Mobilizing the militia to participate in the war, this is okay, but whether it has any effect or not, that is, the benevolent will see the benevolent and the wise will see the wise. Because from 1938 to June 1941, the Red Army carried out several rounds of expansion, from the original more than 2 million to more than 5 million, such a rapid expansion has consumed the previous reserves and militia, and now continue to draw militia, the soldiers are probably even more ugly.

Let's put it this way, at this time, the vast majority of the militia in Ukraine are "old people" between the ages of 45 and 50, and a considerable part of this group of people are "old, weak, sick and disabled", otherwise they would have been withdrawn when they increased their troops before. In addition to the "old, weak, sick and disabled", the rest are indispensable basic workers in all factories, who are skilled operators, and their removal will inevitably affect industrial production.

In any case, it is impossible for the Central Military Commission to agree to the transfer of skilled workers, that is to say, the combat effectiveness of such hastily organized troops really will not look good.

It is not only the source of soldiers that is a problem, but also the weapons and equipment, the previous expansion of the army has consumed the weapons that the Red Army can pass, and the remaining ones are either stocks from the First World War or are in tatters, can such equipment be able to do more than the murderous enemy?

But at that time, Shaposhnikov and Timoshenko couldn't manage so much, the situation was really urgent, even if it was a burning stick, they had to use it, right?

In just three days, under the auspices of Timoshenko, the peasants and workers of the Kiev region were mobilized, and an improvised army of 100,000 was assembled into 12 militia divisions, which were dedicated to the defense of Kyiv and the surrounding areas.

It can be seen that Shaposhnikov has little confidence in these militia units either. Otherwise, these 100,000 people will not be allowed to squat in Kyiv to defend to the death. This is also normal. After all, the militia has limited combat effectiveness. Pulling into the field to fight with the regular army, it is really only the part of being abused, and sticking to the permanent fortifications in the Kyiv region is a little more survivable in a defensive war.

Of course, as mentioned before, the permanent fortifications in the Kyiv region are built so much that there are a lot of problems, but Shaposhnikov can't manage so much. It's better to have fortifications than no fortifications, right?

After piecing together the militia units, Shaposhnikov urgently adjusted the defensive deployment, and the 20 divisions of the regular army mentioned earlier, except for the five that were originally in the Kiev region, the rest were still the German Army Group South on the outer line according to Tukhachevsky's requirements, striving to buy more time for the main force of the Ukrainian Front to conquer Warsaw, and also to maintain the smooth supply line as much as possible.

From the perspective of later generations of military historians, Shaposhnikov made a foolish choice, there were too few troops left on the outer front, and these 15 divisions faced the siege of nearly 60 divisions of the German Army Group South. It's only a matter of time before they're wiped out.

It can even be said that this is not even a matter of time, because it was not long before Shaposhnikov adjusted the deployment of the game. The general offensive of the Germans was coming. First, the Romanians were intimidating and penetrated the Red Army's lines in just one morning.

Well, it should be said that the Red Army did not have any complete line of defense at all, and the front that had to be defended by that little force was too long, and it was simply a matter of neglecting one or the other and being riddled with holes. So much so that the Romanians and Hungarians let the defense line of the Red Army collapse without much effort!

Soon the Germans also swarmed up, dividing the fifteen divisions by dividing them by two. By the time Shaposhnikov urgently contacted the General Staff and asked Tukhachevsky to allow the troops to retreat, it was already too late. Only a little more than three divisions escaped the encirclement, and the remaining 12 divisions were about 170,000 men.

What's even more ridiculous is still to come, after learning of the collapse of the front, Tukhachevsky was furious and severely reprimanded Shaposhnikov, believing that his command was completely irresponsible, and he allowed the enemy to achieve his goal easily.

