Order No. 227, in summary, requires that the Soviet army must defend the motherland to the death no matter how much casualties it takes, and not take a step back. Officers and political workers who retreat without authorization will be considered "cowards" and "traitors" and will be dealt with by military law.

This is actually caused by Stalin's own mistakes or misjudgments.

Because of his victory in the Moscow defense battle, he became underestimated by the enemy. He launched a rash attack on the German army despite the opposition of the staff. He even proudly mocked the staff team when he achieved a brief victory in the early stage of the attack on Kharkov.

But soon after, he was slapped in the face by the German army... The German army surrounded the Soviet army that broke into the Kharkov battle, and annihilated hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops at a very small price, seriously weakening the Soviet army's reserve force in the south.

More importantly, Stalin misjudged the next strategic direction of the German army. He believed that the German army would still attack Moscow instead of Stalingrad in the next step.

To be precise, it was not Stalin's misjudgment, but Hitler intended to make the Central Army and even the Southern Army attack Moscow.

Stalin was obviously fooled, so on the one hand, he gathered his troops in Moscow and did not dare to move. On the other hand, he attacked Kharkov from the south.

The result of Kharkov's defeat and encirclement and annihilation of hundreds of thousands of people was that the Soviet Union had a situation like the Transcaucasian battlefield in the entire southern part, including the Caucasus region: the empty force could not stop the German army's crazy counterattack.

Under such a burning situation, Stalin's Order No. 227 came into being.

The reason for such a cruel order is simple: if the Soviet army continues to retreat, cities with important strategic positions will fall and morale across the country will be severely damaged.

Under this high-pressure command, General Chulenev made every effort to build defense in Baku.

In fact, Budonnie gave General Chulenev's advice at this time.

"Comrade Budoni!" General Chulenev called Budoni before retreating to Baku: "I hope to get air cover from the Fourth Air Force! You know, the situation is very dangerous now, the Germans are stepping towards Baku, we cannot let them occupy Baku!"

There was a silence on the other end of the phone. When Chulenev was confused, Marshal Budunny replied: "Comrade Chulenev, I know that the Fourth Air Force should provide reinforcements for you, but now it is not the time!"

"Comrade Budonie..."

"Listen to me, Comrade Chulenev!" Marshal Budoni interrupted Chulenev's words: "I know what you are thinking, you will think I am making excuses not to provide reinforcements!"

"No, no..."

"Don't deny!" Marshal Budunny did not give Chulenev a chance to explain: "It does not do me any good for this, the reason is like you said, the Germans are advancing towards Baku, and it is very fast, and maybe they will arrive in Baku in a few days!"

After pausing, Marshal Budoni continued, "So, what good will it do to me if I don't reinforce the Caucasus Front? The Caucasus Front was defeated, followed by the North Caucasus Front. And if the Germans occupied Baku, the Soviet Union would be in danger due to lack of energy. What good will this do to me?"

General Chulenev was soon relieved. Budjonny was right. Budjonny was no benefit to him as a Soviet marshal.

"Then, Comrade Bujonny..."

"Do you remember how we did it before the Battle of Moscow?" Budoni asked: "I mean when we retreated all the way to Moscow!"

"You mean to strengthen the walls and clear the fields?" Qiulenev asked.

Marshal Budoni did not answer. He just remained silent for a while, and then crossed the topic: "1200 kilometers, when the Germans arrived in Baku, they were exhausted, and our chance to fight back was here. Do you understand?"

As if he understood something, Chulenev replied: "I understand, Comrade Budonie! Thank you very much!"

Perhaps it was because of the mischief of the authorities. General Chulenev, who was struck by the German army before, almost lost confidence in himself and his army.

But now, at Bujonny's reminder, he suddenly understood what he was going to do.

On the one hand, he asked the troops to constantly create some trouble on the way forward of the German army, such as blasting bridges, burying mines, and occasionally ambushing them.

However, this had little impact on the German army, because the German army of the 7th Airborne Army actually landed at the rear of the Soviet army after the airborne. They not only occupied the Caucasus Mountains, but also took the initiative to move forward with the Caucasus as a base to occupy the main traffic route at the foot of the mountain.

Therefore, most of the Soviet army's actions of blasting bridges, burying mines and other actions were useless. The German army advanced eastward at a speed of 100 kilometers per day along the highway controlled by the airborne troops.

On the other hand, Qiulenev asked the soldiers to start the evacuation of the people, demanding to be as strong as before the Battle of Moscow.

This is done in a good way. The ammunition and fuel in the warehouse are burned out in one breath, and even the food in the hands of the people is no exception.

However, they had no choice but to have the crops growing in the ground... The Soviet army also wanted to burn all these things, but it was impossible to disperse them in the ground, or it could be said that they had no time to do so. The German army was behind and even on the flanks and surrounded them at any time.

Finally, Baku's defense.

General Chulenev was born into a cavalry like Marshal Budoni. The difference between him and Marshal Budoni is that he did not realize that the cavalry was no longer adapted to the battlefield of this era. This is also one of the reasons why Chulenev sent a cavalry division to Novorossisk to fight.

Needless to say, a cavalry division that Chulenev was proud of was defeated in Novorossiysk, and only a few hundred men were bypassed the Caucasus and fled back to the front.

At this time, Choulenev certainly did not dare to have the previous thoughts. After communicating with Budunny several times or asking for advice, he used the terrain to dig trenches 30 kilometers away from Baku to build layers of defense.

"Strive to defend every line of defense for ten days!" Budoni said to Chulenev: "In this way, it will take at least a few months for the Germans to fight Baku, and our reinforcements will arrive at that time!"

"Thank you very much, Comrade Budoni!" Qiulenev replied.

He never took Budjon seriously before, and even secretly competed with Budjon because both of them were commanders of the front army.
Chapter completed!