In addition to the time it takes to mobilize troops from the east, it is also a big problem for Kolchak and the Czech corps to take advantage of the battle of Tsaritsyn in the east, Ufa is still in the hands of the White Army, it is too close to Kazan, and if it is not careful, under the counteroffensive of the White Army, Kazan is very likely to be occupied by the White Army again, this strategic point that chokes the two fronts in the southeast and is related to the survival of Moscow and even the Soviets, since it has been recaptured, it must not be lost again. But if you really have to worry about the east, the troops on Tsaritsyn's side will be insufficient;

At the same time, the direction of the Chinese attack was not only Tsaritsyn, but also in Orenburg and in Uralsk, west of Orenburg, where two or three Chinese divisions were stationed - unlike the weak White Army, the Chinese army was fierce and fierce, and they also had planes and tanks, and judging by the tanks that Stalin bought from Chinese arms dealers at a high price, this weapon covered in steel armor was simply a nightmare for the infantry. The partisan commander 'Voroshinov therefore declared that by giving him 10,000 of these tanks, the Tenth Army could fight all the way to the Atlantic.

As the political commissars of the army propagated, while the great Soviet Red Army was taking advantage of the victory to pursue the Czech and Kolchak bandits on the Eastern Front, the traitors of the proletarian revolution, imperialist robbers and lackeys, the Chinese army used extremely despicable acts to sneak attack Astrakhan and Tsaritsyn, which interrupted the Red Army's pursuit of the White Army in the east, and put the Soviets in the middle of the enemy on the southeastern front, and the Soviets reached a critical juncture of 100,000 troops......

From a practical point of view, peace talks with the Chinese are the best, and all the places they want, except for the Russian Far East, can be included in the category of national independence. This was previously recognized by the Soviets; And the Russian Far East, not to mention that it is still far, far away from the Red Army. It is said that there was not a single Slav in that place, but only Chinese, Japanese, and Korean peasants, and the bale bureaucrats of the Imperial Russia were right to be feared. Once the Eastern Qing Railway is built, the Russian Far East will be submerged by the tidal wave of yellow-skinned monkeys. Such a piece of land, thousands of miles away from Russia, in its current form, is very difficult to get back.

After the peace talks, because the Chinese occupation was not long, once they withdrew their troops, the Soviets and the North Caucasus would re-establish contact, the situation of the southeast could be completely changed, and they could also provide a large amount of food, weapons, and money, according to Stalin. Everything the Soviets need at the moment can be given by the Chinese.

But it was precisely because Stalin and his associates Voroshinov and others initiated that Trotsky was resolutely opposed. It's no longer a military issue, it's not a diplomatic one, it's a political struggle. In the case of these Red Army generals sitting here, the commander-in-chief Joakim. Ioakimovich. Vatsettis, a native of Latvia, had a close relationship with Trotsky, and the following year he had a close relationship with the commander of the Eastern Front, Sergei Brown, over the question of whether to pursue Kolchak's troops on the Eastern Front. Sergeyevich. Kamenev was dismissed from his post due to controversy, and was later arrested by Cheka on suspicion of treason. After his acquittal, he became the dean of the Red Army Military Academy, but he was still arrested and shot more than a dozen years later.

Commander of the Eastern Front Sergei . Sergeyevich. Kamenev, succeeded Vatsettis as commander-in-chief of the Red Army, but in 1924 he was sidelined. In the end, he was also transferred to a military academy, and in the Great Purge, he was shot;

Commander of the 1st Army, Mikhail . Nikolaevich. Tukhachevsky. Although he was one of the five generalissimos of the Soviet Union before the Great Purge, he was in the midst of the Great Purge. Still sentenced to death for espionage, shot;

Commander of the Second Army, Vasily. Ivanovich. Scholin. Shot;

Commander of the Third Army, Joseph Vych. Reinhold. Berzin, shot;

