Chapter 94: Reasons why the Soviets bowed their heads
It's easy to criticize, but the war situation in the west has made General Abana Shenk unwilling to go to his superiors, that is, the Soviet commander-in-chief, to sue the Soviet Chief of Ordnance for his short-sightedness, which has caused huge harm to the Red Army in the battle.
.The harsh reality faced on the battlefield also left the Soviets no time to care about the unpleasant events that happened in Outer Mongolia.
The Soviets were quite satisfied with the power and versatility of these weapons designed and manufactured by the Anti-Japanese Alliance in the battles launched by the Anti-Japanese Alliance. Especially they can be used as both infantry support weapons and anti-tank weapons.
The powerful recoilless gun made it even more inevitable for the Soviet Union to win.
After some intrigues and verbal battles, Yang Zhen agreed to use the already produced and stockpiled 1,000 57mm recoilless rifles, 200 23mm twin anti-aircraft guns and design drawings, plus 2,500
Hundreds of rocket launchers. Two hundred and twenty M30122 howitzers, five hundred finished ZLS III 76mm cannons, and a complete set of drawings and production technology were exchanged from the Soviets.
At the same time, Yang Zhen agreed to transfer one hundred P-39 fighter jets that the Anti-Japanese Alliance had originally purchased at a low price and now used as reserves to the Soviet Union in exchange for the production technology of the Il-2 attack aircraft. In exchange for the two million U.S. dollars in foreign exchange that the Soviets urgently needed,
In addition, two thousand American-made trucks in stock were transferred to the Soviet Union in exchange for production technology and a complete set of blueprints for the Soviet T-34 tanks, as well as one hundred brand-new tanks.
Through this transaction, the Soviets also promised not to pursue any further investigation into this matter. The Anti-Japanese Alliance agreed to provide the Soviets with an extremely limited amount of equipment in exchange for not pursuing the matter.
We provide six imitation American radars that are imitations of the Anti-Japanese Alliance and have been improved. Compared with the original American products, the performance is greatly improved, the detection accuracy is higher, and the range is farther, for use in the air defense of big cities such as Moscow and Leningrad.
Yang Zhen even agreed to provide the Anti-League with radar products to the Soviet Union at a ratio of 40 to 6 during radar production in exchange for the latest Soviet production technology in aviation. During the war, he also used grain and meat products as payment methods to repay previous debts.
debts of the Soviet Union to alleviate the food shortage problem faced by the Soviets after the loss of Ukrainian grain-producing areas.
Although this was a relatively fair deal, and the Soviets received the latest anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons technology from the Anti-Japanese Alliance, it was obvious that the Soviets still felt that they had suffered a loss. Especially when they thought they were in a difficult situation.
, Regarding the barter proposed by the Anti-League who was also in a state of war, this kind of transaction at least seemed fair, but in fact the Anti-League was somewhat at a loss. I felt that the Anti-League was taking advantage of the situation.
After several months of war, due to the Soviet army's poor command and even worse military quality, the Soviet army's losses were undoubtedly extremely huge. This kind of loss would be placed in any country, even including Britain and France, the two traditional powers recognized by the world.
I'm afraid the whole army has been destroyed.
The Soviet-German war broke out only a few months ago, not counting other small-scale battles. Only the two major battles, the Battle of Minsk and the Battle of Kiev, which were carried out continuously since the outbreak of the war, in less than three months by the end of September, the Soviet army had already suffered losses.
There were more than 15,000 tanks, more than 70,000 artillery pieces, and more than 7,000 combat aircraft. The loss of soldiers was as high as more than 2 million. In several encirclement battles between the German army and the Soviet army, the German army
Thousands of tanks and artillery pieces were captured.
During the negotiations between the Anti-Japanese Alliance and the Soviet Union on this deal, in the Battle of Smolensk that broke out immediately after the Battle of Kiev, the Soviet army captured 450,000 officers and soldiers and lost 4,500 tanks. vehicles and 4,800 artillery pieces. After the Battle of Smolensk, Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union, could be said to have opened its doors.
In the battles of Vyazma and Bryansk that had already begun at that time, the Soviet army was also facing a very unfavorable situation. In the previous series of battles, too much equipment was lost. The output of the arsenal factory that was being relocated was far from being able to make up for the Soviet army. Huge losses in battle.
The excessive speed of the German army's advance and the rigid management of combat readiness materials by the Soviet high command caused most of the original equipment storage warehouses to fall into the hands of the Germans. By the time of the Battle of Vyazma, the Soviet army not only weighed the quantity of equipment It has dropped to a very dangerous level. Even the equipment of light weapons is very different. Even the Soviet army, which has always been known for its sufficient equipment, has been reduced to the point where even the most basic weapon for infantry, such as rifles, cannot satisfy everyone. The level of one branch.
During the battles of Vyazma and Bryansk, the Soviet army had long lost its original arrogance. Not only had the number of tanks dropped by more than one level compared to before, but the number of artillery and other equipment had also dropped to a level lower than before. It was an intolerable situation in the eyes of the Soviet generals.
By the time the battles of Vyazma and Bryansk ended at almost the same time as the negotiations, the Soviet army still suffered a disastrous defeat. However, because the Soviet army itself was already insufficiently equipped, although the number of German prisoners was still huge, the captured There are far fewer tanks.
