It was really not easy for the Soviet Red Army to land on Taiwan, mainly because this side of the Tsushima Strait was too dangerous, and if the Japanese air forces concentrated on this line to intercept it, the Red Army would really not dare to break through. Even though the Red Army has now focused on attacking the Japanese air bases and ports on this side, and even carried out offensive mines, the Red Navy still does not have much confidence in crossing this line safely.

Especially for Sukhoi, the commander-in-chief who is directly responsible for the landing operation in Taiwan, the pressure is really great. He's been thinking about whether he can bypass the dangerous Tsushima Strait.

To tell you the truth, if you want to bypass the Tsushima Strait, you can't do it from Sakhalin Island. But such a roundabout distance is multiplied, and for the landing force, this is simply going to die. And longer lines will also make logistical replenishment more difficult. So the idea was quickly abandoned by Sukhoi.

But he did not give up the idea of choosing another path, since starting from Vladivostok is too risky, can he change the starting point? Then Sukhoi looked it up on the map, and it was not for nothing that it was closer to Taiwan and more convenient for supplies, and if the southeast coast of China was in hand, this would not be a problem at all.

But what left Sukhoi speechless was that this idea was impossible from the beginning, first of all, this area was not under the control of the allies, and the line from Zhejiang to Guangdong was the territory of devils. It can only be said that scraping the army is really not powerful, even if it can keep Guangxi and Hainan Island!

Of course, this is also a spit out, Sukhoi knows very well that even if Guangxi and Hainan Island are in the hands of the scraping army, they will not agree to the scraping army, and even if the scraping army can agree to the Americans, they will stop it based on their own interests. In China, the only reliable partner of the Soviet Union was the T Communist Party. It is a pity that the T Communist Party's sphere of influence is only in the north of China, and the ports it can control are limited to the north side of China.

If the landing force sets off from here, it will face many thorny problems, such as transportation problems, the northeast line has not yet been opened, and the Soviet Union's materials cannot be directly transported to North China by rail, so they can only rely on simple roads in Outer Mongolia for transportation for the time being. The transportation capacity of this simple highway is really limited, and it is okay to meet the operational needs of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, but it cannot meet the operational needs of the Red Army at all.

In accordance with the Army. The original plan of the Venezuelan Commission, part of the supplies to Vladivostok, the other part to Outer Mongolia, the two-pronged approach should be able to barely meet the requirements. However, as mentioned earlier, Sukhoi was quite suspicious of Vladivostok and thought it was too dangerous, so he was actually not inclined to this plan......

After some hard thinking, Sukhoi gave the army. A very long report was issued, which is too long to elaborate on. In short, the main points of this report are: First, postpone the landing on Taiwan and postpone it for at least one month. Second, change the original plan of departure from Vladivostok and choose the departure place in Lushun. Naturally, the third point was to let the Far Eastern Front first open up the railway lines from Manchuria to Harbin and from Harbin to Dalian, so as to facilitate logistical supply.

It is conceivable that this plan almost completely overthrew the army. According to Sukhoi's suggestion, the Northeast must be liberated first, and the Northeast will naturally bypass the Tsushima Strait, which is extremely risky. The Red Army's landing force departed from Dalian, not only because it was much closer, but most importantly, because when the railway line was dredged, the Red Army's supply situation would be greatly improved.

If you think about it, the Red Army originally had almost only one port available, and almost all the supplies from Europe depended on Vladivostok's capacity, and this side was very dangerous.

And if the Northeast is liberated first, then the situation is different, the Soviet supplies can go straight to Dalian in Manchuria and start at Port Arthur, which is not only safer, but also a slightly shorter distance, and Port Arthur is a frozen port, and the bad weather in January and February in the future will not cause much trouble. Vladivostok is different, it is necessary to break the ice in winter, in order to ensure smooth operation, the Red Navy has sent a lot of icebreakers over thousands of miles, and even feels that it is not enough insurance.

Even not only the Port of Arthur can be opened, but even after dredged the railways connected to the outside and inside the customs, the ports on the first line of Tanggu can also be opened, although the scale of these ports was not large at that time, but no matter how small the mosquito is, it is not meat.

Anyway, Sukhoi felt that his idea was very ideal, as long as the northeast was solved, all the problems would be solved at once, and he thought that it was completely possible to postpone the landing on Taiwan, and there would be no problem in delaying it until March 1945.

Of course, all Sukhoi's calculations were based on the military dimension, because he was only a purely military man, but when it came to politics, he made a big mistake. First, the original plan was to be an army. Adopted by the Commission, the Army. It's not that the committee doesn't know the benefits of taking the northeast first, the problem is the army. Venezuela can't do that for the time being.

