Chapter 469: Each to Their Own

“Bastards! How dare that fellow surrender without authorization? An army of 500,000 men! They didn’t even resist for a day, and they just surrendered?” Khrushchev roared, pounding his fist on the table. He had just issued the order to fight to the death, and nearly half of his forces had laid down their arms and surrendered. This was a naked humiliation, a provocation against him!

“The troops in those encirclements didn’t have much ammunition. They were not our main forces to begin with, just some reserve units assembled from Ukraine and Belarus. It’s not surprising that they surrendered,” Marshal Voroshilov explained with a sigh.

He knew that those troops were not actually so inept. It was just that in recent years, Moscow’s handling of the ethnic issues in Ukraine and Belarus had been biased, leading to growing resentment in these regions. The large-scale collapse of the troops from these areas now was a good indication of where the people’s loyalties lay.

Now the German army was counter-attacking, and large-scale chaos had already erupted in some areas. Once the millions of troops at the front began to rout, the thought of whether there would be problems in Ukraine and Belarus behind him was enough to make Voroshilov’s head spin. He was now a little envious of Zhukov in the Far East; after all, dealing with the Japanese was much easier than dealing with the Germans.

“This is a betrayal of Comrade Lenin! This is a blasphemy against Comrade Stalin!” Khrushchev was not comforted by Voroshilov’s words; instead, he became even more furious. “The families of these people must all be shot! Their relatives must all be sent to Siberia! They deserve to die! The wife and children of every single person who surrendered must be exiled to the coldest places! It must be done! The consequences of betraying the Soviet Union must be etched into everyone’s hearts!”

Marshal Voroshilov really wanted to tell Khrushchev that his order would basically mean moving the entire population of Ukraine to Siberia. However, having personally witnessed the Great Purge, Voroshilov did not have the courage to say anything that would contradict Khrushchev. He just sighed and offered no further opinions.

After a long tirade, Khrushchev, perhaps tired of shouting, sat down in his chair, gasping for breath. He thought of the German Führer he had once met, of his own younger self, and of the once-young Colonel Akado Rudolph. If he had been able to kill him back then, would he be facing so many problems now?

“I’m sorry, I lost my composure,” Khrushchev finally said with difficulty. He leaned back in his chair and said with some annoyance, “The battle at the front is still ongoing, so we still need to come up with a way to solve the problem of our front-line troops being rapidly cut off by the Germans.”

Only then did Voroshilov speak up. After all, this was his domain. Khrushchev was more of a politician than a commander. “Comrade Khrushchev, in this situation, not even God can stop the rout.”

He pointed to a region on the map and said with some frustration, “The German panzer forces have already appeared in this area. Our troops here, here, and here have already been encircled. And here and here are also in great danger and are in the process of retreating.”

“Comrade Stalin does not permit retreat…” Khrushchev said stubbornly.

“These troops lack ammunition and supplies. Most of them have no anti-tank weapons and cannot deal with the German tanks and armored vehicles. The 25th and 26th Corps haven’t even had their support weapons distributed yet. Their ammunition, machine guns, and artillery are all piled up at the railway station here. How do you expect these troops to resist?” Voroshilov replied.

The Soviet army was like an egg. The attacking forces at the front were the slightly hard shell, while the second-line troops following behind were the soft egg white and yolk. And once this seemingly hard eggshell was cracked by the German stone, the egg white and yolk were even more vulnerable.

As for whether these egg whites and yolks in the rear could be used to stop the German offensive, any rational person knew that it was an impossible task. The Soviet Union was now destined to be routed; the only question was to what extent. As for the aid and supplies that the Soviet Union and the United States had agreed upon, most of that had not even been shipped yet.

“Comrade Stalin does not permit retreat!” Khrushchev emphasized once again.

Only then did Voroshilov remember that this Comrade Khrushchev in front of him was just a minion. The real trouble was the great god in the distant Kremlin. Even if he had the most valid reasons now, if Stalin felt it was inappropriate, his, Voroshilov’s, fate would be no different from that of Marshal Tukhachevsky.

So he said to Khrushchev with trepidation, “We simply cannot hold our positions now. If we do not allow the troops to retreat, it will cause a mutiny! Those Ukrainians and Belarusians cannot be relied upon. Once a problem arises, we will only collapse faster.”

