"Comrade Chief of the General Staff!" Stalin suddenly shouted angrily, which frightened everyone on the scene. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Vasilevsky immediately reflexively stood upright and said respectfully: "Here!" ”

"I order you to ......" Stalin spoke in a tough tone, everyone waited quietly for the following, Zhukov frowned, he estimated that the next half of the sentence should be, "immediately equip Comrade Tolbukhin with sufficient equipment and supplies, and let them go to reinforce Tambov......"

But in the end, this sentence was not spoken, but became "I will transfer this new front army to you, and I will have full authority under your command, and I must find a way to contain the German offensive and solve the problem of the salient of the central defense line!" ”

"Yes!" Upon hearing such a solemn tone, Vasilevsky did not dare to slack off, and promised with his mouth -- Comrade Stalin had obviously moved the real fire, and if he bargained again, he would probably be taken down directly, and he would not dare to take this risk!

Seeing Vasilevsky readily accepting orders, Stalin was visibly relieved. To tell the truth, if the era of the Great Purge is changed, with Vasilevsky's current attitude, tomorrow he will be a "traitor and traitor" who will not be able to escape, but he knows that he must still rely on these people. Judging from the situation of the war over the past year or so, although Vasilevsky also made command errors, his judgment in most cases was basically in line with the actual situation -- although he did not like it in many cases.

This kind of cheap "good, good!", "yes, yes!", "guaranteed to get the job done!" is comparable to that of Timoshenko or Voroshilov. It is much more valuable, since the General Staff deduced that the German army in Tambov was ready to encircle the point and send reinforcements, and guessed that there was another German Panzer Army ambush in the direction of Orel and Voronezh, it was most likely true. Because not only Vasilevsky and Zhukov said this, but Meretskov also held similar opinions, and what is even more surprising is that even Tolbukhin, who has been serving in the North-Western Front and only yesterday urgently met with the general secretary to prepare for the post of commander of the Moscow Front, actually thinks so.

Thinking of the high degree of unanimity of opinion among so many people, Stalin did not dare to mess around again: sending away 30-400,000 Red Army troops was only a trivial matter, and in case of repeated mistakes in decision-making, the prestige of the general secretary would not be preserved at all.

He finally discovered that although the tame and obedient generals were relatively effective in carrying out orders, most of them were unable to fight tough and difficult battles, and the generals who had performed relatively well in recent years were all thorns or slippery heads, while the obedient Timoshenko, Pavlov, and Tyulenev suffered defeats one after another -- not ordinary setbacks, but fiascos! These three people alone have almost lost 1.5 million troops.

Sometimes a person calms down and thinks about it, and feels a little regret for executing Tukhachevsky so quickly, but what if this person is still here? Wouldn't the war be as messy as it is now? And Blyukhel (Gallen), if he hadn't been so bad-tempered in the first place, if he was willing to show his allegiance to himself, how could he have ended up like that?

His face softened, and he asked, "So, can you tell me what you plan to do next?" ”

"I discussed several measures with Comrade Zhukov, and combined with the front army you just transferred to me, I initially planned to do this." Vasilevsky walked to the map and elaborated one by one:

First, 400,000 troops from the Northwest Front and the Western Front were transferred to attack Vyazma, an important hub of the Western Railway and a strategic fulcrum that the Germans must secure, and we had some advantages in this direction, so we could find ways to attract the attention of the Germans and force the German armored forces to be exposed and move to the Vyazma line;

Second, the newly reorganized Moscow Front moved to the Steppe Military District as a whole, allowing Comrade Konev to lead the existing troops of the Steppe Military District to change defenses to the Ryazan front line and make an offensive posture to confuse the German army;

thirdly, after the withdrawal of the Panzer Army, convinced of the German ambush, let Comrade Tolbukhin attack to the west, in an effort to open the gap in the Tambov encirclement, or to meet the retreat of the Bryansk Front;

Fourthly, Bagramyan should occupy Karachi as soon as possible and attract Manstein's Army Group South to mobilize forces to consolidate the defensive line in order to create an opportunity for Comrade Vatutin's Southwestern Front to flank it;

Fifthly, Rokossovsky's Don Front and Yeremenko's Stalingrad Front temporarily stood still, putting pressure on the opponent to ensure that the German troops on the southern flank were not transferred to the central theater......

Stalin nodded his head as he listened, and quickly figured out Vasilevsky's intentions: Now the center of gravity of the German army is concentrated on the central battlefield -- three Panzer armies are concentrated, and three army groups are also concentrated. The Red Army should do the opposite, storming both flanks of the German front, forcing the enemy to move his heavy forces from the center to reinforce both flanks, so that there is a chance to maintain a stable front.

