"Fight a war of attrition, fight a high exchange ratio, deplete our war potential. www.biquge.info"Zhukov stared at Rokossovsky and said word by word.

"Hah!" Rokossovsky laughed, "This is the most ridiculous strategy I've ever heard -- that Germany still wants to fight us for that little potential?" How many people can they die? How much supplies and food can be used for the war? Will the capitalists support Hitler in a long war? ”

"I don't think it's ridiculous, on the contrary, it's a deadly strategy." Zhukov's face was full of sadness, "Since the treacherous attack of the Germans, the war has lasted for 21 months, and not counting civilians, we have lost nearly 9 million troops in total, an average of more than 400,000 a month, and 100,000 a week. ”

"So many?" Rokossovsky was stunned, "Comrade Stalin did not say that we lost 200-3 million people, but at least 1 million Germans were also exterminated." ”

"200-3 million?" Zhukov sneered, "Do you really believe this number? The cumulative number of wounded alone exceeded 3 million. ”

"Most of the wounded were able to return to the front line after treatment."

"Maybe 2 million can be returned, but it is not that they will recover from injuries today and tomorrow, most of them will take 3-6 months, and the wounded who returned from early injuries were basically lost in the subsequent battles." Zhukov sighed, "The base camp organized a large conscription in August last year, and the propaganda department said that more than 95% of the fighters were enthusiastic and spontaneous to enlist, believe it or not?" ”

"I ......" Rokossovsky was speechless, he wanted to say the letter, but when he thought of the bearded soldiers in their 30s and 40s in the army, the second half of the sentence was not enough.

"I can tell you a number, we had a total of 1.4 million children born in 1925 last fall -- 1.4 million in all, don't say you didn't see them."

Rokossovsky's eyes widened, he thought that those child soldiers who were not as tall as rifles were only part of the phenomenon, but he didn't expect the truth to be three cold words - "The light is gone!" ”

"If the situation is urgent, after the summer I will start recruiting children born in 1926. In fact, in the first 15 months we lost more than 7.6 million troops, and if it weren't for the slight reduction in the extent of our losses in this half-year, the average weekly losses would be even more ugly. Zhukov sighed, "The combat effectiveness of the troops now has decreased a lot compared to the pre-war period, even compared with the time when Moscow defended the war - do you know why a large-scale counteroffensive was not launched this winter like last year?" Because Comrade Stalin himself was not confident. ”

This was the first time Rokossovsky had heard such inside information, and he couldn't help but wonder: what did Zhukov mean by telling himself?

"You say that the Germans are incapable of holding out on to a long war, it depends on the occasion and the country with which they are contrasted - the Americans are probably qualified to say this, but we are afraid that we cannot. Since the Polish campaign, the Germans have been fighting the war for three and a half years, and not only have they not shown signs of fatigue, but they have become stronger and stronger - now even the navy can try to compete with the British, can you imagine before the war? Comrade Vasilevsky and I were shocked when we heard the news that the German Navy had rushed out of the North Sea and occupied the Azores. Now the Germans have factories all over Europe to help them produce arms and industrial goods, and they have food and resources from the Middle East, Africa, and Europe for them to squander, and there is no problem of inexhaustibility. As for the casualties, the General Staff estimated them at between 1.5 million and 2 million, and considering that Germany suffered about 6 million casualties in the last war, they are far from the moment when they will not be able to sustain themselves. ”

Rokossovsky was silent, he knew that Zhukov was right: the combat effectiveness of the Red Army had declined very much, and the Germans had almost no effect - the Germans had only 300,000 men to sweep through Africa and the Middle East! On the Eastern Front, it was a medium-sized battle at best, but it was fought so hard that the British Empire lost its armor and could barely take care of itself. Everyone knows that there are four pillars that support the British Empire's global hegemony: the first is the Royal Navy; the second is the Suez Canal and Middle East oil; the third is the Indian subcontinent colony; Fourth, the four Dominions of South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Now the four pillars have been broken two and a half: the Royal Navy has suffered heavy losses, the hegemony in the Mediterranean has been lost, and the absolute sea supremacy in the North Sea is difficult to maintain; The Suez Canal and oil were all gone; The Indian Ocean route is almost cut off; Only the four Dominions seem to have little impact, and they are still desperately transfusing blood to their home countries.

The reason why the 300,000 German troops can sweep through Africa and the Middle East is because of some irreproducible conditions: on the one hand, the 300,000 are all drawn from the elite ace army; On the other hand, the Japanese Combined Fleet joined the battlefield -- without the Combined Fleet simply clearing the Indian Ocean and blockading the relevant sea areas, the German army would not have been able to achieve victory in the short term.

