"The 4th Guards Tank Division and the 5th Guards Tank Division have been transferred back to Stalingrad, and there are only two units left in our front, the 6th Guards Tank Division and the 8th Guards Tank Division." Vatutin looked at Stalin with an expression on his face and opened his mouth to tell a fact.

Zhukov, as a strategic reserve, the 4th Guards Tank Division, which had not been willing to go into battle, was finally withdrawn.

And the Soviet troops fighting in Kharkov also became the expected lone army without support. They can only fight to the end there, and then sacrifice their lives for their country.

Zhukov's group, having lost two Guards tank divisions, is no longer even the main force of the Soviet army, after all, several Guards Infantry divisions have already been crippled on the way to retreat and have not received any decent replenishment.

Several infantry divisions around the area also had no combat effectiveness, they retreated again and again, and now they are not far from Kharkov.

In this spacious and bright conference room in front of them, a group of Soviet generals were in no mood to care about Zhukov's struggle, they were shirking responsibility for the loss of the whole of Ukraine.

"Yes! The 10th Guards Tank Division retreated from Odessa to Donetsk in one go, and there were not many remaining forces. One of the generals glanced at Vatutin, and began to talk about the frontal battlefield.

The 10th Guards Tank Division, which retreated from Odessa, went all the way to the east and has now retreated to the vicinity of Donetsk, and there are only more than 100 tanks left.

"Not only is it not much, the 10th Guards Tank Division has received limited replenishment, and all they can do now is to continue to retreat." Hearing someone mention the 10th Guards Tank Division, one of the generals sneered twice and said.

The general who reported just now was stunned for a moment, and then opened his mouth to explain to the 10th Guards Tank Division: "It's already good, at least they can retreat from Odessa to Donetsk and not break up, this is already a rare iron army." ”

Unexpectedly, the sneering general immediately sneered: "Hehe, does the so-called Iron Army mean the army that has been retreating and giving up the cities it holds to the enemy's army?" ”

The sarcastic general's face couldn't hold back, and he immediately retorted: "Aren't you raising the bar?" The order to retreat of the 10th Guards Tank Division was not given by me! That's Comrade General Zhukov......"

"Alright, alright! Stop arguing! Save your energy and say something useful. The Germans have already occupied Dnepropetrovsk, and in time they are no longer enough to advance to Stalingrad, it seems that we have been given the respite we deserve. Vatutin couldn't stand it anymore and stopped the quarrel between the two.

Although the current battle situation is still full of defeats, the results are gratifying. At least in terms of timing, the Germans were unlikely to attack Stalingrad unless they were willing to risk wintering in the field and force their way in.

Judging from the current pace of the German offensive, it seems that the German army also acquiesced to the fact that they could not capture Stalingrad in 1941, and instead began to close the net in Ukraine and take out the defeated Soviet forces.

"Definitely! The tide of the war is moving on the bright side. Comrade Vasilevsky held his position in the Crimea, and he could hold out for at least 5 more days. Glancing at Stalin, whose face was a little displeased, another general hurriedly answered.

After listening to the general's analysis, many generals nodded their heads, and one of them said: "With these 5 days, the time is almost the beginning of October, the temperature has dropped significantly, and the Germans have to worry about the ice and snow!" ”

"They don't have enough winter clothes in their hands, and the cold weather will make it impossible for their planes to take off and their tanks to advance." It was added that these analyses made Stalin's face slightly better.

"At least we can get more than 4 months of respite, and the weather forecast says that the temperature will drop just around these days!" The generals of the other side who had just spoken out also felt that the Soviet Union could get a winter respite.

"Excellent! As soon as the cooling began, the Germans had to think about their own soldiers and avoid holding us in the field...... Then their losses will be considerable, much greater than ours. Hearing that everyone said this, Vatujing nodded in agreement.

He also felt that although the Soviet army had lost more than 7 million troops in the past six months, it had finally been able to support it until October.

As long as Germany could not solve the Soviet Union in the winter, the Soviet army could muster millions of troops to continue the fight against the German army in the spring of next year.

With a winter of accumulation, the aid from the United States is bound to accumulate a staggering number. These supplies could help the Soviet Union build more tanks and planes and equip more troops.

The Soviet Union will produce thousands of Lager-3 and MiG-3 fighters, and thousands of T-34 tanks with better performance.

By the next year, the war would not be the protagonist of the war, and the Soviet army would be about to strike back, pushing the Germans back and recapturing the lost cities.

An air force general glanced at Stalin, who had a slightly better face, and sang an ode to it: "At least we are used to the cold winter, and the Germans will definitely not be used to such a cold climate as we are!" ”

After all, in the past half a year, the performance of the Soviet Air Force has not been very good, and it has lost more than 80 percent of its air supremacy. All he could do now was sing praises to Stalin.

Because it is impossible to expect those remaining I-15 and I-16 fighters to regain air supremacy on the battlefield.

Vatutin's purpose in convening the operational conference was to make Stalin clearly aware of the changes in the battlefield situation, not to listen to praises.

So he changed the subject and opened his mouth to bring up the unfavorable side of the current war situation: "But it is not without bad news, the Germans will occupy the whole territory of Ukraine before the winter comes, which is almost a fact." ”

He talked about the impact of the loss of the whole of Ukraine on the war situation. Under the advantages of the other, the German army has mastered a large amount of food, and also controls the huge strategic depth of Ukraine. For the USSR, this was definitely not good news.

Pointing to the map on the table, Vatujin continued: "Besides! Ukraine is lost, and our grain is in the hands of the Germans! They have this year's rations, as well as a lot of ammunition that we have abandoned. ”

"Fortunately, the equipment and machine tools used in our factory were transported ahead of schedule, otherwise our losses would have been even greater." Finally, General Vatutin's hand pressed near Kiev and concluded with some rejoicing.