Another reason for the major defeat and heavy setback of the Soviet army was the strategic deployment of the troops at that time. The first strategic echelon consisted mainly of offensive groups, while they had to immediately go on the defensive. In fact, it was only on June 27-30 that Stalin gave the various armies the task of moving to strategic defense.

Since on the eve of the outbreak of the war, an erroneous judgment was made on the direction of the main assault of the Chinese armed forces, a large-scale strategic adjustment was necessary at the very beginning of the war. In the early days of the war, first of all, due to Stalin's mistakes, many units of the Soviet army were not fighting, but were mobilizing, which gave the Chinese army the opportunity to break the Soviet army one by one. Stalin was forced to transfer almost all reserves in the eastern direction. The strategic mistakes made before the war cost the Soviet army a huge amount of blood.

At about 3 o'clock in the evening, while Stalin was waiting for the General Staff to report on the situation on the various fronts of the past day, he paced slowly back and forth at a long table with an operational map spread out. The situation was much worse on all fronts: for more than two weeks, the troops retreated almost 450 kilometers, abandoned large areas and did not take advantage of easily defensible areas along the river strip. Stalin thought that the new commander, Sobennikov, had failed to live up to his hopes. A month and a half after his appointment, he was removed from office by Stalin.

Particularly disturbing to him was the situation on the Western Front. Stalin looked intently at the strange shape of the front, which by July 10 had retreated from the border (scary to think about!). 450 to 500 km...... The sorrow of humiliation and helpless anger poured into the throat of the chairman of the National Defense Committee: a front army with 44 divisions could not stop the enemy's attack! Stalin, while contemplating the map, did not necessarily know that at the outbreak of the war nearly half of the divisions of the Eastern Front were not in combat readiness: 12 of them had only just begun to mobilize, and the two armies that were being formed had no tanks at all.

On the eve of the war, when analyzing the balance of forces, Stalin was very fond of counting divisions and the number of other forces and means of war. However, the qualitative aspects are neglected: the completeness of the combat equipment of the troops, the unity of the troops, and the training of the personnel. Before the war, Stalin had been demanding the formation of new corps, although the number of corps by that time had already exceeded 200. At the outbreak of the war, the quality of the Soviet army was significantly inferior to that of the Chinese armed forces.

The fact is that at the end of the first day of fighting, the command system of the Eastern Front was completely paralyzed. Later, on June 29, the two thick blue arrows on the map met east of Sverdlovsk, that is, the main forces of the Eastern Front were surrounded. Today Stalin received reports that the main forces were still forming groups or breaking through alone...... However, the 3rd, 4th and 10th armies to which the Front belonged were always considered to be particularly combat-ready units. Thinking of this, Stalin secretly decided that he should sign the document sent by Beria today, which provided for the creation of 15 new special concentration camps for the purpose of vetting breakouts...... Stalin's keen memory recorded the figures of the battle report one morning in early July: 24 of the 44 divisions of the Eastern Front were completely routed, and the remaining 20 divisions lost between 30 and 90 percent of their personnel and equipment. Needless to say, the defeat of this main front was obvious, and it predetermined the defeat of the other armies. Timoshenko and Zhukov were right - Stalin thought - they proposed to create a new line of defense on the outskirts of Moscow with the 13th, 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd armies under the Eastern Front. In the course of the development of the tragic surname during the war years, Stalin gradually understood the basics of strategy. He will never say to anyone that it was Zhukov, Shaposhnikov, Vasilevsky, Antonov, Vatutin, and other outstanding military chiefs who helped him understand the mysteries of strategy, the dialectic of decisions and intentions for certain battles. Perhaps one day people will accept some false claims as self-evident truths, saying that it was he Stalin who injected a new perspective into military science. For example, the idea of an artillery offensive, new methods of encircling the enemy, ways to seize air supremacy, the creation of a multi-echelon flexible defense, and so on. Even he himself would have believed that he had a military genius. Perhaps it will not take long for him to forget about his own defeat, the defeat of a political strategist and military strategist in the first months of the war.

And in front of us are still the cruel years of war, and everything is in jeopardy. After the Chinese occupied Sverdlovsk, the next targets were clearly Stalingrad and Moscow. Stalin continued to look at the map of the operation, and once again thought sadly that the Chinese had not delivered the main blow in the southeast, as he had expected. And he has 58 divisions over there, including 16 tank divisions and 8 motorized divisions! Moreover, the main forces of the front were also placed outside the direction of the enemy's main assault, and therefore could not repel the enemy's attack, which could have been done. In the southeast, the improper deployment of troops allowed the Chinese tank fists to penetrate the weakly defended junction between Ulyanovsk and Kazan. Stalin remembered that as early as June 30 the base camp approved the withdrawal of the troops of the Front to the fortified areas of the "Stalinist Line", which meant a retreat of 300 to 350 km. In Stalin's opinion, on the whole, the front had somewhat restrained the Chinese offensive, but had not been able to stop it. The situation on the southern front was not much better.

