Zhukov, who had just left Minsk by train, received a telegram from Moscow from Stalin, which was very vague, but one thing was clear, and that was that Stalin had changed his attention, and he hoped that the front-line troops would hold on to Minsk, or at least Smolensk.

"The Germans had just bombed Stalingrad, and Comrade Stalin sent such an ambiguous telegram, what did he mean?" Vasilevsky, who was the most intact Guards Panzer Front in the entire central region, was sitting next to Zhukov, looking at the telegram as if asking and answering.

Zhukov took a sip of water from his teacup and looked out the window: "What other reason, Minsk handed it over, then the distance of the German army from Moscow is about the same as the distance to Stalingrad, and if the Germans also bomb Moscow, the problem will be complicated." ”

As the capital of the Soviet Union, Moscow is not the London of England or the Paris of France, it is a city deep in the Forte of the Soviet Union, with the largest strategic depth in the world. If the city were to be attacked by the enemy, it would be a kind of destruction for the will of the entire country to resist.

So Stalin changed his mind and hoped that Zhukov would hold on to Minsk and Smolensk, so that Moscow's depth would still exist, and at least Moscow would be able to provide a buffer zone for air alert.

Thinking of this, Zhukov smiled bitterly, and then withdrew his gaze: "Comrade Vasilevsky, Comrade Stalin does not know much about military matters. Now that the order to retreat has been given, and the troops in the entire central region are retreating, if the order to retreat is withdrawn at this time, it is estimated that the Germans will not be used to make trouble, and we ourselves will be in trouble first. ”

"Abandoning Minsk is already an established strategy, and now it is not beneficial to hold on here, we have also destroyed all the field airfields, and the bridges have been destroyed according to plan...... Stopping the retreat now is no different from committing suicide. Vasilevsky spoke.

Everyone on the front line knows that now Minsk cannot be held, and Germany's policy of differential treatment in Ukraine has given hope to Belarus, where civilians believe that they can become part of the good Third Reich and be liberated by the Germans as long as they are freed from Soviet rule.

And the retreating Soviet troops also proved the correctness of this view, they swept away all the food, daily necessities for the winter, and even horses and cars were stolen one by one, shot and killed people at the slightest resistance, and forced the locals to use manpower to dig roads and destroy their own homes.

The German bombing of Minsk was selectively forgotten by everyone compared to these ongoing evils, after all, the locals preferred to believe that the bombing was directed against Soviet troops rather than against local civilians. They looked forward to the arrival of the German army and prayed that the German army would treat Belarus as it did with Ukraine.

"Let the local Belarusian troops be cut off, once their homeland is lost, then these troops will become a burden to us in the future, and we must always guard against the burden of their defection. Zhukov thought for a moment and said: "Batch by batch, these troops were thrown on the battlefield to block traffic and affect the speed of the German pursuit. I think these troops can only be used as roadblocks now. ”

In any case, since Moscow wanted to hold the defensive position as far as possible, it would put an obstacle in the way of possible long-range bombardment by the Germans. Well, as the commander of the front, Zhukov had to give Stalin an explanation, and he had to try to compromise with the tasks that Stalin had deployed, which he used to consolidate Stalin's trust in him.

Now it is absolutely impossible to turn around and go back to Minsk, even if Zhukov dares to give such an order, Minsk will definitely fall in ten days, which is contrary to Stalin's hopes, and hundreds of thousands of troops will be wasted. Zhukov is not a fool, naturally he would not choose such an idiotic option.

Now, where to set up the first line of defense has become a test for Zhukov. If it is too close to Minsk, it is likely that the Germans will catch up and break through the defensive line, and the entire defensive line will fall into a dangerous situation of collapse. And if it was too far from Minsk, it would have displeased Stalin, and now the Soviet leader was worried about the attack on Moscow by the Luftwaffe.

"The first line of defense was placed between Vitebsk and Mogilev, where the rearguard forces were committed, a fight with the Germans, and then the initiative to abandon this line of defense and stabilize their line in Smolensk, which was the best option. Zhukov studied it for a while before choosing this line of defense as the main defensive zone against the Germans.

"Now, it's up to our opponent, Rundstedt, to have a good appetite!" Zhukov muttered as he looked at the map after drawing up the defensive position.

