At this time, on the Eastern Front, the Soviet army, which was on the offensive, was met with the resistance of various firepower in the fortifications of the German army's in-depth configuration, as well as the air raids and felt bombardments of the German aviation units, as well as the surprise attacks of the German army's reserves and surprise troops.

Under the counterattack of the German army, which was as fast as lightning, waited for the rabbit to wait for the rabbit; The Soviets suffered heavy casualties in two days and two nights of fighting.

"If we say that in the original German-Soviet War on the Eastern Front, the German army captured more than 5 million Soviet troops from June 1941 to May 1944, and only a little more than 1 million of them survived and were rescued after the war.

And more than 370 Soviet troops died from hunger, cold, disease and German massacres.

But in this battle of the Dnieper River, and in Zaporozhye, the Soviet army was not only unable to achieve their goal of liberating Ukraine, Donbass, and Kiev on the left bank, and seizing the landing sites on the right bank of the Dnieper.

Moreover, the Soviet troops participating in the war, the Central Front, the Voronezh Front, and the Steppe Front; Both the Southwestern Front and the Southern Front suffered losses and suffered many casualties.

In this battle, they suffered more than 600,000 casualties.

In particular, the Southwestern Front under the command of General P. Malinovsky, the 8th and 3rd Guards Armies, and the 12th Army, as well as the 17th Air Force Air Force were almost disabled, and their total strength was now less than 200,000.

Unfortunately, the crisis of the Southwestern Front was not completely over, because Moder and Manstein were mobilizing elite troops to prepare for a deadly surprise attack on the Soviet Army to annihilate it.

Of course, the Soviets are not clear about this move of the German army for the time being, but they also see that the German army has a small number of troops left to besiege the southwestern Soviet front.

In response to this, Marshal Zhukov immediately convened a temporary emergency operational meeting.

"Commander Rotmistrov is dead! And the 5th Guards Tank Army, which he commanded, was left with little left; It's not much different from being disabled, have you all received this amazing bad news? ”

when the commanders of all the armies and the general staff of operations were present; Zhukov glanced around the crowd and said in a low voice.

"Yes! Received them all! Comrade Stalin was also very angry about this! And ask us to strike a thunderous blow at the Germans right away and avenge Commander Rotmistrov! ”

As soon as the words fell, the Chief of the General Staff, Vasilevsky, said with a serious face.

Because after Rotmistrov was killed by the Germans and the 5th Guards Tank Army under his command was crippled by the Germans, he was the first person Stalin to send a telegram of severe criticism.

What Stalin accused him was: "In order to recover as soon as possible the lost territories of the Dnieper and Zaporozhye and other areas; You have misestimated the deployment of German forces, as well as the deployment of German firepower; As a result, we suffered heavy casualties, and now even Rotmistrov has been killed, and his 5th Guards Tank Army has also been annihilated by the Germans! ”

"For such a grave operational error, I warn you one last time, if you continue to misestimate the disposition of the German forces; If we suffer such a huge number of casualties among our troops, then you will be relieved of the post of Chief of the General Staff! As well as the recall from the front to the rear, and even a military court, for interrogation! ”

In response to Stalin's harsh criticism and warning, the Chief of the General Staff, Vasilevsky, was not only shocked in his heart, but also deeply frightened.

So when Zhukov raised the issue of Rotmistrov's death in battle, he immediately shuddered and was immediately the first to stand up and resolutely counterattack the Germans.

Because he was now worried that if he was defeated again, he would be purged by Stalin immediately.