To be able to take part in the battle, Voroshilov was the one who was the happiest, and it seemed to him that if Ubolevich had had brought his Red Tenth Army into battle earlier, he would not have let Denikin escape at all. So when he received the order to pursue south, he was quite proud, as if he had won a complete victory over Ubolevich.

"The Baltic Marine Division and the Don Mixed Brigade are stationed in place, and the main force led by the 4th Cavalry Division immediately moves quickly to the south, and must grab Denikin's tail and kick them in the ass fiercely!"

It can be seen from Voroshilov's arrangement that this is not an ordinary grudge, and he brought his own lineage to the melee merit. and exclude the miscellaneous and unpleasant dissidents who are temporarily assigned to him.

However, even if the Baltic Marine Division and the Don Mixed Brigade were not convinced, this arrangement did not make sense. These two troops, one is a division commander who has just gone wrong and has been beaten as a counter-revolutionary, and belongs to a unit that my grandmother does not love and uncle, and the other is a miscellaneous card adapted by a guerrilla unit.

In fact, the Baltic Marine Division and the Don Mixed Brigade were not unconvinced, but the reasons were slightly different. The Baltic Marine Division lost its temper because of low morale, and the blow to their morale from Debinko's incident was fatal, and now this unit has not recovered from it!

As for the Don Mixed Brigade, they also had no opinion, because Mironov, who commanded this force, was quite self-aware, and at the beginning of the war, he openly stated at the military meeting of the Red Tenth Army that Ubolevich's arrangement was not wrong. The Red Tenth Army had no combat effectiveness. You can only watch the scene.

And now Voroshilov has left him with the task of watching the scene. This is in line with Mironov's expectations, so naturally he will not have any opinions. Not only did he have no opinions, but Mironov was also very conscientious and meticulous, and his troops needed to defend the line from Nikolskoye to Chagan Oman, around which he was quite well prepared, and even actively mobilized the local masses to assist in the defense (for a mixed brigade of less than 4,000 men, this section of the line was relatively long). The Don River Mixed Brigade alone will not be able to hold it at all).

The situation at that time was more interesting, the Red XII Army was blocked in Kotelnikovo, and the Red 5th Army Abganelovo was at a loss to deal with the riverbank. Voroshilov rushed out of Tsaritsyn with the main forces of his Red Tenth Army like mad dogs and rushed south along the road line. None of them noticed that Denikin did not continue to flee south, but suddenly turned east, broke away from the road route, and captured a small town called Barron.

Barron was about forty kilometers from Nikoliskoye and Chagan Aman, and Denikin decided to take a breather here to give the troops who were forced to march a little rest. It also happened to send a reconnaissance force to investigate Oman to find out the truth and prepare for the next sneak attack.

Denikin is not ready to play onslaught. Time was too precious for him, and he had to take Chagan Aman and cross the Volga in the shortest possible time, taking advantage of the fact that the Red Army had not yet reacted. For this reason, he personally went out and cautiously approached Chagan Aman with a small reconnaissance force.

"Which Red Bandit is defending here?"

When he saw clearly the defensive situation of Chagan Oman, Denikin gasped, this Nima is the Red Tenth Army that the British said had no combat effectiveness, this is the so-called weak defense and weak military morale?

If Learvin was still standing in front of Denikin, I'm afraid Denikin wouldn't be able to help but take a sip of her - it's too bad!

In addition to being a little smaller in number, the defenders of Chagan Oman were neatly groomed, high-morale, and tightly defended, so if the defense was lax, what was the state of the heavily defended Red Army?

Denikin felt that he had been fooled and deceived by the British! But now that the army has advanced eastward, it is impossible to turn around and head south. For today's plan, the only way to meet on a narrow road is to win the brave and open a bloody road!

Denikin was determined, he was not a procrastinator, he quickly deployed his troops, ready to launch a surprise attack at the height of the night.

If other Red Army generals were stationed in Chagan Oman, they would probably be caught off guard by Denikin. But Mironov would not, his troops did carry out Voroshilov's instructions on strict defense, and the vigilance was quite high.

Moreover, Mironov has never been a passive person who has been beaten, his initiative spirit is quite high, and his defense is not a passive retreat, but while building a solid position, he actively reconnoiters outward, preparing to detect and guard against early and fight a prepared battle.

So when Denikin thought that he was doing a very stealthy job, he thought that he could hide from the Red Army and the world. The whereabouts of his troops had already been discovered by Mironov.

When Barron was lost, Mironov paid attention to it, and according to the situation on the battlefield ordered by the army group, the White Army should go south, and it was unlikely that it would take Barron. At first, Mironov thought that this was the work of a small group of white troops, but when the reconnaissance unit revealed that the number of enemies was quite large, he took it very seriously and walked in the direction of Barron himself.

I have to say that things on the battlefield are so interesting, the two commanders who commanded this big battle coincidentally chose to go to the front line to reconnoiter in person, and touched each other's bottoms, and the results of the investigation were very similar - they both broke out in a cold sweat.