The Far Eastern Front was not as powerful as it was in 1945 in history, with a million divisions, and the Far Eastern Front at this time was a little less than the devils in terms of numbers. Although the army. The committee has always despised the fighting power of the devils, but it has not really taken it lightly, and still thinks that it is unrealistic to liberate the northeast in one go.

This is only one factor, but more importantly, the supply, 75% of the logistics supply of the Far Eastern Front depends on the European direction. Even if a certain amount of new industry has been built in the local area after two five-year plans, it is still not enough to see on the whole. The only thing that can be supplied in sufficient supply is food, and the prisoner-of-war policy of a certain immortal has greatly reclaimed the Far East, and food is more than enough. However, ammunition and oil are really a big problem, especially oil, which is almost all imported from Europe. And now because of the large number of mechanized troops on the European battlefield, the daily consumption of fuel is astronomical, and it is really difficult to supply the Asian battlefield.

And that's not even the most decisive factor that really makes the military. The most crucial reason for the Venezuela's decision not to liberate the Northeast immediately is politics. For the Soviet Union, Western Europe was more important, and now that the Red Army was in a race with the British and American allies, it was necessary to go all out to stake territory in Western Europe and occupy as much territory as possible. Naturally, there is not much spare energy to take care of the Far East, if it weren't for the fact that Taiwan is too important, the government. Governance and Army. Neither Venezuela will agree to such a landing operation.

And now Sukhoi is stupidly following the army. The chairman of the committee reversed, what kind of nature do you say? Anyway in power. When the ruling authorities learned of Sukhoi's politically incorrect report, they were quite dissatisfied.

Even Trotsky criticized Sukhoi's naivety: "Don't we know that it would be more advantageous to liberate the Northeast first?" Is he the only one who is a smart man? Some comrades always focus only on their own one-third of an acre of land when considering problems, but they never look at the overall situation. This is a serious political issue! ”

Trotsky was understandably angry, before the army. When the task of liberating Taiwan was entrusted to Sukhoi, he tacitly accepted it, but now that most of the preparations were in the final stage, the commander-in-chief told the political authorities. Governing the situation: "What, I don't have any confidence in the battle plan, why don't we change the plan!" ”

This is quite unacceptable, why did he have weak legs when he was about to kick the door? If you say smaller, this is your Sukhoi's lack of confidence, and if you say bigger, you are teasing the army. Committee and government. Let's have fun!

No one likes to be fooled, especially on such a major military issue. The annoyance of the governance is completely understandable. There was even a suggestion on the spot that the annoying Sukhoi should be replaced and other more courageous comrades should complete the task.

However, Li Xiaofeng said no to this suggestion, saying: "Judging from the current situation of the Red Navy, the only person most suitable for this task is Comrade Sukhoi, who participated in the landing operations on islands in the Pacific Ocean with the US military and is very familiar with amphibious operations, and these valuable experiences are not possessed by other comrades." It would be too risky to suddenly change a comrade who is not familiar with naval and air amphibious landing operations to carry out this task. I must remind the comrades present here that although Comrade Sukhoi's attitude is wrong, the practical difficulties and dangers he raised are objective, and even an experienced veteran navy like him is not sure, can other comrades do better than him? Once there is a problem, the consequences will be unimaginable! ”

Li Xiaofeng's speech made the government. The Red Navy has not looked at the rapid development in recent years, but in essence it is still too inexperienced, and the old navy is more familiar with the traditional methods of naval warfare, and it has long been outdated and not suitable for the current war situation. And the younger generation is just starting, it is the time when there is no success, and now there are very few commanders capable of commanding amphibious landing operations of this scale, and without Sukhoi, can Kuznetsov, who has just been promoted to commander of the Navy, be sent over?

Obviously, things can't be done this way, Kuznetsov has his job, and those jobs are also very important, who will pick up the mess where he leaves? At least in the current Soviet Union, there is really no second one who can pick up this burden.

Speaking of this, Li Xiaofeng continued to reason: "I myself am quite disgusted with this attitude of Comrade Sukhoi. Governance and Army. The work of the Commission has caused considerable trouble. However, I believe that comrades who dare to tell the truth and dare to put forward different views must not be beaten to death with a stick, and we must give them the opportunity to express their opinions, especially when their opinions still have some truth, and we must be more tolerant! ”

Sverdlov couldn't help it and objected: "How to tolerate it? He has completely denied politics. Governance and Army. The decision of the committee is going to turn the sky upside down! Is it up to him to do whatever he wants? In the end, ******** or the gun commands the party, if all the commanders learn from him, then the world will not be in chaos! ”

It is clear that Sverdlov is inclined to be tough and solve the problems caused by Sukhoi according to the original plan. Of course, the reason is also very simple: Sverdlov has always believed that Europe is more important than China, and now that Europe is tight, how can he go to great lengths to fight for a mere Taiwan issue?

