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Volume 3 Far East Story Chapter 568 Kolchak wins the first battle

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    July 22, 1918 6:30 Kazan

    By late July 1918, watching the territory of Kolchak's All-Russian Provisional Government getting smaller and smaller, it first formally ceded Western Siberia east of the Ural Mountains to the Sino-Japanese Alliance, and of course, in order to recognize the Western Siberian Autonomous Government  In exchange for the Allied Forces marching to the west of the Ural Mountains, they blocked the Soviet Red Army from advancing eastward to Ufa.

    Then I watched helplessly as the Allied forces wiped out the 300,000 invading Soviet Red Army in the Battle of Ufa. I should have been extremely happy, but I didn¡¯t expect that the Allied forces would negotiate an armistice with the Soviet Russian regime after the Battle of Ufa.  This made Kolchak and his subordinates who had been following him sworn in with the Soviet red regime feel extremely embarrassed.

    These big bourgeoisie, big aristocrats, old soldiers of Tsarist Russia, big landowners, rich peasants and their children are following Kolchak's All-Russian Provisional Government. Aren't they just waiting to fight back to their hometowns in Moscow and St. Petersburg? In Soviet Russia  In the red torrent, which family did not forge a bloody feud with the Bolsheviks and the Soviets?  Revenge and regaining lost ground are their only thoughts.

    Therefore, Kolchak did not accept the olive branch extended by Wang Geng in the end. He would rather give up the public support of the Ufa Plain and the coalition forces, and lead the All-Russian Autonomous Government and the main force of the White Guards in Kazan to fight against Soviet Russia and Moscow.  in the end.

    In the eyes of Kolchak and those who follow him, the Soviet Red Army and the Soviet regime, which suffered a disastrous defeat in the Battle of Ufa and lost 300,000 main troops, are at their weakest at this time. How can they let the tiger go back to the mountains at this time?  If the Soviet Union and the Bolsheviks could not be defeated and destroyed at this time, Kolchak was worried that he would never have such an opportunity again. Therefore, he made a desperate move, even if he lost the public support of the coalition forces, he would continue the war with the Soviet Union.  Carry it out to the end.

    The Red regime in Soviet Russia and Kolchak¡¯s White Guards are irreconcilable contradictions in this era. This is a life-and-death struggle that will never end!

    Although Pepelyaev's betrayal dealt a huge blow to Kolchak, judging from the statements made by the Allied Forces Command and the neutral stance after the establishment of the Volga Federation, Kolchak could smell the conflict between the two sides in Ukraine.  There was something behind the meaningful look in the eyes of the Allied Commander-in-Chief Wang Geng when the legal meeting collapsed.

    "Well, there may be no permanent enemies in this world, but now it seems that there are no permanent enemies! I, Kolchak, am just one person, and I will fight to the end!" Kolchak no longer thinks so much.  Ufa actively began preparations for war after returning to Kazan. Although the Allied Powers and the newly established Volga Federation claimed to remain neutral, they had previously promised to transfer nearly 5,000 White Guard troops who participated in the Battle of Ufa and 100,000 Russian-style Mosin Nagants.  The rifle was shipped to Kazan as promised.

    Just as the staff in the war room of the Allied Forces Command predicted, Kolchak divided the 200,000 elite White Guards armed in Kazan into three clusters. The Western Route Army consisted of 2 Cossack cavalry divisions and 3 infantry divisions.  Detouring westward along the north bank of the Volga River, the Western Route Army broke through the main attack area of ??the Volga River defense line, just between Cheboksary and Maria Alexandrovna City (Marinsky Town).

    between.

    The commander-in-chief of Kolchak's Western Route Army is Vice Admiral Sergei Nikolayevich Dimilev. This man has been with Kolchak since he was in the Black Sea Fleet. He is a very capable member.  A general who also came from the Tsarist Russian aristocracy and also studied at the St. Petersburg Naval Academy.

    Dimilev is not like Pepelyayev, who is a playboy and well-rounded master. Dimilev, who was born as a naval admiral, has a mustache. He is usually taciturn, pays attention to military appearance, is very efficient in work, and is a good person.  Quite decent, as a direct descendant of Kolchak's Black Sea Fleet generals, he won the trust of Kolchak, the highest consul in Russia.

    The White Guard's Western Route Army led by Dimilev, with more than 50,000 infantry and cavalrymen, had quietly marched westward along the north bank of the Volga River three days ago. The first goal was to cross the river and capture Alexandrovna, and the second step was to attack directly.  Cheboksary, of course, this had to be after the main force of the Eastern Route Army led by Kolchak personally started in Kazan.

