Chapter 465: Closing the Gate

“No retreat! The great soldiers of the Soviet Red Army will not retreat a single step just because the enemy is strong! The battle must be fought to the last moment. Those capitalist softies don’t know how to fight at all! Only the ideologically firm Soviet Red Army can win the final victory!” Just after Khrushchev had sent his request for instructions to Moscow, Stalin’s reply came back quickly.

Holding this telegram, Khrushchev knew that the distant leader, Stalin, was having another one of his ideological fits. He was clueless about warfare and firmly believed that faith could solve all problems. But Khrushchev had witnessed the Polish-Soviet War, had witnessed the miserable sight of those ideologically firm Red Army soldiers getting shot through the chest.

Since Stalin had forbidden a retreat, no one dared to even mention the suggestion anymore. The Great Purge was still ongoing around Moscow. The young officers who now held these positions had gotten there by shooting the older generation of heroes. Who would dare to defy Stalin at a time like this?

Besides, with Stalin having made his position clear, at least the blame would certainly not fall on their shoulders. There were still the commanders of the various military districts above them, and Khrushchev and Voroshilov to take the heat. If they were defeated, it couldn’t be their fault, could it?

Of course, to send their own troops to their deaths against their conscience was indeed a bit distressing. But those troops… were all Belarusians and Ukrainians. Wasn’t this war of attrition designed to consume the strength of these regions? Thinking of it this way, there was no need for further consideration. All they had to do was obey the order.

After weighing the pros and cons, everyone chose to keep their mouths shut. So when the morning came, the retreat order that the Soviet frontline commanders had been desperately waiting for did not arrive. What came instead was an idiotic directive to continue the attack.

But the Soviet army, having fought until the early hours of the morning, no longer had the strength to launch another attack. Their terrible logistical supply was in shambles, and most of the troops had exhausted the ammunition they carried. The fuel in the tanks of the armored units was also running on empty.

To put it bluntly, what they were waiting for was not just a piece of paper ordering a retreat, but the supplies that would come with it. But the retreat order they were waiting for did not come, and the life-saving supplies they were waiting for did not come either.

“Aren’t they trying to kill us? We’re fighting to the death at the front, and in the end, they just sell us out to the Germans like this?” a Belarusian officer lamented to his superior. “General, the German forces on our flanks are shelling us. We can’t even run if we want to now. What do we do?”

“That’s right, General! Those Russian bastards are using us as cannon fodder!” another officer chimed in. “Our artillery is short on ammunition, and the sky is full of German planes. And now they won’t let us retreat. They’re giving these orders with the aim of wearing us down!”

“Those bastards only care about their few Guards units. They don’t give a damn about the lives of people like us!” the first officer who had spoken became even more agitated, seeing that someone agreed with him. “Those parasites! They steal our grain! They make us Ukrainians fight for them on an empty stomach! And in the end, they want us to die for them!”

“Enough!” the general in command slammed his fist on the table and roared. “If those bastards weren’t holding our wives and sons hostage, we would have rebelled long ago! What kind of a situation is this? They haven’t even sent us any supplies, and they’re still telling us to hold our positions?”

“General! What do you want to do? We’ll all listen to you!” the other officers said, seeing their general had spoken. “But if we surrender, our families won’t be safe! Those bastards are capable of anything!”

In recent years, the Soviet Union had ravaged Ukraine. Ukraine, as an agriculturally rich region, provided grain for almost the entire Soviet Union. But due to the needs of the Soviet communist movement’s great leap forward in industrial development, local agricultural production was severely oppressed, which eventually led to the hostility of the Ukrainian people.

Hearing the names Stalin and Khrushchev, one knew what methods they would come up with to suppress the dissatisfaction and hostility of the Ukrainians. Countless Ukrainians were rounded up into the army and concentration camps, either sent to Siberia or to the western front to be used as cannon fodder. This only exacerbated the ethnic problems in the Ukrainian region.

So the Ukrainian and Belarusian troops at the front were less willing soldiers fighting a war for the Soviet Union and more like coerced refugees and rebels. Although the combat effectiveness of these units was still formidable, once they had second thoughts, their decline was all the more rapid and complete.

“If we are alive, they will have some scruples. If we die in battle now, won’t our land just be given to those bastards for free? We’ll still have nothing in the end!” the general said with a sigh. “All of you, go back! Listen to my orders. If the Germans attack, do not resist! Surrender immediately! A life saved is worth more than anything!”

