African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1380 Frontline Battlefield
Although the Russian army had a significant advantage in numbers and firepower, and its fighting spirit was much higher than that of the Ukrainian and Polish armies, it was able to withstand the first round of Russian offensive with its carefully constructed defense line.

Boom...

The artillery fire in Donbass raised huge amounts of smoke and dust, the smell of gunpowder filled the air, and the deafening sound of artillery put great psychological pressure on Ukrainian soldiers.

However, this was not enough to cause a psychological collapse of the Ukrainian troops in Donbass.

A Ukrainian veteran who participated in World War I shouted familiarly as soon as he heard the Russian artillery fire: "Get into the tunnel, it's time to work, boys!"

Led by veterans, the new recruits of the Ukrainian army did not panic and lose their composure because of the Russian artillery fire. Panic can spread, but so can calmness.

Under the cover of heavy artillery fire, a large number of Russian Red Army suicide squads launched the first round of attack, holding Mosin-Nagants in their hands and bending their backs to try to get close to the Ukrainian positions.

"Machine gunners, wait until the enemy is within range before opening fire. Keep an eye on crowded areas. Don't be afraid of wasting ammunition at this time!"

"Idiot, who told you to open fire now? Didn't I just tell you to wait until the enemy is within range before firing? If you open fire now, you can only attack the air..."

Da da da……

Under the fire of the Maxim machine guns equipped by the Ukrainian army, it seemed as if an insurmountable barrier had formed in front of the suicide squad.

There is no doubt that in this plain area, the Ukrainian side has an extremely wide field of vision, which means that most of the Red Army's actions can be seen by the Ukrainian army.

Moreover, with the help of firing holes and various shelters, Ukrainian soldiers were able to calmly massacre the Red Army suicide squads.

Under such unfavorable circumstances, the Red Army commander decisively stopped this meaningless and life-threatening activity.

However, at this time, under the command of Ukrainian generals, the Ukrainian army began a retaliatory counterattack against the Russian positions.

Although Ukraine is not as good as the Russian army in terms of firepower, its scale and number are not much different. With weapons and ammunition donated by European countries, there is no need to worry about being exhausted at least in the short term.

Boom...

The Ukrainian artillery began to retaliate tit for tat, focusing on attacking the Red Army's artillery positions and trenches.

Moreover, it is obvious that the artillery, rifles and machine guns provided by European countries to Ukraine are much more reliable than Russian equipment.

The training of the Ukrainian army by Germany and Austria also played a huge role at this time, enabling Ukrainian soldiers to maximize the power of these advanced equipment.

Although due to time constraints, it is certainly impossible to achieve the same accuracy and composure as the German and French soldiers in World War I, it is more than enough to deal with the Russian Red Army artillery.

The only pity is that Ukraine has limited artillery and ammunition. If it wants to replenish them in large quantities in the future, it must rely on transportation from the rear, and even needs to replenish stocks from Germany and Austria.

The situation in Russia was completely different. The eastern Ukrainian region on the Russian side was a heavy industrial base in the former Tsarist Russia era. When the war broke out, various military factories worked at full capacity to produce weapons and ammunition, and they could supply them to the Red Army on the front line.

It can be said that at present, Russia and Ukraine each have their own advantages and disadvantages, but overall Russia has the advantage. However, this advantage is mainly due to the huge gap in national strength between the two sides, and it cannot be effectively converted into the combat effectiveness of the front-line troops.

No matter how strong the Red Army's fighting spirit was, it was obviously impossible for them to withstand the attacks of bombs and bullets with their flesh and blood.

Unless we can break through the trenches in Donbass, this fighting spirit can be fully brought into play through close combat.

However, under the suppression of machine guns and artillery, it is difficult to break through to the front line of the Ukrainian army's position, let alone engage in close combat with the puppet army.

In long-range combat, the Red Army did not have much advantage and could only fight back and forth with the puppet army with superior firepower and better equipment.

In this way, the two sides carried out multiple rounds of artillery battles, charges and counter-charges on the first day. Ukrainian and Russian soldiers, like leeks, were harvested by the ruthless flames of war one after another.

This also made the commanders on both sides extremely annoyed, especially the Russian Red Army officers who were on the attacking side.

"Damn it, the Ukrainian puppet army has a geographical advantage. Relying on the Donbass defense line, the puppet army can guarantee safety to the greatest extent, which is not conducive to our attack. If we don't want to suffer too many casualties, we need more artillery to destroy the puppet army's fortresses and positions."

