Iron Cross

Leyter seemed unaware of the bomb and only said: "The 2nd Mechanized Army was originally deployed in the direction of Eldili. As a result, this unit sent to the front line for support was defeated by the superior armored forces of the German army before it was put into battle. Most of the tanks were destroyed, and then the enemy took advantage of the situation to occupy Eldili... Currently, the 11th Army is defending the Michurinsk front line. The 1st Guards Tank Army has just been urgently dispatched to support it, but it may not be able to withstand the enemy's attack."

He took a breath and continued to introduce: "The enemy is too powerful. We observed more than 1,300 tanks on the north road and nearly 1,200 on the south road. There are also many Tiger tanks and tank destroyers. The newly equipped T-43 of the Guards Tank Force is no match at all, not to mention that the enemy also has air superiority..."

Zhukov was stunned. The report in the morning said that there were 2,000 vehicles, but it became 2,500 vehicles in the evening? This number has increased too fast, right? How many troops did the Germans dispatch? If 2,500 tanks were really deployed to attack one direction of the campaign, the General Staff would have to reassess the entire situation.

"How many tanks do we have left?"

"We just transferred one army from the 3rd Guards Tank Army, and the other troops of the army are still relatively intact, probably..." Leyter silently calculated in his mind, "There may be 400-450 tanks, and at most 300-350 tank destroyers, and other infantry armies may have 100 tanks. Now the key is not the number of tanks, but the fact that after the Germans broke through the first line of defense, they quickly mixed with the troops of the second line of defense in depth. The troops rushed into the battle. At first, I hoped to let them rush forward to assist the first line of defense..."

Zhukov was speechless. This was a typical melee: the troops in the depth wanted to support the front, but the front was not defended, and the troops in the back were weakened. The two sides fought an encounter in the middle, and the fortifications did not play their maximum effect and fell in a muddle.

"How do you plan to defend the southern wing?"

"At present, the 40th Army is holding on, but you know that the army was severely damaged when it was affiliated with the Voronezh Front last winter and has not recovered at all, so it is very likely that it will not be able to hold on. Comrade Baghramyan must quickly send effective troops to the north..."

Zhukov nodded. This is the truth. Not to mention the 40th Army, which has recovered after being severely damaged, even if other intact armies are replaced, the result will probably be the same. He was silently thinking about a solution in his heart. In any case, the collapse of the positions of the two armies in one day revealed a strangeness. Even if the enemy is really two armored armies, the battle should not be fought like this. As for withdrawing troops from the second line in depth to support, it is even more wrong. The correct approach is to let the first line hold on tenaciously, and retreat to the second line if it can't hold on, and then the third line-this way, the resistance of our side will be gradually strengthened, while the enemy's offensive will be weakened, and the final victory will be achieved by exchanging space for time. In the final analysis, he thought that there was a problem with Leyter's command.

"You didn't find any enemy information before? Why were you caught off guard?"

It would have been fine if Zhukov didn't say this. As soon as he mentioned this, Leyter got angry: "At the beginning, we found that the telegraph signals from Voronezh were very concentrated, and we judged that the enemy was gathering. After reporting it, the General Staff said it was a feint and asked us to continue observing; a few days later, I asked to send planes to bomb first, and Moscow replied that the number of bombers was insufficient, so we should be patient; finally, I asked for two more Guards Tank Corps equipped with T-43, but you said that this was not the main attack direction of the enemy, so you couldn't give it to me for the time being... Well, now you can't stop it and blame me!"

Zhukov's old face flushed. Some of the words here were said by Vasilevsky, and some were said by himself. Now it seems that there is indeed a problem, but he is embarrassed to say it in front of Leyter.

"I understand the difficulties of the comrades in the headquarters. I have also been to Moscow... It is not easy to take care of all aspects. I don't want to trouble the leaders for a little thing, and I am even more reluctant to blame the superiors for certain decisions. You stand high, see far, and care about the overall situation. There must be reasons that I don't know. But now the situation is so obvious, can the reinforcements be given to me earlier?" Leyter said naggingly, "I will certainly apologize to Comrade Stalin for not being able to defend Tambov, but what about the party and the people? How will they see us in the future?"

Leiter was not arrogant. He served in the Tsarist army and rose to the rank of colonel. He joined the Red Army after the October Revolution. At that time, he was not even a party member. He joined the Bolsheviks only after he led his troops to suppress the Kronstadt Rebellion and pledged his allegiance. In 1935, he served as the director of the Military Training Department in the General Staff and worked there until 1939. Although he was 10 years older than Zhukov and his promotion was not fast, he was very steady and smart. He was not even involved in the Great Purge - this was unimaginable for someone like him who had risen to the rank of colonel in the old Tsarist army. Although Budyonny also served in the Tsarist army, he was a representative of poor soldiers, and was completely different from Leiter, who graduated from a regular military academy and rose all the way.

