"I'm going to hang them all......" roared from the Kremlin, sending shivers down the spine of everyone who heard.

Comrade Stalin's temper has been extremely bad in recent days, and according to the summary of information from various quarters, the Soviet High Command was horrified to find that the Germans on the opposite side had suddenly formed a combined force composed of prisoners of war, including a total of 11 divisions (4 in the three Baltic states, 3 in the Russian Liberation Army, 2 in Ukraine, 1 in the Cossacks, and 1 in Belarus), which included not only the ethnic minorities that Comrade Stalin had always been not comfortable with, but also the political hostile elements of the Red Army -- the Russian Liberation Army. It is said that the Germans are further increasing their efforts to recruit puppet troops, the second batch of mobilized troops of the Russian People's Liberation Army has 3 divisions, the second batch of mobilized troops of Ukraine has 3 divisions, Belarus, Cossacks and even the Baltic countries are forming a second batch of armies, and by next spring the Red Army may encounter more than 20 divisions of puppet army units composed of Red Army prisoners of war. All of these units were built according to the German master system, and one division was equivalent to three divisions of the Red Army, and it was also composed of veterans of the Red Army, and the level of combat effectiveness would definitely surpass the current 60 Red Army divisions. The thought of 60 "former Red Army divisions" coming at me in the future made everyone feel their scalps tingle.

What made people even more angry was the secret report from the front from the Ministry of Internal Affairs: how could Comrade Stalin not be furious when many troops and officers below believed that the root cause of this situation was the blind command and bastard orders from above?

"Comrade Konstantin, when will our counterattack be launched, I remember that I have postponed it twice for you."

"Comrade Stalin. I am afraid that it will be a few more days, many troops have not yet been put in order, and the Germans have launched diversionary attacks in many parts of the front line. They relied on the superiority of their armored forces to attack quickly, looking for weak points in our defensive line to carry out a surprise attack, and once we mobilized reserves to plug the leak, their attack spearhead turned in other directions, and the front commander struggled to deal with it, forcing the high command to continuously draw troops that had just been reorganized to support, which also slowed down our actions. ”

The Battle of Uranus was supposed to take place this week. But Zhukov repeatedly asked for an extension on the grounds that the troops were not ready, the first by 4 days, and the second by 3 days. The attacking troops that had been raised with great difficulty were drawn over to plug the leaks in the other defensive lines, which made him very embarrassed.

"We are difficult, but the enemy is no less difficult than ours." Stalin tapped his fingers on the table and said solemnly. "They support so many puppet troops just to make up for the lack of field troops on the front line. Comrades from other sources and I have reported that Italy, Romania, and Hungary have withdrawn their troops because of the heavy losses they have suffered under our blows, and the enemy's front-line forces have been greatly reduced, and now the puppet army is also in the stage of rectification, and this is a good time for us to attack -- if we let them form a climate, the difficulties for the generals will be even greater. ”

However, the Germans transferred their own troops to strengthen the front line, and coupled with the factor of retreating the front, the enemy's front-line strength was actually increased after the fascist servant army was reduced. Our troops could no longer choose the more easily successful servant army units in the attack, and could only fight the Germans head-to-head. This has hindered the implementation of our action plan......"

Zhukov patiently explained a bunch of reasons, but Stalin obviously did not listen, and he raised his voice: "You must not only look at the whole war from a military point of view, but also have a political vision, and the offensive is imperative......"

After the establishment of the Russian Liberation Army and the Russian National Liberation Council, Vlasov, who was quite thoughtful, first stepped up propaganda efforts against the Soviet troops in front of him to break the morale of the Red Army, which Zhukov also saw the relevant briefing:

Three days earlier, a whole regiment of 453 on the front, under the leadership of the deputy commander, had defected to the enemy's line under the pretext of transferring troops; Two days ago, deceived by the enemy's propaganda and the contradictions accumulated in peacetime, a major tank battalion commander instigated his subordinates to kill the brigade commander and brigade political commissar and then led 23 tanks to defect; In the past few days, because of the news that the enemy is advocating national freedom, disbanding collective farms, and distributing land, the morale of the front-line soldiers has been turbulent, and the morale of the officers and men from poor backgrounds, especially those of ethnic minorities, has been fluctuating. Rumors (in fact, true) that the Germans allowed Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian deserters living in German-occupied areas to return home, and sporadic deserters continued to emerge from the troops; In addition to the Army, due to the appearance of two successive Air Force Meritorious Pilots and Heroes of the Soviet Union in the camp of the puppet army, the Air Force has also changed its mind, and in recent days there have been planes that have defected to the positions of the Germans in recent days.

