The beginning of the Soviet-German war plunged the Soviet Union's high command into chaos. Stalin really did not expect that the war, which he had started in a hurry, would usher in a crushing defeat.

It is also interesting to say that the wars of Soviet expansion seem to have been won very few times – against Finland and against Poland, and they seem to have ended in failure.

In this case, this failure, although everyone was prepared, was not as well prepared.

Many people guessed that such an ill-prepared attack would end in failure, but no one guessed that the defeat would come so quickly and the losses would be so heavy.

Ten hours after the start of the offensive, the army in the middle was routed by the Germans. The Air Force's losses were a mess, and the Army began an infinite retreat.

Until now, not a single specific loss has been counted and reported to the side of Moscow. It is estimated that the commanders on the front line also know that if they are honest, they are estimated to be responsible for this failure that cannot be seen directly.

But even so, the aggregated damage reports were enough to annoy Stalin. For example, the Soviet Air Force lost more than 5,000 aircraft after the war!

This figure is not a complete statistic, because the Luftwaffe itself counts that more than 7,000 Soviet planes have been destroyed.

Therefore, in terms of the statistics of the total number of aircraft destroyed by the German army, whether the Soviet Union was confused and the statistics were inaccurate, or because they were deliberately underreported, in short, the figures were inaccurate.

No matter how many aircraft are lost, the loss of air supremacy at the front is absolutely true. The Soviets had to fight without air supremacy, and their losses became more and more numerous.

"Timoshengo is incompetent! Khrushchev stupid! Couldn't the two of them have a way to stop the Germans from continuing to advance? Stalin sat down, looked at his men, and asked with a frown.

Marshal Voroshilov, who was standing there, did not say a word, he glanced at Marshal Budyonny beside him, and saw that the latter, like him, did not have any intention of speaking.

Both of them were previously generals who opposed the attack on Germany, and now that there is a problem at the front, it is naturally their turn not to solve it.

Of course, if he had been appointed by Stalin, that would have been something else. In short, the two of them were reluctant to come forward, especially in the face of the German army.

Marshal Budyonny made his name during the fighting for the crushing of Kazakhstan, where he led his troops to carve out a no-man's land, and made him famous.

Marshal Voroshilov had a little old grudge against Timoshenko, so it was impossible for him to come out to relieve his old opponent at this time.

In the war against Finland, Voroshilov was ultimately blamed for the crushing defeat of the Soviet army, and it was Timoshenko who succeeded Marshal Voroshilov.

Stalin looked at the two marshals who were speechless, and then turned his gaze to General Zhukov, who was not yet a marshal.

The young general, promoted by Stalin, was a replacement for Tukhachevsky in the Soviet Union.

Because of the Great Purge, there was a break in the Soviet Union's senior command level, so Zhukov joined the core command circle as a rising star.

Now he is the chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Union, and when Timoshenko went to the front to personally direct the operations, he sat in Moscow to coordinate the troops of the front.

"The problem at the front is very serious right now, our troops have been defeated, and this must be contained!" Stalin spoke slowly, looking at his men.

Then he paused, adjusted his tone of voice and said: "It seems that it is not correct to hand over such a huge front line to one person, we should divide the war zone, each garrison its own defense line, and adjust its own troops, so as to have a faster and more appropriate response strategy." ”

Speaking of this, he looked at Voroshilov: "You go and take over the Western Front, Comrade Marshal Voroshilov!" Stop the advance of the German troops in the direction of Leningrad! ”

Up to now, the Soviet Union's Western Front has been divided into three sections, and in fact, only the Central Theater has suffered from the catastrophe.

And what Stalin gave to Marshal Voroshilov was a theater of operations that was neither good nor bad, that is, the northern theater of operations that was retreating, but there were not many troops.

The Soviet Union deployed troops here were the Western Front, numbering about 1.1 million. Although it looks good, it lacks tanks and other armored units.

For Voroshilov, being able to take over the Western Front is already much better than his worst estimate.

It turned out that he thought he was going to take over the upper war zone, which was really a mess.

Therefore, when he heard that he was going to take over the defense near Leningrad, he quickly stood up and saluted and promised: "Comrade Stalin, the great leader!" I will immediately leave for Leningrad and preside over the command of the Western Front! ”

After assigning a piece of the task, Stalin looked at Marshal Budyonny, who was standing there, and commanded: "The Southern Front has been handed over to you to command!" Comrade Marshal Budyonny! I hope you can hold Kyiv, this is your bottom line! ”

The Germans had now split the Soviet line in the center, and the Soviet flanks on both sides were dangerous.

