Chapter 3: Red Sky

"A piece of the sky must be held up for the Red Army, otherwise we will be hit by the enemy's air superiority!"

As he stepped out of Lenin's office, he rekindled his pipe, still recalling his teacher's teachings, his gray eyes staring sternly at the pedestrians coming and going in the street.

Here, he could see the cars known as the Beetles that had arrived with the arms deal. It was these cars that came and went that made St. Petersburg, which had been a little deserted after the revolution, show some vitality.

For the sake of arms, Russia has had to buy back large quantities of industrial goods from China, including medicines, tobacco, tractors, or instant coffee and tea powder.

It is precisely because of the existence of these things that he believes that China has been confined to the control of some "hateful, cunning speculators".

Although he had been impressed by what Lenin had just told him, he felt distrust of this rising neighbor in his heart. In particular, when he analyzed some information from the "Cheka" closely related to him, he concluded that the Tsar's young children were very likely to be in China, which made him even more uneasy about this rapidly rising country.

"They are still untrustworthy people because they don't care about class differences!"

After getting into his car, thinking about the situation in front of him, he took the pipe back from his mouth, frowned and muttered again. This indicates that if Stalin does take over the leadership of the Russian regime in the future, it will probably be a government that will not be friendly to China.

Tsaritsyn, there was no more fighting at this time. The "Red Army," which had just been formed, which seemed somewhat immature, became powerful under the arming of a large number of German-style weapons that had just arrived. They are in the midst of hastily forming and training.

"No, the Red Army in the North Caucasus is still too weak. This is not only because the city, but also the communicators, mainly the sympathetic sympathizers of the Mensheviks in the countryside, have not yet been completely eliminated. It was they who influenced the development of the Red Army, and therefore, we can no longer tolerate it! ”

Under the leadership of Stalin, who arrived in Tsaritsyn and gained administrative and military authority, more active actions were soon launched. A large number of Red Army and "Cheka" workers came to the countryside on the pretext of collecting "surplus grain".

At the same time, the system of "collective farms" began to be imposed throughout the countryside. Those who did not want to participate because they had considerable land were put in prison under the label of "reactionary kulaks". According to statistics, the number of prisons in Russia as a whole was reduced to about 1.5 million, except during the Second World War, when the German army was advancing. In other time periods, most of them are above 2.6 million.

This will include bad elements, political prisoners, and others who do not fit the needs of the future Soviet Russia.

However, it cannot be denied that under the management system of "war communism", after the expropriation of the property of the kulaks and landlords and the distribution of land to the landless peasants, the vitality of the whole region burst out at once.

Large quantities of military rations were gathered together as a result of the effective "collection of surplus rations" and pulled into the army's warehouses. More young people joined the party or regiment, and then joined the army in droves. In particular, after China supplied a considerable amount of German and Japanese equipment, batches of "Red Army" were created.

At this time, although the military strength had reached a certain level, there were no more conflicts between the two sides except for skirmishes during reconnaissance.

The "White Guards", who had received mechanized equipment from Europe, were unable to move when this cold winter was approaching. Although the aircraft is not particularly affected in cold weather, it is not particularly badly affected. However, Western countries, which have begun to experience the characteristics of mechanized warfare, advise that in such weather, they should take a defensive position and actively train their troops.

Therefore, the White Guards began to train their troops with the continuous assistance of Britain and France. In particular, it was equipped with a large number of "Camels", "Newburgh" and even the famous German "three-winged" "Fokker Dr.1" aircraft, which made the armed forces of the White Guards begin to surpass the newly formed "Red Army" in terms of quality.

However, at this time, the difference in the equipment of the main species can only reach a certain quantitative difference. It does not allow the war to be waged in a completely new way when it unfolds on the land of Russia. Therefore, the "Red Army", which used Japanese and German equipment, was not in the completely different equipment and training that Germany and the Russian army had when they were fighting on the Eastern Front.

