On the Ukrainian front, at the newly established Southern Front Army Headquarters of the Buru Army, Marshal Budyonny, the commander, and General Zaporozhets, the Political Commissar, were discussing their next military operation. The orders from Moscow were extremely urgent, demanding that they launch an offensive as soon as possible.
However, Marshal Budyonny was not a rash man. Ukraine's voluntary abandonment of Rostov-on-Don in particular had made him feel an immense threat. Moreover, although the Southern Front Army had three army corps and one independent Infantry Corps under its command, with a total strength of more than six hundred thousand men, the 12th Army Corps was still on its way south and could not be relied upon for the time being.
Previously, most Buru generals had not taken Ukraine seriously, believing the Ukrainian army's combat strength was abysmal and not worth worrying about. Yet in the previous battle, the Ukrainian army had reached Rostov-on-Don in two days and captured it in only another two, forcing everyone to face up to their combat effectiveness. Even if the troops defeated by the Ukrainian army had merely been second-line units of the Buru Army, it was still something to be wary of. It was precisely from this that Marshal Budyonny concluded that the Ukrainians' fighting strength was no longer what it had once been.
"Comrade Marshal, Comrade Joseph has demanded that we launch an offensive within a week. Three days have already passed. How much longer are we going to wait?" General Zaporozhets asked with some dissatisfaction.
As a political officer personally promoted by Joseph, Zaporozhets was utterly loyal to him. In fact, the political officers within these forces were precisely the tools Joseph used to control the military. They might possess no military talent, and might be more likely to ruin things than