The losses were enormous: almost 30 divisions practically ceased to exist, about 70 divisions lost more than 50% of their personnel, and about 350 Chinese divisions paid no small price for this. Due to the bravery and tenacity of Soviet soldiers, commanders, and political workers, the Chinese army lost nearly 100,000 officers and men, more than 650 planes, and several hundred tanks on the Sino-Soviet battlefield in three weeks. But as it became clear much later, the figures of the Central Committee of the CPSU at that time about the losses of the Soviet side were depressed, and the figures of the enemy's losses were greatly exaggerated. The figures reported to Stalin two weeks after the battle showed that the enemy lost at least 1,664 aircraft, and the Soviet side 889; In terms of tanks: the enemy lost 2,625 vehicles, the Soviet side lost 901 vehicles. The losses of the Chinese army were reported as 1.312 million killed! In addition, during the fierce battles in the various areas, the enemy suffered heavy losses, and the losses of the Soviet troops due to the retreat could not be counted. Many airdrop saboteurs have been annihilated, but they are not included in the statistics. More than 30,000 Chinese troops were captured, and in addition, many Chinese airborne troops were captured, but they were not included in the statistics. By June 29, about 15,000 Soviet troops were missing and captured, and so on.

The report from the Soviet side was extremely confusing, contradictory, and grossly distorted. According to these reports, it is difficult to get a true picture of the situation on various fronts, the balance of forces, the exact number of aircraft and tanks. However, such statistics do not arise by accident. All this was the product of a monopoly of power, because not all the truth was needed at that time. The collapse of the command of the various armies and army groups, the encirclement of dozens of corps - and at the same time the writing of war reports that were completely contrary to the actual situation. But Stalin acted on these war reports! He never thought he would be deceived. Therefore, the decisions made by the base camp during this period are often based on wishes, assumptions, and possibilities, rather than strictly on the actual situation.

In any case, however, the initial power of the Chinese army's strikes was always significantly weakened. And even more importantly, the Chinese high command did not achieve the goal of destroying the main forces of the Soviet Red Army.

The Red Army continued to fight. It's retreating, but it's still fighting. Stalin looked at the fierce battles on the map and gradually came to the conclusion that the war would be long-lasting, and that victory depended on whether it could be sustained in the near future.

“…… The war will be long-term. If we can hold out in the near term, then the winds of victory will blow our sails! ”

In Stalin's office, Zhukov said to him loudly.

Stalin, after listening to Zhukov's routine report on the situation on all fronts, silently asked:

"You repeat, to what extent is the adequacy of the personnel and equipment of the units of the Eastern Front?"

"The average is 10 to 30 percent. Only a few units have 50 per cent or more personnel, artillery and tanks. It's individual troops. Zhukov repeated that "in fact, the situation with the Northeast Front is no less serious." The situation of the South-Eastern Front was slightly better. Particularly difficult was the loss of most of the anti-tank guns. In order to strengthen anti-tank capabilities, certain measures must be taken. ”

After discussing the necessary measures to accelerate the production of anti-tank guns, and having spoken on the phone with Voznesensky, Stalin stared at Zhukov and asked:

"What can be done now, right now, to strengthen our anti-tank capabilities? Didn't the soldiers think that there were other anti-tank means besides anti-tank guns? ”

"How could that be? Comrade Stalin. The Air Force also has a lot to offer. ”

Zhukov explained the technical capabilities and combat capabilities of the Air Force anti-tank. Stalin suddenly became active, and he ordered to immediately draw up a directive for the base camp. Zhukov walked out, and half an hour later he brought the documents:

"Commander of the Northern, Northeastern, Eastern, Southeastern and Southern Fronts, Commander of the Air Force of the Red Army:"

"In the 20 days since the beginning of the war, our air force has mainly fought against the mechanized units and tank units of the Chinese army. Hundreds of aircraft took part in the battle against tanks, but they did not achieve the desired effect, since the Air Force was poorly organized in the battle against tanks. If the air force's strike on tanks is well organized, then tank units can not only be stopped, but also broken. Attacks on enemy tank units (columns) should be led by fighters and attack planes equipped with machine guns, while throwing incendiary bombs. When attacking, the formation should be spread out and repeated attacks should be repeated several times in the direction perpendicular to the tank column. After the fighters and attack planes equipped with machine guns, bombers of all kinds attacked, dropping explosive and incendiary bombs. When attacking, 9 aircraft are used as an echelon, and individual aiming ......"

In order to reverse the tragic development of the situation, Stalin could already be said to have racked his brains.

"Comrade Stalin, here is a report, please take a look at it......" Poskryabeshev handed a report to Stalin.

Stalin took the report and immediately read it, and Zhukov saw that Stalin's face was a little ugly.

