The more than 200,000 troops of the Transcaucasian Military Region were surrounded by the main force of Tang Qiuli's independent division in the narrow area from Hagengol to Baiyinchagan in northern Outer Mongolia, within a radius of only a few tens of kilometers.

At the meeting on how to relieve the troops of the Transcaucasian Military District, Stalin, the supreme leader of the Soviet Union, first punished General Besovsky, director of the General Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff for dereliction of duty, and handed him over to Beria, chairman of the All-Union Anti-Counterterrorism Committee and head of the Great Special Service.

The leader was furious, and in an understatement, one of the generals was dismissed, and all the high-ranking officials were silent, and the treatment of General Bessovsky was just a small episode of the whole meeting, which did not affect the theme of the meeting.

God is pitiful, the head of the General Staff, Marshal Petroshilov, has his head in a mess, and the first speech is to set the tone, but Comrade Stalin has no clear instructions, whether to rescue Kulygin's troops, this tone is not easy to set, but there is one point, Comrade Stalin will not sit idly by and watch more than 200,000 troops of the Transcaucasian Military District be wiped out by Tang Qiuli, and the question is how to save it, the question is how to save it?

Thinking of this, Marshal Petroshilov had some ideas, but the difficult thing came again, he knew his own affairs, as the supreme head in charge of the All-Union Armed Forces, he knew the deployment of troops well, and around the battlefield of Outer Mongolia, where the war was fighting, there were not enough troops for rescue, and near Lake Baikal, there were only more than 20,000 second-rate divisions of the Transcaucasian Military District. Pulling a battlefield hundreds of kilometers above is almost like sending people to death.

Zhukov's Far Eastern Front has already transferred four infantry corps, and it is obviously impossible to transfer troops again, and if it is not good, the Japanese Kwantung Army will take the opportunity to make a move, and the Far Eastern Front will make a mistake, and Comrade Stalin will not want his own head.

Seeing that the eyes of Stalin and his colleagues were focused on himself, Marshal Petroshilov said slowly: "The opinion of the General Staff is. Taking advantage of the fact that Tang Qiuli's encirclement had not yet been completely closed, he ordered Kulygin to immediately command the troops to break through the encirclement and retreat in the direction of the Sesagoge River, and ordered the air force of the Don River Military Region to reinforce the aircraft group on the battlefield in Outer Mongolia. All sorties were dispatched to cover the northward retreat of Kulygin's troops from the air. ”

"Here's how. All combat aircraft at field airfields around Lake Baikal. Divided into three echelons, the relay type of lift-off combat ensures that our fighters always have air supremacy, and we must use the most intense bombing to block the pursuit of the troops of the independent division. Covering the retreat of Kurykin's troops until the troops of the Transcaucasian Military District, safely crossing the Serag River, among other things. The General Staff has not yet done a more secure approach. ”

After Marshal Petroshilov finished speaking, he looked at Stalin's face, indeed, this is the most feasible way, counting on the four infantry corps of the Far Eastern Front, which are still marching along the border line, it will be too late.

None of the people spoke, each with a calculation in his heart, and the corner of his eye was observing Stalin's face, and the opinion of the General Staff was not the opinion of Comrade Stalin.

However, Stalin always smoked his pipe violently, without saying a word, and the pale blue smoke shrouded his face, blurring and making it impossible to understand his thoughts.

Stalin took his pipe from his mouth and said slowly: "Everyone's disagreement with each other means that they basically agree with Comrade Petroshilov's approach, am I right?" The tone was flat and unemotional.

The high-ranking officials racked their brains to ponder Stalin's words, and suddenly, Stalin raised his tone and said: "I don't know if the General Staff didn't use their brains when formulating this rescue plan? Or do you take it for granted in the office looking at a map? ”

All the high-ranking officials were shocked, listening to the meaning of the leader's words, they were dissatisfied with the General Staff, it seems that the military system is going to be unlucky today, first a general, the director of the General Intelligence Bureau, and then it is the turn of the chief of the General Staff.

Stalin's tone, with great anger, continued: "More than five hours have passed since Kulygin's troops were surrounded by Tang Qiuli, and he was ordered to command his troops to break through?" Comrade Petroshilov, do you think that Tang Qiuli has set up such a large encirclement, can he easily let Kurygin's troops break through and retreat north? If five hours ago, there was hope for a breakthrough, now, it's impossible! ”

"The Air Force of the Don Military District, after two air battles, the losses are not small, can it shoulder the burden of covering the breakthrough of the troops of the Transcaucasian Military District? Air cover, the General Staff can imagine it, Tang Qiuli can't think of it? Comrade Petroshilov, do you think that Tang Qiuli will let our Air Force accomplish this task? Could it be that the independent division, with nearly a thousand combat aircraft, is blind and cannot see the actions of our fleet? ”

A series of cross-examinations, harsh words and knives, pierced Marshal Petroshilov in the heart, and since he became the chief of the General Staff and became Comrade Stalin's most relied on assistant, he had never been so embarrassed, and in front of his subordinates and colleagues, he did not leave himself any room at all!

