Chapter 546 Castle (23)

Zhukov's decision was a decisive one. Just two days after he issued the retreat order, the German army quickly devoured the flank troops arranged by Bagramyan and took advantage of the situation to surround Borisoglebsk. Waiting for the remaining 150,000 people of the Central Front Army When they retreated to Balashov in embarrassment, Borisoglebsk had been captured by the German army. More than half of the nearly 100,000 people defending there were killed, and the remaining half were taken as prisoners. Since the German 2nd and 4th Armored Groups jointly moved south on June 1, Model took only 8 days to eat up half of the Central Front's strength (250,000 people) and occupy the very important Borisoglebsk . His actual record proves that he can not only fight defensively, but he is also good at attacking.

If Vatutin hadn't sent troops to meet the remaining troops of the Central Front, even Balashov might have been killed in one fell swoop. Even so, Bagramyan's life was very difficult. Moscow's order had come down, telling him coldly that the remaining units of the Central Front Army would be reduced to a group army and incorporated into the Southwest Front Army sequence. Bagramyan himself suspended his duties to reflect and went to Moscow to be dealt with. . Although Zhukov sent a private telegram telling him that his life was not in danger, it would be even more difficult to get ahead again in the future.

What saddened Bagramyan the most was that Primakov, who he was very optimistic about and valued, volunteered to take over the post-breakout responsibility during the retreat. As a result, not only was his army almost completely destroyed, but he himself was also killed in a German air raid. .

In the direction of Tula, Konev, who adhered to Zhukov's will, launched a fierce counterattack against the Kirchner Armored Group with the help of the poorly trained troops of the Steppe Military District and the soldiers gathered from the Tula and Ryazan front lines, and lost the battle in just three days. He lost 120,000 people. In addition to the losses caused by the German army being caught off guard at the beginning, the total force loss in this direction was nearly 180,000 people. The only thing to be thankful for was that he finally successfully "repelled" the German army after paying a heavy price. Solved the Tula crisis.

In fact, he did not know that the original purpose of the Kirchner Armored Group was to test the strength of the front-line defenses in Tula and Ryazan, not to actually occupy the area. After suffering nearly 9,000 casualties and learning that the Red Army also had a heavy troop group After approaching, Kirchner decisively chose to retreat.

This round of feint attacks on Tula also disrupted the steps of the Moscow Front's deployment of the Steppe Military District. Stalin himself was afraid that Tula would be missed, so he bypassed the General Staff and secretly ordered Tolbukhin to postpone the deployment and always pay attention to the results of Konev's counterattack. They were prepared to mobilize the Moscow Front troops once the counterattack was unfavorable. The heavy troop group Kirchner observed was the Moscow Front troops - the Red Army now no longer bothered to relieve the siege of Tambov.

When Konev finally repulsed the enemy, the Tula defenders were also severely weakened. The original base camp reserves were all in vain, forcing Meretskov to mobilize troops from other directions to fill the gap between Tula and Liang. The vacancies on the Zan front line were needed to maintain the balance of the front line, which in turn affected the strength that the Red Army could invest on the Vyazma front line. It's just that this change is not obvious yet. For Stalin, Konev's ability to repel the enemy with a very weak force proved that he was capable, and he decided to reuse him in the next stage.

Vasilevsky looked at the huge protrusion in the center of the battlefield that stretched from Tambov to Balashov and sighed. His attempt to mobilize German troops from the center to reinforce the two wings has been largely ruined. This huge protrusion threatens Moscow's flanks to the north and Stalingrad's flanks to the south. There are 800,000 to 900,000 German troops in the middle, but he There is still nothing we can do about it. Although the strategy adopted by Zhukov temporarily established a line of defense, everyone knew that it was very unreliable and easily breached.

"Is it still necessary to launch an offensive in the direction of Stalingrad to attract enemy troops?" Kuznetsov asked in a low voice.

Vasilevsky smiled bitterly and shook his head: After the two German armored armies approached Balashov and threatened the flank of the Southwest Front, the German army on the southern flank of the battlefield had surpassed the Red Army not only in strength but also in technical weapons, and the defense was too difficult. How to have enough energy to attack?

"Where do you think they will attack next? Saratov?"

Zhukov shook his head: "I don't think so. According to Hitler's idea, he may temporarily withdraw his troops."

"Withdraw troops?" Kuznetsov couldn't believe his ears, "Why? Are the Germans stupid?"

"They are not stupid, they are even much smarter than we imagined." Zhukov pointed to the distance between Voronezh and Balashov on the map and said, "The German army has accumulated two armored armies in this area, with more than 350,000 troops. With more than 5,000 tanks and armored vehicles of various colors, including food, oil, ammunition and other supplies, how much supplies do you think they need in a day?”

"3,000 tons is enough..."

