened." But now, at least 40 percent of their forces are held back by France, another 20 percent are to be used in the Balkans and Northern Europe, and at most 40 percent are capable of attacking the Soviet mainland. So there can only be one center of gravity for their offensive, as for whether it is Belarus or Ukraine. It is a political issue. ”

Tukhachevsky's words only go so far, and further analysis is a bit sensitive. It's not him, the chief of the General Staff, who should say it's time to think about it.

"Political problems?" Trotsky was stunned for a moment, then nodded and said: "I understand that if the Germans are aiming at the capital of the Soviet Union, then their ultimate strategic goal should be to restore a pro-German white Russia in order to win the support of the Russian people, otherwise they will repeat the mistakes of Napoleon, and even if Moscow is captured, it will not be able to stay long because of the lack of supplies, and the left and right wings will not be able to stay for long, and there will be only a gray retreat."

If...... The Germans have the ultimate goal of destroying Russia! Then the focus of their attack will be on the rich 'black soil belt' of the southern part of the Soviet Union, because a behemoth like the Soviet Union or Russia will not perish in a day or two, and the Germans will have to be prepared for a long and protracted war. ”

"We are afraid that we will have to be ready for a protracted war, Comrade Tukhachevsky, I think the main direction of attack of the Germans is Ukraine." Trotsky pondered for a moment before making his judgment. "Comrade Tukhachevsky, where will the main forces of our Ukrainian Front be deployed?"

"It should be deployed on the Donetsk line of Konotopp, Kharkov, east of the Dnieper, which is more than 1,000 kilometers from the German mainland, and if the transport facilities of Poland and Ukraine are fully destroyed, it will cause great logistical difficulties for the German army. In addition, we should also deploy the strategic general reserve in Smolensk just in case. ”

"So even Kyiv and Minsk are ready to give up?" Trotsky furrowed his eyebrows.

"Kyiv is ready to give up for the time being, Minsk depends on the situation, Belarus needs to be heavily defended, and if the German army does not invest the main forces, it should be able to hold on. The reason why the strategic general reserve was placed in Smolensk was mainly to prevent the German troops on the southern front from moving north to outflank the rear of the Belorussian Front. ”

"So how are you going to fight in the Balkan theater?"

"Abandon Romania and Bulgaria and retreat to Constantinople." Tukhachevsky walked up to a map of the Balkan Near Eastern theater of operations, pointed to western Romania, and said: "Now the main passes of the Eastern Carpathians and the Southern Carpathians are controlled by the German and Romanian White Army, and they condescendingly oppress our Balkan Front. Eastern Romania is flat and undefendable. In the event of an enemy capture, the entire Balkan Front would be cut off from the Soviet mainland by land, and Greece and Yugoslavia, which were now neutral, would also be able to join the anti-Soviet camp. In this way, neither Bulgaria nor southern Romania could hold it, but Constantinople had always been a fortified city and could be defended. ”

"So how are you going to fight on the Eastern Front?" Trotsky asked, frowning, looking at a picture of the Soviet Far East and the Baikal region.

"In the Eastern Siberian region, heavy forces should be concentrated along the Yenisei River, with Krasnoyarsk as the most important stronghold......"

"Wouldn't that be the abandonment of millions of square kilometers of land?" Trotsky gasped and looked at Tukhachevsky with burning eyes.

Tukhachevsky shook his head and said: "There is no need to give up so much territory, in fact, the region of Eastern Siberia is very vast and very inhospitable. The valuable territory is along the Trans-Siberian Railway, so the Chinese will not occupy the whole of Eastern Siberia in a short period of time, they will only control the areas along the Trans-Siberian Railway. So look at it from the map. We won't give up too much territory, and that's only temporary. As long as we win the battle of Krasnoyarsk, we will be able to regain most of the lost territory. ”

"Battle of Krasnoyarsk?!" Trotsky furrowed his eyebrows. "How are you going to fight?"

