Division Commander Tang Qiuli's analysis of the war situation in the Far East obviously convinced the Chief of Staff Zhao Yuhe, Major General, and he suddenly asked a strange question, "Division Commander, according to your judgment, will Stalin order the Soviet troops on the line from Chita to Irkutsk to turn around and return to the Far Eastern Front?" ”

Tang Qiuli smiled and said frankly: "Yuhe, to be honest, if half a month ago, I could still make a judgment, now, I can't judge how the headache Stalin will let go of his cards, by the way, the pursuit force directly under the corps, after slowing down the pursuit of the Soviet Outer Mongolian Front, what is the situation on the battlefield?" A couple of brigades in the Ural and Tangnu Mountains, bluffing for a long time, how come it seems that nothing works? ”

Zhao Yuhe replied: "Division commander, the situation is like this, today I received a telegram from the pursuing troops of the directly subordinate corps, after our troops slowed down the pursuit, the withdrawal speed of the Soviet troops was significantly accelerated, but the previous destruction of the roads and bridges by the special operations detachment was very thorough, and became the main reason for hindering the speed of the Soviet army's march!" ”

"As for whether the troops in the Ural Mountains and the Tangnu Mountains have been discovered by the Soviet army, I have also sent telegrams to inquire, and the callbacks of the various units are almost the same, and no movement of the Soviet troops west of the Ural Mountains has been found.

Tang Qiuli shook his head, he was also very confused, the changes on the battlefield are really difficult to understand, deliberately concealing the traces of the troops, but it is easy to be exposed, deliberately exposed, but not discovered by the Soviet army, that Stalin, what is he thinking, tens of thousands of people are building a blocking line with great fanfare, for a long time, has it not alarmed the Soviet army?

This time. Tang Qiuli misjudged, and it was still very wrong, but this mistake did not affect the battle situation.

Moscow of the USSR, the Kremlin, the office of Stalin, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Commander-in-Chief of the Supreme High Command of the USSR, on his desk. There were several telegrams, Marshal Petroshilov, Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Army, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPSU, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Molotov, Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Air Force, General Kostadinov. The new head of the Main Directorate of Military Intelligence of the General Staff of the Soviet Army, Colonel-General Konslov, the commander of the Moscow Military District of the USSR, General Badachenko, and others. Ugly face. Sitting silently on the couch.

These telegrams were not good news, and the top one was personally sent by General Zhukov, commander of the Far Eastern Front, a few days ago, and this was also the order of Stalin and the senior Soviet military and political officials present. The hardest telegram.

Whether or not to rescue the Far Eastern Front has become the most painful thing for Stalin and the extremely smooth military and political bigwigs in these days, especially the Chief of the General Staff, Marshal Petroshilov. Comrade Stalin was the formulator of the general strategic direction, but he himself was the specific coordinator and executor, and many decisive opinions had to be brought out by himself first and submitted to the political bureau for discussion.

After just a few days of work, Comrade Marshal had sunken eyes and a haggard face, just as Tang Qiuli expected, the highest decision-making level of the Soviet Union fell into a dead knot and a dilemma!

Yesterday, we received another piece of information from the Air Force, "Commander-in-Chief, our Air Force reconnaissance planes have discovered that a large number of independent division troops have been found on the front line of the Ural Mountains and the Tangnu Mountains, and they are building positions. ”

This information, on the heads of Stalin and the Soviet military and political bigwigs, who were already anxious, struck another scorching thunder, the matter of the Far Eastern Front, has not yet studied a foolproof strategy, that Chinese Tang Qiuli's troops have set up obstacles on the way back to the European battlefield of the Soviet troops in the East, 20 divisions, that is, more than 300,000 troops close to 400,000, it is really a wave of unsettled waves, the problem of the Far Eastern Front, there is no safe solution, the Outer Mongolian Front will encounter problems.

If it was placed in the past, the Chinese would not have been put in the eyes of the senior officials of the Soviet Union, and millions of troops would have directly crushed the past, but at this fateful juncture, that hateful Chinese came with such a hand, it is unbelievable that the Japanese, who have an indissoluble feud with Tang Qiuli, have surprisingly tacit cooperation, is it that on the Asian continent, two sworn enemy countries, secretly joined forces to deal with the Soviet Red Army, this kind of thinking inevitably made the high-level Soviet bigwigs, including Stalin, have a cool breeze on their spines!

The form on the battlefield in the east is as complicated as a chaotic chess game, the three forces of the Soviet Union, Japan and China are mixed together, stirring up a storm in the sky, but on the whole, it is still unfavorable to the Soviets, otherwise, Stalin will not be sleepless and worried, the war situation in the east alone will not make this Soviet strongman so anxious, the offensive is fierce, the advance is rapid, and the Germans who are sweeping through the Soviet army are the imminent immediate trouble.

