Trotsky's face was gloomy. The reports on the refugee issue from the Eastern Front and the Moscow Front were placed on his desk. Pavlov and Yakir were urgently summoned. There was another rush of footsteps outside the office. , Vacetis walked in quickly.
Pavlov thought to himself that Trotsky had just asked about the number of refugees who had entered the Moscow defensive perimeter in the past ten days. The Germans were now driving some Soviets in the occupied areas to Moscow. In the past ten days, there had been more than 300,000 People have entered Moscow. There are 300,000 mouths among 300,000 people. These people will speed up the consumption of food reserves in Moscow. Now Vacetis may have come to report the food consumption situation to Trotsky.
"Comrade Vacetis, the enemy's action of driving refugees into Moscow is a big conspiracy. The purpose is to speed up the food consumption in Moscow. They want to defeat us with hunger!" Trotsky looked very stern and spoke. Exposing Hitler's conspiracy: "Go and give the order to the Internal Security Forces. From now on, no more refugees will be allowed to enter Moscow, not even a single one!"
Vacetis waited until Trotsky had given the order angrily, and then he cautiously said: "Okay, Comrade Trotsky, I will immediately give the order to the internal security forces not to allow new refugees to enter. But now there are many refugees entering the city mixed with the Red Army retreating into Moscow from the Eastern Front. Some of them are Red Army soldiers and family members of cadres. They have no food and are homeless. If they are not allowed to enter Moscow, they may die soon. Outside the city"
"Red Army officers and their families can enter the city, but others cannot. Order the internal security forces to conduct strict screening and not allow any ordinary refugees to sneak into Moscow!"
Trotsky took out his cigarette, lit it and started smoking, but his brows became more and more frowned. There was no doubt that the Red Army had the responsibility to protect the Soviet people. For a long time, the political cadres of the Red Army had educated the officers and soldiers like this - The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army is the army of the Soviet workers and peasants! How can we now force the Soviet people to leave Moscow, where they are quite safe and have food, and go to die in the imperialist-controlled areas? The impact this has on the morale of the troops can be imagined. Moreover, he also ordered that officers and cadres' families be allowed to enter the city. What would ordinary soldiers think of this kind of thing? The Soviet Union has always been a hierarchical country Although I have wanted to change this situation more than once. However, because of the preparation for world revolution, it was pushed and pushed again and again. Until now, the Soviet Union is about to perish, and it is still a highly hierarchical society. I can't say it's a big pity.
"Comrade Vacetis. How are the food reserves in Moscow?" Trotsky put out his cigarette in the ashtray and asked Vacetis again.
"The grain reserve situation is not ideal. It is not yet the autumn harvest, so there is not much inventory in grain warehouses everywhere. Some time ago, we also transported a large amount of grain to Arkhangelsk, and the collapse of the Western Front It was faster than expected, so there was no time to plunder all the grain stored in the collective farms." Vatsedis, the People's Commissar of Defense of the Soviet Union, is now the chief steward of Moscow, and he is responsible for the internal security forces and Moscow's material reserves. He frowned and reported: "So the current stocks in Moscow are less than 1.1 million tons of wheat and oats, and 500,000 tons of potatoes. In addition, there are more than 40,000 tons of bacon, 6,000 tons of butter and cheese. There are also some Canned vegetables.¡±
"Is this the only food left?" Trotsky looked grim. According to the current food rationing standards, a Red Army soldier can get one kilogram of black bread or potatoes a day. Currently, there are at least more than 4 million Red Army soldiers who need supplies from Moscow's reserves. , this part alone consumes at least 4,000 tons of wheat, oats and potatoes every day! The inventory in Moscow is only enough for these people to consume for more than a year. If we also count the millions of Moscow citizens, refugees from various places, and the families of Red Army officers and party members and cadres, it would be good if the existing reserves can last for 8 months! If there are millions or even tens of millions more mouths to eat, Moscow may be out of food before the end of the year!
"No more ordinary refugees can be allowed to flow into Moscow!" Trotsky took a deep breath and ordered: "But we must pay attention to the impact, let the internal security forces set up a checkpoint at the entrance to Moscow, and use the name of interrogating spies to check all the refugees. The refugees were intercepted and taken to a location far away from Moscow for exile, trying to avoid being seen by ordinary Red Army soldiers."
"Comrade Trotsky, what should we do with the refugees who were expelled by the German army from the west and south of Moscow?" Yakir couldn't help but asked: "These refugees were driven directly into the forward positions of our army, and the internal defense troops Where will the checkpoints be located?¡±
"There is no need to set up checkpoints on the west and south sides of Moscow. Give orders to the forward troops to use machine guns to drive away anyone who tries to approach from the enemy's side, regardless of whether they have?Wear German clothes! "
Yakir took a breath, this is asking the Red Army to use machine guns to deal with Soviet civilians! And instead of letting the internal guards do it, let the ordinary Red Army do it!
