The General Staff in Moscow was lifeless, not at all angry, and although it was a hot and energetic summer day outside the window, the command headquarters was as solemn as winter, and the faces of everyone who came in and out were as gloomy as frost. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Originally, under the "wise" deployment of Comrade Stalin, the Red Army blocked the passage of the German army with the unbelievable method of refugees, including the old, weak, sick and disabled abandoned by the Bolsheviks, the people who were too late to retreat due to the rapid advance of the German army, and the number of people who went into hiding but reappeared, the total number of which had exceeded 1.2 million, and it is reported that it is still increasing, and may exceed 2 million at most.

This put tremendous pressure on the Germans, forcing them to halt their offensive and consume their hard-won food, and the guerrillas interspersed with them caused all sorts of law and order incidents, forcing the enemy to act as an occupying force in order to maintain order - the strongest mechanized assault corps was held back by the weakest peasants. The Russians did not yet know that Hoffman had officially issued an order that the Summer Thunder program be suspended until August 1, depending on the situation.

Everyone waited for the retreating troops to adjust their deployment in time and build a new line of defense as soon as possible, no matter what, to support until the winter break came. The Germans could not open up the situation on the central battlefield, but they went on a killing spree in the Caspian Sea and the hinterland of Central Asia - the thunder stopped, but the sharp arrows did not.

The geographical environment of the Gobi in Central Asia is somewhat similar to the desert of North Africa, and the troops under the command of Rommel quickly found the feeling of galloping, unlike North Africa, the supplies here in the Caspian Sea can be fully guaranteed, and a large number of ships, giant ME-323D transport planes, and medium-sized AR-232C transport planes shuttle back and forth, jointly supporting the entire supply line. In the past, the Junkers Ju-52 transport aircraft, which was commonly used by the German army, officially withdrew from the stage of history. But the Junkers company is not disappointed, these transport planes are the same as the Air Force's main medium bomber, the Ju-188, with 1,800 hp Jumo-213E liquid-cooled engines.

Feng Shui takes turns, now the hottest engine company is BMW, BMW801 series has become a well-deserved master, 901 series also has a large group of aircraft waiting to be used, the saddest days are replaced by Mercedes-Benz company, their DB engine series in addition to meeting a small number of foreign BF-109 orders, can only guard the HE-218 order, Dr. Tan Ke is in the next generation of mainstream piston fighter TA-152 used the latest DB603, And the Ministry of Armaments also placed an order for 5,000 aircraft, but unfortunately it will not be launched until at least the fall, and Mercedes-Benz can only look at the orders for FW-190 and ME-262 and drool but can't do it.

There are a lot of discerning people in the aviation industry, we all know that the Japanese military will become a second big market in the future, although Henkel is trying his best to innovate on the HE-218, but if the JU-198, which integrates dive bombing and horizontal attack, is officially put into service, it will definitely be the first choice of the Japanese side, and even if the HE-218 does not withdraw from the historical stage, the scope of use and the number of orders will be greatly limited, so Mercedes-Benz will continue to pay the price for the original arrogance and short-sightedness.

Only a week after Rommel's successful landing, with the cooperation of Iranian troops, the success was jaw-dropping: most of the western part of Turkmenistan and a small part of the western half of Uzbekistan were occupied. Wherever the Iranian and German troops went, they were warmly welcomed by the peoples of Central Asia, and in many cases before the German troops even arrived, the local population had spontaneously risen up to overthrow the Bolshevik regime, and the remaining local units of the Red Army fled. It gave the illusion that it was not a battle, but an armed march.

The Germans found Central Asia completely empty and undefended, as intelligence suggested, until 24 July, when the Caspian assault group had advanced 400 kilometers to the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea, before encountering the first large regular army to arrive. What is ironic is that it is actually the 7th Cavalry Army.

Rommel's armored troops and overhead planes quickly turned the cavalry unit, which had made great achievements in the Russian Civil War, into groups of corpses, and finally all the horses that were alive were used by the Germans to transport supplies, and the horse corpses became food for the ethnic minorities of Central Asia.

Subsequently, with the support of the two countries, various independent regimes began to emerge, with the Republic of Turkmenistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan declaring independence one after another, and Pahlavi was not polite, directly assigning more than 200,000 square kilometers and nearly 500,000 tribal populations on the border with Iran into Iranian territory. The Iranian newspaper in Tehran, unable to hide the thrill of revenge, wrote with a large headline: "It's time for us to settle the scoreline with Stalin!" ”

In the occupation of the central oasis zone, 500 kilometers from the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea, on the border between Turkmen and Uzbekistan, the Caspian assault group finally encountered some resistance, but this resistance looked more like an act of helplessness in a dying struggle. From the successful landing to the eventual occupation of the oasis, Rommel brought out the characteristics of the desert fox to the fullest, and seemed to repeat the scene of the North African rush.

