Ch.24Insane Party

# Ungern Summons the Asiatic Cavalry Division

Though it was night, Baron Ungern sent word to Lieutenant General Anton Denikin that they would mobilize troops for a surprise night attack.

“Listen up! The enemy we face is nothing but a disorganized rabble with large numbers but barely able to hold their weapons properly! Now we’ll give them a good thrashing from behind! Everyone prepare!”

Thousands of cavalry began to move stealthily in the night.

Someone was secretly watching this.

‘That fellow has quite the spirit.’

George S. Patton had rushed to southern Russia with American troops serving as auxiliaries to the Russian White Army as soon as he received Anastasia’s permission.

But now thousands of cavalry were moving in the middle of the night.

This was clearly a scheme by those cunning Slavs to steal Patton’s military achievements.

Although the American forces were few in number, he didn’t want to lose the opportunity to outshine that Ungern fellow.

The solution was obvious, wasn’t it?

“We’re going too! Let’s show those Reds the valor of the United States that we displayed in Europe!”

“Sir, we don’t have weapons.”

“Use the spares we have! And mount machine guns on the trucks!”

“We don’t have enough trucks, sir.”

“Then mount them on wagons!”

Faced with Patton’s absurd demands, the small contingent of American troops—who weren’t even combat forces but merely auxiliary support—tearfully complied with his minimum requirements and followed him.

Thus, the American forces who had reluctantly followed Patton ended up pursuing Ungern.

“Those men? We cannot lose to the Yankees again here!”

The German volunteer forces, who as citizens of a defeated nation had to be cautious, followed with fire in their eyes.

If there were any without strong will, they were the French volunteers.

“This is ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.”

“But isn’t it more peaceful if they go?”

“Better than fighting, I suppose?”

They were still full of discontent after the unsatisfying end to the World War.

Meanwhile…

“Is Ungern insane?”

Lieutenant General Anton Denikin was dumbfounded when he received the sudden notification to mobilize his large force in the middle of the night.

A man commanding merely a few thousand troops was giving orders to a lieutenant general?

But Denikin, who had developed a keen sense while stationed in southern Russia, noticed something.

Following Ungern were American and German forces.

Though the American and German soldiers wore Russian Imperial uniforms at the Grand Duchess’s request, they were moving nonetheless.

If he didn’t act now, he might lose his chance to earn merit.

Anton Denikin mobilized the entire White Army forces of southern Russia.

Bang! Boom! Rat-tat-tat! Bang!

The Bolsheviks stationed near Kyiv (Kyiv) were disoriented by the sounds of artillery and gunfire at dawn.

“These reactionary bastards with their cowardly night attack!”

“That’s rich coming from you, filthy cockroaches!”

The Bolsheviks, who were on the verge of capturing Kyiv, fell into confusion from Ungern’s surprise attack.

Though the Bolsheviks had superior numbers, the 5,000 cavalry with excellent combat experience were formidable.

The American and German forces, arriving late and attacking from different directions, were enough to make the Bolsheviks believe they were being ambushed by a large reactionary army.

This was a new disaster just after they had barely repelled the guerrillas left behind by Makhno.

“I don’t want to die!”

“I surrender!”

“Do you want to die by my gun? Fight now!”

“You go out and fight!”

As they were attacked from all sides in the middle of the night, the conscripted soldiers who didn’t know the enemy’s strength were quick to surrender after witnessing their comrades being swept away.

Though they had prepared for possible surprise attacks, the enemy forces were terrified by the battle cries coming from all directions.

When political officers threatened the soldiers with guns, some soldiers killed the political officers in return.

“Hello?”

“That bastard’s American! The Grand Duchess brought in foreign troops! Ack!”

As the midnight confusion continued, Anton Denikin’s army attacked to finish the job, and overnight, the Bolshevik army suffered a devastating blow.

Surprisingly, the commander-in-chief of this Red Army was Trotsky, who couldn’t come in person due to Stalin’s interference.

The man who led the army was Alexander Yegorov, a field commander who had been a colonel in the Russian Empire before switching to the Red Army. Together with Mikhail Frunze, who was first appointed as the Red Army’s southern commander in Ukraine, they had attacked Ukraine.

Until recently, they had pushed back the British forces and taken control of central Ukraine.

But even he couldn’t handle this large-scale surprise attack.

“These damned reactionaries!”

The battle had already been one of overwhelming numbers.

Yegorov had led his numerically superior army well, but he was completely unprepared for a surprise attack.

How could he have anticipated a night raid? Especially one with cavalry?

Naturally, the Red Army, mostly composed of poorly trained soldiers, struggled against thousands of cavalry pounding the earth in the middle of the night.

Moreover, as the battle progressed, the sound of machine guns firing from unknown locations in the darkness caused many to panic and flee.

Semyon Timoshenko and Semyon Budyonny under his command fought valiantly, but they couldn’t stop the collapsing forces.

Mikhail Frunze’s army came to support Alexander Yegorov, but Yegorov’s forces had long since crumbled. Frunze had to gather them and retreat.

In the end, the Red Army dispatched to capture Ukraine had to withdraw.

“Are you saying we failed in Ukraine too?”

Trotsky, who had planned this attack, couldn’t avoid the political fallout.

# # #

Trotsky gritted his teeth upon receiving reports of the defeat across Ukraine.

“Damn it. Are you saying Comrade Yegorov was no match for Anton Denikin?”

It couldn’t be helped.

Brusilov still refused to cooperate.

