Iron Cross

On September 24, 1942, almost on the same day that Hoffman selected STG43 and Iron Fist at the shooting range, the Soviet Supreme Command was holding a war situation seminar in the Moscow Kremlin.

"Comrade Stalin, there have been very strange changes on the front line in recent times. We thought it was an accident at first, but now it is unpredictable when we consider it together. I think it is very necessary for you to understand these situations." The newly appointed General Georgi Konstantin Novovich Zhukov, the Supreme Deputy Commander-in-Chief and former Chief of General Staff of the Red Army, was making an opening speech with bright eyes, but his first words made people nervous.

"Okay, dear Comrade Constantine, what unexpected things do you want to tell me?" Joseph Stalin's face changed slightly, but he was still ready to listen in a friendly manner.

Comrade Stalin has been in a good mood recently. He has learned about the purge of "treasonous groups" in Germany through the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The information reported by Beria is very complete, including the list of people involved and all background information. Especially the introduction to personnel involved in the military field is very detailed. Although the Gestapo also dug out the Soviet "Red Band" spy organization lurking in Germany during the investigation and arrested many Soviet spies, Stalin said it did not matter. He was more concerned about the purge itself. He believed that Hitler was seeking death and repeating what he had done a few years ago. Although Stalin still refused to admit that the purge of counter-revolutionaries was a mistake, he still had regrets in his heart, especially when he was so passive during the war. In this situation, I feel the value of talents even more. I always feel that too many of these generals were killed too quickly, and some should be left behind. If those senior Red Army generals who had been tested by the civil war and were experienced were still there, the war over the past year or so would not have been like this. Of course, he would not show this emotion in front of his comrades. His steely will did not allow for a moment of wavering or cowardice, and his monopoly of power did not allow for a moment of hesitation or retreat. He was walking on a road from which he could not turn back. Let alone retreat, looking back, he might be shattered into pieces. He could only grit his teeth and keep moving forward - no matter whether he was right or wrong.

“Near Demidyansk on the northern front, half a month ago the Germans launched a diversionary attack on us and were met with a head-on attack by the Kalinin Front. With the attack weak and the advance fruitless, the fascist army suddenly lost momentum. , took the initiative to evacuate this salient, and the front has now been leveled. We have recovered nearly 200 square kilometers of land and liberated the defensive forces of three divisions; in the middle of the front, Rzhev, Sychevka, and Vyazma In the area, in early August, the German 2nd Armored Army launched an attack on the junction of the 61st Group Army and the 16th Group Army on the left flank of our Western Front. Our army resisted step by step and formed a huge protrusion in the above-mentioned area. The enemy and we fought many times. , the battle was very fierce, but the German army that originally had the upper hand suddenly retreated back in the middle of this month, and even voluntarily abandoned this salient. Judging from the front-line intelligence received the day before yesterday, this front was also leveled, and our army A large area of ​​land including the above three cities was recovered.”

Following Zhukov's pointer, Stalin, who was holding a pipe, nodded slightly and interjected: "Does this mean that the German army has temporarily given up its attempt to attack the Moscow front line?"

"Judging from the current situation, this is the case." Zhukov continued, "The more critical change is in the southern section of the front. Originally, the enemy's deployment was to attack Stalingrad and the Caucasus simultaneously. In late August, the Germans had completely Occupying all the areas on the west bank of the Don River, they are only 60-70 kilometers away from Stalingrad, and their advance troops are gradually crossing the river. Among them, Paulus's 6th Army moved from the direction of Karachi in the center of the front, to Hoth. The 4th Armored Army attacked from the direction of Aksay in the south. The northern flank moved slightly slower but still forced us to retreat to the right bank of the Don River at the end of August..."

"Wait..." Stalin seemed to remember something, "On August 27, you told me that the situation on the front line was critical. I originally assigned the 24th Army, the 1st Guards Army and the 66th Army to the Stalingrad Front. Order, is it based on the above reasons?”

