The news of the breakthrough of the German troops through the Soviet line reached the Kerch command, and the commander Kozlov could not help but be stunned.

"The Germans broke through our lines?" Kozlov couldn't believe it: "But we have three armies in front, and the defense line is only 18 kilometers wide, how can they break through the defense line where our three armies are stationed?!" ”

"The 47th Army is advancing too fast, Comrade Kozlov!" The commander of the 51st Army, Major General Bogdanov, reported: "While our 51st Army was blocked in Fodorosia and could not move, the Germans attacked the 44th Army through the gap between us!" ”

"How many people did the 44th Army lose?" Kozlov asked: "I don't know, Comrade Kozlov, we have not yet contacted the 44th Army, and we have not been able to count the number of dead and wounded, there are corpses and wounded everywhere...... It's hell here! One thing is for sure, the Germans definitely passed through our line of defense, and there were quite a few troops, at least one infantry division and one armored division! ”

Kozlov slowly put down the phone.

Kozlov was not a man who knew nothing about military affairs, in fact, he could even be said to be a man with military experience: he graduated from the Higher Infantry Academy, fought in the First World War, during the Civil War, successively served as battalion commander, deputy regiment commander, regimental commander, participated in the battles against the White Guards and the Basmachi bandits, and then served as chief of staff and division commander...... Step by step, he rose to the position of commander of this army group today.

Those who have risen step by step from low-ranking officers generally have quite solid military theories, and they rarely have theories that are divorced from reality.

But Kozlov was still classified as "mediocre" because he completely surrendered to the Soviet military and political system at this time and did not fight...... In fact, this is also reasonable, Mechelis is an extremely terrifying existence for Soviet generals, he has carried out the purge of the officer corps before this, and brought a large number of Soviet generals to the firing squad.

Just like not so long ago, Tolbukhin, the chief of staff, was immediately dismissed from his post because of his opposition to Mehris.

Kozlov then realized that if he opposed Mehris, he would not end well either.

This can only be described as Kozlov's short-sightedness.

If Kozlov had been smart enough, he would have known that "this time and that time" is completely different now.

Before the outbreak of the war, Kozlov was probably right to obey Mehlis in this way, because there would be no external force to test whether Mekhlis's approach was right or wrong, and there would be no obvious consequences.

But......

After the outbreak of the war, especially the Soviet-German war, which had reached a critical moment, no one dared to easily bear defeat and losses, and there was no doubt that the emphasis was on the war and not on Mekhlis.

Even if Mehris was Stalin's Pompin, he would have to suffer the consequences if he lost the war, otherwise the entire Soviet Union would probably have perished.

So, the right thing to do at this point is to risk being removed from office, as Tolbukhin did, to challenge Mehris...... Because it is obvious that allowing Mehris to continue to command in such a chaotic manner will definitely end in defeat, and being removed from office will escape the responsibility of this defeat and even be reused. (Tolbukhin was thus trusted and reused in the Stalingrad direction)

But Kozlov did not have the courage to do so, and like many Soviet officers, he was more afraid of Mehris than the German army.

"What's going on?" Mehris walked into the commander sleepily and asked Kozlov, his tone seemed a little unhappy that Kozlov had woken him up in the middle of the night.

"Comrade Mekhlis!" Kozlov said word for word: "The Germans have broken through our lines and are attacking towards Kerch!" ”

"What? What did you say? Mehris couldn't help but be stunned: "You say it again! ”

"Kerch is only 85 kilometers from Feodosia!" Kozlov said: "If it was fast, the Germans would have only needed two days to hit Kerch!" ”

After a moment of silence, Mehris suddenly burst out of his mouth: "Stupid, coward! If they obey my orders and resolutely take Feodosia, nothing will happen, and I will hold these cowards accountable and put them in prison one by one, without mercy! ”

Kozlov couldn't help but be a little speechless when he heard this, the Crimean side has always been fighting according to Mehris's orders, and the 51st Army has always been fighting bravely, not all of them are cowards as Mehris said, Mehris is now suddenly like all this has nothing to do with him!

Therefore, the battlefield is sometimes difficult to characterize.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that it is a problem of command, but who knows if the soldiers are not resolute and brave enough?

The point is that "bravery" is something that cannot be quantified, and it is impossible to measure it with a ruler or weigh it with a scale.

Therefore, as long as the officer wants to shirk responsibility, any defeat can be said to be a soldier who is not brave enough to fight or an officer who does not command well.

After another firing fire, Mekhlis turned angrily and left the command, and Kozlov hurriedly shouted behind him: "Comrade Mekhlis, what are we going to do next?" ”

"Ask yourself that!" Mehris said without looking back: "You are the commander of the front!" ”

Hearing that Kozlov was cold from head to foot as if ice water had been poured on his head, he realized that Mekhlis was going to throw this responsibility on himself...... With Kozlov's complete obedience to Mekhlis, at a time when the entire Front was in trouble, Mekhlis thought not of stopping the situation from continuing to deteriorate, but to draw a line from it all.

Kozlov was right, Mehris really wanted to distance himself from all this, because even if he knew almost nothing about military affairs, he knew that defeat was inevitable at this time, so he sent a telegram to Stalin as soon as he returned to his office:

"Comrade Stalin, I regret to report to you: since the Crimean Front did not heed my warnings to them until the last moment, the Germans had seized the gap in the Crimean Front to break through our lines and go straight to the port of Kerch. The logistical supply and command of the Crimean Front are seriously threatened, they are in a difficult situation, I beg you to remove you from the post of commander of the Kozlov Crimean Front, his military qualities do not match his position! ”

If Kozlov had seen this telegram, he would have died of a mouthful of blood spurting to the ceiling.

It's just that what Mechelis didn't expect was that Stalin wouldn't be stupid enough to let him fool around in this situation.