"The puppet army is equipped with a large number of weapons and equipment that were originally left over from the Central Powers and the Allied Powers or recently received. This is a very bad situation. Because of the world war, no one knows how much ammunition stocks European countries have accumulated."

"As far as our country is concerned, the amount of munitions accumulated by imperialism is absolutely astronomical. After all, the industrial level of countries like Britain, France, Germany, and Austria is much stronger than that of the Russian Empire, and their stockpiles of weapons and ammunition are definitely greater than that of Russia during the Tsarist era."

Because of the First World War, European powers, including the former Tsarist Russia, have accumulated astonishing stockpiles of weapons, including, of course, huge weapons and ammunition production lines.

As for the current situation in Russia, the Russian Labor Party government mainly inherited the arsenals left over from the Tsarist era. As for weapons and ammunition, although there are quite a few, because of the Tsarist Russia's military defeat, many of them were inherited by Ukraine, Poland and other countries.

This is also one of the main sources of ammunition for the Ukrainian army. However, if Ukraine’s puppet government cannot rebuild its own national defense and military-industrial system, then these stocks will only become less and less in the future.

The Russian Red Army command on the front line was very clear about this. Although Ukraine did not have a complete military-industrial system, it had many imperialist powers behind it, especially Germany and Austria, which both had very strong military-industrial production systems.

So a Russian general said: "As things stand, unless we can find a way to break through the Donbass defense line as soon as possible, we may fall into the stalemate that Germany and the Allies faced on the Western Front for a long time."

"But the difficulty lies in the fact that the Donbass defense line built by the puppet army is already relatively stable. At the same time, they have no shortage of weapons, ammunition and various supplies needed for the war, and have the foundation for a long-term trench warfare."

"This is definitely not what we want to see. After all, if we can't even wipe out the Ukrainian puppet army in the first place, then when other imperialist countries recover, we can't rule out the possibility that they will send troops to Ukraine. If the situation really reaches that point, it will be greatly disadvantageous to us."

As the Russian officer said, the war in Ukraine cannot be slow, and Russia urgently needs to open up the situation. Otherwise, the longer it drags on, the more unfavorable the situation will be for the Russian Labor Party regime. However, now everyone has no practical way to deal with the trench warfare, unless more troops are used, but the casualties and losses caused by this are also huge, and the Russian generals do not want to take such risks.

This led to a stalemate in the war for a while, and news from the front line was delivered to the Kremlin in the second half of the night.

Because of the war, Comrade Vladimir, who often worked overtime, now had sleepless nights. When the first day of the front-line battle report was delivered, he hurriedly checked it carefully.

Joseph said to the Supreme Leader with a worried look: "Right now, the situation on the front line is not optimistic. In the trench warfare mode, Poland and Ukraine, who are on the passive defense, have a great advantage."

"Our army has been slow to break through the situation, and according to their request, if we want to break through the enemy's defense line without paying a huge price, there is only one relatively safe way, that is to use more large-caliber artillery to cover the military defense line built by the puppet military government in Donbass and other places with heavy firepower until it is completely destroyed."

"However, our defense industry has actually reached a limit, which is also affected by previous domestic policies."

Although Joseph was Vladimir's right-hand man, he and Vladimir still had differences of opinion.

For example, Vladimir's new economic policy was very different from Joseph's ideas. His proposal was to stabilize Russia's security situation by concentrating national strength, implementing strict plans and administrative directives, and giving priority to the construction of a national defense industrial system and heavy industry.

Vladimir's new economic policy was actually a policy of recuperation. Before the Russian economy recovered, Vladimir did not want to start a war. After all, the Russian people were too tired after experiencing World War I and the civil war.

As for the reason for the outbreak of this war, it was entirely because imperialism first carried out large-scale arming of countries such as Ukraine and Poland, thus threatening Russia's national security and the strategy of the Russian Labor Party. Therefore, based on the situation, Vladimir believed that this war must not only be fought resolutely, but also must be resolved quickly.

However, the first day of the war has shown that it is almost impossible to achieve a quick victory in military terms.

Vladimir said to Joseph: "Comrade Joseph, I know you are very anxious now, but don't be anxious. Your temperament is just like your temper, sometimes too intense, but sometimes too indecisive."

"I dare not say that every order I gave was correct, just like when we implemented the wartime economic policy, we did not adjust it in time at the end of the civil war, which led to the confrontation between farmers and the government."

