Republic of China game

Page 481

"Very well, this is a good way. Our destroyers are all great." Orlov forced his composure and nodded.He took out a pack of "Kazbek" cigarettes, lit the cigarette, took a puff, and added: "We are not going to fight them head-on. If the situation is unfavorable, we should withdraw from the battle in time and head towards the Baltic Sea." Break through, as long as we can reach the Baltic Sea, we will have a chance to fight the enemy to the end... Comrade Kuznetsov, how about it?" His painful eyes glanced at Kuznetsov's sharp and resolute face.

"That's really a miracle!" Kuznetsov seemed to answer him, and at the same time looked out to sea with worried eyes.

Everyone also calmed down and looked there nervously. The smoke column rising from the sea was getting closer and closer!

……

On land at this time, the dark clouds that had shrouded the Baltic Sea coast for more than 20 days were finally blown to Central Europe by the strong northwest wind.The sun finally returned to the Baltic front.The front line, the political dividing line that signifies killing and fighting, has changed a lot in the past few days.Since Tallinn, the key point on the rear road, was occupied by the German army coming from the sea, the First Baltic Front, which was attacked from the front and back, had turned from offense to defense.On the one hand, the main force of the front army fought and retreated in Estonia, and on the other hand, it deployed the 115th Army, 117th Army, 118th Army, and 120th Army. There were a total of four infantry armies and twelve infantry divisions, with nearly 20 people. Tallinn captured by the army.

However, the attack for several days was undoubtedly an unbearable nightmare for the officers and soldiers of these four armies. A German army entrenched in Tallinn received fire support from the Sino-German joint fleet cruising in the Gulf of Finland.The officers and soldiers of the Red Army could only bite the bullet and rush up to the muzzle of the battleship.The well-trained and well-equipped infantry regiments just fell in such an organized way among the shrapnel fireballs flying all over the sky, and they all turned into charred and mutilated corpses.But more infantry regiments kept filling the furnace.Now Marshal Tukhachevsky still has more than 100 million troops in his hands, and he can finally support this kind of war of attrition with huge casualties.But the marshal knew very well in his heart at this time that the time left for himself and the Soviet Union was running out!

Tukhachevsky, the commander of the First Baltic Front, sat in an office furnished with a few simple old-fashioned furniture, feeling extremely anxious.He had just received a telegram that the Red Banner Baltic Fleet had spotted an enemy fleet approaching them, but this fleet had only eight ships, two of which were "Karl Marx"-class battleships.That is to say, there are still four such battleships in Tallinn Harbor. They have a total of 36 380mm main guns... In addition, there are hundreds of 152mm and 105mm secondary guns. A round of attack.

At this time, the door of the office was pushed open, and the chief of staff, General Yakir, walked in with a pale face, and beside him was Lieutenant General Zhukov, the deputy chief of staff who had just returned from Leningrad.

"Please sit down." Tukhachevsky waved to them, glanced at Zhukov, and said indifferently: "Is the situation in Leningrad okay? Georgi, where did you come back from?"

Zhukov saw that Tukhachevsky was already considering the issue of defending Leningrad, so he said the truth: "The situation in Leningrad is very good, so it is worrying!"

"What do you mean?" Tukhachevsky was a little puzzled when he heard the words, and he looked up at Zhukov.Zhukov frowned, his eyes darkened. "The people there are celebrating victory every day. No one knows that the flames of war are about to burn to their heads, and they are not prepared to resist aggression. I asked the acting secretary of the Leningrad City Party Committee. They don't have enough food, they don't have enough weapons and ammunition. , and did not receive orders to mobilize the Workers' Red Guards... They did not know that the war was about to be defeated, and did not believe that Leningrad would be surrounded."

Tukhachevsky and Yakir looked at each other, as if surprised."Then they should know by now that something is wrong?" Tukhachevski said.

"So what if we know?" Zhukov seemed very discouraged, and he smiled wryly. "Even if there are hundreds of thousands of workers' Red Guards, Comrade Marshal, do you think they can repel millions of fascist troops?"

"Of course not." Tukhachevsky looked at his favorite general, "What do you want to say? Georgi, you can just say it directly. You don't need to beat around the bush in front of me."

"We must break through immediately! Give up the attack on Tallinn, and take advantage of the fact that the German encirclement has not yet been formed, and the whole army breaks out to the west. It is a little bit that can protrude."

"Comrade Zhukov, do you understand what you are talking about? Do you know the situation of the First Baltic Front?" Yakir suddenly interrupted him.Now the 2st Baltic Front is under attack from both sides, and the front line is mingled with the German Army Group North. If it breaks through now, it will most likely be a big defeat. In the end, it will be a miracle that [-]% of the troops can stand out!

