The Soviet Union's probing attack on the first day finally stopped when the sun was about to set.
When the casualty figures on the first day were reported to the Western Front headquarters, Stalin, who received the telegram, did not believe his eyes.
"Have you checked with the 14th Army?"
His Excellency the future loving father, who looked a little grim, asked about the officer who sent the telegram. The officer, shrouded in the majesty of his loving father, said in a trembling voice: "Comrade Political Commissar, I have verified with the 14th Army Group and the numbers are correct.
.”
"Then get out."
As Stalin finished speaking, the officer hurriedly escaped. He had never seen a political commissar looking at him with such a serious expression. He felt like he was looking at a criminal.
After the officer fled, Stalin looked at the casualty figures on the battle report in front of him, and felt angry inside. He planned to discuss countermeasures with Commander Yegorov, but it seemed that the same tactics used against the White Army were not feasible.
He pushed open the door of the war room and saw Yegorov studying the battle map.
Yegorov, who was disturbed by the sound of pushing the door open, asked in surprise: "Comrade Stalin, what's wrong with you? You look so bad?"
Yegorov's inquiry made Stalin's expression soften a lot. After all, he was more in line with his temper. So Comrade Political Commissar took out the battle report in his hand and said: "It's all the result of this battle report."
"Let me see."
Curious about what was written in the battle report that made his political commissar so angry, Yegorov took the telegram from Stalin's hand.
At first glance, Yegorov looked worse than Stalin. "I wonder if this Smilga can fight. Let him test the attack. How can there be so many casualties?"
The Smilga whom Yegorov was talking about was the commander of the 14th Army. Considering that his combat style was relatively stable, the two of them asked his 14th Army to take the lead and test the strength of the Romanians first. Unexpectedly, he turned out in one day.
The loss exceeded 10,000, which was a rare phenomenon in the history of Soviet-Russian combat.
Yes, in this battle report, the 14th Army suffered 6,487 killed, 6,781 injured, and 637 missing in one day. The number of injured and killed was almost as many.
"First think about how we will fight next, and how we will explain to the central government if we continue to suffer casualties like this."
Seeing that Yegorov was even angrier than himself, Stalin began to persuade him.
Perhaps the half-sentence of how to explain to the central government woke him up, and Yegorov suppressed his anger. Stalin was right. If casualties continue like this, they, with an army of 500,000, will not be able to withstand it.
How long does it take to consume.
"What do you think about this matter?"
As soon as Yegorov asked this question, he knew it was not good. He was the military commander, but he asked the political commissar about military issues.
However, Stalin did not pay attention to this. He replied: "At present, we do not know the specific situation. I think that first let Comrade Smilga send a detailed battle report, and we will study it first. Of course, it is best to go to the front line and observe carefully.
good."
"I think it's feasible."
Both of them agreed to let Smilga send a detailed battle report to understand the situation first. Therefore, Stalin called a communications officer and asked him to send a report to the 14th Army and asked Smilga to send a detailed battle report.
.At the same time, he requested that he stop the attack before obtaining the consent of the front army headquarters.
Egorov and Stalin didn't have to wait long before the communications officer came in with a telegram.
"Commander, political commissar, this is the call back from the 14th Group Army."
"Okay, you go down."
After receiving the telegram and sending the communications officer away, the two began to carefully study the contents of the telegram. After an hour of study by the two of them, judging from the telegram, every decision made by Smilga, although not the best, was
There were no mistakes in the response.
"Is it because the enemy is too strong?"
An idea appeared in the minds of the two of them.
"I think you have to be scared to the point of seeing it with your own eyes."
In the end, Stalin came up with a solution. Even a small problem could not trouble this steel comrade.
"I think so too."
Yegorov also agreed with Stalin's words.
So the next question is, who should take a look before going?
"I think as the commander, I should take a look at the problems encountered by the 14th Army Group."
As the chief military officer, Yegorov felt that he should go down and see for himself.
After thinking for a while, Stalin replied: "That's fine, I'll be responsible for handling other things at home."
The reason that made Stalin give up going to the front line was that the front army had a lot of things to do every day. If they both left together, there would be no one capable of taking charge of the huge front army headquarters.
"when are we leaving?"
"I can't wait any longer. I'll leave early tomorrow morning."
…
Compared with the somewhat gloomy faces in the west, the atmosphere in the central cluster headquarters was much more harmonious. General Freit looked at the casualty report in his hand, smiled and said to Lieutenant General Andrew next to him: "It's just as I expected.
, this stick will probably give Yegorov a toothache on the opposite side."
Lieutenant General Andrew, who was the deputy and chief of staff, immediately said: "What if the Soviet Union's Western Front is hurt and they retreat? You must know that we have assembled almost all our troops here, and the Tran that is currently recovered from Hungary is
There is only one 29th Division stationed in Sylvania and other places. I am a little worried about whether the locals will cause trouble."
Admiral Freit was not afraid of what Lieutenant General Andrew was worried about. "If they dare, we can attack Hungary without any effort. If they dare to cause rebellion, let them know the majesty of the kingdom."
"And I am sure that the Soviet troops will not retreat, otherwise their so-called Soviet government will lose its face. If it doesn't want to liberate all mankind, how can it be afraid of such small casualties? How can it have the courage to say such big words."
Freit's words dispelled Andrew's worries. Instead, he said with interest: "Since the Soviet Union will not withdraw its troops, do you think it is possible for them to increase their troops?"
Freit judged: "It's unlikely at the moment. Intelligence shows that there are currently only 2.3 million people in Soviet Russia. They are increasing their troops when they are surrounded by enemies on all sides. Don't they want to end the inner station?"
"Since we can't retreat, are there any reinforcements? If the commander on the opposite side is not stupid, then he can only use his troops to make surprise moves."
Hearing Andrew's words, Freit smiled and said: "I'm just waiting for their soldiers to come up with surprising moves. Otherwise, there will be no chance of hurting the Soviet Union. These Russians are more powerful than me, and they won't have a long memory."
"I forgot, you are a master in this field."
Now the two Romanian commanders are waiting for Yegorov's methods. But before that, he needs to go to the front line to see Romania's strength for himself.
