"We already have a rough idea of how many troops the German army will attack Kharkov!"

When the battle in Kharkov became more and more intense, Zhukov also received the latest reconnaissance report on the Kharkov battlefield, and looked solemnly at Marshal Rokossovsky, who was still by his side, inspecting the reorganization and training of troops and the transfer with him.

"How many German troops have been dispatched, and is the main general still Manstein?"

Marshal Rokossovsky also hurriedly asked.

"Half the strength of Army Group South as a whole, and hundreds of thousands of troops from client states assisted in the operation, including Romania, Italy, Hungary, Spain; Troops from Finland, France, Slovakia, and Croatia are also involved, and Ukrainian troops have joined the battle sequence. ”

"And the troops leading the German army, with the exception of Hitler's most elite Waffen-SS, were the troops of these client states, with the assistance of the Wehrmacht, who carried out a fierce attack on our troops stationed in Kharkov!"

"Moreover, our reconnaissance team and the spies who have penetrated into the German army have also detected Manstein, and they are also on the front line to direct operations, and they are also airlifting a large number of Scud missiles to Kharkov to prepare for a devastating missile bombardment there!"

Zhukov continued to frown deeply, not optimistic at all.

"What was Hitler thinking? How could he suddenly send such a large number of troops to attack Kharkov? Is he going to fight back with us? ”

"Then should we send some more troops to the rescue of Kharkov from the more than 1.2 million troops that Comrade Stalin sent to us?"

After hearing this, Marshal Rokossovsky's eyes widened with shock and exclaimed incredulously.

"I don't know! At present, our spy agencies have not yet found out the ultimate purpose of Hitler's sudden attack on Kharkov, and where it is! ”

"And our most important strategic goal now is to launch the Leningrad-Novgorod campaign, and now our 60th, 38th, 13th, 1st Guards, 5th, 3rd and 18th Guards armies, as well as the 4th Guards Tank Army, have also completed training and are ready to enter the state of battle!"

"Although I have just dispatched the 3rd Guards Army and the 1st Guards Tank Army to Kharkov to fight the invasion of the German army, we still have a lot of tank armies on hand that are being assembled!"

"And the most important thing is that Comrade Stalin, after receiving the news of the German attack on Kharkiv, he did not ask me or other marshals to send troops to Kharkov to support!"

"And Comrade Stalin has just sent me a telegram telling me to get my troops in order as soon as possible and prepare for the Leningrad-Novgorod campaign in the next two days!"

"Although I don't know why Hitler suddenly sent Manstein to lead a large army to attack Kharkov, I can see that Comrade Stalin asked me to lead the troops to attack Leningrad-Novgorod as soon as possible this time, I am afraid that he wanted to take advantage of the fact that the current German army has concentrated half of its forces to attack Kharkov, so he came to kill the German army by surprise!"

"First solve the German army in the Leningrad-Novgorod area, and then find a way to solve the problem of the German army in the Kharkov and Kiev areas!"

Zhukov said without concealing his thoughts and the instructions given to him by Stalin.

"Then what are you going to do, are you preparing for a large-scale sneak attack on Leningrad-Novgorod tomorrow or the day after tomorrow?"

Marshal Rokossovsky was silent for a moment, and then his eyes were sharp.

"Hmmm! I'm going to leave tomorrow morning, but Stalin has already sent a group of elite paratroopers who will carry out an airborne assault on Leningrad-Novgorod this evening, as well as a massive bombing by the aviation forces! ”

"In addition to these battles, we also have to make contact with the US aircraft carrier fleet, which has reached the Baltic Sea area, and has already made contact with our Baltic Fleet, so we have to cooperate with them!"

"And after we launched the Leningrad-Novgorod Campaign, Eisenhower also used the Anglo-American coalition forces under his command to carry out a sneak attack on Italy and the French mainland at the same time, to cooperate with our Leningrad-Novgorod Campaign, so that the German army was caught off guard by fighting on the eastern and western fronts, and killing them by surprise!"

Zhukov nodded and smiled.