Christmas Eve 1918 was definitely not a beautiful memory for the soldiers of all countries who fought on the Russian soil. It was supposed to be a night of family gathering, a night of good food and laughter, but it was just an endless cold.

Especially the Finns and the Entente expeditionary force, it was even more difficult to get home this night. The supply lines were completely paralyzed by heavy snowfall, and thousands of tons of supplies that were supposed to be delivered to the front line were stranded on the road between Murmansk and Palikala. Let the long-awaited Triple Alliance have only a tight Christmas.

"It's Spam luncheon meat again." One of the GIs looked at his plate and let out a wail.

Not a single American GI liked luncheon meat, they had enough of it when they were "looking at the warehouses" in Murmansk. I was thinking of entering the hinterland of Finland and Russia, so I guess I could change my taste. They can hear that Russia's wildlife resources are quite abundant, not to mention bear's paws, tiger whips, and rabbit meat!

Unfortunately, after arriving in Parikala, the game is not visible at all, and the goose feathers and heavy snow discourage them, and hunting in this weather is more likely to deliver food to hungry wolves, tigers, leopards, and horses.

Anyway, someone who was not afraid of death had broken into the forest, and two days later, when his comrades found him again, the poor creature was left with only a skeleton.

"Complain less, at least we eat better than the Finns!"

This is true, compared to the expeditionary force, the Finnish White Army was a fighter in the middle of the struggle, as a group of stragglers who were temporarily conscripted, the Finns were quite poorly equipped, they never imagined that the civil war would last so long. I didn't even think about spending the winter. Most Finns also wear autumn clothes. If it weren't for the Intervention Army, they urgently supported them with a batch of blankets and shoes and socks. These poor creatures don't bother with the bandits at all.

Of course, the Finns are not only facing the problem of clothing, but also the food problem, the civil war has destroyed all the production and life of the country, and they do not produce much food in the first place, and this whole year, almost more than 70% of the production is owed.

Although the Entente had agreed to give Finland economic aid, it was too far to save the fire. Domination of the Baltic Sea was still in the hands of the Germans, and the Finns, whose access to the sea was almost completely controlled, had to rely on ports near the Arctic Circle for assistance.

However, everyone on earth knows that the Arctic route is not easy to follow, and the harsh winter has paralyzed the communication lines in northern Finland, and even food cannot be transported. So, compared to Americans who complain that luncheon meat is not good, poor Finns eat a little raw potatoes for the Chinese New Year. Most of the Finnish White Army had eaten enough last ten days ago, and now they can kill themselves for a piece of dried sweet potatoes that can satisfy their stomachs. Even quite a few Americans saw that the hungry Finnish soldiers had already begun to gnaw on the bark.

In such a situation, it is natural that there is no need to say anything about counteroffensive to seize Vyborg, and the status quo can be maintained. It's not easy enough to keep the troops from collapsing. Anyway, whether it is the expeditionary force or the Finnish White Army, they only hope that the Russians will not come to attack them too soon, because they really can't bear it. Fortunately, it's Christmas Eve, it's Christmas. The Russians also have a holiday, right?

Of course, the Russians want to celebrate Christmas, but the Chinese have no concept of Christmas, at least the Chinese of that era will ask: "Christmas?" What is that? Can you eat it? ”

All the officers and men of the Red Eagle Regiment had no interest in Christmas, not even New Year's Day, and the Entente intervention forces were counting on a truce during the holidays, and they really had the wrong opponent.

Ubolevich is Russian, but he also decided that for the time being, Christmas is a miracle compared to the military exploits that are at his fingertips?

"Your task is not to crush your opponents, not to beat them to pieces. What's the point of that? My request is to eat the opponent cleanly, thoroughly and beautifully! "Ubolevich was enthusiastically doing the pre-war mobilization," ...... Preliminary estimates suggest that we have 6,000 Entente intervention troops and more than 8,000 White Guards on front. And we have only two thousand men for the offensive. I know what you want to say, the number of enemies is several times greater than ours! But wars are not won by the outnumbered man. It seems to me that the enemy in front of us is nothing more than a pack of chickens and dogs, and the harsh winter has weakened half of their fighting power, and hunger has wiped out the other half, what we have to do is to tie them up with ropes as fast as possible, and then drag them back in strings and send them to Petrograd to parade through the streets! ”

Ubolevich swept away the previous depression, he had lived too happily these months, there were no more Voroshilov and Stalin who made his head big, and there were no low-quality soldiers who could not even shoot a gun. Some are qualified soldiers, the best equipment, adequate supplies, and colleagues of one heart and one mind.

All this is like a dream to him, if he can't clean up more than 10,000 scraps in this situation, then he can simply retire.

When the bell rang on December 25, the Allied Expeditionary Force and the Finnish White Army, shivering and shivering with hunger, received an unexpected Christmas present, shells raining down on their heads, and the heavy shelling turned half the sky red.

