782 Sunset Nine of the Soviet Empire

Jiangxi, Lushan. ＊

In July, the dignitaries of the Nationalist Government left Wuhan, which is known as the furnace, and came to the cool and pleasant "summer capital" Lushan. Chiang Kai-shek, vice chairman of the Kuomintang and minister of overseas affairs, also lived in the "Meilu" villa named after Soong Meiling again after three years of absence from Lushan. It's just that this English-style villa, shrouded in green shade and clouds, is no longer the center of power of the Kuomintang!

Different from history, in this time and space, due to Sun Yat-sen's longevity and the institutionalization and nationalization of the Kuomintang army, the relationship between the various factions within the Kuomintang was also much looser. In particular, those graduates of the Whampoa Military Academy who were promoted according to the institutionalized promotion regulations did not have Chiang Kai-shek as the leader! Because everything they did was based on the system and individual military exploits, not by Chiang Kai-shek's gifts. And when they were studying at the military academy, these people actually didn't have much contact with Chiang Kai-shek. In the years when Chiang Kai-shek was also the principal of the Whampoa Military Academy, he was still the chief of the general staff, and he did not pay as much attention to those students as he did in history. That is, a few graduates of the first and second phases of Huangpu from Jiangsu and Zhejiang are closer to Chiang Kai-shek.

After Lao Jiang lost power, these people gradually became estranged from him! After all, the power of Luo's uncle and nephew was consolidating day by day, and after the defeat of the Soviet Union, his prestige was even greater. In this case, who will burn Chiang Kai-shek's cold stove? Therefore, during this period of time, the "Meilu" was really quiet, except for Chen Lifu, Chen Guofu, Chen Cheng, Zhang Zhizhong, Gu Zhutong, Liu Zhi, Wang Bailing, Chen Jiji and other hardcore Jiang families, few people came to the door. Even He Yingqin, the No. 2 person in the Jiang Department at the time, and the current Minister of National Defense, have not visited "Meilu" once...... At the door of the Lushan Luo Mansion, there were two cars that could see He Yingqin for three days.

However, on July 7, 1938, several BMW-1937 bulletproof sedans were parked in front of the Meilu Gate, which had been deserted for a while. Because this car license plate belongs to Luo Yaoguo, one of the five bigwigs of the Kuomintang! The de facto ruler of the Republic of China has condescended to visit his political rival Chiang Kai-shek today! Could it be that the two have been completely reconciled?

The dignitaries of the government who saw this scene could only secretly figure it out in their hearts, because of course the content of the conversation between Chiang Kai-shek and Luo Yaoguo could not be leaked. In the small living room on the second floor of Meilu, in addition to Luo Yaoguo and Chiang Kai-shek, there were a few people who participated in today's conversation, namely, Mrs. Chiang Soong Meiling, Luo Yaoguo's junior Natalie, Deputy General Staff An Sihua, and Defense Minister He Yingqin. And the core topic of discussion was the issue of the "pursuit" of the Soviet Bolshevik Party! Uh, that sounds like a bit nosy. The defeat of the Soviet Union or the Russian Bolshevik Party is now assured, and even if there is a small force of armed forces wandering around, it should be the worry of Empress Anastasia! Does the Chief of the General Staff of the Great Luo really regard himself as the "Tsar of the Russian Night"?

At least Chiang Kai-shek despised this kind of lustful behavior in his heart, but on the surface he had to pretend to listen to the teachings, it seems that this power is really a good thing! However, what Luo Yaoguo said next opened Lao Jiang's eyes, and he couldn't help but admire the other party's insidious cunning.

