"I'm Georgy Zhukov, what's going on?"

Before dinner, Zhukov called the General Staff to ask for an update. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

The person who answered the phone was Lieutenant General Nikolai Fedorovich Vatutin, who was temporarily in the General Staff and was acting as Zhukov.

"Georgi, the situation of the Western Front and the Northern Front is very bad right now. According to reliable intelligence, the German Army Group Center concentrated 50 divisions with more than 1 million troops, while the Western Front that resisted it had only 26 divisions and less than 400,000 troops.

The enemy concentrated superior forces and stormed the front-line units of the Western Front, which soon broke through the defensive line. The second tank group, commanded by Guderian, advanced 30 kilometers more.

At present, all units of the Western Front and the Northern Front are retreating, and they have suffered heavy losses, and many units have lost contact with each other, and the situation is very chaotic. The situation of the Germans was not much better, they were subjected to air strikes by the Soviet Air Force, and also lost a large number of tanks. ”

After listening to Vatutin's report, Zhukov sighed deeply, and then asked: "What instructions does Comrade Stalin have?" ”

"Comrade Stalin has agreed to the draft Order No. 3 proposed by the People's Commissar of Defense (Timoshenko) and asked me to sign your name."

"What kind of order is this?" Before Zhukov agreed to sign, he first had to understand the content of the order.

"This order requires our troops to switch to a counteroffensive, crush the enemy in the main directions, and then advance to enemy territory."

Zhukov thought for a while, and suddenly frowned: "However, we still can't know exactly where and with how many troops the enemy will carry out the assault, and how many specific troops there are. Before dawn, it would be better to find out what was happening at the front and then make up the necessary determinations. ”

"I agree with you, but the order has already been set and cannot be changed."

In desperation, Zhukov had no choice but to accept this order that came too early. If you don't accept it, I'm afraid you will damage your relationship with Stalin, Timoshenko and Stalin. Even if you accept it, it is not impossible to complete the task as long as you can get the appropriate command. "Okay, sign my name,"

Soon after, the order reached the commander of the Southwestern Front, General Kirponos. The Chief of Staff of the Front, Lieutenant General Maxim Pulkaev (makm_ Алekceeвnч_Пypkaeв), the Chief of Operations Ivan ah_xpncto Bagramyan, and the Political Commissar Manturov read the order for the first time.

I don't know where the tacit understanding came from, when these four people received the order, they all frowned unconsciously. Because they knew in their hearts that the Southwestern Front simply did not have the ability to "turn into a counteroffensive," "crush the enemy," and "advance closer to the enemy's territory."

However, neither Manturov, nor Kirponos, nor Bagramyan dared to express their willingness to disobey the orders of the Supreme High Command.

Only Pulkaev, who had a straightforward personality, dared to go to the cafeteria and reason with Zhukov, who had a copy of the order, in person.

In fact, Zhukov had long expected such a reaction from Pulkaev, and he also knew that the front was insufficient and did not have the ability to switch to a counteroffensive, crush the enemy, and advance closer to German territory.

But in any case, Zhukov was always a soldier, and even with the rank of general, he had to obey the instructions from above.

Since you have to obey orders, no matter how unreasonable the orders are, as a soldier, you must also obey them, and whether they can be completed is another matter.

Pulkaev walked into the cafeteria, took the piece of paper with Order No. 3 written on it, and said to Zhukov, who was eating: "Comrade General, our Southwestern Front does not have enough troops and weapons to crush the enemy. The most important thing now is to hold the line and wait for the right moment, rather than attacking rashly. ”

Zhukov swallowed a mouthful of brown bread, and then said: "This issue is complicated, why don't we discuss it later in the military council." ”

"What's so complicated? Insufficient troops is insufficient troops, not to mention crushing the enemy, even holding the defensive line, we have difficulties.

Now, we should first hold the defensive line, solve the problem of logistics supply, and draw troops from the 26th and 16th armies so that we can launch an effective counterattack. Otherwise, in the case of tight logistical supplies and a lack of troops, we simply cannot launch an effective counterattack. ”

"Comrade Pulkaev, I know what you said, but this is an instruction of the Supreme High Command, and we, as soldiers, cannot fail to follow it. We'll discuss that in the military council later. It doesn't make sense to say here. ”

"Alright then, I'll go back and inform the others."

At half past nine in the evening, a military meeting was held in the headquarters of the Southwestern Front to discuss in detail the current situation and the content of Order No. 3.

After a round of discussions, Zhukov gave instructions to the commander of the Front, "Comrade Kirponos, I suggest that you immediately give an advance order to concentrate the mechanized corps on the main group of the enemy's Army Group South that has broken through into the Sokali area and carry out a counter-assault.

The counter-assault should involve all the air forces of the front army and some of the long-range bomber aviation units of the high command, and the leaders and headquarters of the front army should draw up advance orders as soon as possible and issue them to all group armies and armies. ”

"Yes!" "But we still need some time to concentrate our troops, repair weapons and replenish stockpiles," Kilponos said. At the same time, it is necessary to conduct combat reconnaissance and organize command during this time. Therefore, I estimate that the Front will not be fully engaged in battle until June 24.

And in the period between now and June 24, we should be under heavy attack from the enemy, and the troops should first withdraw to the fortified area to stabilize the defensive line before we can accumulate strength and launch a counterattack. ”

"No problem," Zhukov nodded, "you now give advance orders to the various units so that they can prepare as soon as possible." As for the specifics, we'll wait until tomorrow. ”

During the whole meeting, Manturov barely said anything, which made Zhukov feel a little strange. When Normenhan fought the Japanese, Manturov was the most active speaker in the military council. But in the military meeting of the Southwestern Front, the military commissar who had many ideas did not say anything, as if he had become a different person. (To be continued.) )