"Of course I know! Comrade Yakir. But the problem now is that if we don't leave, neither will the Second Baltic Front in the south, nor will the Western Front, like the Ukrainian Front. They will stay to cover us and disperse us." I can guarantee that the Germans must be preparing a new encirclement plan, and it may be launched soon! They only need to concentrate their forces to tear open a few holes like we did with the Poles, and smash the armored forces Break in, and there will be an upheaval in our rear... Then the entire Soviet Union will have no soldiers to use, and our Soviet motherland will really perish!" Zhukov tried hard to control his emotions. After being defeated, what we need to consider now is how to reduce losses, instead of blindly carrying it to the end and losing all the last capital.

Tukhachevsky listened. He knew that Zhukov's opinion was correct, but his had its own difficulties.He proposed this military adventure to Stalin, and that tyrant also obeyed his advice, but now he is facing a complete failure... How should he explain to Stalin, the Soviet people, and the proletarians of the world?Moreover, he does not have the power to order the troops to break out of the encirclement. The final decision rests with Stalin. He will never agree to give up millions of people at once.

"Comrade Yakir, can you arrange a plane to go to Moscow?" After Zhukov finished speaking, Tukhachevsky said slowly: "If possible, arrange for Lieutenant General Zhukov to go to Moscow as the commander of the First Baltic Front. Let the deputies report the situation here to Comrade Stalin and make suggestions at the same time."

After speaking, he stood up and watched Zhukov leave in disappointment. He walked to the window and looked at the clear and cloudless sky outside.The weather has completely cleared up, and the German air force will soon return to the blue sky. I really lost the war this time.Unless Tallinn can be captured today, within a few days, the First Baltic Front Army will be in a predicament of running out of ammunition and food. At that time, I am afraid that only one can stand out, as Zhukov said!

Thinking of this, Marshal Tukhachevsky picked up the phone on his desk and dialed the number of Major General Timoshenko who commanded the troops to besiege Tallinn...

……

1937年11月26日，下午5点05分。

Eighteen 18mm naval guns fired the first salvo, and the earth-shattering roar began to echo in the Gulf of Finland.The duel between the Chinese Expeditionary Fleet and the Soviet Red Flag Baltic Fleet has begun!

But after the first round of salvo, everyone on the battleship "October Revolution" already knew that something was wrong.The two Chinese battleships aimed all of their 18 380mm main guns at the Soviet flagship with more than 20 years of age. The hot shells rushed over, only the fifth salvo, 800 rounds each. A 380mm caliber fake armor-piercing projectile weighing 21000 kilograms came flying from [-] meters away, and hit the midship of the battleship "October Revolution" head-on. After a loud "boom", the battleship trembled violently as if it had been kicked by a giant, and a ball of dazzling fireball exploded.The entire warship was in a mess, and the well-trained Soviet sailors were now all without direction, running around like headless chickens.The flames began to spread in the middle of the ship, and when a "squeak" sound sounded, the tall mast collapsed with a strange cry.

The shock and confusion brought about by the sudden blow finally passed. The damage control personnel of the battleship pulled up a dozen water pipes as if they had just woken up from a dream, and sprayed the icy seawater against the raging fire amidships of the ship.

"Comrade Commander, report from the damage control captain, the fire is under control." Kasatonov put down the phone and shouted at Admiral Orlov.However, the Soviet admiral with a straight military uniform and a serious face didn't seem to hear his shouts.

Surprised for a moment, Kasatonov shouted again: "Comrade Commander, the rear mast was shot. The shell did not penetrate the boiler room, but it caused a big fire. Now the fire has been brought under control..."

"Okay! Very good! I see." Orlov nodded as if waking up from a dream, and forced a smile. "Now order the destroyer to charge, we will teach these Chinese people a lesson with torpedoes! Let them taste our power."

"But..." Hearing Orlov's order, Kasatonov suddenly froze. Now the distance between the two sides is still more than 20000 meters, which is still far from the distance where the torpedo can be launched!Isn't ordering the destroyers to charge now the same as letting those destroyers die?How could they drive more than 1 meters under the opponent's naval guns to release mines?

"No but! Order the destroyer to attack, this is an order!" Orlov roared loudly.He raised his slightly trembling fingers and pointed at the Chinese fleet in the distance, and shouted loudly: "Order all the cannons to fire on me, concentrate their firepower to bombard the Zhenyuan, hit me hard!"

This time, no one reminded him that at this distance, except for the twelve 12mm main guns, the other artillery could not hit the Chinese at all.Anyway, it can be embarrassing to hear the sound if you can't play it.