"That's right. Our original idea was to copy the approach of chasing Polish gangsters in 1920, use reinforcements and coordinate with the original troops of the Stalingrad Front to launch an attack from Serafimovich's Don River front and rush towards Rostow "Husband, cut off the retreat of all German troops on the southern front. We drew up a combat plan. Each group army was originally scheduled to launch a counterattack on September 6, but this order was later executed to a halt, because the German troops finally retreated." Zhukov said helplessly. He said, "Since then, both the enemy's 6th Army and the 2nd Armored Group have begun to shrink interestingly. Under our tentative attack, the enemy has not only retreated from the direction of Karachi and Aksay , even the Germans on both sides of the Don River, including the direction of Kotelnikovo and Nizhny Zilskaya, were preparing to retreat last week, and we found that the Germans had completely withdrawn. "

"Evacuate?" Stalin stood up and stopped playing with the pipe in his hand. He showed a look of disbelief. "Why is this? I remember you told me that the counterattack was going smoothly, and the enemy forces in the direction of Stalingrad were generally suppressed. The army repelled 30-80 kilometers, and I even issued a commendation order to Comrade Chuikov for this."

Zhukov's face turned red. He was one of the people who reported the victory at first, but now he was the one who said it was not a victory but the enemy's active evacuation. This was not an easy situation to smooth over, but he quickly thought of an excuse: " At the beginning, our Voronezh Front launched a fierce attack on the Hungarian 2nd Army, forcing the German 6th Army to deploy troops to strengthen the Hungarian defense line, and then we launched a counterattack against the enemy forces on the Stalingrad front. The counterattack was very successful, reaching almost every point. However, we were deceived by the Germans' actions and judged the enemy's active withdrawal as a successful counterattack based on the intelligence from our comrades in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Knowing that the enemy commander has changed - Paulus was removed from the position of commander of the 6th Army by Hitler, Weix replaced Kruger as the commander of Army Group Center, and now the enemy has reorganized Army Group South, And Marshal Manstein served as the commander of both the Army Group and the 6th Army - this adjustment may have been made after he took office. "

"Manstein?" Stalin was recalling the name. "The German marshal who occupied the Black Sea and the Crimea?"

"That's him!"

Stalin suddenly remembered that Beria's report mentioned this personnel change. Now that he thought about it, many actions of the Germans were strange.

"What's new about Manstein?"

"No, or we can't tell it yet."

"This situation is quite unexpected." Stalin took a closer look at the map and concluded, "Can it be understood that the entire combat situation has undergone extremely significant changes within 2 weeks. It was originally a pincer-shaped offensive to double-team The main enemy forces in Stalingrad, the 6th Army and the 4th Armored Army, suddenly retreated. They used a week to retreat while fighting and actively evacuated Aksay, Kotelnikovo, Kotluban, etc. area, and took the initiative to break away from contact with our army. In other words, the enemy’s threat to Stalingrad has actually been lifted?”

"Your judgment is completely correct." Zhukov complimented the other party without saying anything. "Currently, Germany has formed a large arch-shaped protrusion facing Stalingrad along the Don River Basin. The southern edge of this protrusion is in Rostov. , the northern edge is in Voronezh, and there are at least more than 700,000 Germans and their servants inside. Behind them is the Donets River Corridor, but the Germans have no intention of competing for the landing sites on both sides of the Don River - they clearly obtained both sides a month ago. The area was returned to us casually. I even have a bold idea that the German army has no intention of holding on to this area. If we attack harder, we can continue to advance. "

"You should report this situation to me earlier." Stalin looked displeased. "If you hadn't told me, I thought we would still be in a tense confrontation with the Germans along the Stalingrad line. Knowing that the enemy was retreating step by step, we should seize Opportunity to move forward in time instead of staring blankly at them.”

"The situation may not be that simple. Regarding the behavior of the German troops in the direction of Stalingrad, the General Staff initially judged that Manstein was preparing to reinforce the Caucasus battlefield because he was shrinking his troops. However, judging from the enemy situation in the Caucasus, this judgment also took a long time. Big question mark." Zhukov did not answer Stalin's words, but cleverly changed the topic, "Liszt's Army Group A has occupied Krasnodar. They were originally accelerating towards the Caucasus Mountains and Grozny, but according to reliable intelligence. This shows that these German forces are also shrinking. In particular, Kleist's 1st Armored Army is focusing on stabilizing the area along the railway from Kropotkin to Georgievsk. This area has about 30- There are about 400,000 German troops. If we look at the two together, they form a protrusion with a larger arc. Its main support points range from Rostov in the north to Sochi and other Black Sea coastal cities and the Caucasus mountain pass in the south. It includes important hubs such as Stavropol, Maykop, and Krasnodar, and behind it are the Kerch Peninsula and the Crimean Peninsula.”