"So, do you think that Germany's strategy has changed from a massive siege of cities to a continuous war of attrition or annihilation?"

"No, a suffocation war, to be exact! The Germans are suffocating our war potential. In terms of military population alone, we still have 9 million troops in our hands, which is about 1.5 times the size of Germany, but unfortunately in actual battles, we often lose 1:4 and 1:5, and this advantage is difficult to maintain. Of course, it does not mean that without these 9 million troops we are completely finished, and it is no problem to drive the Soviets crazy and pull another 9 million, the problem is that we cannot provide enough military resources for these 18 million people. Zhukov earnestly explained, "Lately I have been thinking about the strategic shift of Germany, vaguely grasping the enemy's train of thought. There have been no large-scale battles in recent months, and the northern theater of operations is even calmer, but the damage to our military potential under calm is much greater than fighting several battles. ”

Rokossovsky listened quietly to Zhukov, and he realized that the other party had more comprehensive and adequate data in his hands than he did.

"We still have 9 million troops, and if we have been attrition in the first 21 months, we can last for almost two years -- in fact, you know it's impossible, the momentum of that stormy offensive is behind us, and now our average casualties are slowly declining, but the rate of depletion of military resources is much faster than the rate of depletion of soldiers. Take tanks as an example, our current production volume is 2500 units a month, which is about 2 times that of the Germans, but the Germans are mostly No. 4 or Tiger, a small part is assault guns, there is not a single light tank, and we have produced about 800 light tanks, which is not worth anything at all. If the T-34 or newer T-43 were to be completely switched to, production would immediately drop to less than 2,000 units, even with another 300 vehicles a month's worth of American supplies - although the Americans have not yet fulfilled their promises, we will only reach 2,300 units, while Germany will raise it to more than 1,500 units. At this level, not to mention 1:4 (the exchange ratio level played by the 4th Tank Army), we can't afford to lose 1:3 or even 1:2 battle losses. ”

There is one thing that Zhukov did not say, and Rokossovsky tacitly did not mention it: the quality of tanks has deteriorated very much recently, and the quality of some defensive armor is ridiculously poor, not to mention 50mm anti-tank guns, even the 37mm anti-tank guns that have been eliminated by the German army can penetrate with tungsten core bullets.

"The second piece of evidence that the Germans are suffocating us is the destruction of our foreign aid channel. It seems to be all a coincidence, but the enemy is clearly carrying out this goal, they have choked out the Arctic route, occupied Iran and the Middle East, and then choked off the southern route, and now only the Pacific route can maintain a little transport tonnage, and I am very skeptical about how long it will last. I have spoken to the British representatives, and their own tanks are now asking the Americans for them, and they have no spare strength to support us, and after the Germans get the Middle East, they even begin to cry out for crude oil. The third piece of evidence is crude oil, and the Germans forced us to blow up Baku - more completely than they bombed with planes. The Americans, although strong and wealthy, are willing to support us, but now it is simply impossible to send enough supplies, and the other day Foreign Minister Molotov made a request to increase the supply of refined oil products, and they agreed, but vaguely indicated that they might give priority to ensuring the needs of the British. ”

Rokossovsky's brow furrowed more and more.

"A few months ago, Comrade Stalin tentatively proposed a ...... peace"

"Peace?" Rokossovsky's eyes widened and he exclaimed.

"Be quiet, can you keep the party's secrets like this?" Zhukov glared at the other party dissatisfiedly, "The intermediary is the Bulgarian Tsar Boris III, and Hitler agreed to make peace, but on high terms. ”

"On what terms?" Rokossovsky added in a whisper, "I'd love to know if there are no important secrets involved." ”

"Anyway, the gossip out there is flying all over the place, so it doesn't hurt to tell you. First, to unconditionally recognize the independence of those 'Eastern countries', second, to compensate the Germans with 100 billion marks, and thirdly, to retreat 400 kilometres back from the existing de facto military demarcation line, and to hand over these places, together with the territories already occupied by the Germans, to the puppet army for the establishment of the state - as for the land we have lost, the Germans have encouraged us to attack Afghanistan and India, and to make up for it by gaining land from there. Comrade Stalin was willing to agree only to the first two, the Bulgarians mediated, and later the Germans took the initiative to make some concessions, the reparations were increased to 200 billion, the retreat was reduced to 200 kilometers, and the control of such important cities as Moscow and Stalingrad remained unchanged, with the exception of Leningrad. ”

Rokossovsky went into a state of confusion, he did not understand why Zhukov was telling him this.

"It's actually very simple, I want to fight a blocking battle at Stalingrad, destroy 500,000 to 600,000 enemy troops, and then push forward with the conditions for peace -- the Soviets need a respite too much." (To be continued.) )