"As for the outcome of this war, none of us can be 100% sure of its direction and impact, but personally, I think this war must be fought, and we must fight it resolutely and have no choice but to fight it."

"Because this is not only related to the security of our own Russia, but also to the development of the labor movement around the world. It can be said that this war determines whether the labor movement around the world can become more magnificent."

"If we succeed, it will be a great encouragement to Labour Party members all over the world, and will also inspire more people of insight to participate in this great cause of changing the fate of the proletariat all over the world."

"As for the policy issue you mentioned, since we have already done this, it is impossible to adjust it in a short period of time. However, I think there is no need to adjust the new economic policy immediately. At least the current sentiment of the domestic people tells us that this is the right thing to do."

"We cannot forcefully go against the will of the people. This would alienate us from the masses and go against our original intention."

"As for the military issues on the front line that you are worried about, I would also like to say that it is pessimistic to draw a final conclusion based on the development of the situation on the first day alone, and we in the Labour Party should always maintain an optimistic attitude."

Then Vladimir said confidently: "The situation on the front line is indeed not ideal, but this is only the front battlefield. The situation behind enemy lines has not been reported yet! I think we should receive good news tomorrow. As for the front line, we can continue to maintain the current offensive strength."

News from the Russian front can be transmitted back to Moscow in a timely manner via telegram, but on the battlefield behind enemy lines, although the Russian government has issued combat orders to the underground party in the rear of Ukraine and other countries, due to the environment behind enemy lines, the results of their actions will not be seen until at least tomorrow.

……

And just as Vladimir judged, on the day when Russia and Ukraine went to war, there was indeed unrest in the Ukrainian rear.

The view returns to the city of Sicheslav.

The night before Russian troops went to war with Ukraine.

Malenkov said excitedly: "Comrades, the opportunity we have been waiting for has finally come. According to the instructions of the Moscow Central Committee, we will officially launch the Yekaterinoslav Uprising tomorrow."

"We will cooperate with the Red Army on the front line to cut off the Ukrainian puppet army's transportation lines and material supply channels. At the same time, if possible, we can also take the initiative to attack the rear of the Donbass defense line, or send troops north along the Dnieper River to attack Kiev."

Malenkov's idea was indeed crazy. Kiev is the political center of Ukraine. It is conceivable how difficult it is to attack Kiev. Moreover, the city of Sicheslav, also known as Yekaterinoslav, is a city along the Dnieper River like Kiev, but the distance is not very close, and other important towns have to be passed in between.

Of course, Malenkov's unrealistic idea was not groundless, because his purpose was not to capture Kiev, but to cause turmoil within Ukraine.

Just imagine, if an army appeared in the rear of Ukraine, and this army's target was the heads of the Ukrainian government and senior officials, this would inevitably cause panic within the Ukrainian government. After all, the higher the position, the more people value their lives, and they also control most of the country's resources.

Therefore, for the sake of their own safety, they will inevitably withdraw their troops to nip the danger in the bud, but withdrawing the troops may affect the safety of the Ukrainian troops on the front line.

However, compared with the Ukrainian army on the front line, the safety of the government in the rear is more important. Even if there is a problem on the front line, it can buy time for the top Ukrainian government officials to escape.

However, there is a fatal problem with Malenkov's plan, that is, Ukraine's military strength is still relatively sufficient for the time being. However, Malenkov believes that this problem is not important.

Because he was very fortunate that the organization not only sent their group to Ukraine to carry out the movement, but there were labor party organizations in important towns throughout Ukraine to implement this plan.

Therefore, tomorrow the entire Ukrainian rear will probably be filled with smoke of war. By then, the riots that are breaking out everywhere will make it difficult for the Ukrainian central government to grasp the key points.

This is not the most important thing. Although the organization did not say it, Malenkov was sure that the underground party in Kiev would also launch an uprising tomorrow.

After all, Kiev is the capital of Ukraine. How could the top leaders of the Russian Labor Party not pay attention to this city? The Russian Labor Party started its seizure of power in Russia from St. Petersburg, the capital of Tsarist Russia. Once the capital falls, the victory will be basically secured.

Of course, as to how to do it specifically, Malenkov must first ensure that the Yekaterinoslav uprising can be successful in one fell swoop. Otherwise, let alone attacking Donbass and Kiev, if it fails, I am afraid that the entire Workers' Organization in Yekaterinoslav will be destroyed here.

(End of this chapter)