Commander of the Fourth Army, Mikhail Vasilvich. Frunze, who miraculously died on the operating table;

Commander of the Fifth Army, Ivan. Niki Quarter. Smirnov, shot;

During the purge, almost all the generals and cadres associated with Trotsky were executed, but now, on November 1, 1918, these comrades commanders, who would be executed more than a decade later, had no idea of the cruelty of the struggle to come. When Stalin and his gang attacked the old Russian military experts appointed by Trotsky for sabotage and counter-revolution, the generals' response was to attack the guerrilla habits of Voroshinov and others. At the same time, the post-mortem investigation of the loss of Tsaritsyn showed that although there were many objective reasons for the loss of Tsaritsyn, to a large extent, the loss was caused by the guerrilla habits of Voroshinov and others who stayed in the army.

Therefore, the recapture of Tsaritsyn not through peace talks but through fighting would be the best proof of the Revolutionary Military Council's accusation of the 'guerrilla habits' of the 10th Army; at the same time, the recapture of Tsaritsyn by force would save Trotsky's face in the Central Executive Committee, which at that time he firmly refused to negotiate peace with the Chinese.

The counter-revolutionaries and spies who were executed by Comrade Iron and Steel more than ten years later heard the gunshots of the fleeing officers of the Tenth Army before the meeting -- the officers and political commissars of the Tenth Army who fled from the attack of the Chinese army were executed outside the armored train.

Across the tin sheet of the carriage, the gunshots and shouts like fried beans outside stopped for a while. Then Trotsky looked at the people present and said: "I remember that I said before that the soldiers of the Red Army were not cowards, they were not self-servants, they were fighting for the liberation of the working class. If they retreat or fight ineffectively, the blame lies with the commanders and commissars. I warned in advance that any unit that retreats without authorization will first be shot by the political commissar of the unit, followed by the commander of the unit, ......, and all cowards, self-interested and traitors will be executed. I will personally supervise the implementation of this order, thereby proclaiming the whole army. ”

The former commander of the 10th Army, Voroshinov, was dissatisfied with the transfer of the Revolutionary Military Council, and personally went to Moscow to complain, but he left, but the political commissar of the 10th Army, Xia Tenko, the chief of staff, Mazylevtsky, the army representative, and others were still there, and after the interrogation, these people once again gave Trotsky a target to attack Stalin and others, that is, the so-called Chinese arms dealer was actually a spy, because he spied on the intelligence of the Red Army, so Tsaritsyn was lost so quickly.

The verbal lawsuit with Stalin was a matter of negotiation with Comrade Lenin in Moscow, and what was really to be done now was to recapture Tsaritsyn in order to completely silence the mouths of Stalin and his company. After reiterating his own principle of shooting. Trotsky looked at the commander-in-chief, Vatsettis, who today was the colonel of the old Russian army who presided over the military meeting.

"Look at the current situation. We were able to assemble five armies in half a month, namely the first, second, fourth, fifth, and tenth armies. Combined with the Red Guards drawn from other places, the total strength exceeded 80,000. When Vasetis talked about the Tenth Army, he glanced at Okulov, the new commander of the Tenth Army, and although the Tenth Army was retracted, the morale of the army was still extremely broken.

"The enemy army in Tsaritsyn is now about 30,000 people, but at the current rate of their troops, if we can't cut the railway, they will probably have 80,000 or more in half a month. I have inspected the front-line positions, although I could not find any flaws around Tsaritsyn. The 400-kilometer railway from Tsaritsyn to Astrakhan is a weakness that they will be difficult to defend, and when the Volga freezes in December, the river will be cut off......"

From Vasetis's point of view, it was better not to fight the enemy on the other side early, but to wait for the Volga River to freeze in winter and the railways to be completely destroyed before the Red Army attacked. The defense, firepower, and strength of the Chinese army are not only not at a disadvantage, but are also at an advantage, which makes Comrade Colonel scratch his head very much, so his speech always has a feeling of sleepwalking and not being boundary.