At that time, Shaposhnikov was also angry, and scolded: "Comrade Tukhachevsky, please pay attention to the fact that the Ukrainian Front has always carried out your orders, and I have repeatedly emphasized that the troops are not enough and should shrink the front, but you ordered the troops to continue to stay on the outer front hard top!" ”

Tukhachevsky was also furious and shouted: "What do you mean, this is my responsibility!" ”

Shaposhnikov simply let it go and roared: "Of course it is your responsibility, if you don't draw all the main forces of the front, the enemy can take advantage of the situation." If it weren't for your insistence on a counteroffensive and your refusal to transfer the reserves of the Central Front to Kyiv ahead of schedule, would I have no troops available now? If Kyiv falls, this is entirely your responsibility! ”

The two of them quarreled across the phone, and in the end, they naturally broke up. At the next emergency meeting of the Military Commission to resolve the Kiev issue, Tukhachevsky sharply criticized Shaposhnikov, believing that Shaposhnikov's incompetence led the tragedy.

"This is a completely irresponsible statement, Comrade Shaposhnikov is quite right, the key reason for the erosion of the situation in Kyiv to this point is the overly hasty and reckless counterattack plan. This plan has taken away so many forces that the Ukrainian Front cannot complete the defensive task with the remaining forces......"

However, when Li Xiaofeng finished saying good things for Shaposhnikov, Tukhachevsky was not happy: "What do you mean by a counterattack that is too hasty and reckless? The counterattack plan is approved by the Central Military Commission, and it is a well-planned and reasonable military action, as long as we can achieve victory in the counterattack......"

Li Xiaofeng interrupted him without hesitation: "Is the counterattack a victory now?" ”

Tukhachevsky replied: "Considerable progress has been made, our troops are close to retaking Warsaw......"

Li Xiaofeng interrupted him again: "A week ago, you said that you were about to recover Warsaw, and now a week has passed, and you are still close to ...... I wonder how long this is coming? ”

"This, it should be soon!" Tukhachevsky replied vaguely.

Even Frunze was not satisfied, and he asked, "How fast is it soon?" Is it a day, or a week, or a month and a half? Comrade Tukhachevsky, time is precious now, in case there is a mistake. It is not only that the reconquest of Warsaw will become impossible. We are also going to lose Kyiv and the Ukrainian Front. This loss is too great! ”

Tukhachevsky seemed a little entangled, which showed that he also knew that the current situation was very bad, but he still did not want to give up the plan of retaking Warsaw and fighting all the way to Berlin, and he still wanted to try his luck in Warsaw.

"Isn't it a little more patient?" Tukhachevsky cautiously asked, "If the main forces of the German Army Group Center can be defeated in Warsaw, it will be a victory in one fell swoop!" ”

Li Xiaofeng said very unceremoniously: "If you can't, you will also bury the entire Ukrainian Front and Ukraine, and even bring it to the overall deterioration of the war situation in Belarus and East Prussia." Can you afford this responsibility? ”

"Maybe it's not that grim?" Tukhachevsky asked rhetorically.

"Can you say anything other than maybe, probably, probably, and will?" Li Xiaofeng was furious, and he said categorically: "The Ukrainian Front must immediately give up continuing to attack Warsaw, and should immediately retreat to Ukraine, and at the same time, the Belarusian Front must also be ready to meet the Ukrainian Front." I think that's the right decision to make now! ”

Now Tukhachevsky quit, he firmly objected: "The situation has not yet reached this point, we should be a little more patient!" ”

Li Xiaofeng said: "I don't have the patience to go around in circles with you, I ask the Military Commission to immediately vote on my opinion, so as to decide the next step!" ”

Tukhachevsky still tried to resist, but after Frunze made it clear that he supported Li Xiaofeng's construction, he could only sit back in a daze. After a simple show of hands. Li Xiaofeng's construction was not surprisingly passed. The Military Commissar instructed the General Staff to immediately develop a plan for retreating from Warsaw and defending Kiev, much to Tukhachevsky's great setback.

