PS: Thank you for the book friend "Wangyun Mountain People" for the re-reward and the two monthly tickets voted again, thank the book friend "Yunfei ~~~~" for the monthly ticket voted for, and ask for recommendation votes ^_^ by the way

According to further accurate statistics from both sides, the total number of Soviet officers and soldiers captured reached 2.03 million, while the number of killed and missing was as high as 740,000, although a small number of Soviet officers and soldiers were lucky enough to escape back home (it was summer, and the temperature was high, which made it easier for Soviet officers and soldiers to swim across the river, otherwise the number of escapes would have been much smaller). But the total does not add up to more than 100,000. The reason why the sum of the three is less than 3 million is that the more than 3 million people are only the sum of the maximum strength of the Soviet army participating in the war, but in fact, due to the fact that some officers and men were injured and sick and were recuperating in the rear, and even a small number of troops were delayed in marching and did not arrive in time, the number of troops that actually participated in the initial offensive of the Soviet "heavy thunderstorm" was less than 2.9 million. Stalin was very unhappy with this at first, but after the unprecedented fiasco at the front, he might have felt a little glad that in the current situation, it would be a good thing to lose a little less army!

In less than half a month, more than 2.7 million Soviet troops were annihilated in an organized manner, such a brilliant result shocked the entire Shijie, but Germany also paid a great price for the victory, with a total of no less than 400,000 casualties, including more than 70,000 killed, in addition to the loss of more than 800 tanks/armored vehicles/self-propelled guns and more than 1,300 aircraft, and the whole of Poland also suffered heavy losses in this war that did not last long but was extremely intense, with more than 200,000 civilian casualties. The direct economic losses amounted to more than a billion dollars. And the indirect ones are even more difficult to count. In addition, the railways, bridges, and airfields in Poland were also greatly damaged, so if the German army wanted to take advantage of the victory to pursue and kill into the territory of the Soviet Union, it was likely to encounter the same predicament as the previous Soviet army due to poor supplies

For this reason, the General Staff of the German Army and many high-ranking German generals believed that it was better for the German army to repair for a period of time, on the one hand to replenish the lost soldiers, equipment, and ammunition consumed, and on the other hand, to rest well to recover from the fatigue caused by the great war, and to wait until all the railways and main bridges in Poland were repaired and the supply lines were restored before launching a further counterattack against the Soviet Union.

In addition, some people even believe that Germany should take advantage of the aftermath of a great victory at this time to make peace with the Soviet Union on more favorable terms in order to avoid a two-front war. After all, it's just the United States and the United Kingdom. The overall strength is already above Germany, and if there is a big war with the Soviet Union at the same time, even after this big victory, the prospects are hardly optimistic

When the mustache heard this, he immediately sternly refuted the argument of compromise and peace. Even he could see that the allies were superior in overall strength. How could Stalin not see it? If it was when the face was not torn before. It is possible that the Soviets will continue to wait and see the Allies and Germany consume each other, but now that the Soviets have done so, there is absolutely no reason to go back on this. Otherwise, they would not only greatly offend the American and British allies, but also collapse the credibility of the Soviet government at home and abroad. Moreover, Stalin was originally quite resolute, and he may pretend to agree to peace talks with Germany in order to rebuild the strength of the army, but he will never really make a truce with Germany. Besides, the mustache also knows that with his complete collapse of international credit, I am afraid that no government will trust the German government now

As for the proposal for temporary repairs, it was also categorically rejected by the mustache, his opinion is very simple, the German army is indeed in some difficulties now, but no matter how difficult it is, it is not comparable to the Soviet Union, which has just lost more than 2.7 million elites, if it does not take advantage of this time to beat the Soviet Union to death, do you have to wait until they ease up to bite Germany back?

Although supply was a problem, the mustache believed that as long as the Soviet Union did not send too many troops at once, with the support of the air force, the supply of the German ground forces should not be too difficult, and if necessary, it could also use the captured, and the necessities of life could be partially replenished from the anti-Soviet shili in the Soviet Union.

Although it will take time to repair the bridge, it is possible to let the Germans cross the river in batches without rushing to invest a large number of troops. In addition, troops that were difficult to cross in time due to limited transport capacity could also spend some time attacking the Soviets through the unspoiled railway detour in Slovakia, after the Soviet high command concentrated its forces on the German mainland because it wanted to kill them in one blow, and did not attack the two Axis powers of Romania and Slovakia at the same time, leaving only a part of the army to protect the flanks of the main force, and they should regret it

After discovering that the German counteroffensive had not invested many troops, the Soviet high command believed that it was a rare opportunity for the enemy to penetrate deep alone, and decided to concentrate all the troops that could be mobilized on the front line to annihilate them, so as to restore the morale of the Soviet army and civilians who had been severely damaged by the failure of the "heavy thunderstorm". However, although the German army was smaller, it was far more elite than the second-line troops that the Soviet Union hastily assembled, and the activity of the Luftwaffe made it difficult for the Soviet Union to give full play to its superiority in the number of weapons, and even suffered heavy losses. As a result, after a fierce battle, the Soviet army suffered more than 200,000 casualties, and the flank was seriously threatened by the German attack from Slovakia, and had to take the initiative to retreat, but was pursued by the German army and suffered greater losses

With 160,000 killed and missing, 220,000 captured and more than 3,100 aircraft, and more than 1,700 tanks/armored vehicles/self-propelled guns, Stalin, who suffered a major blow after the defeat of the "Great Thunderstorm", felt as if he had been hit with another hammer. Fortunately, the Soviet top brass was basically frightened by the sharp offensive of the German army, and they did not have the courage to come out and take responsibility at this time, so Stalin's position was still very stable, otherwise the situation would have been worse

It must be admitted that Stalin was as resilient as his name meant "steel", and under successive heavy blows, he quickly regained his composure and rekindled the courage of the Soviet military and civilian resistance with a highly infectious speech. Although the justice of the Great Patriotic War was discounted because the Soviet Union made the first move in this time and space, the Soviet military and civilians still broke out with great patriotic enthusiasm after the enemy had already invaded the country. After losing no less than three million elites on the front, the Soviet Union's world-leading mobilization capability has become more and more powerful.

By mid-September 1942, about a month after the outbreak of the Soviet-German war, the total number of Soviet troops on the front had increased to more than 2 million, and if you count the number of troops in Moscow, Leningrad and other places, it exceeded 3.5 million, regaining its superiority over the German army (to be continued......