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September 27th

The first winter snow fell in Siberia, and at first, it was not very heavy, as if it were a signal that winter had arrived. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Yes, winter has arrived, and for the more than 500,000 Russian troops trapped in the encirclement, at the beginning of the general offensive, in just twenty days, they lost nearly half of their troops, and now, there are only 300,000 troops left in the encirclement. Once upon a time, the gas attack was more of a nightmare, and while the Russians were still in their minds, before they could recover from the cloud of poison gas, an all-out general offensive began.

If before today, the nightmare of the Russians was that the Chinese would tear open their defense lines with poison gas at any time, then today, for the Russians, the real nightmare is probably the fierce offensive of the Northeast Army like the autumn wind sweeping the leaves, this offensive is unstoppable, and anyone who tries to stop him will be crushed in the fierce offensive!

As the last line of defense of the Russian army continued to be broken, the Northeast Army's offensive became more and more fierce, and the encirclement, which had been compressed to no more than a few hundred square kilometers, became tighter and tighter.

Now, it's the last moment!

……

Every few minutes, bad news arrives at the Russian headquarters in the small town of Benznekov, and in many places, in the face of the fierce offensive of the Northeast Army, the Russian army, which is short of ammunition, often collapses without a fight, and in the past twenty days, the Russian army's defensive positions have shrunk by two-thirds, which has made Kuropatkin feel a great disaster.

And just yesterday, his headquarters had begun to move again, and his men began to burn official documents again, and then set off in several surviving wagons. Along the way, seeing groups of exhausted Russian soldiers and wounded, they moved slowly forward like ghosts, and the Chinese Northeast Army was approaching, Kuropatkin understood that these people were either killed on the way or captured by the Chinese, but he was now too busy to take care of himself, and could only evacuate the original site with the headquarters attaché.

Isn't it time to consider surrendering?

Again, such a thought appeared in Kuropatkin's mind, of course, the reason why he began to think about this problem was not for the sake of the lives of hundreds of thousands of Russian officers and soldiers, in fact he no longer had any mercy for his subordinates, in fact, he knew very well that from the encirclement of the troops, after the reinforcements on the Western Front were broken, everything was already doomed, and in the end what was waiting for him was still a prisoner of war camp for the Chinese, unless the Siberian Corps, which was formed just a few months ago, could immediately tear through the defenses of the Chinese, And immediately occupy Irkutsk, Verkhnito-Uginsk, otherwise what awaits the Far Eastern Army will still be perdition.

But all this is impossible, although now by Vanovsky? Peter? The Siberian Army, led by Semenovich, with nearly a million troops mobilized from all over Europe, confronted Nizhneukinsk between Irkutsk and Tomsk, and they tried again and again to conquer this Chinese position!

But what awaited him was disastrous news, in Verkhniy Udinsk, the offensive of the Siberian corps under the command of Semenovich was thwarted, and in order to break the enemy's interception, they lost more than 80,000 men in one day, and if it were not confirmed repeatedly, Kuropatkin even thought that the telegram had an extra zero, but the cruel truth reminded him that everything was hopeless.

“…… In the current situation, it is expected that in the next month our army will not be able to break through the defensive positions of the Chinese......"

"Can't break through ......"

After receiving the telegram from General Semenovich, Kuropatkin said in a sad heart:

"This telegram undoubtedly pronounced the end of the Far Eastern Army. When many soldiers asked me when reinforcements would arrive, how would I, as a commander, answer? It's too late for anything! ”

Thinking of the tension of the situation, tears welled up in Kuropatkin's eyes, once upon a time, he had hoped that the Siberian Legion would be able to solve the problem, but now, all hope is gone, and reinforcements will never arrive. Any staff officer could have planned the future of the Siberian Corps with the most pessimistic attitude - based on the casualties of that day, perhaps before they reached Irkutsk, the Siberian Corps would cease to exist.

Kuropatkin went on to say to the officers and colonels in the command:

"I'm a dying man, speaking in another world, and I'm a dying man who doesn't care about war anymore......"

