By the time the main forces of the Red Twelfth Army arrived at the crossing near the Don River, the remnants of the defeated Czech corps, with the help of Denikin, had already run away in the direction of Volgodonsk. The first head-to-head decisive battle between the Red Army and the White Army suddenly began, and then abruptly ended.

On the whole, the Red Army, at the cost of paying a certain price, inflicted heavy losses on the Krasnov and Czech corps, and the White Army entrenched in eastern Ukraine was basically swept away, creating good conditions for the next step in resolving the Ukrainian issue.

"As many as 20,000 white bandit troops escaped from the encirclement?"

It can be seen that the Mentor is very dissatisfied with this number, although 20,000 people is not a particularly large number, but it can be regarded as a living force, and it is enough to set off a wave in the empty east. And that's exactly what he doesn't want to see.

He frowned and asked Trotsky, "How many men are there in Denikin's bandits?" ”

Trotsky smiled bitterly: "Previously, our focus had always been on Krasnov and the Czech Legion, and we did not pay special attention to the activities of Denikin's gang...... The intelligence department of the General Staff could not come up with an accurate and specific figure, and the approximate estimate should be no less than 20,000 people! ”

20,000 plus 20,000 equals 40,000, not to mention an approximate estimate. In any case, the instructor is quite distrustful of the intelligence department's ability to conduct intelligence, and the information they have obtained is either not full of errors and omissions, or it is not too high or too low to estimate the enemy's strength.

Earlier, these fools also said that the strength of the Czech Legion and the Krasnov bandits was more than 200,000, and that they were full of ammunition and high morale, and that the Southwestern Front was the first to take the defensive. And now? It was discovered when the prisoners of war were examined and the battlefield was examined after the battle was over. The power of the White Army was severely overestimated. The Czech Legion simply consisted of only sixty or seventy thousand men. The main force of the Krasnov bandit gang is only more than 50,000, plus the small white bandit army in the local area, there are no more than 150,000 people when the full battle is counted.

Nima, if he knew that these people were so many, he should have let the Red First Army and the Red Fifth Army go south to participate in the war earlier, so that the battle would not have become so tragic at all, and the Black Sea Fleet would have almost been wiped out.

However, the people who are now scolding the General Staff are also an afterthought, and they will not help the current situation in any way. Lenin decided not to dwell on these meaningless things, and to hurry up and lay out the next stage of the battle plan.

"The defeat of the Czechs and the Krasnov gang was a big victory, but it was not a complete victory." Lenin's first sentence set the tone, and he said slowly but forcefully: "In the next stage we are faced with a twofold combat mission: first, to renew our efforts to recover the remnants of the Czech Legion and the Denikin gang; Second, it is to start annihilating the Central Rada of Ukraine headed by Petliura, to completely and cleanly quell the Ukrainian problem, and it is best to resume production before the arrival of autumn in the second half of the year, our food problem is still very tense! ”

"I agree!" Trotsky would not have made a fuss with his mentor on such a matter of right and wrong. However, he also asked a very sharp question: "For the Southwestern Front, the next battle is still very difficult. And they are going to fight in two directions at the same time, is it necessary to adjust the configuration of the campaign? ”

Lenin asked: "What is your opinion?" ”

"I think the South-Western Front should be divided into two groups, one for Ukraine and the other for the remnants of the Czech Corps and the Denikin ......," Trotsky said.

Lenin did not take a position immediately, because he knew very well what Trotsky's true intentions were. The Red Army in the lower reaches of the Don River had a total of four armies and the Red Banner Black Sea Fleet, and with the arrival of the Red Third Army and the Marine Division of the Poros Sea Fleet, which continued to increase in the direction of Moscow, the entire theater of operations could barely be counted as six corps. It seemed a little too much for Frunze to have so many troops in command alone, and Trotsky wanted nothing more than to give his men a part of direct command.

