This suggestion is OK to mobilize militias to participate in the war, but whether it is useful is that it is different. Because from 1938 to June 1941, the Red Army conducted several rounds of military expansion, from more than 2 million to more than 5 million. Such rapid expansion has consumed the previous reserves and militias. Now that militias are being drawn, the quality of the soldiers is probably even more ugly.

Let me put it this way, most of the Ukrainian militias were "old" between the ages of 45 and 50. A considerable number of this group of people were "old, weak, sick and disabled", otherwise they would have been transferred away when the troops were increased. In addition to the "old, weak, sick and disabled", the rest were all indispensable basic workers in various factories, and they were skilled operators. Drawing them away will inevitably affect industrial production.

Anyway, the Military Commission cannot agree to the transfer of skilled workers, which means that the combat effectiveness of such hastily organized troops will really not look good.

Not only is the quality of the military source a problem, but the weapons and equipment are also a problem. The previous expansion of the army has consumed all the weapons that the Red Army can handle. The remaining ones are either in the inventory during World War I or are ragged. Can such equipment be used to fight against cruel enemies?

However, Shaposhnikov and Temuxine could not take care of so much at that time. The situation was really urgent, even a fire stick had to be used, right?

Within just three days, under the leadership of Temuxingo, farmers and workers in the Kiev region were mobilized, temporarily pieced together 100,000 troops and formed 12 militia divisions, specifically used to defend Kiev and surrounding areas.

It can be seen that Shaposhnikov has no confidence in these militia units, otherwise he would not have let these 100,000 people squat in Kiev and defended them strictly. This is normal. After all, the militia's combat effectiveness is limited and they will be pulled to the field to fight with the regular army. They can only be abused, and they will stick to the permanent fortifications in the Kiev region and have a higher survival ability in defensive wars.

Of course, I have mentioned before that the permanent fortifications in the Kiev area are so water-produced. There are a lot of problems, but Shaposhnikov can't take care of that much. Having fortifications is always better than not having fortifications, right?

After pieced together the militia forces, Shaposhnikov urgently adjusted his defense deployment. Except for the five of the 20 divisions mentioned earlier, the rest still stood firmly on the outside according to Tukhachevsky's requirements, and tried to win more time for the main force of the Ukrainian Front to conquer Warsaw. It also tried to maintain the smooth flow of the supply lines.

From the perspective of later military historians, Shaposhnikov made a stupid choice. There were too few troops left on the outside. It was only a matter of time before these 15 divisions were destroyed in the siege of nearly 60 divisions of the German Southern Army Group.

It can even be said that this is not even a problem of time, because not long after Shaposhnikov adjusted his play and deployed, the German general attack came. First, the Romanians showed their power and drilled through the Red Army's defense line in just one morning.

Well, it should be said that the Red Army did not have any complete defense line at all. The front line that the troops had to defend was too long, and it was simply a loss of one's attention and full of holes. So much so that the Romanians and Hungarians made the Red Army's defense line collapse without any effort!

Soon the Germans rushed forward and made dumplings from the fifteen divisions. When Shaposhnikov urgently contacted the General Staff and asked Tukhachevsky to allow the troops to retreat, it was too late. Only three divisions had more than one hundred and seventy thousand troops escaped the encirclement, and the remaining 12 divisions were about 170,000.

What's even more ridiculous is still behind. After learning that the front collapsed, Tukhachevsky was furious and scolded Shaposhnikov fiercely, believing that his command was completely irresponsible, and that the enemy had easily achieved his goal.

At that time, Shaposhnikov was also popular and cursed: "Comrade Tukhachevsky. Please note that the Ukrainian Front is always executing your orders. I have repeatedly emphasized that the troops are not strong enough and the front line should be reduced. But you ordered the troops to continue to stay on the outside line!"

Tukhachevsky was also angry and shouted: "What you mean, this is my responsibility!"

Shaposhnikov simply took the initiative and roared: "Of course it is your responsibility. If you didn't transfer all the main forces of the front army, the enemy could take advantage of the opportunity. If you didn't insist on counterattack and refused to transfer the reserves of the Central Front to Kiev early, would I have no soldiers available now? If Kiev falls, this is your responsibility!"

The two of them had a big quarrel across the phone, and they naturally parted in disagreement. At the next emergency meeting of the Military Commission to resolve the Kiev issue, Tukhachevsky severely criticized Shaposhnikov, believing that Shaposhnikov's incompetence caused the tragedy.

"This is a completely irresponsible statement. Comrade Shaposhnikov is right. The key reason why the situation in Kiev is so decayed is the overly hasty and reckless counterattack plan. This plan has drawn too many troops, so that the Ukrainian Front cannot complete its defensive tasks with the remaining troops..."

However, as soon as Li Xiaofeng said good things to Shaposhnikov, Tukhachevsky was unhappy: "What is an overly hasty and reckless counterattack? The counterattack plan is approved by the Military Commission and is a carefully planned and reasonable military action. As long as we counterattack can win..."

Li Xiaofeng interrupted him without hesitation: "Have you won the counterattack now?"

