Sure enough, ten minutes later, the entire 1st Panzer Corps, as well as the 3rd SS Panzer Division and other units, all moved south, preparing to launch a new attack on Izyum, instead of Kharkov, which was filled with a dangerous atmosphere.

The main force of the German army, Army Group G, was like a wolf king with a super keen sense of smell, sniffing lightly in front of the trap, and then left the disguised danger, without even looking back.

Guderian ordered his troops to attack Izyum, so the main German forces began to move south, and their attack was unexpected by everyone, and the Soviets did not expect that the German armored forces, which had been rushing towards Kharkov, would suddenly stop their advance, and then immediately change the direction of their attack.

For a time, the Soviet Red Army deployed near Izyum was in a mess, and without doing any decent resistance, the Germans took advantage of the situation and took this important city, and then the German armored forces began to appear on a large scale near Kupyansk and Severodonetsk, while Moder's army group infantry began to storm Slavyansk, and for a time the deception of the German army going north was lifted, and the entire southern cluster began to move south frantically.

"General! General! Severodonetsk is in a hurry! The main force of the German army did not attack Kharkov, but turned a corner there and went south!" A staff officer rushed into Zhukov's office in a panic with a telegram, startling the general, who was studying a military map behind his desk. Zhukov looked up, apparently also a little unconvinced that such a thing would happen.

A few minutes ago, he was still working on how to hold back the German offensive in Kharkov, and how to make Timoshenko stubbornly resist in Kharkov, buy time for the entire Northern Soviet Army, and dig a huge grave for the main German armored forces. But now it seems that all this is just a joke, and the Germans seem to have seen through his plan and did not continue to attack Kharkov in the north.

"This is impossible!" This was Zhukov's first reaction, he subjectively judged that it was impossible for the Germans to give up the plan to attack Kharkov, or that he did not think that the Germans would give up such a huge piece of fat that had been swallowed in their mouths: "If the Germans give up Kharkov and do not go north, won't they give me the victory themselves?"

The sentence he asked is reasonable, the only army that can threaten him is Guderian in the south, if this force does not have the intention of flanking him, then it is impossible to complete the task of preventing the Soviet army from occupying Kyiv only by relying on Army Group E to hold on to Kyiv, once Kiev is lost, even if the German army occupies Crimea and Donetsk, it will be surrounded by the Soviets in a huge encirclement, and there is only one fate waiting for these German troops, that is, perdition.

The German army has higher speed mobility than the Soviet Red Army, and also has more powerful firepower and armored vehicles, but it also proves that the German army relies on logistics supply more than any army.

Because of this, Zhukov was sure that the Germans would attack north with the speed of attack, attacking Kharkov and threatening Minsk's flank, in order to force the Soviet army to abandon the plan to attack Kiev. This was the only chance of victory for the Germans under normal circumstances, so Zhukov laid a net in Kharkov with such determination, waiting for Guderian to take the bait.

It's a pity that Guderian was so dashing, so chic that he really didn't care about Liszt's life or death, regardless of the danger of the main forces of the three armies of the German Southern Front being encircled, so he made a gorgeous turn in Kharkov and rushed to Donetsk, which was important but irrelevant to the overall situation. This caught Zhukov a little off guard, and even a little worried.

He stood up, took the telegram from the staff officer, read it carefully twice, and then walked to the huge battle map hanging on the wall, raised his head to look at Rokossovsky's current position, and muttered quietly: "The Germans really believe so firmly in Liszt's ability to hold the position?

"Is this conviction a pure gamble?, or is it true that the Führer, who always works miracles, can confirm that Liszt's Army Group E can really block my entire offensive cluster?" Zhukov frowned, repeated these things, walked twice in front of the map, holding his chin and still not getting the point.

He still had a powerful Guards Front in his hand that was not used, and once this force was put into the offensive, then the defensive line on Liszt's front would last for another 24 hours at most, and by that time there would be no obstacles between the Soviet army and Kiev, and there would still be a few days to reach Army Group A under Marshal Rundstedt, which was flanking Zhukov, and there was no time to rescue the collapsed Army Group E.

