279 Glory and loyalty

"Comrades, according to reliable intelligence, the German Army Group Center has already massed forces in the Moziri-Krosten area, and Army Group South has also begun to build up in the area of Western Ukraine, presumably to launch a large-scale offensive. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info"At a meeting of the Supreme High Command, Zhukov reported what he had.

Stalin looked at the map, then turned his gaze to Manturov and said: "Comrade Manturov, it seems that you are right.

The reason why the German Army Group Center was massing in the area of the Mozyri Fortress and the Krosten Fortress was to launch an offensive against Ukraine and, together with Army Group South, cut off the supply lines of the Red Army's Romanian Front and force us to retreat from Romania. ”

"Comrade Stalin," Manturov reminded, "we should not prematurely draw conclusions before determining the direction of the German offensive. They did masse in the areas west of Moziri and Krosten, but it is still unknown whether they will attack Ukraine.

But in any case, we should be ready for everything and make sure that we have enough forces to deal with the enemy's offensive in any direction. ”

"Comrade Manturov, I agree with you." Stalin continued: "Before we determine the direction of the enemy's offensive, it is really necessary for us to be prepared for anything that may happen. ”

"Comrade Stalin, Comrade Manturov," added General Georgy Zhukov, Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Red Army, "we do not have information on the enemy's offensive movements for the time being, but judging by the current situation, the most likely target of their attack is Ukraine."

In the previous battles, the Germans have not been able to make any strategic progress due to the lack of troops, they have tried to break through the Manturov Line many times, but the Soviet Red Army deployed on the Manturov Line has more troops than the attacking German army, they have not been able to achieve any advantage, the line is still in our hands.

But now, both the Southwestern Front and the Southern Front of our army have transferred a large number of troops to Romania, which leads to a vacancy in the forces of the Ukrainian side.

Under such circumstances, it is very likely that the Germans will take advantage of the relative emptiness of Ukraine's forces and gather forces to launch an attack on Ukraine.

At present, only five divisions have been deployed in the area west of the Dnieper River, including Kyiv, in the area of Ukraine, except for the area of the Manturov Line.

If the Germans break through the defensive line from the Moziri-Krosten area and then quickly advance to the area around Kyiv, according to the current situation of the disposition, it will be very difficult for us to stop them, and Kyiv will most likely be lost, and they will be able to move south from the Dnieper River to cut off the supply line between Romania and our mainland, so as to achieve their strategic objectives. ”

Stalin carefully looked at the map of the military deployment in the area of Ukraine, and immediately saw the hidden danger - the strip between Kyiv and the Manturov line was almost empty! The strength of these 5 divisions simply could not stop the large-scale cluster of the German army!

If the Germans break through the defensive line and insert themselves from the north, I am afraid that they will really be able to drive straight into Kyiv without encountering resistance!

Pointing to the strip between Kiev and the Manturov Line, Stalin asked Zhukov: "Do you think we should send troops there from there to fill this gap?" ”

"I think the best thing to do is to bring troops from the reserve front to Ukraine to fill this one gap."

"How much should I adjust that?" Stalin asked.

"At least 20 divisions. If you can, it's better to bring in 30 divisions. ”

At that time, because the main force of the Western Front was not encircled and annihilated as in history, and the strength is still sufficient, the reserve front of the Soviet Union was not incorporated into the Western Front as in history, so it was retained.

At this time, the strength of the reserve front army was about 70 divisions, which could be transferred to any front army at any time to supplement the strength of the front-line troops.

These 70 divisions may seem like a lot, but this is not too much for an army of 10 million men, at least these 70 divisions will be difficult to fill all the vacancies in the western regions of the Soviet Union.

"Go and give orders. 30 divisions were transferred from the reserve front and asked to rush to Ukraine in the shortest possible time, and when they arrived, they were integrated into the Southwestern Front. ”

"Yes!"

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"Offense, offense, offense! Aggression aggression knows aggression! The chief of staff of the German Army Group Center complained: "If this continues, sooner or later he will lead the country to disaster!" ”

"Henning," Bock, commander of the German Army Group Center, called by the name of his nephew, Chief of Staff of Army Group Center, Henning von Tresko, "you can't say that about our FΓΌhrer!" ”

"Our FΓΌhrer? What he is doing now is precisely to bring disaster to our country. You don't know how many people we died in the war, you don't know how many Soviet troops there are, you don't know how strong the Soviet tanks were, and you don't know that the United States entered the war, do you still think we can win this war? Tresko asked.

"It is our duty as German soldiers that we must be loyal to the FΓΌhrer, regardless of the circumstances of the war. It is glorious for us to sacrifice for our country, even if we know that this country will be destroyed by the enemy, we must fight for our country to the best of our ability! "Marshal Bock, like the traditional Prussian soldiers, was a man of great importance and loyalty.

In the eyes of these traditional Prussian soldiers, it was their pride to sacrifice for their country, and obedience to the FΓΌhrer was their duty as German soldiers, and no one could shake them.

However, Bork's nephew, Tresco, didn't think so. In his view, preventing Hitler from continuing the war of aggression was an expression of loyalty to the state, and only in this way could Germany be prevented from being annihilated by the foreign powers and Germany as a state could be preserved.

"Fedor, we are German soldiers." Tresko tried to persuade: "As German soldiers, we should fight for the survival of Germany, we should prevent Hitler from pushing this great country into disaster, and we should prevent it before it strikes." In this way, we can be worthy of our identity as German soldiers! ”

"Disaster?" Bock asked, "Would we have been able to defeat France without Hitler?" Will we be able to dominate Europe? The territory of the German Empire is larger today than at any time in the past.

Such an achievement was obtained with the blood of German soldiers, and we must not let so many soldiers die in vain! We must participate in this offensive, this is the order of the Supreme High Command and the General Staff! We must obey! ”