PS: My old book "National Situation" has been semi-lifted, but it is not currently searchable in the starting point system, you can only click directly through the http:///Book/1106739.aspx page to enter, or you can click on the author name of "Moon Shadow Sycamore" to enter to view the works under your name and jump, please watch, I will update some content one after another when I have time, thank you for your support.

The first phase of the Battle of Rostov-on-Don came to an end for the time being, marked by the end of the Battle of the Meander.

When the temperature plummeted to minus 19 degrees Celsius, and the Don River froze quickly enough to support tanks to cross the river, Rokossovsky commanded the Don Front to rush across the ice like crazy and rush towards the meander, but they could no longer catch up with the German army, and the only thing they could do was to rescue the remnants of the meander. In the armored raid of the Hort cluster, the 12th Army and the headquarters of the Front Army left behind on the other side of the Don River were encircled, and if it were not for the 6th and 5th Tank Armies giving up the frontal attack mission and desperately rescuing, Vatutin might have been in a German prisoner of war camp at this moment.

The results of this campaign gave the Red Army a resounding slap in the face, and the so-called rectification and improvement they carried out during the summer quiet period was actually just an illusory bubble, which was punctured at once in the sharp offensive of the German army, and even though the Red Army had an advantage in weapons and troops, the combat effectiveness of the troops was still very problematic, and the superiority on paper was far from equal to the superiority in actual operations, especially the flexible and changeable campaign assault capability of the Hort cluster and Manstein's scalpel dissection tactics against the Battle of the River Meander. All of them amazed the Red Army and taught the Red Army generals a vivid lesson.

In the internal discussions of the General Staff of the Red Army, it was suggested on more than one occasion that the battle of the Great Winding Department of the Don River would be a reversal of roles and positions between the two sides. The Red Army will never be able to fight this kind of mercury-tricked and stormy offensive routine, and at most it can only take advantage of the superiority in strength to pile it all the way through -- this has been clearly demonstrated in the Le Zhev Prominent Encirclement Battle, which proves that the Red Army still has a long way to go in commanding operations in large corps, and must at least learn from its opponents -- although the failure of the campaign was manifested by the surprise interference of the enemy's outer armored clusters during the siege of the heavy army group. The only thing that can be done now is to put the troops in order and draw lessons from them.

A few days later, the order of the General Staff of the Red Army was issued, and in view of the heavy losses of the 12th and 21st armies, all units were disabled. The relevant structure was abolished, and the remaining strength of the 12th Group Army was transferred to the remaining damaged units of the Southwestern Front Army, and the remaining troops of the 21st Group Army were incorporated into the 24th Group Army. After taking stock of the whole battle, it was found that in the end, the Stalingrad Front, which was actually fought on all fronts and continued bloody battles, suffered the least losses.

At the battle summary meeting, various parties argued with each other over the question of responsibility, and Rokossovsky believed that the greatest responsibility should be borne by the Stalingrad Front and Yeremenko, at least he should not put warships in; And Yeremenko was-for-tat, believing that if there was no advance of the 21st Army. This battle is not going to be like this at all. Vatutin, who was terrified and almost survived, pointed the finger at the Bryansk Front, believing that if the front had not dragged the Hotte cluster, how could it have happened that the rear guard of the Southwestern Front was surrounded and finally forced to abandon the attack? And the Bryansk Front also felt aggrieved: after the defeat of the Voronezh Front, the base camp repeatedly asked for a cautious response, who would have expected that Vatutin's rearguard army would not be able to hold out for even two days?

But both Vasilevsky and Zhukov knew who the problem was, and the two were very amusementingly silent, in fact, unable to say much, and they repeatedly asked to postpone the attack. Waiting for the Don to freeze before crossing the river - Comrade Stalin did not adopt it, and as a result, 190,000 men of the 21st and 24th armies were surrounded; Vasilevsky asked to exterminate the Hote cluster first, and then pounce on Rostov-on-Don - Comrade Stalin again refused. As a result, the collapse of the Voronezh Front and the impact of the Southwestern Front were brought to power, and all those in the know who knew about the decision to the campaign looked at the two with sympathy.

Perhaps in order to cover up his decision, and in order to justify himself in front of his subordinates, Stalin did not lose his temper this time, but actively recruited troops to replenish it, and although the number of 300,000 troops and 500 tanks lost in three weeks greatly exceeded expectations, it was not a catastrophic consequence, and the big deal was close to the average consumption level of the past year (100,000 men per week). This time, it was a very rare result that the armies of the Southwest, the Don River, and Stalingrad were complete and the main forces still existed, and he did not pay much attention to it, but how to carry out the next move became a big problem.

