The cannonballs landed on the ground, bursting into the soft earth with flames and flowers of steel, shaking everything around them and tearing at the air nearby. Then on the originally flat ground, there will be a huge crater, and the bottom of the pit is still slightly steaming.

Immediately afterwards, the Soviet soldiers would jump into the crater and use the still warm place as a natural cover. German artillery fire destroyed the village, destroyed the fortifications, and took a lot of lives, some of them of Soviet soldiers, some of the civilians of the village.

Strictly speaking, the Germans still had a long way to go before they completely encircled Moscow, at least due east of Moscow, as well as the southern part of Moscow, which was still firmly in the hands of the regular Soviet army. And near Kursk, south of Moscow, there is even a huge armored corps of the Soviet army with more than 1,000 tanks.

It is a pity that this armored corps was sandwiched between the three German armies, and it could not move for a while. On Zhukov's far right, Moder's Army Group D, directly in front of the mixed Italian and Romanian and Ukrainian clusters, and on the far left was Guderian's Army Group G, which was eyeing up for revenge.

These three combat clusters surpassed Zhukov's Soviet southbound armored clusters in terms of the number of troops, equipment, and even supplies and the quality of soldiers, and they were able to barely maintain the defense line without being shaken, which already made Zhukov anxious, let alone break away from the defense line and go north to rescue Moscow, which was in danger.

From the outbreak of the war to the present, this is the first time that the German army has had an absolute advantage in its own strength in a certain direction against the enemy's large-scale armored group, so this also proves from one side that the German armored forces have indeed become the first in the world.

In Zhukov's operational headquarters, you can still hear the rumbling of artillery caused by the falling shells in the front defensive area, and some officers are busy with their own work, after all, the entire southbound cluster is an incomparably large existence in terms of troops, and hundreds of thousands of troops need to manage too many affairs, so the entire command headquarters is also extremely busy.

"Comrade Marshal! The 6th Panzer Front has called to say that they are running out of fuel and ammunition and are asking for supplies. An officer in charge of logistics stood behind Zhukov with a document and asked the marshal in a loud voice.

Before Zhukov could raise his head to answer the officer's question, another officer walked into the room. As soon as he entered the room, he stood upright and asked a troublesome question: "Comrade Marshal! Comrade Konev, commander of the 1st Guards Panzer Front, has called to ask about the time for replenishing new tanks. ”

Zhukov waved his hand and motioned for them to shut up, and then he continued to listen to the voice on the other side of the phone, ignoring the two officers who had come in, who were already not of low rank. Then he spoke, and said slightly dryly to the other side of the phone: "Comrade Stalin, my troops are sandwiched between the three German armies, and if they retreat rashly...... It is likely to lead to the collapse of the entire southern theater of operations in Moscow......"

"Yes, Comrade Stalin. I firmly support any decision you make, even in the event of a crisis, to abandon Kursk. Zhukov, who seemed to be much older, said to the other side of the phone in as calm a tone as possible: "But I have to state to you first the fact that as a result of this, the troops of the entire southern theater of operations in Moscow will end up no better than the Leningrad cluster. ”

"Okay, I'll wait for your final order. If we are destined to suffer what fate has imposed on us, then I will rush back to Moscow at the last moment with as many troops as possible. Yes! After saying the last sentence, Zhukov hung up the phone when he heard a busy tone on the phone, and then he turned around and looked at the two officers standing in front of him.

Giving the two of them a look to continue, Zhukov sat back in his chair tiredly, the papers piled up on the desk in front of him, and the wiring of several telephones was tangled together and fell down the corner of the desk to the dirty floor.

"Comrade Marshal! The 6th Panzer Front sent news that they were running out of fuel and ammunition, and requested that they be resupplied with food, oil, ammunition and other supplies as soon as possible. The officer in charge of logistics had no choice but to repeat what he had just said, and then continued to stand there respectfully, waiting for Zhukov's reply.