However, Sverlov's voice on military issues has always been very good, and his opinions or suggestions can only be taken as a reference. None of the committee members, including Trotsky, immediately agreed, but looked at Li Xiaofeng to see what he had to say.

Yes, when Li Xiaofeng spoke for Sukhoi, Trotsky knew very well that someone must have had a new idea, and I am afraid that he was inclined to Sukhoi's idea, otherwise he would not have to speak rashly.

Li Xiaofeng nodded and said: "After some thought, I think Comrade Sukhoi's suggestion is indeed reasonable, and it is too risky to solve the Taiwan issue without solving the Northeast issue." If we can solve the Northeast issue and then resolve the Taiwan issue, I am afraid it will be a matter of course. ”

"I disagree!" Sverdlov directly expressed his attitude, "At present, we have no more troops to be transferred to the Far East, how to solve the Northeast problem?" If we want to draw troops from the front line against Germany, I am resolutely against it! ”

Not only was Sverdlov adamantly opposed, but Trotsky would not have agreed, and now that the battle for this piece of German fat had entered the final sprint, how could he be distracted at this time? Even if you lose Taiwan, you can't lose Germany, no.

"Of course, we can't draw troops from the battlefield against Germany," Li Xiaofeng dismissed the government with one sentence. "Western Europe is indeed more important than the Far East for the time being, and of course we can't throw watermelons for the sake of sesame seeds." But I don't think that the implementation of Comrade Sukhoi's proposal will necessarily conflict with our current fighting! ”

"How can there be no conflict?" Sverdlov interjected again, "To liberate the Northeast, it is necessary to increase troops, this is inevitable!" ”

Who would have thought that Li Xiaofeng asked rhetorically: "Who said this is inevitable?" It's the army. Broad consensus? Or does Comrade Blyukhel think so? Or does Comrade Meretskov have such demands? ”

Sverdlov really couldn't say anything, because his mind was stuck in the wrong circle, and he naturally thought that the current progress in the northeast was not much because the forces of the enemy and the enemy were relatively close, and the easiest way to break the balance was to increase the number of troops. And as Sukhoi said, to solve the northeast problem first, the subtext is naturally to ask for reinforcements.

The problem is that Li Xiaofeng does not think that this is right, he said: "In the past month or so, the Far Eastern Front has made great progress in the northeast, and has crossed the worst terrain and advanced to the plains. Next, our army's superiority in mechanization and heavy firepower will be brought into better play, and when the unfavorable conditions decrease and the favorable conditions increase, how can this battle become difficult to fight? ”

After a pause, Li Xiaofeng said categorically: "So I think that the stalemate in the northeast is only temporary, and after our army has taken a short break and replenished the previous attrition, a greater victory is waiting for us." I don't think it is necessary to replenish the Far Eastern Front too much, but it is possible to solve the Japanese Kwantung Army. Even if we fully mobilize the enthusiasm of the T Communist Party, with them out of the customs to fight, the liberation of the Northeast is just around the corner! ”

To put it bluntly, Li Xiaofeng's meaning is very simple, that is, he thinks that the current Far Eastern Front is enough to solve the Kwantung Army. There was no need for reinforcements at all. And this is one of the key elements of Sverdlov's opposition to prioritizing the solution of the Northeast problem.

It's just that Sverdlov did not believe in this conclusion, and even Trotsky expressed doubts: "Is this conclusion reliable? Comrade Blyukhel said before that in order to solve the Kwantung Army, at least 700,000 troops are needed, but now the Far Eastern Front has only 500,000 troops at most, and this gap is quite large! ”

Li Xiaofeng immediately explained: "I have also heard Comrade Blyukhel have a similar statement, but this statement has a premise, at that time, Comrade Blyukhel's original words were that if you want to solve the northeast problem within three months, you need at least 700,000 troops, and if you have 1.5 million troops, he can solve the Kwantung Army within a month." It can be seen that Comrade Blyukhel's conclusion is premised that 700,000 people are needed to solve the Kwantung Army in three months, and 1.5 million people are needed to solve the Kwantung Army in one month. But he never said that if there were only 500,000 people, the Kwantung Army would not be able to defeat it, not to mention that if the strength of the allied forces was fully calculated, the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Army had about 150,000 people, and the Eighth Route Army of the T Communist Party, according to Comrade Kulikov's calculations, could take out at least 200,000 people to fight at the pass. This is 850,000 troops, and you must know that the comrades in Huaxia have already told us with practical actions that they are capable of defeating the devils from the front. With their containment, how much combat strength can the Kwantung Army have left? ”

