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Volume 3 Far East Story Chapter 516 Unsatisfactory Aid

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    July 15, 1918 19:30 Moscow Kremlin

    "Georgi Vasilyevich, please hurry up and pick out the important ones. What about the issue of prisoners of war? How many more of the remaining 2.6 million prisoners of war have Ludendorff promised to repatriate?" Ulyanno said.  The husband asked anxiously.

    "Vladimir Ilyich, fellow Central Committee members, the issue of prisoners of war is difficult to deal with. Last time we brought back 800,000 prisoners of war. Firstly, we did some work through our connections in Berlin and spent a lot of money. Secondly, we got back 800,000 prisoners of war.  Come on, the Germans are not fuel-efficient, that¡¯s what they did on purpose!

    Last time we brought back those prisoners of war who had Bolshevik tendencies in the prisoner-of-war camp, and after asking about it later, we found out that we were in agreement with the other party. They were afraid that our Bolshevik organization would grow and develop in the prisoner-of-war camp!  So it¡¯s just a matter of time to take advantage of the situation and send these people back!  "Chicherin spread his hands helplessly.

    The Central Committee members in the conference room looked at each other in shock after hearing this. Obviously, the Germans still hate the Soviet Russian regime, the Bolsheviks, and our doctrine. The imperialist bourgeoisie still regards the Soviets as a scourge, not because of the armistice talks and mutual recognition between the two sides.  It¡¯s considered a friendly kingdom!

    "Georgi Vasilyevich, stop hesitating. How many more prisoners of war did Ludendorff promise to repatriate?" Trotsky was a little out of breath at this moment and asked loudly to his former deputy.  , while thinking, the reconstruction of the Soviet Red Army, including the replenishment of the Volga Front, is all about bringing back hundreds of thousands of people from German prisoner-of-war camps. Could it be that this plan has failed?

    Because Chicherin had just returned to Moscow before evening, and the issue of repatriation of prisoners of war had not achieved the desired result, he did not dare to report privately to Ulyanov and Trotsky in advance. Anyway, there were many people at the meeting.  , and be brave enough, otherwise, with the taciturn Trotsky and the emotional Ulyanov pressing forward, Chicherin was afraid that he would not be able to stand at all.

    "No more than 100,000 prisoners of war can be repatriated this time, and the rest will not be repatriated to us. At this time, five countries, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, have declared independence, plus the previous  Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, because we reached a compromise with Germany, we also recognized the independence of these countries.

    Therefore, the Tsarist Russian prisoners of war who came from these countries were given priority to be taken back by them, and the remaining prisoners of war, because they tended to Kolchak's All-Russian Provisional Government, would not be repatriated to us. The prisoners of war  They even threatened hunger strikes and riots and refused to return to Soviet Russia. If they wanted to return, they would also demand to return to Kolchak!  "The news brought by the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs is obviously both realistic and cold.

    After Chicherin finished talking about the issue of prisoners of war, all the Central Committee members present frowned. Last time, they brought back 800,000 prisoners of war in one go, which made everyone think that things were easy. But now it seems that it is pure luck.  Between Germany, Austria, and the Soviet Union, the satellite states of the new republic were trying their best to steal people from themselves.

    "If Kolchak's All-Russian Provisional Government had not been supported by the Allied Powers, the remaining prisoners of war would have been taken back by the White Guards!" Chicherin took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his head. Obviously, this guy was here.  Berlin also spent a lot of energy and rhetoric on dealing with the Germans to repatriate another 100,000 prisoners of war back to Soviet Russia, and the remaining nearly one million prisoners of war continued to stay in prisoner of war camps instead of being repatriated back to Kolcha  On the Kremlin side, this is already the best result that Soviet Russia can achieve in its diplomacy at this time.

    Of course Joseph was disappointed when he heard such news. The 100,000 newly repatriated prisoners of war were just a drop in the bucket. The Soviet Red Army lost 300,000 people in the entire Battle of Ufa. Even if it returned to the situation before the Battle of Ufa, it would still have 200,000 soldiers.  The gap of 10,000 troops is difficult to deal with.

    If that doesn't work, we can only think of ways to mobilize troops from other fronts, or bring in workers' pickets and workers' garrison divisions from Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow and Petrograd to supplement and strengthen the Volga Front.  The Russian peasants, who were overwhelmed by famine and the surplus grain collection system, were really unreliable. The Soviet Red Army still had to rely on the working class for its sources of troops.

