It is not a big deal for the troops of an army to surrender to the enemy on the battlefield where millions of troops on both sides are fighting, and it will not have much impact on itself, but the time is not right, and it is on the cusp.

In the troops under his command, there was a matter of surrendering of the entire army, which fell into the eyes of people with ulterior motives, and when it was stabbed at a meeting of the Political Bureau, if Comrade Stalin was held accountable, he would be covered with mouths and could not explain it clearly, especially at the critical juncture when the commander of the Northwest Military District, General Pavlov, and three other senior officers of the Northwest Military District, were collectively shot, and the troops of the various Western Military Districts were defeated in successive battles and thousands of soldiers surrendered to the German army.

This matter will be infinitely magnified, if you don't say strictly, you can pass it with an understatement, and if you say that you are strict, General Pavlov's living example is right in front of you, and there are not a few people who covet the position of commander of this front, Comrade Stalin can shoot the commander of a military district and deter the commanders of various military districts on the western border, so he will not kill a commander of the front army of the eastern army and force the troops to rush back to the European theater as much as possible?

The surrender of an army on the battlefield is no longer a matter of the face of the Outer Mongolian Front, and the consequences are unknown and unpredictable, and General Vasilevsky's breathing became heavy, and it is impossible to tell whether it is because of anger or fear? Or is it something else?

"About this, has it spread to that extent?" General Vasilevsky gasped heavily, suddenly calmed down, and asked gloomily.

Chief of Staff Pozhnev's heart suddenly chilled, and he immediately understood what Comrade Commander meant, and replied carefully and carefully: "So far, only me and two or three people from the Confidential Department of the Communications Department of the Front Army know, and the commander of the 35th Army, Lieutenant General Derpnin, knows. ”

Vasilevsky breathed a sigh of relief, in his eyes. Dancing faint flames, he said in a cold tone: "Comrade Pozhnev, about this matter, the scope should not spread, those officers in the confidential department, you take care of it, keep your mouth shut, and declare to the outside world that you will fight for a few days like the Second Army." In the end, they were outnumbered and all of them died heroically, and as for Jerpnin, you know what to do! ”

Chief of Staff Pozhnev suddenly felt relieved and hurriedly replied: "Yes." Comrade Commander, I will arrange these. Other than that. There is also a strict situation, after the 35th Army lost two corps in succession, only one corps and some other troops remained, and more than 70,000 people were entrenched in Kulen, which may be difficult, the commander of the group army, Lieutenant General Gerpnin, reported. The main force of the independent division, with a strength of no less than 250,000 troops, has already begun to encircle Kulen! ”

General Vasilevsky's pale yellow eyebrows jumped uncontrollably, and he asked in a deep voice: "What are the plans of Gerpnin?" ”

Chief of Staff Pozhnev looked at the expression of the comrade commander of the hospital. He replied quietly: "What Lieutenant General Jepnin means is that while the troops of the Independent Division have not yet completed the encirclement of Kulen on all sides, he asks Comrade Commander to allow the 35th Army to break through from Kulen and move closer to the direction of the retreat of the main forces of the front army, according to what his telegram describes, by about 6 o'clock tomorrow evening, Kulen will be surrounded on all sides!" ”

"You are the Chief of Staff of the Front, Comrade Pozhnev, what specific opinion do you have?" General Vasilevsky asked suddenly.

Lieutenant General Pozhnev was stunned for a moment, and from the bottom of his heart, he did not want to take on this issue, and it was two different things to make his own decision with Comrade Commander, and there was no doubt that the 35th Army was a pawn that had already been thrown out, and if they were allowed to break through the encirclement, they could avoid the situation of annihilation of the entire army, and although the troops had lost more than two-thirds of their troops, they could still retain some vitality and not be revoked like the 37th Group Army.

However, what followed was an unavoidable reality: once the troops of the independent division encircling Kulen lost their target, would the strength of the 200,000-odd troops follow the footsteps of the retreat of the 35th Group Army and keep pushing them down, which in turn involves the speed of the retreat of the main force of the front army, and the small force of the independent division following the pursuit on the fifth route alone is enough to give the Outer Mongolian Front Army a headache of more than 1 million troops, if you add more than 200,000 troops of the independent division, God knows what the result will be?

The safest way is to refuse Lieutenant General Derpnin's request to break through the siege, and continue to stay in the dead place of Kulen, taking on the heavy task of attracting the troops of the independent division, but, knowing that it is a place of death, he put more than 70,000 Soviet Red Army soldiers there indifferently, Lieutenant General Pozhnev thinks that he can't do such ruthlessness, although the previous order is also cruel, but again, the torment of his own psychology is a different feeling.

