July 29, 1918 12:45 Salansk Soviet 1st Army Command

"Comrades, the situation is very serious. You have also seen the situation outside the city. Kolchak is not good. Relying on his cavalry, he sieges the city and ran a horse to surround Saransk in more than half an hour. Time is tight. Taking advantage of the enemy's failure to launch an attack, the headquarters convened you to hold a military meeting together to see how to fight next. Let's talk about the situation of each enemy in front of you!" The tone of Kobozev, the political commissar and chief of staff of the group army, was obviously quite solemn.

The commander of the 1st Group Army, Tukhachevsky, rolled up the cigarette in his hand and waved his hand casually, indicating that he would quickly report the situation from the 1st Infantry Division of Xia Boyang. At this moment, the Cossack Cavalry Division of the White Guard Army could attack the city in minutes outside the city, but there was not so much time wasting time and humility.

"Commander, political commissar, the front line of our 1st Infantry Division is 5 kilometers east of the city. At present, the enemy cavalry has been discovered, with at least one brigade of troops flying through our position and heading south. Unfortunately, the opponent is outside our machine gun range, and the army does not have enough cannons, so they can only watch the opponent's trample on the villages outside the city and harm the people. Most of the villages five miles east of the city were lit and smoke is everywhere. These Bai Guards are obviously determined to fight us to the end!"

The 31-year-old commander of the 1st Infantry Division of Xia Boyang was obviously full of fire. Seeing the enemy outside the city burning houses and robbing food to harm the people, the division commander Comrade Vasily Ivanovich Chabayev was furious and angry.

"The situation in the north of the city is similar. At least one cavalry brigade's Cossacks passed by our position and went west. The Saransk Railway Branch ten kilometers away had been occupied by the enemy. After hearing the news, the other party had destroyed the railway. And when I returned to the headquarters, I could see the enemy's artillery and heavy machine guns gathered five kilometers away from the north of the city. It is possible that the other party will use the north of the city as the first breakthrough point to launch an attack. Of course, the villages five kilometers away basically ignited the enemy's cavalry. ********** was not small, with smoke everywhere, and the sight was greatly obstructed."

The person who spoke was Dmitry Andreevich Furmanov, commander of the 2nd Infantry Division of the Furmanov. Although the 27-year-old commander of the 2nd Division was not as indignant as his old partner Xia Boyang, his eyes were also burning with rage.

"The situation in the west of the city is quite tight. The 3rd Salansk Infantry Division has only 6,000 people, and only 4,000 people with guns. It is said to be one division, but in fact it is only one brigade. The cavalry of the White Guards bypassed from the north of the city, and the nearest one even rushed to 1,000 meters in front of the position. Of course, our machine gun fired and drove the opponent out. However, the soldiers were really panicked. The opponent's black cavalry seemed to be more crowded than our entire division. I asked the commander to strengthen the 5th Division to the defense line in the west of the city, otherwise I was afraid that the brothers would not be able to defend it!"

Moscow sent to serve as the commander of the 3rd Division of the Salansk Infantry Division was Iyeronim Petrovich Ubolevic, who was only 22 years old. This guy encountered such a serious situation when he served as a division commander for the first time. Although he was a staunch Bolshevik, he also received relatively systematic training in the military academy in Moscow, but he was obviously a little helpless and panicked in the face of the serious situation in front of him.

"Iyeronim Petrovich, I said to the division commander, I just saw clearly in the telescope. The enemy's cavalry company's forces were only feinted at your position. 1,000 meters and 1,000 meters and 1,000 yuan, you exposed the position of the machine gun position to me? How many enemy cavalry did you kill? None of them?

For the tentative attack of small cavalry units like the enemy, your machine gun fire point does not need to fire at all. Put the enemy directly on the moat and use a rifle to call the Cossack cavalry one by one. How can you panic? Fortunately, the opponent's artillery has not yet taken the position, otherwise the six Maxim I have given you will definitely be taken away by someone now!" Tukhachevsky lit the newly rolled Moheyan in his hand, while scolding the young commander of the 3rd Division.

"Yes, Comrade Commander, you criticized on the phone and we stopped shooting and transferred the machine gun position as soon as possible. Most of the 3rd Division are new soldiers. You know, the enemy cavalry's charge is still very strong. The machine gunner pulled the trigger when he was nervous. Fortunately, the opponent's artillery did not fire!" Ubolevic, the commander of the 3rd Division, said with a red face.

"Where is the south of the city? Jona Emanuilovic, what's going on with your 4th Division? Why did some troops evacuate their positions and run into the city without authorization?" Kobozev, the political commissar and chief of staff of the group army, obviously saw the wavering scene of the troops on the north defense line of the city. At this time, he was so angry that he asked before Tukhachevsky.

"Report to the political commissar, there was a company that had food poisoning, and many people had diarrhea. When the enemy cavalry came from the east of the city, the sound of horse hooves resounded through the sky. Under the smoke, the company ran with weak belly and legs. When they ran back to the city, they had to go to the toilet, so they could not be pulled all in the trenches! The weather was so hot, otherwise we would be stinking to death without waiting for the White Guard cavalry to charge on the position!"

The unstable situation that had occurred on the 4th Infantry Division of the Saransk was actually exposed by the acting division commander Jona Emanuilovic Yakiel, using the excuse of diarrhea, torn aside. Kobozev almost jumped up. The other division commanders were dumbfounded after hearing Yakiel's answer. Tukhachevsky, the commander of the army on the side, waved his hand,

"If you don't know, who will dare to leave the position without authorization in the future, you will be shot! Jona Emanuilovic, why did your soldiers get diarrhea? Have you found out the reason?"

"Report to the commander, the reason has been found out. When the company cooks, they put a lot of wild vegetables picked by the soldiers in the soup. They didn't pick them clearly. Poisonous wild vegetables were mixed in. The division headquarters has already locked up the cooks and decided to take time to train wild vegetables knowledge throughout the division. Commander, you also know that many soldiers of the 4th Division are from workers and have no experience in working in the farmland. When they sprinkle out and pick wild vegetables, they can't be fully protected and they can't eat poisonous wild vegetables!"

The acting commander of the 4th Division, Yakiel, answered with a stern answer. The 4th Division's position was shaken and he was just hiding over. Of course, afterwards, there was a legend that the 4th Division was not poisoned by wild vegetable soup and had diarrhea, but was scared by the momentum of the Cossack cavalry of the White Guards and left the position. Fortunately, the law enforcement team of the company's division headquarters rushed back to the position as soon as possible. Otherwise, Tukhachevsky would have ordered the group army's law enforcement team to kill chickens and warn monkeys to implement battlefield discipline.
Chapter completed!