The occupation of Szczecin was undoubtedly a good move, and the Allies' previous plan was to fight a big victory in Poland with all their might, first to solve Tukhachevsky, and then to turn back and clean up East Prussia. Previously, they had only sent a small number of troops to East Prussia to monitor and contain them. After the loss of Szczecin, this kind of surveillance and containment is meaningless, and even these units responsible for surveillance and containment are in danger of being annihilated.

"Order the troops to shrink in the direction of Poznan!"

Foch pinched his forehead speechlessly, the Americans were surrounded by Tukhachevsky and already made him very passive, who would have thought that something had gone wrong on Szczecin's side, and for the sake of today, he could only order the troops to contain East Prussia to shrink to the south.

Foch actually meant that these troops in charge of containment should protect the supply lines of the main force attacking Warsaw, and now he could not afford to have any more problems with the supply lines.

This way of dealing with this is a typical quest for stability, objectively speaking, it is not to seek merit but to seek no fault, which is also in line with Foch's psychology at this time, he is not the kind of general who is particularly creative and imaginative, although the Entente won during his tenure as commander-in-chief, but this victory was not won by his excellent command art.

To put it bluntly, Foch waited for this victory, without him, he would have won like other cats and dogs, and it can even be said that the defeat of the German-Austrian group was more due to their internal reasons, and it was the communist movement and the proletariat that gave the German group a blow to the head.

All in all, Foch's response seemed to secure the supply routes, but it emptied the area around Szczecin and the northeast of Germany. In this vast area, the military power of the Entente has become a vacuum, and Li Xiaofeng can toss as much as he wants!

For the Albert government. Foch's approach is very irritating. It was only with great difficulty that they were able to quell the workers' revolt in the country. The communist devils, who had not been alive for two days, had returned, which meant that they had to continue to suppress the bandits and put down the rebellion, and they had to relocate the army that was still maintaining order near Bavaria to the north.

Such a tossing back and forth is time-consuming and laborious, not to mention, once the army has gone north, who can guarantee that the remnants of the Communist Party in Bavaria will not revivenation? At that time, even if the north is pacified again, we will have to continue to turn back and suppress the bandits. This kind of practice really belongs to death!

Albert, of course, did not want to die, but the Entente were unreasonable, and they did not care about the feelings of the Germans. The French, in particular, wish the Russians would beat Germany to pieces.

I don't know if Foch received this hint before giving the above order, anyway, he made the Germans very unhappy and dissatisfied, which made the upcoming Treaty of Versailles more uncertain, and the negotiations that could have been completed in October were delayed again.

Of course, it was only a matter of time before the Germans signed the contract, and they just used the opportunity to express a little demand, to save as much face as possible.

However, it didn't save much face, and anyway, the Entente didn't intend to care about the life or death of the Germans, and directly told the Germans: "Russians, you can find a way to solve it yourself." That's your own business! ”

As a result, the German army had to move north from Bavaria and cross the whole of Germany to fight the fires. Even Li Xiaofeng did not expect this move to work so well, and the mere occupation of Szczecin would completely confuse Germany.

Some comrades may say that this is not nonsense? Isn't it just a process of mobilizing the army, how can it be chaotic? It is very simple that the accumulation and mobilization of a large number of troops needs to be supported by communication routes, and at this time, the troops of the Entente countries are crossing Germany from France to Poland, which occupies the east-west communication artery of Germany, and then the Germans have to move from south to north.

In any case, several major transportation hubs in Germany were jammed, which greatly delayed the military mobilization ability of Germany and the Entente powers, and indirectly reduced the pressure on the frontal battlefield.

Tukhachevsky's feelings about this were most obvious, when Germany was not in chaos before, the Anglo-French troops were desperately beckoning to his troops like artillery shells and money, and he was overwhelmed by the powerful firepower. It was almost with human lives to fill in the generals, blocking the offensive of the British and French armies.

And now, Germany is in disarray, the British and French supplies are a little out of place, and the heavy artillery fire like before is more than half covered. Although they still had an absolute advantage in firepower, the Belarusian Front was able to withstand it.

However, being able to withstand it does not mean that it is comfortable, the pressure on the troops is less, but the pressure on Tukhachevsky is greater. It was said before that Tukhachevsky was ready to retreat, but now it is difficult for him to withdraw.

Quite simply, in the past, it was necessary to give up the original battle plan because it was really unbearable, but now that it can withstand it, there is no excuse to retreat. At least Tukhachevsky did not know how to speak to Trotsky.

It was not only the military aspect that made Tukhachevsky difficult, but even more difficult was the political aspect, which he had already given up and did not care about political gains and losses. However, Li Xiaofeng suddenly occupied Szczecin and advanced to the German mainland in one fell swoop, the Baltic Front and the East Prussian People's Liberation Army were still weaker than the Belarusian Front (Tukhachevsky thought so), and even the weak brother troops could achieve such great results, and the "stronger" Belarusian Front had no reason to be grassy, right?