"Comrade Trotsky," Yakir reluctantly advised: "Ordinary Red Army soldiers may not have such awareness. Now their morale is already very low. If they are allowed to open fire on Soviet civilians again, I'm afraid"
"What are you afraid of?" Trotsky's face turned livid, "Comrade Yakir, aren't you afraid that German devils will disguise themselves as refugees and sneak attack our forward positions?"
"Comrade Trotsky, the Germans expel refugees into the city during the day when visibility is good, and all the refugees walk toward our military positions with their hands raised. It cannot be a German disguise."
Yakir did not dare to tell Trotsky that this kind of expulsion would probably be carried out after prior communication between the frontline officers and soldiers of both sides. The Soviet frontline officers and soldiers would lead the refugees to avoid anti-infantry minefields and move some obstacles to avoid them. Facilitate the passage of refugees.
"No, there are minefields, barbed wire and trenches in front of our army's forward positions. How did these refugees get through? Aren't they afraid of stepping on landmines?" Trotsky was not stupid, and he immediately thought of the trick. "Tell the frontline troops that they must be on strict alert and no one can be allowed to get close to the position. Anyone who violates the order will be punished with treason!"
¡¡
Trotsky¡¯s latest top directive still worked in Moscow. Just that afternoon, such a scene occurred on the front lines of the Soviet defense lines on the west and south lines of Moscow. Countless old Russians and children in ragged clothes and gray faces, who could tell at a glance that they had suffered a lot, crowded outside the barbed wire fences and trenches, staring blankly at several M1910 heavy machine guns that had already been loaded with ammunition chains and pointed their muzzles at them. ! In the trench not far away, someone used a loudspeaker made of rolled iron to announce the orders of the Moscow Front and the Moscow Military Control Commission over and over again.
"Citizens of the Soviet Union! Order from the Moscow Front Command and the Moscow Military Control Commission! No one is allowed to approach the Red Army positions without permission! This is a battlefield and a military restricted area! No trespassing! No trespassing!"
"Citizens of the Soviet Union! You have entered a restricted military area, violated Article 56 of the Soviet Criminal Code, seriously weakened the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, and helped the imperialist enemies! Please leave immediately and do not gather to make trouble again, otherwise you will be punished in accordance with the Moscow Military Regulations will impose severe penalties!¡±
Inside the Soviet trench, an officer in a blue hat was glaring at a gray-haired old man, who was negotiating on behalf of the refugees.
"Citizen! Do you know what you are doing?" Blue Hat said in an angry tone: "You are committing a crime! It is betrayal! You are attacking the Red Army! I give you 5 minutes, leave here immediately! Immediately!"
"Comrade officer! There is nothing we can do!" The old man opposite looked pitiful and cried: "It was the Germans who brought us here with bayonets. Just be okay and let us go. We will go there by ourselves when we enter Moscow. Surrender yourself in Lubyanka Square, that¡¯s all." After saying that, he knelt down to the blue hat on the other side of the trench.
"It's useless to kneel down! I can't let you enter Moscow. This is a death order from above! There are still four minutes left. If you don't leave, we will open fire!" The blue hat became more angry and yelled loudly. Then he turned around and went back into the trench.
The foreign tin trumpet still shouted: "Soviet citizens! You have entered the military restricted area"
"Oh my god! Why is this happening? The Germans don't give us a way to survive, and the Red Army doesn't even give us a way to survive. Why is this!"
"Why not let us enter Moscow? We are all Soviets. Isn't Moscow the capital of the Soviets?"
"Please, let us enter the city, we have been hungry for three days"
The Russian refugees gathered outside the trench were also shouting. They had suffered a lot in the hands of the Germans these days, and now they were being herded like cattle, using machine guns and driven to the Soviet positions outside Moscow. I thought I could see my relatives in the Red Army, but who knew that a machine gun was also set up here, and it didn't look like it was trying to scare people!
"Warning shot! Ready, fire!"
¡°Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta¡¡±
Following the command of the "blue hat" commanding the machine gun, strings of tongues of fire swept over the heads of the Russian refugees with their hands raised. This time it was a warning shot, so they did not directly greet the refugees, but the next time they could It¡¯s hard to say. Seeing that this road was blocked, these Russian refugees had no choice but to turn around and slowly move towards the German position, but there were also mg34 general machine guns there (To be continued)