After months of encirclement, after hundreds of days and nights of brutal fighting. After a reduction of more than 50% in troops, Kuropatkin, who had realized the pointlessness of resistance in the face of the situation of running out of ammunition, sent a request to St. Petersburg when he wanted to flee and could not escape:

"The lack of food and ammunition supplies, coupled with the fact that the Chinese continue to use machine guns, heavy artillery and poison gas to attack our lines. As a result, the defense was catastrophically difficult, the combat effectiveness of the troops was rapidly reduced, more than 30,000 wounded were deprived of any care, and mental breakdowns were already produced among the soldiers. I reiterate my request for freedom of movement and an end to the fighting, which is no longer possible.

Kuropatkin. ”

However, the generals of St. Petersburg did not give Kuropatkin a response at the first time, and no one knew what the generals of the army staff were discussing, as if they were still making plans to reinforce the Siberian army, and when Kuropatkin's telegram arrived, the generals of St. Petersburg once again transferred the last military forces in Russia to Siberia, an army of nearly 200,000 people, as if they wanted to prove to the world with their actions that the surrender of Kuropatkin had nothing to do with them.

Almost at the same time, when Shang Dequan's request to again advise Kuropatkin to surrender was rejected, after a brief rest, the Northeast Army launched a final general offensive against the Russian troops in the encirclement.

In order to be able to break through the positions of the Russian army. In less than 15 kilometers of assault surface, the Northeast Army amassed more than 2,000 howitzers and mortars, although 60-mm, 81-mm, and 120-mm mortars accounted for the majority. However, this kind of artillery bombardment was still enough to shake the heavens and the earth, and the artillery group let out an earth-shattering roar.

In an instant, the heavens and the earth were filled with a vigorous and loud noise, rubble and barbed wire were lifted into the air, and the positions of the Russian army were repeatedly bombarded, while the Northeast Army launched a general offensive at any cost under the cover of artillery fire. For the Northeast Army, they are running out of time.

Time, for the Northeast Army, this will be the last general offensive!

The reality of the breakthrough of one position after another, the unsustainability of the fighting and the general offensive of the Northeast Army, directly led to Kuropatkin again sending a telegram to St. Petersburg requesting:

"The troops are running out of ammunition and food. …… There is no point in any continued resistance, please allow us to surrender immediately! ”

Kuropatkin can't remember the first times he sent a telegram asking for surrender, if he could, he would have chosen to flee, but he couldn't escape at all, he didn't want to bear the reputation of surrender, but now, it seems that there is no more choice for him.

Again, after sending the telegram, the reply from St. Petersburg was still the same cold sentence.

"The Siberian Legion is reinforcing your troops with all its might......"

A simple answer that expresses the reality of the St. Petersburg Army Staff - no one is willing to take the responsibility of surrendering, everyone is the same as Kuropatkin, they do not want to take responsibility in this doomed defeat, and even the reason why the Army Staff will transfer the last Russian armed forces to Siberia is not to tear apart the defense line of the Chinese, but to prove to the world how firm their position is in the coming disaster, and they hope that Kuropatkin will hold on, It's just that Kuropatkin is not angry personally, he personally chose to surrender, and it has nothing to do with the army staff!

Yes, everyone in officialdom will ponder all this, everyone will not take responsibility, and if it is possible to dodge, they will dodge.

For those who had no way to hide, they had no choice, and after the decisive battle began, the two iron fists finally collided in Transbaikal at the last moment.

The result of the battle, in fact, twenty days ago, at the beginning of the first attack, the outcome was already doomed, today, after the final general offensive began, after the Northeast Army tore through the defense line of the Russian army, and the reserves of ten brigades were put into the battlefield, the victory was decided, and the battle had actually developed from this time into a battle to clear the remnants of the enemy, and the reality of running out of ammunition and food and not seeing reinforcements was seen, only the morale of the more than 100,000 Russian troops who survived the encirclement was depressed, and in the face of the offensive of the autumn wind sweeping away the leaves, Russian officers and soldiers, who had completely lost their courage, began to surrender in droves.