Lenin did not speak, but Trotsky struck with the heat: "As the commander-in-chief of the Southwestern Front, Comrade Frunze's burden is too heavy, and his stomach is also very serious...... My opinion is that the creation of two army groups under the Southwestern Front would reduce the pressure on Comrade Frunze and also facilitate the operation! ”

Trotsky was a dagger, and needless to say, he wanted to seize command of one of the armies. For a time, the Leninist Stalin and Sverdlov stared at the mentor, wondering how he was going to deal with this challenge.

"I agree!"

Lenin quickly made the decision that, excluding Trotsky's selfishness, it was an indisputable fact that the Southwestern Front would face a two-front battle, and it was indeed a bit reluctant to let Frunze alone be in charge of both directions. It is better to follow Trotsky's wishes and form two armies under the South-Western Front, which will be in charge of two directions. In this way, Frunze would also be easy and would satisfy Trotsky, and it was important to give up a part of his interests to unite Trotsky at this critical juncture.

As soon as Lenin had made a decision, it was quite decisive, and immediately said: "Form the Ukrainian Army and the Don-Volga Army under the South-Western Front!" ”

The nature of their tasks can be seen from the names of the two armies, especially the Don-Volga Army Group, which shows that Lenin was ready to deal with the remnants of the Czech Corps and Denikin in the Don-Volga River valley. It can be said that the task is quite difficult.

Lenin added: "After cleaning up the battlefield, the Red First Army and the Red Red Army of the Black Sea Fleet formed the Ukrainian Army Group with the Red Third Army, which had not yet moved south, and developed in the direction of Kharkov, Luhansk, and Donetsk towards Kiev, and resolved Petliura and the Central Rada of Ukraine no later than July. The Red 5th, 10th and 12th Red Armies, as well as the Baltic Fleet Marines, formed the Don-Volga Army Group and immediately pressed in the direction of Donsk, Volga, trying to finish the remnants of the Czech Corps and the Denikin gang at the end of May and early June! ”

To be honest, this plan of distribution of forces can be regarded as a painstaking effort on the part of the mentor, Petliura is weaker than the Czech Legion and Denikin, and it is enough to solve him with the strength of two armies, and the focus is on the Czech Legion and Denikin. In this direction three corps were concentrated. As well as the Baltic Fleet Marine Division.

Stranger. The Mentor did not let the Red Tenth Army, which was more familiar with the situation in Ukraine, stay in the Ukrainian army group, but transferred it to the Don-Volga army.

"The Red Tenth Army suffered relatively large losses in the previous period, and the combat effectiveness shown before was not enough to take charge on its own." Lenin expressed his idea, "Let it be the reserve of the Red Fifth Army and the Red Twelfth Army, and it will still be able to fight and be competent." ”

In fact, the subtext of the mentor is that he does not trust the Red Tenth Army, and uses it as the main force to pacify Petliula and the Central Rada of Ukraine, and he is really not at ease.

For such an arrangement. Voroshilov naturally had a stomach for his opinion, he felt that he was being underestimated, that the Red Tenth Army had been insulted by his mentor, and that he was almost about to send a telegram to the Central Committee to lodge a strong protest.

However, Zhdanov stopped: "Don't be impulsive, I don't think the decision of the Central Committee is wrong." ”

"There is no mistake in the decision of the Central Committee?" Voroshilov was simply stunned, jumped to his feet and said: "How is it right, why do we let the Red Tenth Army be a reserve, if we didn't dare to fight and rush and fight to the death in the previous paragraph, how could we achieve a great victory on the Don River?" And now it's good. The center let's sit on the cold bench, what does that mean! ”

Zhdanov glanced at him. Shaking his head, he said: "Comrade Klimant, you must be calm!" It is true that we achieved an unprecedented victory, but the losses were also very severe, with a reduction of 20%. How can you be the main force in such a state? Taking advantage of this opportunity, we hurriedly carry out rectification and rest, and restore the combat effectiveness of the troops as much as possible. ”

Voroshilov said: "I can barely agree with this, but to form the Don-Volga army, there is no need to send a Jewish hairy boy to command us, right?" What is this? ”

Voroshilov's so-called Jewish hairy child refers to Ijeronim. Petrovich. Ubolevich. For this young old Jewish officer, the big man did not like it from the bottom of his heart. He thought it would be enough to have a guy who was a decade younger than himself his boss, and what was even more annoying was that this guy was still an old officer and a Jew. It's unbearable!

