"Comrade Zhukov! Before making such a decision, I need you to really understand what you are doing and what you are saying. Stalin stared at his trusted subordinates and spoke in an unhurried tone. As he spoke, the characteristic beard on his mouth trembled, and he looked very majestic.

Zhukov swallowed a mouthful of saliva, looked into Stalin's eyes, and finally explained stubbornly: "Comrade Stalin, I was personally sent to the Far East by your special permission to make meritorious contributions, and I can have today because of your selfless help to me. That's why I'm thinking about it from your point of view, and I'm proposing this plan. ”

He wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief, and then said to Stalin in a trembling voice: "Mobilize the main forces of 25 divisions to the south, this plan is the only anti-war opportunity we have now, if this plan can no longer stop the German offensive, then I think, you really have to think about the worst outcome." ”

"Worst result?" Stalin seemed to ask himself, as if he was asking Zhukov, but he did not wait for Zhukov to give an answer, because with a few of his courage Zhukov, he did not dare to say those terrible results in front of Stalin.

The worst outcome would be to lose the war, which was unacceptable for the Soviet Union, but the most fatal result was even more unacceptable for Stalin personally.

If the Soviet Union accepted defeat, it would have to recognize the legitimacy of the areas now occupied by the German army, and even the entire Soviet Union would have to abandon the path it had adhered to and go into the capitalist family - the whole country would be plunged into turmoil and become a poor and backward region.

Of course, Stalin's personal fate may have been even more miserable, as far as the entire nation is concerned, he may have been the first leader to lose territory and surrender to foreign nationalities, and this crime was enough for him to bear the burden of becoming the most despisable leader in the short history of the Soviet Union.

What is even more terrifying is that the political enemies who were exiled to Siberia by him will liquidate him, and with the support of Germany, a formidable opponent, will liquidate him Stalin. His fate will be absolutely miserable, and when he loses power, he will lose his life.

"I will not give up power in my hands, Comrade Zhukov. Stalin looked at his men with mixed feelings, for he had been the most powerful man in the country, but now he had to carry the whole country on his back against an even more powerful invader.

"Because then I will be framed by those traitors and shameless villains. My life cannot be left to these people to comment, do you understand? Stalin finally considered it before he said to Zhukov: "Do you understand?"

Zhukov, of course, understood that since he received the news that Marshal Voroshilov, who had been kind to him, had died on the Crimean Peninsula, he knew that the great Soviet leader in front of him, Comrade Stalin, would not tolerate any kind of betrayal. What he wants is absolute control and absolute power, and no one can question it.

"The great leader, Comrade Stalin. I understand what you mean, and I support your idea. Zhukov immediately made his attitude clear: "My loyalty to you has never wavered in the slightest. The current situation is very unfavorable for us, but I am convinced that under your leadership we will finally achieve a decisive victory. ”

Only after expressing his heartfelt expression did he begin to say that he wanted to fight for the command of the operation: "Our armored forces must concentrate and go south, and while the oil reserves in our hands are still sufficient, we will strike a preemptive battle and consume the main German forces near Stalingrad." In this way, we will have a chance to live!"

Zhukov already had a lot of detailed information in his hands, and he was sure that Army Group A under Field Marshal Rundstedt of Germany and Army Group F under General Kluge on the opposite side did not have much fuel in their hands. This information has been repeatedly corroborated through many channels, and Zhukov believes that this is not groundless.

Then he boldly came up with a solution, one that he felt was very feasible. That is, in such a situation, taking the initiative to gather forces, first concentrating superior forces in the southern region, and fighting a strategic decisive battle -- no matter what the outcome is, this is the best countermeasure that the Soviet army can choose at present.

The response adopted by the Soviet Union now is nothing more than a procrastination, hoping that the war will drag on until its own reinforcements are in place, and then a strategic decisive battle will be held. However, this procrastination trick was seen through by the German army, so the German army used the strategy of a quick decisive battle at Stalingrad.

This has led to a terrible fact: once the German army has completed its strategic deployment, even if the Soviet army finally forms a superiority in strength, it will not be able to gain the first hand in a future war -- the Baku oil field has been lost, even if there are tens of millions of tanks, what can it do?