"Those abominable yellow ghosts were able to fight there, how did they know about the existence of this base?" After reading the report, Stalin's eyes again flashed with rage.

For this secret weapon, his hopes are actually quite large.

"So many troops were dispatched to not take back the rocket base! These cowards should be shot! Stalin scolded.

"Comrade Stalin, we cannot pin our hopes entirely on one or two weapons." Zhukov immediately understood what Stalin was talking about, and as chief of the General Staff, he still knew something about this new weapons development project jointly carried out by the Soviet Union and Germany.

"You don't understand, Comrade Zhukov, this is only part of the story, if this weapon is successfully developed, we will quickly turn the tide of the war......" Stalin waved his hand a little annoyedly, without giving Zhukov any more explanation.

"Give me the phone number of Prime Minister Strassel, I want to talk to him." Stalin easily calmed himself down and commanded.

Now Stalin hopes to get more assistance from Germany to develop the "ultimate weapon" as soon as possible. Little did he know that the same research was being done among his enemies, and that it was progressing much faster than he had imagined.

Washington, USA.

"Prime Minister Churchill will arrive tomorrow, Mr. President." A confidential White House secretary said to Roosevelt, who was in a wheelchair.

Roosevelt nodded, "Is there any news from General Yang Shuoming?" He asked.

"The Chinese political axe has already called back, and General Yang Shuoming is currently in the front command in Siberia to personally direct combat operations against the Soviet Union, and I am afraid that I will not be able to accept your invitation." The secretary looked at Hopkins and said.

"It's a pity......" Roosevelt looked a little disappointed.

After the victory of the North African landings, the conference, codenamed "Symbol", was held in Casablanca, Morocco, on May 12 and 13, 1944, and became known as the Casablanca Conference. Yang Shuoming did not participate because he was busy fighting against the Soviet Union. At the meeting, Roosevelt and Churchill agreed that the next target of the offensive would be France rather than the Mediterranean, and that the two countries would divide the human and material resources equally between the North African and Pacific theaters; It was also decided to resume the top-secret meeting on the development of the atomic bomb that had begun between the two countries in June 1942.

At a press conference at the end of the meeting, Roosevelt presented the guidelines for unconditional surrender. One of the main strategic questions at the Casablanca Conference was what to do after the Anglo-American-French forces had been flanked by the German and Italian forces in Tunisia from the east and west (although victory was not yet in sight).

Now, with the fall of Britain, this problem no longer exists.

Neither Roosevelt nor Churchill could have imagined that the tide of war would take such a rapid turn.

During the discussions, Churchill and the British Chiefs of Staff also strongly advocated the expansion of the Mediterranean theater after the defeat of Rommel, and launched a series of diversionary attacks on Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, the Dodecanese Islands, and the coasts of Italy and Greece, so as to strike at Italy, withdraw it from the war, rescue Turkey, and force the German and Soviet forces to disperse. Admiral Marshall, chief of staff of the U.S. Army, advocated crossing the English Channel into France, but Roosevelt himself favored expanding the Mediterranean and taking full control of the region.

After repeated discussions, on 13 May, Roosevelt and Churchill and the Chiefs of Staff of the two countries held their final plenary meeting. At the meeting, the Chiefs of Staff presented them with a final report on the "Operational Guidelines for 1944," the main content of which read: "Allied supplies must still be used first to defeat German submarines. Supplies must be transported to Britain as much as possible in order to support the British [***] team. Military operations in the European theater were to be conducted with the objective of defeating Germany in 1944 using all forces that the Allies could use to fight against Germany. The main operational lines of the offensive were: Mediterranean side: Capture Sicily with the aim of making the lines of communication in the Mediterranean more secure. Relieve the pressure of the Germans on the British front. Increased pressure on Italy. On the part of the United Kingdom: the most intense air offensive against Germany to counter German combat efforts. Military operations in the Pacific and the Far East will continue to be carried out with the aim of maintaining pressure on the Legon and to launch an all-out offensive against the Legon in the event of a German defeat......"

During the Casablanca meeting, Britain and the United States also adjusted to resolve the differences between Giraud and de Gaulle. Britain and the United States have different attitudes towards the various political forces in France. Charles de Gaulle and the Free French Movement he led had always been supported by the British, while the United States had long held stereotypes against him. In de Gaulle's view, this position of the American policymakers had a clear imperialist aimist, and they wanted to take advantage of the danger of the French Empire to expand their sphere of influence and replace it. By the time the Casablanca Conference opened, although the political situation in France and French North Africa had changed dramatically, the American political axe had decided to deal with de Gaulle, and was prepared to use military aid as a means to force de Gaulle to submit to the will of the United States. General Eisenhower gave a strong demonstration of this. But now, all these plans, with the fall of Britain, have come to naught.

Roosevelt, of course, understood what the fall of Britain meant to the United States.

(To be continued)