Stalin was not happy, the problem was serious!

And Stalin's anger was not unreasonable, Ukraine was too important for the USSR. www.biquge.info In the land of today's Ukrainian SSR, the most important territories are the Stalinno (the capital Donetsk) and the Kharkiv region.

Among them, Donetsk, the capital of Stalinno Oblast, has been a famous coal city since the time of Tsarist Russia, although the Soviet Union is rich in resources, and it is the world's first to take out anything, but most of the coal resources are buried in cold and remote areas that are not easy to mine, and the economic value is very low. If Stalinno was in the middle of the war, the Soviet Union would lose at least half of its coal supply, without which the Soviet power and steel industries would be paralyzed, and the entire national economy would have major problems.

And the city of Donetsk itself was the largest center of the steel industry in the Soviet Union, with two major steel giants, Azovstal and Iricha Steelworks. If these two steel plants could not produce normally, then the steel Stalin would have lost almost half of his steel!

And the Kharkiv region was as important as the pillar of Soviet heavy industry as the Stalinno region. Due to its proximity to the Donetsk coalfield and the center of the steel industry, Kharkov's industry, especially the machine-building industry, developed rapidly from the time of the opening of the railway to Donetsk in 1869. During the Soviet era, Kharkiv became the capital of Ukraine, and its economic and political status was further strengthened. In the three five-year plans, it was a key development area and became an important center of the Soviet machinery industry. The Kharkiv Machine-Building Plant, one of the four major tank manufacturing centers of the USSR, was located in Kharkov. At present, the Leningrad Kirov Machine-Building Plant, one of the four major tank manufacturing centers, has basically stopped production because of the siege of Leningrad. If the Kharkov Machine-Building Plant had ceased production again, then the production of tanks in the USSR would have suffered a heavy blow.

In addition, the Kursk region (which belongs to Russia), less than 300 kilometers from Stalinno Oblast and less than 100 kilometers from Kharkiv Oblast, was the most important iron ore producing region in the Soviet Union, supplying most of the iron ore needed by the Soviet steel industry.

If the three "industrially critical oblasts" of Stalinno, Kharkov and Kurtsk became battlefields, they would be beaten to ruins or even occupied by the Germans. Then the Soviet industry will be greatly weakened, and the war potential will be greatly reduced.

"We can't afford to lose Stalyno, Kharkov and Kursk!" Stalin said in an unquestionable tone: "Although we have developed the Ural industrial region and have a large rear that is difficult for imperialism to invade and destroy, we still cannot afford to lose the old centers of heavy industry." Because most of our steel, coal, machinery and electricity depend on Stalinno, Kharkov and Kursk. If we lose there, we will not be able to win the war! ”

"Comrade General Secretary, we will not lose the ...... of Stalinno, Kharkov and Kursk"

Pavlov still wanted to argue, but was interrupted by Stalin, and the leader of the loving father said: "Comrade Pavlov, I am well aware of the terrain of eastern Ukraine and the Kursk region...... The Stalinno region is less than 130 kilometers from the Dnieper meander, the Kharkiv region is only 70 kilometers from the Dnieper meander, and the Kursk region is only 260 kilometers from the Dnieper. Moreover, there are very good roads and railways in the east of Ukraine, and there is an endless large plain, which is very conducive to the terrain of the German armored cluster assault. If we lose the Dnieper line, it is quite possible that the Tiger tanks of the Germans will storm the gates of the Kharkov Mechanical Plant and the Azovstal Plant, and then what will we do? ”

When the time comes, there will be street battles in the cities of Kharkiv and Donetsk...... Pavlov would have liked to answer Stalin like this.

According to the "Red Star I" plan, which he and Gorshnikov jointly formulated, the last and strongest line of defense in the deep defense zone on the east bank of the Dnieper River was located on the line connecting the city of Donetsk-Kharkiv and the western border of the Kurtsk region.

And both the Donetsk industrial zone and the Kharkiv industrial zone will be the battlefields of the final battle! The Red Army would rely on a large number of fortified buildings in the industrial zone for street warfare - Pavlov, who had fought the siege of Warsaw, knew that the siege of a big city was a mill of flesh and blood, and that no matter how many tanks, planes, and artillery the Germans (or the Soviet Red Army) had, they would not be able to use their full power in a large city with a large number of fortified buildings.

If the Red Army had been able to fight the Germans in the streets of Kharkiv and Donetsk, even if the cities were finally lost, they would have been able to drag on for several months, plus hundreds of thousands of German lives - if you did not count the casualties of ethnic Ukrainians and Polish Germans, the number of casualties among serious German soldiers in this world war would have been less than 600,000, of which the most 300,000 had died.

