My soldiers are all Fourth Calamities!

36. Don't miss any opportunity to express yourself.

After everyone finished reading the contents, they put down their newspapers and their eyes all turned to the huge military map in the center of the table.

Timoshenko's chief of staff rose and walked to the table, emphasizing the map with his finger: "The remnants of the enemy we defeated yesterday have regrouped twenty kilometers from us. Just as Comrade Joseph predicted, the 'Vistulas' have made contact with the remnants of Wrangel and Denikin."

"Moreover," the chief of staff paused, his tone growing increasingly grave, "the Vistulas have received substantial reinforcements. The threat from the south is also escalating; Denikin and Wrangel's group seem to have received even more supplies… but these are not the worst of it."

The chief of staff paused for a moment, then scanned everyone present. "We have confirmed that the enemy's 'Peace Cathedral' land-based warship has appeared on the battlefield."

Land-based warships?

ha?

A deathly silence fell over the command center.

The fatal flaws of this new regime are now fully exposed—it lacks a strong industrial base and basic magical technology, and even its most fertile grain-producing areas are now in grave danger.

For most of the Alliance's forces, dealing with the enemy's basic knights and heavily armored units (canned goods) was already a struggle.

When land-based warships, true behemoths of war, descend upon the battlefield, even the formidable Budyonny First Cavalry Corps struggles to find a way to contend with them.

The silence in the command room was broken by a young voice.

"Commander, should we... what should we do now?"

This was followed by another hesitant echo: "How about... we retreat? Our troops are simply no match for the enemy's land-based warships."

"Do you have specific information about that land-based warship? What kind of power source does it use? Are there any countermeasures?... What did Army Group West say? What instructions did Comrade Joseph give?"

Timoshenko ignored the clamor and looked at his chief of staff: "What would happen if we retreated?"

The chief of staff drew several lines on the map with his finger. "The strategic intentions of the enemy's land-based warships are currently unclear. If they are heading towards Moscow, we need to immediately support Army Group West; but if... their target is Kiev, then the situation is different."

The chief of staff drew a line between "Kolostyan" and "Kiev" with his finger: "We are only a little over a hundred kilometers away from Kiev. Once that land warship breaks through the Korosten defenses, the enemy's mechanized forces can advance straight into the heart of Kiev along the railway line."

Timoshenko stared at the crisscrossing railway network on the map, his brows furrowed deeply.

Although the historical trajectory has changed, it can still be used as a general reference.

Besides, Rochester now needs to prove himself; if the Cheka can target him once, they can target him a second time.

As mentioned before, we need to find ways to increase our own cost value and not miss any opportunity to showcase ourselves.

Besides the above, and most importantly, the person here is Timoshenko!

And this is the most important key!

He is not the kind of person who cannot accept that others are better than him.

If it weren't for Timoshenko, Rochester might not have dared to make such a bold move.

Examples include Georgy Zhuko during World War II and General Pavlov, whose performance was extremely poor in the early stages of the Soviet-German War.

The former strongly disliked subordinates stealing the limelight. His attitude towards Konstantin Rokossovsky was a prime example.

Rokossovsky performed outstandingly in battles such as the Battle of Warsaw, but Zhukov, in order to highlight his own achievements, often deliberately concealed Rokossovsky's victories, and even downplayed them when reporting to the Supreme Command, taking credit for himself.

The latter, General Pavlov, was hot-tempered and stubborn.

He deeply disliked subordinates who were more capable than him and offered different opinions.

Timoshenko was undoubtedly a talent scout, as he was very willing to promote capable junior commanders.

The previously mentioned Konstantin Rokossovsky was the one he unearthed. During the Winter War, he was on the verge of being investigated because of his background (his father was Polish) and his past arrest.

When Timoshenko took command of the Winter War, he astutely recognized Rokossovsky's military talent.

Instead of following the trend of the Great Purge to suppress Rokossovsky, he defied public opinion and saved Rokossovsky from the investigation list, and quickly promoted him to commander of the 5th Cavalry Corps.

It was precisely because of Timoshenko's protection and heavy reliance on him that Marshal Rokossovsky later became the highly decorated commander in the Battle of Moscow and the Battle of Stalingrad.

Zhukov, too, was just an ordinary corps commander before 1939. It was Timoshenko who noticed Zhukov's outstanding performance and unique tactical insight in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol (the Battle of Nomonhan).

As the People's Commissar of Defense at the time, Timoshenko highly praised Zhukov's abilities and continuously granted him higher-level command authority during the subsequent reorganization of the army.

Without the early appreciation and paving the way by his "old superior" Timoshenko, Zhukov would have found it difficult to quickly enter the core vision of the Supreme Command at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War.

On the eve of the outbreak of the Soviet-German War, the Soviet Red Army was severely lacking in experienced commanders due to the Great Purge.

After Timoshenko took office as People's Commissar of National Defense, he faced a shortage of qualified personnel in the army and, at great political risk, personally signed the order.

A large number of outstanding officers who had been imprisoned were released and reinstated. Many of these officers were experienced veterans who had been wrongly accused during the Great Purge.

Therefore, in order to survive, Rochester must demonstrate his value to the fullest extent.

Rochester stepped forward, breaking the deadlock: "They're definitely going to attack Kiev."

All eyes immediately focused on him. Rochester continued, "For Denikin and Wrangel, Kyiv, and indeed the whole of Ukraine, is their very source of motivation for survival. If the Vistulas want to win them over and integrate them, they must first help them take Kyiv."

"As for the situation in southern Russia, the core strength of Denikin's volunteer army and Wrangel's troops consisted of officers and Cossacks. Comrade Vladimir once pointed out incisively that this group did not have a deep mass base behind them. They were good at rapid raids and desperate risks, with the aim of creating panic and destruction."

"The most fatal weakness of this kind of army is that it is extremely dependent on logistical supplies."

Rochester walked to the map and pointed to Ukraine. "Look at this land, Ukraine. Let's put it another way, if they want to weaken us, where should they go? Donbas has the coal and steel to sustain the war, and further south are the oil fields of the Caucasus. That's our lifeline."

"Moreover, if they take Ukraine, they can sustain the war through war, as it is a very rich country."

Rochester had a deep understanding of Ukraine's strategic value. The art student who failed his college entrance exams back then preferred to postpone the attack on Moscow in order to launch the Battle of Kiev. One of his core objectives was to seize the resources there to sustain the war machine.

Timoshenko nodded. "Go on."