Faced with a large number of lost territories on the map and constant news of the independence and uprisings of ethnic minorities, Stalin finally could not sit still, summoned Vasilevsky and Zhukov, and asked them sharply what they could do to deal with it.

"There is no good way now, the troops on the Central Asian side are no match for the enemy's armored forces at all, and they can only be sent to death in vain, and the fate of the 7th Cavalry Army has already taught us." Zhukov sighed and said, "Our troop deployment in this direction is really empty, except for the northern part of the Caspian Sea, there is also a reserve army, within the current 500 kilometers of Central Asia, there is no other way to plug the leak." ”

"You mean that the enemy will always be entrenched in Central Asia, and then incite all sorts of bad elements to break away from the alliance, and then the next turn will be to occupy Tashkent, Dushanbe, Almaty and other big cities, and then what awaits us will be the erosion of the entire hinterland?" Stalin was furious, "And you don't do anything, you don't even dare to send army groups to intercept it?" ”

"It's useless, we sent planes to reconnoiter the enemy's movements, he has at least 6-80,000 armored troops, and 8-100,000 Iranian infantry to cooperate, not to mention 1 group army, even 2 group armies can't beat it."

"Then send three, four, or even five."

"We don't have so many troops, and if I draw troops from the direction of Stalingrad, the enemy will definitely take advantage of the situation, and then it will not be Central Asia that will be eroded, but the entire southern front."

Stalin was anxious: "This will not work, that will not work, what are you going to do?" ”

"Two. On the one hand, the transfer of troops from the Far East, which is ready to continue to transfer 30-400,000 troops to make up for the losses on the front, and now that the Japanese army has begun to attack India, I think there is no danger in the Far East in the short term; On the other hand, it is necessary to continue to implement the policy of luring the enemy deep and lengthening the enemy's supply lines. ”

Stalin was noncommittal to the former suggestion, to which the forces in the Far East would soon be reduced to less than 1 million if Zhukov's method of drawing blood was followed, to which he instinctively frowned and asked: "When will it be counted, as the enemy will pose a great threat to our Ural industrial regions once the enemy occupies Central Asia." ”

"It's almost when the enemy goes to attack Tashkent, Dushanbe, Almaty and other big cities."

"You!" Stalin slapped his table and was furious: of the three cities, the Germans were more than 800 kilometers from the nearest Dushanbe, and 1,500 kilometers from Almaty, the farthest - farther than from Warsaw to Moscow.

Seeing that Zhukov was about to quarrel with Stalin, Vasilevsky immediately interjected: "Comrade General Secretary, can I ask how the armistice negotiations are going?" ”

"Should this be your concern?" Stalin glanced at him coldly, and the latter was immediately silenced.

"But it doesn't hurt to tell you." Stalin thought about it, and finally decided to make a statement, "Comrade Molotov has flown to Sofia (the capital of Bulgaria) to start secret negotiations with Ribbentrop, but it is not going well, the Germans are asking for a truce on the basis of the existing front, and they also want me to recognize the independence of the Central Asian countries, is this a condition that can be easily agreed?" ”

Zhukov paused for a moment, and now he finally understood how sinister the intention of the German side to put forward a 500-kilometer retreat from the existing front: wherever the German troops opened a gap, 500 kilometers of territory would immediately disappear, and it was no wonder that Comrade Stalin was so disgusted by the strategy of "luring the enemy into the depths" -- every kilometer of retreat was like digging meat into the Russian body.

"About Leningrad?"

"The other side agreed in principle to a ceasefire, but the Germans took advantage of the situation to raise the refugee issue and demanded that we must allocate food according to the standard of 2 million people...... Hell, if I had so much food, would the people still be hungry? ”

Vasilevsky hit the nail on the head: "It seems that the enemy does not have the sincerity of the armistice negotiations. ”

"No, you're wrong." Zhukov shook his head, "The enemy is not insincere, the enemy just doesn't want a truce in the summer." ”

"How soon will it take for the troops from the Far East to be deployed in the direction of Central Asia?"

"It may take half a month, and if it goes well, we can launch a counterattack in early September." Zhukov made a suggestion, "Do you consider communicating with the Germans once, they will help solve the problem of the refugees, and we will first return the sick and disabled prisoners of war to the German army - anyway, they cannot be used in battle, simply put them back to the enemy to increase their burden, and it will be a waste of food to stay here anyway." ”

It took a long time for Stalin to reluctantly nod his head: "I will give an account to Comrade Molotov, the central battlefield is put aside for the time being, and you must give priority to solving the Central Asian problem - I don't want to hear about independence here or there again after September." ”

At the end of this volume, please continue reading the next volume, "Stirring: The Enduring Contest". (To be continued.) )