Coming from a family of railroad workers, Voroshilov, like ordinary Russians, hated Jews, both because of prejudice and hatred of Jewish black-hearted businessmen. I think that the Bolshevik Politburo is already the world of the Jews, Trotsky and Sverdlov are 100% Jewish, and the Jewish blood of the Mentor is also there, and the only ones who are clean are Stalin and Dzerzhinsky, but compared to steel, Dzerzhinsky is a damn Pole, and after all, there is only one purebred Russian man among the Bolsheviks!

It can only be said that Voroshilov deliberately wanted to put gold on Stalin's face, this is also a foreigner, and the Georgian blood is placed there, and it can't be washed clean. In fact, Voroshilov wanted to complain about this, because he felt that he himself was the most suitable candidate for commander in order to form the Don-Volga Army.

Whether it is compared with seniority, party age, or even polemic merits, is there anyone in the party and the army who can be more brilliant than him? But where is that Ubolevich? Where did it come from?

Who is Ubolevich? Speaking of this duke, it is necessary to mention Tukhachevsky, who was accompanied by Ubolevich when Tukhachevsky was purged in 1937.

Ubolevich was regarded by Voroshilov as a thorn in his side because he advocated new tactics and new thinking with Tukhachevsky in the past 20 or 30 years, and it was a pity that he went to Huangquan with Lao Tu.

Speaking of this Ubolevich, he is really awesome, he was born in 1896, he was the division commander in 1918, and in 1919 he became the commander of the group army. Look at Zhukov and Konev in the troika of the Soviet Red Army, who was born in the same year as him, and Konev, who was born in 1897, when these three were still in the ranks of platoon commander and company commander.

Let's put it this way, in the Red Army Ubolevich was younger and more handsome than Tukhachevsky. Zhukov and Konev, who had served as division commanders under Ubolevich, felt that Tukhachevsky, who was famous, was less than half as good as Ubolevich in terms of practical ability.

Don't think that this is Zhukov's face for his old chief, when he worked with Ubolevich, it was not a pleasant one. Zhukov became Ubolevich's subordinate because the 4th Cavalry Division of the Belorussian Military District was busy building barracks because it had just been transferred from the Leningrad Military District. Combat readiness is lax. Hence the displeasure of Ubolevich. He immediately removed the division commander of the division. After that, he relied on the recommendation of Timoshenko. Called to Voroshilov and insisted that Zhukov be transferred.

However, during the first six months of taking over the division, when Zhukov was too busy to understand the situation and did not have time to take any corrective action, Ubolevich, according to the reports from below, believed that the appearance of the division had not improved, and immediately and unceremoniously gave Zhukov a punishment.

Where did the irascible Zhukov stand this, and immediately sent a telegram to Ubolevich: "Comrade Ubolevich, commander of the military district. You are a terribly unjust military commander, and I don't want to do it under you. Please transfer me to any other military district. ”

When Ubolevich received what he called an "interesting telegram", he did not get angry, but personally investigated and found that it was indeed unjust, and only then did he withdraw the punishment against Zhukov.

