Running 200 meters is a matter of more than 20 seconds for an ordinary person. But on the battlefield, 200 meters is often the difference between success and failure. As the German artillery opened fire again, a smoky situation appeared on the battlefield. For tankers, their vision is already limited, and their perception is greatly reduced.

Brolin was the driver of the FT17, and he was slowly advancing towards the positions of the volunteers under the command of the commander, and every now and then they had to stop, suppress the volunteers with their machine guns, and then move on.

Rubbing forward almost little by little, he slowly approached the Russian anti-tank trenches, and he recalled: "The Russians were too cunning, the anti-tank trenches were so well dug that they were only slightly wider than the FT-17's maximum trench crossing capacity, and from my point of view, I couldn't tell the damn trenches were 1.8 meters or 2 meters, and my brother Ravelli sitting behind me didn't know what to say." He hesitated for a long time before nodding my head gently and motioning for me to move on. ”

"At that time, I was very hesitant, I could only move forward slowly, almost centimeter by centimeter, and as the body of the car was suspended a little bit, my heart was also suspended in mid-air......"

"What? You asked me why I didn't get out of the car to check...... Little one, your head is full of mush? You think it's a trip to the countryside? The Russians' machine guns are constantly greeting us, the bullets are hitting the armor as loudly, and from time to time there are shells exploding nearby, at this time, if you let me get out of the car, it is better to shoot directly at the door of the head to save trouble! ”

After teaching the reporter, Brolin continued: "As I rubbed forward a little bit. In front of my left. Car No. 2 also slowly approached the trenches. Driving it was a quick-tempered Nelson, a guy with a flushed face and a big garlic nose, who was very nice, but he was quick-tempered...... But I have to thank him for his impatience that saved me from it...... Nelson slammed the throttle and rushed over, like a fearless lion, and then ...... Then his car fell headlong into the trench and could not move......"

At that time, Brolin immediately released the throttle and quickly hung up the reverse gear. Slowly retreating back, he thought to himself, "This is not the way, we need engineers." ”

Soon he didn't need sappers, though, and a few minutes later, as the swarms of FT-17s stopped in front of the anti-tank trenches and waited for the infantry to follow up and figure out a solution, the Russos and Varyag in Vyborg Bay began to bombard their positions violently and indiscriminately.

More than 40 kilograms of high-explosive bombs flew from more than a dozen kilometers away, and smashed near the FT-17 cluster like hailstones, and the violent explosions came one after another. They covered us with shells, and round after round of shelling made us panic. The shrapnel rattled our tanks, and the dust from the shock wave poured in through the observation holes, making the already breath-holding tin can even more unbearable. ”

"Finally someone couldn't bear the torture, Linderot of car seven leaned out and couldn't wait to take two breaths of fresh air, the poor creature had just gasped for breath and was about to return to the car before a new round of shells fell, when the Russian machine gun found him, and a bullet got into his nose, and I could see a large puff of red and white liquid squirting out of the back of his head...... No, this description is not quite accurate, it should be said that the back of Linderot's head is gone, replaced by a large hole......"

The FT-17 tank group retreated shortly after the naval artillery bombardment began, but not all tankers made it out of the battlefield alive. For example, Brolin's company commander, his car was directly hit by a 152 mm caliber high-explosive shell, and the projectile weighing more than 40 kilograms directly shredded the weak top armor of the FT-17 and exploded violently in the turret. At that moment, the little turret was like a broken egg, and the two poor worms inside the car instantly went up to the western sky with their car.

Of course, there are still quite few cases of extremely poor character like this, and most of the other FT-17s are more affected by shrapnel and shock waves. Some of the tracks were blown off, some had problems with the active wheels, and of course, the worst of all was being hit by the fuel tank.

Brolin will never forget that scene: "Rosenberg in car number ten is a good man, he shouldn't have ended that way, his fuel tank was punctured, the gasoline was quickly evaporated, and soon after, it was ignited, and in an instant his car was surrounded by flames, and he crawled out of the tank howling, covered in fire...... He rolled helplessly on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames with sand, but in vain...... We could only watch our comrades and friends slowly burned to death, and the taste was like a blunt knife cutting meat......"

Once again, the Germans were repulsed, with fewer than five FT-17s able to leave the battlefield intact, and the others were either destroyed or broke down, but Brolin's situation was a bit peculiar: "I also failed to drive the tank back, it wasn't a mechanical failure, it wasn't damaged by shelling, I was faced with a problem of running out of gasoline...... The FT-17's range was already small (the maximum range was 35 km), which delayed a lot of time on the battlefield and consumed too much gasoline, and of course it could be that I was too hasty to evacuate the battlefield and stepped on the accelerator to the bottom...... Anyway, I had to abandon it halfway through, and I escaped from the tank with Auerbuck (the commander) and rushed into the bunker of the Germans all the way to escape......"