    "Georgi Vasilyevich, how are the talks about arms assistance? How many weapons, aircraft and artillery can the Germans provide? Especially anti-aircraft weapons such as anti-aircraft guns, when will the first batch arrive?"

    Kamenev, who was sitting next to Chicherin, couldn't help turning his face and asked anxiously, "This guy is waiting to be a military commissar in the Volga Military District and the Front Army. If there are not enough troops, he can recruit troops on the spot. If there are no aircraft, cannons, and machine guns."  The reinforcements are good, so no matter how many people are put in front of the coalition forces, they will be a meal delivered to their doorsteps.

    When Kamenev asked, Ulyanov, Trotsky, Sverdrov and Joseph all pricked up their ears. Together with other members of the Central Committee, several big shots focused their attention on the diplomatic people.  The committee members were deeply afraid that if this guy opened his mouth, he would give bad news again, then?Things are really hard to handle!

    "The issue of arms is very complicated. Due to the different standards of weapons between the two sides, even if the Germans are willing to sell us Mauser rifles, we do not have enough bullets to ensure the supply of ammunition. Machine guns are better. The German mk08 is essentially derived from the Mark  Qin was upgraded, but the bullet caliber is still the same, so we basically can¡¯t use the German infantry weapons." Chicherin still looked bitter.

    "What about aircraft, artillery and anti-aircraft machine guns? We can produce rifles and Maxims ourselves. The arsenal in Nizhny Novgorod works overtime to meet the needs. The arsenal in Tsaritsyn can also produce bullets and artillery shells. The arsenals in Moscow and Petrograd can  The key to producing machine guns is airplanes, cannons and anti-aircraft guns. We don't have airplanes at all, and our own production capacity for cannons and anti-aircraft guns is far from enough!" The person who was anxious at this moment was Joseph himself.

    "Josef Vissarionovich is right. According to the analysis of the previous Battle of Ufa, the Allied Air Force has huge air superiority. Without aircraft and anti-aircraft guns, our infantry will not be able to change hands just after being beaten.  It will be very difficult and a huge blow to morale!¡±

    The speaker this time was Bubnov, member of the Central Committee, member of the Revolutionary Military Committee of the North Caucasus Military District, and chairman of the Tsaritsyn Soviet. Although he was at odds with Joseph in Tsaritsyn, he was not a layman in terms of military matters.

    When he was the chairman of the Revolutionary Military Committee of the Ukrainian Military District, the reason why Bubnov had such a tense relationship with Voroshilov and Chernavin below was that he liked to stick to the bottom and surpass the corps commanders and division commanders.  , it has a great relationship with commanding and mobilizing the troops below.

    Here Ulyanov, Trotsky and Sverdlov were staring at the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs with quite unkind eyes. They were afraid that what they said would disappoint people again. The red in Comrade Chairman's hand was  The blue pencil was accidentally broken by him.

    "The Germans are willing to provide 20 divisions of Russian-style infantry weapons, mainly various Russian-style rifles, which were captured during more than three years of the European War. They are also willing to provide 50 artillery batteries of artillery, most of which are also captured.  Old Tsarist Russian artillery, in addition, Ludendorff promised to provide twenty anti-aircraft artillery batteries of German anti-aircraft guns, all of which we need to pay for with cotton, grain, coal and oil, of course, we can also use gold! "

    The things that Chicherin, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, bought from Ludendorff were things that the Soviet Red Army could not only starve to death but also never have enough to eat. Among them were twenty German anti-aircraft guns from anti-aircraft artillery companies.  People's eyes lit up, but obviously, since the Germans provided anti-aircraft guns, this meant that the plan to assist the aircraft would come to nothing.

    Sure enough, Chicherin continued, "Airplanes are useless. The German-Austrian Allies have been suffering from a far insufficient number of combat aircraft on the Western Front battlefield. At this time, it is impossible to squeeze out a single aircraft for us! Planes!  I have no choice at all. At this time, only Britain and France, the two Allied countries, have a large number of aircraft. Even if the United States has such strong industrial strength, although the US military has participated in the war on the Western Front, the US military troops on the battlefield also lack aircraft, cannons and machine guns.  !¡±

    "There is also the Chinese Air Force in the Ufa Allied Forces. They have at least more than 300 fighter planes engaged in operations west of the Ural Mountains. There may be the same number of aircraft deployed in Siberia and the Far East. Otherwise, I think the aircraft can only  Find a solution from the Chinese side!" Zinoviev suddenly interjected.