"Of course......" Vasilevsky also saw very clearly that it was impossible for the front to maintain the original situation, because the Red Army was in a weak position in terms of overall combat effectiveness, and the Tambov salient could only be allowed to exist, and the central battlefield would no longer face off the Voronezh-Karachi line in the future, but the Tambov-Borisogrebsk line, where a huge salient would be formed more than 200 kilometers wide and 280 kilometers long, and the small salient in the Karachi direction would eventually be abandoned.

"By further raising and extending the enemy's supply lines, a good base can be prepared for a winter counteroffensive." Vasilevsky comforted Stalin with Zhukov's inspection of the front, "We found that after the density of the German tank troops increased, its dependence on logistics supply convoys increased, and this would be a good breakthrough." ”

"Good." Stalin nodded with satisfaction, "Do as soon as you want, the situation cannot deteriorate any further." ”

On 2 June 1943, the same day that the huge Japanese Combined Fleet sailed out of the Gulf of Aden and turned south to receive the marines who were supposed to board in the direction of Tanganyika and prepare to complete the Seychelles Raid, the Red Army began an onslaught against the 9th Army Group Center stationed on the Vyazma line.

"It's moving! It's moving! "My Führer, the direction of Moscow is not only massing forces to attack the Vyazma line, but it seems that it is also preparing to draw reinforcements south. ”

"Stalin finally couldn't bear it anymore?" Hoffman laughed, "Is there any accurate information?" ”

"It is estimated that the total strength of the southward movement will be between 300,000 and 350,000, and the core will be the 7th Army in the Leningrad direction, and in addition, it should be a reserve secretly prepared by Stalin. As for the troops besieging Vyazma, judging by their numbers, they seem to belong to the Northwest and West Fronts of the Red Army.

"General Moder has ordered Admiral Schellner to hold the line and not to take a step back." Zeitzler frowned and said, "However, there are more tanks in the Red Army in that direction, and the preliminary estimate is no less than 700, do you need to send some armored divisions over?" Now the 9th Army did not have armored divisions. ”

"What about your proposal?" Hoffmann turned to Modell.

"I wanted to send 1-2 Panzer Divisions north, but Admiral Rolls gave a very bold suggestion that he wanted the 3rd Panzer Army, which is currently in Voronezh and hidden, to move eastward, beyond the Tambov encirclement, to attack Ryazan southeast of Moscow and thus deter Moscow."

Zeitzler was frightened by this suggestion, Ryazan is more than 250 kilometers away from Tambov and more than 350 kilometers away from Voronezh, which is obviously too deep for the Panzer Army, and more importantly, Tula is still in the hands of the Red Army, and a rash attack on Ryazan is likely to encounter a flank attack by the Red Army, Hoffman does not agree with such a risky way of playing, in the past two days to maintain the supply of the 2 Panzer Army, he has been restless, if he really goes to fight 350 kilometers away, Rouse will not do anything, A single maneuver can deplete most of your fuel reserves. But instead of categorically objecting, he turned to Zeitzler for advice.

The latter smiled and said: "Since they are all ready to fight Ryazan 350 kilometers away, why don't you just cross Tambov and fight Nizhny Novgorod 450 kilometers away?" The capture of Nizhny Novgorod, east of Moscow, and the capture of Tambov, means that we have completed the encirclement of Moscow on all sides. ”

Everyone laughed, but Moder didn't laugh along, and said with an expressionless face: "Admiral Rouse made a second suggestion, if the main forces of the 3rd Panzer Army do not move, he thinks that the 6th Panzer Division and the 3rd Panzergrenadier Division can go north to support the 9th Army. ”

Zeitzler thought for a moment and agreed, but Moder himself had a different opinion: "I don't think the 9th Army needs reinforcements for the time being, it is the troops and defense areas that I have led before, at most an aviation wing will do, I have full confidence that I can hold it." ”

"I want to borrow the 1st Panzer Division assigned to Army Group East, and then use the 6th Panzer Division and the 3rd Panzergrenadier Division of General Rouse, and then transfer an infantry division from the direction of Orel to attack Tula with more than 70,000 troops in 4 divisions, and find out what the flank strength of the Western Front is?" He explained, "I don't believe that the Russians have to attack Vyazma on the one hand, rescue Tambov on the other, and maintain the defense of the Tula and Ryazan fronts." ”

"If, I mean if, Tula's first-line defense is in vain, I suggest that Marshal Weix's troops turn to Tula after fighting Tambov, and that the main forces of Admiral Rolls and the rest of Orel's troops also attack Tula, and that the 2nd and 4th Panzer armies, which are currently moving south, block the Red Army on the southern flank and prevent them from going north for reinforcements - I don't care if Stalin wants to fight Vyazma, I just want Moscow!"

Hoffmann thought to himself: Well, now the commanders of the army group are more and more arrogant, Manstein is going to sweep the heart of the Soviet Union, and Moder is going to take Moscow directly, and he has become the most conservative of the decision-making circles. (To be continued.) )