'Ahem......'. At Trotsky's suggestion, Vasetis finally came to his senses and said: "But we cannot wait until December. Not even a day to go, imperialism, counter-revolutionaries, the White Army. will take advantage of the opportunity to launch an attack when we are in a decisive battle with the Chinese army, so. The armies, except for weapons and ammunition, should discard all baggage, rush to Dubovka as fast as possible, and as soon as our forces are superior to the enemy, they will launch a fierce and decisive attack!

Prior to this, the Xia Boyang Division of the 25th Division of the Fourth Army was to bypass Tsaritsyn and go to the rear of the enemy to sabotage the railway; The fleet of the Volga region should actively explore the minefield gaps on the Volga and strive to open a passage in preparation for landing on the enemy's flank in case of war, so as to cause internal chaos; Armored vehicles, armored fighting vehicles, and armored trains should be maintained and play the role of bayonet assault in wartime to open gaps in the enemy's defensive line. The rest of the divisions, in accordance with the previously demarcated line of defense, actively dug trenches to prevent the surprise attack of the Chinese......"

Vasetis had gone through all the preparations and things to be aware of, and just as he looked at Trotsky and signaled that he had finished speaking, the guards suddenly exclaimed from outside: "Air raids!!" Concealed ......", followed by the sound of gunfire.

The armored train does not have to worry about Chinese planes, but the soldiers who are not on the armored train can only hide everywhere. The jumble of firing hit the eardrums of everyone seated. The sound of the speeding airplane motors and machine-gun fire mingled into a thin and sonorous sound web, which spread down from the sky overhead, covering the entire train solidly.

The closed armored train could withstand the attack of large-caliber guns, but the people inside could not know what was going on outside. However, Trotsky, who had walked to the other side of the carriage with Vasetis, opened a narrow window and saw what was happening outside: in the vast blue sky of early winter, more than a dozen Chinese planes were swooping down against the chaotic soldiers outside the train, and some kind of smooth metal on the wings glistened in the sunlight. Unable to see the tracks of your own rifles and machine guns, the red bullets fired by the plane were like whips on the snow full of soldiers, and the flying human bodies and the splashed ice and snow formed an incomparably scattered and bloody picture. The whip of the god of fire, you will die at the touch of a button.

When the two of them watched the breath stagnate, the plane that swept through the crowd pulled up again, flew high, and then aimed at a certain target, began to dive from the air like a fall, with the dive of the plane, the sun suddenly became a demon domain, a kind of devil's scream, soul-stirring screams sounded, only to see that the plane threw a small black dot, thrillingly pulled up at a place only ten meters high from the ground, in the roar of the engine, the plane miraculously flattened, and then flew away; And the small black dot it dropped accurately hit a pile of ammunition, and in the extremely violent explosion, everything nearby turned into fragments of powder.

This is the attack of the Devil IV dive bomber, although the bomb is still only a few tens of kilograms, but the damage is extremely deadly. Trotsky did not understand airplanes, and Commander-in-Chief Vasetis, although he had fought with the Germans, was not a fierce battlefield on the Eastern Front. The Germans simply did not have such aircraft. Seeing these planes constantly diving, bombing their own ammunition, artillery, and baggage, the two of them suddenly felt a chill in their hearts. Dubovka is just a small town. The steppe in winter has no shelter, if the problem of air defense cannot be solved. No matter how many troops come up, they will only send them to death.

"What should we do?" Trotsky asked unconsciously. Although he had the acumen of genius, contrary to Stalin, he was more inclined to turn to others than to think for himself when faced with things he could not do about it.

