NOVEL NEXT Chapter 24
* * *
Roman von Ungern summoned the Asian Cavalry Division.
Although it was night, he sent a message to Major Anton Denikin, notifying him to mobilize the troops for a surprise attack.
“You fools! The enemies we must fight are a ragtag bunch, poorly armed and with numbers to spare! Now we will stab them in the back with ease! Everyone, prepare yourselves!”
Thousands of cavalry began to move stealthily in the night.
And there was someone secretly observing this.
‘That guy’s momentum is no small matter.’
George S. Patton rushed to Southern Russia with the US military, which had been assisting the Russian White Army, as soon as he received permission from Tsarina Anastasia.
But there were thousands of cavalry moving in the middle of the night.
This was clearly a cunning plot by the treacherous Slavs to steal George S. Patton’s achievements.
Though the US military numbers were small, he still didn’t want to give that Roman von Ungern a chance to run wild.
What else could he do?
“We’re going too! Let’s show those Reds the bravery of the United States that shook Europe!”
“But we don’t have any weapons.”
“Come on, we’ve got plenty lying around! Just slap some machine guns onto a truck!”
“We’re short on trucks.”
“Set them up on the carts!”
Patton’s absurd demands made the few US soldiers, who were only there as support, follow behind him with tears in their eyes, trying to meet his minimum requirements.
Thus, the US soldiers, who had reluctantly followed Patton, found themselves chasing after Roman von Ungern.
“Those guys? We cannot lose to those Yankees here!”
The volunteer soldiers of defeated Germany, who had to be cautious, followed closely as well, their eyes blazing.
If there were people lacking will…
“This is madness. Pure madness.”
“But those guys seem peaceful, don’t they?”
“Seems better than fighting?”
Only the French volunteers, dissatisfied with the muddled conclusion to the world war, encapsulated the sentiment.
And then.
“Is that Roman von Ungern insane?”
Anton Denikin, a major general who had received word to mobilize a large force in the middle of the night, was flabbergasted.
And yet, this punk had the audacity to issue orders when he only brought several thousand troops?
But Anton Denikin, having honed his sense while being buried in Southern Russia, realized.
The US military and the German troops were also on the move after Roman von Ungern.
Though the US military and Germans were dressed in the uniforms of the Russian Empire at the request of the Tsarina, they were still on the move.
If he didn’t take action now, he might lose his chance to take credit.
Anton Denikin mobilized the entire force of the Southern Russian White Army.
Boom! Bang! Bang!
The Bolsheviks stationed near Kyiv couldn’t come to their senses at the sounds of cannon fire and gunshots echoing in the dawn.
“These reactionaries, cowardly attacking at night!”
“Who are you to talk, you filthy cockroaches!”
With the fall of Kyiv looming, the Bolsheviks were thrown into chaos by Roman von Ungern’s surprise attack.
While the Bolsheviks had the numerical advantage, the five thousand cavalry with extensive combat experience were formidable.
Moreover, the late-arriving US and German forces attacking from different directions were enough to lead the Bolsheviks to mistakenly believe that reactionary forces were launching a surprise attack with a large army.
Just after Mahno had barely repelled the remaining guerillas, they had now fallen into another misfortune.
“I… I don’t want to die!”
“I want to surrender!”
“Do you want to die to my gun? Get ready to fight!”
“You go out and fight!”
In the midst of the night, where enemies were poking at them from all sides, the conscripted soldiers, unaware of the enemy’s strength, were struck with fear at the sight of their fallen comrades and quickly surrendered.
They had prepared for possible surprise attacks, but the enemy’s cries echoing from all directions frightened them to death.
When the political officers, who had been threatening the soldiers, fired their rifles, some soldiers even turned on the political officers, killing them instead.
“Hello?”
“That bastard’s US military! The Tsarina brought in foreign troops! Gah!”
As the chaos of the night continued, Anton Denikin’s army arrived to finish things off, and over the course of one night, the Bolsheviks suffered catastrophic losses.
Remarkably, the Supreme Commander of this Red Army was Trotsky, who was unable to come personally due to Stalin’s constraints.
Leading the forces was Alexander Yegorov, a former colonel of the Russian Empire who had switched to the Red Army and was attacking Ukraine in conjunction with Mikhail Frunze, who was the southern commander of the enemy forces in Ukraine.
Just recently, they had pushed the British forces and taken central Ukraine.
However, they could not withstand such a large-scale surprise attack.
“These damn reactionaries!”
It was already a battle being pushed back by sheer numbers.
Though Yegorov had well-led his army made solely up of numbers, they simply could not handle the surprise attack.
How could anyone have anticipated a surprise attack?
How could they have known that there would be riders coming at them?
Naturally, the Red Army, mostly consisting of poorly trained soldiers, found it difficult to withstand thousands of cavalry pounding upon the land in the night.
Furthermore, when the battle progressed, despite not knowing from where the shots were fired, everyone fled in panic at the sound of machine guns.
Semion Timosenko and Semion Budenny fought valiantly, but their collapsing forces were beyond saving.
Although Mikhail Frunze’s army came to support Alexander Yegorov, Yegorov’s forces had long since crumbled, and Frunze had to manage their retreat.
Ultimately, the Red Army, dispatched to seize Ukraine, had no choice but to retreat.
“Does this mean we’ve failed even in Ukraine?”
Trotsky, who had planned this attack, could not avoid a political blow.
* * *
Trotsky gritted his teeth as he received reports of the defeat in the Ukrainian front.
“Damn it. Does this mean Comrade Yegorov couldn’t hold up against Anton Denikin?”
There was no choice.
Brusilov still wasn’t cooperating.
