Iron Cross

Zhukov, who had a tough character, certainly could not be persuaded by Vasilevsky in just a few words, otherwise he would not be Zhukov. As for the resolute decision, Vasilevsky had said it many times, and Zhukov himself had also said it many times, but the connotation of "resolute decision" was obviously different for everyone, and it could not be put on the table and made clear.

Before the fall of the Volga River Basin on the Central Front, Zhukov's resolute decision was to hope that Stalin would promote peace as soon as possible - with the right bank of the Volga River as the dividing line. Stalin did not agree, and Vasilevsky also expressed that he could not accept it. Giving up the left bank before the battle? But when the German army continued to attack and defeated the left bank, it was impossible for the other side to accept the ceasefire on the right bank.

Then Vasilevsky proposed a resolute decision to negotiate peace, and now it was Zhukov's turn to refuse. He believed that there was no way to negotiate peace in this way, and he must use the winter break to give the German army a warning, and win the battle in one battle and seek peace. Due to the continuous arrival of American aid and the recovery of the rear after rectification, Stalin gritted his teeth and agreed to Zhukov's opinion. He not only desperately transferred nearly 1 million troops from the Central Front, but also handed over the most elite guards tank brigades to Zhukov.

Lieutenant Generals Chernyakhovsky and Chuikov were specially selected by Zhukov to assist him in managing the Central Asian Special Front. After agreeing to Zhukov's desperate offensive plan, Stalin took great pains to recruit capable commanders. Zhukov's command was of course a foregone conclusion, but Zhukov alone could not manage such a 1 million troops. Zhukov originally wanted Baghramyan to assist him, but Stalin sneered at the latter's performance in the previous battle and rejected Zhukov's request. In addition to the senior officials who were unable to move and guarded the key positions, there seemed to be no particularly outstanding people in the front-level leaders. In the end, Zhukov repeatedly weighed and selected two people to assist him in managing the left and right wing clusters (equivalent to the front level), and Stalin highly recognized this.

The two were definitely young in terms of age. Chuikov was less than 44 years old, and Chernyakhovsky was even only 38 years old - not to mention the commander of the front, it was rare for the more important army group commanders to be this age. Of course, Zhukov was also a young commander. He was not yet 50 years old. His opponents of the same level, including Manstein, Guderian, Hoth, Kleist, etc., were generally 8-15 years older.

Generals at other levels can also see that Wenk and Chuikov were of the same age and both had the rank of lieutenant general. When the former was just promoted to the commander of the main division due to his outstanding performance, Chuikov had been the commander of the army group for several years. Although Zhukov had a lot of friends and classmates, he didn't have a personal team, let alone a few trusted generals. He was straightforward and stubborn, which reflected his immaturity in politics. He didn't have too many extravagant ideas, so Stalin was more confident in him, and he was also confident that these two young men would be with Zhukov.

Chernyakhovsky and Chuikov were the new generation of army commanders, one good at attack and the other good at defense. Historically, the former was personally selected by Stalin as the successor to the command in 1945 (to take over Zhukov's position in the future), but unfortunately he was unlucky and was killed by a German artillery shell 5 days before he was promoted to marshal; the latter stubbornly held on in the Battle of Stalingrad, from 150,000 people to more than 200 people, which was a unique skill. Although the course of history has changed, Zhukov himself is far less aware of the two men's great reputation in history than Hoffman, but he still discovered the two men from the battles of the past two years: Chernyakhovsky achieved the best results and the least losses in the offensive campaign against the Central Army Group, while Chuikov performed the best in the Don River Bend and the subsequent Caucasus Campaign, and his cover prevented the collapse of the entire front.

So this time he brought both of them to Central Asia, Chernyakhovsky was responsible for commanding the offensive group to encircle the Central Asian Army Group, and Chuikov was responsible for commanding the defensive group to deal with possible reinforcements from the German army. The two were also very attentive to this battle. Although Stalin did not give them the title of front commander, the troops they actually commanded were already at the front level. They believed: As long as the battle was fought well, Comrade Zhukov would recommend them again, and the rank of general or even general, wouldn't the position of front commander be within reach?

Zhukov showed them the letter first. After reading it, Zhukov didn't say much. Chernyakhovsky asked, "What does Comrade Vasilevsky mean by resolute decision?"

"This will be the last winter break we can get. Once April is over, the German army will resume the full offensive, so there is not much time left. We must make a decision as soon as possible. Whether to continue to advance the Central Asian campaign or let the Central Asian Special Front return to the central route."