    Then the Central Committee members whispered in the conference room. Obviously, the weapons Chicherin got back from Germany can only be said to be unsatisfactory. However, if the 20 anti-aircraft artillery batteries can be equipped to the front-line ground troops, at least the Soviet Red Army will be able to face the coalition forces.  The air force's aerial reconnaissance and attacks are no longer so helpless and helpless. At least they have resistive techniques. Only God knows how effective they will be.

    "Where can we get food and cotton now? There is a famine all over the country. There is coal, but the coal miners have all joined the army and are on the front line, not to mention oil. If Azerbaijan declares independence, the Baku oil field will no longer belong to us.  Got it!

    Although Turkmenistan across the Caspian Sea has established a Soviet, it is cut off by the White Guards in Transcaucasia and the Alash Republic in Kazakhstan. Where can we get so much oil now?  The oil supply on the Baltic coast is not even enough for the country!  "The person who spoke was the People's Commissar for Justice G. I. Obokov (Lomov).

    "Yes, the supply of materials across Russia is highly tight. The level of industrial and agricultural production has been damaged to the point that it is worse than in 1905. Even the coal for trains is often not supplied. Baku's oil fields have declined with the collapse of Azerbaijan.  If they exist again, how can they collect so much supplies and exchange them with the Germans for these arms?" Krestinsky, Chairman of the Petersburg Soviet, also frowned.

    The members of the Central Committee were discussing the shortage of supplies and frowning.Thinking about what else to do, Chicherin spread his hands and made a helpless expression. This guy spent all his time in Berlin to get these arms from the Germans. As for how to get enough  To exchange for supplies, you have to point to the comrades in charge of production in the country. He is the People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs, not the People's Commissar of Labor or the People's Commissar of Industry and Commerce.

    "Everyone, be quiet. What's the point of making noise like a market? The supplies will be taken care of. We need to get these arms back as soon as possible. Georgi Vasilyevich, have the Germans promised to deliver the arms and supplies first?"  Will we send it to you when we have it all together?" Ulyanov, Chairman of the Soviet Central Committee, pounded the table to stop the noise in the conference room and asked his People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs with a frown.

    "If we can use gold to pay 30% of the cost of purchasing arms in advance, the other party promises to pay off the remaining 70% within six months, either in gold or materials!" The diplomatic negotiations of the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs are obviously not without success.  Harvest, this payment terms is obviously quite good. For the Soviet Russian government, which was suffering from internal and external troubles, it was much easier to collect some gold than to collect some food.

    Therefore, as soon as Chicherin finished speaking, the faces of the Central Committee members in the Kremlin conference room became relieved. Things did not seem to be unacceptably bad. The People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs still got some useful information from the Germans.  You're back!

    "Very good! Georgi Vasilyevich, when will the soonest the Germans be able to transport arms across the border?" Ulyanov asked.

    "We agreed to deliver the gold in one hand and the arms in the other. If the first batch of gold can be collected and delivered, one hundred thousand prisoners of war and the arms can be transported across the border within a week! Vladimir Ilyich." Chicherin smiled.  Answer, the atmosphere in the entire conference room has relaxed a lot at this time, and the achievements of the People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs have obviously won the praise of the Central Committee members present.

    ¡°At least, Trotsky and Sverdlov were nodding slightly, and Comrade Ulyanov¡¯s eyes made no secret of his praise.

    "Gregory Yevseyevich, go back and go to the People's Commissar for Finance Stepanov with Chicherin. This gold must be collected as soon as possible. Comrade Dzerzhinsky's Cheka can be used  It has a huge role and we don¡¯t need to be soft on our enemies. In Petersburg and Moscow, there should be many properties left by nobles and big bourgeois. Even if they dig the ground three feet, they have to collect the gold and get the weapons from the ground as soon as possible.  Get it back from Germany!" Ulyanov turned to Zinoviev and said.

    "Okay, this matter is over, what's the next agenda?" Ulyanov turned to ask Sverdlov, the host of the meeting on the left.

    "It's your turn to report on the situation and diplomatic strategyVladimir Ilyich" Sverdlov whispered.

    "Uh, yes, it's my turn, comrades, the situation is very serious, but the more serious the situation is, it means that the dawn is ahead, and we are not far from victory. What is this called? Yes,  It¡¯s the darkness before dawn!¡± Ulyanov said that he stood up from his chair, put one hand on his waist and waved the other forward, entering the well-known speech state!
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