Looking from the bridge of the Chinese fleet's flagship battleship Zhenyuan, balls of flames kept rising from the muzzles of all the cannons that could be aimed at the Chinese fleet. At the same time, the ten destroyers turned around like crazy. The bow of the ship swooped in the direction of the Chinese fleet!

"Are these old men crazy?" Colonel Jiang Jingguo, who was watching the battle on the bridge of Zhenyuan, muttered softly. Now he has finished his mission in the transportation command and has been transferred to this battleship as the first officer.And he will soon take over the post of captain from Yu Yanshou!The father's loss of power did not affect Xiao Jiang's future. It seemed that sooner or later he would get the throne of admiral.

"They are going to attack us with torpedoes!" Fleet Commander Yu Yanshou sneered: "Guns, pay attention to their destroyers, and allocate secondary artillery and cruiser firepower to deal with them. All main guns continue to aim at the 'October Revolution', Let's sink it first."

"boom……"

Not long after Yu Yanshou's order was issued, the battleship Dingyuan finally received its first major victory in this naval battle. An 800 kg armor-piercing projectile hit the stern of the "October Revolution".All the lookouts saw that the 2-ton big ship seemed to be pulled by something, and the stern of the ship was suddenly pushed horizontally to the right.Then there was a huge explosion.

The explosion occurred in the power compartment of the battleship "October Revolution". The 800-kilogram shell directly penetrated its armor, drilled into the power compartment and caused a big explosion, which immediately caused a raging fire!The entire battleship suddenly lost all power, and the stern of the ship sank slightly, and it seemed that something was flooding.Although its three twin 305mm naval guns are still shelling, everyone knows that the battleship "October Revolution" is finished.

However, contrary to everyone's expectations, the "October Revolution" did not sink.After it was abandoned by Admiral Orlov, it was still floating on the sea tenaciously. It was not until the end of the great battle in the Gulf of Finland that it was dragged back to the port of Kiel by the Chinese fleet.After being restored there, it was given as a gift to the Russian Empress Anastasia who was enthroned in Petersburg, and the name of the ship was also changed to "Anastasia I".

However, the sister ship "Mara" of the "October Revolution" was not so lucky. At 5:30, the flagship of the Chinese fleet, the Zhenyuan, fired its 10th round of salvo. At this time, the distance between the bombardments of the two sides had been shortened to 15000 meters. Two 2mm armor-piercing shells hit the 380-ton Soviet battleship at the same time, and one of them hit the bow. Facing the 25000mm armor-piercing shell, the 380mm armor was like a thin layer of paper, and it couldn't do anything at all. Protective effects. After the 127-kilogram shell passed through the armor belt, it was destroyed all the way, and then drilled out from the other side of the bow, making two terrible holes, and tons of sea water surged in.And another shot penetrated the fuel tank at the stern of the ship!A big explosion occurred inside the fuel tank, igniting the heavy oil stored on the ship, which immediately triggered a violent fire, and quickly engulfed the entire battleship.The captain, Rear Admiral Isakov, had no choice but to order the flagship.Thirty minutes after the ship was abandoned, the raging fire finally spread to an ammunition depot on the warship. After a huge roar, the huge 800-ton battleship completely disappeared from the world.

After losing all two battleships, the Soviet Red Flag Baltic Fleet was virtually wiped out. Admiral Orlov, who transferred the flagship to the cruiser "Red Ukraine", had no fighting spirit at this time.Looking at the two battleships burning like two torches, the admiral made the most painful and correct decision in his life.He took the remaining Soviet ships and sailed to Helsinki, the capital of Finland, 13 nautical miles away...

Chapter 0753 big siege (five) close call

On November 1937, 11, in the office of the owner of the Kremlin, as usual, the latest battle reports sent back from various front lines were processed. War has become the entire daily life of the Kremlin.Molotov and Voroshilov sat at a long table covered with a green carpet, while Stalin stood at his desk with his back turned to them.He was talking on the phone with Smirnov, political commissar of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet in Langkastadt, and the other party reported to him in a trembling voice the outcome of the Great Battle in the Gulf of Finland that took place yesterday afternoon—the Soviet Union lost two battleships , three cruisers, eight destroyers... In short, it was an unprecedented fiasco.

Molotov held in his hand a plan for the relocation of important factories in the republics of the Soviet Union in October.This is the latest task assigned by Stalin. After the failure of the Latvia campaign, the Soviet leader already knew that the situation was about to take a turn for the worse, and the developed western regions of the Soviet Union were likely to be occupied by invaders.Therefore, Molotov and the People's Commissars were ordered to urgently draw up plans for the relocation.

