Tukhachevsky definitely did not expect that the slap in the face would come so quickly, and just when he was vehemently opposed to the dismantling of the I-15 and I-16 at a meeting of the Military Commission, using the engine for helicopters, the fighting that broke out in Kiev slapped him in the mouth.

As mentioned earlier, the situation in Kiev was not very good, and when the German army of sixty divisions surrounded it and almost lost any contact with the outside world, the fall of Kyiv was only a matter of time in the eyes of the Politburo and the Military Commission. What is even more terrifying is that the Politburo and the Military Commission have not yet done anything to relieve the siege of Kyiv.

The main forces of the Red Army are stuck in the front line of Eastern Poland, and it is extremely difficult to withdraw to Belarus, and the Military Commission has to send a large number of living forces in that direction to support the field, what to do to rescue Kyiv at this time? You can't use slogans to repel the German army, right?

In fact, in the expectation of the vast majority of members of the Military Commission and the Politburo, Kyiv may fall in mid-August, and even the Military Commission has instructed a part of the troops originally used to rescue Kyiv to stay on the front line of Chernysiv and Poltava, and prepare to resist the German offensive along the Dnieper River. That is, the defenders of Kyiv have actually been abandoned by the Military Commission and the Politburo.

But what the Politburo and the Military Commissar did not expect was that Shaposhnikov and Timoshenko were able to block the onslaught of the German army in Kiev with a motley army and stragglers, and by August 20, Kiev and its surrounding positions were still in the hands of the Red Army, which was impressive.

Of course, there is also a reason for this, the previous battles between the main forces of the Red Army and the elite of the German army were not fought well, and the main problem was not that the ground forces of the Red Army were not strong, but that the air support could not keep up. The Red Army's small short-legged fighters could not compete for air supremacy in eastern Poland. There was no way to cover the front-line aviation of the Red Army to strike at the ground forces of the German army. In other words, it was almost the Red Army's army that singled out the German army and air force, coupled with Tukhachevsky's blind order to counterattack, and it was normal to be hanged.

In Kyiv, the situation was reversed, and after a round of intense emergency repairs, although the Germans and Romanian and Hungarian armies repaired some airfields, their sortie capacity was still limited. Moreover, the front-line aviation of the Red Army had no problem attacking targets on the territory of Ukraine at all, plus the main forces of the Luftwaffe were all transferred to Army Group Center, and the Luftwaffe on the southern front was not strong. After one or the other, it was the turn of the Axis troops to be by the neck!

Around Kyiv, with the help of huge air superiority, Shaposhnikov's ground forces were under very little pressure, on the contrary, the Germans and Romanians were quite passive and were beaten to the ground for a time. That is, their superiority on the ground was too great, so that they could continue to maintain the offensive and slowly encroach on the outlying positions of the Red Army.

Rundstead, of course, knew that the situation was not good. Therefore, while adjusting the offensive deployment, he asked the High Command for heavy artillery support. On the other hand, it also requires the Air Force to work hard and seize air supremacy as soon as possible.

Implementation has proven that the former approach works, while the latter is. Soon the K5 train guns were transferred to Rundstead, and with these ultra-long-range cannons, the Germans could finally crush the permanent fortifications on the outskirts of Kyiv and bombard the airfields of Kyiv.

Under the bombardment of K5, the Kyiv airport was soon forced to close, and the planes were forced to move backwards, which caused Shaposhnikov a lot of trouble, especially after Kyiv was surrounded by German troops on three sides, and the German army continued to use heavy artillery and air force to attack the railway supply lines on which Kyiv depended.

As a large city with a population of a million and hundreds of thousands of troops, what will be the consequences once the access to the source of supplies is cut off? Look at Leningrad, where the years-long siege almost left the citizens of Leningrad bleeding. It seems that the prospects for Kyiv are quite bad?

At this critical juncture, the previously inconspicuous helicopter played a key role. Previously, Li Xiaofeng was transferred to the GRU in Kyiv and his subordinate helicopter units to solve Shaposhnikov's big trouble.