The use of jeep-towed 2 or 4-barreled 12.7 mm machine guns could provide considerable protection for the Red Army, and some modified Japanese cannons were also sold to the "Red Army" facing a large number of foreign invasions under the name of "anti-aircraft guns".

Using these weapons, Stalin organized his cavalry corps. One of the divisions used mainly Japanese Type 38 rifles, in addition to the Stern submachine guns, light machine guns, and shielded Maxim machine guns towed by horse-drawn carriages. Another division used German Mauser rifles, and another division used Ngan Mosin rifles.

Although the equipment of each division is not exactly the same, fortunately, the supply of divisions as a unit does not cause any serious chaos. They also know that the other side's weapons, especially those automatic firearms, are almost identical to theirs.

As a "heroic fighter" - chairman of the Military Committee of the North Caucasus Military District - Stalin did not just go through a European, less adapted winter in vain. His cavalry corps was ready for action.

And at this time, since we are talking about the first cavalry corps formed in the North Caucasus of Russia, it is impossible not to talk about a young soldier in this unit, whose name was Nikolai. Alekseyevich. Ostrovsky.

Friends may feel that Russian names are always so long and so difficult to remember. If you are a little confused about this name, then if you mention his writings, I believe many people will understand who he really is.

"How Steel is Made" As a person who loves to read, it is estimated that he will always know or read it. Maybe it will also be for the sake of the young man's Paul. Kochagin was amazed by his tenacity and purity, and the name is probably easier to remember, so we might as well call this young man Paul. Kochagin!

By this time, the young man could already hang a somewhat strange-looking Stern submachine gun on his chest. Hanging from his chest is a bullet pouch made of cowhide. He had an extra saber under his ribs, and a hat with a red star on the top of his head. If at this time he was a little drunk, then he was comparable to those Cossack cavalrymen.

Of course, he will have those drunkenness that is not liked by the members and party members. Nor would he have been like the Cossack cavalrymen, who only fantasized about a merry and happy life. His heart is heavier, but at the same time there is more pure romance in his heart.

When night falls, the camp's camps are filled with lanterns in the tents. Since they were all cavalry, there was always a smell of horse sweat in the tents.

In such a tent, before the lights out horn was blown, the snoring of the exhausted recruits who had trained all day could be heard. But after a day of training, he couldn't sleep, so he remembered the figure of a girl in his mind.

"What a beautiful girl she was, especially not like the other young ladies, and the joy in my heart when she looked at me with a smile in her eyes...... It's like...... It seems to be riding my horse, galloping across the vast prairie! ”

Paul. Kochagin turned over on his blanket, spread on some thick straw mats. I thought of the daughter of the forester in my hometown, Tonya. Like all young people, whenever he thought of his sweetheart, he would be exhausted, and a stream of heat would rush through his body, tossing and turning on his bed in the cold night.

In his heart, as sweet as if he smelled the scent of summer flowers, as if he had tasted the sweetness of the beehive, a cacophony spread through the camp. As if something unfortunate had happened, he got up from his bed and crept out of the tent before the lights out.

The bonfire was still flickering on and off, and some people were nearby, placing their socks or felt boots around the fire. In order to be on the battlefield, the need for dry feet.

Paul, who is wearing only a velvet jacket. Kochagin shivered in the cold night air, and then he raised his head and looked up at the sky like everyone else on his side.

There, there was a strange red flash, like a pale red or copper-colored satin spread in the sky, which was trembling slightly by the wind.

"Red sky!"

The red sky does not bode well at night. This shows that there are some collective farms that are being burned to the ground.

"These robbers! If only we could ......"

Some people in the camp were scolding hatefully, and others were crying quietly because the ominous red light was coming from the direction of their hometown.

At that moment, an urgent whistle sounded through the camp, as if a sharp blade was cutting through the night.

I didn't have time to think about it, and Paul was wearing only a velvet jacket. Kochagin turned and flashed into the tent. His clothes, coats, and all his gear were there.

The whistle of the emergency assembly sounded in his ears made his young heart beat violently, and a slight shiver before the battle soon drove away the cold that seemed to be there in his body without a trace.