After dozens of attempts at persuasion and intimidation, they had finally recruited officers and generals from the imperial era 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 coveting his position from within.

Even Comrade Lenin wasn’t what he used to be.

Whether his faculties were diminishing or for some other reason, Comrade Lenin wasn’t handling these reactionary forces skillfully.

If only Comrade Lenin would suppress Stalin a bit.

Lenin seemed overwhelmed just maintaining the party.

Instead, he was letting Stalin, who was recruiting party officials, stabilize the Communist Party.

‘The Soviet Union is collapsing.’

The revolution is collapsing.

This Soviet state they had established is falling apart.

Considering the formation process of the Soviet Union, it was almost miraculous they had come this far, but now when they were so close—truly so close—this was too much.

They were really almost there, but if it weren’t for that Anastasia woman, those reactionary forces would have collapsed fighting among themselves!

What was this Anastasia woman that she could block their revolution?

The Red Army sent to the Baltic had defeated the White Army, but those were independent White forces unconnected to the Grand Duchess and not their main force.

And now…

Trotsky had to report the failure in Ukraine following Yekaterinburg to Lenin.

Although the commander was Yegorov, it was he who had given the order.

This was nothing to be proud of.

He had to tell Lenin about this defeat, which signified a major crisis for the Soviet Union.

“Comrade Trotsky.”

“Yes, Comrade Lenin.”

“Do you have anything to say about this Ukrainian campaign?”

“Well, that…”

“We’ve only managed to provoke the great powers.”

If they had completely subdued and taken Ukraine, it would be different.

No matter how imperialistic those powers were, they had just finished a war and wouldn’t have troops to spare for Russia.

They should be cautious about the rise of communists within their own borders. They wouldn’t choose to send troops recklessly.

So taking Ukraine was clearly a gamble worth taking.

If they had captured Ukraine and defeated the reactionaries, they could have turned the tide again.

It was a grand plan to use the fertile Ukrainian land as a base to defeat southern Russia and push that Grand Duchess all the way to Vladivostok in Siberia.

Above all…

He wanted to win the hearts of the people and unite the Soviets by achieving victory.

With that alone, the Red Army could be rebuilt many times over.

But they had failed.

And of all opponents, to the White Army reactionaries, not the imperialist powers.

At this rate, the already shaky Soviet Union would be like a tree chopped at its base by the Grand Duchess’s axe.

“Comrade Lenin, we had no other choice. Ukraine was land we absolutely needed to take in order to win.”

“And what was the result? Didn’t we fail? We should have focused more on internal governance. Even considering just the regions not yet fallen to the White reactionaries, we could have rebuilt sufficiently.”

“This was necessary for the legitimacy of the revolution, to show that the revolution is right. If we had tucked our tails between our legs among those imperialists, our revolution would have ended there.”

“Discipline the army for now.”

“Comrade Lenin.”

“Nizhny Novgorod recently fell to Pyotr Wrangel.”

Nizhny Novgorod had fallen.

Nizhny Novgorod was a city close to Moscow.

Its fall meant the path to Moscow was open.

“Then!”

“Now is the time to strengthen Moscow’s defenses. If we lose Moscow, we’ll have to retreat to Petrograd.”

Moscow was essentially their last stronghold.

Losing it would greatly weaken the Soviet Union.

“Ugh.”

Trotsky gritted his teeth.

“If we just defend, if we can somehow hold Moscow, we might be able to negotiate a ceasefire with those imperialists.”

If they could just keep defending.

Based on that defense line, they could stabilize and potentially reach a ceasefire.

Of course, it was the worst option, but they had no choice if they needed to buy time.

“For now, continue to comfort, persuade, and agitate the people. Incite them by saying the approaching Grand Duchess will push them back into the oppression of Tsarism.”

“Understood.”

Trotsky left Lenin’s office with heavy, dispirited steps.

And then…

He immediately glared at Stalin, who was standing nearby with other comrades.

“Stalin! Why are words about a ceasefire with the reactionaries coming from Comrade Lenin’s mouth?”

“Look at reality. It’s the only option left because you failed.”

“What did you say?”

How dare he say such things!

Who was it that failed to defend Tsaritsyn?

And to say such things with such a shameless and calm face!

“The Grand Duchess’s army attacking Tsaritsyn had tanks.”

“Tanks?”

Hadn’t he heard about this?

He knew everything, including how they fled in fear of those tanks, so why was he repeating the same thing?

“Yes. Tanks flying the Russian Imperial flag. It means Britain and France are already committed to providing tanks. Our trenches were breached instantly by those tanks. We need to recognize reality. The great powers are already deeply involved. Our only way to survive is to hold off the White reactionaries’ attacks until those supporting the Grand Duchess grow tired. By sacrificing the lives of the people.”

This wasn’t the revolution Trotsky had wanted.

This meaningless revolution. He hated this reality where they had to be wary of imperialists.

At this rate, it would be better to fight until death.

Comrade Lenin was acting strange, and Stalin was exploiting it.

A ceasefire with the reactionaries?

Reactionaries who had secured southern Russia.

The Bolsheviks in the Far East had long been suppressed by the reactionaries.

Of course, if they just agreed to a ceasefire now, the Soviet Union could revive someday, but that wouldn’t lead to victory in this civil war.

The Grand Duchess was a dangerous entity.

She was a symbolic figure who could destroy the revolution.

A ceasefire itself meant that the revolution was incomplete.

To reverse this painful reality, they had to defend Moscow at all costs.