When land traffic was blockaded and disrupted by the Germans, flying horses-helicopters took on the burden of transporting supplies, evacuating the wounded, and providing fire support. Among them, the most profound are Sikorsky's West-4, West-5, West-6 and Miri-3.

Let's talk about transport helicopters first, the West-5 is very similar to the H-19 of the US imperialism (that is, the S-55 of Sikorsky). The aircraft is equipped with an ASH-62R engine (1000 horsepower, air-cooled), an empty weight of 2.5 tons, a maximum take-off weight of 3.8 tons, a maximum level flight speed of 180 km/h, and a range of 500 km. It can carry two drivers and twelve soldiers or ten stretchers.

The aircraft played the role of a general-purpose helicopter in the Red Army's army aviation, and its core task was to carry a heavily armed infantry squad for air assault. When transporting cargo, it is possible to load a ton of cargo in the cabin or a 1.25 ton trailer in the belly.

In Kyiv, one of the most performed tasks of the West-5 is to act as an air transport platform, delivering grain, foodstuffs and ammunition from outside the encirclement to the city of Kyiv. At that time, there were a total of 300 Xi-5 planes near Kiev, and during the first battle of Kiev, they flew a total of 7,000 sorties, transported more than 3,000 tons of supplies, and transported more than 20,000 wounded. Among them, more than 30 planes were wrecked and shot down, and nearly 100 pilots were killed.

Of course, the West-5 not only undertook the task of transporting, but even the clever artillery also invented a new mode of warfare, using helicopters to quickly lift the ZIS-2 and ZIS-3 cannons into the direction of the assault of the German armored forces, and successfully solved the big problem of limited personnel and equipment in the encirclement.

For example, Triandafilov, who inspected the battlefield, recalled: "On August 26, the enemy's armored forces attacked our positions in three directions, and soon broke through a considerable part of the positions on the periphery of our troops. At this critical juncture, the helicopter unit took great risks and successfully hoisted the cannon and the artillery squad to rush to the battlefield, which repelled the enemy's attack. Later, this tactic was carried forward, and the soldiers not only used West-5 helicopters to lift artillery, but simply boarded West-5 to attack the enemy's rear under the cover of night, and at one time recaptured a considerable part of the outlying positions......"

This is still a West-5 helicopter with relatively poor capacity. The West-6 and Mi-3, which have a larger capacity, play a greater role.

The West-6 helicopter is very similar to the later Yak-24 helicopter. It's just one size smaller than the Yak-24. A tandem twin-rotor layout was used, with two ASH-62P engines installed with a total power of two thousand horsepower. It can carry two infantry squads, that is, 20 soldiers or two tons of cargo.

The Mi-3 transport aircraft is larger, a dedicated helicopter designed to transport heavy machinery, and a tandem twin-rotor layout, but with four ASH-62P engines and a total power of 4,000 horsepower. It is possible to hang 4 tons of cargo.

The latter two produced a total of two hundred units before the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, of which one and a half hundred were Western-6. And the Mi-3 has only fifty aircraft. About a hundred of them, the West-6 and thirty Mi-3, were involved in the defense of Kyiv. Every day you can see these two helicopters busy, and in the half month when Kyiv was completely cut off from the outside world, it was these 130 helicopters that built the passage of life.

Because of the high intensity of use, most of these helicopters had to be scrapped after the end of the first battle for Kyiv. And what is infuriating is that Tukhachevsky went so far as to say that these precious helicopters are useless!

After talking about the transport helicopter, the next thing we must talk about is the special armed helicopter Xi-4, which adopts a series two-seat engine rear layout, installs a VK-105P or AM-35 engine, and has an empty weight of 3 tons. The maximum take-off weight is 4.2 tons, the maximum flight speed is 210 km / h. The range is 600 km. Equipped with a 12.7 mm UB machine gun (later changed to a 14.5 mm machine gun) capable of carrying four rocket launchers on the short wings of the fuselage.

Compared with fixed-wing fighters with very high requirements for airports, such as the Su-1/2 and Il-2. The West-4 has very low requirements for the take-off site, and can take off and land on the roof of the building, the stadium and even the relatively empty street.