Years later. In his memoirs, Tukhachevsky also said sourly: "We could have ended the war in 1942, but some conservatives who had no imagination of war buried this possibility." The Red Army fell short under the city of Warsaw and brewed the greatest regret and mistake in the history of World War II! ”

It can be seen from this that Tukhachevsky insisted on attacking Warsaw to the death, preparing to crash through the southern wall under the city of Warsaw. However, even Yakir and Khalepsky, who supported him at the time, later admitted: "We underestimated the combat effectiveness of the German army, and at the beginning the attack against the attack did not play much more than to lead the Red Army to pay a lot of casualties and create a void in Ukraine's defenses...... Continuing the attack on Warsaw is likely to lead to the worst possible situation, and judging from the subsequent events, not only should we not continue to attack Warsaw, but on the contrary, we will retreat too late......"

In fact, if the General Staff had effectively carried out the orders of the Military Commission, it would not have been too late to retreat, but just right. Judging from the post-war information, if the Germans had retreated in time at that time, the Germans probably would not have been able to counterattack immediately, because they were not prepared. And Tukhachevsky's procrastination instructed the General Staff to delay time, and the Ukrainian Front failed to retreat in time, and at the same time as retreating, it was met with a fierce counterattack by the German army, which had been accumulating strength for a long time, and the guide suffered heavy losses.

The thing was that Tukhachevsky still wanted to try his luck in Warsaw at that time, so he instructed the General Staff to make a few more retreat plans, and the more detailed the better. As we all know, the more detailed the plan, the more time-consuming, and the implementation is also troublesome, and it is inevitable to lead to zhì strings.

Taking advantage of this time, Tukhachevsky continued to instruct Yakir to urge the main forces of the Ukrainian Front to continue the onslaught. Presumably, Tukhachevsky felt that before the retreat plan was drawn up, Warsaw would be back in the hands of the Red Army.

However, things were not as simple as Tukhachevsky thought, and in the following days, the Red Army's onslaught was tantamount to kicking the iron plate, and not only failed to retake Warsaw, but instead drained the last reserves in this senseless offensive. When the infantry of the Red Army was exhausted, and the armored corps suffered heavy losses under the combined air-ground strikes of the Germans, this was the end of the canopy!

On July 10, under the constant urging of the Military Commission, the General Staff finally came up with a retreat plan with difficulty, but before it could be issued, the German counterattack began!

The reinforced German Army Group Center, which had drawn a large number of troops from Army Group North and reserves, was not ordinarily strong. After attracting the attention of the Ukrainian Front in Warsaw with a small number of forces, Army Group Center suddenly launched a pincer offensive from the left and right flanks with two fists.

On the same day, the 3rd group of German tanks quickly broke through the weak lines of the Red Army. Threatened the rear of the 3rd Army on the right flank of the Red Army. The 6th Army on the left flank of the Red Army was also forced to retreat under the fierce German offensive. So. The 10th Army, which was directly in the center of the Red Army, was in danger of being encircled.

In order to change the unfavorable situation, the Red Army immediately concentrated its mechanized 6th, 11th and 14th armies on the Germans, and although they made good progress for a time, they were soon forced to retreat under the constant calls of the stukas.

The most thrilling thing in this counterattack was that several T-35s and T-34s rushed to the forward command post of the German 17th Panzer Division. At that time, the commander of the division, Feng Fen, was not only in the command post. Lieutenant General Erling, as well as Guderian, commander of the second tank group of the German army, and Lemeiersen, commander of the 47th Panzer Army, fortunately, these three experienced in combat and lay down in time so that they were not bombarded into slag by the Red Army tanks.

A day later. The 3rd German tank group captured Vovogin, and the 2nd tank group reached Otwodsk, pressing from the north and south towards Sulayyuvik, the last retreat route of the Red Army.

Sulayyuvik is a small city east of Warsaw, with a railway to Brest, and after the fall of Vovominotvodsk, this is the only direction in which the Ukrainian Front can retreat.

On July 11, Shaposhnikov, on the instructions of the Military Commissar, issued a general retreat order. The 3rd and 10th armies were ordered to retreat at high speed in the direction of Sulayyuvik. And the 6th Army of the Red Army retreated in the direction of Garvorin.