    Kolchak's Center Army has 2 White Guard cavalry divisions and 3 infantry divisions. Its goal is to cross the Volga River at Zelenodolsk on the north bank of the Volga River and cut off the enemy's rear route in front of Kazan.  The general commander is Cavalry General Roman Mikhailovich Krashilnikov.

    To Kolchak, this Cossack general was a contributor to the coup that overthrew the Socialist Revolutionaries and the Menshevik Provisional Government in Omsk. Of course, in essence, Krashilnikov was originally a constitutional monarchist.  It can also be said that he is a representative of the royalists and one of the backbones of the old Cossack generals in Tsarist Russia. However, after the tsarist era is obviously gone forever, General Krashilnikov can only pride himself on being a professional Cossack general.  One of the models of professional soldiers in the Tsarist Russian era, Alexander Vasilyevich KoErchak became the object of his allegiance!

    After excluding the 50,000 people of the West Route Army and the 50,000 people of the Central Route Army, what remains is the main force of the East Route Army of 80,000 people led by Kolchak himself, including three Cossack cavalry divisions, five White Guard infantry divisions, and finally mainly officers.  The two infantry divisions composed of regiments are the general reserve team for the campaign.

    The main force of Kolchak's White Guards, each division is basically equipped with two 76mm caliber mountain artillery batteries, and the number of wheeled Maxim heavy machine guns with shields is basically such that one infantry company can be equipped with one. In addition, each infantry company is equipped with one.  The division also has a separate heavy machine gun battalion, equipped with 24 Mara Maxim heavy machine guns.

    At 6:30 in the morning on July 22, 1918, Kolchak gave an order, and the Kazan White Guard East Route Army took the lead in fighting in Kazan. Since the railway passed on the Volga River Bridge in Kazan, both the Soviet Red Army and the Russian Red Army  It was the Kazan White Guards who had tacitly stated that they did not dare to blow up the bridge in the previous battles for Kazan. However, both sides built fortifications on the bridgehead to block the bridge.

    Of course, every time the two sides competed for Kazan, the Volga Railway Bridge was basically the focus of the battle. This is also due to the fact that Nicholas II supervised the construction of railways and bridges when he was still the crown prince.  High-grade and high-quality bridge design of the era.

    The Kazan White Guards launched an overwhelming artillery fire attack from the north bank to the Soviet Red Army positions on the south bank. 20 artillery batteries with a total of 120 76mm mountain field guns rained bullets on the Soviet Russian Red Army bridgehead positions on the south bank. At the same time,  The large-caliber fortress cannon on the Kazan Fortress also roared.

    For a time, the Soviet Red Army's position on the south bank was bombed, and bricks and stones were flying everywhere. Fortunately, this was not the first time that the two sides fought and fought in Kazan. Therefore, the fortifications built by the Soviet Red Army along the coast were relatively complete, and the fortifications near the bridgehead were  The gun emplacements, trenches and communication trenches are all covered with thick roofs. Except for the continuous attack of the heavy artillery of the Kazan Fortress, which can cause fatal blows to these fortifications, the White Guards' 76mm mountain field artillery poses little threat to these fortifications.

    Of course, Kolchak is not a fool. The 76mm mountain field artillery that launched the first attack targeted the opponent's infantry positions along the coast, while the fortress artillery attacked the opponent's fortress. After withstanding the first ten minutes of the White Guard's artillery attack,  , the artillery of the Soviet Red Army on the south bank soon began to counterattack sparsely one after another, because the White Guards on the north bank had begun to cross the river under artillery fire, and the White Guards' infantry attacks also swarmed the northern section of the bridge.

    Due to the disastrous defeat and losses in the previous Battle of Ufa, the main army group and artillery company of the Soviet Eastern Front that were previously transferred from the direction of Kazan to the Southern Cluster to participate in the Battle of Ufa no longer exist, and among the newly established Volga Front,  Responsible for guarding the front line in Kazan are the 7 infantry divisions of the Third Army, with only less than 10 artillery batteries of artillery.

    Of the ten artillery batteries of the Third Army of the Volga Front of the Soviet Red Army, 6 artillery batteries are deployed on the Kazan defense line, the remaining 2 are in Cheboksary, 1 is in Zelenodolsk, and the last 1  An artillery company was as far away as Nizhny Novgorod.