And just when they were dazed and didn't quite understand what was happening, the fierce Red Eagle Regiment broke through their defenses with a textbook infantry and artillery coordinated attack. And then? And then there's the endless chaos. The Finnish White Army, which had no strength to fight, simply threw away its weapons and chose to surrender, while the Entente expeditionary force ran around like frightened rabbits.

After dawn, most of the Allied expeditionary forces and the Finnish White Army were already lined up with bowls of hot porridge under the bayonet guard of the Red Eagle soldiers, except for a few three-legged cats that had slipped through the net.

The Finns were delighted, and Larsson recalled: "We were finally relieved, we didn't have to suffer from the cold anymore, we didn't have to go hungry, and the only regret was that the amount of hot porridge was not enough......

When the news reached Moscow, the Politburo was in a meeting to discuss the situation of the war, and when Lenin heard that Ubolevich had captured 20,000 enemies with 2,000 men, he said happily: "This is the best Christmas present, Comrade Ubolevich and the volunteer soldiers have done a wonderful job, please convey my greetings to them." Convey to Comrade Andrei. Let him reward the comrades of the Red Eagle Regiment well. I hope they will continue their efforts to wipe out the Finnish White Army and foreign intervention forces as soon as possible! ”

It seems that the mentor is not very interesting, after such a big victory, he only gives some verbal praise, and does not give any dry goods, it is really unreasonable, right?

But there is also a reason for this, because the volunteer army really does not lack anything, and there is a certain immortal. They have the best equipment and the best supplies, and the Mentor's pockets are too deflated to give any powerful rewards, so let's just let a certain immortal deal with this problem!

As for the medals, the nature of the volunteers is rather special, and it is inconvenient for the Soviets and the Central Committee to directly reward them, and this matter can only be commended through the new Finnish government channels after the end of the Finnish Civil War.

And, while the Red Eagle Regiment brought good news. But this Christmas, the Mentor, was not happy, on several other fronts. The news was not always good, the situation in the Urals was very tangled, and Brusinov withstood Kolchak's Christmas offensive with several newly formed and poorly equipped armies, which temporarily blocked them on the outskirts of Moscow. However, the fighting was fierce and brutal, and Brusinov had already asked for reinforcements more than once.

The northern front on which the Urals were located was quite good, and Denikin on the southern front was even more fierce than Kolchak, and Yegorov was caught off guard, and the Don-Volga army group retreated again and again, and now the two sides are engaged in street fighting around Tsaritsyn, and the situation is said to be quite bad.

There is no good news in the Ukrainian direction, Frunze has withdrawn a lot of troops to support Yegorov and Brusinov, and can only turn from offensive to defensive, Makhno and Petliura seized the opportunity to recover a lot of lost ground, it seems that the spring sowing in Ukraine next spring will be dangerous again!

As for the defense of Petrograd, it was calm, and with the setback of the Yudenich offensive, and as the Red Army moved to full force, Yudenich's defeat was inevitable. Now it's up to us to seize the opportunity to get rid of Yudenich once and for all, and never give him a chance to resurrect again.

However, it was not only the uncertain war situation that made Lenin feel bad, but also the bad economic situation that made him a headache, and the Russian economy did not improve even the slightest bit since he took power, and with the outbreak of a full-scale civil war, military spending rose sharply again, and the food problem was the sword of Damorik hanging over the heads of the Bolsheviks.

"Our estimates for the first half of the year were too optimistic," sighed the Mentor, "our enemies are still strong, and we have the support of foreign powers, and it is unrealistic to try to defeat them with one punch...... Judging from the current situation, the civil war will develop in the direction of continuity. ”

Speaking of this, the Mentor raised his forehead before continuing: "In view of this passive situation, in order to defend the people's power, we must take strong measures, we must concentrate precious production resources, and it is imperative to comprehensively promote the policy of wartime communism!" ”

It can be seen that Lenin has been forced to have no choice, and originally wanted to recover Ukraine in June, seize the time to engage in agricultural production, and breathe a sigh of relief. But who would have thought that neither Makhnor nor Petliura would be easy to deal with, and Frunze, who did not have many troops in his hands, did not have much to do with them.

Anyway, the situation in Ukraine is still a mess, there is no need to count on what food is, and it is very difficult to say what the situation will be next year, anyway, Lenin has prepared for the worst, and I am afraid that there will be too much hope for the resumption of production in the spring sowing of 1919.

Therefore, it was inevitable to comprehensively promote the policy of wartime communism, especially the system of collecting surplus grain. Otherwise, it is difficult to say whether the People's Commissariat will survive the first half of 1919.

It was not only the Bolsheviks who were suffering, the situation of the White Army was actually even worse. In contrast to history, the Allies did not surrender, which prevented the White Army from receiving direct assistance from abroad. They are much weaker than in history, and they are actually gritting their teeth and holding on.

"Food, the troops at the front desperately need it! Even if you go to grab it, you have to get food! ”

Kolchak, the supreme consul, yelled hysterically, and Kolchak, who had only been the "supreme consul" for a few months, was already exhausted, and he had to pull his skin every day, and people everywhere reached out to him asking for this and that. It's as if he's a robot cat who can casually pull everything he wants out of his pocket.

