Iron Cross

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Marked by the end of the Battle of the Meander, the first phase of the Battle of Rostov came to an end temporarily.

When the temperature dropped to minus 19 degrees and the Don River froze quickly, it could even support tanks crossing the river. Rokossovsky commanded the Don River Front to rush across the ice toward the meander of the river like crazy, but they could not catch up with the Germans. The only thing left to do is to rescue the remaining troops of the Hequ tribe that are struggling to support themselves. Vatutin, on the other hand, led the main force of the front army in embarrassment to move closer to the Don River front army and formed a line. During the armored assault of the Hoth Cluster, the 12th Group Army and the front army headquarters staying on the other side of the Don River were trapped in a tight siege. If it were not for the 6th and 6th Army. The 5th Tank Army gave up its frontal attack mission and desperately rescued him. At this moment, Vatutin might already be in a German prisoner of war camp.

The result of this battle was a resounding slap in the face to the Red Army. The so-called rectification and improvement they promoted during the summer silent period were actually just an illusion. They have an advantage in terms of military strength, but the combat effectiveness of the troops is still very problematic. The advantages on paper are far from the advantages in actual combat, especially the flexible and changeable battle assault capabilities of the Huot Cluster and Manstein's fierce attack on the Hebend Campaign. The scalpel dissection tactics amazed the Red Army and taught the Red Army generals a vivid lesson.

In the internal discussions of the General Staff of the Red Army, it was pointed out more than once that if the roles and positions of the two sides were exchanged in the battle of the Great Bend of the Don River, the Red Army would never be able to carry out this mercury-dropping, storm-like offensive routine. The best it could do was to Use the superiority of troops to pile up all the way - this has been clearly demonstrated in the Rzhev protruding siege battle. This proves that the Red Army still has a long way to go in commanding operations of large corps. At least it must learn from its opponents - although the battle The reason for the failure was that the heavy troop group was interfered by the enemy's peripheral armored group assault during the siege. The only thing we can do now is organize our troops and draw lessons from them.

A few days later, an order from the Red Army General Staff was immediately issued. In view of the heavy losses of the 12th and 21st Group Armies, and all the troops had been disabled, the relevant organizations were cancelled, and the remaining troops of the 12th Group Army were integrated into the remaining damaged units of the Southwest Front. The 21st Group Army was The remaining troops were incorporated into the 24th Group Army. After taking stock of the entire battle, it was found that in the end, the Stalingrad Front, which was engaged in bloody battles across the board, suffered the least losses.

At the battle summary meeting, various parties argued with each other over the issue of responsibility. Rokossovsky believed that the greatest responsibility should be borne by the Stalingrad Front and Yereomenko. At the very least, he should not have brought in the warships; while Yeremenko believed that the greatest responsibility should be borne by the Stalingrad Front and Yereomenko. Liaomenko argued tit-for-tat that without the 21st Army's aggressive advance, the battle would not have been fought like this. Vatutin, who was in shock and almost escaped with his life, pointed the finger at the Bryansk Front Army, believing that if the Front Army had not delayed the How could it happen that the Southwestern Front's rear guard was surrounded in the Hult Cluster and was finally forced to give up the attack? The Bryansk Front also felt aggrieved: after the defeat of the Voronezh Front, the base camp repeatedly asked for a cautious response. Who would have expected that Vatutin's rearguard group could not hold on for even two days?

But both Vasilevsky and Zhukov knew who the problem was, and they kept silent knowingly. In fact, they couldn't say much. They repeatedly requested to postpone the attack time and wait for the Don River to freeze before crossing the river. ——Comrade Stalin refused to adopt it, resulting in the 21st Army and 24th Army being surrounded by 190,000 people; Vasilevsky requested to destroy the Hot Cluster first and then attack Rostov. ——Comrade Stalin refused again, resulting in the Voronezh Front's The collapse and the Southwest Front were attacked, and all those who knew the decision-making of the campaign looked at the two men with sympathy.

Perhaps in order to cover up his decision-making and to defend himself in front of his subordinates, Stalin for the first time did not lose his temper. Instead, he actively mobilized troops to replenish his troops. In three weeks, he lost 300,000 troops and 500 tanks, although the number was greatly exceeded. It is higher than expected, but it is not a catastrophic consequence. At most it is close to the average consumption level of the past year (100,000 people per week). Which week in more than a year has not lost 100,000 people? This time, it was a very rare result that the Southwest, Don, and Stalingrad front armies were fully organized and the main force still existed. He did not take it too seriously, but how to carry out the next step became a big problem.

After listening to the opinions of all parties, Stalin made his customary concluding remarks: "...I received a letter the day before yesterday, written to me by Major General Vasily Volsky, commander of the 4th Mechanized Corps of the 51st Group Army. I suggest you discuss it..."

