General Zhukov, commander of the Soviet Far Eastern Front, stayed up for several nights in order for the troops to be able to get out of the battlefield as much as possible, and carefully formulated an evacuation plan.

General Zhukov, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, forced himself to eat breakfast unwillingly for the sake of his body, and a sudden phone call made his heart that had just relaxed to the point of being so nervous that he was about to explode.

The 14th Army on the left flank of the frontal position was suddenly counterattacked by the Japanese Kwantung Army, and the strength of the surprise attack exceeded the strength of the group army, Zhukov immediately realized that this was not a good sign, the position of the 14th Army was relatively remote, and it had never been the main battlefield of the war with the Japanese army.

Do they want to take advantage of the withdrawal of their own troops to break through from the weak positions of the Far Eastern Front? And then delay the withdrawal of the front?

The Japanese troops that suddenly appeared, Zhukov was not afraid, he was worried about the latter situation, sweat was on his head, he walked to the telephone in a few steps, stretched out his hand and just picked up the phone, "Jingle bell!" - Jingle bells! In the tent of the headquarters of the Front, the telephone rang one after another, like thunder, echoing in Zhukov's ears.

All the staff officers in the tent hurriedly picked up the phone, "Comrade commander, the 13th Army reports that a large number of Kwantung Army troops have appeared in their frontal positions. A frantic offensive is underway! "Comrade commander, after receiving a report from the headquarters of the 19th Group Army, when the troops were preparing to withdraw from their positions, the troops of the Kwantung Army on the opposite side suddenly poured out of their nests and launched an attack on all fronts!"

"Comrade Commander, I received a report from the 16th Army that our unit was about to evacuate, but it was suddenly counterattacked by a large-scale counterattack by the Kwantung Army, and now it is in a melee with the Japanese army. For the time being, it is impossible to evacuate according to the plan drawn up by the Front! "Comrade Commander, the Third Army, which is tasked with covering the matter, reports that the position has been attacked by a full-scale assault by superior Japanese troops and has been lost in many places!" "Comrade Commander......!"

In all the phone calls received by the staff officers, there was almost one thing repeated. Suddenly encountered a large-scale counterattack by the Japanese army, shouting "Comrade Commander"! sounds. In tents. Mixed in with a panicked hustle and bustle.

With a "click", the phone in General Zhukov's hand fell weakly on the table made of shell boxes, "Conspiracy!" -- A huge conspiracy of the Japanese, a conspiracy that had already begun when the Kwantung Army troops began a local counterattack! The object of the conspiracy. It is more than a million troops of its own Far Eastern Front! "General Zhukov instantly understood that he had fallen into a huge conspiracy of the Japanese!

With the Kwantung Army, which did not hesitate to consume most of it, as a bait, it firmly attracted its own attention and fundamentally changed the situation on the battlefield. When the Far Eastern Front showed signs of withdrawing from the battlefield, the Kwantung Army carried out a local counterattack with a broken army, the purpose of which was to entangle the Far Eastern Front Army and delay the pace of evacuation, but only a half-crippled Kwantung Army could not achieve its goal, and the Japanese must have a larger layout outside the battlefield!

The uneasiness I had a premonition stemmed from this, "This Japanese commander is a forbearant and cunning opponent!" Zhukov muttered, at this time, the guns on the battlefield sounded earth-shattering, in all directions, there was a rumbling cannon, and the Kwantung Army had already engaged the troops of the Far Eastern Front in full engagement!

Zhukov forced himself to calm down, mobilized all his forces, and carried out a counter-assault, with the current strength and combat strength of the Kwantung Army, he believed that in no more than a day, it would be able to be completely repulsed, and in another week or so, the Kwantung Army would be able to completely bury the Kwantung Army in the Far Eastern Battlefield, but in this way, wouldn't it be in the hands of the Japanese, and the Far Eastern Front would not be able to get out of the Far Eastern Battlefield and would be entangled here by the Japanese army.

And what about the larger layout, Zhukov is completely sure that outside the Far Eastern battlefield, there must be a large number of Japanese troops coming towards the Far Eastern Front, "Order the 13th Army and the 16th Army of the second echelon to stop the evacuation operation, immediately assist in covering the troops, and start counterattacking the offensive of the Kwantung Army!" Zhukov ordered to a staff officer.

At the same time as the order was given, Zhukov's heart ached violently, and he threw in the troops of the two armies, the Far Eastern Front had already invested about half of its troops, "Order the 15th Army, which had withdrawn in advance, to immediately deploy to the left flank in its existing position and make defensive deployments, the 18th Army to the right flank in its existing position and carry out defensive deployment, and the 21st Army to immediately meet with the Outer Khinganling Front in the direction of Chita as quickly as possible!" Orders came out of Zhukov's mouth one after another.