However, the situation on the battlefield at this time was far from the retreat plan drawn up by the General Staff. The plan of the General Staff was a slow and orderly retreat, even as envisaged by Tukhachevsky. When retreating, it is necessary to keep an eye on the movements of the German army. As soon as the Germans showed their flaws, the mechanized units would immediately move from retreat to attack. Turn around and bite harder again. It can also be seen how reluctant Tukhachevsky is to retreat, and he wants to return to attacking form at the slightest opportunity.

However, this kind of assumption is really fatal, because the situation on the battlefield at this time completely exceeded the retreat plan of the General Staff, and the Red Army had no possibility of an orderly retreat at all. Under the tidal wave of German offensives, the 3rd and 10th armies fell into disarray one after another. To make matters worse, the two armies had previously consumed too much of their strength in Warsaw, a large number of tanks and armored vehicles had been destroyed, and motor vehicles had nowhere to escape from enemy air strikes, and even more terrifyingly, the reserves of fuel and ammunition were running out. Let's put it this way, these two armies will probably have to rely on two legs to run.

The Red Army soldiers, who had withdrawn from the Empress of Haste, rushed together in the direction of Suleyyuvik, running for their lives in a narrow corridor with a total width of less than 20 kilometers, and during this time they were constantly subjected to German air and artillery bombardment, and all the troops were in disarray.

On the morning of July 12, before the 3rd and 10th Red Army armies could withdraw to Suleyyuvik, the 3rd German tank group easily occupied this vital escape route, and about 400,000 men of 18 divisions of 6 armies of the two Red Army armies were blocked in a narrow area east of Warsaw.

This astonishing change shook the Ukrainian Front, the Central Military District and the Military Commission in Moscow, and the shape changed so quickly that it was almost impossible to react.

At this time, the situation on the battlefield was such that the 3rd and 10th armies of the Red Army were surrounded, and to the northeast of them, the 13th Army of the Belorussian Front and the 12th Army of the Ukrainian Front were facing off against the German 2nd and 18th armies, and in the southeast, the retreating 6th Army of the Red Army was being pursued by the 2nd cluster of German tanks. And in the Warsaw direction, the German 4th, 9th, and 12th armies were tightening the encirclement, preparing to completely annihilate the Red Army in the encirclement.

"The 3rd and 10th armies must be relieved." Frunze said heavily.

However, Frunze couldn't think of a way to break the siege, because for the time being, he couldn't see that the army could handle this task, anyway, Frunze was silent after saying this.

On the contrary, Li Xiaofeng dared to say anything: "I think it is unlikely that the 3rd and 10th armies will break through at all, and no unit will be able to go to relieve them." What we have to think about now is to take advantage of the enemy's encirclement and annihilation of the 3rd and 10th armies, shrink sharply, withdraw the rest of the troops from eastern Poland to Belarus and Ukraine as quickly as possible, and re-stabilize the front as much as possible on the Kiev and Minsk fronts! ”

These words are so amazing, 18 divisions said to give up and give up? You must know that the Red Army has lost 12 divisions in southern Ukraine before, plus the 18 divisions this time, a total of more than 600,000 people will be annihilated! Who can afford this responsibility?

Anyway, Tukhachevsky couldn't afford it, and he didn't want to carry it, so he immediately refuted Li Xiaofeng's statement: "Once we abandon the 3rd and 10th armies, it means that we will lose the initiative on the battlefield for at least half a year in the future, and we can only be beaten passively." This is completely inconsistent with the Politburo's expectations for the Great Patriotic War! And so many troops will give up when they say they will give up, which will seriously demoralize the troops! We must not do that! ”

Li Xiaofeng looked at him coldly, restrained the surging anger in his heart, and asked coldly: "Then what do you say, continue to throw the troops into the fire pit regardless of it, and let more soldiers be buried with the 3rd and 10th Group Armies?" (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank you to the old students, hzwangdd and comrade Dou Li Gedou!