After the fixed-wing aircraft were forced to retreat from Kyiv, a large number of West-4s were able to stay in Kyiv to continue fighting, and because of the helicopter's ultra-low altitude performance, it could hover in the air, and the support for ground troops was more powerful.

During this period, the German armored forces suffered enough from the West-4, whether it was rockets or 12.7mm machine gun shells fired from the sky, they could easily smash the brains of German tanks and armored vehicles. On the contrary, the German army, which lacked field air defense capabilities, did not have many ways to take the West-4.

At that time, in order to cope with the threat of the West-4, German tanks and armored vehicles in Kiev urgently began to install anti-aircraft machine guns, first using MG34 to make do, and later found that MG34 was insufficient in firepower and power, and urgently added 20 mm machine guns.

At the same time, the West-4 is also constantly improving its performance, especially after the VK-107 engine is replaced, and the armor at the pilot's seat and fuel tank is further strengthened, and the survivability is still good.

The fighting for Kyiv continued until the beginning of September, and again and again the deadline for the fall of Kyiv, predicted by the Military Commission, was refreshed. During this period, both Shaposhnikov and Timoshenko constantly sent telegrams to the General Staff and the Military Commission, asking them to send additional troops as much as possible, and if there were no additional troops, they would quickly support more helicopters, and the military and civilians of the whole city were counting on helicopters to eat!

After Shaposhnikov's repeated pleas and Li Xiaofeng's constant insistence, Tukhachevsky's opposition was finally rejected by the Military Commission, and 300 old I-15s were dismantled in the first batch. However, under Tukhachevsky's interference, the disassembled I-15s were the oldest and oldest batch of I-15s, a considerable number of which were old from the factory in 1934, and some of them were even installed M-25 engines.

The dismantled engines lacked maintenance and had little lifespan, and some of them were not even able to operate at all. Sikorsky and Miri's factories took a lot of effort to dismantle and pick up a hundred working units. Of course, this batch of engines was not installed on a completely new helicopter, but was immediately sent to Kyiv, where the helicopter units had already reported that spare parts were so tight that they could only tear down the east wall and make up the west wall.

Li Xiaofeng and Shaposhnikov were naturally furious at Tukhachevsky's troublemaking, and once again sued the goods, and after another tearing war, Trotsky could only choose to make peace with the mud again, allowing another 300 I-15s or I-16s in better condition to be dismantled.

This batch of 300 engines can be used, but after all, they are second-hand. Power and reliability as well as longevity play a bit of an impact. In September 1941, the performance of the helicopters that left the factory had deteriorated. Of course. For the hungry Shaposhnikov, it would be nice to have a helicopter.

Leaving this aside, after the battle entered late August, the situation on the Soviet-German battlefield seemed to be clear, the Germans finally had an overall advantage, and the only question was how much of the Red Army's living force they were able to annihilate.

The question for the Red Army was whether the front-line reinforcements would be able to hold out if they collapsed in the last three to five days. The main forces, which were retreating in the chaos, could still be caught up by the Germans, and the result was likely to be an even more tragic battle of annihilation.

Some comrades may ask, haven't the Politburo and the Military Commission already decided to retreat? With the Bolsheviks' strong organizational skills, it is unlikely that there will be chaos, right?

Hey, it's still the same sentence, if you're not afraid of god-like opponents, you're afraid of pig-like teammates. The Bolsheviks really had no problem organizing and coordinating, and if they were fighting on the territory of the USSR, an orderly retreat was not too much of a problem.

But now it is just another comic country to fight, and the ability of the Communist Party of East Poland to build a country is not good. But the speed of the escape was really one of the best. Before Tukhachevsky and Yakir could come to their senses, the trolls, who were supposed to be responsible for maintaining order, fled in all directions. Directly led East Poland into anarchy.

Needless to say, is there no need to talk about anarchy? Having lived through the February Revolution and the October Revolution, everyone understands it. Anyway, the people were in chaos, and a large number of East Polish bureaucrats and refugees poured in the direction of Belarus and Ukraine, and the roads and railways were completely paralyzed, which was even more terrible than the traffic situation in the third brother.

