The news of the failure of the Stalingrad Front's attack soon reached Stalin's ears. He immediately contacted Zhukov, who was staying near Stalingrad, via high-frequency phone calls.
He asked Zhukov in a stern tone on the phone: "Comrade Zhukov, why should the attack of Rokosovsky's troops stop? Are you planning to hand over Stalingrad to the Germans?"
Faced with Stalin's accusations, Zhukov replied in a steady tone: "Comrade Stalin, judging from the current situation, the existing forces of the Stalingrad Front will not be able to break through the German defense line and meet with the southeastern front in the city. Since the German army has transferred more troops from other regions to strengthen the forces in the combat areas, and continue to attack with our existing forces and deployments, it is useless, and it will cause huge casualties to the troops..."
After listening to Zhukov's words patiently, Stalin asked to the microphone: "Comrade Zhukov, if the base camp has replenished your troops, can the attack continue?"
"Comrade Stalin, it is completely necessary to replenish troops." Zhukov replied respectfully: "But the enemy's troops have exceeded our imagination, so it is difficult to achieve ideal results by relying solely on army-level attacks. We need to replenish troops and technical equipment, and readjust the deployment to carry out powerful assaults on the scale of the front and completely crush the enemy's siege of Stalingrad."
Hearing this, Stalin put the microphone on the table, took out two cigarettes from the cigarette box, crushed it with his fingers, and filled the tobacco into the pipe. He slowly lit the pipe, took two puffs, picked up the microphone and put it in his ear, and said, "Comrade Zhukov, I think some of the issues you mentioned are worth our further discussion. You can fly back to Moscow immediately and give me a detailed report on the current situation."
Zhukov raised his hand and looked at the watch, and said expressionlessly: "Comrade Stalin, my plane will take off in half an hour, and at most three hours, I will arrive at your office."
"Very good," Stalin said with satisfaction at Zhukov's answer: "I will arrange for someone to pick you up at the airport."
During the time Zhukov was on the road, Stalin did not waste it. He called Chief of Staff Wasseylevsky to his office and said to him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, Zhukov will come to me in a few hours to report on the situation in Stalingrad. Before he came, tell me first, how do you view the situation in the Stalingrad region."
…………
When Zhukov rushed to Stalin's office, Huasilevsky had already reported his views on the situation in the Stalingrad region. Seeing Zhukov enter the door, Stalin immediately stretched out his hand to him and said friendly: "Comrade Zhukov, thank you for your hard work!"
"Hello, Comrade Stalin!"
"It's already been dinner time, and I think you must be hungry." After saying this, Stalin quickly walked to the door, opened the door and rushed outside. Poskrebeshev whispered a few instructions, then returned to the room and said to Zhukov: "You have a rest first, eat something, and we'll talk slowly."
Poskrebeshev's movements were very quick. After only a few minutes, he walked in from outside with a pot of tea and slices of bread on a tray. At Stalin's instructions, he walked to the conference table, placed everything in the tray in front of Zhukov, and then quietly retreated.
Zhukov quickly wiped out the bread on the plate, took two more sips of tea, then stood up and pointed to the map on the wall, and asked in a polite tone: "Can I use this map?"
After receiving Stalin's permission, he quickly came to the map, picked up the explanation stick leaning against the side, and began to tell Stalin and Vasilevsky: "...The troops gathered in the northern part of Stalingrad, whether they are Rokosovsky's troops, the 24th, 66th Army and the 1st Guards Army, are all very combat-effective troops in our army. The reason why they have been unable to make progress is mainly because of the lack of sufficient technical equipment, the lack of artillery and tank soldiers to directly support the infantry's attack, and a sufficient number of aircraft."
Zhukov used an explanation stick to draw a circle on the north side of Stalingrad, and then hit it twice, and then said: "The terrain is open to the north and west of the city, but there are some canyons that provide good cover for the enemy and cause inconvenience to our army's attack. At the same time, the enemy occupied many commanding heights outside the city and arranged artillery observers on it, so that they could summon artillery fire at any time and bombard our offensive forces..."
"Comrade Zhukov, our intention to break through the German defense and join forces with the southeastern fronts in the city was shattered by the Germans." Stalin frowned and asked, "Tell me, what kind of help do we need to provide to the Stalingrad fronts so that they can break through the enemy's defense?"
Hearing Stalin's question, Zhukov put down his explanation stick and replied with a serious expression: "Comrade Stalin, in order to effectively break through the enemy's defense and join the defenders in the city, we need at least a full army, a tank army, three tank brigades and at least four hundred artillery. In order to seize air supremacy on the battlefield, at least one air force army must be strengthened."
"The army and tank troops can reach the north of Stalingrad within half a month." Stalin thoughtfully said about Zhukov's request: "But the air force may be a little difficult."
"Why?" As soon as Stalin finished speaking, Zhukov's question blurted out.
Stalin did not answer his question immediately, but turned his attention to Vasilevsky on the side: "Comrade Chief of Staff, it's up to you to answer this question."
Huasilevsky nodded, took two steps forward, and said to Zhukov: "Comrade Deputy Commander, a large-scale rat attack occurred in the air force, which caused most of our air forces to be unable to take off to fight."
"Rat-affected?!" Zhukov couldn't help but look shocked when he heard Huasilevsky say this: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I don't understand why rat-affected causes our Air Force to be unable to take off the air to fight?"
