Zhukov's decision was immediate, and just two days after he issued the order to retreat, the Germans quickly ate the flank troops arranged by Baghramyan and took advantage of the situation to encircle Borisogrebsk, and by the time the remnants of the Central Front, more than 150,000 men of the Central Front retreated to Barashov, Borisogrebsk had been conquered by the Germans, and more than half of the nearly 100,000 people defending there were killed and half taken prisoner. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoSince the German 2nd and 4th Panzer Armies combined to move south on June 1, it took only 8 days for Moder to eat half of the strength of the Central Front (250,000 men) and occupy Borisoglebsk, which is in a very important position. With actual results, he proved that he can not only fight defensive battles, but also fight offensive battles.

If it weren't for Vatutin's dispatch of troops to take over the rest of the Central Front, even Barashov might have been wiped out in one fell swoop. Even so, Baghramyan had a hard time, and the order from Moscow had come down, coldly telling him that the remnants of the Central Front had been reduced to an army group and incorporated into the Southwestern Front, and that Baghramyan himself had been suspended from his post for reflection and went to Moscow to be dealt with. Although Zhukov sent a private telegram stating that his life was not in danger, it would be even more difficult for him to come back in the future.

What saddened Bagramian the most was that Primakov, whom he was very optimistic about and highly regarded, volunteered to take over the responsibility of breaking off during the retreat, and as a result, not only was his troops almost completely wiped out, but he was also killed by German air raids.

In the direction of Tula, Konev, who adhered to Zhukov's will, launched a fierce counteroffensive against the Kirchna armored cluster with the untrained troops of the Steppe Military District and the soldiers gathered from the front line of Tula and Ryazan, and lost 120,000 people in just 3 days, plus the losses caused by the sudden attack of the German army at the beginning, the total loss of troops in this direction was nearly 180,000 people, and the only thing to be thankful for is that after paying a heavy price, the German army was finally successfully "repulsed" and the Tula crisis was temporarily resolved.

In fact, he did not know that the original purpose of the Kirchna armored group was to test the defense of the Tula and Ryazan fronts, not to occupy the place, and after paying nearly 9,000 casualties and learning that the Red Army had a heavy group approaching, Kirchner decisively chose to retreat.

This round of feints on Tula also disrupted the steps of the Moscow Front's redeployment to the steppe military district, and Stalin, fearing that Tula would fail, bypassed the General Staff and secretly ordered Tolbukhin to postpone the transfer, and always kept an eye on the results of Konev's counterattack, and was ready to transfer the Moscow Front as soon as the counterattack was unfavorable.

When Konev finally repelled the enemy army, the defenders of Tula were also greatly damaged, and the originally planned base camp reserves were all lost, forcing Meretskov to draw troops from other directions to fill the vacancies in the Tula and Ryazan lines in order to maintain the balance of the front, which in turn affected the forces that the Red Army on the Vyazma line could invest. However, this change is not obvious for the time being, and for Stalin, Konev's ability to repel the enemy army with very weak forces proves that he is capable, and he decided to reuse him in the next stage.

Vasilevsky sighed as he looked at the huge salient in the center of the battlefield on the map, stretching from Tambov to Barashov. Most of his attempts to reinforce the two flanks of the German army from the center had failed, and this huge salient threatened the flank of Moscow in the north and the flank of Stalingrad in the south, and he was unable to do anything about it. Zhukov's strategy temporarily created a line of defense, but it was clear to everyone that it was very unreliable and could be easily breached.

"Is it still necessary to launch an offensive in the Stalingrad direction to attract enemy troops?" Kuznetsov asked in a low voice.

Vasilevsky shook his head with a wry smile: after the German 2 Panzer Army approached Barashov and threatened the flank of the Southwestern Front, the German army in the Stalingrad direction had surpassed the Red Army not only in strength but also in technical weapons, and the defense was too difficult, how could it have spare strength to attack?

"Where do you think they're going to attack next? Going to fight Saratov? ”

Zhukov shook his head: "I don't think so, according to Hitler's idea, it may be temporarily withdrawn." ”

"Collect troops?" Kuznetsov couldn't believe his ears, "Why?" Are the Germans stupid? ”

"They're not stupid, they're even much more savvy than we think." Zhukov pointed to the distance between Voronezh and Barashov on the map, and said, "The German army has hoarded two armored armies in this area, more than 350,000 troops and more than 5,000 tanks and armored vehicles of various colors, including food, oil, ammunition and other supplies, how much do you think they need in a day?" ”

"3,000 tons is enough for ......"

Zhukov smiled: "This is by our standards, by German standards you have to multiply by 3-4 times." ”

"More than 10,000 tons?" Kuznetsov was dumbfounded.