General Staff Chief Shalashnipov whispered to Stalin: "Comrade General Secretary, if you want to hold the line of defense on the Dnieper, you have to put up a tight defense on the Minsk-Smolensk line, and you have to relieve the siege of Leningrad...... We don't have enough troops! ”

"Inadequate?" As soon as Stalin heard this, he became even more angry, "We now have more than 12 million Red Army soldiers, and you actually say that it is insufficient?" So how many troops did the Germans have? Comrade Shalashnipov, please answer this question! ”

"About 7 million to 8 million ......," replied Shalashnipov, "but Germany still has many client states, and if you count their armies, the total strength is more than ours." ”

"Germany has allies, and we don't?" Stalin glared at Shalashnipov with some annoyance, "Comrade Shalashnipov, how many people do you think it will take to hold the Dnieper Line, the Minsk-Smolensk Line, and relieve the siege of Leningrad?" Let's say a number, no matter how much, I can make up as much as I can for you! ”

Shalashnipov and Pavlov glanced at each other, and both knew that the plan to deploy a large-depth defense in eastern Ukraine was in vain.

"Comrade General Secretary, numbers are not the key," Pavlov hurriedly took over Stalin's question, "the key is to have powerful mechanized assault clusters." ”

Of course, the number is not a problem, if Pavlov and Shaposhnikov want people, Stalin will immediately be able to pull in millions of heroic Eastern volunteers. However, without sufficient mechanized equipment and necessary training, the numerical advantage could not be brought into play.

"Don't we have powerful mechanized assault clusters? Comrade Pavlov, how many tank and mechanized corps do we have now? Stalin asked rhetorically.

"There are 25 in the tank army and 14 in the mechanized army." Pavlov answered truthfully, "Each tank corps has 3 tank brigades and 1 motorized rifle brigade, and each mechanized corps has 3 mechanized brigades (including 1 tank regiment) and 1 tank brigade." In addition, we have formed a number of separate tank brigades, self-propelled artillery brigades, separate tank regiments and independent self-propelled artillery regiments. The number of tanks / assault guns currently in the Red Army already exceeds the total number before the start of the war. ”

In the past winter, in addition to losing two battles (the Battle of Kiev and the First Battle of Leningrad), the Soviet Union used the strength of the whole country to expand its armaments and make munitions. What tanks, planes, artillery, submachine guns, etc. have been built, and regardless of the quality, the quantity is definitely quite a lot.

The data Pavlov said, Stalin knew it for a long time. He nodded, then raised his voice and said loudly: "Since we have enough strength, then the Red Army should defend every inch of Soviet land!"

Comrades, although we now have to adjust the tactics of the world revolution, this does not mean that we need to admit defeat, because we have not failed, but have suffered only temporary setbacks. In the future, we need to adopt the method of combining strategic defense with strategic offensive, and adopt the strategy of overall defense and local offensive in the European frontal battlefield where the enemy is strong. At the same time, we must take a strategic offensive in India, where the enemy's strength is weak, and ignite the raging fire of the Indian revolution! ”

"Comrade General Secretary's instructions are completely correct," said Khrushchev, a member of the Political Bureau and the first secretary of Ukraine, who was the first to speak in support of Stalin, and then he took the initiative to ask for it, "Comrade General Secretary, please send me to India, and Comrade Timoshenko and I will certainly be able to turn India upside down." ”

Marshal Timoshenko was removed from his post as commander of the Southwestern Front after the fall of right-bank Ukraine, but he did not sit on the cold bench for long before being appointed commander of the Indian Front. And Khrushchev had been the military commissar of the Southwestern Front before, and he was very familiar with the situation on the battlefield in Ukraine, so he wanted to find an opportunity to extricate himself from Ukraine.

"Okay! Comrade Khrushchev, I think you are the best candidate. Stalin was also worried about who would lead the revolution in India, and it would not be possible to rely on a group of Brahmin revolutionaries, but to be guided by experienced Soviet revolutionaries. At present, Serov, the general adviser of the Soviet Bolshevik Party in India, has too low a position in the party to let him take the lead, let alone let him become the military commissar of the front.

Then Stalin confessed: "India has the national conditions of India, and it cannot copy the experience of the Russian revolution. Moreover, the current focus of the Indian revolution is not a class revolution, but a national revolution. On this issue, the success of the Chinese revolution can be used as a reference. In India, it is necessary for us to unite bourgeois revolutionaries like Mahatma Gandhi and work with them to overthrow the reactionary rule of the Anglo-German colonialists.

In the process, we should continue to strengthen the Bolshevik Party of India and nurture the workers and peasant revolutionaries of the Bolshevik Party of India to gradually evolve into a genuine Bolshevik Party. (To be continued.) )