This scene made Stalin want to carry out the magic weapon imported from China - the "Revolutionary Soldiers' Joint Sitting Law", but only under the persuasion of Zhukov, Timoshenko and Molotov and others did not put it into action, but even so, the murderous internal affairs troops still carried out a round of purge of the army, and those officers who usually complained and complained about their superiors were suspended from their posts preventively, and if this person was still a minority, the suspicion would be even greater; As for the different opinions raised in the discussion on the operational policy, the slightly more conservative approach may be labeled as capitulationism and vacillationism. Fortunately, it was a time of war, and Stalin's brain was not completely broken, so he only asked the Ministry of Internal Affairs to strengthen the screening and arrest of troops, and not to shoot officers on the spot, except for ordinary soldiers, and any order to shoot officers above the rank of major must be signed by Stalin himself before it could be given. Even so, there were quite a few incidents, with two colonels, seven majors, lieutenant colonels, and more than a dozen lieutenants either resisting arrest by force, committing suicide on the spot, or simply absconding, causing a great uproar in morale and public opinion.

This is also the reason why Zhukov repeatedly postponed the launch of the offensive, he thought that Stalin did not know the specific situation, but after thinking about it, he realized that he was too naïve, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs kept a close eye on these situations, and the slightest disturbance would be reported, how could Comrade Stalin not know?

"The arrogance of the enemy must be defeated!" Stalin slapped the table and shouted, "Comrade Konstantin, I don't care what difficulties you have, no matter how well you are prepared, two days later, on October 22, a large-scale offensive on the front must be launched, and the first goal is to seize the rebel base of Rostov-on-Don." ”

Zhukov was silent.

"In addition, the Americans have recently reduced their supplies and supplies to us, and at first I thought that they had diverted their supply forces, but after digging deeper, I realized that because we had not engaged in a large-scale battle with the Germans for a month and a half, the British and Americans, especially President Roosevelt, were deeply puzzled by us, and believed that there was a problem with our will to continue fighting, so they suspended supplies, and ......" Stalin was silent for a while before he continued. The news of the peace conveyed by Boris III and the news of the hope for Soviet-German peace conveyed by the Japanese ambassador were not known to the Americans, and the US ambassador was very nervous and had already come three times in a row to ask about the exact situation, Comrade Molotov was very passive, his diplomatic work was very passive, and our voice for US aid could not be heard. ”

Zhukov thought to himself: You agree with the idea of conditional peace, you want to take the benefits of Britain and the United States, and you want to negotiate with the Germans with dignity, and you don't want to be known by the people below, where do so many good things come from?

Of course, the political experience of the past decade has taught Zhukov a truth: the orders of the iron leaders cannot be hard-topped. After thinking for a while, he replied: "Dear Comrade Stalin, can you give another three days of grace, because the weather forecast says that during this period the southern front will experience a large-scale cold snap, the ground will be firmer, and it will be conducive to giving full play to the power of the tanks, and our advantages in winter operations can also be brought into play." October 25 **** guarantees a large-scale offensive, and if it is delayed any longer, you can ask for my head. ”

As soon as Zhukov said this, Stalin's face softened, and he waved his hand to comfort this right-hand man and said: "Dear Comrade Konstantin, the situation is not as serious as you think, you say that the 25th will be the 25th, and it is not bad to wait for a few more days after so many days." Don't worry about the Americans, as long as we fight, they will not stand idly by, and the supplies and supplies that should be given to us will not be less, they will not be able to bargain for me......"

"There's one more thing I'd like to hear from you." Stalin suddenly changed his words and said something else: "The ambassador to the United States told me that Denikin, the former tsarist general in exile in the United States, had made contact with our diplomats through secret channels, and he expressed his willingness to serve the Soviets and to encourage the whole population to fight the Germans to the end. If he was willing to come out and work for us, would the commanders and fighters of the Red Army have an opinion? ”

"Denikin?" Zhukov recalled this long-sealed name, and was shocked, "He wants to join the party?" ”

"It is not known what exactly he wanted, it was impossible to join the party, and it may be a little difficult to participate in the Soviet power, but there was no problem in giving him the title of a patriotic general. You know, I don't expect him to come here to command the troops to fight, mainly to use his influence among the White Russians and the American diaspora, on the one hand, to ask them to refuse to pay attention to the co-optation of that traitor to Vlasov, and on the other hand, to find a way to get us some aid abroad. ”

"It's not impossible." Zhukov replied slowly, "At least the civil war has passed so long, the veterans who experienced that war have long since retired, and the officers who are still serving are at least middle-level officers, and they should have enough political consciousness to understand this matter." ”

"If you agree, I will arrange the follow-up, you only need to be responsible for fighting the battle of 'Uranus' - the party and the people are watching you!" (To be continued.) )