After numerous attempts at persuasion and threats, he had managed to draw in some Tsarist-era officers and generals into the Red Army.
Yegorov was one of them.
In truth, Trotsky himself wanted to go to Ukraine, but he couldn’t.
Stalin was openly aiming for his position from within.
Even Lenin was not what he used to be.
It was unclear if his resolve had weakened, but for some reason, Lenin could not effectively deal with the reactionary forces.
It would have been nice if Lenin could manage to suppress Stalin.
For Lenin, just maintaining the party appeared to be a struggle.
Instead, he was ceding control of the Communist Party to Stalin, who was embracing the party’s officials for the sake of stabilizing it.
“Is the Soviet Union crumbling?”
The revolution was collapsing.
All the hard work put into this Soviet could fall apart.
If one were to look at how the Soviet was established, it was nearly a miracle that they had come this far, yet they were so close, and now it was truly severe.
They were so close, yet if it were not for that woman named Anastasia, the reactionary forces would have fallen apart while fighting among themselves!
Just what is this woman Anastasia that stands in the way of their revolution?
The Red Army they sent toward the Baltic region did defeat the White Army, but that was an independent White Army that had no connection to the Tsarina, and it wasn’t even the main force.
Then.
Trotsky had to report to Lenin about the failure in Ukraine after Yekaterinburg.
Though Yegorov was the commander, the one who had ordered it was he, after all.
Without any bragging rights to speak of.
He had to inform Lenin of the defeat, which signified a grave crisis approaching the Soviet.
“Comrade Trotsky.”
“Yes, Comrade Lenin.”
“Do you have anything to say about this recent defeat in the Ukrainian front?”
“Well…”
“We’ve just ended up poking at the great powers for no reason.”
If he had completely suppressed and seized Ukraine, it would have been another matter entirely.
No matter how imperialist those bastards were, there couldn’t be any troops available to support Russia just after the war had ended.
They had to be careful of the rising communists within at the moment. They would not choose to send troops to help them out.
Taking Ukraine was indeed a gamble that was clear.
If they seized Ukraine and defeated the reactionaries, they could turn the tides again.
It was a grand plan to push through to Vladivostok, using the rich lands of Ukraine as a foundation to defeat Southern Russia and bury that Tsarina in Siberia.
Above all.
He wanted to win over the people and unify the Soviets.
If they could just pull that off, the Red Army could be rebuilt time and again.
However, it failed.
And to make matters worse, it was to the reactionary White Army, not the imperialist powers.
This was bound to cause the already trembling Soviet to crumble from the roots, as if the Tsarina was axing it at the base.
“Comrade Lenin. But we have no other options. Ukraine was land we had to seize to ensure our victory.”
“And what is the result? It has failed, hasn’t it? You should have concentrated on internal affairs instead. Even without taking into account regions that haven’t fallen to the White Army reactionaries, we could have certainly rebuilt.”
“This was to legitimize the revolution and to show that it is the right path. If we were to cower in the presence of those imperialists, our revolution would end there.”
“For now, let’s focus on putting the military in order.”
“Comrade Lenin.”
“Recently, Nizhny Novgorod has fallen to Pyotr Wrangel.”
Nizhny Novgorod has fallen.
Nizhny Novgorod is a city close to Moscow.
The fact that it has fallen means that the way to Moscow has been cleared.
“Then!”
“Now is the time to strengthen the defenses of Moscow. If we lose Moscow, we must head for Petrograd.”
Moscow was practically the last bastion.
If they lose this place, the power of the Soviet would significantly weaken.
“Ugh.”
Trotsky bit his lip.
“If we can just defend and maintain Moscow, we might broker a truce with the imperialists.”
If they could just keep on defending here.
With that defense in place, they could solidify and perhaps even reach a truce.
Of course, that would be a last resort, but there was no way around it.
“For now, calm the people and persuade, letting them know the Tsarina would push the oppressive Tsar back again.”
“Understood.”
Trotsky left Lenin’s office, dragging his tired feet.
Then.
He glared at Stalin, who was standing nearby with other comrades.
“Stalin! Why is the idea of a truce with the reactionaries coming out of Comrade Lenin’s mouth?”
“Face reality. It’s simply the only option left because you failed.”
“What did you say?”
Is that really something you’re saying now!
Who in the world failed to hold Chichin’s defense?
And to say that with such a brazen and calm face!
“I heard there are tanks in the army attacking Chichin led by the Tsarina.”
“Tanks?”
Wasn’t that something that he already knew?
He was aware that they fled out of fear of those tanks; why was he repeating it now?
“Yes. They were tanks flying the flag of the Russian Empire. This means the British are fully committed to supporting with tanks. In an instant, they breached our defenses. We must recognize reality. The great powers are deeply involved. The only way for us is to exhaust those supporting the Tsarina with continuous attacks from the White Army reactionaries, even if it costs the lives of our people.”
What Trotsky wanted was not this sort of revolution.
Not this worthless revolution. He hated the fact that they had to be cautious in the face of imperialists.
If it were to come to this, it would be better to fight until he dies.
Lenin seemed strange too, and this guy Stalin was using that to his advantage.
A truce with the reactionaries?
Those reactionaries had already secured Southern Russia.
The Bolsheviks in the Far East had long been hunted down by the reactionaries.
Of course, if they merely held a truce with things as they were, the Soviet could revive at any time, but that wouldn’t lead to victory in this civil war.
The Tsarina was a dangerous presence.
A symbolic being that could collapse the revolution.
To agree to a truce indicates that the current revolution is unfinished.
To flip around this painful reality, they must defend Moscow at all costs.