Tukhachevsky replied: "A considerable progress has been made, and our troops are about to recover Warsaw..."

Li Xiaofeng interrupted him again: "A week ago, you said you were about to recover Warsaw, but now a week has passed, you are still about to... I want to know how long it will take?"

"This should be very soon!" Tukhachevsky replied vaguely.

Even Fu Longzhi was not satisfied now. He asked: "How fast is it soon? Is it one day, a week, or half a month? Comrade Tukhachevsky, time is precious now. If there is a mistake, it will not only be impossible to recover Warsaw, but we will also lose Kiev and the Ukrainian fronts. This loss is too great!"

Tukhachevsky seemed a little confused. It can be seen that he also knew that the current situation was very bad, but he still did not want to give up the plan to retake Warsaw and fight all the way to Berlin. He still wanted to try his luck in Warsaw.

"Are you a little more patience?" Tukhachevsky asked carefully. "If you can defeat the main force of the German Central Army Group in Warsaw, you will set the victory in one fell swoop!"

Li Xiaofeng said bluntly: "If not, the entire Ukrainian Front and Ukraine will be ruined, and even the war situation in Belarus and East Prussia will be deteriorated in an all-round way. Can you bear this responsibility?"

"Maybe it's not that serious?" Tukhachevsky asked unwillingly.

"Can you say something real except maybe, probably, and what you will do!" Li Xiaofeng became angry, and he said firmly: "The Ukrainian Front must immediately give up on continuing the attack on Warsaw and should retreat to Ukraine immediately. At the same time, the Belarusian Front must also be prepared to support the Ukrainian Front. I think this is the correct decision that should be made now!"

Khachevsky quits now. He firmly opposed: "The situation has not reached this point yet, we should be more patient!"

Li Xiaofeng said, "I don't have the patience to accompany you around the circle. I ask the Military Commission to vote on my opinion immediately to decide the next strategy as soon as possible!"

Tukhachevsky still tried to resist, but after Fu Longzhi clearly expressed his support for Li Xiaofeng's suggestion, he could only sit back in a bad mood. After a simple raising of his hand, Li Xiaofeng's suggestion was passed without surprise. The Military Commission instructed the General Staff to immediately formulate a plan to retreat from Warsaw and defend Kiev, which caused Tukhachevsky to suffer a great setback.

Many years later, Tukhachevsky said in his memoirs, "Originally we could have ended the war in 1942, but some conservatives with no imagination of war ruined this possibility. The Red Army failed in Warsaw City, causing the biggest regret and mistake in the history of World War II!"

From this we can see that Tukhachevsky always insisted on attacking Warsaw to death, preparing to break through the southern wall under the city of Warsaw. However, even Yakir and Khalepsky, who supported him at the time, later admitted: "We underestimated the combat effectiveness of the German army. At the beginning, the attack was not only caused by the Red Army's casualties and the empty defense of Ukraine, but also had no more effect... Continuing to attack Warsaw is likely to lead to the worst situation. Judging from the later situation, we should not only not continue to attack Warsaw, but on the contrary, it was too late to retreat..."

In fact, if the General Staff had effectively implemented the orders of the Military Commission, it would not be too late to retreat, but just right. Judging from the information after the war, if the German army had retreated in time, they might not have been able to counterattack immediately. They should have been unprepared for them. Tukhachevsky's delay instructing the General Staff to delay time, resulting in the Ukrainian Front's failure to retreat in time. While retreating, it was just that the German army had been charged with a fierce counterattack, resulting in heavy losses.

This is the thing. Tukhachevsky still wanted to try his luck in Warsaw at that time, so he instructed the General Staff to develop more retreat plans, and the more meticulous the better. As we all know, the more meticulous the plan, the more time it consumes, and it is also troublesome to implement, which inevitably leads to disputes.

Taking advantage of this period, Tukhachevsky continued to instruct Yakir to urge the main force of the Ukrainian front to continue the attack. Perhaps Tukhachevsky felt that Warsaw would have returned to the hands of the Red Army before the retreat plan was formulated.

However, things were not as simple as Tukhachevsky thought. In the next few days, the Red Army's fierce attack was equivalent to kicking the iron plate. Not only did it fail to regain Warsaw, but it consumed the final reserve team in this meaningless attack. When the Red Army's infantry was exhausted and the armored soldiers suffered heavy losses under the joint attack of the German air-ground, this was the end of the mast!

On July 10, under the constant urging of the Military Commission, the General Staff reluctantly finally came up with a retreat plan, but before the German army could issue it, the counterattack began!

The German Central Army Group, which had a large number of enhanced troops, was not ordinary powerful. After using a few troops to attract the attention of the Ukrainian Front in Warsaw, the Central Army Group suddenly punched two fists and launched a clamp-shaped offensive from the left and right wings.

On that day, the third cluster of German tanks quickly broke through the weak defense line of the Red Army and threatened the rear of the 3rd Army on the right wing of the Red Army. The 6th Army on the left wing of the Red Army was also forced to retreat under the fierce offensive of the German army. This directly led to the 10th Army in the center of the Red Army facing the danger of being surrounded.

