Khrushchev took over the errand of leading the Indian revolution, and he was going to liberate all sorts of sluts in India with a group of Brahmin revolutionaries who even had to wipe their butts, although it was a very difficult task, but it was better than the drudgery of the bosses of half of Ukraine and the military commissars of the South-Western Front. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info So when I left the Kremlin, I was in a good mood, so to speak, with a spring breeze on my face.

However, Pavlov and Shalashnikov were not in such a good mood, and Stalin and the political bureau denied their deployment in the central and southwestern theaters, and in fact overturned the overall layout of the People's Commissariat of Defense and the General Staff for the 1943 operation - the general idea of this layout was to attack in the north and defend in large depth in the middle and south, and at the same time reserve a strong reserve cluster to be controlled by the Supreme High Command. It's conservative, but it's a very safe plan.

In the repeated war games of Pavlov and Shalashnipov, the worst-case scenario is nothing more than the successful liberation of Leningrad + the occupation of Kharkiv and Stalinno by the German army after paying a heavy price, while approaching Moscow in the middle.

Although such an outcome would be very uncomfortable for the entire Soviet Union, there was no danger of collapse, and the war would enter 1944 in a tug-of-war between the middle and southern routes. And it was not possible for Germany to capture Leningrad and Moscow at the same time in 1944, which had been fortified.

That is, the USSR was able to hold out anyway until after Japan was defeated by the United States. At that time, the Soviet Union will be invincible!

However, Comrade Stalin was not satisfied with this safe, but very conservative program.

"Comrade Pavlov, Comrade Shalashnikov, what's wrong with you? Today's meeting ......"

When Pavlov and Shalashnikov arrived together at the building of the People's Commissariat of Defense, outside Pavlov's office, they met Marshal Zhukov, who had arrived from the siege of Leningrad.

After his victory in the "First Battle of Leningrad," Zhukov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and promoted to marshal -- the so-called "First Battle of Leningrad" was actually "the First Battle of Leningrad."

The result of this battle was that "the siege has not been resolved, and the city has not fallen", and the theory of relieving the siege is of course defeat, but the theory of defending the city is of course victory.

Therefore, Zhukov, who had meritorious service in defending the city, became a marshal, and a few days ago he received an order to report back to Moscow.

"Comrade Zhukov, it's been so soon, it seems to be a smooth ride, right?" Pavlov and Zhukov hugged each other, and then squeezed out a smile.

Zhukov smiled bitterly and said: "The plane took off before dawn, and the German Fokker planes are sleeping soundly, can you not have a smooth journey?" ”

After the three of them exchanged pleasantries, they walked into Pavlov's office together, and as soon as they sat down, Zhukov asked: "By the way, how was the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau today?" Did the plan pass? ”

Zhukov actually participated in the formulation of the 43-year battle plan, and he was responsible for the part of the "Leningrad Siege Relief". According to Zhukov's idea, the battle to break the siege should not only focus on a corner of Leningrad, but should also look at the overall situation of the northwestern battlefield.

The encirclement created by the Germans outside Leningrad was already very strong, and more than 200 kilometers of defensive strips were built, during which countless minefields, trenches, fortified areas, anti-tank strongholds, armored units, infantry and artillery positions were deployed. The total number of troops deployed is expected to exceed 1 million, and although there are not many armored units, the anti-tank firepower is so strong that it is impossible to ram a tank cluster into it.

In the first siege of Leningrad, Konev, who did not know how powerful he was, suffered greatly, losing thousands of tanks and more than 200,000 troops. However, Konev did not lose his position, because the Kalinin Front regained most of the Novgorod region, which had been abandoned by the Germans, in the process of relieving the siege of Leningrad. So he was also promoted to general, and now he has gone to the Southwestern Front as a commander.

Having learned the lessons of Konev, Zhukov was ready to adopt a plan to relieve the siege of Leningrad, but not to fight Leningrad. Let the Kalinin Front launch an offensive towards the Pskov region, continuing to advance into the territory of the Baltic after recovering the southern regions of the region in order to threaten the rear of the German army cluster encircling Leningrad.

In order to carry out this plan, the Kalinin Front had to be significantly strengthened with a sufficient number of tank and mechanized armies to be able to fight a decisive battle with German armored clusters on the plains of the Pskov region.

"The plan didn't pass," Shalashnipov whispered, "but there's no problem with your part." ”

"The above does not agree to take a large-depth defense in Ukraine?" Zhukov immediately guessed what the problem was.