Zhukov did not speak, but motioned to another officer to continue explaining his intentions. The second officer could only repeat what he had just said: "Comrade Marshal! Konev's Panzer Front called to ask when the new tanks for the supply would be delivered to them." ”

"Tell Konev that there will be no new tanks to replenish him, and I can only give him 4,000 new recruits, but he must hold the main defensive position!

Then he rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers and looked at the first officer: "The ammunition will be approved by the 6th Front Army as soon as possible, and then arrange for the transport troops to send it to them, as for the other supplies, press it first, and you will remind me again at this time tomorrow." ”

"Yes!" both officers got the answers they wanted, gave a military salute and withdrew, and there were several officers from the logistics department in the office checking the forms, sorting out the weapons and ammunition they had just acquired, and the new recruits who had been replenished.

Even the largest reserve system has been consumed so far. Most of the Soviet Union's proud shadow troops, the so-called "reserve divisions", had also been annihilated or captured by the Germans.

Now the Soviet army can mobilize troops, in addition to young people with no combat experience, there are also retired grandfathers who are overage, as well as a large number of women and children. The quality of these recruits may not be as good as Hitler's national division. This also allowed some of the German servant armies, for the first time, to surpass the fierce Soviet opponents in terms of combat effectiveness and will to fight.

It has been almost a month since Guderian's Army Group G failed to move north, and Germany has replenished Army Group G with more than 200 King Tiger tanks, 50 Assault Panthers, and various other armored vehicles, while Zhukov has received 70 US-aided Sherman tanks, as well as a pitiful more than 50 T-34s and Stalin tanks.

Both in quality and quantity, Zhukov's troops are no longer comparable to the frontal German armored forces, and the only thing he still has a certain advantage now is the time it takes for the German army to **** wounds. What supported the Soviet Kursk defense line was only the time for the German army to restore its front-line forces.

What no one knew was that in the distant territory of Germany, General Bock's Army Group P, which General Bock had been ordered to form, had quietly completed its basic formation, was undergoing training, and was waiting for their heavy weaponry. And counting this group army, the German army does not count the garrison strength, just the field army group, has reached 16, with a total strength of more than 6 million. Together with the scattered garrisons, the total strength of the German army exceeded 7.3 million, reaching the limit of complete saturation.

This is still the limit reached by Accardo's vigorous mobilization of female soldiers, and in Germany, on average, one out of every 10 people serves in the army, this proportion can no longer be described as terrifying, and should be used as "limit". Germany has even begun to abolish the conscription department, because the Führer privately confessed to his staff: "If there is a country that can annihilate the German army now, then it has won the war." ”

The Soviet-German war not only exhausted the blood and bones of the Soviet Union, but also consumed the living forces of the German army. In fact, the total number of German casualties in the Soviet Union was close to 700,000, in other words, one out of every 100 Germans had already been killed or wounded in the Soviet Union.

Of course, Zhukov did not know all this, and the information he knew was basically -- lost here and there, how many people were lost today, and how many people will be lost tomorrow. So he reluctantly dialed the phone of his already incomplete reserve: "Pick up General Vasilev...... I'm Zhukov...... That's right, let your two armoured divisions move north first...... Yes, sooner or later we're going to have to collapse on all fronts, that's something you and I know. Comrade Stalin hoped that we would lean towards Moscow and buy him more time. I think in a few days, or as soon as tomorrow, the order to send my troops north will be given...... That's why I told you to leave early so that you don't panic. ”

"But, Comrade Marshal, if the 3rd Front, which is a reserve, leaves the support position, and the Germans attack, won't your line of defense ......?" came the eager voice of General Vasilev on the other side of the phone. After all, the safety of hundreds of thousands of troops was at stake, and he had to carefully consider the consequences of his troops' early retreat.

"I will soon draw the 1st Front and join the sequence of retreats north. Zhukov said helplessly: "Our bridgehead to the south is now dispensable. After all, Stalingrad had already fallen, and it was only a matter of time before the Baku oil fields were occupied by the Germans. Now that the entire southern theater of operations has collapsed, we might as well find a way to rush back to Moscow now that we are stationed here. After all, there is still Comrade Stalin there, and it is still the capital of our entire Soviets!"