“Kill the wives and children of the deserters! And let everyone know that the consequence of betraying Comrade Stalin is death! If anyone surrenders, his parents will be hanged!” Khrushchev said viciously. “You go, give the order! Tell these troops not to retreat a single step! Otherwise, they will be shot!”

These things were, in fact, already being done. But the troops still collapsed, the defensive lines were still breached, and most importantly, those who were going to surrender still surrendered. It had had no effect at all.

After all, the war now was different from the First World War. Back then, everyone had only rifles. Once the fighting started, courage and forceful suppression could play a role in stabilizing morale and maintaining combat effectiveness. But now, these methods were completely useless.

Even the most ideologically firm soldier could not face a torrent of steel with his flesh and blood. Even the most fearless soldier could not defeat the enemy’s machine guns and tanks with courage alone.

Countless unarmed Soviet soldiers squatted on the sides of the roads, letting the German tanks and armored vehicles rumble past them. All they could do was put their hands on their heads and be escorted to the rear by a few German soldiers with rifles.

It wasn’t that these Soviet soldiers didn’t want to run, nor that they didn’t want to resist. But anyone who had seen their comrades who tried to run or resist being riddled by the 7.92mm machine guns of the Crusader helicopters that had come to suppress them would also suppress their own desire to escape or fight, right? And so, tens of thousands of Soviet soldiers were captured by the Germans. In some areas, the number of prisoners was so large that the attacking forces had to stop to round them up. The large number of prisoners affected the German logistical supply, and the Soviet soldiers crowding the roadsides even mingled with the advancing German troops.

In two days, the Red Army had lost a full 2 million men. Over 1.5 million were captured after being surrounded by the Germans or were taken prisoner without any preparation. Another 100,000 or so were casualties from the offensive, and the remaining 400,000 were scattered after being unable to resist the German offensive.

In fact, the Red Army’s combat losses were not that high. But due to chaotic logistical support and erroneous tactical deployment, the Red Army had suffered a staggering defeat, losing over a million men in two days. The routed troops trampled each other as they fled into the forests, not daring to return to their units for fear of being punished by the enforcement squads, and not daring to surrender to the Germans for fear of implicating their families. And so, tens of thousands of Soviet soldiers simply disappeared from the records.

At the same time, the Soviet Union’s international situation was also becoming less than optimistic. Although the United States had promised to support the Soviet Union in secret, this secret support had not yet manifested in any tangible changes at the grassroots level. On the other hand, its opponent, Germany, seemed to have grown more than twice as strong overnight.

In the past day, the Soviet Union seemed to have become a country hated by the whole world. Thirty-six hours after the start of the German-Soviet war, Italy, Germany’s most steadfast ally, declared war on the Soviet Union. Mussolini delivered a speech on the “Red Devil Eyeing the European Continent,” declaring that the Steel Axis had a duty to ensure that the capitalist world was not invaded by the Soviet devil, Stalin.

Immediately after, the puppet state of Vichy France declared war on the Soviet Union. Marshal Pétain announced that he would provide aid in the form of steel and other materials to his allies fighting the Soviet invasion and did not rule out the possibility of direct military intervention.

Subsequently, Romania also raised the banner of resistance against the Soviet invasion. Nearly 500,000 Romanian troops and 50,000 German troops within its borders were ready to counter-attack the Soviet invaders at any moment. Of course, Romania’s “Conducător,” Antonescu, had his own plans. He hoped to take back the eastern territories of Romania that the Soviet Union had long occupied.

Interestingly, the beleaguered Churchill government in Britain then declared war on Romania, and Romania officially entered the Second World War. But the Scottish regime in the northern mountains of Britain announced the formal establishment of diplomatic relations with Romania. The British embassy in Romania, for its own safety, announced its recognition of Scottish Britain.

“I will organize a counter-attack here and here. The troops in this vicinity, including those near the village of Tupos, are the 1st Guards Infantry Army. They still have combat capability,” Marshal Voroshilov said quickly, pointing to the map. “If we can stop the German advance near the village of Tupos, then we will at least have a hope of preventing the Germans from entering Belarus and Ukraine before they have completely occupied Poland.”

“You had better be able to stop the Germans from entering Belarus and Ukraine! Otherwise, there will be real trouble!” Khrushchev said, staring at the map, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

Published: 2025-08-27T07:55:28.000+00:00
Last Edited: 2025-11-20T15:59:59.000+00:00
URL: https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair/posts/mtr-c469-each-to-137450789

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