Comrade Commander's simple words made Chief of Staff Pozhnev almost exhausted his efforts, and after thinking for a while, he replied carefully and carefully: "Comrade Commander, my opinion is that if the 35th Army is allowed to break through from Kulen, we can no longer afford to lose a single group army, not to mention that in the event that Kulen is surrounded on all sides by the troops of the Independent Division and cornered, it may not be known whether Lieutenant General Derpenin will be able to follow the old path of the Third Army under his command, but we cannot help but think about it in advance!" ”

The rest of the words, listening to Vasilevsky's ears, are almost the same nonsense as air, but the last few words are the most impressive to himself, and he is also worried about this, and he is a little undecided, so he consults the chief of staff, since this is the case, then give Derpnin a way to live!

"Comrade Chief of Staff, I very much agree with your opinion and immediately order the 35th Army to immediately withdraw from Kulen and catch up with the main forces of the Front, but you tell Comrade Sù Gerpnin a word, before evacuating Kulen, turn that city into ruins, blast and set fire, I don't care what to do, in short, let Kulen disappear from the map! What I can't get, I can't hand it over intact to the hands of the Chinese Tang Qiuli! General Vasilevsky said viciously.

"Comrade Commander is arrogant, this is a bit of a gamble!" Chief of Staff Pozhnev disagreed, "Kulen is already an empty city, and there is not even a single Outer Mongolian citizen, what are you angry with a bunch of lifeless buildings?" What's more, the troops of the independent division are about to be encircled, can they leave time for the 35th Group Army to carry out sabotage? He secretly cursed in his heart.

Chief of Staff Pozhnev made up his mind that naturally there was a way to solve this problem, and the main thing was to let the 35th Army evacuate Kulen safely.

Chief of Staff Pozhnev left in a hurry, General Vasilevsky wandered in the cold wind for a while, the sound of gunfire in the direction of the left flank never stopped, and the flickering firelight flashed in the night sky in the distance from time to time, "It has been more than two hours of fighting, and the small units of the independent division like mad dogs are becoming more and more rampant!" He thought sullenly.

At this time, a communications staff officer hurriedly ran over, "Report to Comrade Commander, I have received a telegram from the 36th Group Army of the left flank troops, and the troops of the independent division that are chasing after have broken through the resistance of the two divisions of our group army and attacked the flank of our group army. Until it is surrounded and annihilated? ”

The telegram of the 36th Group Army is talking about Liu Hongzhang's First Brigade, and it seems that Liu Hongzhang succeeded in annoying the commander of the retreating Soviet army on the left flank with the troops of the 1st Brigade with a heavy blow regardless of the suddenness of the troops, and he has already moved to kill anyone, and whoever is chased and beaten by the enemy army of no more than 10,000 people in one division for several days and nights, not to mention, he still has hundreds of thousands of troops in his hands, so it is strange not to be annoyed and ashamed?

In the heart of General Vasilevsky, a surge of blood was surging and the murderous was revealed, he had long hated the small units of the independent division that were chasing after him, endless entanglements, sleepless attacks, like a group of mad dogs, really thought that the Outer Mongolian Front was a toothless tiger?

At this moment, General Vasilevsky had an irrepressible impulse to order the 36th Army to immediately turn around and swallow the 10,000-strong independent division in one bite, so as to relieve the hatred in his heart and make himself feel more comfortable after being depressed for many days.

However, after swallowing it, can it be digested immediately? Obviously not, the fastest will have to fight for a whole day, the troops of independent divisions from other directions rushed to the rescue, the 36th Army was at a disadvantage, in order to rescue the 36th Army, he had to send additional troops, snowballing, the battle will get bigger and bigger, if it is not good, the entire Outer Mongolian Front Army will be involved!

With more than 1 million troops of the Outer Mongolian Front trapped in the Outer Mongolian region and unable to return to the European battlefield for a long time, Comrade Stalin has no reason to spare himself.

"Damn the Chinese!" General Vasilevsky cursed viciously, "Order, the 36th Army, must not be entangled with the small units of the independent division, send one more division of troops, be sure to block it in place, the left flank troops out of the battle, tell them that the only task of all the troops of the front army at present is to return to the European battlefield as much as possible, and nothing else matters!" ”

Helpless, unwilling helplessness, with more than a million troops, but helpless against the small force of an independent division of more than 10,000 people, and had to continue to take out two divisions of troops, to fill the greedy appetite of the Chinese, this torture, painfully biting his heart, for a moment, General Vasilevsky was physically and mentally exhausted, more tired than commanding operations, not sleeping for several days and nights, exhausted and weak.

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