Since the Japanese have designed a huge encirclement, the left and right flanks of the two group armies are spread out, and it is absolutely necessary to make a layout for the battle defense, and one group army unit can get in touch with the Outer Khinganling Front, and can build a channel for mutual communication, to be precise, for the withdrawal of other units of the Far Eastern Front, and build a corridor so that the troops of the Far Eastern Front will not be trapped in the encirclement of the Japanese army!

In a hurry, busy but not chaotic, to make the most beneficial deployment for their own side, Zhukov can be said to be an outstanding general among the Soviet generals, although at this moment, Zhukov judged that the Japanese troops who came over from the encirclement have not yet seen a trace, but such a deployment undoubtedly makes the Far Eastern Front to the greatest extent, can get rid of the fate of being encircled, if the communication channel with the Outer Khinganling Front, Zhukov believes that even if the Japanese army has an encirclement, it has no appetite and eats the troops of the two Soviet fronts.

A burst of exhaustive deployment, one after another tense and hurried orders, almost exhausted Zhukov's efforts, he sat back on the canvas chair weakly, staring blankly, the sky outside that had dawned slightly, a cluster of dark clouds, from the direction of the Sea of Okhotsk churning rapidly, almost without waiting for the sun to show warmth, the eastern sky, was covered by dark clouds, the dawn of the cold wind, more and more biting, blowing through the tent, the temperature in the tent, and in the field!

Zhukov fought a cold war, from the depths of his heart, a chill arose, almost frozen his thinking, his heart was struggling and hesitating, the way to get the Far Eastern Front out of the current crisis is very simple, a matter of order, in the name of the commander-in-chief of the Soviet army in the eastern region, order the Baikal Front and the Trans-Khingan Ridge Front to immediately turn around and return to help, the crisis can be easily solved, even if the Japanese army dispatches more troops, in the face of the millions of troops of the three front armies, it is only prohibitive!

However, he could not and did not dare to do so, and once the order was issued, with his personal relationship with General Kirganin, commander and member of the Outer Khingan Front, and the commander and member of the Baikal Front, General Gregariv, the two forces would turn back at any cost, and Zhukov firmly believed this.

But how to explain to Comrade Stalin, no! -- Not to explain, but to explain, if he had ordered the Trans-Khingan Mountains Front and the Baikal Front to turn back and rescue the Far Eastern Front, wouldn't the state of the battlefield go in a funny circle and return to the starting point?

A series of plans have been drawn up with great painstaking efforts, that is, to let the three fronts of the armies in the Far East not continue to be trapped in the Far East battlefield, the situation in the European theater is precarious, the German army has formed a situation of troops approaching the city of Moscow, the Soviet troops in the European part cannot withstand the fierce offensive of the German army, Comrade Stalin is waiting for the elite troops in the East to go back to save their lives?

A serious question, before Zhukov, which is important compared to Moscow, to the European territories of the USSR? Or rather, how did Comrade Stalin choose? Zhukov smiled silently bitterly and dispelled the situation of reporting to Comrade Stalin that the Far Eastern Front was about to fall into the encirclement of the Japanese army, after all, it was only his own speculation and judgment, at least so far, the reconnaissance units of the intelligence department of the front army have not found another part of the Japanese troops encircled.

In case he was overly nervous and misjudged the enemy's situation, wouldn't it be a big joke and delay the time for the troops of the three fronts in the eastern region to return to the European battlefield, so far, General Zhukov completely dispelled the idea of ordering the Trans-Khinganling Front and the Baikal Front to return to the Far Eastern Front, as well as the plan to report to the General Staff on the current war situation in the Far East, hoping that the situation on the battlefield will not be so bad, right?

"Wait and see, does the reconnaissance force confirm their judgment?" Zhukov comforted himself in his heart, perhaps, deep in his heart, there was still a trace of luck, "I hope my judgment is wrong!" - I hope it's wrong! ”

At about 9 o'clock in the morning of 1 May, the Soviet troops of the two group armies, after pressing up on the whole front, together with the previous three group army units, with more than 600,000 troops, built a thick defensive line on the battlefield and stabilized the battle situation.

"Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief, the 15th Division reports that on the front of their offensive, the strength of the Soviet troops has suddenly increased, our offensive has been blocked, and now, it is in a stalemate with the Soviet army!" A senior staff officer, after putting down the phone, reported to the commander-in-chief of the Kwantung Army, General Minamijiro.

"Your Excellency Commander, I have received a report from the 28th Division that the troops of the division that broke through the Soviet positions were suddenly counterattacked by the superior Soviet forces, and the troops suffered heavy casualties and were forced to retreat!" Another staff officer also reported.

General Minamijiro's slightly closed eyes suddenly opened, revealing a cold light like a hungry wolf that smelled blood, "Is Zhukov finally willing to turn back?" ”

(To be continued)(To be continued......