Rokossovsky knew very well in his heart that it would not be easy to destroy the two or three hundred thousand German troops in the encirclement. Even if the Germans were wiped out, the casualties would be very serious. In order to avoid this situation of killing 10,000 enemies and losing 8,000 yourself, he decided to adopt a new tactic.

The so-called new tactic is to borrow from the US military's style of fighting against Iraq during the Gulf War, let the air force play the leading role, and wait for them to bomb the Germans almost before launching a final ground offensive.

But to do this, it is not enough to rely on your own strength, you must turn to the Supreme Commander himself, so that he can help himself even more. Thinking of this, Rokossovsky dialed Stalin's office with a high-frequency telephone and said respectfully: "Comrade Stalin, I have something important to report to you. ”

Stalin, after listening to Rokossovsky's new idea, was silent for a moment, and then said noncommittally: "You immediately come to Moscow and repeat what you have just said to me to the rest of the Supreme High Command." ”

When Rokossovsky heard what Stalin said, he knew that the other party acquiesced to his proposal, and hurriedly handed over the command of the troops to the newly appointed deputy commander, Major General Trubnikov, and then hurriedly returned to Moscow by plane.

When he arrived at Stalin's office, he found that the conference table inside was full of people, in addition to members of the Supreme High Command, as well as the head of the People's Commissariat of National Defense.

Seeing that Rokossovsky had already arrived, Stalin stepped forward and shook his hand, and then said: "Comrade Rokossovsky, everyone has been waiting for you for a long time. Now you can tell everyone what you think. ”

Rokossovsky nodded, walked quickly to the map hanging on the wall, picked up the sticks leaning against the wall, drew a circle in the area where the German army was besieged, and then said: "The German army has almost 300,000 people besieged by our army in the Stalingrad area, and although their strength has decreased in recent battles, there are still more than 200,000 people. To eat so many enemies will not only take us a long time, but also cause huge casualties.

Therefore, I intend to adjust tactics and let our air force play the leading role in the battle. First of all, we took advantage of our strong air superiority to indiscriminately bomb the command, communications, liaison, airfields, and other important military facilities of the German army in order to disrupt their command system and plunge their troops into chaos. Then, we carried out a large-scale air attack on the German troops to hit and weaken their combat effectiveness to the maximum. Finally, when the Germans are bombed by us and have no power to fight back, we will then throw in ground forces to launch a full-scale attack......"

"Comrade Rokossovsky," Stalin waited for Rokossovsky to finish, then walked up to him with a pipe in his mouth and asked with a smile on his face: "Tell everyone, why did you come up with such an idea to let our Air Force sing the leading role?" ”

When Rokossovsky heard Stalin's question, he did not answer immediately, but swept his gaze over everyone present, and from their eyes, he saw that they also had the same questions in their hearts as Stalin. Rokossovsky faced Stalin and many high-ranking generals and said in a calm tone: "Without air supremacy, there is no initiative on the battlefield." Many of the battles we launched were due to the failure to grasp the air supremacy of the battlefield, and as a result, our attacking troops suffered heavy casualties under the indiscriminate bombardment of the German army. ”

After listening to Rokossovsky's speech, Air Force Commander-in-Chief Novikov frowned and said: "General Rokossovsky, I don't know if you have considered that if you really adopt the saturation bombing tactics you mentioned, then the fuel and ammunition consumed by our Air Force will be an astronomical amount. With the existing replenishment capability of our army, it is very difficult to complete such a replenishment. ”

Novikov's words made Rokossovsky feel embarrassed, and the reason why he turned to Stalin for help was that the air group to which the Front belonged did not have enough ammunition and fuel. He turned his head to look at Stalin, hoping to get some help from him.

Stalin slowly walked up behind a round-faced general, leaned down and asked: "Comrade Khrulev, I wonder if your logistics department can help Comrade Rokossovsky solve this problem?" ”

Rokossovsky recognized the other party as Deputy People's Commissar of Defense and Minister of General Logistics Khrulev, and his eyes lit up, knowing that the problems of ammunition and fuel that he was worried about should be solved.

Hearing Stalin's question, Khrulev got up from his seat, turned to Stalin and said: "Comrade Stalin, at the moment our trains and cars are constantly transporting soldiers, weapons and ammunition to the Stalingrad region, and if we want to increase the transportation of fuel and ammunition, I think it will be very difficult. ”

Seeing that the other party politely rejected his request, Rokossovsky's heart couldn't help but sink, and his heart said Could it be that his air raid plan would die because he didn't have enough capacity?

Just when he began to be depressed, he suddenly heard Zhukov, who was sitting next to him, say: "Comrade Khrulev, in fact, to increase the ammunition and fuel for the Air Force, in addition to trains and trucks, you can also use airlift, I think we have a sufficient number of transport planes to transport enough ammunition and fuel for Rokossovsky's troops." ”

Zhukov's words gave Rokossovsky a glimmer of hope that as long as General Novikov could agree to the use of transport planes to transport ammunition and fuel, then the bombing needs of the air force would be guaranteed. So he stared nervously at Novikov, wanting to hear what he had to say.

Novikov glanced at Stalin, saw that the other party bowed slightly at him, and hurriedly said: "There should be no problem in delivering ammunition and fuel for the air force of the Stalingrad Front, but first of all, our logistics minister needs to send all the supplies to the airport." ”

"No problem," seeing that Novikov had already expressed his position, Khrulev also replied very cheerfully: "As the head of the General Logistics Department, my responsibility is to provide uninterrupted material support for the combat units on the front line. Comrade Rokossovsky, you can rest assured, after the explanation of the meeting, I will arrange for manpower as soon as possible to deliver the ammunition and fuel necessary for the Air Force to the airfield designated by General Novikov. ”

"Great, that's great." Seeing such an efficient solution to the transportation of ammunition and fuel needed by the Air Force, Rokossovsky's heart simply blossomed, and he assured Stalin in front of everyone: "Comrade Stalin, my troops will be able to annihilate the besieged German army in the shortest possible time." ”8)

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