In order to make this big move plan, Molotov has hardly closed his eyes for several days and nights recently. All important factories seem to be built in Leningrad, Moscow, and the Donetsk Basin. There are only a few factories and industrial facilities on the east bank of the Volga River and around the Ural Mountains, and there is not much capacity to undertake transfers from the west. The factory... In the original second five-year plan, it was planned to develop West Siberia and the Ural Mountains.But the plan couldn't keep up with the changes. The war in the Far East in the past few years has ruined everything!

At this time, Voroshilov was repeatedly reading a report delivered by Lieutenant General Zhukov, the deputy chief of staff of the First Baltic Front.This report pessimistically predicted the direction of the war, and pointed out that not only the First Baltic Front, but also the Second Baltic Front, Western Front and Ukrainian Front are facing major crises!The two German army groups have already formed a pincer offensive in Latvia and Poland. They are likely to repeat the offensive carried out by the Soviet Union since September 9, using tank corps to pocket the Second Baltic Front and the Western Front!In order to avoid this situation, Zhukov suggested that the Red Army should make a big retreat on the western front.Zhukov didn't say exactly where to retreat, but judging by Zhukov's tone, maybe even Stalin's line of defense might have to give up.

Stalin began to roar again, and occasionally Smirnov could be heard crying.A majestic political commissar of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet is crying!Molotov and Voroshilov looked at each other in amazement.Are the two 25000-ton battleships gone?What about Orlov?When he set off, didn't he promise Stalin that he would teach the enemy a lesson?Why let the enemy give it now... But look at Stalin's livid face, the two Soviet leaders lowered their heads in a very sensible manner, just like two elementary school students who made mistakes.

"Yes! This attack is a traitorous act by the Orlov conspiracy group to sell the Soviet motherland! You must check carefully to see if there are any Ornov elements who slipped through the net, and you must catch them all and hang them! "Stalin roared with a distinct Caucasian accent: "Now, our cause is in crisis, and all kinds of unstable elements have emerged. We must not let them go..."

At this time, Baranov, People's Commissar of the Air Force, and General Berzin, Chief of Staff of the Red Army, appeared at the door of the office lightly. Their faces were sad, and their eyes were bloodshot due to long-term lack of sleep.Stalin seemed to have heard their footsteps, turned his head to look at them, then looked at the wall clock on the office wall, and nodded to them.Then two officers came in carrying heavy leather bags.He gave a military salute to Stalin, and then sat down at the table.Berzin opened the thick briefcase and took out maps and documents from it, laying them on the green carpeted table.

Stalin had already arranged to launch a counter-revolutionary campaign in the Red Flag Baltic Fleet, so he hung up the phone and looked at some of his men.

"Molotov, let's talk about it first. How is the factory relocation plan going? When can we move our heavy industry from the west to the Ural Mountains? Will it be possible next spring?"

"Comrade Stalin, please forgive me... the relocation of the factory is not as easy as imagined." Molotov smiled bitterly: "And now the Chinese have reached Eastern Siberia, so Western Siberia is not safe, and Central Asia is not safe either. ..."

"Yeah, it's not safe everywhere, and the motherland is in a predicament surrounded by enemies... Voroshilov, do you have any good news to report?" Stalin looked at Voroshilov, and at this moment his eyes changed full of expectations.

"Oh, it's Zhukov, the one who used the tank quite well. He is now the deputy chief of staff of the [-]st Baltic Front. Tukhachevsky sent him to Moscow, and he sent a report to the People's Commissar of Defense on the way. The report, the suggestion...we give up the rescue of the First Baltic Front Army trapped in Estonia, and withdraw the troops to a safe place." Voroshilov stammered.

"Oh, a safe place... Is there a safe place in the Soviet Union now?" Stalin shrugged and spread his hands.

"This Zhukov said that the Second Baltic Front and the Western Front are now in extreme danger! The Germans can completely copy our tactics against Poland and use huge armored forces to break through their defenses and divide and encircle them!" Fu Roshilov explained.

Stalin turned to Berzin, who had been chief of intelligence of the Red Army and had taken over as chief of the general staff after Shaposhnikov went to the Western Front.Stalin said: "My chief of the general staff, what do you think? Will our main force on the Western Front collapse like the Polish army?"

"Forgive me, I haven't read this report." Berzin frowned, "Comrade Baranov and I are here to report to you on homeland air defense work."

"Homeland air defense?" Stalin looked at Baranov, as if he didn't quite understand.Baranov explained: "In the past two days, German reconnaissance planes have been flying over the western suburbs of Moscow. I am worried that they are reconnaissance bombing routes and preparing for a large-scale air strike on Moscow!"

"Yes, Comrade Stalin. Our intelligence personnel also reported that Germany is gathering bombers near Riga recently. Göring and Hitler have been clamoring wildly in recent days, threatening to completely destroy Moscow through air strikes and engulf Moscow in a sea of ​​​​fire!" Berzin added.