"There should be a German logistics base in Voronezh, and this distance is about 200 kilometers, whether they use trucks or trains to transport supplies, a round trip plus loading and unloading time, they can only replenish about once a day, if the distance is farther, say 300 kilometers, it will not be enough to replenish once a day - this will affect the rhythm and continuity of their offensive, and there will be a disconnect between the front and the back."

"I see what you're thinking, you think the supplies won't be able to keep up if they advance too far?" Vasilevsky stared at the map thoughtfully, "Can we take advantage of this flaw and take measures to lure the enemy deeper?" ”

Zhukov first nodded, and then shook his head: "Theoretically correct, but at the moment it is dangerous, because we cannot guarantee that the Germans will pursue according to our ideas, what if we attack our weak places?" Besides, if you want to lure the enemy, you must also have a suitable place, where can you lure it now? ”

This is indeed a difficult problem, and at present only Moscow and Stalingrad are suitable for the strategy of luring the enemy into depth, but it is difficult for both of them to implement this strategy - if there are fewer temptations, the Germans will not be fooled, and if they really lose these two cities, who will be the one?

"What the hell are you going to do with this salient in the middle?" While the three were talking, Stalin had already come in.

In the past half a month, he has not been satisfied with the performance of all fronts, nor with Zhukov and Vasilevsky, who dominate the center, but it seems that no one is good to use, and he also knows that it is indeed because he is inferior to others in fighting so badly during this time, but Zhukov's sentence of "armistice negotiations" still shocked him deeply, on the surface Stalin was quiet, but in fact he had sent Beria to the grassroots to understand the situation.

If it is only the opinion of Zhukov alone or a small number of people, he can ignore it, and if it is the opinion of the overwhelming majority, he believes that the entire guiding ideology of the war will change.

"The Moscow Front will replace the Bryansk Front to cover the northern sector of the central battlefield, and if the problem is to be solved in the short term, it will be necessary to redeploy an army in the southern sector, and the Volkhov Front can be considered for withdrawal, and then 300,000 troops will be transferred from the Far East."

"Short-term solution?" Stalin was displeased and asked, "What about a long-term solution?" ”

"There is no way to solve it for the long term." Zhukov pointed to the map, "The base of the German army in this offensive campaign is the Voronezh line, and the base for the next offensive will be transferred to the Tambov and Borisogrebsk lines, and then pushed forward by 200-250 kilometers." ”

As he spoke, Zhukov explained to Stalin the strategic intentions of the German "200-kilometer offensive".

"Is that your judgment?" Stalin was a little uneasy, "Hitler put such a big advantage and didn't go on the offensive?" ”

"Personally, I don't think so, the Germans have learned wisely, they will use more short and sudden attacks to overcome the shortcomings of large depths in the future, and Hitler is ready to fight a protracted war with us."

Stalin frowned: this judgment was completely contrary to his original insistence, which he always believed that Germany was preparing for the rapid destruction of the Soviet Union by blitzkrieg, and that Germany did not have the ability or manpower to support a protracted war.

Of course, he now has to admit that Zhukov is right: after Germany won the Middle East and North Africa and successfully solved its worries, its resources and industrial capacity are constantly rising, and Germany's manpower is much richer than imagined, and they have a servant army to use, not to mention that Germany now has a population of 80 million to 90 million, which is not much less than the population that the Bolsheviks can control.

Seeing that Stalin was silent, Zhukov continued: "In the next stage, we may have to build a continuous front relying on the Volga, and now the most troublesome thing for me is not that the front is here or there, the front is empty, and it must be defended by the troops, and the troops will not work, no matter how good the defensive line is, it will be useless." What worries me most at the moment is that the Germans have too much advantage in the central theater, and we are unable to open up the situation on both flanks......"

"How many more troops do you need?"

"It's not a question of troops, it's a question of combat effectiveness." Vasilevsky interjected, "At present, the level of combat effectiveness and tactical quality of our army is lower than that of the opponent, and the same strength is even slightly more than the enemy's army, and the battle situation of the Central Front this time is very revealing: Comrade Bagramyan concentrated three times the enemy's forces, and as a result, he failed to win the mixed German and Italian forces after a week's battle; The Germans concentrated 3 times our forces, and as a result, they took out an army group in an average of 2 days. The gap is too big, too staggering. ”

"Shouldn't how to improve the combat effectiveness of the troops be a problem for you to think about and deal with?" Stalin was a little angry, "Do you need me to take this responsibility?" ”

"Of course, this is our duty-bound mission, but in the current severe military situation, we cannot do this, and the Red Army desperately needs a respite, so Comrade General Secretary ......" Zhukov once again suggested, "can we consider negotiating an armistice with the Germans?" ”

"You ......" Stalin was so angry that he couldn't speak. (To be continued.) )