"Air defense should be strengthened!" In fact, Vasetis did not have any good methods, his plane belonged to the kind that would be shot down by Chinese planes as soon as it reached the sky, "Moreover, in the future, our attack can only be put into the evening, so that we can evade enemy aircraft." ”

"Hmm." Trotsky nodded heavily, and he thought that a night raid was a good idea. In the dark, you can not only hide from air raids. There was still no distinction between the enemy and the enemy, and after a large number of people rushed into Tsaritsyn, it was followed by difficult street fighting, at this time it was all about hand-to-hand combat with soldiers, and planes and tanks did not play much role.

"Comrade President, I think that if time permits, I suggest ......" Vatzetivis wanted to persuade Trotsky to slow down his offensive on Tsaritsyn, preferably after Christmas.

"The Central Executive Committee has only given us this month. Not even this month, only until the 20th of this month. "As a comrade-in-arms and comrade, as well as a like-minded friend, Trotsky did not accuse Vasettis of capitulationist tendencies. Militarily and even politically, the two are almost one.

"If the twentieth does not take Tsaritsyn, then the executive committee will sign a contract with the Chinese?" Vatsetis asked. It's just unbelievable. "We simply can't do it!" He said in a low but firm voice. "The Chinese are not the White Army, they are just as difficult to deal with as the Germans. Twenty days is simply not enough! ”

"But our position is that we cannot sign contracts with the Chinese, and the Germans will ask us to deliver grain and furs after the fifteenth. There's only so much time! Trotsky slammed his fist into the iron plate. He was too little to understand China, and was carried away by the victory in Kazan, and finally stimulated by Stalin, otherwise how could he oppose signing a contract with the Chinese.

"Dear Lev, I know your difficulties, but you must understand that if the entire Eastern Front is exhausted but Tsaritsyn is not taken, then Stalin and Voroshilov will definitely create other excuses to arrest all of us, and then another 'Stalin barge'."

Vasetis's ability to climb to his current position is an opportunity, but there is always something outstanding. He saw all the internal struggles of the Bolsheviks, and the most important thing now was that the Eastern Front could not be defeated, especially not by a great defeat, and that if it was defeated, the fate of his own people would be no different from that of the old Russian officers and bourgeois elements who were shot. Every time he thought of this, Vassetitis felt that his fate was incredible: a colonel regimental commander turned into the commander-in-chief of the Red Army; And a revolutionary who is more revolutionary than all revolutionaries actually joined the party just yesterday.

Of course, Trotsky could not understand the exclamation of the commander-in-chief of the Red Army, and he said with some distress: "But we can't just admit defeat!" ”

"But we have already lost, and if we really wipe out these four armies, not only us, but also the Soviets, will be in absolute danger. At that time, if the Chinese thought that we could not withstand the attack of the White Army, whether the contract would be another thing to consider, and after the defeat, could we hold Kazan? For them, it's all a sign anyway, so why not sign with the White Army? ”

After Vazetis asked rhetorically, he added, "Either we will not give a time limit, then we will definitely be able to repel the Chinese, of course this will be a great risk, if the White army takes the opportunity to attack, or if the German army attacks because they cannot get supplies, then the proletarian revolution will fail; Either we find an excuse and directly admit that we will not be able to occupy Tsaritsyn within the stipulated time, so that we can still keep our troops against the White Army. We may be criticized by Comrade Ilyich, but at least we have not put our limited strength on a gamble that is likely to be lost. Because once lost, the whole revolution also failed. ”

In terms of position, Trotsky should be in the leadership position and Vasetis in the lead, but in reality it is often Vasetetti who is in the leadership position when weighing the pros and cons and taking advantage of the chaos - he has a clever way of changing Trotsky's decision-making by means of a sideshow. Now, taking advantage of Trotsky's concern about the Chinese's air raids, he is changing his decision in this way.

"Excuses? What excuses to look for? Trotsky asked silently. At this time, he also felt that it was unwise to really fight to the death with the Chinese, and the best way to get back Tsarizin was to sign a contract.