Although the German army captured more than 700,000 Soviet troops during the battle, the number of Soviet tanks destroyed and captured was not as many as in the much smaller Battle of Smolensk. There were more than a thousand tanks, which was the same as in every previous battle. Compared with the number of thousands of Soviet tanks destroyed in the battle, the number was undoubtedly much smaller.
The Soviet army lost not only the soldiers who are currently extremely valuable to the Soviet army in this battle, but the most important thing is the more than 5,000 artillery pieces of various calibers that are extremely important for defending Moscow. Since the beginning of the war, due to Due to the gap in equipment and personnel between the two sides, the Soviet Air Force, which was once large in previous battles, has never controlled air superiority. Under such circumstances, the importance of artillery fire support has become increasingly prominent.
However, after the battles of Vyazma and Bryansk, the amount of heavy equipment used by the Soviet army to defend Moscow dropped to a dangerous level, and could not even meet the needs of the battle. In order to defend Moscow, the Soviet army scrapped all its equipment. We only mobilized more than 900 tanks and more than 600 aircraft. Although the number of artillery was quite large, it reached more than 7,000.
However, in order to mobilize these artillery pieces, the Soviet army depleted almost all its artillery reserves. Even the last remaining artillery units in the Far East Military District, except for the naval coastal defense guns that could not be disassembled, were all transferred to Moscow to participate in the war. Even for After raising enough artillery, the Soviet army even dug out old cannons produced by the French during the Tsarist Russia era from the warehouses.
Even so, the amount of equipment that the Soviet army scraped together to defend Moscow was not as much as the equipment of a Soviet front army before the war. Even the number of more than 900 tanks was not as much as that of an ordinary Soviet army group before the war. There are many tanks under its control.
The reason for this consequence was not only the poor command and strategy and tactics of the Soviet army in the early stages of the war, but also the Soviets' inflexible management methods of the combat readiness warehouse. Otherwise, before the war, the Soviet Union had more than 7,000 artillery pieces a year.
The output of one thousand tanks. No matter how heavy the losses were on the battlefield, the Soviets would not have reached such a state. Nor would they be in a hurry to transfer the equipment stored in Outer Mongolia back to the country.
The equipment that the Soviets had stored in the combat readiness warehouses they abandoned at the beginning of the war, and were originally intended to be used to arm the new troops after full mobilization, was not much smaller than what they lost on the battlefield. Since the beginning of the war, the German army has captured tens of thousands of vehicles
Not all Soviet tanks and tens of thousands of Soviet artillery pieces were captured on the battlefield. A large part of the reserve equipment captured from the Soviet combat readiness warehouses.
The German army's occupation of these combat readiness warehouses not only affected the Soviet army's replenishment of battle-damaged equipment, but also had a considerable impact on the Soviet army's subsequent mobilization work. In the early days of the Soviet-German war, the Soviet army's reserve of supplies and
The management of equipment is almost ridiculously dull. Compared with its excellent mobilization ability, it can be said to be worse than garbage.
Although these Soviet warehouses are military warehouses, their daily management is managed by the newly formed internal affairs forces under the NKVD. According to the regulations of the Soviet High Command, the military has no right to manage these combat readiness warehouses. Anyone can activate these warehouses.
War preparation warehouses or bombings must be ordered by Moscow.
No one is allowed to use the equipment and supplies in these warehouses before receiving orders from Moscow. No matter how critical the situation is, they are not allowed to use it, even if the enemy is under their noses. The Soviet army's own communication methods are limited.
Under such a backward situation and in the most chaotic stage of the war, how could the communication between various places and Moscow be so smooth?
Due to the confusion and poor communication, these warehouses were often abandoned by the time they received orders from Moscow. However, because the newly mobilized recruits were delayed in receiving orders, a large number of them died with their bare hands before they were armed.
And was captured by the rapidly advancing German troops.
On one side were a large number of unarmed recruits who were urgently mobilized and in urgent need of equipment and troops who had suffered heavy losses in previous battles and were in urgent need of replenishment. On the other side were combat readiness warehouses that had stored a large amount of equipment but could not be activated because there was no order from Moscow. The situation on both sides formed an extreme situation.
Big contrast.
The Soviet generals who experienced the great purge of counter-revolutionaries had suffered heavy losses in their original weapons and equipment in previous battles. Not to mention tanks, artillery and other heavy weapons, their current troops even lacked the number of rifles. Especially
The troops that broke out from the encirclement almost became an unarmed force.
It has even reached the point where the newly formed troops are unable to form combat effectiveness due to the lack of all equipment from rifles to artillery and tanks. The mobilized new troops are captured in large numbers because they have no weapons. The old troops are also unable to be replenished.
This is a dangerous situation with a rapid decline in combat effectiveness.
But except for a few overly courageous generals, no one dared to risk losing their heads by using these combat readiness warehouses without authorization. They would rather let the recruited supplementary soldiers wait for the comrades who fought in front to die and take over what they left behind.
Weapons. They also dare not open these combat readiness warehouses in their own jurisdiction or defense areas, and use the large amounts of equipment and supplies stored in them to replenish the troops that have suffered heavy losses.