"News had come from Petersburg that Stalin seemed to be preparing a retreat, and the White Russian agents lurking in Moscow found that a large number of troops and weapons and equipment were transported out of Moscow every night during this period, and the troops transferred to Moscow were newly formed infantry divisions, and the weapons and equipment were extremely scarce. In addition, Voroshilov, the former People's Commissar of Defense of the Soviet Union and a confidant of Stalin, was sent to Tbilisi in June to serve as commander of the newly formed Caucasian Front, while Timoshenko, the former commander of the North-Western Front, was transferred to the Ural Mountains as commander of the newly formed Ural Front. In recent days, another high-ranking Soviet general who was trusted by Stalin, the former chief of the General Staff, General Zhukov, was also sent to Tbilisi as deputy commander of the Caucasian Front and commander of the 1st Guards Army. All indications indicate that the upcoming Battle of Moscow is likely to be just a trick of the Bolsheviks, whose real purpose is to establish a base in the south of the Caucasus Mountains and in the Ural Mountains, and to prepare for a long-term confrontation with the Russian government! We cannot allow this. ”

Speaking of this, Luo Yaoguo took a sip of the tea cup on the table, and looked at Chiang Kai-shek and others by the way, and saw that Lao Jiang was smiling and nodding frequently there, and he also felt funny in his heart. It turns out that this Chiang Kai-shek is also a good actor! Luo Yaoguo laughed lightly, and then said: "We don't care about the Bolsheviks in the Ural Mountains, Anastasia's army will exterminate them." We only have to fight the Bolsheviks in Transcaucasia, which is next to Persia...... If we don't get rid of Stalin soon, I'm afraid his army will enter Persia and overthrow the Pahlavi dynasty there. ”

The Persia in Luo Yaoguo's mouth has actually been renamed Iran. Now it is Reza who rules there. Shah. Pahlavi, the one in history who was overthrown by Ayatollah Khomeini and the People's Party (Iranian GCD, a big coffee table). Reza. The father of the Pahlavi king. Originally an officer in the Cossack division, he staged a coup d'état in 1921 and overthrew the former king, Ahmad. Shah, who seized power, ascended the throne as king in 1926. After coming to power, he implemented a series of policies conducive to Iran's national independence and economic development, and at the same time maintained friendly relations with the Soviet Union. In history, until 1941, due to the refusal to declare war on fascist Germany, it was invaded by the Soviet Union and Britain at the same time! In this time and space, the Pahlavi shah also did not declare war on Germany, but also suppressed the Iranian GCD...... It looks like there is a good chance of an invasion by the Soviet Union!

Chiang Kai-shek didn't seem to understand Luo Yaoguo's words, in fact, he didn't know much about foreign affairs, Japan and Nanyang still knew something, and he didn't know anything about the Middle East at all. He frowned and was about to ask a question, but Song Meiling beside him smiled faintly and said: "Brother Fuwen, I heard that Iran is rich in oil, and in the 21st year of the Republic of China, Iran also had a conflict with Britain because of oil concessions, and the matter went all the way to the League of Nations. ”

Luo Yaoguo said with a smile: "Not only is Iran rich in oil, but the entire Arabian Peninsula in the west of Iran is floating on the oil sea. And the Bolsheviks have long coveted it, and we can't let Stalin's ambitions succeed! My biggest fear now is the entry of Stalin's troops, especially Iran, which is an independent country, not a British colony. Speaking of this, he put down the tea cup in his hand, arched his hand at Lao Jiang, and said with a smile: "The younger brother thinks about it, but he can't let Stalin succeed, and looking at the country, the only person who has the ability to command the army to pursue Stalin is Brother Jie." Therefore, the post of commander-in-chief of the Chinese Expeditionary Force is none other than his brother. ”

Chiang Kai-shek and Song Meiling glanced at each other, and they couldn't help but be secretly taken aback. Chiang Kai-shek said in his trademark Fenghua official dialect: "Comrade Fuwen, the Zhongzheng still knows a little about Nanyang affairs, but really knows nothing about the situation in Persia and Russia, how can it take on this heavy task of pursuing and suppressing it?" It's better to ......" Speaking of this, he glanced at the deputy chief of staff An Sihua, who had served as a military adviser to the Ottoman army in World War I, and should know something about the situation in the Middle East, right?