Marshal Petroshilov's face was red and white, then turned iron-blue, swallowed a mouthful of saliva with difficulty, sweated profusely in embarrassment, looked at Stalin in confusion, and sat down dejectedly.

Stalin, as if he had not seen his dead fish-like face, stood up, paced slowly in the office, and said without looking at himself: "Well, since you have no better way, let me give you my opinion." ”

All the high-ranking officials pricked up their ears, "Kulygin's troops must be rescued as much as possible, we must not lose the only mobile force in the Far East, the General Staff will record this, first, appoint Comrade Jonasov, deputy commander of the Air Force of the Don Military District, as the commander of the Air Force of the Outer Mongolia Campaign, and command all air force units in a unified manner, not under the command of the Command of the Transcaucasian Military District, and directly obey the orders of the Air Force General Headquarters. ”

"Second, all the air force forces in the east are concentrated in the Outer Mongolian battlefield, including Zhukov's Far Eastern Front Air Force, and one-third of its troops must be transferred to support Comrade Jonasov, and all air force units must be organized before 6 o'clock this evening and report directly to the Air Force General Headquarters.

"Third, the garrison units of the Transcaucasian Military District left in the Baikal area, in addition to leaving the necessary garrison forces, guarding the occupied areas and protecting the logistics base, the main force immediately moved south and headed for the Sejingge River!"

Hearing this, Marshal Petroshilov, chief of the General Staff, was shaken and raised his head in surprise, looking at Stalin, although the plan he had drawn up in a hurry was criticized by Comrade Stalin as incomplete and worthless, and it did not mean that he agreed to put a second-rate division composed of logistics and baggage troops into the plan to rescue Kulykin's troops, or that sentence, it was less than 20,000 men, and it would be useless and could not solve any problems.

Stalin glanced at him and continued to say slowly: "This force, instead of going to the rescue of Kulygin's encircled troops, will build a large number of pontoon bridges over the river after reaching the Serang River, so that the retreating troops of the Transcaucasian Military District can cross the Sesagog River as quickly as possible and get rid of the situation of being closely pursued by the troops of the independent division. ”

Marshal Petroshilov, with a long sigh of relief, looked at Stalin with admiration, such a deployment, he did not expect that the leader was not only an outstanding politician, but also an outstanding military strategist, not only insight into all the conspiracies of Tang Qiuli, but also came up with the best solution, admire!

Of course, Stalin, who was immersed in his own plans, did not notice the almost superstitious and adoratory gaze of the Chief of the General Staff, Marshal Petroshilov, and continued: "Fourth, order the reinforcements of the Far Eastern Front to immediately abandon the original plan of marching along the border line and rushing to the Segar River, and move to the eastern part of Outer Mongolia, and emphasize this point in the order, do not rush to the area from Hagengol to Baiyinchagan, the target of the reinforcements, take a shortcut and pounce directly on Kulen!" ”

Marshal Petroshilov's eyes flashed with sparks of surprise, in the end he was a veteran of military affairs, he had already understood Comrade Stalin's intentions, Tang Qiuli's main forces were concentrated in the battlefield from Hagen Gaole to Baiyin Chagan, and surrounded Kulygin's troops, then, Kulen would definitely be empty, Kulen was attacked, in order to keep the rear base, Tang Qiuli had to mobilize troops to come back, then the siege of the troops of the Transcaucasian Military District was easily solved, this is the leader's version of "encircling Wei to save Zhao!" ”

"Clever! Brilliant at all! Marshal Petroshilov was secretly admired in his heart, and almost jumped up in excitement to applaud loudly, and while the crowd was still digesting the leader's words, he stood up first, and applauded enthusiastically, and then, thunderous applause, flooded the office.

Stalin stopped, waved his hands with dissatisfaction, and the cheap applause did not arouse his interest in the slightest, originally, this kind of thing should have been considered and planned by the General Staff, but ......!

Stalin shook his head speechlessly, and continued: "In order to unify the command of the Outer Mongolian campaign, it was decided to set up a high command, members, the main responsible comrades of the General Staff, and Comrade Molotov, the task of the high command is to focus on solving the problem of Outer Mongolia as much as possible, after the meeting, Petroshilov informed Kurygin of the rescue plan we had drawn up, so as to increase his determination to hold on to help, as long as he holds out until eight o'clock tomorrow morning, our fleet will appear!" ”

"Break the meeting, comrades have their own responsibilities!" After saying that, Stalin walked out of the office without looking back.

(To be continued)(To be continued......