Zhukov's expression changed slightly, and his tone softened. He sighed, "No matter what, Michurinsk must be held. Even if reinforcements are needed, they have to wait a few days... The mobile forces of the Central Front are gathering, and they can't get here so quickly."

"Then...how many days will it take?"

"At least 5 days." Zhukov originally wanted to say a week, but seeing the confused look of the staff in the headquarters, he thought they could not last a week, so he quietly reduced it to 2 days.

"Can we withdraw our troops and only defend Tambov?"

"Retract it?" Zhukov was stunned and asked subconsciously, "Don't want Michurinsk and the transportation line?"

"No more!" Leitel waved his hand and explained the reason for doing this. "Now the two armies are stationed on the north and south roads to cover Tambov's two flanks and maintain contact with Moscow and the Central Front. But their troops are too large. It is weak and cannot withstand the attack of the enemy armored group army. Instead of barely maintaining this line of defense and eventually being broken through by the enemy one by one, it is better to take it back and concentrate on Tambov - the enemy will besiege here after breaking through the second line of defense anyway.

If the 11th and 40th Army can be recovered, plus most of the 3rd Guards Tank Army and the 6th Army, I will have 4 armies in hand, with a total of more than 300,000 troops, more than 500 tanks, 300 There are multiple tank destroyers. Tank destroyers can be used as tanks in defensive operations, which means there are almost more than 800 tanks. "

Zhukov instantly understood what the other party was thinking: He wanted 300,000 troops and 800 tanks to be squeezed into a fist, and then all stay in Tambov.

"Judging from the current posture of the enemy, the goal of the phased campaign is to encircle Tambov. This city is an important hub connecting the north and the south and cannot be lost easily. Therefore, we must stick to it. I look forward to a center to bloom." Ley Jie Er first drew a large circle for Tambov on the map, and then extended an arrow from the north and south directions.

"As long as Tambov is still in the hands of the front army, the enemy cannot easily turn to Moscow or Stalingrad to attack. Our front army can stick to Tambov and become a steel magnet that attracts enemy firepower, firmly attracting the main force of the enemy around the city. Then let Comrade Meretskov's Western Front and Bagramyan's Central Front send powerful troops. If they sweep through the perimeter, they may be able to win a great victory.

I have seen the deployment of the base camp and know that you hope to use the solid defense system of Moscow or Stalingrad to fight a city defender to wear down the enemy's energy, and then invest in reserve forces for counterattack. I completely agree with this idea, but I also have different opinions. Moscow's defenses are very tight. There are Don and Volga rivers near Stalingrad, which are very disadvantageous to the enemy. If I were the German commander, I would not choose to fight easily. Only Tambov guards the center of the north-south communication line, and the terrain is flat. There is no natural river danger, and the defense system seems to be average, so the enemy will invest heavy troops in the attack.

The Germans are very timid now. After suffering losses in Moscow, they no longer go on the rampage as before. Otherwise, do you think that Manstein had already reached the gates of Astrakhan more than a month ago, so why did they not continue the attack? Stop? Aren't you afraid of loss? "

Zhukov nodded involuntarily. Moscow and Stalingrad were important and had strong defenses, but it would be useless if the Germans did not attack.

"From my observation, although the German offensive is very fierce, the number of people is actually only about 350,000, which is not too many. It is just that they have many technical weapons and relatively sophisticated equipment. This kind of armored group army with outstanding attack capabilities is used in large areas The interspersed attack is very effective. We can deal with our poorly trained and poorly equipped infantry divisions. If we continue to fight mobile warfare with them, even a front army will be useless. But siege is different, the infantry will be useless. It can destroy tanks, and even armored armies can only be used as infantry.

If the northern and southern fronts move quickly enough, we can even form two encirclement circles. The first level is of course the enemy encircling us - they use 350,000 to 400,000 troops to surround Tambov's 300,000 troops; the second level is us encircling the enemy. Surround these 400,000 enemies with a peripheral force of 800,000 to 1,000,000 troops. Of course, you are also responsible for deploying sufficient reserves and mobile forces to intercept the enemy's relief efforts and replenish troops. However, that is the work of the base camp, and my task is to hold on in Tambov until reinforcements arrive and the final victory is achieved.

Comrade Zhukov, let me tell you something from the bottom of my heart. Whether or not there are reinforcements has a different impact on the psychological state of the soldiers. If I am sure that there are reinforcements, the 300,000 troops in my hand can be as effective as 600,000 troops in defending the city. If there are no reinforcements, Reinforcements, these 300,000 troops can only play the role of 150,000 or even less troops, and the final victory of the war depends on who can hold on longer..."