Zhukov recalled: "On the whole, it was not easy to work under Comrade Ubolevich, he was a very strict man. During a military meeting, once a certain commander was found to be distracted, he would immediately ask the commander a question without saying a word: 'Comrade so-and-so! The enemy army has advanced from such and such a region to such and such a place, and has now advanced to such and such a place. You're in a certain place. Excuse me: What are you going to do?'. In this way, the distracted commander had to hurry to look for the names of the places mentioned by Ubolevich on the map. It's hard to do that, though. Apparently. It was a lesson for him, and afterward, throughout the meeting, he never wandered again. ”

Zhukov continued: "Later, this division of mine became one of the outstanding divisions of the military district and the group army. It took me two years to get it straight. After that, my relationship with Ubolevich also improved. I felt that he was constantly working on me, watching me carefully, giving me various tasks, and pushing me to report many times. Later, he asked me to give a report at the training class of the military district headquarters on the actions of the French cavalry in the battle of crossing the river in World War I. ”

For Zhukov, whose cultural level is not too high, making this kind of report is an unaccustomed and difficult task for him. In particular, as a division commander, he had to make this report in front of the commanders and commanders of all branches of the military region, which made Zhukov even more nervous.

At that time, Zhukov stood stupidly in front of the hanging map, not knowing how to speak. At the critical moment, Ubolevich helped him, and he asked questions to open the conversation box, so that he could complete the report smoothly and satisfactorily.

Many years later, when Zhukov recalled this scene, he still said with emotion: "I was able to become the best commander in the Great Patriotic War, and Ubolevich's training played an important role!" ”

Of course, Zhukov was not the only one who was carefully groomed by Ubolevich. Konev, Menetskov, Malinovsky and Moskalenko, who later became marshals of the Soviet Union, and Zakharov, who was repeatedly relegated, were very grateful and admired to Ubolevich.

Let's put it this way, compared to Ubolevich, Voroshilov will be completely destroyed in all respects, except for being old and super brave. For example, military capabilities, in this respect Ubolevich is not under Tukhachevsky, not to mention Voroshilov, who does not have half a bucket of water.

And it was this half-barreled Voroshilov who now looks down on Ubolevich, which, to be honest, is really a joke. So how did Ubolevich, who was just 22 years old in 1918, soar to become the commander of the army group?

It is necessary to start again, Ubolevich was born a more bitter one, like Voroshilov, Budyonny and Zhukov, he was a bitter peasant, but compared with Zhukov, who only studied in the second grade of primary school, Ubolevich was much luckier.

At that time, Ubolevich showed a high talent in his studies, which attracted the special attention of his teachers, and under the advice of the elementary school teacher, Ubolevich's father and relatives worked together to tighten his waist and help him continue his education. After graduating from secondary school, he was admitted to the Petrograd Polytechnic Institute with excellent grades, which is a miracle for the children of poor Russian families!

If the First World War had not broken out, Ubolevich would probably have turned out to be a good engineer rather than a genius military strategist. In 1915, in his second year of university, Ubolevich was forcibly drafted into the army, but fortunately, his high education allowed him to avoid becoming a gray animal and instead enter the Konstantin Artillery Academy for officer training.

In 1916, during the Brusinov offensive, Ubolevich went to the battlefield for the first time wearing the rank of second lieutenant. However, Ubolevich was no ordinary old officer, he embraced the ideas of the Bolsheviks on the battlefield, and in the February Revolution of 1917 he was honorably admitted to the party. After that, he naturally became an officer of the Red Army.

During the German offensive in February 1918, as a regimental commander (get promoted!) He was wounded and captured, but escaped from the camp as a lone hero. It's a pity that he was not as lucky as Kornilov and had someone to help pack and not become a Hero of Russia.

Of course, this is not important, but it is important that Trotsky's cousin attracted the attention of Trotsky. Lao To, who has always attached importance to old officers and technical officers, in addition to Tukhachevsky, also looked at Ubolevich differently. After sending Tu Shuai to Finland as the deputy commander-in-chief of the Volunteer Army, he seized the opportunity to plot the position of commander of an army group for Ubolevich!

And it was this that caused great displeasure in Stalin and Voroshilov, and in the rest of his fighting career, Ubolevich was afraid that he would have to be warmly welcomed by them! (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank Sukhoi for the glory, the three comrades of Potato and Juventus!