Just as the German top brass was caught off guard by the retreat of the Red Army, Stalin was listening to the General Staff's overall report on the current situation in the Kremlin. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

"After nearly 3 weeks of fighting, our army has retreated in great strides, and has now retreated to a position 250 kilometers east of the area on the right bank of the Volga River, and has disengaged from the main force of the German army, judging from the battlefield reconnaissance, the German army has invested a total of 70-900,000 troops in this attack, and the number of troops crossing the river is about 25-300,000, and the strength on the opposite bank is about 30-350,000, and the rest of the troops are distributed in the second-line echelon." "There is no definite information on how many enemy troops there are near the starting point of the attack, but we expect them to be around 400,000-500,000, and in addition to the forces mentioned above, the Germans are assisted by about 300,000 puppet troops." Therefore, the total strength of the cumulative enemy forces distributed in the central battlefield is between 1.5 million and 2 million, and the number of tanks is about 3,500-4,000, making it the theater with the largest number of enemy troops and the most sophisticated technical equipment. ”

"What about the losses in the retreat campaign?"

"In order to cover the transfer of the main force, local troops, third-line troops, guerrillas, etc., used all their resources to hold back the enemy army, and the total losses were about 17-200,000 yuan, and the heavy equipment was not lost." Vasilevsky replied quite frankly, "Originally, our losses could have been smaller, and some of the officers and men were pessimistic, disappointed, and shaken in their minds about the future of the Soviets, and they were not defeated by the Germans, but they were intimidated by the Germans - desertion and scattering abounded. There were even officers and soldiers of the Internal Affairs Forces who absconded in disguise and attempted to surrender and mutiny. ”

Stalin nodded with a stern expression: With the unsatisfactory performance of the Red Army on the battlefield, the morale of the troops has plummeted, especially after the previous major events such as the return of German prisoners of war and the surrender of Leningrad, people's hearts have fluctuated, their minds have been confused, and the troops have become even more pessimistic and disappointed.

"What do you think is the next direction and goal of the enemy's actions? Will they continue to attack? ”

Vasilevsky shook his head: "It's a pity that the enemy is still very cautious so far, the crossing of the river is carried out in batches, and the front and back are very closely connected, there is no chance to attack at all, and even knowing that our army is retreating quickly, he did not choose the method of rushing forward to pursue, and he is still considering a steady attack step by step." In addition, with the arrival of the pulp turning period, the Germans stopped the rhythm of the offensive and prepared to rest in place. In addition, there is also intelligence that the German army has planned to promote the no-man's land plan in the area on both sides of the Volga River, and to move all the remaining people in the above-mentioned areas to the western border. ”

"What did Hitler want to do?" Puzzled, Stalin asked, "We did not accede to his request for a 500-kilometer demarcation line, this is pure wishful thinking on his own." ”

"But no man's land will cause problems for our war." Kuznetsov, who had not spoken much, interjected, "If it is really determined to be a no-man's land, then there will be no soil for us to conduct guerrilla warfare in this area, and without the people and materials that can be covered, guerrilla warfare will not be carried out at all." ”

"This is not a problem, guerrilla warfare is very meaningful to us."

"In fact, guerrilla warfare has not achieved much success, and I have never heard that it is possible to defeat the enemy's army of several million by guerrilla warfare alone, not to mention that the enemy still has nearly one million puppet troops as accomplices, and he knows the situation of our army to the bottom and is not weak." Kuznetsov helplessly spread his hands.

This is not an exaggeration, for most of the troops absorbed by the Wehrmacht and the Russian National Liberation Front in the Eastern countries are former Red Army surrender and prisoner units that have been trained and in good physical condition, and in addition to the guidance, equipment, and material supply support of the German army, they surpass the ordinary units of the Red Army in terms of equipment, morale, and combat capability, and perhaps only a little worse than the Guards troops. But now the Guards also suffered great losses, and there are more important campaign deployments and strategic points waiting for the Guards, and they can no longer be exported as unrestricted as cabbage.

Stalin gave up the desire to continue the discussion with Kuznetsov on the question of guerrilla warfare, which he himself did not quite believe, and the reason why he now focused on guerrilla warfare was nothing more than to encourage morale, and it was a myth that infantry small arms could be used against heavily armed mechanized troops.

"So, what do you think the enemy will do next? I don't believe that these 1.5 million or so troops are just used to create no man's land. ”

"After discussion, the General Staff believes that there are three possibilities for the enemy: first, to continue to attack forward, trying to find the main forces of our army for engagement; second, to turn to the northern flank and attack the Moscow front in coordination with Army Group North; Thirdly, turn to the southern flank and cooperate with Army Group South to attack the Stalingrad front ......"

