Chapter 652: German-Soviet War (9)

Retreating is an art form and can easily turn into a disaster if not directed properly.

Even if you retreat, you must have rear troops, troops to protect the safety of both wings, and you cannot retreat blindly, which will turn into a complete rout. Instead, you must fight steadily, and even seize the opportunity to counterattack and bite back. ! This is the reason why it is said in the art of war that you should not chase the enemy when you are weak. If you fail, someone might try to counterattack or ambush you, and you will fall into it instead!

The attacking Soviet troops suddenly received an order to retreat, and after a brief period of confusion, they withdrew. But organizing a retreat in the dark night was not an easy task. In less than half a day, the retreat turned into a chaotic rout. The Soviet soldiers abandoned their helmets and armor in a panic and fled to the positions where they set out during the day; some even Lost his way, he ran towards the German position in a panic, only to be beaten into a sieve.

It wasn't until noon the next day that Commander Pavlov got the rough statistical report, and he almost fainted. The number of Soviet troops trapped in the German encirclement is at least six to seven million. If these people are surrounded and annihilated by the German army, then he can definitely go to a military court.

In panic, he issued the order to continue attacking the German defense lines and open gaps to meet the friendly forces in the encirclement.

Before these Soviet soldiers, who had just escaped and were still in shock, had time to set off, a dense group of German aircraft flew from the distant sky. The Soviet army, which had long lost air supremacy, was only ravaged by German bombers. The few anti-aircraft guns were completely destroyed by the roaring Stukas before they could even fire a few shots.

The Soviet troops in the encirclement were safe and sound, and the Germans did not launch an attack on them. But these Soviet troops are not having it easy either. The ammunition supplies carried by most of the troops are about to run out. The fuel tanks of the armored troops have also reached the bottom. And the slow logistics troops were blocked by the Germans last night. .

Just as the officers were discussing whether to break out on their own or wait for rescue, the roar of engines came from the sky.

"Concealment! Air strike!"

The Soviet soldiers hiding in the foxholes dug overnight did not dare to breathe out, for fear that German bombs would fall on their heads. But after waiting for a long time, the plane had flown over their heads, and there was no explosion of bombs. Some brave Soviet soldiers looked carefully and found that what was falling from the sky were not bombs, but paper leaflets all over the sky.

Soldier Yegor carefully picked up the leaflet that fell in the foxhole. It had a few lines of large Russian characters written on it. Unfortunately, he was illiterate and couldn't understand what was written. He flipped through the back and saw a picture on the back.

The content of the painting is simple and easy to understand. It is the ferocious Stalin commanding a group of soldiers to rob food. Some people who were as thin as sticks clung to the grain bags and refused to let go. They were beaten, kicked, and even stabbed randomly with bayonets by the brutal soldiers.

Yegor stared blankly at the leaflet in his hand, with a tear falling from the corner of his eye.

In the early days of its founding, the Soviet Union faced huge external pressure, and the development of heavy defense industry became a prerequisite for the Soviet Union to protect its own security. However, when it was first founded, the Soviet Union was considered one of the least developed countries in heavy industry in Europe. The retention of feudal remnants made the industrialization process of the Tsarist Russia era quite incomplete. This affected the Soviet Union, which inherited the legacy of Tsarist Russia. Especially compared with developed countries such as France and Germany that had completed industrialization early, the Soviet Union's disadvantages in industrial capabilities were obvious.

The Soviet Union, which urgently needed to develop industry, caught up with the economic crisis in Europe and the United States just in time. During this period, the United States sold off a large number of industrial products. As long as there was enough to exchange, American businessmen did not care whether the buyers were Soviet or French, they just wanted to keep their assets. The Soviet Union's countermeasure was to exchange a large amount of grain and agricultural products for these machines that the Western world was selling off in large quantities. Where did this large amount of food and agricultural products come from? Ukraine, known as the granary of the Soviet Union, is a great place.

In order to harvest as much food as possible, Stalin ordered the establishment of a collectivized operation method in Ukraine. Residents in a village were required to hand over all food except enough food for everyone. This method was indeed very effective in increasing the amount of grain harvested, but Stalin still felt that it was not enough, so he decided to unconditionally collect grain from some people, and said that it was okay for some people to not be full, as long as they were not hungry. Enough.

Such a bloody method naturally forced some poor people to resist, so at that time Stalin "purchased" the people's food by threatening death, and some people were considered by Russia to be unable to pay taxes because they really had no food. "National traitor".

According to legend, nearly 80,000 people were arrested for this crime that year, and 70,000 were eventually shot. Therefore, Ukraine is full of resentment towards the Russian-born Stalin.

The real intensification of hatred came in 1932, when Ukraine experienced a drought and food harvests failed, leading to a great famine in Ukraine. However, Stalin felt that the Great Famine was absolutely fabricated and that the people should have a good harvest, so he continued to increase grain collection.

In 1930, Ukraine's grain output was 22.3 million tons, of which 7.8 million tons were handed over to the central government. However, after the collective system was implemented in 1932, grain output plummeted to 12.8 million tons, and 7.7 million tons of grain were turned in that year! After Stalin personally intervened, the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party used force to expropriate grain, but the task was still not completed (impossible).

This result is conceivable!

According to official Soviet statistics that were later declassified, the famine caused a population loss of 600,000 people in Ukraine, while some Ukrainian nationalists and Western researchers believe that the number reached 15 million. Both statements are extreme and not very credible.

Russian scholar Kondrashin (who compiled the archive document collection "Disasters in Soviet Rural Areas: Collectivization and Confiscation of Rich Peasants (1927-1939)") proposed based on relevant archival materials that the famine caused a total of more than 7 million deaths in the Soviet Union, of which 3 million to 3.5 million died in Ukraine.

The statement of Ukrainian scholar Kulichitsky (author of "Agricultural Collectivization and Ukrainian Famine Archive Document Collection (1929-1933)") is basically consistent with this. He believes that the famine caused a total population loss of 20,000 people in Ukraine, with 1.44 million people starving to death in 1932 and 80,000 people starving to death in 1933. Since these two scholars in different positions can come up with similar statistics, their statements should be relatively credible.

This is also the reason why Ukraine, which had been resentful for a long time, turned to Germany after the outbreak of World War II and wanted to eliminate Stalin and Russia.

When Germany attacked the Soviet Union, the Ukrainian people were extremely excited. They thought that their savior had come. When the German army arrived in Ukraine, the Ukrainian people not only did not resist it, but took out food and drink to entertain them, and even enthusiastically joined the German army to help them solve transportation and other problems.

As a result, the brutal racial policy of the mustache ruined this ally that was delivered to his mouth in vain.

When Yegor was sadly missing his parents who starved to death in the famine a few years ago, Anton next to him poked his arm. "Yegor, throw it away quickly."

Yegor, who had recovered, heard the political commissar yelling in the distance. "Don't pick it up! Don't look at it!"

Yegor forced himself to suppress the urge to point his gun at the bastard and handed the leaflet to Anton. "Anton, can you read? What's written on it?"

"I just learned a few words." Anton glanced at the few lines of big words on the leaflet. "...Friends...rescue...overthrow...the Soviet Union...Stalin..." Because these words often appeared in the propaganda column, he could still recognize them.

Although Yegor was illiterate, he was not stupid. He guessed the meaning of the leaflet based on these words. "The Germans mean that they are our friends and will come to rescue us and overthrow the Soviet Union and Stalin!"

"You are going to die!" Anton was so scared that he almost covered his mouth with his hand, and he grabbed the leaflet in his hand, tore it into pieces, and stepped into the mud.