The reason for Denikin's cold sweat has just been said, and the reason for Mironov's cold sweat is obvious - with the troops at hand, he can't stop Denikin at all!

After returning to Chagan Oman, the very sober-minded Mironov immediately reported this extremely important information to Voroshilov, and he wanted to remind the "big man" that the main force of the White Army did not go south, but went north.

At that time, the situation in Mironov was both nervous and excited. The nervousness was due to the large number of enemies, and the excitement was due to the fact that he saw a possibility that if his troops could hold off the White Army, it would create an unprecedented victory!

It should be said that Denikin's luck was too bad, and he originally thought that the trick of hiding from the sky and crossing the sea would work, at least he could catch the Red Army off guard. But now. Mironov was not only prepared. His intentions were also discovered. This will be a devastating blow to Denikin's overall plan!

But God was fair, he gave Mironov time to prepare and the opportunity to decide the outcome of the battle, but he deprived Mironov of luck.

How so? Mironov's telegram to Voroshilov was a stone sink and there was no response at all! What's going on? The reason is also very simple: the radio stations in the army are not turned on 24 hours a day, and they are only turned on to receive and receive telegrams at the agreed time. And on the way to the march and transfer, the radio was not on.

The "big man" Voroshilov was rushing south with one mind, and he was all about making a contribution to Ubolevich's face, and suddenly it was like beating chicken blood, and he was spinning 24 hours a day, thinking about catching up with the White Army as soon as possible.

The red-eyed "big man" had completely forgotten what radio station and what command, and before he set off, he gave a death order to all the troops - they must arrive at the specified place within the specified time, and if they can't complete the task, they will come to see each other!

That is to say, the Red Tenth Army, which was rushing southward, was crazy up and down, only caring about the road, and there was nothing else in his eyes. From the army level to the division, brigade, and regiment levels, there is no radio station to report on the situation within the prescribed liaison hours in accordance with military doctrine. It's like a fierce horse blindfolded, just thinking about burying its head and galloping.

Voroshilov did not turn on the radio at the appointed contact time, and naturally neither Mironov, as a subordinate, nor Ubolevich, as a superior, could find him. Naturally, this important information could not be passed on to him!

After the end of the campaign, there were two opinions on Voroshilov's major mistake of not opening the radio station, which led to the missed of a God-given opportunity, one was that it should be understood that the "big man" was too devoted to completing the combat tasks assigned by the group army, and it was understandable that he did not care about opening the radio station.

Another diametrically opposed opinion is that Voroshilov did not make an unintentional mistake, but deliberately did not turn on the radio, that he just wanted to circumvent the command and intervention of the army group, that is, he wanted to do it on his own, that is, he was unorganized and undisciplined! This opinion was held by Trotsky and Ubolevich.

In the end, the Central Committee did not have a clear explanation of Voroshilov's mistakes, and it was not until 32 years later, when Comrade Iron and Steel "retired" for five years, and when Voroshilov was publicly tried for his anti-party conspiracy, that Semenov, who was the head of the communications department of the Red Tenth Army at that time, disclosed a "fact".

Testifying in court, he said: "At Klimant's request, our communications office was ordered not to turn on the radio and not to communicate with his superiors without permission, because he was afraid that Comrade Ubolevich would interfere with the command, and he wanted to leave the command of the army group headquarters and ......go it alone."

This testimony has been recorded in the annals of history as evidence of the conspiracy of Voroshilov's anti-party clique, but a considerable number of historians still believe that the evidence and testimony are more like those imposed on Voroshilov by those in power after the defeat of the political struggle, and their credibility should be questionable.

It doesn't really matter whether the testimony is true or not, and whether Voroshilov was intentional or unintentional at the time. Importantly, because of his major mistakes, which led to the complete bankruptcy of the siege and annihilation of Denikin in the lower Volga, he deprived the Red Army of the possibility of dealing with the White Bandits in 1918.

That is, because of his "small" mistakes, the Red Army had to make more efforts, shed more blood and sacrifices, and the Russian people also had to struggle for one more year in the war, and the USSR began to restore its economy more than a year later. What about these heavy losses, even if the evidence is questionable? Shouldn't he pay for it?

Mironov was in a hurry, the damned "stupid big guy" could not be contacted at all, and the White Army could rush towards his line at any moment. At the critical moment, he reacted to the situation with great courage and reported the relevant situation to Ubolevich.

When Ubolevich received this report, he was so shocked that he wanted to say Mironov, are you mistaken, where did the main forces of the White Army come from in the direction of Barron. Isn't the reconnaissance intelligence on the battlefield unanimously a reflection that the main forces of the White Army are fleeing south?

I have to say that Denikin is still quite powerful, he used the plan of repairing the plank road in the dark, and there was indeed a white army in the south, but it was the Czech Legion and Titeririch's troops. After receiving important information about Learvin, he made a plan to break through to the north. To confuse the Red Army. In order to allow their troops to get out smoothly. He pit Titeririchs hard.

