Chapter 649 Heavy Thunderstorm Thirty-Seven
It is now June 20, 1942. 19 days ago, the great world revolution officially kicked off, and the vigorous revolutionary war was carried out fiercely between June 1 and 20. Countless revolutionary or reactionary heroes emerged, and of course there were also many traitors, spies, and labor traitors who betrayed the revolutionary cause. In addition, some reactionaries hidden in the Bolshevik Party and the army also exposed their true colors in the face of the test of the world revolution.
At this moment, in a small dark room almost completely isolated from the outside world in a building occupied by the Political Department of the Western Front of the Workers and Peasants Red Army, Colonel Sandalov, the Chief of Staff of the 4th Army of the Red Army, who had just escaped from the brutal battle, was sitting alone at a desk with peeling paint, writing a confession!
Writing a confession in such an environment is of course not a good situation, but Colonel Sandalov did not think that the organization had "made a mistake". When he received the order to "return to Minsk immediately to report the situation", he knew that he would be locked up in a small dark room.
Because he, Major General Korobkov, the commander of the 4th Army, and Political Commissar Terekhin, had just committed an unforgivable crime - the crime of losing the war!
Losing the war is of course a crime!
According to Article 58, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code of the Soviet Union in 1926, Soviet citizens' acts of sabotage against the Soviet military power, national sovereignty and inviolable territory. For example, espionage, selling state secrets, colluding with foreign enemies, flying planes to defect abroad, etc., all constitute treason.
And according to this provision, if a soldier cannot prevent others from betraying the country, he shall be sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Now Sandalov has committed the subsidiary clause in Article 58, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code: Soldiers cannot prevent others from betraying the country! He should be sentenced to 10 years in prison!
And the bad guy he "cannot prevent" is Korobkov, the commander of the 4th Army.
Because Korobkov's behavior in the Battle of Legionovo-Volomin constituted a destruction of the Soviet military power.
First, the 4th Army under his command was defeated by the German army, which was far smaller in number, in the battle, and it was a disastrous defeat!
Secondly, in order to cover up his mistakes, Korobkov deliberately exaggerated the enemy situation and exaggerated the maximum of one division-level armored group into three armored divisions, which resulted in a misjudgment by the front command.
Based on the wrong intelligence provided by Korobkov, the commander of the front, General Pavlov, made the decision that the 1st Tank Army would defend Maydan (east of Wovomin), causing the 1st Tank Army to hastily fight and be defeated by the German armored group, with extremely heavy losses.
Therefore, the behavior of Korobkov, the commander of the 4th Army, has constituted the crime of treason. And the Chief of Staff of the 4th Army, Sandalov, and the Political Commissar, Terekin, because they did not stop his crime, also constituted the crime of assisting in treason.
And the three people committed a crime together, according to the provisions of the Criminal Code, which belongs to the "anti-G revolution group" and is aggravated.
In other words, the main culprit Korobkov should be shot, or declared as a public enemy of the working class, all property confiscated, deprived of Soviet or republic citizenship, and deported - in the Soviet Union, deportation and shooting are the same level of punishment!
However, whether to be shot or deported cannot be chosen by the prisoner himself. Otherwise, no one would choose to be shot...
Korobkov's crime must be shot. Sandalov thought: Then I was originally sentenced to 10 years of labor reform, plus a "group crime", then at least 15 years of labor reform.
But he can also not go to Siberia for labor reform! There is a way out. Now he is locked up in the small black room of the political department to write a confession material, which is said to be a way out.
He thought about it. When Korobkov deceived the organization and lied about military intelligence, he was organizing a retreat at the army headquarters near Wovomin. He was not aware of it at the time and only found out later.
If he exposes Korobkov now, not only will he not be guilty, but he will also be rewarded for reporting, so naturally he doesn't have to go to Siberia.
He must be exposed! Sandarov gritted his teeth. Korobkov's crimes were unforgivable. If he didn't expose them, someone else would. It would be better for him to expose them himself, so that he and his family could be saved.
After understanding the interests, Sandarov no longer hesitated. He picked up the pen and wrote on the letter paper.
...
"Shoot him! Must be shot!" Ponomarenko saw the exposure materials of Sandarov and Terekhin, as well as the materials of Korobkov's evasive confession. When he compared the three aspects, he knew what was going on. The Battle of Legionovo-Volomin was originally just a medium-sized defeat. The main force of the 1st Tank Army could have been saved, but it turned into a disastrous defeat because of Korobkov's mistakes.
