Chapter 1517 - 44: Sudden Downturn (Part 3)

Chapter 1517: Chapter 44: Sudden Downturn (Part 3)

Popov’s method for recruiting local farmers and integrating them into the base was quite simple: land distribution and rent exemption. To protect their hard-won gains, these farmers inevitably had to stand with Popov’s rural government.

Then, Popov led his troops into fierce battle with the Radovich manor’s guard squad, unlike Chelvrad’s grain requisition team, whose foundation lay in Belaros City and had no rural base.

However, Sir Radovich was a local tyrant, so even though his private armed forces were small in number, they relied on the advantage of the terrain to cause trouble for the guerrillas. In the end, though, outnumbered, Radovich himself and his forces were annihilated by the guerrillas.

Popov then naturally took the defensively well-constructed Radovich manor as the new office location for the rural government.

Meanwhile, at Radovich manor, the guerrillas seized a great quantity of food, Ruble, and even some gold, wealth accumulated and plundered over generations by the Radovich family.

Using this as a foundation, Popov’s forces further expanded, rapidly forming an enemy base led by the Labor Party in the Belaros region.

This was also the first rural base established by the Labor Party in Belarus, having significant reference value for the Russian Labor Party’s activities in Belarus.

Popov’s success quickly caught the attention of the Belarus Labor Party leadership. Soon after, in the Belarus region, the Labor Party began establishing numerous rural bases.

In less than three months, rural bases bloomed across Belarus, and during this process, the Belarus Labor Party leadership surprisingly discovered that by controlling rural areas, they were inadvertently encircling the rebellious urban forces.

Thus, in October 1923, the Belarus Labor Party decisively responded by taking these bases as focal points, frequently striking enemy roads, railways, and strongholds, further shaking the already challenging Polish government’s rule in Belarus.

Apart from the appeal of the Labor Party, Polish rule was inherently unpopular, and with the Labor Party’s leadership, Belarusians became very eager to overthrow Polish domination and expel the Polish from Belarus.

Since October, the situation for Poland and Germany in Belarus began to deteriorate sharply, and the Russian Red Army seized the opportunity to launch a large-scale offensive.

In November, facing enemies from both fronts, Polish and German forces had to plan their withdrawal from Belarus. Due to limited troops, Germany intended to withdraw its main forces back to Polish territory to confront Russia.

This situation arose, apart from the Labor Party’s actions in Belarus, because Germany itself could not divert a large portion of troops to support the Eastern European battlefield.

Thus, after eastern Ukraine, the Russian Labor Party successfully recaptured most of Belarus.

For a time, Russia, viewed by the Western world as an evil Empire, once again became the center of global attention. France took joy in Germany’s setbacks in Eastern Europe, while simultaneously becoming more apprehensive of the Russian Labor Party.

Britain, on the other hand, was glad to see the conflict between Germany and Russia. After all, this was the situation Britain wanted to see at the time of the armistice. The concessions made to Germany were intended to let Germany fight its internal conflict, so Germany and Russia entangled in Eastern Europe would not pose a threat to Britain. Thus, Britain could more comfortably handle challenges outside Europe.

After all, both Germany and Russia were land power countries, while the United States and East Africa, being sea power countries, truly posed significant problems for Britain. Of course, as part of Europe, the British would not allow a superpower to emerge on the Eurasian continent. Now, Germany and Russia stalemating each other was precisely what Britain wished to see.