Chapter 552 Castle (End)

As soon as he returned to the General Staff Headquarters, Zhukov immediately wanted to call Meretskov. Before he could speak, the other party couldn't wait to ask: "I was just about to call you. Has Comrade Stalin agreed to send reinforcements to us?" If we work harder, we can hopefully break through the German defense line!”

"It's no longer necessary." Zhukov sighed, "Stop the fighting on the Vyazma front line immediately, and all troops will retreat properly."

"Retreat? After all the hard work, you told me to retreat?" Meretskov on the other end of the phone was furious. "Are you kidding me? Is this an attitude responsible for the party and the people?"

"The situation has changed significantly." Zhukov said slowly and reluctantly: "The Bryansk Front surrendered."

"Ah! Is this news reliable?"

"Leitel has sent a telegram to Comrade Stalin. The official information will be made public in two days. You should retreat as soon as possible."

"But there are still tens of thousands of comrades trapped in the German encirclement."

"Let them block the attack on the spot and cover the retreat of the large forces." Zhukov almost shouted, "If we don't retreat, Moscow will be in danger."

"Yes! Yes!" Meretskov did not dare to neglect, he also knew that the situation was serious.

While listening to the phone call, Vasilevsky, who had been exhausted for the past few days, looked in disbelief and grabbed Zhukov: "The Bryansk Front surrendered? Is this news reliable? Don't be false propaganda from the Germans."

"I saw the telegram with my own eyes. He was talking about a pre-battle uprising..." Zhukov hesitated, but finally said, "It was Vlasov himself who persuaded them to surrender."

"I don't believe that more than 100,000 officers and soldiers of the Bryansk Front are determined to follow him. There must be something fishy here."

"It's useless. Deserters have appeared one after another last week. The daily food supply has dropped to less than 100 grams. All the horses have been killed. As for the senior officers who are unwilling to surrender..." Zhukov sighed, "At least he still has some conscience. , arrange a flight back to Moscow.”

"Hey!" Kuznetsov slammed the table angrily, almost smashing it.

Vasilevsky was speechless, and finally covered his face and cried: One side's military formation voluntarily surrendered, and the impact was too bad and the shock was too great - more serious than the consequences of the more than 600,000 troops captured in the Kiev encirclement.

"Arrange troops to block the gap. Maybe there will be a second battle to defend Moscow soon." Zhukov's face was ashen, but he issued the order in an orderly manner. "I have obtained the consent of Comrade Stalin, and the Volkhov Front troops will move south to fill the southern flank of Moscow." The Tula-Ryazan front line was renamed the Moscow Front; Tolbukhin's Moscow Front continued to the Steppe Military District and was renamed the Steppe Front to block the enemy's Eastern Army Group; 500,000 troops were transferred from the Far East and Central Asia and handed over to Konev Comrades formed a new Central Front Army to reconnect the interrupted fronts in the north and south; the three front armies near Stalingrad held their positions, and at the same time, each front army drew out troops ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 to form a southern wing reserve of 200,000 people. ; Comrade Malinovsky led the Independent Group Army northward and upgraded it to a reserve front army, covering the southern flank and the central battlefield and serving as the general reserve of the base camp; before the new troops and fronts were formed, the southern section of the central front was temporarily assigned to Vatu. Comrade Jing’s Southwest Front Army assisted in the defense.”

Vasilevsky nodded. This emergency arrangement was undoubtedly more reasonable, and he immediately made it. Later, he hesitated and spoke again: "This...last time...you talked about the armistice negotiations..."

"Now is not the time to talk about this. Even if we raise it, the Germans will ask for a very high price. We have to wait for the front to stabilize." Zhukov looked around and lowered his voice, "The Bryansk Front incident just happened. Do you think he What do you think?"

Vasilevsky immediately understood. He also noticed that people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs have been somewhat active in the past two days...

The day after Zhukov and Vasilevsky completed their adjustments, the German army held a discussion meeting on arrangements for the next phase of war in Kharkov. Zeitzler reported the overall progress:

"After forcing the surrender of the enemy's Bryansk Front and severely damaging the Central Front, our army occupies a major advantage in the central battlefield. Currently, the entire right bank of the Don River is occupied by our army. There are no enemy troops from Michurinsk to Mikhailovka. , a gap of more than 600 kilometers appeared in the enemy's central defense line.

From May 25 to June 15, a total of 1.29 million Red Army troops were wiped out (killed, wounded, and captured) in three weeks, including: Bryansk Front 550,000; Central Front 350,000; Steppe Military District 150,000; Western Front and Northwest Front The front army numbered 240,000 (mainly losses on the Tula and Vyazma lines), destroyed and captured more than 1,900 enemy tanks of various types, and more than 3,000 aircraft of various types.

Our army's own losses were relatively slight, with a total of nearly 140,000 casualties: the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS lost more than 80,000, the Eastern countries nearly 30,000, the Italian army more than 20,000, more than 500 tanks (tank destroyers), and nearly 700 aircraft. .

We occupied strategic points including Tambov, Borisoglebsk and other strategic points, and defended the Vyazma front line. The fighting in this area is still ongoing, but overall we have achieved fruitful results. "

Hoffman nodded, and at the same time asked worriedly: "Have the number of enemy kills and losses been verified?"