It should be said that the role of the FT-17 in this battle is extremely limited, and this small bean with a maximum power of 35 horsepower and a maximum speed of less than 10 kilometers per hour is too fragile. Large-caliber grenades, even small and medium-caliber grenades, can be paralyzed by direct fire, the ability to overcome obstacles is quite limited, and the firepower is seriously insufficient. It is somewhat unrealistic to expect it to break through a strong line of defense.

Russian and German officers who witnessed the FT-17's operations at the same time made very different assessments, and the veteran Juncker officer and a supporter of artilleryism, Count Geertz, was completely unfavorable about the new weapon, writing in his report to his superiors: "The FT-17 behaved exceptionally poorly. These poor steel reptiles are simply vulnerable. Battlefield survivability is fragile...... Putting the hope of breaking through the enemy's lines on them is simply whimsical...... It breaks the ice. The only thing that can play a decisive role is the cannon, the larger the caliber, the better, and the longer the range, the better...... We need heavy artillery, not sensational toys......"

On the other hand, Tukhachevsky wrote: "The FT-17 is a big hit for me, and it is true that he is not so good and there are quite a few problems, but we must tolerate problems with a weapon that has just been created...... If there was a tank that was faster, had more firepower, and had better trench capabilities. It's entirely possible to break through those tedious trenches...... Russia needs this new weapon, and with it we will be able to avoid paying more with lives and blood......"

At that time, Tukhachevsky envisioned the tank to be used as a weapon of attack, and he wanted a "heavy" tank with thick enough armor to be immune to most attacks on the battlefield and with great firepower in its own right. This tank will crush enemy defenses like a monster and cover the infantry to seize enemy positions.

Of course, it's too early to talk about that. For the time being, Tukhachevsky does not say that heavy tanks and even light tanks are not necessarily available. With Russia's weak industrial capacities. You can't even do it with a mass-produced car, let alone a Shenma tank.

Moreover, in this era, there is still a group of people in Russia who have no interest in motorization and mechanization, and they prefer another traditional weapon - cavalry.

After the October Revolution in history, the nascent Soviet power formed the first Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, the First Army of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, on the orders of Lenin. At the beginning of March 1918, the corps had ten infantry battalions, one machine-gun regiment, two cavalry regiments, an artillery brigade, one heavy artillery battalion, and two armored battalions.

From the establishment of the First Army, we can see that the cavalry occupies a very important position. Of course, the existence of the First Army was quite short, and in May of the same year, the number of the army was revoked, and its units were added to the 1st-4th Infantry Divisions of the Petrograd Military District.

But this is the case in Petrograd and Moscow, and in Ukraine and in the Don basin, the situation is different. Voroshilov, the boss of the Red Tenth Army, was a supporter of cavalry, and the strongest of his troops was cavalry strength.

With Stalin's support, the 1st Socialist Cavalry Regiment was born in his unit and soon expanded into the 1st Cavalry Brigade, which will continue to be expanded in the near future, and on 14 March 1919 it was expanded into the 4th Cavalry Division (the unit that Zhukov would later command, as mentioned earlier).

This was not the end of the story, and it would soon be expanded into the 1st Cavalry Army and later the 1st Cavalry Army. To put it bluntly, this 1st Cavalry Army was Stalin's descendant within the army, the commander of the army group was Budyonny, and the political commissar was Voroshilov. There were two marshals awarded in 1935 in a group army, which shows how good it is.

However, neither of these goods is a bull, and the first of the best is that a bunch of bulls were unearthed in the civil war, such as Zhukov, Rokossovsky, Timoshenko, Yeremenko, Bagramyan, Meretskov, Grevich, Rybalko and Kostenko.

Of course, this is not to preach how awesome the Russian cavalry was, in fact, the First World War had already pronounced the death sentence for cavalry. It was only in the more bizarre battlefield of the Russian Civil War that cavalry could play a role. On other battlefields, such as the battle of Warsaw, the Russian cavalry was beaten to the ground, and the first cavalry led by the above-mentioned group of cattle men was really beaten badly.

And even if you don't mention the foreign war, the first cavalry set in the civil war is not necessarily the best. For some political reasons, most people only remember the bearded Budyonny and the "big man" Voroshilov in the first horse set (especially to correct, Voroshilov is not very tall, I took it for granted at the beginning, this thing is probably less than 1.6 meters tall). However, it is too troublesome to correct the previous chapter, and everyone understands "big man" as ridicule and sarcasm...... In fact, there were still cattle in the cavalry of the Red Army, and that was the commander of the 2nd Cavalry Army, Mironov.

This brother Tai is really a great god, please note that the cow man is no longer enough to describe the deeds of this duke. He can only be called a man of God! Born in 1873, he was the first to form a unit in the Don region against the Whites during the Russian Civil War. Later, his unit was reorganized into the 23rd Infantry Division in November 1918. And in the previous September. Mironov's troops were awarded two red flags by the Moscow Soviet and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (don't underestimate. Awesome! It's not something that ordinary troops can have! ）。

And on September 28, 1918. Of the first list of nominees for the Order of the Red Banner at the meeting of the Presidium of the Fifth All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the first was awarded to Blyukhel, the second to Nyupashkin, and the third to Comrade Kuzmich (that is, Mironov).