In order to change the unfavorable situation, the Red Army immediately concentrated on mechanizing the 6th, 11th and 14th armies against the German army. Although they made good progress at one time, they were soon forced to retreat under the constant greeting of Stukas.

In this counterattack, the most thrilling thing was that several T-35s and T-34s rushed to the forward command post of the 17th Armored Division of the German Army. At that time, not only the command post was Lieutenant General Von Ellin, but also the commander of the German tank second group, Guderian and the commander of the 47th Armored Army. Fortunately, these three had rich combat experience and were not bombarded by the Red Army tanks.

A day later, the German tank 3rd Cluster captured Vovomine, and the Tank 2nd Cluster arrived at Otvodsk, and rushed towards the Red Army's final retreat route from the north and south.

Suleiuvik is a small city east of Warsaw, with railways leading to Brest. After the fall of the two cities of Vovomino Tvok, this is the only direction for the Ukrainian Front to retreat.

On July 11, Shaposhnikov issued a general retreat order in accordance with the instructions of the Military Commission. He ordered the 3rd and 10th Army to retreat at high speed towards Suleyuvik. The 6th Army of the Red Army retreated towards Galvolin.

However, the situation on the battlefield at this time is far from the retreat plan formulated by the General Staff. The General Staff’s plan is to retreat slowly and orderly, and even according to Tukhachevsky’s vision, he should always pay attention to the movements of the German army when retreating. Once the German army reveals its flaws, the mechanized troops will immediately turn from retreat to attack, turn around and take another bite. From this we can also know how reluctant Tukhachevsky is to retreat. As long as he has a little chance, he wants to return to the offensive state immediately.

However, this kind of natural approach is really fatal. Because the situation on the battlefield at this time completely exceeded the retreat plan of the General Staff, and the Red Army had no possibility of an orderly retreat at all. Under the German tide offensive, the 3rd and 10th armies fell into chaos one after another. What's worse is that the two armies had consumed too much power in Warsaw before, a large number of tanks and armored vehicles were destroyed, and the motor vehicles had nowhere to escape under the enemy's air strike. What's more terrifying is that the reserved fuel and ammunition would be exhausted. Let's put it this way, these two armies probably had to run away with their legs.

The Red Army soldiers who retreated in a hurry rushed towards Suleiuvik, rushing in a narrow corridor with a total width of less than 20 kilometers. During this period, they were constantly subjected to German air strikes and artillery attacks, and all the troops were in chaos.

On the morning of July 12, before the 3rd and 10th Red Army troops retreated to Suleiuvik, the third German tank cluster easily occupied this crucial escape route. The two Red Army armies, a total of 6 armies, 18 divisions, and about 400,000 people were blocked in a narrow area east of Warsaw.

This amazing change shocked the Ukrainian Front and the Central Military Region and the Military Commission of Moscow. The situation changed too quickly, and it was almost impossible to react.

The situation on the battlefield at this time was that the 3rd and 10th Army of the Red Army were surrounded, and in the northeast direction, the 13th Army of the Belarusian Front and the 12th Army of the Ukrainian Front were confronting with the 2nd and 18th Army of the German Army. In the southeast direction, the 6th Army of the Red Army was being pursued by the 2nd German tank group. In the direction of Warsaw, the 4th, 9th and 12th Army of the German Army were tightening the encirclement and preparing to completely annihilate the Red Army in the encirclement.

"The 3rd and 10th Army must be rescued." Fu Longzhi said heavy.

However, Fu Longzhi couldn't think of a solution in detail, because he couldn't see that there was a unit capable of this task for the time being. Anyway, Fu Longzhi was silent after saying this.

On the contrary, Li Xiaofeng dared to say anything: "I think the 3rd and 10th Army are unlikely to break through, and no force can go to rescue them. What we need to consider now is to take advantage of the time when the enemy encircled and annihilated the 3rd and 10th Army, shrink significantly, and withdraw the remaining troops from East Poland to Belarus and Ukraine as quickly as possible, and re-stabilize the front line on Kiev and Minsk as much as possible!"

These words were so amazing. 18 divisions gave up when they said they gave up. You should know that the Red Army had lost 12 divisions in southern Ukraine before, and this time the 18 divisions will be wiped out in total. Who can bear this responsibility?

Anyway, Tukhachevsky couldn't bear it, and he was unwilling to bear it. He immediately refuted Li Xiaofeng's statement: "Once we give up the 3rd and 10th armies, it means that we will lose the initiative on the battlefield in the next six months and can only be beaten passively. This is completely in line with the Politburo's expectations of the National Defense War! And so many troops give up if they say they give up will severely slash the morale of the troops! We must not do this!"

Li Xiaofeng looked at him coldly, restraining the surging anger in his heart and asked coldly: "Then what do you say, continue to throw the troops into the fire pit regardless of the situation, so that more soldiers can be buried with the 3rd and 10th Army?" (To be continued)

ps: Bow to thank the old students, hzangdd and comrade Douli Gedu!
Chapter completed!