Luo Yaoguo knew what Chiang Kai-shek meant, and he smiled faintly: "Brother Jie, the issues involved in chasing Stalin into Persia are very complicated, and it can be said that it is three parts military and seven points political. Marching and fighting was secondary, and the key was to keep all the Iranian factions under our leadership, and in addition to dealing with the Germans and the British. Such a burden can only be picked up by Brother Jie. Saying that, he smiled again: "As for the military affairs, Brother Jie, don't worry too much, it is naturally the task of the Russian army to fight the Caucasus Mountains, let's just help out, after entering Persia, we are the protagonists!" But I want to remind my brother that Persia must be firmly grasped in his hands, and he must not let others get involved! Not even Germany and Russia. ”

Chiang Kai-shek frowned, he originally wanted to use Nanyang as a base, Xu Tu was going to be aggressive, but he didn't expect Luo Yaoguo to send him to Persia. Once there, it will be difficult to return to China and take power...... However, if this opportunity is denied, I am afraid that it will be difficult to have the opportunity to get involved in military power again in the future. Thinking of this, he nodded heavily and said, "Okay, since Chief Luo thinks that Zhongzheng can take on this position, it is inconvenient for Zhongzheng to resign." It's just that the strength of the Chinese Expeditionary Force seems to be a little thin, and it is difficult to shoulder the heavy task of pursuit and suppression, right? ”

Luo Yaoguo sighed lightly and said with a smile: "Please rest assured, the General Staff has formulated a plan to further increase the number of troops, and will transfer three armies from the Central Asian Front Army (formerly the Northwest Front Army, Commander-in-Chief Li Zongren) to join the Chinese Expeditionary Force, and will also recruit a group of mercenaries from the Central Asian Republic (Governor Wang Zizhi, Prime Minister Sheng Shicai), the number of which will be decided by Brother Jie." However, the 8th Panzer Division will continue to fight alongside the Germans, and will not send other Panzer Divisions to participate in the Persian battle for the time being. The Seventh Air Division will also be assigned to the expeditionary force, but the specific establishment will be adjusted, the bomber aviation regiment equipped with HE-111 will be replaced by the dive bombing regiment equipped with A-4A Thunderhawk, and the escort aviation regiment will also be changed to a combat aviation regiment, equipped with the latest FW-190 fighters produced by the Sino-German company. With such a powerful military force, it should be no longer a problem to drive Stalin out of Iran. ”

After Luo Yaoguo finished speaking, An Sihua on the side added: "After Iran is defeated, the post of governor can also be held by the prince, and the kingdom of Iran must continue to be retained, and a Shiite religious leader who is related to Muhammad can be found to be the king." In this way, the local Persians will not oppose our rule for the time being, and as for the future, it will depend on the skill of Jiegong. In short, the religious forces in those Muslim countries are very strong, and they should not be provoked as much as possible. Saying that, he raised his eyes and looked at Song Meiling, sighed softly, and just wanted to say something, there was a sudden sound of hurried footsteps outside the office door, and then there was a knock on the door.

"Auxiliary commander, I just received news that the Germans have decided to attack the outer positions of Moscow in advance." It was Luo Yaoguo's adjutant Luo Shun who came in, and he handed Luo Yaoguo a piece of yellow paper that he had just received to Luo Yaoguo.

"What? Hitler is not going to encircle Moscow anymore? Luo Yaoguo raised his eyebrows, took the newspaper and read it. It turned out that Stalin's move to prepare the golden cicada to shed its shell had also been detected by the high command of fascist Germany. After consulting Hitler, General Bock decided to launch the Moscow campaign ahead of schedule at 7 a.m. Moscow time on July 9!

……

Although Stalin had long since lost hope of holding Moscow, Hitler and his fascist army did not dare to ignore the capital of the Soviet Empire. The reason for this situation was that the previous holding of fortress cities such as Smolensk and Bryansk made a deep impression on the German high-brass. The defense system of these cities is actually a miniature version of Moscow's city defense system, and in the outermost ring of the defense line are anti-tank trenches 8 to 10 meters wide and 3 to 4 meters deep; A large number of anti-tank and anti-infantry mines were also laid in important areas of access to the city. The first line of defense, consisting of anti-tank trenches and minefields, was followed by a series of barbed wire, deer barricades, and wooden piles of anti-infantry obstacles. Surrounded by these obstacles is the city's trench defenses, which often consist of 7 or 8 ring trenches dug around the city, each of which is connected by communication trenches, in addition to a large number of civil fortifications and anti-artillery bunkers built throughout the trenches. Inside these trenches were a system of street fortifications converted from the city's fortified buildings. Each of the city's tall buildings is built with cleverly camouflaged machine-gun fortifications, and the basements of each building are connected to the city's underground pipe system, which the defenders can use to move from one stronghold to another and launch a counterattack against the invaders at any time! Although in the end, every fortress city was captured by the Germans, but the price was extremely high!