Unfortunately, the content of this resolution was not fully implemented, but only the Order of the Red Banner was awarded to Blyukher. The second and third medals of the Red Banner in history were awarded to Yakir (who hung with Ubolevich during the purge) and Fabrizius (who was also a bull, a combat hero, and an old partner of Chuikov). Before dying in a plane crash, he received four Red Banner medals and a weapon of revolutionary honor). Of course. Later Mironov was also awarded the Order of the Red Banner and received a golden saber!

And as the commander of the army group on the same level as Voroshilov and Budyonny, it stands to reason that he will definitely become popular in the future. But the problem is, this is too godly. As early as 1919, this brother was extremely dissatisfied with the communist policy during the war, so he became confused and confused, and turned around and switched to the White Army!

It's amazing no, and even more amazing is yet to come, not long after. This brother was captured by the Red Army, but his talent is really good. At that time, the Bolsheviks even pardoned him! And reappoint him as the commander of the second cavalry!

However, it also turned out that the amnesty and reappointment of the man of God was indeed a good move, and in the battle to encircle Wrangel, the first set of "Big Man" and the bearded man was a big failure, while his second set shone brightly. In 1920, Mironov defeated Wrangel with excellent performance and regained Crimea. For this, the Bolsheviks specially awarded him the weapon of revolutionary honor, that is, the golden sword, which at that time was the envy of the "big man".

The problem is that this Mironov is too individual, too godly. Wrangel had just been eliminated, and when his troops entered Ukraine to quell the rebellion, the disagreement with the central government occurred again. When the Central Committee ordered his troops to "reorganize" Makhno's troops, the man of God flatly refused, and the fool was ordered to report to Moscow, but as he was about to leave, he was suddenly arrested by the Cheka and immediately executed.

Enough of a god, right? In addition to being extremely politically naïve, in fact, Mironov is not a bad person, at least with a conscience. For example, the direct cause of his execution - the reorganization of Makhno's troops, in fact, there is a theory in this.

Let's talk about Makhno first, this duke is also a man of God, a Ukrainian, and belongs to the anarchist leader of Ukraine. According to the official history of the Soviet Union, he was the leader of the anti-Soviet bloc of Ukrainian anarchists and kulaks, and the "Ukrainian Revolutionary Insurgent Army" headed by him was exterminated at the end of August 1921 because it refused to be reorganized.

But it's not that simple, because this Makhno should be regarded as the real representative of the national soul of Ukraine, and compared with the imaginary Petliura, this one is much more disciplined. At the end of June 1918, Makhno met with Lenin and Sverdlov to discuss the solution of the Ukrainian question, which was actually the future of Ukraine, but it was clear that the two sides did not reach an agreement, because Lenin did not want to lose Ukraine, and Makhno sought Ukrainian independence.

The slogan shouted by Makhno at that time was: "Defend Ukraine, against Denikin, against the White Army, against the Red Army, against all outsiders who enter Ukraine!" ”

In addition, this brother Tai was also an inventor, and the intellectual property rights of the machine gun carriages widely used by the Red Army during the Civil War were in his hands.

However, it is interesting that Makhno's relationship with the Bolsheviks was very different, and he stood with the Red Army in the battle to eliminate Denikin, and many lone Red Army soldiers often defected to him, especially after the implementation of the surplus collection system, more people defected to him, and Mironov admired Makhno very much.

So much so that in July 1919, Trotsky had to issue an order: "I order, send the troops, arrest those traitors who voluntarily left their ranks and defect to Makhno, and turn them over to a court-martial, where they will be tried as deserters, and their punishment will be only one - to be shot!" ”

But even this could not completely prevent the Red Army soldiers from switching to Makhno. But Makhno was also too individual, and while uniting the Red Army against Denikin, he still did not forget his ideas, for example, he once sent a famous telegram to Kamenev: "My front and I remain unwavering allegiance to the workers' and peasants' revolution, but we are not violent schools, and the commissars on your side are deputies to the extraordinary committees, and they are plundering the working people!" ”

It can be seen that Makhno is not a good person, not as leftist as the Bolsheviks who went to the extreme, and to a certain extent, his opposition is also reasonable and correct. Therefore, Mironov quite understood and sympathized with him, and for the "adaptation", in fact, the order of the Central Committee was to destroy Makhno on the spot as soon as he refused to reorganize!

Naturally, Mironov could not agree to this, and this is why he suffered a catastrophe! And now, for the first time, this man of God will appear on the stage of this book, and under the command of Ubolevich, the battle of the Don-Volga army group to encircle and suppress Denikin has finally begun! (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank you to the Riders, Xicheng, hzwangdd and Juventus comrades!