When the two walked into the General Staff, a major general immediately came up and saluted them. He looked at Wasseyevsky and asked respectfully: "Comrade Chief of Staff, is there anything you can serve you?"
"Comrade Zhukov," Huasilevsky did not answer the other party's questions immediately, but introduced Zhukov to the general with two beards: "This is Major General Szetemenko, the director of the Operations Department's Direction Department. In June this year, he was sent to the Caucasus region as a representative of the base camp. After returning from the Caucasus two days ago, he has been assisting me in organizing the intelligence of both the enemies and us in the Stalingrad region."
"Hello, General Szetemenko." Zhukov reached out and shook the other party, and said politely: "According to the order of the Supreme Commander himself, Comrade General Staff and I will formulate a new counterattack plan. Can you help us prepare the necessary information?"
Hearing Zhukov's orders, Szetemenko nodded slightly and replied, "Yes, comrade General, I will send you the information as soon as possible."
Szetemenko was very efficient in his work. Shortly after Zhukov and Vasilevsky sat down, he came to the two of them with a piece of information and said respectfully: "Comrade General, these are the information you need." After that, he put the information on the table, turned around and walked out.
"Comrade Huasilevsky," Zhukov and Huasilevsky were among them in the house. Therefore, Zhukov did not call each other's positions anymore, but asked straight to the point: "In the desperate battle with the enemy in the close and city of Stalingrad, the losses of soldiers, technical equipment and various materials were extremely serious. With their existing strength, it was impossible to smash the German attack. Tell me, how long does it take to supplement them with enough soldiers and technical equipment?"
"From the current situation, it will be at the earliest that the Supreme Command will be able to form a new battle reserve team in mid-October." Huaseylevsky understood in his heart that to formulate a practical counterattack plan with Zhukov, he must understand the real situation, so he said without hesitation: "But the mechanized corps and tank corps equipped with the most advanced T-34 tanks will not be able to attack the position as early as November..."
"So, we can only choose to implement a new round of counterattacks in November. We must wait until the mechanized corps and tank corps are in place." After Zhukov said this, he saw Vasilevsky nodding and agreed with his statement, and continued to say: "You are talking about the situation of the Germans."
Vasilevsky pulled out a few pieces of paper from the information, looked at the number in the upper right corner, and then placed it in front of Zhukov: "Comrade Zhukov, based on the information we have, the most combative German Paulus Army and the 4th Armored Army of Hort, who were the most powerful, were seriously weakened in the battle with our army in the Stalingrad area, and they did not have enough strength to complete the battle to capture the city."
"Comrade Vasilevsky." Zhukov interrupted when he heard this, "That is to say, the Germans could not seize our city until the counterattack plan we formulated. Is my statement right?"
"Yes, Comrade Zhukov, you're right." Vasilevsky replied briefly.
"Then you keep talking."
"After a long battle, the German troops in the Stalingrad region have become exhausted. Judging from the current situation, they do not have more troops to invest in the Stalingrad region, so they may turn to defense." Huasilevsky continued: "The army of minion countries such as Italy, Hungary and Romania, which cooperated with them, is now depressed and has poor combat effectiveness, and cannot pose any threat to our army..."
After listening to Huasilevsky's analysis of the German army, Zhukov nodded and said, "Comrade Huasilevsky, in this way, the German army is no longer able to complete their strategic plan in 1942, and our army has enough strength to carry out a powerful counterattack campaign against them to seize the initiative in the war."
"Comrade Zhukov, I think we can study various possible solutions all night and choose a more realistic solution from them." As soon as Husseylevsky and others Zhukov finished speaking, they immediately continued: "The defenders in the city continue to use active defense to restrain and exhaust the living forces of the German army. Then we launch a large-scale counterattack to find ways to encircle and annihilate the enemy in the Stalingrad area, thereby fundamentally changing the strategic form of southern my country." After the two reached an agreement on their opinions, they began to lie on the table, stare at the map in front of them, and began to study various combat plans.
After repeated argumentation overnight, Zhukov was delighted to find that the current battlefield situation was actually very beneficial to the Soviet army. The Soviet army now occupies positions on both wings of the front line, forming a vague surround against the German army; while the German army had only a few combat reserves between the Don River and the Volga River, with a total force of no more than six divisions, and was scattered on the wide front, and could not be concentrated and used in a short period of time.