"Let the Tenth Army attack!" Vatsetis's pupils constricted. He said with great calmness: "If their offensive fails, then we will report to Moscow." We admit that we have misjudged the combat effectiveness of the Chinese army, and believe that given the current strength and time constraints, there is no possibility of recapturing Tsaritsyn. For the future of the revolution, the survival of the Soviets, and ......" Having said this, Vasetis glanced at Trotsky, and without saying anything else, he continued: "We should stop the war with the Chinese and concentrate our forces against the growing Kolchak White Army, which is our deadliest threat." ”

Stalin wanted to see the jokes of his own people. It is hoped that the Eastern Front will be weakened and eliminated by the Chinese, so it is better to first destroy all the Tenth Army formed by Stalin, and then take this opportunity to think that another war is useless and agree to peace talks. It has to be said that this is the best strategy without harming one's own interests.

"Voroshinov will go crazy!" Trotsky looked at the commander-in-chief of the Red Army with deep apprehension in his eyes.

"But you've shot his political commissar, his men, his cronies, he's gone crazy!" Vasetis's vehement reminder to Trotsky, who was not good at political struggle, "As long as the war continues, as you say." As long as we are constantly revolutionary, the Soviets will need us, the officers, and not shoot us, and we will not have to worry about Voroshinov and Stalin. ”

As a district federation faction, a new party member who only joined the party yesterday. The only way for Trotsky, and the old Russian officers within the Red Army, whom he had conscripted and appointed, to keep from losing his position and being dragged out and shot like a Cheka dog, was to keep the Soviets at war forever. If the revolution continues, the revolution will end one day. One day their value will be over.

"Let me think about it!" Trotsky was a little confused at this time, and after he had said this, he went back to the carriage where the meeting was held and adjourned the meeting. The orders previously announced by Vasetis have not been cancelled and will be carried out.

Like well-fed vultures, the two squadrons of air force dive bombers that had just bombed the headquarters of the Red Army returned to camp satisfied. Although the bombing is the main task, the situation of the enemy troops will be reported to the staff officer of the operations office who specializes in collecting intelligence immediately after landing, and the news will soon be transmitted to the front command headquarters.

There, in addition to Major General Wen Yongyu, chief of staff of the cavalry corps, Lieutenant General Peng Qingpeng, commander of the Central Asia Army, and Lieutenant General Xu Jingxi, chief of staff, also moved their accounts the day after the capture of Tsaritsyn -- it is the tradition of senior commanders of the Baath Army to command as far forward as possible.

In a steel warroom, the shrunken city of Tsaritsyn is neatly displayed on a sand table, and the narrow city built along the Volga River is like a huge ugly scar between the steppe and the Volga River, while the tall, gold-domed Orthodox church in the center of the Russian city is like a nail to make a wound, suggesting that the scar has not yet healed and will grow larger with the greed of mankind.

Around this unhealed scar, the trenches and barbed wire fences throughout the Baath Army were like sterile silk threads used by doctors to suture up the operation, and the narrow scar was firmly tied to death, layer by layer. The exterior is like this, although there are no silk threads inside the scars, but the illegal buildings that obstructed the feet and feet before were all bulldozed by bulldozers, and the lattices were neatly divided into various functional areas

-- When the Baath Army occupied Tsaritsyn, a large city of 150,000 people[note 110], although it suffered a lot after the revolution, there were still nearly 100,000 people in the city, and in order to prevent the Russians from rioting, the troops specially divided the area to avoid contact between the army and the citizens as much as possible; At the same time, a train of colonial policemen from within Japan was temporarily called up by the command, and they went ashore in Astrakhan with the first fleet, and then rushed to the newly occupied city to maintain order. I don't know if it was because of the abundant food supply or the good management of the Japanese police, there were no riots and harassment in Tsaritsyn, which really puzzled the General Staff. (To be continued......)

PS: Note 110: "Lin Huiyin's Collected Works: You Are the April Day on Earth", Chapter 5, The Reconstruction of Stalingrad. P236