If Tukhachevsky could grit his teeth and bear the negative impact of the previous political situation, after Li Xiaofeng occupied Szczecin, his retreat can be said to be blocked. For example, Trotsky immediately urged him: "The Baltic Front has achieved great successes and fundamentally revealed the prelude to the victory of the world revolution. ”

Well, Tukhachevsky can't withdraw even if he wants to, he must destroy the Americans, there are no conditions for this. Tukhachevsky, who had no way to retreat, immediately made adjustments and transferred two divisions from the troops surrounding the Americans to reinforce the blocking forces.

This adjustment is passive. And the disadvantages are also quite obvious. Ubolevich said this before. The encirclement of the Americans with nine divisions of strength was just right. What does it mean to be just right? That's if it's less, it's going to be a problem!

Sure enough, when Tukhachevsky transferred two divisions, the battle to encircle and annihilate the Americans immediately came to a stalemate, and the remaining seven divisions could only be said to be just enough to encircle the Americans, and there was no more spare force to attack the encirclement.

As a result, after Tukhachevsky's first adjustment, the battlefield fell into a stalemate, the "fat" in the encirclement could not swallow it, and the blocking troops, although withstood it, were still losing blood. It is equivalent to Tukhachevsky hitting a bleeding skill. Once the blood loss reaches a certain level, he will collapse!

Tukhachevsky kind of understood why Ubolevich had warned him about the lack of troops, and he really did not have enough troops. But now it was too late to understand, because he hurriedly launched the campaign, and threw all the troops he could put into it in one go, so now he had no reserves available, and it would take time for him to be reinforced at home. Anyway, for a while Tukhachevsky couldn't count on anything.

The day after the first adjustment, he had to find Trotsky: "Comrade Trotsky, we must adjust our military deployment again, the front is fighting too hard. ”

Did Trotsky know the situation at the front? I know it. Riding on an armored train every day to give speeches on the front line to boost morale, he knows very well how difficult the situation in front of him is. However, before Tukhachevsky approached him, he was still willing to think about the good - the brave wins when they meet on a narrow road. Maybe it's good to grit your teeth and get through it!

But Tukhachevsky has now shattered Trotsky's dreams - it can't stand anymore, it has to be adjusted!

The question is how to adjust? In any case, it would have been impossible for Trotsky to accept a retreat, it would have been too humiliating, and Li Xiaofeng had led the weak men to the outskirts of Berlin, and he and Tukhachevsky had lost Warsaw. What will the comrades in the party think of him, will they think that he is just a mouthpiece, and that it is Lenin who can really lead the world revolution?

Anyway, Trotsky couldn't accept this result, and he couldn't explain it to his friends, right? Fortunately, Tukhachevsky did make a perfect plan this time, he fully took care of Trotsky's feelings, and gave a compromise proposal:

"Judging by the situation on the battlefield, the main problem encountered by our army is the underestimation of the enemy's combat effectiveness...... With our current strength, it is difficult to eat four American divisions in one go, and if we want to regain the initiative, we can only make a fuss about the Americans if we want to open up the situation! ”

What to do about it? Don't we have that much appetite? Since you can't eat four divisions in one go, then others are not hearted enough to swallow elephants, be pragmatic, let go of the three divisions that are surrounded in the north, and concentrate your forces to eat MacArthur's 42nd Division first!

This reason is actually very simple, there is no need to maintain the encirclement, it is natural to draw out a part of the troops, and put this part of the troops into the battle to encircle and annihilate the 42nd Division, won't it open up the situation?

I have to admit that Tukhachevsky still has two brushes, and such an adjustment is equivalent to fighting two blocking battles, blocking the British and French forces on one side, and Seibert's three divisions on the other, and then concentrating on eating the rainbow division.

It should be said that such an adjustment is really funny, but after listening to Tukhachevsky's plan, the expression on Trotsky's face was strange, why? Embarrassed, the original battle plan was to annihilate the American soft persimmon first, and then turn around and then fight the British and French forces. And now it has become only one mere 42nd division, and the Leninists should laugh at him for having a heart higher than the sky and a life thinner than paper.

In any case, Trotsky may become a laughing stock in this way, and if he is a mustache or a leader like Stalin, Tukhachevsky will probably lose his head if he "fools" things like this, and even if he can save his life, he will have to be removed from his official hat. However, Trotsky was not that kind of person, he was still more practical, and when the situation did not allow it, he would choose between face and lining.

Trotsky nodded with difficulty: "Then eat the 42nd Division first!" ”

Tukhachevsky breathed a sigh of relief, he was really worried that Trotsky would deny his suggestion, and that would be the end of the game. Of course, it can be heard from Trotsky's tone that the second teacher is quite dissatisfied. What do you mean by "eat the 42nd division first"? It was nothing more than dissatisfaction with this result, so Tukhachevsky tried his best to create new fighters after the annihilation of the 42nd Division.