......

"Of course I have a good appetite! Give me enough troops that I will even target Moscow. Rundstedt was standing in front of the map, holding a meeting with the commanders of all his armored units: "The southern region has been forced to stop the offensive because of the ongoing fighting, what about us?

All the officers let out laughter, they had only advanced a few tens of kilometers, and if they were now calling for rest, they would really be laughed to death by their colleagues. What they need now is not rest and replenishment, but a rush to replace shells with medals and wear them on their chests.

"Since all of you here do not need to rest, the pace of our offensive must be accelerated, and the 13th SS Panzer Division, after capturing Minsk, will continue its offensive in the direction of Borisov...... 1st SS Panzer Division, offensive direction Berezino...... The rest of the Panzer Corps of the 2nd Panzer Corps, after capturing Krupki, attacked Horopenic to the north! Bypassing the Orsha Heights, attacking in the direction of Vitebsk!" he pointed to the map and began to assign offensive tasks. If Army Group G is the fist of the southern cluster offensive, then Army Group A is the number one trump card in the central region. This army group had two Waffen-SS panzer divisions and was quite terrible in combat.

"The infantry followed the armored forces and quickly moved forward, biting the main forces of the Soviet Red Army that were retreating, and Zhukov was not a fool, so while biting the opponent's attack, we should pay attention to our position and not go too far alone. Rundstedt instructed all the officers and generals attending the meeting: "If the enemy ventures into the troops that fall into Zhukov's counterattack, let me go back and be a rearguard unit for the rest of my life!"

"That's it, and when the divisions go back, they start attacking. The infantry should be cautious when entering Minsk, although our reconnaissance units have confirmed that the Soviet troops in the Minsk direction seem to be retreating, but this information can only be used as a reference for now. Rundstedt took the scepter, which symbolized the marshal, and the assistant draped his coat over his shoulders, and turned and walked out of the room.

All the officers quickly stood up and raised their hands to see him off: "Long live Führer Accardo?"

......

"The order came down, and the offensive continued. Weitman, who returned to his tank after the meeting, smiled and put the notebook in his bag, and then stretched out his hand, and the loader standing on the tank hull followed out, and the two hands were clasped together, and at the same time, Weitman easily jumped onto the hull of the Tiger tank from the side.

"Driver, start the tank, we are ordered to pass through the city, the first to enter Minsk!" Wittman got into the captain's hatch, skillfully put on his own headset, and then ordered: "Follow the armored vehicles in front, pay attention to the movement of the wings, we are responsible for covering these grenadiers, quasi-native grenades, and reload at any time." ”

"Hey, I said, Captain. Did the Soviets really give us Minsk in vain? Are we going to win? Win the whole war?" asked Weitmann as he drilled into the tank.

"If they fight us in Minsk, then we win. Wittman smiled bitterly, it seems that it is not only Christmas in 1938, but Christmas in 1939, it is estimated that they will not be able to go back and be reunited with their families.

However, as a soldier of the Empire, spending Christmas with his family and his comrades-in-arms is actually the same. It's nothing more than the difference between having a wonderful Christmas Eve listening to the bells or a cruel Christmas Eve listening to the cannons.

The tank started moving, and Wittmann shook his body slightly, and the tank ran over the gravel and began to move in the direction of Minsk. In the armored car in front of him, the grenadiers were holding their weapons and looking around vigilantly, and further on, there was a grenadier No. 3 assault gun.

With the bright morning sunshine, the vanguard of the German army drove into the streets and alleys of Minsk, and the citizens carried baskets and looked at these never-before-seen enemies with bewildered eyes, handsome steel helmets, dirty white field camouflage uniforms. Unlike what was imagined, the makeup of these soldiers was even more casual than that of the newly departed Soviet Red Army, standing on the corner of the street against the wall and talking, curling their necks and carefully observing every pedestrian around them with eyes sunken in the shadow of the steel helmet's eaves.

On the armored car, the grenadier's hand was still pressed on the MG42 machine gun fixed to the roof of the car, and the chain of the machine gun was still hanging haphazardly. The roar of tanks caused some of the occupants of the building to open their windows, and children gathered in groups to watch as German soldiers hung a huge German flag on the flagpole of the city hall.