"So...... Can the situation in Ukraine on the left bank be salvageable? Stalin asked slowly, smoking his pipe. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

"Impossible!" Zhukov's answer was very crisp, he said: "The pressure on the Southwestern Front is now unprecedentedly great. On the Northern Front, the Germans had now surrounded Chernihiv, while also defeating tank clusters consisting of the remnants of the 1st and 2nd Tank Armies and the 3rd Tank Army (both belonging to the Southwestern Front) along the Desna River, a tributary of the Dnieper. ”

The Battle of the Desna River that Zhukov refers to took place on May 20, five days after the Battle of Gomel (the Battle of Gomel ended definitively on May 16). Admiral Konev concentrated the remnants of the 1st and 2nd Tank Armies, which had just been assigned to the Southwestern Front, and the 3rd Tank Army, a new force, to engage the Germans on the east bank of the Desna River.

And the outcome of the battle still disappointed the Soviets!

Although Konev concentrated more than 600 tanks/guns into battle, he was defeated by the German Panzer Group, which had the upper hand in numbers and had air superiority. More than 500 tanks/guns were lost! Thousands of other vehicles of all kinds were either destroyed or abandoned due to breakdowns.

The vast plains on the east bank of the Desna River were littered with tanks and vehicles that had been burned to scrap metal or appeared to be largely intact, most of which belonged to the Soviet Red Army.

And after losing the battle on the south bank of the Desna River, the main forces of the armored forces of the Southwestern Front were also lost. Although Konev also had in his hands some composite armies that included mechanized corps and tank corps. But there was no tank force that could stop a German army-level armored group, so they could only watch as the German armored group crossed the Jesna River and advanced towards the territory of Kharkiv Oblast.

However, it is not the main forces of the German 1st Panzer Army that is advancing towards Kharkov, in fact, most of the tanks and vehicles of this army are "waiting for fuel" in the area between the east bank of the Desna River and the Dnieper River (near Kiev) due to lack of fuel.

But General Mackensen cobbled together a "corps" with enough fuel (including the 1st Panzer Division and the 5th SS Panzergrenadier Division) to attack the city of Kharkiv, more than 380 kilometers away.

And on the front of the Southwestern Front of the USSR, the offensive of the German Army Group South also made great progress. The Dnieper line was divided into several sections by Field Marshal Rundstead's front, and all of them were facing the dilemma of being surrounded - as long as the German 1st Panzer Army, which was currently "waiting for oil", received fuel from Kiev, the Soviet troops on the Dnieper line were almost finished.

Stalin hesitated for a moment and asked: "Can the Southwestern Front be able to withdraw?" ”

In fact, Stalin did not necessarily disagree with the withdrawal of the troops, he simply took this power up the layers and finally reached the high command - which caused the troops to be unable to react quickly when they faced the risk of encirclement.

"It's too late to retreat," Zhukov told Stalin in a low tone, "and there is no way to retreat...... The Southwestern Front was stuck by the enemy, and if it were to retreat, it would cause the collapse of the entire front. Moreover, we do not have air superiority, and if we retreat too quickly, we will lose a lot of technical equipment and baggage.

As a result, even if some troops can be withdrawn, they will lose their combat effectiveness. It is better to let them resist on the spot in order to attract the strength of the German army. ”

At present, the Supreme Command of the Soviet Red Army does not have much reserve equipment in its hands to immediately arm the defeated Red Army troops empty-handed, and the unarmed army will not be of much use on the battlefield. So it's better to let them "die in battle" on the spot, so that they can pull some German devils on their backs.

"But it is still necessary to make the necessary adjustments in left-bank Ukraine," Zhukov said, "one is Kharkiv-Donetsk, the other is the Crimean peninsula...... These two places must be defended, and they can also be fought there with Germany. ”

Kharkiv-Donetsk is an industrial and mining region, which means that there are many industrial and mining towns that can be held - factories, mines and cities for workers have very strong buildings. Moreover, there are many ethnic Russian and Ukrainian workers and their families in the Kharkiv-Donetsk area. These people were all supporters of the Bolshevik Party, and the mass base was very good.

And the Crimean peninsula, although there is no mass base to rely on, there is an easily defensible terrain and the naval fortress of Sevastopol.

"As long as we can hold out until August in Kharkov-Donetsk and the Crimea," Zhukov paused, "then we have a chance to drag out the war until next spring after the muddy season, or...... Decisive battle with the Germans this winter. ”

Zhukov's idea is still the old way of delaying time, and the decisive battle in winter or something is to fool Stalin. Because the experience of the winter of 1942 has shown that the Germans simply do not repeat the mistakes of Napoleon.