After listening to the opinions of all sides, Stalin customarily made his concluding remarks: "...... The day before yesterday I received a letter from the commander of the 51st Mechanized Corps of the 4th Army, Major General Vasily Volysky, and I suggest that you discuss it......"

Zhukov took the letter, the content of the letter was not long, but after reading it, his face quickly became gloomy:

"Dear Comrade Stalin:

…… In view of the problems exposed in the early stage of this campaign and the comparison of the troops, weapons, and combat effectiveness of the enemy and our own, I believe that the operation 'Uranus' planned by the General Staff will not only not succeed, but will also bring about unimaginable serious consequences. ”

Seeing that the letter was directed at the "Uranus" plan, Zhukov felt a burst of anger for no reason, but he still forced his anger and handed the letter to Vasilevsky.

"This is? ......" Vasilevsky didn't know the content at first, and after a few cursory glances, his face quickly became gloomy, the whole thing can be big or small, at least it is just a different opinion of a corps-level cadre on the battle plan, and at worst it is a hint that there is a problem with the command and planning of him and Zhukov. Comrade Stalin's failure to refute the letter to his face and comment on it with critical opinion seems to make the opinion of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief uncertain.

Vasilevsky and Zhukov both came in the midst of strong winds and waves, and they could see at a glance that there was not a simple thing behind this incident: after being beaten by Manstein, Comrade Stalin's confidence and determination in the follow-up battle of "Uranus" began to waver, and he was even looking for a way out in advance -- see I have warned you in advance, and do not blame me in case of defeat at that time. This kind of shirking responsibility and throwing off the burden in advance made the two more vigilant.

"This kind of vacillationism and skepticism will not allow us to win." Seeing that Stalin's doglegs were about to move, Zhukov stood up and spoke, his tone was very heavy and his speech was very harsh, "In the battle of the Don River, we made many mistakes, but this does not mean that we are hopeless, on the contrary, many mistakes were made in unnecessary disputes of opinion and crankiness...... What is a commander at the army and division level thinking about instead of thinking about how to improve the combat effectiveness of the units under his command and how to improve the tactical execution ability of his troops. Does he have this height and vision? Does he think he is smarter than Comrade Stalin? Is it smarter than the entire General Staff? If that's the case, I can ask him to take charge of the big picture! ”

Vasilevsky also stood up and said: "This idea of cowardice before fighting cannot be connived, I can admit that we are inferior in strength and weapons compared with the fascists, but is this the reason for us to give up fighting?" Tomorrow Manstein will attack us, if he wants Stalingrad, if he wants Moscow, will we, who are inferior to our opponents, plan to surrender or retreat? This was originally a war imposed on us by the fascists, and we can only resolutely resist it to the end, and there is no second way out! ”

Voroshilov looked at Zhukov and Vasilevsky, who were full of anger, and then turned his head to look at Stalin, who was unwavering, and said insincerely: "This...... We do not agree with this view...... Comrade Stalin only thought it was necessary to discuss it more...... After all...... How can I say it......"

Old slippery head! This is the unanimous opinion of both Zhukov and Vasilevsky.

Timoshengo also spoke: "I don't think it's as good as this...... In view of the fact that the enemy situation and the current situation have undergone major changes, and the conditions and environment of the original 'Uranus' operation are no longer applicable, can Comrade Zhukov and the General Staff be asked to redraw a suitable combat plan? ”

Admiral Kuznetsov was well aware of the situation, and at the same time sympathized with the plight of Zhukov and Vasilevsky - without Stalin's intervention, this battle of the Don would not have been fought like this, and of course the Supreme Commander-in-Chief could not be blamed in public, he considered the choice of words, and said slowly: "I think we must have a clearer understanding of the strength and strategic intentions of both sides, and only a campaign plan based on this basis can be meaningful. Our main objective at the moment is not to rush to retake this or that city from the Germans, but we must first train our troops to grow up......"

Molotov's attitude was relatively detached, he did not stick to the battle itself, but only expounded the international perception of the battle and the movements of the allies - "...... At the very least, the suspicions of Britain and the United States about the silent war between the Soviet Union and Germany were dispelled, and their suspicions that we might make peace with the fascists alone, which was of positive significance for the maintenance and consolidation of the united front, and they expressed their willingness to take further measures to strengthen our forces, and the replenishment of tanks, planes, and artillery was already on the way -- the British were sending a batch from the Arctic route, and the Americans were preparing to bring in a batch from the direction of the Middle East. ”

Everyone nodded with relief, finally some good news.

"That's my opinion......" Stalin suddenly opened his mouth, but his words surprised everyone. (To be continued.) )