How could he have that ability? The only thing he could do was to do the same and reach out to the Entente. The problem is that the Entente are not open-minded, and it is not easy to get some real money out of the pockets of these old hooligans. And even if you can dig it out, it will be difficult to ship it to Russia.

Kolchak now has only one lifeline. That is the Trans-Siberian Railway. He relied on the railroad for all his supplies. But Siberian winters are no joke. And the capacity of that railway is quite limited. It is basically impossible to maintain the operation of an army of 300,000.

What's more, Kolchak had to support more than 300,000 people, but millions of nobles, monks, and refugees who fled to him from Petrograd and Moscow. And Siberia doesn't produce much food. The only thing that can be managed is wood, but wood can't be eaten!

In fact, Kolchak did not intend to fight the Bolsheviks in the winter, but after the coup he completed the coup he waited for several months, waiting for the collapse of the Allied bloc, according to his original estimates. The Allied bloc did not survive 1918. As long as they fell, he Kolchak would have a steady stream of support.

Who would have thought that the Allies did not fall, and now Kolchak's entire plan was disrupted. He was expecting to survive the winter with the support of the Entente and recruit troops to grow stronger, but suddenly found that the situation was not good. The supplies brought from the Far East were quite limited, not enough for 300,000 people to survive the winter, and in addition to the continuous flow of capitalists, nobles, and monks running to him, the supplies were even more stretched.

Kolchak found that if he did not hurry up and launch an offensive, he would probably not wait to survive this winter. That's the end of his reign.

As a last resort, Kolchak could only attack. You can only rush in the direction of Moscow with one breath. In fact, at first he made good progress, capturing Kazan, hitting Nizhny Novgorod, and it seemed that Moscow was already close at hand.

At that time, he was a little proud, thinking that the Red Army was nothing more than that, and even despised the incompetence of Kornilov, Denikin and Karekin, otherwise the Bolsheviks could be so arrogant?

However, just when Kolchak was full of confidence and was ready to step on Nizhny Novgorod and point his sword at Moscow, Tukhachevsky gave him a blow in the face, and with the poorly equipped 15th Army temporarily requisitioned, Tukhachevsky firmly held Nizhny Novgorod and crossed in front of Kolchak like a moat.

Kolchak exhausted all the means at his disposal, even the means that he could not use, but Tukhachevsky told him: "You are a layman, you are a master in the navy, but you are a layman in land warfare!" ”

In Nizhny Novgorod, Kolchak's army was full of bags and could no longer move forward, and he also thought about bypassing here, but the veteran Brusinov did not give him a chance to make a detour, and commanded the troops to firmly stick to Kolchak.

As a result, the invincible Kolchak found that he seemed to have no choice, that it was completely impossible to advance, that the Red Army was all red-eyed, and that the superiority of the defensive situation made them greatly compensate for the disadvantage in equipment and experience. Unless Brusinov and Tukhachevsky have a brain cramp and go on a counteroffensive, Kolchak has no chance of victory.

So go back? In fact, Kolchak has no way to retreat, and he is powerless to follow, as long as the troops retreat will collapse, and then the Russian winter will unceremoniously stifle his hope of a comeback.

"We can only keep going! Persistence leads to victory! ”

Kolchak's judgment was accurate, he had no way out but to insist. The problem is that persistence also requires capital, and he just doesn't have capital. That's why he said aggressively about grabbing food.

In fact, Kolchak was too late, in fact, his very practical subordinates had already begun to grab food, and even not only food, as long as it was valuable, as long as it worked for them, they robbed everything.

For a time, the common people of Novgorod suffered, and the White Army succeeded in making its reputation even more stinky. Of course, the Bolsheviks were no better, and the surplus collection system looted out the kulaks, much to the disappointment of many peasants who had a favorable opinion of the Bolsheviks. Especially in Ukraine, which has just been recovered, the peasants, who have suffered from the war, originally wanted to live a better life, but as a result, the surplus rations were also looted by the grain requisition team.

It can be said that at the end of 1918, the civil war in Russia entered a critical time node, and whoever could survive this node would be able to control the country. Both the Red Army and the White Army are gritting their teeth and holding on, but between them, there is a rather influential third-party force, although this force is not very strong, but in a sense, it can influence the fate of the revolutionary movement in Russia and even in the world, and this force is the Russian peasantry!

Beware, the man who wields this power is named Makhno! He is an extremely contradictory and controversial figure, but he cannot be ignored!

"The Bolsheviks have shown the nature of exploitation," Makhno, in a speech in the countryside calling on the peasants to join his ranks...... It turns out that they are also pursuing a policy of exploitation that robs you of the fruits of your hard work...... They are the new bandits, the pseudo-proletarian regime! You will only be enslaved with spies and political commissars...... And the slogan of our Ukrainian revolutionary insurrectionary army is to embrace true freedom, to bring down the political commissars, to bring down the Cheka, to bring down the contemporary agents, to eliminate the grain conscription teams! (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank you to the fat man Lu Fei, Juventus and Comrade Potato in seconds!