"That's right, comrade of the deputy commander." Huasilevsky replied with a bitter face: "A large number of mice have entered the inside of the plane and bite various insulated lines, making our plane unusable. Moreover, there are many ace pilots who have been infected with cholera and are now undergoing treatment in field hospitals."
Zhukov never dreamed that the little rat would actually lose its combat effectiveness in the Soviet air force. He was silent for a long time before asking: "Is there no way our air force can destroy these damn rats in a short period of time?"
Huasilevsky spread his hands and said helplessly: "We have taken necessary measures to try to extinguish these rats, but even if we eliminate all the rats, we need to spend a lot of time checking each aircraft to see if it can be used normally."
Zhukov was particularly disappointed when he learned that he could not get a large amount of air force support in a short period of time. He understood very well that it would be very unrealistic to defeat the enemy if he could not control the air supremacy on the battlefield. Even if he had an advantage in military strength, he would only pay a more painful price when facing the German air force.
Stalin didn't say anything, but stared at the map in front of him. In order not to disturb Stalin's thinking about the problem, Vasilevsky pulled Zhukov to a slightly further place and whispered: "It seems that we must find a solution to the problem as soon as possible."
Although the two of them were standing a little far from Stalin and their voices were very small, Stalin still heard this from Huasilevsky and immediately turned around and asked, "How do you plan to solve the problem?"
Seeing Stalin hearing his conversation, Zhukov and Vasilevsky returned to the conference table, stood in front of Stalin straight, and waited for him to say what he said later. Stalin took out his pipe from his mouth, held it in his hand and pointed it at the two of them, saying, "Let's do you go to the General Staff to discuss what measures should be taken in the Stalingrad area and where to transfer troops to improve the situation in the Stalingrad area. I will wait for your news here at 8 o'clock tomorrow night."
Zhukov and Vasilevsky agreed and turned around and prepared to walk out of the office. Unexpectedly, as soon as Zhukov's hand touched the door handle, he suddenly heard Stalin say behind him: "Comrade Zhukov, I heard that after a Rokosovsky's army broke through the German defense, Cuikov once sent an army north to respond. It is said that the commander of this army is Xiaomisha, is it true?"
If Stalin did not raise this question, Zhukov would have almost forgotten Sokov. At this moment, he heard Stalin ask about this matter, and quickly turned around and replied: "Yes, Comrade Stalin. According to Cuikov's report, he asked Lieutenant Colonel Sokov to lead a 200-man army unit to Orlovka to pick up friendly troops who broke through the German defense line. Unfortunately, when this unit arrived at Orlovka, the 67th Tank Brigade that broke through the German defense line had been completely wiped out by the German army during the march, so that they could not complete the task of meeting."
"I heard that Xiaomi Misha was very brave in the battle," Stalin continued, "He personally led people to blow up five German tanks and was injured, right?"
When Vasilevsky heard that Sokov led his men to blow up five tanks, a look of surprise flashed across his face. However, Zhukov knew the question asked by Stalin in unknown detail. He said in embarrassment: "Sorry, Comrade Stalin, I don't know much about this. If you want to know, I will call Khrushchev later, and he should know about it."
"No need." Stalin waved his hand at Zhukov and said, "You don't have to call. I will understand the specific situation in a few days. You want to do a serious business."
After Zhukov and Wasseylevsky came to the corridor, they asked in a low voice: "Comrade General Staff, why can Comrade Stalin tell you how detailed the details of Lieutenant Colonel Sokov can be found in a few days? Do you have any other channels of information?"
"Comrade Zhukov," because it was not a formal occasion, Huasilevsky did not call Zhukov the deputy commander anymore. He whispered: "Yakov personally led the team yesterday and escorted a batch of new weapons to Stalingrad. Lieutenant Colonel Sokov had experienced in this northbound operation, and he would know what he asked."
"New weapons, what new weapons?" Zhukov asked in surprise: "Why haven't I heard of what new weapons are being developed recently?"
"This matter is a long story." Vasilevsky said to Zhukov as he walked along the long corridor. "I have never seen what this new weapon is. It is said that it was developed by Lieutenant Colonel Sokov and Yakov."
After hearing what Huasilevsky said, Zhukov vaguely remembered that he had been missing in Sokov and Yakov for a while, probably because of this new weapon. Since Huasilevsky was not aware of this new weapon, he would not get an ideal answer if he continued to ask, so he took the initiative to change the topic: "Comrade Chief of Staff, Comrade Stalin asked us to designate a plan to reverse the situation in the Stalingrad region. Do you have any ideas?"
Regarding Zhukov's question, Huasilevsky did not immediately answer, but asked back: "Comrade Zhukov, do you have any good ideas?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff," saw that Vasilevsky was unwilling to express his views casually, Zhukov did not go around in circles, but said bluntly: "I am considering whether our army needs to carry out an offensive campaign in the Stalingrad region."
"Occurrence battle?" Huaseylevsky asked in surprise: "Comrade Zhukov, what kind of troops do you plan to use to complete the offensive battle you imagine?"
Zhukov looked left and right. Although there were only two of them in the long corridor, he still did not want to talk about the offensive battle plan he thought in his mind on such occasions. He said to Huasilevsky: "Comrade General Staff, this is not a place to speak. Let's go to your office and discuss whether there is a feasibility of achieving a large-scale offensive battle."
Chapter completed!