He looked at his trusted subordinates, then continued with a grim face, “The commissars and Communist Party members who have been placed in our army must be eliminated at the first opportunity! Go and do it now! Be discreet, act in secret!”

“Yes, sir!” The several officers, knowing what was at stake, immediately snapped to attention and replied.

Just as this Ukrainian general had thought, several of the Russian-dominated units were actually retreating, because Khrushchev would never dare to gamble with the core of the Soviet Union’s strength. These few units were, to put it bluntly, the lifeblood of the Soviet Union from the Moscow region. Even Stalin would not be dissatisfied with his actions. But there were always some accidents, such as the 1st Guards Tank Army and the 3rd Tank Corps, which were trapped deep inside the German encirclement.

Due to fuel problems, these two units had not been able to retreat very far. Khrushchev was rushing to transport fuel from the secondary units to these two, to ensure that these elite of the elite could return to a relatively safe area. But his actions aroused the dissatisfaction of the other units, especially the Ukrainian and Belarusian troops, whose mood could only be described as one of bitter complaint.

But just as the various Soviet units were wrestling with their dilemma, the German counter-attack arrived at 7:15 in the morning.

A Soviet Red Army soldier was lying in a hastily dug trench. Before he could even rest his body, which was even hungrier from digging the hole, he felt the earth begin to tremble slightly. He widened his eyes, stuck his head out of his foxhole, and saw a column of German tanks, one after another, appearing at the far end of the wheat field that had been destroyed by artillery.

He was so scared that he scrambled out of his foxhole and ran, stumbling, to the rear. He only had five bullets left in his pocket, never mind dealing with the tanks, he couldn’t even stop their infantry. He ran for a dozen meters, then jumped into another foxhole. Looking at the young comrade inside who had pissed his pants in fear, he then noticed that the concealed Soviet machine-gun nest on the flank of his position had not opened fire.

When this Red Army soldier looked over curiously, he saw a white undershirt hanging there, and a few pairs of hands raised high in the air. And so this Ukrainian soldier, who had been preparing to flee just a moment ago, dropped his rifle without a second thought and, with a blank expression, raised his own hands.

The Soviet forces on the flanks of the encirclement collapsed. Countless pockets gave up resistance without even waiting for the Germans to completely close the ring. Only at this moment did General List understand what the Führer had meant by “liberation.”

Looking at these starving Ukrainians and Belarusians who had been forced onto the battlefield, List felt that to describe them as an army was an insult to the word “soldier.” These people were just farmers and poor beggars. The frantic attacks had mostly been carried out by a few mainline Russian units. These non-mainline units had followed behind, responsible for protecting the flanks from German pincer attacks. And clearly, these troops had failed to even accomplish that mission.

In just one morning, the mouths of a dozen or so pockets were sealed by the German pincer attacks. These Soviet units, without supplies and without ammunition, all became trapped turtles for the Germans to catch. This predictable situation did not make General List feel that anything was amiss. The only thing that puzzled him was that these besieged Soviet units had raised their hands in surrender without a second thought.

Can you imagine the spectacular sight of 400,000 men surrendering? Field Marshal von Brauchitsch, who was now at the front personally directing the eastern campaign, was experiencing just such a glorious victory. The Soviet army was surrendering in entire formations. The number of Ukrainian troops who had thrown down their weapons and were waiting for him to deal with them was a full 200,000.

In fact, after the German counter-attack began, the Soviet force had first descended into chaos itself. The ethnic minorities, who had been brutally oppressed by the arrogant Russians in their daily lives, began a bloody reprisal against the Russians in their own army. By the time the Germans actually arrived, these Soviet ethnic minorities were waiting, covered in blood, for the Germans to receive them.

However, everyone knew that although the fighting in most of the encirclements had quickly ended, the truly difficult battle was only just beginning today. Because List had received a report that in one of the huge encirclements in his operational area, the Soviet troops were desperately trying to break out. And this unit was the true elite of the Soviet Union.

That’s right. This unit was the armored torrent formed by the Soviet 1st Guards Tank Army and the 3rd Tank Army. This was the number one frontline army group that the Soviet Union could field.

Published: 2025-08-27T06:01:03.000+00:00
Last Edited: 2025-11-18T12:07:19.000+00:00
URL: https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair/posts/mtr-c465-closing-137446164

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