In such a crisis situation, Stalin was not a fool, he certainly knew that the Soviet army had to retreat in order to save the day.

Because of this, he did not lightly give orders not to retreat, but demarcated areas for each unit that could not be lost.

In Stalin's view, the Soviet army could retreat to the Leningrad-Minsk-Kiev line at the most disadvantageous time to prevent the Germans from continuing the offensive.

Then he concentrated his troops to counterattack, crush the German army, regain the initiative in the war, and win the final victory in the Soviet-German battle.

"Yes! Comrade Stalin, the great leader! Budyonny got the troops he wanted, and he quickly stood up and saluted in agreement.

The Southern Front was the most powerful force massed on the borders of the entire Soviet Union. There are more than 2.3 million troops under its jurisdiction, and most of the elite troops are concentrated here.

Unfortunately, with the defeat of the Soviet army in the central part, the Southern Front, which was supposed to attack Romania with all its might, had to abandon the attack mission and turn to the defense to stabilize its flank defense.

It can be seen from this that the Soviet army has gathered quite a lot of troops on the border. It's a pity that these attacking troops, before they could start attacking, were forced to switch to the defensive.

Dividing the troops in both the north and south directions to his two marshals, Stalin said to Zhukov slowly: "You go to the front in person, Comrade Zhukov, replace Comrade Marshal Timoshenko, and stop the German army from continuing to advance!" After thinking about it, Stalin decided to give Zhukov the most difficult task.

Zhukov had a history of defeating Japan in Mongolia and seemed to have some command talent, and Stalin planned to give this young general a try, which was a bold attempt.

You must know that this world-famous general was only 33 years old when he commanded the Battle of Nomenkan, and when he became the chief of the Soviet General Staff, he was just 35 years old.

Judging from his age alone, this commander is a real genius, and he is also a young Zhuang faction among the senior commanders of the Soviet Union.

"Yes, Comrade Stalin!" Zhukov stood up and saluted and took over the position that gave him a headache.

Germany had captured more than 700,000 Soviet troops, while the remaining Soviet troops were just over 900,000. Although they still appear to be numerous, these forces are in a state of collapse.

It will take time to organize these soldiers and re-form their defenses. But the German attack was very rapid, leaving no time for the Soviet Union at all.

"Comrade Stalin, the great leader!" An officer hurriedly walked in, and then stood beside Stalin.

He stood up and saluted, and then reported to Stalin the latest situation at the front: "The news has just arrived, Marshal Timoshenko, martyred in Brest......"

"What?" When Zhukov heard the news, his mouth opened wide in surprise. He knew that Timoshengo was going to fight to the death in Brest, but he didn't expect that Timoshengo would be defeated so quickly.

Timoshenko died, and died in Brest, fulfilling the oath of others in the city, and the city died.

But his death left the Soviet Union with an unmanageable war situation. Zhukov could even imagine that the troops he was going to command were now being pursued by the Germans.

"There are 400,000 people in the encirclement, how can Germany annihilate a full 400,000 of our troops in such a short time?" Marshal Voroshilov heard the news and questioned a word.

Stalin's face was not good-looking, he glanced at Voroshilov, snorted coldly and ordered: "Enough!" Go and take up my previous appointment......"

As the leader of the Soviet Union, Stalin also had his own plans and intentions. At the moment of defeat at the front, he was thinking about how to turn defeat into victory.

Now, his appointment is in response to the situation at hand. It's just that he didn't expect that Timoshengo would lose so quickly that his plan didn't even have time to be implemented.

"Since Marshal Timoshenko has sacrificed his life for the country, the command of the frontal central battlefield will be temporarily handled by Khrushchev for the time being. Zhukov, when you go to Minsk, take over his work and complete the deployment of defense! At the end of the meeting, Stalin commanded.

When Zhukov heard the order, he quickly stood up again and replied with a salute: "Yes!" Comrade Stalin, the great leader! I will definitely complete the task! For the great Soviets, fight until the last moment! ”

Behind him, Budyonny and Marshal Voroshilov also stood upright and left the conference room.