After nearly two months of fierce fighting, the casualty figures of the fascist German army reached an alarming level. According to the incomplete wartime statistical report of the General Headquarters of the German Army. In the two months of May and June alone, Germany lost more than 138,000 people, of whom more than 30,000 died and nearly 4,500 were missing. Subsequent statistics showed that these casualties occurred mainly in the infantry corps responsible for besieging the fortified cities of the Soviet army, while the German armored clusters that participated in the battles of Tver and Torlock and destroyed hundreds of thousands of enemy troops accounted for only 20% of the total personnel losses, that is, more than 27,000 people. In other words, the infantry units of the 2 million fascist German army actually paid more than 110,000 losses in the battle to eliminate 250,000 Soviet Red Army and hundreds of thousands of armed citizens! This situation shows that the German army does not have too many good ways to attack and defend the city, and can only use a slowly bleeding war of attrition to win the victory.

So when you think of Moscow, which had 1 million Soviet Red Army troops and 1.5 million armed citizens (the German High Command estimates), even Adolf. Hitler, the great demon king, also had a little numb in his scalp. Although victory is expected, the heavy loss of 500,000 people that may be paid is still distressing! For this reason, the German marshal also wrote a personal letter to Luo Yaoguo, trying to see if the uranium bomb could be put into use immediately? If there is already a test product, you might as well throw one in Moscow......

While Hitler was troubled by the terrible losses that his fascist army was about to inflict, German intelligence sent him the astonishing good news that Stalin and the Bolshevik top brass were preparing to flee! Moreover, the elite in Moscow has long been exhausted, and only some old and weak soldiers who do not have much training and combat experience are left to support the façade there. Hitler was not ignorant of warfare, he certainly knew what that meant, and a group of old and weak soldiers, after hearing that the leader had left, would surely lose their fighting spirit and not be able to fight!

After repeatedly verifying the credibility of the information, Hitler was determined not to hesitate any longer, and he immediately sent a letter to the commander-in-chief of the German forces on the Eastern Front, von Hitler. General Bock gave the order to immediately attack Moscow! He sent a letter to Von on June 30. Bock's telegram instructed: "All officers and men participating in the battle must be indomitable and confident of victory, and must take the city of Moscow by the end of August 1938." ”

The command of the Eastern Front of the German army, which received Hitler's highest instructions, did not dare to slack off and immediately began to organize an offensive. In order to seize the time, Feng. General Bock did not hesitate to cancel the plans of the armored forces to make a detour to the eastern front of Moscow, but let them continue to rest. At the same time, he also gave up on the idea of letting the Russian army take the lead, because Tukhachevsky insisted that after the battles of Lake Ilmen and Tollock, the Russian army was so tired that it had to rest for two weeks before it could go into battle. Moreover, even half of the main German forces on the Eastern Front had reached the battlefield west of Moscow before the offensive was launched on 9 July. So when the Battle of Moscow was launched in this time and space, the German side only had about 58 infantry divisions and 2 newly built armored divisions, 5,320 artillery pieces and 800 No. 2 tanks in place, and the rest of the troops were still on the way. But the Luftwaffe was fully prepared, and the super-fat Field Marshal Goering assured Hitler that he would launch an unprecedented air raid on the Red Army positions outside Moscow with 5,000 aircraft! Tens of thousands of tons of bombs would be poured on the heads of the Soviet Red Army, and then the Army would not even have to really fight to take over the enemy's lines, because all the enemy would be killed in the bombardment.