"Korobkov is a latent anti-German assassin who attempted to sabotage the world revolution. He is the most evil and deserves death!"
The commander of the Western Front, Pavlov, did not dare to shield Korobkov at this time. Not only did he not shield him, but he also accused him of being an "anti-German assassin."
But it cannot be said that Pavlov and Ponomarenko were wrongly accusing Korobkov, because Korobkov's crime of losing the battle was real! No matter how they argued, the Legionovo-Volomin battle was always a big loss.
The powerful army consisting of 1 mechanized army, 1 tank army and 1 infantry army was actually defeated by a German division-level cluster, and it was a miserable defeat!
Such a disastrous defeat has never happened in the glorious history of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. Now, when the world revolution has just begun, it has suffered such a disastrous defeat. It is no exaggeration to say that it has given the great leader Stalin a blow. Of course, Korobkov, who caused a big disaster, must pay a very due price.
But... the Battle of Legionovo-Volomin also shows that the combat effectiveness of the Nazi German army is very strong, stronger than everyone imagined. In addition to being at a disadvantage in quantity, it has obvious advantages in other aspects.
The Soviet Red Army has shortcomings in many aspects. The performance of the T-34 tank and the KV-1 tank is not as good as expected. And the strength of the Red Air Force has no obvious advantage. In the past ten days of fighting, the Air Force of the Western Front has suffered huge losses!
According to the report of Major General Kobets, commander of the Western Front, the Air Force of the Front lost more than 1,800 aircraft of various types in less than 15 days, and the loss of pilots and crew members exceeded 2,200 people! Major General Kobets, commander of the Air Force of the Front, was so anxious that he even wanted to die.
If the losses continue, the Western Front will have no air force to use!
"Comrade Military Commissar," General Pavlov thought for a while, and finally frowned and said to Ponomarenko, "Now our losses are great! Imperialist Germany's military strength is stronger than originally imagined, especially in the air and armored forces. Now the Western Front needs more planes, pilots, tanks and various vehicles to ensure the smooth progress of the Warsaw Campaign."
...
"Kolobkov was shot, and Terekhin was reformed by labor for 15 years... Sandalov is the acting commander of the 4th Army."
In the basement of the Kremlin, Stalin, holding a pipe, pronounced the fate of Korobkov, Terekhin and Sandalov in front of Voroshilov and Beria.
One was shot because he fought a defeat that he shouldn't have fought and exaggerated the enemy's situation to deceive the organization; one was reformed by labor because the exposé material was too long and too profound, which delayed the leadership's time; and another was promoted because he exposed the anti-G revolutionaries in time.
But this is all a small matter for Stalin. Now there is only one real big thing, that is Warsaw! Should Warsaw be liberated? If it is to be liberated, how to fight?
"We can give Pavlov whatever he wants!" Stalin said while smoking his pipe, "If we don't have it, we can ask the Americans for it! In addition, send a representative of the Supreme Command to help him."
"Okay, Comrade Stalin." Voroshilov nodded, he understood Stalin's thoughts. "I will definitely urge Pavlov to take Warsaw no matter what."
Stalin smoked his pipe and asked: "No matter what? Hitler and Hessmann would probably order Guderian to defend Warsaw no matter what. So which no matter what is achievable?"
"Of course, our 'no matter what' is achievable." Voroshilov said with a smile, "Although the 4th Army was defeated in the Battle of Legionovo-Wolomin, this defeat will not change the strength comparison between the Soviet Union and Germany.
In fact, our defeat was caused by some minor problems that can be improved, such as the lack of artillery that can penetrate the frontal armor of German tanks at a long distance... We actually have such artillery, 85mm anti-aircraft guns and another 57mm anti-tank gun, both of which have strong anti-tank capabilities. The ability to resist enemy attacks is not strong enough, but these two types of artillery have not been installed on tanks and armored vehicles. However, we can think of a way to remedy this situation, and let tanks and armored vehicles tow 57mm anti-tank guns and 85mm anti-aircraft guns to the battlefield. Moreover, we can also improve the anti-tank capability of existing artillery by introducing high-speed armor-piercing projectile technology from Britain and the United States.
In addition, we also have a lot of room for improvement in the air force. For example, we can introduce the most advanced fighter P51 fighter in the United States. The performance of this aircraft has been tested on the battlefield in Western Europe and is enough to fight against all advanced fighters in Germany. There are now some squadrons equipped with P51 fighters on the territory of the Soviet Union. They were originally used to cover B-17 bombers. We can now ask the United States to agree to transfer them to the Battle of Warsaw. "