Tukhachevsky smiled bitterly. Xin said: "Eating a 42nd division will be dead." Create a new fighter? Scold. After the 42nd Division was defeated, the troops had to rest and recuperate immediately, and there was no strength to fight again. ”

Of course, Tukhachevsky did not dare to say these words, and if he said them, in case Trotsky did not agree, it would not be a tragedy? Simply put, after the 42nd Division had been defeated, Trotsky could not object to it based on the actual situation of the troops.

But can Tukhachevsky's little calculation be hidden from Trotsky? As a human spirit. Trotsky knew very well what Tukhachevsky really thought, and the reason why Trotsky did not say it was also very simple, the first time was not right, and what if Tukhachevsky felt that the burden was too heavy and picked on it? Second, it is not suitable to put too much pressure on Tukhachevsky, the situation is enough to scratch his head, and add to the burden, Tukhachevsky is too young after all, what if he collapses under the pressure?

Of course. Trotsky was not content to be satisfied with the destruction of a mere rainbow division. But Tukhachevsky will not be allowed to do what is simply impossible. He also knew that with the current troop configuration, the next decisive battle might be enough. So he was ready to use the time of Tukhachevsky's annihilation of the Rainbow Division to "find foreign help".

What kind of "foreign aid" are you looking for? In fact, it was to ask Lenin for help. Trotsky wrote a letter to Lenin, in which he sincerely reviewed his mistake in underestimating the enemy, and then hoped that Lenin would proceed from the overall situation of the revolution and allow the Ukrainian front to enter Poland as much as possible to help in the war.

On the one hand, Lenin was asked to mobilize troops in the name of the Military Commission, so that the follow-up units of the White Russian Front in Belarus and the remaining troops of the Moscow Military District were assembled in Poland. Although there are not many troops in this part, they are still enough for emergency response.

Of course, Trotsky did not forget about the Baltic Front and the People's Liberation Army of East Prussia, and in his letter to Lenin he strongly urged Li Xiaofeng and Ubolevich to exert greater pressure on Berlin and Foch's troops, preferably by destroying the supply lines of the Entente.

Lenin was embarrassed by Trotsky's last request. Yes, it was not a problem for Lenin to let the Ukrainian Front enter Poland ahead of schedule, and he was willing to cooperate with Trotsky for the sake of the overall situation. But in the matter of the Baltic Front, he made a mistake.

To tell the truth, the Baltic Front's move to capture Szczecin was already quite commendable, and they could not draw up too many mobile forces, and they took a great risk to insert a knife in the heart of Germany, which is already quite good. Anyway, the Politburo didn't expect anyone to do so well before.

And now, Trotsky is even asking the Baltic Front to exert more pressure, which is a bit difficult for a strong man, after all, the Baltic Front is not strong enough, and the enemy in Berlin and Poznan is not weak, and in order to maintain this "lifeline" the Entente will definitely invest at any cost. No matter how you look at it, it's too risky.

In the end, however, Lenin acceded to Trotsky's request and said in his latest instructions to Li Xiaofeng: "The more decisive and resolute you fight, the greater the pressure you put on the enemy, the less pressure you put on Comrade Tukhachevsky, and this is beneficial to the overall situation of the revolution." I hope that you will continue to work hard to contain more enemies in the Szczecin region, and if you can threaten Berlin, even if it is only to make a gesture of threatening Berlin, it will be a great achievement! ”

Lenin has already made it clear that this is to let the Baltic Front out of the way, otherwise what can threaten Berlin? But Li Xiaofeng really didn't like this order, Berlin was a hornet's nest bigger than Warsaw, and rushing to Berlin with his little troops was really a meat bun and a dog, even if it was just for show, it was very risky.

"Whether to go south or west, we must be cautious!"

According to the previous plan, after the capture of Szczecin, it was necessary to move westward in order to create greater chaos in the German hinterland. And now that the central government has ordered them to go south, how should they choose?

Neither Ubolevich nor Triandafilov spoke, and under pressure from the center, they were indeed cautious. There was no way, Li Xiaofeng could only break the deadlock first: "I personally support westward expansion, although going south can threaten Berlin, but we must see that the enemy around Berlin is very strong, and it is too risky to blindly advance!" ”

"What about the central instructions?" Ubolevich asked with a wry smile.

Li Xiaofeng pondered for a moment and said: "As the political commissar of the Baltic Front, I must be responsible for the army, and if the central government does not understand the actual situation, we have the responsibility and obligation to explain the actual situation to the central government!" ”

Does it make sense? Definitely not. Because Lenin was not ignorant of the actual situation, he had to make certain sacrifices in order to take care of the overall situation. Even he strengthened his tone in his reply to Li Xiaofeng, and gave the order almost without doubt and discernment.

In this case, Li Xiaofeng can only obey even if he is a hundred unhappy. But he still has a set of ghost cleverness on how to obey.

"Isn't that right?" Ubolevich's face became the same color as a bitter melon, and he was frightened by the bold and ridiculous idea of a certain immortal, "Once the center finds out, then ......"

Li Xiaofeng waved his hand and said categorically: "I will bear the responsibility!" (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank you to the Most Wanted Criminals, Shadow Movement and Comrade Juventus!