One, two, July offensive

From Krivorog to Kazan town, a small train carrying ore was slowly moving forward on the narrow-gauge railway. Krivorog had disappeared in a gray mist behind him. Kumasaki and his group sat in an empty truck with a layer of wheatgrass, looking at the Russian in front of them with curiosity. The shaking broken carriage made a clattering sound, and the carriage was full of hay and horse manure.

"How many of you are?" Lieztvinsky asked Kumazaki, who was wearing a British outfit.

"About 5,000 people." Kumazaki replied that his Russian language was not good. Li Baldou, who grew up in Vladivostok, acted as an interpreter in the middle.

"Have you received General Wang's order?"

"Well, someone has sent a message a few days ago, so we can follow your arrangements." Kumazaki replied that General Wang whom Lieztwensky mentioned was Wang Ruqin, the younger brother of Wang Ruxian, the commander of the 9th Beiyang Division. He is now the commander of the 17th Mixed Brigade who entered Russia and is also Kumazaki's immediate boss.

"The Austrians' offense will begin soon, and your people will not run around lately," said Reztvinsky. "After their offense begins, you will stay in the camp and don't move around. The Austrians will send you people to contact you."

"Well, is it a long time? Our food is not rich." Kumazaki said.

"I will report this to the above, and I think the battle will not last long," said Reztvinsky. "In view of the current situation of the Russians, they will not persist for a long time."

"Are you not a Russian?" Li bald man asked curiously.

"I am a Ukrainian." Lieztvensky said with a stern face. It seemed that Li Bald Head was very upset about him as a Russian, but there was nothing he could do about it. The Russians did not recognize the existence of the Ukrainian nation.

The train continued to drive forward, making a monotonous clicking sound. In front of us was a mess of woods, and Ukrainian land had been destroyed and broken by the war.

The Interim Government Army and Navy Minister Kerensky rushed to Kiev, met with Brusilov, commander of the Russian Southwest Front, and inspected the front line. However, to the lawyer-born minister, the situation on the front line was beyond his imagination. On the Zedomir front line, there was no sound of gunfire at all, as if it was a peaceful time. What was even more exaggerated is that many trenches were even empty, many people were abandoned, while the soldiers were left keen on discussing domestic politics and no one was concerned about the issue of war.

Kerensky needed a victory to stabilize the power of the Provisional Government. In Petrograd and Moscow, more and more workers and soldiers were turning to the Soviet regime. After three days of planning, Kerensky reached a consensus with Brusilov, who agreed to launch a major offensive in early July to boost the hearts of the people in the country and stabilize the authority of the Provisional Government.

Brusilov was promoted to Chief of Staff of the Army, but Kerensky's purpose was not easy to achieve. The Bolsheviks of the parliament firmly opposed the continued war and advocated withdrawal from the war immediately. Even the Russian Social Labor Party had begun to contact the Germans and negotiated the conditions for withdrawal from the war.

But Kerensky convinced most members of the National Duma to pass his offensive plan.

But Brushilov is now suffering from the lack of troops in his hands. The newly appointed chief of staff knew very well that his Southwest Front was now depressed and could not fight at all. If he really fought, he might collapse at any time. But he immediately discovered that the Northwest Front and the Western Front were even more unreliable. Most of the army was short of more than a quarter of its staff, and many army was now in the hands of the pro-Soviet regime's soldiers committee and did not obey orders at all.

Finally, Brusilov realized that he could only rely on the Southwest Front to launch a limited offensive.

The Russian 8th Army, which was fighting on the front line of Vinnica, collapsed on the third day after the start of the July Battle. This Russian heavy army, which had not suffered major losses on the Eastern Front, began to collapse as soon as the Austro-Hungarian Army exchanged fire with the Austro-Hungarian Army.

The Austro-Hungarian 2nd Army and the Ukrainian Legion advanced southeast from Hermelitz along the Southbug River. The 1st and 4th Army, together with the 9th and 11th Army, broke through the Russian defense line of Zhitomir and approached Kiev. On the northern line, the 5th and 12th German Army advanced from Riga to Petrograd, and the 8th and 1st Army, had begun to siege Minsk.

On the southern front, the 3rd, 5th and 11th Army of Austro-Hungary were just transferred from the Western front, and the Romanian army crossed the Transnistria River together, pointing to the lower reaches of Odessa and the Southbug River. More and more German and Austrian troops were transferred from France to the battlefield on the Eastern front, and the British had retreated to the mainland, while the remaining Russian Republic itself was unable to cope with the heavy blows of the German and Austrian coalition forces.

The Russian "special legion" did not resist at all. He retreated thirty-five miles from Vinnica overnight, leaving the Austro-Hungarian army far behind. The panicked commander of the army, General Lechsky, even moved the headquarters to the east of the Sinuha River. Now no orders issued by him have any effect. The infantry and cavalry divisions under his command are fleeing back frantically without resisting at all.

The day on July 13 was relatively easy. The Russian army retreated very quickly and ran far away. The Austrians could no longer catch up with them. But there was only a moment of breathing. At dusk, there was another rumbling sound of cannons from the direction where the guards were located in the west. After a while, a cavalry rushed to the headquarters with intelligence.

The infantry general's heart was raised again, and the Cossack Cavalry Division, who served as the rear guard, fought again on the Uman line. And suddenly there was no movement at the headquarters.

Petrograd was in turmoil again, and the offense initiated by Kerensky suffered a crushing defeat.

The Social Labor Party organized hundreds of thousands of workers and soldiers marched in the capital, attempting to overthrow the provisional government and take the regime into the hands of the Soviets. Kornilov, commander of the Petrograd Military Region, led his troops back to the capital from the front line and implemented martial law. Prince Liwoff resigned, the provisional government was reorganized, and Kerensky became the head of the provisional government. Brusilov became the scapegoat for failure and was removed from the commander-in-chief of the army, and Kornilov became the new commander-in-chief.

The domestic situation is turbulent, and no one is still concerned about the situation on the front line.

The exhausted General Lechsky looked pale and listless, and he was unable to say a word. After experiencing countless battles over the past three years, he stayed in the position of commander of the army, and exchanged them among the army. Although his qualifications were mediocre, he was always cautious and never made a big mistake like Samzonov and Rutsky that he had surrounded and annihilated the entire army by the enemy.

Now, he finally felt despair.

Russia's disaster was caused by internal disasters, and since the overthrow of the Tsar, it has been doomed to begin the Russian nightmare.

He fell ill. Before he fell asleep, he subconsciously murmured in his mouth: "Go to Ekaterino... to Ekaterino..."

Chief of Staff Stavk decisively issued an order according to the general's wishes: "The entire army retreats, retreat to the right bank of the Dnieper River!"

The general was carried into the car, and then his headquarters came without rushing to pack up, and he hurriedly began to retreat in dozens of cars.

The entire 8th Army collapsed, and the retreating crowds surged eastward in the chaos and noise.

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Chapter completed!