"There will be some discrepancies, but the overall difference is not big. After Letel surrendered, he introduced the situation of the Bryansk Front. The number of 550,000 is completely reliable. The remaining figures are based on the enemy base camp battle reports, internal communications and mutual telegrams he handed over. According to the records of correspondence and combined with frontline statistics, he also handed over all the secret codes. According to the cryptographic system, we deciphered a batch of telegrams and gained an in-depth understanding of all aspects of the situation. Although the enemy urgently replaced them, it was very beneficial to the battle. There is no way to replace all the secrets in a short period of time." Zeitzler smiled, "So if there is any trouble now, we will know it soon, and we may know it more comprehensively than Stalin did."

Hearing what he said, everyone burst into laughter. After laughing, everyone expressed their admiration for the head of state's insistence on "political settlement" and his strategy of giving the Bryansk Front the name of "pre-formation uprising": without this idea, the situation would not be so ideal.

"There is a dispute about the arrangements for the next phase." Zeitzler introduced, "Marshal Manstein asked for instructions whether to launch the third phase of the Spring Awakening Campaign as originally planned and attack the Stalingrad Front entrenched in Astrakhan; Mo General Del asked for instructions on whether to attack the Southwest Front in Saratov and outflank Stalingrad from the upper reaches; General Hoth asked for instructions on whether to attack the Don River Front in Stalingrad; and Marshal Weikes asked for instructions on whether to attack the Lower Novgorod line. Launch an attack and completely encircle Moscow..."

This was a rhythm that was about to blossom. Facing the overly excited and obviously fanatical generals, Hoffman shook his head and lost no time in pouring cold water:

"The prerequisites for the third phase of the Spring Awakening campaign did not exist. The Russians neither transferred a large number of troops from Moscow to the central battlefield, nor did they significantly transfer troops from the direction of Stalingrad to the central battlefield. Instead, they adopted a strategy of leaving the door wide open. , this is completely incomprehensible, so I would rather choose to continue the breakthrough on the central battlefield-for example, to attack Penza, 250 kilometers east of Tambov, and then threaten Syzran, Ulyanovsk, and Kuibyshev One line.”

Hearing that Hoffmann agreed neither to fight Moscow nor to fight Stalingrad, Zeitzler was a little surprised and said quickly: "Führer, with all due respect, this would be too big in the central salient. At present, the salient has reached the north and south. 400 kilometers and 350 kilometers from east to west. If you continue to attack according to your strategy, it will become a super large protrusion of more than 800 kilometers from north to south and more than 700 kilometers from east to west - an area almost equivalent to the entire Poland. "

"Are you afraid that the enemy will attack on both sides?"

"I have this concern."

"Your concerns are right, but one thing must be taken into consideration. Currently, the enemy is relatively strong on both wings, but the center is completely undefended. We should make an assault as much as possible and let the enemy pull out to fight - this is better than our foolish attempt to gnaw at the fortified city. Much better." Hoffman pointed out, "I am not in a hurry to attack now, it is Stalin who should be anxious. I hope that the General Staff can arrange for the front to move forward properly and prepare the conditions for the next phase of the war. All equipment needs to be replenished, and we can’t just continue the attack.”

"This will give the enemy a chance to breathe."

"I just like to see them desperate and struggling." Hoffman said with a smile, "Today is only June 15th, summer has just begun, and there are at least three months left to attack. I will give you two weeks to supply supplies. The peace and front lines have been adjusted in place, and the logistics supply base has been moved to the Tambov and Borisoglebsk front lines. The newly surrendered Bryansk Front troops should be properly arranged and pay attention to the subsequent fermentation effects within the enemy. In the next stage, I hope to continue to tear up the central battlefield. There is a huge gap, I want to see what troops Stalin can use to fill this bottomless hole!"

If they stop attacking for half a month, both Zeitzler and Keitel think it is acceptable, and there is nothing wrong with the idea of ​​strengthening supplies.

"The battle exposed many unanticipated problems, such as too many and too dense armored divisions in the Armored Group Army. Although it strengthened the assault effect, it put too much pressure on logistics. I suggest that the 7th Armored Group Army be established during the adjustment process. General Kirchner served as the commander, attached to Army Group East; in addition, the 1st SS Armored Army was established, with Paul Hausser as the commander, and the base camp was directly under the jurisdiction; the standard armored army was changed to 3 armored divisions and 2 armored divisions. The standard establishment of an armored grenadier division, 4 infantry divisions, 1 guard division and several technical arms is still maintained at about 200,000. The establishment of each infantry group army must also be adjusted accordingly, and it should be guaranteed to have at least 1-2. Armored divisions (Panzergrenadier divisions) and 10-12 infantry divisions.”

"I hope that the General Staff, together with the Supreme Command, will use this gap period to complete adjustments and supplements, and formulate key offensive directions for the next phase."

Zeitzler wanted to continue to dissuade him, but when he thought about it, even if he wanted to attack Moscow or Stalingrad, he had to be fully prepared, have a complete plan and supply time - after all, the main force, especially the armored group army, is now concentrated on the central battlefield. He no longer insists on his own opinions.

"I declare: The third phase of the Spring Awakening Campaign is cancelled, and the first phase of the Castle Battle is successfully concluded! The news of victory can be told to the people of all Europe!"

"Long live the Führer!"