Chapter 31 Attention
Yuri didn't know if the historical evolution of this time and space would change after he came to this world and left deep enough footprints in this world and time and space, nor did he know if the history he was familiar with would deviate from its inherent track. But one thing he was very clear about was that the Germans - the Germans under Hitler's leadership - would never give up their attack on the Soviet Union.
This has nothing to do with the ideological differences between the two countries, nor with so-called race or ethnicity. It is fundamentally due to the division of national interests and the needs of regional politics.
Germany and the Soviet Union are both located on the Eurasian continent. Since the partition of Poland, the two countries have become neighbors in the actual sense, especially the Danzig region, which is directly under the threat of the Soviet Union. In addition, the Soviet Union also threatens Germany's economic lifeline. Its sea routes for importing iron ore from Sweden, Norway and other countries can be said to be directly under the threat of the Soviet Red Navy. Romania, its main source of oil, is also directly under the military threat from the Soviet Union.
This kind of regional relationship made it impossible for the Soviet Union and Germany to achieve so-called mutual trust even if they signed a non-aggression treaty. Yuri was very clear about this. Just like China in later generations, it had many conflicts with many countries on the South China Sea issue. In essence, it was not simply about the ownership of some small islands. In addition to the issue of maritime rights protection, a crucial key was the issue of national security.
Hitler was very ambitious. On the one hand, he needed to expand the living space of the Germans, and on the other hand, he wanted to attract the attention of the people by using external conflicts. Both of these aspects were related to the relationship with the Soviet Union. It can be seen that how could this war be avoided?
But then again, with Yuri's current position and rank, issues concerning the country's major policies and national security are not something he can decide. What he can decide is just the small unit of the 209th Battalion.
It was a bit strange. After Yuri submitted his report in July, the military district and even the regiment headquarters did not give any feedback for more than a month. No one gave any reward to the 209th Battalion for this battle, nor did anyone give any denial. It felt like no one at the top took this battle seriously.
Could it be that the military district didn't know about this battle? This was obviously impossible. First, Yuri's report had already been submitted. Second, although no explanation was given, the military district still added new soldiers to the 209th Battalion.
In the battle to defend Lutsk, the entire 209th Battalion lost more than 150 soldiers, including a Maxim heavy machine gun that was damaged beyond repair, and two mules and horses that were responsible for pulling the heavy machine gun were killed in the battle. In addition, some guns were damaged and ammunition was consumed. Less than half a month after Yuri submitted the report, the regiment headquarters redistributed these things.
Yuri was somewhat disappointed that he did not receive any reward for his victory in a battle, but this disappointment did not affect his overall plan. In order to increase the chances of survival in future wars, Yuri strengthened the military training of all soldiers in the battalion during this period. The courage training when facing the crushing of tracked vehicles was only one of the many training items.
After inspecting the troops' training at the training ground, Yuri returned to the battalion headquarters by car. Due to the previous rainy season, the battalion headquarters was forced to move its base from the edge of the forest to a slope on the west side of the collective farm. The terrain here is relatively higher, so there is no need to worry about being flooded even in the rainy season.
However, now that the rainy season is over, given the climate characteristics of Western Ukraine, it won’t be long before the decidedly unpleasant winter arrives.
For Yuri, the colder the winter is, the better, because only when the temperature is low enough will the vast swamp freeze solid enough, and then the exploration work may go very smoothly.
While Yuri was preparing for the upcoming war next year, more than a hundred kilometers away in Kiev, Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov was lost in thought in his office at the headquarters of the Special Military District.
Three months ago, the Soviet Union implemented the general rank system. As a senior general who had performed outstandingly not long ago, Zhukov was promoted to general. In the current sequence of senior commanders in the Soviet Union, his rank was already very high. A large number, no, to be precise, most of the senior commanders who were older than him had been executed in the previous purge.
After being promoted to general, Zhukov's first appointment was to be the commander of the Kiev Special Military District. In today's Soviet Union, the Kiev Special Military District is the largest military district, larger than the later Far Eastern Military District. Therefore, this appointment can be seen as Comrade Stalin's absolute trust in him.