However, to solve the approaching German attack, it is inseparable from the four fronts in the east, so Stalin fell into an inextricable circle, this is a strange circle that is entangled, in the eastern battlefield, whether it is the Japanese or Tang Qiuli, alone, they are not the opponents of the Soviet army, but now, they have become the opponents of the Soviet Union, and moreover, they are the opponents of the Soviet Union.

Stalin couldn't figure it out, how could the feuding Japanese and Tang Qiuli coincide and attack the Soviet troops in the east together, moreover, the battlefield was also very clearly divided, in the Outer Mongolia region, Tang Qiuli's troops were mainly entangled in Vasilevsky's Outer Mongolian Front, in the Far Eastern battlefield, the Japanese were about to encircle Zhukov's Far Eastern Front, and in the middle line from Chita to Irkutsk, Tang Qiuli's independent division troops delayed the withdrawal of the Trans-Khinganling Front and the Baikal Front.

Stalin wanted to break his head, but he couldn't think of the joints, and today, once again, to bring these military and political bigwigs together is to seek the most feasible solution, especially the problem of the Far Eastern Front, which is urgent and urgent!

As usual, Stalin first consulted the Chief of the General Staff, Marshal Petroshilov, "Comrade Petroshilov, do you have anything better to build on the question of the Far Eastern Front?" Stalin asked as he smoked his pipe, his tone less calm.

Marshal Petroshilov, who was silent for a moment, got up and replied: "Comrade Stalin, I still insist on my opinion, the Far Eastern Front must be rescued, if we lose a unit with more than a million troops, which has been fighting for a long time with the Japanese Kwantung Army, and has accumulated rich combat experience, it will be the greatest loss for our Soviet Union, and we will also lose a strong force in the European theater of resistance to the German attack!" ”

Yes, Marshal Petroshilov, one of the few high-ranking generals who insisted on rescuing the Far Eastern Front, was quite a bit of a convoluted and outnumbered meaning, Stalin's eyebrows were twisted, his eagle-like gaze was like a falcon, and his heart was bored, "Here it is again, repeating the same old tune, insisting on rescuing Zhukov's Far Eastern Front, and not stopping the strategic deployment of the German offensive, I, the main military assistant, is still disappointing!" ”

Comrade Stalin, who was in an unhappy mood, of course spoke politely, "Comrade Chief of the General Staff, I very much agree with the rescue of the Far Eastern Front, but how can you solve the problem that our troops of the three fronts in the East are pinned down by the Japanese in the Far East, and Moscow is about to face a situation where the Germans are approaching the city?" ”

As soon as Comrade Stalin opened his mouth, the question returned to the old way, blocking the German troops from approaching the city of Moscow and rescuing the Far Eastern Front, which was inseparable from each other, "Comrade Stalin, our General Staff is trying to study a plan of operations that takes into account both sides, but so far, there has been no result!" Marshal Petroshilov replied embarrassedly, he was a little afraid to look at the disappointed eyes of Comrade Stalin.

The Outer Khinganling Front and the Baikal Front, which were left by the Chinese Tang Qiuli, were delayed on the Chita-Irkutsk line in the Far East, is not the most critical problem, just with Tang Qiuli's forces in the Far East and Outer Mongolia, it is impossible to stop more than two million Soviet troops from returning to the European battlefield, but once they turn back to rescue the Far Eastern Front, they will fight with the Japanese in the Far Eastern battlefield, if they want to get out as much as possible, it is by no means easy, do the Germans give time to deploy calmly?

The office was silent, the atmosphere was a little depressing, Marshal Petroshilov sat down dejectedly, Stalin sighed secretly, this is not to blame the General Staff, he did not come up with a foolproof strategy, first put aside the Far Eastern battlefield, which is the biggest trouble, in the Outer Mongolian battlefield, it is also unsatisfactory, Vasilevsky's troops, the speed of retreat, as slow as a snail crawling, and also, on the front line of the Tangnu Mountains and the Ural Mountains, the troops of the independent division were found.

This is also a big trouble, if it cannot be solved, the Outer Mongolian Front wants to return to the European battlefield on time, it is difficult, that Chinese Tang Qiuli, who has always been known for his sinister cunning, dares to undisguise his own military operations, and deploys nearly 400,000 troops, plus the independent division troops that are not reluctant to pursue, is it that Tang Qiuli wants to flank Vasilevsky's troops in front and rear, and completely bury the Outer Mongolian Front army on the steppe of Outer Mongolia?

Stalin was taken aback by this idea, the Far Eastern Front surrounded by the Japanese in front of Zhukov, the independent division troops of Tang Qiuli, and the Outer Mongolian Front that flanked Vasilevsky in front and rear, the most elite troops of the Soviet Union in the East, but half of them were lost, and the Soviet Union could not afford such losses anyway!

"Comrades, the problems of the Far Eastern Front, we will discuss them later, and now, let's discuss, the problems encountered by the Outer Mongolian Front, whether to mobilize troops and open the passage to the European theater for Vasilevsky? Comrades can speak their minds freely. "Stalin threw away that dead knot and raised a new question.

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