Shalashnipov nodded, and then said: "The Minsk-Smolensk line should also be properly strengthened, and the enemy must not be allowed to approach Moscow." ”

"This is not a problem," Zhukov said, "as long as Pskov wins the battle or even draws, Smolensk will not be in danger." But...... I am afraid that there will be problems in Ukraine, and the focus of the German attack is likely to be in Ukraine. ”

"There is no way but to strengthen the Southwestern Front," Pavlov said with a frown, "focusing on the area of the Dnieper meander, and at the same time reserving sufficient counterattack forces." But...... If the South-Western Front is strengthened, the Reserve Front and the Kalinin Front can only be weakened. ”

After speaking, he looked at Zhukov. Zhukov is now the commander of the North-Western Front, and his opinion must be consulted on reducing the strength of the Kalinin Front.

"If the Germans put the main attack on Ukraine, then the West can fight with a little less troops." Zhukov thought for a moment and said, "If the Kalinin Front is to be weakened, then it is only possible to postpone the launch of the second Leningrad relief operation." After determining the direction of the main attack of the German army, the battle was launched. ”

"But if you want to postpone it...... Will the Leningrad side still hold out? Pavlov was very worried about the situation in Leningrad, the city had been under siege for almost half a year, and there were more than two million inhabitants and soldiers in the city, and the daily consumption of necessary supplies was staggering.

"There is a way," Zhukov said calmly, "Comrade Zhdanov, the military commissar, has a way, there is no problem in holding out until July, and it will not work any later......

He didn't say anything, and Pavlov and Shalashnipov naturally didn't ask much.

Marshal Pavlov nodded and said, "Well, then postpone the start of the battle on the northwestern front until June 1." ”

……

In mid-April 1943, when the Americans were busy repairing the canal locks, a group of Japanese "Showa staffs" who were a little brainless were busy tossing around, while the Soviets were preparing a plan for a decisive battle in 43, and Marshal Hersmann, chief of the General Staff of the German Wehrmacht, focused most of his energy on the plan for a decisive battle with the Soviet Union.

The plan for the decisive battle has been there for a long time, that is, the plan codenamed "Operation Blue". The biggest difference between this plan and the historical "Barbarossa" plan was that it had a clear strategic goal - to seize the coal, steel, and oil centers of the Soviet Union, and then force the Soviet Union to sue for peace or civil war.

And to achieve this goal (i.e., the capture of the coal, steel, and oil centers of the Soviet Union), the main targets are Ukraine and South Russia.

However, since the Soviet-German negotiations had been secretly starting for several months, and the German side had already put forward the conditions for the cession of left-bank Ukraine during the negotiations, the Soviets would have been able to guess the main target of the German army, no matter how dull they were. So there will definitely be elite troops in Ukraine on the left bank, ready to fight.

Therefore, it is clear that several sub-scenarios for a frontal breakthrough of the Dnieper have been drafted previously. Although with the current combat strength of the German army, a strong attack on the front should be able to win, but this casualty is definitely not small.

Under these circumstances, Field Marshal Guderian, who had been transferred from Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Front to First Quartermaster, began to draw up a new plan, codenamed "Purple Plan", together with Hersmann.

By the way, because there was only one enemy left in the European theater of the Soviet Union. Therefore, the headquarters of the Eastern Front was abolished in March, and the army groups of the Eastern Front were under the direct command of the General Staff, and the former First Quartermaster Marshal Halder became the commander of the Indian front, and together with the British Governor of India Mountbatten and the commander-in-chief of the Anglo-Indian Army Montgomery, they went to India to fight against the Brahmin revolutionaries.

In fact, the purple plan is not too difficult to get - Hersman, the "imposter god of war", has now been trained and knows how to command a large and well-equipped army.

"Heinz," he said to Guderian, who was looking at a map, in one of the war rooms of the General Staff of Tsosen, "the Soviet Union must relieve the siege of Leningrad on the northern front and defend eastern Ukraine on the southern front." Then the Minsk-Smolensk salient in the middle should be the weakest position. We could start with a battle of the Bulge, inflict heavy losses on the Soviet army in the center, then drive into the siege of Minsk and Smolensk, and then move south to Irkutko, Belgorod, Vorozne, and Luhansk to encircle the Soviet Southwestern Front. ”

"1200-1500 km...... It's a bit of a detour. Guderian frowned slightly.

"Questions?" "We now have a lot of cars, tanks and assault artillery, and we have 15,000 aircraft of all kinds on the Eastern Front," Hersman said. Enough to blow up the Soviets' army to the ground! ”

"The problem is fuel! Now we have a high level of mechanization, the number of tanks and cars is huge, and there are a lot of airplanes, and these things are oil tigers. Guderian said, "The 1,200-1,500 km detour, which is still carried out on Russian soil, is not easy to walk and will be very fuel-intensive." Marshal of the Reich, how much fuel do we have in store now? (To be continued.) )