In this confusion, the retreat of the Red Army was naturally greatly disturbed, and the originally expected speed of retreat could not be achieved at all, and the guiding and blocking troops had to hold out longer. And during this period, the Germans were not idle, and a considerable part of the paratroopers disguised themselves as Red Army soldiers infiltrated East Poland to carry out sabotage, making things even more tricky.

"There is no way to solve this problem," Yakir said to Tukhachevsky with a sad face, "I can't order the troops to run over these refugees without hesitation, can I?" ”

Some comrades may say that this is the kindness of women, and how can the life of the footcloths of East Poland be compared with the lives of the Red Army soldiers, and they should not be cared for, and if they do not obey the order, they should be crushed.

The question is, is this possible? People who have at least the slightest bit of discipline will not give such an order, which is tantamount to completely ruining the image of the Red Army, and also completely making the Red Army and the Soviet Union have a blood feud with Poland. It is better to settle the grievances than to settle them, and the Bolsheviks still want to carry out a world revolution! Isn't this self-isolation from the people?

What's more, if you think about it, the common people of East Poland are actually quite innocent, who is not afraid of war? Who would want to be a refugee if they could live in their own home? The most basic psychology of human beings to seek profit and avoid harm has prompted their behavior, and the real odious thing is that the bureaucrats of East Poland are simply not doing anything! They should all be shot!

In this regard, Li Xiaofeng's actions were much more decisive, immediately ordering the KGB to arrest these scum who had absconded to the Soviet Union, and then pull them all to the border, announce their identities in front of the Polish refugees who poured in, and then hang the gang on telephone poles.

This was met with immediate outcry from the rogue government of East Poland (I am not mistaken, it is indeed hooligans and not exiles), these damned party clubs and bureaucrats still have the face to say anything about disregard for human life. It's just that this time it was useless for them to cry and shout, because neither Trotsky, nor Sverdlov, nor Tukhachevsky and Yakir were choked with disgust by these bastards, and hated them for the trouble they had caused the retreat of the Red Army, and sent them away with a few reassuring words. Anyway, Li Xiaofeng was only verbally criticized, and he didn't even lose a single hair.

Not only did he not lose his hair, but he also brushed his prestige. The Red Army soldiers were very satisfied with the actions of the KGB and a certain immortal, and thought that they should really give these miscellaneous pieces a little color and kill them well! As for the footcloth of East Poland, there is no opinion, and they do not have the slightest good impression of those who enjoy privileges and crises in peacetime, and they are loudly applauding Li Xiaofeng, and even asking someone to kill them together with the rogue government of East Poland.

But although Li Xiaofeng's approach was very happy, there was no way to fundamentally change the chaos during the retreat. According to the original plan, on August 25, the blocking forces on the front line could be withdrawn. Because at a normal pace, the main forces of the Red Army should have retreated to Belarus.

However, because of the refugees, on August 25, the main forces of the Red Army were still halfway to the Belarusian border, which required the blocking force to continue to hold out.

To tell the truth, this was very cruel, in the face of the surging German offensive, it was not easy for the blocking troops to hold out for so long with their weak forces, and every unit that remained behind the blocking had already suffered more than half of the casualties. There are even quite a few of them that have already been wiped out.

For example, in Upper Maukinia, where the pressure is the greatest, the two tank divisions of the 1st Guards Mechanized Army have been basically reimbursed, and only half of the remaining mechanized infantry divisions are still able to fight. On their left and right flanks, the 10th Infantry Corps, which was fighting together, now had only two and a half regiments left, and it could be said that Shangma'ukinia could fall at any time.

However, what the Military Commission did not expect was that under the leadership of Major General Petrovsky, the last senior commander of the army, he gritted his teeth and persevered, but the troops defending Menzizhets in the south collapsed first...... (To be continued......)

PS: The www.biquge.info of Biquge is having a convulsion, and I can't see the information of the comrades rewarding and voting for the monthly ticket, and I can't thank the comrades individually, I'm really sorry!