At about 4 p.m. on the same day, when the attacking unit of the Northeast Army learned through its captives that the Russian headquarters was located in the basement of a nearby village, they immediately mobilized a regiment of troops to surround the semi-fortressed town and cut off all telephone lines to the headquarters.

At this moment, in the dimly lit basement, Kuropatkin was sitting on a marching bed, his expression in a trance. He already knew why there was no direct order from St. Petersburg, he already knew what his colleagues were doing, perhaps, they were waiting for his "self-assertive" telegram, and then they would go in a sad and indignant tone in the splendid rooms of St. Petersburg to accuse him, to accuse him of failure.

And then in the social circles of St. Petersburg, everyone will laugh at him, mock him, and the name Kuropatkin will become a laughing stock in people's mouths, like Trans-Baikal, and no one will share his failure!

Of course, no one would sympathize with him.

It was at this time that another letter of surrender was sent to him, which was sent by the order of the vanguard of the Northeast Army after the town where it was located, written by the commander of the Trans-Baikal Combat Army, Shang Dequan.

It was a letter of persuasion with nothing special, but in that letter of persuasion it pointed out Kuropatkin's "excellent command", of course, it may seem to outsiders that it is just a compliment to the opponent, and it is also exalting himself, but for Kuropatkin, he prefers to regard this as a personal affirmation, because he is indeed very excellent in commanding the battle, but ...... God is not on His side.

There is no other option!

In order to avoid unnecessary casualties......

After thinking about it again and again, Kuropatkin finally stood up, even if he was no longer willing to take responsibility, now he had no other choice, because he knew very well what it would be like to fight again, and even he himself was very likely to die here.

"Fortunately, there is no tradition of executing generals in Russia!"

Fortunately and self-deprecating, after realizing that he had been abandoned by his colleagues in St. Petersburg, Kuropatkin finally made a choice.

In the telegraph room of the headquarters of the Far Eastern Army, the sound of "da-da-da" keys was heard. Sept. 27 at 5:15 p.m. It was at sunset on this day, at nightfall, that in the face of the reality that the headquarters was surrounded, Kuropatkin, the commander of the Far Eastern Army, ordered his subordinates to send the last telegram:

"Now, the headquarters is surrounded by elite Chinese troops, and they can attack here at any time. Here we salute the flag, and perhaps for the last time...... The Northeast Army of China is just outside the door, please don't contact, I'm destroying the radio station......"

Subsequently, the telecommunications of the Far Eastern Army of the Russian Empire were interrupted.

It was on this day, at this time, that the cease of existence of the Far Eastern Army of the Russian Empire was de facto announced, and this protracted campaign came to an end in another glorious form.

In fact, at the last moment of the battle, there was no bloody battle as imagined - many Russian officers and soldiers had lost the will to resist at this time, and they chose to surrender rather than continue fighting, as if at this time, everyone understood that they had been abandoned.

And when the troops of the Northeast Army attacked the headquarters of the Russian army, Kuropatkin, who had already ordered the burning of documents and other classified materials, ordered his subordinates to raise the white flag.

The Russian Far Eastern Army surrendered.

At 5:30 p.m. that day, the remnants of the Russian army held the position. Also on the orders of his commander, General Kuropatkin, also laid down their arms, and in fact Kuropatkin's order relieved all the Russian officers and soldiers, at least, they did not need to take responsibility personally.

At 5:40 p.m., a telegram was sent to the headquarters of the Northeast Army from the front-line command of the Trans-Baikal Army.

"The Trans-Baikal Operational Army fully carried out the orders of the command and fulfilled the task of defeating and destroying the encircled Far Eastern Group of Russian troops in the Trans-Baikal direction...... Seventy-six Russian generals and 211874 Russian officers and soldiers led by General Kuropatkin surrendered, and the fighting in the Baikal region ended. ”

A simple telegram announcing the end of the campaign...... (To be continued.) )