Zhukov smiled: "This is according to our standards. According to German standards, you have to multiply it by 3-4 times."

"More than 10,000 tons?" Kuznetsov was stunned.

"There should be a German logistics base in Voronezh. This distance is about 200 kilometers. Regardless of whether they use trucks or trains to transport supplies, one round trip plus loading and unloading time can only replenish supplies once a day. If the distance is further, such as 300 kilometers , there will be no time to resupply on the same day - this will immediately affect the rhythm and continuity of the attack, and the front and rear troops will be disconnected. "

"I understand what you are thinking - if they advance too far, the supplies will not be able to keep up?" Vasilevsky stared at the map thoughtfully, "Can we take advantage of this flaw and take measures to lure the enemy deeper? "

Zhukov nodded first, then shook his head: "It's right in theory, but it's very dangerous at the moment, because we can't guarantee that the German army will pursue us according to our ideas. What if they attack our weak points? Besides, to lure the enemy, you need to have a suitable place. Where can we lure them now?"

This is indeed a difficult problem. At present, only Moscow and Stalingrad meet the strategy of luring the enemy deep into the city, but it is difficult to implement this strategy in both cities. If you lure less, the Germans will not be fooled. If you lure more, who will be responsible if you really lose these two cities?

"How are you going to solve this salient in the middle?" When the three were discussing, Stalin came in unexpectedly.

In the past half month, he was not satisfied with the performance of various fronts, and was not satisfied with Zhukov and Vasilevsky who dominated the center. But after looking around, he really didn't find anyone useful, so he rarely got angry. And he also knew that the troops were indeed inferior to others in strength, but Zhukov's words of "ceasefire negotiations" still shocked him. On the surface, he remained calm, but in fact he had sent Beria to the grassroots to understand the situation.

If it was just Zhukov's or a few people's ideas, he could ignore them. If it was the opinion of the majority, he believed that the entire guiding ideology of the war would have to change.

"The Moscow Front replaced the Bryansk Front to cover the northern section of the Central Battlefield. If we want to solve the problem in the short term, we need to redeploy a front in the southern section. We can consider withdrawing the Volkhov Front and then transferring 300,000 troops from the Far East."

"Short-term solution?" Stalin asked unhappily, "What about the long-term?"

"There is no way to solve it in the long term for the time being." Zhukov explained, "The German army's base for launching this offensive campaign is the Voronezh line. The base for launching the next offensive will be transferred to the Tambov and Borisoglebsk lines, and then pushed forward 200-250 kilometers." As he spoke, he explained to Stalin the strategic intention of the German army's "200-kilometer offensive."

"Is this your judgment?" Stalin was a little worried. "Will Hitler not continue to attack despite such a big advantage?"

"I personally think that he won't. The Germans have learned to be smart. They are currently using more short-term assaults to overcome the defects of great depth. Hitler is ready to fight a protracted war with us."

Stalin frowned. This judgment was completely contrary to his original opinion: he always believed that Germany was preparing to use blitzkrieg to quickly destroy the Soviet Union, and Germany had no ability and manpower to support a protracted war.

But now he had to admit that Zhukov was right: after Germany took over the Middle East and North Africa and successfully resolved its worries, its resources and industrial capacity continued to rise, and German manpower was much richer than imagined. They had a group of vassal troops available, not to mention that Germany itself had a population of 80-90 million, which was not much less than the population that the Bolsheviks could currently control.

Seeing Stalin was silent, Zhukov continued: "In the next stage, we will temporarily rely on the Volga River to establish a continuous front. What bothers me most is not that the front is here or there. The front is virtual and can only be defended by troops. If the troops are not good, no matter how good the defense line is, it will be useless. The most worrying thing is that the Germans have too much advantage in the central battlefield, and we have been unable to break the situation on both wings..."

"How many troops do you need?"

"It's not a question of troops, but a question of combat effectiveness." Vasilevsky interrupted, "At present, our army's combat effectiveness and tactical quality are lower than those of the opponent. When we have the same or even slightly more troops than the enemy, we are still defeated by the opponent. The situation of the Central Front this time is very telling: Bagramyan and The Chinese concentrated three times the enemy's strength, but after a week of fighting, they failed to win against the German and Italian mixed forces; the Germans concentrated three times our strength, but on average killed an army every two days - this gap is too big and too shocking! "

"How to improve the combat effectiveness of the troops should not be a problem you think about and deal with?" Stalin was a little exasperated, "Do I need to take this responsibility?"

"This is of course our unshirkable mission, but under the current severe military situation, we cannot effectively improve it. The Red Army urgently needs a breathing space, so Comrade General Secretary..." Zhukov suggested again, "Can we consider ceasefire negotiations with the Germans?"

"You..." Stalin was so angry that he couldn't speak.