At that time, he sent a telegram to Titerikhs, which roughly meant that he first condemned Titeririchs' treachery and fled first, and scolded the goods for scolding him. Immediately afterwards, the conversation changed gear, saying that the main forces would break through in the direction of Elista, and that Titerikhs's troops would act as the rear forces to block the Red Army.

Well, it is enough to say so much, everyone knows what kind of birdman Titeririchs is, how can he willingly go to the queen of the Denikin Palace. Follow the nature of his urine. After receiving the telegram, it is more likely that all he will do is to quickly speed up and flee south, as long as he runs fast enough, what can Denikin do with him?

Fooling Taterichs, Denikin was not satisfied, and he also sent people to spread the gossip all over the world, telling that his main force had gone south and was fleeing south. With the gossip and the full cooperation of Titeririchs, and the weakness of the Red Army in the direction of Elista, it was natural to believe it.

Fortunately, Ubolevich did not have preconceived ideas and did not take Mironov's intelligence for granted. He knew Mironov and knew that he would not joke about such things. So he made the right decision - let the Air Force go to the Barron direction to reconnoitre. Let's see if there's any White Army going on there!

Time passed little by little, when Voroshilov was still stupidly rushing south, Ubolevich had already received the reconnaissance report of the Air Force, and he quickly re-issued the order: "Telegraph the Red Tenth Army, immediately stop the pursuit to the south and immediately turn to the direction of Barun!" ”

As mentioned earlier, Voroshilov didn't turn on the radio, and naturally Ubolevich couldn't do anything about him, Xiao Wu was really in a hurry at that time, and the Red Tenth Army dropped the chain at a critical moment, isn't this a rush to death!

"Can't wait for Voroshilov," Ubolevich slammed the table in the evening of the same day, and said angrily: "Order the Red Fifth Army to take Abu Ganerovo no matter what, before seven o'clock tonight, this is a dead order!" In addition, he telegraphed to Comrade Kuzmich and told him that his troops were now the only hope for the whole army, that they must hold the line at all costs, and that the White Army must not be allowed to cross the Volga...... 24 hours, he must hold on for 24 hours! ”

Even if he did not receive Ubolevich's order, Mironov knew very well that the task ahead of him was very arduous, and when he looked around, the nearest friendly army was also the Baltic Marine Division in the direction of Akhtubinsk, which was also 80 kilometers away, and the Baltic Marine Division's combat effectiveness was needless to say, and the morale of the Baltic Marine Division was needless to say, just talking about their numbers, there were only more than 9,000 people in the whole division, and the defense line to be defended was hundreds of kilometers long.

Hmph, let's put it this way. The Baltic Marine Divisions are thankful that they can hold the line, maybe they need reinforcements!

"The situation is dire!" Mironov convened an operational meeting, "holding the line of defense for 24 hours with our existing forces, no, holding on for 12 hours is a miracle." And miracles on the battlefield are very few, so we can't hope for any miracles! ”

Mironov took a deep breath: "Mobilize the local workers, peasants, party members and league members, give them weapons, and let them join our ranks...... Seize all ships that can be used to cross the river, and blow up all bridges...... Our mixed brigade of the Don River must be prepared for the worst, and if the enemy wants to cross the Volga, there is only one possibility, which is to step on our corpses! ”

The battle broke out in the early hours of the same day, and Denikin threw in an entire division of more than 8,000 men in one breath and launched a fierce attack on Chagan Aman from a frontage ten kilometers wide.

In a letter to his wife the next day, Mironov wrote: "Denikin came very suddenly, and the offensive was quite fierce, and I could feel his determination, and he was ready to rush through my line at all costs...... Heavy casualties were inflicted, and many companies were reduced by more than half, and some even disappeared from the battlefield in formations. I had just sent the last remaining guard company to the front line, and this was only the first day of the fighting, and Ubolevich demanded that I have to hold out for another 24 hours, because the Red Fifth Army was in great trouble...... As for Voroshilov, no one expected anything from him, he rushed in the direction of Erista like a fool, did not listen to orders, and the radio was never turned on, so much so that it was difficult for Ubolevich to remove him from his post...... According to the latest information I have received, Ubolevich has already sent the Air Force to find Voroshilov, ready to airdrop the bastard's dismissal order. ”

Writing this, Mironov became very worried, and he wrote in his diary in extremely scribbled handwriting: "But what is the use of removing that bastard from his position? The main force of our army has already been brought to Celinnoye by him, and the rapid march along the way has exhausted the physical strength of the troops, and it is impossible to expect them to kill one of them and come to our rescue...... My dear, I have a hunch that it is quite possible that this will be the last time I write to you, and perhaps I will remain on the banks of the Volga forever with the boys...... If I really can't go back, I hope you don't shed tears, don't grieve, because your husband died for the sake of millions of proletarians in all Russia, and I feel that I died without regret and deservedly! (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank you to the sweet potatoes in the melon field, hzwangdd and Comrade Juventus!