My soldiers are all Fourth Calamities!

35. Our enemy to the south

At five o'clock in the morning, Korosken.

In the lounge, Rochester leaned back in his chair, his fingers interlaced and resting on his chin, his gaze fixed intently on a point in the void.

He was deep in thought.

The situation was not as clear as he had anticipated.

In the original historical record, Denikin should have already been defeated and exiled by now.

But not only did he not flee, he was even able to launch an attack, which shows that the timeline has shifted.

If I had to pinpoint how to change it...

It's possible that the Allied powers intensified their intervention, providing far more arms and supplies than expected...

Judging from the soldier's knife wound, it was most likely the work of a Don Cossack.

Historically, although the Don Cossacks were still part of the White Army, they had huge differences in political demands with Denikin's "Southern Russian Armed Forces," and the two sides often appeared to be on the surface but were actually at odds.

If they can work closely together, it is likely that Denikin made a huge political compromise.

Or perhaps in this world, he achieved internal integration through individual combat capabilities similar to those of "Astartes".

Judging from the situation in the village, such extreme measures usually serve two purposes:

One method is to quickly suppress resistance forces in the rear through fear.

Secondly, its troops may have been composed of a large number of undisciplined bandits or foreign mercenaries who urgently needed to maintain morale through looting and killing.

"Commander Rochester, urgent call from headquarters." The orderly's voice interrupted Rochester's thoughts.

"I'm coming right now."

At this moment, in the command post, dozens of generals of all ranks were crowded around a table with a map on it. Many of them were wearing power armor, and if they turned around slightly, they would bump into or scrape against the armor of others, making a crisp metallic sound.

On Timoshenko's desk were numerous instructions from the rear and several intelligence reports brought back by scouts. Several staff officers were reporting this information to those present.

"Just as Comrade Joseph said, the Vistula Federation still has a large reserve force, and the Kharkov newspaper 'Red Winter Party' has also published Comrade Joseph's warnings about some dangerous signs."

Several people were divided into a group, and each person received a newspaper called "Red Winter Party Newspaper".

Please turn to page two...

Rochester's gaze swept quickly across the page, and a familiar name caught his eye—Peter Wrangel.

That makes perfect sense now.

The image of this person came to Rochester's mind.

Peter Wrangel, a descendant of a German baronial family, graduated from the Russian General Staff Academy in his early years and joined the army in 1902.

Having experienced the Russo-Japanese War and World War I, he rose to the rank of cavalry corps commander. After the October Revolution, Wrangel fled to Crimea.

In the original history, he joined the "Volunteer Army" under Denikin and, based on his military achievements, served as commander of a cavalry division, corps commander, commander of the White Army in the Caucasus, and even commander of the "Volunteer Army".

However, due to profound disagreements with Denikin on strategy and power, he was ostracized and forced into exile.

Until Denikin's White Army was on the verge of collapse, Wrangel, with the support of the Allied Powers, was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the "Russian Army" in Crimea in a time of crisis.

To maintain morale, he resorted to extreme measures: he allowed his subordinates to plunder, rape, and divide the loot among themselves, and he often forced survivors to choose between "joining the army or dying" by publicly executing prisoners.

Ultimately, under the cover of the Allied fleet, he led 14.5 White Guards and their families in a hasty retreat to Türkiye, marking the basic end of the main battles of the civil war.

Rochester pondered, but as things stood, both men were still alive.

Putting Wrangel's matter out of his mind, Rochester turned his attention back to The Red Winter.

Our victories on the front against the Vistula Federation are undeniable. These victories will undoubtedly continue to expand. However, it would be unwarranted arrogance to believe that the Vistula Federation is essentially finished and that our future is merely a "march on Warsaw."

This kind of complacency, which undermines the perseverance of our staff and fosters a self-satisfied attitude detrimental to our work, is unrealistic.

This is not only because the Vistula Federation has reserves within its borders, which it will undoubtedly deploy to the front lines, nor only because the Vistula Federation is not fighting alone, but also because it has the full support of the Allied Powers against Russia.

[Moreover, the primary reason is the emergence of a new ally of the "Vistula Federation"—Wrangel—in our rear, who intends to sabotage our gains against the "Vistula Federation."]

We shouldn't comfort ourselves with the hope that Wrangel won't respond to the "Vistula Federation."

Wrangel has already contacted the Vistula Federation and is cooperating with them.

"The Inspirer of the Wrangel Bandits—as written in a June issue of the Sevastopol-based Schürgen newspaper 'Granivos':"

"Undoubtedly, we are supporting the Vistulaic Federation with our own offensive because we are tying down a portion of the Bolshevik forces that were originally intended to be transferred to the Vistulaic Federation front. Equally undoubtedly, the Vistulaic Federation is also strongly supporting us with its own campaigns. We need neither sympathy nor hatred for the Vistulaic Federation; we should only follow a calm political plan. It is in our favor to unite with the Vistulaic Federation against our common enemy today, and as for tomorrow… we'll see tomorrow."

Clearly, the Wrangel front is a continuation of the Vistula Federation front, the only difference being that Wrangel operates behind our forces who are fighting the Vistula Federation, that is, in the most dangerous place for us.

Therefore, it would be ridiculous to say that the "march on Warsaw" and in general that our victory was secure before the danger to Wrangel had been eliminated.

Moreover, Wrangel's power is growing, and we see no particularly significant measures being taken to deal with the growing danger from the south.

We need to remember Wrangel.

As we launched an offensive campaign against the "Vistula Federation", our battle line formed an arc, with the arc pointing westward and both ends forward, with the southern end in the Rivno region and the northern end in the Mologecino region.

This is called the encirclement of the Vistula Federation army, which is the situation that poses the greatest threat to the Vistula Federation army.

Undoubtedly, the Allied Powers were aware of this situation, and therefore tried every means to drag Romania into the war against Russia, frantically sought new allies for the Vistula Federation, supported Wrangel with all their might, and tried their best to save the people of the Vistula Federation.

It is entirely possible for the Allied Powers to find new allies for the Vistula Federation.

There is no reason to doubt that Russia will be able to find the strength within itself to fight back against new enemies.

However, one thing must be remembered: as long as Wrangel remains intact, as long as Wrangel poses a threat to our rear, our front will not be secure, and our victory on the anti-Vistula Federation front will not be consolidated.

Only by eliminating Wrangel can we consider our victory over the Vistula landowners guaranteed.

Therefore, the Party should inscribe its new slogan on its flag: "Remember Wrangel!" "Destroy Wrangel!"