Trotsky fell into deep thought, this is indeed a misunderstanding of thinking, their judgment of the situation in the Northeast is completely based on the previous military deployment in Western Europe and then in the Far East, according to that way of thinking, after solving the problem of Western Europe, the Americans in the Far East will take the lead, otherwise the Americans will be in the front of the United States, and the solution of the Northeast problem will give priority to speed, and all judgments against the enemy are based on high speed, and in order to achieve this speed, it is necessary to concentrate more troops. The forces that are naturally needed are also rising.

If the requirement of high speed is abandoned, with the current level of equipment and combat effectiveness of the Red Army, will it be difficult to fight 700,000 with 500,000? What's more, Li Xiaofeng made it very clear that there are more than 500,000 people on the side of the Red Army, and if you count the strength of the T Communist Party, it is more than 800,000, so as long as the 350,000 Eighth Route Army and the Anti-United Nations troops can hold back the 200,000 Kwantung Army, I am afraid that it will not be a shame for the Far Eastern Front Army at all, right?

Even think about it carefully, the current comparison of enemy and enemy forces between 500,000 and 700,000, in the previous series of battles, the Far Eastern Front has already given heavy casualties to the Kwantung Army, and the enemy has been destroyed at more than 50,000, this is still the Red Army's achievements in attacking the fortified positions on bad terrain, and in the field battle on the plains, is the Kwantung Army really terrible?

Having figured this out, the latter problem was easily solved for Trotsky, but he had figured it out, but Sverdlov had not. Because he immediately asked: "Comrade Andrei, according to what you said, it is true that it is possible not to increase troops in the Far East, but in this way the battle to liberate the Northeast will inevitably be prolonged." And the timetable for the liberation of Taiwan has already been set, and in mid-January we will have to act, where is there so much time now? ”

Li Xiaofeng couldn't help sighing, he pointed to Sukhoi's report and said: "Comrade Yakov, please pay attention to Comrade Sukhoi, Comrade Sukhoi has already said that if the northeast issue can be resolved first, then the time for the liberation of Taiwan can be postponed completely, and he himself suggested that it be postponed until March. ”

Only then did Sverdlov remember that all this was based on "time for space", and without more reinforcements, the advance of the Far Eastern Front would naturally slow down, and it would take more time and energy to fight with the Kwantung Army, but Sukhoi had already anticipated this and offered to postpone it. And according to his intentions, if the operation is carried out after March, the ice will have less impact on Vladivostok and more powerful for military operations.

However, Sverdlov is not such an easy person to admit defeat, and he immediately found another flaw: "But how to solve the material problem?" According to our estimates, we will be able to attack German territory by March at the latest, and it is very likely that the final blow to Berlin will be launched at that time, and all material supplies will have to give priority to ensuring the German war, where there will be surplus material reserves to carry out the Taiwan campaign! ”

Don't say that this is really a question, but Li Xiaofeng already has an answer to this question, and he explained: "According to the army. According to the latest judgment of the Venezuela, we will be able to enter German territory by the end of January at the latest, and there is a high probability that we will launch an attack on Berlin in February, which is much earlier than previously anticipated. Because our army has annihilated and captured more than 300,000 German troops in the past month, at this time the human resources of Germany itself are close to the limit, and Hitler can no longer recruit more soldiers to fill the holes. If Hitler continued to recruit soldiers regardless of the actual situation, then the group of people he could choose from would only be teenagers between the ages of 15 and 18 and old men over 45 years old, and the combat effectiveness of such a personnel structure would be quite limited! ”

Taking a breath, Li Xiaofeng continued to explain: "That is to say, every time we destroy an enemy in the future, its losses are almost irreplaceable, and the strength of the German army will become smaller and smaller, and even if it does not decrease, its combat effectiveness will become worse and worse. All in all, the next battle will be a lot easier for our army, which also means that our advance will be greatly accelerated! ”

Speaking of this, Li Xiaofeng pointed to the map: "So it is very likely that the fighting in Europe will end at the end of February or early March next year, and when the fighting in Europe is over, the supply of materials will naturally not be a problem, and there will naturally be no contradictions and conflicts." At that time, the Kwantung Army in the northeast was basically wiped out, and we could wholeheartedly carry out the final Taiwan campaign! (To be continued.) )