In front of the two, Zhukov described his strategy in detail. He called it a five-step approach:

The first step: risking the withdrawal of Central Asian forces. Vasilevsky firmly opposed this, but in retrospect, Zhukov's adventure was successful. The German army did not rush forward because of the weak strength of the opponents in the central battlefield. On the contrary, it continued to move forward steadily and step by step. Although the speed was reduced, the stability was improved. The overall front just pressed 200-300 kilometers across the right bank of the Volga River, but Vasilevsky's hope of counterattack was dashed-the first step strategy was successful.

Step two: Surround the German troops in Central Asia, eat them or beat them to near collapse, and attract reinforcements from the German troops west of the Caspian Sea. Zhukov believes that the number of German troops for rescue will not be too large, that is, around 100,000 to 150,000. The road system and supply capabilities of Central Asia are here, and more infantry can be used. The German mechanized troops can support 150,000. level. ——The second step of siege was barely successful, but it was still far away from being eaten or beaten to collapse.

The third step: Encircle the point for reinforcements, use Chuikov's defensive cluster to eat or surround this rescue force, forcing the main force of the German army on the southern front to continue dividing its forces to rescue;

The fourth step: It is also the most critical and core step. After the German troops on the southern front have been adjusted and weakened, they will no longer pay attention to the situation in Central Asia and require the central front army to contain part of the German army on the southern front. The Red Army will move in the direction of Moscow and Stalingrad. Four front armies were mobilized to advance from north to south to cut off the root of the German salient on the central front. Although the German troops advanced a lot on the central front, since the Red Army had always firmly controlled Moscow and Stalingrad, the central front was always a giant protrusion.

Step 5: Defeat or repel the German offensive forces on the central battlefield (Zhukov believes that elimination is impossible), use the opportunity of the German retreat to push the front back to the left bank of the Volga River, and then the two sides negotiate a peace to obtain favorable conditions for the Soviet side. He even believed that Moscow could be given up in exchange for pushing the overall front forward, so that the Soviet Union could have two relatively concentrated industrial bases and corresponding populations in the Volga River and the Urals, and could still be considered a major European country.

These five steps were promoted in series and implemented step by step. Unexpectedly, something went wrong in the second link. Chernyakhovsky commanded an offensive group of 500,000 people and actually had no good way to defeat 100,000 German troops! ——Zhukov still believed that his command was not wrong.

Vasilevsky's resolute decision is very obvious, and has two meanings: first, continue the attack, speed up the progress without losing too much force, because these forces will return to the central battlefield to serve as defense in the future. In other words, Vasilevsky was not optimistic about Zhukov's five-step strategy and believed that at most a small victory in Central Asia would deter the German army. Only the defense of the central front could block the German army to fundamentally solve the problem; secondly, give up the overall combat goal , use a few months to build a defensive line, strive to block the German attack on the Ural line after the beginning of spring, and then carry out political negotiations to resolve it - it is also an attitude that does not agree with the five-step strategy, but is more pessimistic.

Chuikov asked thoughtfully: "Which one do you prefer?"

"I prefer neither! First of all, winning without losing is basically impossible at present. Just driving the Germans into this basin has cost us 70,000 to 80,000 troops and a large number of tanks." Zhukov was a little annoyed. , even more depressed, "Comrade Stalin only gave me 2 tank brigades for reinforcements, and nothing else. I think if we are optimistic, we need to sacrifice 200,000 people to enter the basin. If we are pessimistic, these 200,000 people will be sacrificed." Filling it all in may have little effect.”

Chernyakhovsky sighed: "The IS-1 heavy tank is a good tank. It is basically on par with the Tiger and has its own advantages. Unfortunately, it came too late and the number was too small. If the Tiger was launched early last year, Not long after we came out, we had such good tanks, and many battles last year would not have been like this..."

Now the Soviet army knows that the German troops in the encirclement are not just ordinary people. They are all famous first-line elite divisions, especially the two prefixed divisions Grossdeutschland and Prinz Eugen. Even the ordinary officers and soldiers of the Red Army understand this until now. The prefix master is almost the epitome of the ace master. Unlike the Soviet soldiers who rushed into battle in a hurry, they were all veterans with specialized training and rich practical combat experience. With sufficient supplies and supplies, the Germans could rely on a highly efficient radio system to effectively command these troops. Support points to implement tenacious resistance, rather than being quickly disrupted and ultimately destroyed due to communication interruptions like the Soviet army in the encirclement.

"Then what should we do now?" Chuikov was also a little frustrated. "Do I need to detach an army here to support the offensive group? The Germans didn't move much at all."

"I have thought of an adjusted strategy and would like to hear your opinions." Zhukov walked to the map and explained his complete thoughts, which made the two of them completely dumbfounded...

ps: Guess what strategy?