Vasilevsky said a very correct "nonsense", which made Stalin frown, and seemed to summarize it in a good way, but in fact he listed all the directions, and there was no guiding value or strategic significance at all. He asked, somewhat annoyed, "What do you think is the best option for us?" ”

"Continue to retreat and cede another 500 kilometers of scorched earth to the Germans, extending their supply lines to more than 1,000 kilometers."

"You!" Stalin was a little angry, and said in an aggravated tone, "Comrade Vasilevsky, although the territory of the Soviet Union is large, not an inch is superfluous, and any decision you make must be responsible to the party and the state, and it is really sad to move 500 kilometers of scorched land at every turn, do you know what this means?" Another 500 kilometers, the enemy will soon advance to the Ural industrial zone, which is our last large industrial zone, and if you lose it, I will really have to take you to the Far East and Siberia to fight guerrillas. ”

"I know, so I'm trying to figure out a counterattack, but now the enemy is very cautious, the battlefield space is not enough, and the counterattack is not effective."

"Can you first launch a counterattack on the southern flank of the enemy army - that is, the Saratov line - from the direction of Stalingrad?"

"I can't."

"Then can you launch an attack on the northern flank of the German army from the Nizhny Novgorod direction?"

"Neither can we."

Looking at Stalin, who was on the verge of rage, Vasilevsky patiently explained: "That will reduce our defenses in the Moscow direction, and the result will most likely outweigh the losses." ”

Stalin abruptly ended the questioning, turned his head to Zhukov, who had not spoken to this day, and asked in an impatient tone: "Comrade Konstantin, tell me, with the frankness of a Bolshevik, when will the counterattack you promised me be launched?" ”

"Soon, it will be the autumn pulp turning period, and our army can immediately launch an attack."

What the? Vasilevsky and Kuznetsov looked at each other, but Zhukov never talked to them about it, what was he going to do? Do you ask for merit and reward in front of the leader? Is there any attitude of being responsible for the party and the state? Is there a little bit of an attitude that is responsible for the millions of officers and men of the Red Army?

"Good, good." Stalin did not expect such a crisp answer from the other side, and immediately rejoiced, "Which army do you plan to attack first, the 3rd Army of the Germans entrenched in the upper Volga?" ”

"It's not."

"That's the 4th Army in the midstream?"

"Not really."

"What's that? Are you really going to fight on the Voronezh front? Didn't you say the time was not yet ripe? ”

"I'm going to attack Rommel's troops in Central Asia."

"Central Asia?" Not only Stalin, but even Vasilevsky were taken aback, and two days ago the Party Central Committee had already made up its mind to abandon Central Asia, so why did Zhukov still think about it, and he had to get rid of it quickly.

"But as far as I know, Rommel himself is very difficult to deal with, and our last attack has hit a hard nail,

"No matter how hard the bones are, it is 8-100,000 people, 300,000 can't deal with him, I use 500,000, 500,000 can't deal with him, I use 1 million, 10 to fight one, and I will kill him by human life." Zhukov viciously squeezed out a sentence from his teeth, "All in all, I still have a reason if I can't defeat four army groups, and I can't even beat one German army group, can we have a stable life after the peace talks?" In addition, if the national separatist forces in Central Asia are so rampant, taking advantage of the reckless actions of the Germans to massacre our masses, party members, and cadres, if they do not retaliate with thunder, will they not intensify after independence? ”

Zhukov's words were very appealing to Stalin's appetite, in Stalin's mind, those peoples in the west yearn for Europe, have a higher degree of civilization, and become independent when they become independent, but these Tatars in Central Asia also dare to run to the Soviets to make a prestige, it is simply intolerable, isn't this just a foreign land, what do you want so many people to do?

"Very good, very good, you think it well, you really want to give them a little color, the Soviets can't beat the Germans for the time being, but it's not a country that anyone can bully." Stalin waved his hand, "Can you let me hear your specific plan?" ”

"Of course, I'm going to report to you today." Zhukov walked to the map, "Rommel's unit is the most elite armored army of the German army, and it has experience in desert warfare, so it adapts quickly to the terrain of Central Asia, but they have a fatal flaw - they rely heavily on supplies. As the weather turns colder and the weather in Central Asia begins to change, both air transportation and ground material transportation will encounter difficulties, and the materials needed by this mechanized force are difficult for local separatist forces to provide, so my strategy is to use 500,000 troops to target him, and use another 500,000 troops to suffocate his supply lines. ”

"You're not going to destroy him?"

"It depends on chance." Zhukov explained, but what he said next left everyone in deep thought. (To be continued.) )