At the same time that the 172nd Infantry Division in the vanguard was strafed by aircraft, the infantry of the 3rd Army led by Kuznetsov was caught up by the German armored forces near Novogruddock.

One by one, the Panther 3 tanks, emitting black smoke, rushed towards the retreating infantry.

On the field, the Soviet soldiers, who had long been tired and exhausted, did not want to run anymore, they could not outrun the German tanks, they could not suddenly open their positions in this kind of march and fight the Germans, in short, they had no hope, they could only raise their hands and surrender to the Germans.

Everywhere there were Soviet soldiers with their hands raised in the air, guns thrown on the ground everywhere, and the guards around Kuznetsov anxiously begged him to leave quickly.

While the German tank crews were capturing the infantry, they could hurry up and leave, this was the only chance.

But Kuznetsov did not, looking at the soldiers everywhere with their hands raised, and at the setting sun that was about to set in the west, he silently raised his pistol and aimed it at his temple.

"Commander, don't!"

Kuznetsov has tried his best, but he still has not been able to save the army, as a senior commander of the army, he is burdened with the fate of tens of thousands of people, and once he fails, his life will no longer have any meaning.

"Bang!" The pistol bullet easily pierced Kuznetsov's head, his body fell off the horse's back, and when he fell to the ground, his eyes were not closed, still looking east. The sun will set, and tomorrow, it will rise again, but he will no longer see it, and his mission is over.

(After the start of the Barbarossa plan, the army in the western part of the Soviet Union was catastrophic, and those senior commanders, who committed suicide and died in battle, were countless, and when collecting information, East China Zhixiong was also embarrassed.) Pavlov was shot unjustly. ）

Kuznetsov's mission is over, others are not.

Moscow, Zhukov returned in the dust, he had just been appointed as the representative of the base camp of the Southwestern Front, and within two days of his visit, he was summoned back by Stalin.

When the news of the loss of Minsk reached Moscow, Stalin was completely anxious.

Ten days later, ten days after the start of the war, the German armored clusters reached Minsk, and across the entire Belarusian land, they galloped as if they were in no man's land. As soon as Minsk lost Belarus, it was completely finished. Not to mention the impact of losing Minsk on the entire front.

Stalin ran out of ideas, he wanted to hear Zhukov's opinion.

After entering the Kremlin, Zhukov's face was tired, he knew that now the situation in Ukraine is also quite bad, and Belarus is completely out of play.

At present, most of the retreating forces are not in contact, and as far as is known, the Third and Tenth Armies of the Western Front have been blocked by superior armies in the area west of Minsk and east of the Bialystok salient.

One part of the 4th Army retreated to the Pripyat Forest, and the other urgently retreated to the Berezina River. Behind almost every retreating unit was German units in pursuit.

Looking at the green arrows and the encircled army, Zhukov put forward his opinion.

"Comrade Stalin, I suggest that we now arrange the defense between Minsk and Moscow as a priority object."

Zhukov held a baton in his hand and pointed on the map: "Mobilize the 13th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd 5 armies to build defensive positions on the line of Western Dvina-Polotsk-Vitebsk-Orsha-Mogilev-Mozyr. The 24th and 28th armies formed defensive positions along the line of Selzharofa-Smolensk-Roslavli-Gomel. ”

The areas Zhukov refers to are all in the rear of Minsk, in these vast plains before reaching Moscow, where a large-depth echelon defense system was established.

"Through these lines, we must constantly delay and slow down the offensive momentum of the German troops, block the German army in a certain area, mobilize troops to launch a counterattack and destroy the enemy. However, it seems that the location of the counterattack is still unknown, but I firmly believe that the counterattack will come. Zhukov said.

Everyone did not speak, Zhukov's arrangement almost mobilized all the reserves, but none of the reserves went to save Minsk and the troops in the encirclement.

Zhukov has already abandoned them, the Soviets have abandoned them, and whether they can escape or not depends entirely on their own luck.

The expression on Stalin's face was cloudy, and it was undeniable to Zhukov's plan.

"There is not much time left for us, I think, the Germans will not necessarily wait to eat all the troops in the encirclement, after occupying Minsk, they may not have time to repair, they will go straight to Smolensk, we must not underestimate the combat effectiveness of the Germans, one of their armored divisions, dare to go deep alone, even to our Moscow."

Zhukov did not exaggerate, the situation is like this now, the shock of the German army was too terrible, and it was precisely because of the underestimation of the impact of the Germans that the Soviet troops were repeatedly surrounded.

Thinking that the German tanks would still be able to rush under Moscow, Stalin could no longer hesitate, and he said: "Okay, just follow what you say." ”

Moscow must be protected! Although Stalin was not in favor of taking the initiative to abandon the defense and counteroffensive of the Minsk region. But the fact did not give him the capital for a counteroffensive on the city of Minsk.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but grit his teeth with hatred: "Immediately call Pavlov back to me." Timoshenko, you go and take the place of Pavlov and take over the command of the Western Special Military District. ”

Look at the Germans, there are so many famous generals, Guderian, Bock, Manstein, how are they all a bunch of stupid people, the only one who can use Zhukov, who has to run around.

Stalin hated so much that he gave Pavlov so many troops, and in a few days, there would be no more, and if he didn't shoot him, it would be difficult to understand the hatred in his heart!

Shooting him alone, of course, was not enough, Stalin barely stopped, and continued: "Also, withdraw the Chief of Staff of the Western Front, Major General Klimovsky, the Chief of Communications of the Front, Major General Grigoriev, the Chief of Artillery, Major General Krich, and the Commander of the Air Force of the Western Front, Kopets, and let them come to Moscow to meet me!" ”