"It's the same as in Ukraine, it's still luring the enemy deep and clearing the wilderness. At the same time, a large number of guerrillas were organized to harass along the way. Tukhachevsky shrugged. But. The Trans-Siberian Railway cannot be completely destroyed, there are 1500 kilometers from Kulen to Krasnoyarsk, and if the railway is dismantled, the Chinese will not attack Krasnoyarsk in 1934. So we need to leave them with a railroad that has been badly damaged, but can be repaired and barely worked. ”

Trotsky also felt that it made sense, if the railways were destroyed, it would be very troublesome for the Red Army to counterattack. He was about to ask Tukhachevsky further about his plans for the battle of Krasnoyarsk when the ringing of a telephone in the operational command center suddenly rang.

This time. Who called here? Could it be that the situation on the front line has changed? Tukhachevsky immediately walked over and picked up the receiver, and the call was made by GC International President Skryansky. A military coup d'état in Spain! The Spanish Falangists, in collusion with some right-wing officers, suddenly attacked this morning. Overthrew the Republican government and took control of Madrid, the capital of Spain. Falangist leader José. Antonio. Primo. De Rivera appointed himself president of the Spanish Provisional Government, and the right-wing military leader Francisco V. Franco became Chief of the General Staff of the Spanish Army. However, the main leaders of the Spanish Republican Party, the GCD and the Left Social Democratic Party withdrew under the protection of the "Shock Guard" to the important town of Barcelona in northern Spain, which is still under the joint control of the Republican Party, the GCD and the Left Social Democratic Party.

"This is a conspiracy of the Italian fascist and German reactionary governments! Comrade Tukhachevsky, I have summoned to the Kremlin the members and alternate members of the GCD Political Bureau and the members of the Revolutionary Military Council in Moscow, and I would like to meet to discuss the impact of the events in Spain on the world revolution. Trotz was able to realize that the Spanish coup d'état would make the international situation facing the Soviet Union even more severe.

Because the overthrown Spanish government was the only "pro-Soviet" regime in Western Europe, and the Spanish GCD also participated in the government and had great influence, the Spanish government carried out a left-leaning line of supporting the workers and peasants, and was very promising to embark on the socialist road. What's more, Spain is an important neighbor of France, the Spanish Falangists are in turn close to the Italian fascists, and Italy, now an ally of Germany, has declared war on the Soviet Union! Therefore, it is very likely that the newly incoming Spanish government will join the anti-Soviet camp, and even allow German and Italian troops to be stationed in Spain, so that France will be in a disadvantageous position of being attacked on three sides.

However, the disadvantage of being attacked on three sides may also push France to the side of the Soviet Union completely, and if France and the Soviet Union formally form an alliance, then the situation of the war in Europe will change again, and the initiative in the war will most likely return to the hands of the Soviet Union. Moreover, it is likely that the Spanish coup d'état was only the prelude to civil strife in Spain, because the Spanish left is too powerful to be brought down by a coup d'état in the capital. Both the Spanish Republican Party and the Spanish GCD have their own armed forces, as well as the support of the workers and peasants, and if they can get the support of France, they are likely to regain power. And France. Most of them would not sit idly by and watch themselves surrounded by German and pro-German forces.

Therefore, after the meeting that night, the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs of the USSR and the GC International immediately went into action. As soon as Litvinov returned to the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, he sent a telegram to French Prime Minister Daladier, asking for the French side's views on the Spanish question. As Trotsky had predicted. France was very angry at the interference of Germany and Italy in Spain's internal affairs, and there have been rumors that Germany and Italy are ready to join forces against France recently. So Daladier sent the French Foreign Minister, who was known for his anti-German efforts, Roy Rouge. Bardu immediately visited Moscow to discuss the Spanish question. At the same time, it announced that it would refuse to recognize the power of the Spanish Phalangist government, which came to power in a coup d'état, and that it was ready to provide assistance to the Popular Front, composed of the Spanish Republican Party, the GCD and the Left Socialist Party, which had moved to Barcelona.

The already confusing situation in Europe was due to the early arrival of the Spanish civil strife. And it's getting weirder and weirder.