However, such a strange behavior of the Germans alerted Zhukov, who, just as Guderian and other German generals had seen through the Soviet plans, also sensed the smell of danger in the abnormal actions of the German army.

"This is not gambling! No matter how crazy a person is, he will not dare to gamble on a disadvantaged game with all the chips in his hand! The Germans' cards are not good, and they even say that there is a risk of losing at any time, and only fools can do it when they bet at this time!" Zhukov gritted his teeth and said: "Their hole cards will definitely make them believe that their chances of winning are greater!

"It's not Liszt! It's not Army Group E! They are sure to hold Kyiv, so they don't come to the rescue! I know how Guderian saw my plan! Because I didn't go to the rescue of Kharkov, they sensed the danger! Now they don't go to the rescue of Kyiv, it's also a reason!" Zhukov suddenly realized. He turned his gaze back to Kiev, which was already close at hand on the map, and then cracked his mouth and smiled, he also sensed the idea of the Germans, that is, to use Kiev as a decoy to capture the entire Zhukov cluster of more than 700,000 Soviet troops.

Interestingly, the two sides drew up almost the same plan in two different places, except for the opposite direction of attack, they almost drew the same attack curve on the map, and the countermeasures turned out to be the same, both wanted to eat the opponent's offensive forces, and solve the opponent's field armor once and for all.

"Interesting! It's really interesting!" Zhukov slapped his palms twice after laughing a few times, as if applauding the other party's commander, and also seemed to be happy that the attack plan he had drawn up was so clever that there were people who had a heart.

However, it is one thing to see through the opponent's plan, and how to deal with the opponent's plan is another. The Germans saw through Zhukov's Kharkov trap and responded by abandoning the decoy in front of them, changing the direction of the offensive and avoiding the battle with the Soviet Red Army.

Now the same question is in front of Zhukov, and how he chooses has become a key decision in the final victory or defeat of this battle. Whether the Soviets, like the Germans, abandoned their plans to attack Kyiv or made other choices - it was up to the commander-in-chief, who stood in front of the map at the command headquarters in Minsk.

"Retreat the same way, then the entire offensive cluster will be safe, and this war can continue!" Zhukov took another step in front of the map, he walked back and forth, repeatedly thinking about the different consequences of different choices: "But Guderian's attack to the south will make Timoshenko lose half of his troops, and at least 400,000 people will be surrounded in Donetsk, we can't afford this loss anyway!"

He walked to the other side of the map, looked at the position where Army F under the command of the immobile German commander Kluger, and shook his head to deny his idea of changing the offensive route: Germany's Army F is not a second-rate soldier like the Soviet Red Army in Donetsk, and it is not easy to eat Klug's F Army in one go, just like Guderian ate the Soviet Red Army in the Donetsk direction. If there is a little delay and it is dragged to the fixed position of Army Group A, it will really be completely finished.

In other words, the only advantage in Zhukov's hands now is that when attacking the direction of Kyiv, there is a time difference of about 3 to 4 days, and once this time is used up, Army Group A, which rushed over, will cut off his rear road and let his situation fall from heaven to hell.

"Damn, how can the German army have so many difficult generals and so many difficult troops unconsciously?" Zhukov complained hatefully, and then he called his adjutant and explained: "Send a telegram to Comrade Stalin! State the current situation of our army! Let Comrade Stalin make the decision, how should we choose!"

An hour later, Zhukov got a top-secret telegram from Moscow, on which Zhukov smiled bitterly after reading it, and then personally lit a match and burned the order from Moscow.

After that, he returned to his office and sat alone for more than ten minutes, and finally made a crazy decision: "The Germans were frightened at the most critical moment, and they chose to avoid difficulties! We, the Soviet Red Army, will not be cowardly! We will meet the challenge that belongs to us! Order Vasilevsky to let his 3rd Front continue to advance and storm forward! Everything will be carried out according to the original plan! We will use the Soviets' own way to decide the victory!"

"Yes! Comrade Commander!" After the adjutant stood upright, he solemnly saluted: "The great motherland is with us!"