Moreover, Stalingrad's feedback proves a terrible fact, that is, the urban street fighting that the Germans have been avoiding is not actually a weakness of the German army, at least in the process of fighting attrition, the German army has maintained its own advantage. This made the Soviet army suffer greater losses than imagined in the actual operation.

Once the losses of the Soviet army in the next defensive operation are too great, it is really unknown what kind of role they can play in the reinforcement they have been waiting for. Rather than sit back and wait, it is better to come up with a better way to deal with the changes on the front lines now.

As a result, Zhukov drew up a bold defensive plan: he decided to hand over the defensive front to a mixed corps of recruits and infantry, and to hold off the German armies A and F in the hands of Rundstedt and Kluger. Then the main armored forces quickly moved south, forming an absolute superiority in forces over the Germans in the southern region.

Then the G Army and Army N of the German army were heavily damaged from the flank, and the offensive plan was completed, Stalingrad was kept, and the M Army of the German army moving south felt the pressure and abandoned the strategic plan of attacking the Baku oil fields.

Concentrate more than eighty percent of the Soviet tanks on the southern front, launch a surprise attack on the German army with dense combat clusters, grit their teeth against the losses, and gnaw down the main forces of the German army on the southern front, so as to thwart the German army's attempt to seize the Baku oil fields in the southern theater of operations. Zhukov believed that only in this way could the Soviet Union continue to maintain itself and maintain the current situation.

Since the purpose of waiting for the replenishment of troops is to gain superiority in troops, isn't it a simpler and quicker way to take the initiative to mobilize troops and form a larger superior force in a local area? This is Zhukov's idea: Concentrate superior forces and start a counterattack in the south ahead of time.

"If I lose Moscow, everything about me will be shaken by the group of people who oppose me, and if I don't recover, you will be killed with it. Because in the eyes of those people, you are already my faithful subordinate. Stalin stared at Zhukov, as if he did not hear his analysis of the war situation, but in a slightly wooden tone, he stated: "You can't do without me, otherwise it will be a dead word." Do you really think it's fun to lose Moscow?"

This was certainly not a fun thing to do, especially for Stalin personally. His rule was based in Moscow, and his personal prestige depended on control of important cities such as Moscow. Now, if any of these cities were to be lost, it would be an unprecedented blow to his personal prestige.

Those who oppose him will make a big fuss about this, the external enemy is not terrible, what is terrible is that the USSR will have a crack inside, and this is what Stalin fears the most, and this is why he insisted that the Soviet army must hold Moscow, Leningrad, and Stalingrad.

"Comrade Stalin, in the event of the loss of Moscow, you will only lose part of your prestige, and as long as the army remains, as long as we continue to fight for the Motherland, then everything can be recovered. Zhukov didn't know where he got the courage, stared at Stalin and said: "But once we lose oil, we will lose everything, at that time, let alone a few cities, in the end we will lose the entire Soviet Union!"

Stalin, of course, knew that the current situation was already a dilemma, and he also regretted in private that he could not withstand the temptation of his subordinates, and pushed Khrushchev and Voroshilov to the front, which led to the great rout of Poland. Privately, he also felt that it was irrational for him to force Zhukov to launch a counterattack against the Germans in the winter. But as a leader, he won't admit these things, and he won't easily bow his head to anyone.

He once asked himself why the German Führer had always had an unexpected effect when he interfered in military affairs, and he, the great leader of the Soviet Union, always made the outcome more pessimistic every time he reached into the military field. Unless Stalin himself admits that he is inferior to the damned Führer of Germany, which is obviously impossible.

Thinking of the Führer, Stalin seemed to think of something, he looked at Zhukov, and finally agreed to the plan of the offensive: "Since you, a specialized military commander, think it is good to do this, then I will support your plan." I hope you will be able to win this final decisive battle, go, go and drive the Germans out of the Soviet Union!"

When he said this, his fists clenched tightly, the Führer could be as good as his generals, and so could he Stalin. Since he Stalin and the German Accardo were destined to be rivals, at least in the last battle, he had to give his men enough room to play, like the German generals!