……

“…… Up to now, the regularization and reorganization of the Northwest National People's Armed Forces has been completed, and a total of eight reserve armies have been organized. Thirty-two reserve infantry corps/reserve cavalry corps, ninety-six reserve infantry divisions/reserve cavalry divisions. The units directly under the jurisdiction of the reserve corps/divisions are basically the same as those of ordinary infantry corps, except that the baggage units are not equipped with trucks, and the artillery is also smaller. The reserve army is equipped with a three-battalion artillery regiment (1 105mm howitzer battalion, 1 75mm mountain artillery battalion, 1 anti-aircraft artillery battalion). The reserve division is equipped with a three-company artillery battalion (1 75mm mountain artillery company, 1 45mm anti-tank gun battery, 1 anti-aircraft gun battery). In addition to being organized into eight reserve group armies, the rest of the departments of the Northwest National People's Guard Army have also been organized into 24 division-level local garrison corps to garrison various parts of the three frontiers.

In addition to the eight reserve armies, the Northwestern Front also had seven army groups and one aviation army under its jurisdiction. It also includes the powerful 2nd Panzer Army (consisting of the 2nd, 5th, 6th and 7th Armored Cavalry Corps and the 7th Cavalry Corps) and the relatively weak 36th Army (under the jurisdiction of the 1st Mountain Army and the 46th Infantry Corps) deployed in the Afghan Kashmir battlefield, with a total of 16 infantry, 2 panzer/armored cavalry corps and 2 cavalry corps, and 1 mountain corp. The entire front army has a total strength of more than 2.4 million troops, more than 1,500 aircraft, nearly 2,000 tanks and assault artillery, and tens of thousands of artillery pieces of various kinds.

Furthermore. Under the command of the Northwest Front Allah the Party Army now has 15 divisions and 7 regiments, with a total strength of about 130,000 ......."

Just when the eyes of the whole world were temporarily drawn to the events in Spain. Chang Ruiqing quietly came to the Communist Youth League City, where the headquarters of the Northwest Front Army was located, to inspect. As Liu Mingzhao began to introduce the current situation of the Northwest Front Army in a Sichuan accent, his worries about logistics became more and more serious.

You must know that the Sino-Soviet war was about logistics, and the troops on both sides were generally abundant, but because the battle sites were far away from their respective industrial centers, logistics became the biggest bottleneck restricting the investment of troops on both sides. In the past half a year, except for a small part of the troops of the North-Western Front used for the Kyrgyz campaign, and a part of the elite troops used to guard the Soviet Army, the Kazakh Front and the West Siberian Front, most of the troops were busy building bridges and roads, and almost became engineering troops. After several months of arduous construction, the Yining-Almaty railway was finally opened to traffic in a timely manner, and in addition, the temporary railway from Dihua to Akdouka, the temporary railway from Akdouka to Almaty, and the temporary railway from Almaty to Chuhe were also completed and opened to traffic. With the support of these railways, Dihua's supplies can be transported to Akdouka and Almaty in a steady stream. However, the double-track railway project from Dihua to Lanzhou was not completed so quickly, and it was really overwhelmed to support the 2.4 million army to fight with the existing Lanjiang railway capacity. Fortunately, the fertile land in the Ili River valley has been cultivated for many years, the granaries of Almaty and the Komsomol cities are full of grain, enough to feed the 2.4 million army for 10 years, the animal husbandry in the Sanjiang region is also very developed, and the meat supply for the troops is not lacking.

However, the logistics of modern warfare are not as simple as transporting grain and grass. Once so many tanks, artillery, and planes of the Northwest Front Army are fighting, the power is certainly not small, but the consumption is indeed amazing. If the entire front army were to attack, excluding grain and grass, the daily consumption of various materials by the army would be at least more than 10,000 tons, and as the front advanced into the territory of the Soviet Union, the consumption of materials would probably increase exponentially. The requirements put forward in Hoffman's plan that the Third Central Asian Battle will last as long as 180 days, and the consumption of materials (excluding grain) alone will exceed 3 million tons!

Moreover, this is still a figure calculated on the basis that the railway network in Soviet Central Asia will not be completely destroyed, if Trotsky really comes to a complete clearing, demolishes all the railways and bridges in Soviet Central Asia, sets fire to all the cities and cities, and organizes countless guerrillas of GCISM, these thousands of kilometers of land supply lines alone will make it difficult for the strong Northwest Front to move an inch!