Zhukov took the letter. The content of the letter was not long, but his face quickly darkened after reading it:

"Dear Comrade Stalin:

...In view of the relevant problems exposed in the early stages of this campaign and the comparison of the enemy's and our own forces, weapons, and combat effectiveness, I believe that the 'Uranus' operation planned by the General Staff will not only fail, but will also bring unimaginable serious consequences. As a As a loyal party member, and on behalf of all responsible cadres of the 4th Mechanized Army participating in this campaign, I request the National Defense Committee to immediately carefully review this campaign decision and related plans, and request that this campaign be postponed or completely canceled. "

Seeing that the letter pointed directly at the "Uranus" project, Zhukov felt a burst of anger for no reason, but he still suppressed his anger and handed the letter to Vasilevsky.

"Is this?..." Vasilevskiy didn't know the content at first. After a few rough glances, his face quickly darkened. The whole thing could be big or small. At the most small level, it was just a battle between a military-level cadre. The different opinions on the plan, to a large extent, imply that there is something wrong with the command and planning of him and Zhukov. Comrade Stalin did not refute the letter face to face and comment on the letter with critical opinions, which seemed to make people uncertain about the opinions of the Supreme Commander.

Both Vasilevsky and Zhukov came through the storm, and they could see at a glance that there was something not simple behind this incident: after being beaten by Manstein, Comrade Stalin's confidence and determination in the follow-up operation of "Uranus" I'm starting to waver, and I'm even looking for a way out in advance - see, I've warned you in advance, don't blame me if you fail. This practice of shirking responsibility and dumping the burden in advance made the two of them more vigilant.

"This kind of waverism and skepticism will not allow us to win." Seeing Stalin's henchmen ready to move, Zhukov stood up and spoke. His tone was heavy and harsh, "During the battle at the bend of the Don River, We have made many mistakes, but this does not mean that we are hopeless. On the contrary, many mistakes were made due to unnecessary disputes and random thoughts... Our commanders at the corps and division level will not go When considering how to improve the combat effectiveness of his troops, he does not think about how to improve the troops' tactical execution capabilities. Instead, he puts the cart before the horse and considers strategic and overall issues. What is he thinking? Does he have such a high level and vision? Does he think he is smarter than Comrade Stalin? Is he better than the entire General Staff? If so, I can ask him to take charge of the overall situation!"

Vasilevsky also stood up and expressed his position: "This kind of cowardice before fighting cannot be condoned. I can admit that we are at a disadvantage in terms of troops and weapons compared to the fascists, but is this the reason for us to give up the fight? Tomorrow Mansch Tanin attacks us. If he wants Stalingrad and Moscow, are we, who are inferior to our opponents, going to surrender or retreat? This is a war forced by fascism. We can only resist to the end. There is no second clause. There is no way out!”

Voroshilov looked at the angry faces of Zhukov and Vasilevsky, then turned to look at the calm Stalin, and said insincerely to Xini: "This... we did not express our agreement with this opinion... Comrade Stalin I just think we need to discuss it more...after all...how should I put it..."

Old slippery man! This is the unanimous view of Zhukov and Vasilevsky.

Timoshenko also spoke: "I don't think so... In view of the major changes in the enemy situation and the current situation, the conditions and environment of the original 'Uranus' action plan are no longer applicable. Can Comrade Zhukov and the General Staff be asked to re- Develop a suitable battle plan.”

Naval Commander Kuznetsov was well aware of the inside story, and at the same time he sympathized with Zhukov and Vasilevsky's experiences - without Stalin's meddling intervention, the battle on the Don bend would not have ended like this. Of course, the Supreme Commander cannot be blamed in public. He considered his words and said slowly: "I think we must have a clearer understanding of the strength and strategic intentions of both the enemy and ourselves. Only a campaign plan based on this basis It makes sense. Our main current combat goal is not to quickly recapture this or that city from the Germans. We must first let the troops train and grow..."

Molotov's attitude was relatively detached. He did not stick to the battle itself, but only elaborated on the international perception of the battle and the movements of the allies - "...at least it dispelled the suspicions of Britain and the United States about the silent war between the Soviet Union and Germany. , dispelling their doubts that we might make a separate peace with the fascists, which is of positive significance for maintaining and consolidating the United Front. They expressed their willingness to further take various measures to strengthen our strength. Replenishment of tanks, aircraft, and artillery are already on the way. ——The British are shipping a batch from the Arctic route, and the Americans are preparing to ship a batch from the Middle East.”

Everyone nodded happily, there was finally some good news.

"My opinion is this..." Stalin suddenly spoke, but his words surprised everyone.