Stalin also understood Zhukov's thoughts, and he asked: "We are fighting a decisive battle with the Germans around Leningrad in the north, and at the same time delaying in the Crimea, Kharkov-Donetsk in the south, right?" ”

"Yes." Zhukov frowned and said, "Comrade General Secretary, all we can do now is to drag ......"

"Can you drag it out?"

Zhukov thought for a moment and replied: "If the battle of Leningrad-Smolensk can be won, then we can undoubtedly drag the war into 1944 or even 1945." ”

"What if you don't win?" Stalin asked.

He's wondering the worst-case scenario!

"In the event of the fall of Leningrad or the ...... again trapped again," Zhukov said, "the defense of Moscow, the Middle and Lower Volga and the Caucasus will be decisive." ”

If Leningrad is not guaranteed and Moscow is lost, then the USSR is basically finished! If Moscow is defended and the middle and lower reaches of the Volga and the Caucasus are lost, then the USSR will not be able to mix it for 44 years.

Because the war potential of the Soviet Union was based on the Russian population, the coal, iron and grain of Ukraine (including Kursk), and the oil of the Caucasus. If the Soviet Union had lost Leningrad, the Russian Empress would have the support of at least a small percentage of the ethnic Russian population. With the loss of Ukraine, not only will there be problems with the Soviet industry, but even there will be a big gap in the food supply. And if the Caucasus oil (or oil channel) is lost, then the war potential of the USSR will be further weakened, so that it will not be able to sustain the war.

"So......" Stalin said to Zhukov in a sudden and whispered voice, "as soon as there is a possibility of the fall of Leningrad, or the possibility of the fall of Moscow, or the possibility of losing the oil of the Caucasus, you must report to me in person at the first opportunity." ”

"Got it, Comrade General Secretary." Zhukov gave a military salute and was about to finish his report, when the chief of operations of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Kokopev, walked quickly to Zhukov's side and handed him a note.

Zhukov picked up the note and looked at it, and a very sad expression appeared on his face.

"What's wrong?" Stalin asked.

"It was a telegram from Comrade Lukin." Zhukov said that "the enemy has attacked in the vicinity of his headquarters......"

It turned out that this telegram was sent by the commander of the 5th tank army, Colonel-General Lukin, whose army group had been fighting the Germans near Collective Farm No. 13 for almost 20 days, and was now finally on the verge of total annihilation.

"Lukin is a good comrade!" Stalin sighed, "His tank 5th Army fought best in this battle of the Junction, and the current situation ...... He and the commanders, fighters, and political workers of the 5th Tank Army had no responsibility. We can never forget them, they are the Heroes of the Soviet Union. Comrade Zhukov, tell Comrade Lukin about my words. ”

Being able to hold out for 20 days with the overwhelming superiority of the German armored cluster, Admiral Lukin is indeed worthy of a Hero of the Soviet Union. And Stalin's words were not in vain - in fact he "pardoned" Lukin and the remnants of the 5th Tank Army for "treason".

Lukin and his comrades can surrender as prisoners with peace of mind!

And when General Lukin received the telegram from the Supreme High Command, he was in the building of his last headquarters, the 13th Collective Farm Headquarters, where the 5th Tank Army was now compressed into the rubble of two or three square kilometers around this building, with less than a few thousand men remaining, half of whom were wounded.

There was a battle that shocked Bolshevik generals like Admiral Lukin when most of the building collapsed. A small group of SS officers and soldiers from Ukraine put up stubborn resistance here and fought to the end with unimaginable determination. Not a single one surrendered...... Even if Lukin himself promised to spare their lives. In the end, all of them died heroically, including a Ukrainian female sniper (Pavlyuchenko).

In the end, these men were buried with military honors, and Lukin had the sappers of the 5th Tank Army erect tombstones for them. As a veteran of the Russian Revolutionary War, Lukin certainly knew about "Little Russia" (the old name of Ukraine). In the days of Tsarist Russia, there was basically a Ukrainian independence movement, which was also extremely unknown and unfashionable - the Russian Empire was a country with a fairly strong religious atmosphere during the Tsarist era, and in the "Little Russian region" where Orthodoxy was strong, opposition to the tsar was opposition to Orthodoxy (the tsar was the leader of the Orthodox Church).

So ordinary little Russians (overwhelmingly peasants) do not think about the question of opposing the tsar and Russia at all...... This is tantamount to opposing God!

But now, these Ukrainians have become sworn enemies of the Soviet Union, and they are more tenacious on the battlefield than the authentic German army and the Soviet Red Army.

Thinking of this, Admiral Lukin just sighed and said to the staff officers beside him: "Send an envoy to the Germans......" (To be continued. )