    Although Chicherin, the Soviet People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, brought back 100,000 former Tsarist Russian prisoners of war from Germany and Austria, the Germans also promised to supply 20 divisions of Russian rifles, 50 artillery batteries of Russian cannons, and even 20 anti-aircraft guns.  However, due to time constraints and because the Soviet Russian government could not scrape together enough food and cotton to replace these equipment.

    Sverdlov and Dzerzhinsky tried their best to collect all the jewelry and gold that had been confiscated and confiscated after suppressing hostile forces since the February Revolution, October Revolution, and January Uprising, and it was just enough to pay 20  The purchase of artillery batteries or Russian rifles for 10 divisions. Due to the loss of a large number of relatively skilled artillery in the Battle of Ufa, the commanders of the Volga Front had for the first time the issue of giving priority to purchasing rifles or cannons.  serious differences.

    Voroshilov, the deputy commander of the Volga Front and the Second Military Commissar, advocated purchasing cannons first, because the Eighth and Tenth Groups, the main force of the Southern Front, were almost fully staffed and had no shortage of rifles, and the more cannons, the better.  , can effectively improve the combat firepower of the troops!

    ¡°But Sverdlov and Kamenev¡¯s focus was on rebuilding the First and Fifth Armies as soon as possible. How to form an infantry division without rifles?  How to rebuild the two armies?  How long does it take to train 20 artillery batteries?

    Compared with training artillery so that they can accurately hit the enemy's head, it is much easier to let the new soldiers of the Soviet Red Army learn to shoot. Moreover, the reconstruction of the First and Fifth Army and the newly established Cavalry Army are the entire Volga River.  The top priority of the front army!  All of this is inseparable from rifles. The Soviet Red Army cannot go back to the old path of the early days of the European War, when three people in the Tsarist Russian infantry division used one gun. Facing an enemy armed to the teeth, it would be no different than dying.

    Among the rifles and artillery of the Volga Front of the Soviet Red Army??, behind it is the reconstruction of Moscow's direct troops and the further strengthening of the original Tsaritsyn's Southern Front. Which one is more important and which one has priority is a dispute for the first time between the Moscow faction and the Tsaritsin faction in the Volga Front.  Head-to-head confrontation!

    The unlucky one was naturally the Berzin Third Army who bore the brunt of the attack on the Kazan front. The expected artillery provided by Germany and Austria had not yet arrived. The priority transiting from Germany and Austria was 100,000 rifles and 10 anti-aircraft artillery battalions.  20mm caliber anti-aircraft gun.

    However, the anti-aircraft guns purchased by Chicherin from Germany and Austria were, for some unknown reason, prioritized for deployment around Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod and other cities to defend the big cities of Soviet Russia instead of  Sent to the Kazan front line immediately to help the Third Army defend the Volga River defense line.

    The person responsible for commanding the entire Volga Front before the enemy was the newly appointed deputy commander of the Front, Voroshilov. Originally, this guy wanted to assign the anti-aircraft artillery battalion to the Eighth and Tenth Armies because of the threat from the Volga Federation and Allied Air Forces on the opposite side.  It's too big. Although the two sides have ceased war and made peace, who knows when they will fall out and fight again. Therefore, being assigned to the Tenth Army opposite the Volga Alliance is the best choice.

    In Voroshilov's view, the Berzin Third Army defending the Kazan defense line did not need to equip anti-aircraft guns at all, because the Kolchak White Guards in Kazan opposite did not have an aviation force. In fact, Voroshilov said  The anti-aircraft guns are assigned to Berzin's Third Army. If a coalition reconnaissance plane is accidentally shot down, who will bear the responsibility?

    Therefore, there were many twists and turns, and in the end there were no artillery, and anti-aircraft guns were deployed around the big cities for air defense. This made the Soviet Third Army on the front line far inferior to the Kolchak White Guards attacking on the other side in terms of artillery fire.

    The artillery shells of the Kazan White Guards quickly chased the artillery positions of the Soviet Third Army on the other side and swarmed them. Fifteen minutes later, the cannons of six artillery batteries on the coastal defense artillery positions of the Soviet Third Army on the south bank  With all casualties exhausted, Kolchak committed three White Guard divisions on a five-kilometer-wide front on both sides of the Volga River Bridge in Kazan and launched a cross-river attack.

    At 10 a.m. on July 22, 1918, after three hours of fierce fighting, the Kazan White Guards crossing the river from both wings cooperated with the troops attacking along the bridge deck from the middle, and finally captured the last bridgehead held by the Soviet Red Army on the south bank of the Volga River Bridge.  Fortress, Kolchak's White Guards won their first victory in the Kazan battlefield!
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