However, Zhukov himself did not feel excited about the appointment. On the contrary, he felt a lot of pressure.
Like most of the senior Soviet generals, Zhukov also believed that war between the Soviet Union and Germany was inevitable. However, what made him different from most of the senior generals was that he believed that the war would most likely come earlier than expected.
Most of the top leaders in the Soviet Union today knew that the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact was not credible and that the war against Germany would break out sooner or later. However, most of these people believed that the war would not break out soon. At least, before the Germans completely defeated the British, they would not turn to attack eastward. Why did they think so? The reason was simple. If they attacked the Soviet Union before defeating the British, the Germans would face a passive situation of fighting on two fronts.
Since the Germans began their large-scale expansion, Zhukov has been paying attention to the war situation in Central and Western Europe, mainly focusing on the military characteristics of the Germans, including their strategies, tactics, and many other issues. And since the outbreak of the Battle of Britain, he has also been closely following the progress of this war.
In Zhukov's view, it would not be easy for the Germans to force the British to surrender in the short term, and the war between the two sides was likely to enter a stalemate. The Germans could not devote all their energy to the stalemate with the British, after all, they were still facing many external threats, such as the threat from the Soviet Union in the east and the threat from the United States across the ocean.
Since the defeat of France, Americans, who had previously maintained a neutral attitude towards the war, have become increasingly inclined to support Britain and France. Following the revision of the Neutrality Act in September last year, the Americans once again made a clear gesture of aiding the British at the beginning of this month: Washington exchanged 50 over-age battleships for 8 military bases established by the British in the Western Hemisphere. This deal seems to be the Americans taking advantage of the situation, but in fact, anyone with a discerning eye can see that the conclusion of this deal is equivalent to eliminating the differences between Britain and the United States caused by geopolitics, and the two countries are getting closer.
Faced with the increasingly delicate stance of the United States, it is impossible for the Germans not to feel threatened. Faced with such a threat, the Germans have to eliminate the threat from their backyard as much as possible before the war that may break out at any time.
Based on the above reasons, Zhukov believed that once the Germans planned to fight the Soviet Union, they would not hesitate at all even if the war with the British had not yet ended.
Over the past period of time, Zhukov had always thought that there would not be many people who shared the same views as him. At least, he did not think that any grassroots commander would share the same opinion as him.
Thinking of this, Zhukov came back to his senses. Before he knew it, it was getting dark and the lights in the office were on.
Right on the desk in front of me, among a pile of documents on the left hand side, was an inconspicuous report.
Zhukov turned his gaze away and looked at it silently for a while. Finally, he reached out and pulled the report out of the pile of documents.
The report was submitted by the Ninth Army and written by the commander of a battalion under the Ninth Army. The report was submitted more than a month ago and its main content is about a battle.
To be honest, Zhukov didn't care about that battle. He had already learned about the whole process of the battle. Well, how should I put it? The commander's performance was quite satisfactory, with neither very exciting parts nor mistakes. What Zhukov really valued was the idea of strict military discipline mentioned in the commander's report.
The topic of strict military discipline has been mentioned before. It can be said that Zhukov himself attaches great importance to strengthening military discipline. Previously, the military region convened a meeting of political commissars at the battalion level and above in various units, and the most important content was about the issue of strict military discipline. When the battalion commander mentioned the issue of strict military discipline, he was worried about the possible outbreak of the Soviet-German war in the future. He even elaborated on the German "blitzkrieg" tactics and proposed that if there was no strict military discipline, his troops would be in the face of the German "blitzkrieg" rapid attack, and it is very likely that they would quickly collapse in the first wave of battle.
Zhukov believes that a commander who is sensitive to international situations, able to understand and study new types of warfare, able to be sensitive to problems in the army, and able to boldly put forward his own views, etc., should at least be considered a qualified commander. However, there are not many commanders under his command who can truly possess these characteristics.
From this report, Zhukov began to pay limited attention to this person. He needed to see more of his performance.