After being busy until noon, Zhukov finally formulated a practical counterattack plan. He threw the red and blue pencils in his hand on the table, looked at Huasilevsky opposite and asked, "Comrade Huasilevsky, from yesterday to now, I have only eaten a few slices of bread in Comrade Stalin's office. Do you have anything to eat here? I'm almost starving to death."
"I'm sorry, Comrade Zhukov. It was my negligence. I'll arrange for someone to prepare food." After Vasilevsky said that, he turned around and shouted outside, "Come on, come on!"
With the shouts of Vasilevsky, a major came in from outside. He came to the two of them, straightened his body and asked, "Comrade General Staff, do you have any instructions?"
"Gay Major," said Vasilevsky to the Major: "Go to get us some food, and they are almost starving to death. By the way, bring another pot of hot tea and remember to put sugar."
After the major left, Huasilevsky immediately asked Zhukov: "Comrade Zhukov, since our counterattack plan has been formulated, do you see if you will report to Comrade Stalin immediately?"
"Don't worry, Comrade Huasilevsky." Zhukov immediately denied Huasilevsky's proposal: "The plan has just been formulated, and I think it is necessary for us to review it again to see if there is any place that needs to be modified or improved. I think it's not too late to wait until the time he has set to report to him."
"Okay," Huasilevsky also felt that the counterattack plan needed to be improved, so he agreed with Zhukov's statement: "Then let's wait for the prescribed time before reporting to Comrade Stalin."
…………
The reporting time stipulated by Stalin was nine o'clock in the evening. When he was ten minutes and nine o'clock, Huasilevsky picked up the phone on the table and dialed Poskrebeshev's office. When he heard a sound from the receiver, he immediately asked politely: "Comrade Poskrebeshev, I am Huasilevsky. Are Comrade Stalin free? General Zhukov and I will report to him the newly formulated counterattack plan immediately."
"I'm sorry, Comrade Vasilevsky." Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Poskrebeshev said coldly: "Comrade Stalin cannot meet you for the time being."
"Why?" Huasilevsky asked in surprise.
"The Supreme Commander himself is talking to Prime Minister Churchill, British Prime Minister." Poskrebeshev replied on the phone: "I don't know when he will finish the phone, so please wait patiently for a while. Once he finishes the phone, I will notify you to come and see him."
After putting down the phone, Huasilevsky said to Zhukov: "Comrade Zhukov, the Supreme Commander himself is talking to Churchill. We may have to wait a while before we can report the counterattack plan to him."
"Wasilevsky, tell me." Zhukov heard the conversation between the two and learned that Stalin was talking to Churchill, and he couldn't help but ask curiously: "What will be the talks between Comrade Stalin and Churchill?"
"What else can it be? It's just about letting the British and American troops open up a second battlefield." Huasilevsky said helplessly: "Short after the war broke out, we had a discussion on the British and American troops opening a second battlefield in the rear of the German army. At that time, both Britain and the United States said that they would open up a second battlefield as soon as possible, but they were almost in 1943, and their second battlefield was still on paper."
The call between Stalin and Churchill lasted for an hour. After putting down the microphone, Stalin, with anger on his face, walked quickly to the door, suddenly opened the door, and rushed to Poskrebeshev, who was sitting outside, and asked, "Where are Zhukov and Vasilevsky?"
"Comrade Stalin," Poskrebeshev did not expect Stalin to suddenly open the people and walked out, and stood up and replied: "Zhukov and Vasilevsky should still be in the General Staff."
Stalin raised his hand and glanced at his watch, and said dissatisfiedly: "Didn't I ask them to come over at nine o'clock to report on their work? It's now 9:40, why are they still staying in the General Staff?"
"Please forgive me, Comrade Stalin." Poskrebeshev replied nervously: "Before nine o'clock, Comrade General Staff had called and asked if you had time to meet them. I saw that you were talking to Prime Minister Churchill, so I asked them to stay in the General Staff to wait, intending to inform them to come and meet after you finished calling."
"Okay, call them all over now." Stalin said this and turned around and walked into his office.
Zhukov and Vasilevsky, who received the notification from Poskrebeshev, immediately rushed to Stalin's office as fast as possible. After Stalin saw the two, he asked in a muffled voice: "Guess who am I talking to just now?"
When Zhukov and Vasilevsky heard this question, they couldn't help but look at each other, and both saw surprise in each other's eyes. Zhukov withdrew his gaze, took a step forward, and replied: "Comrade Stalin, aren't you talking to Prime Minister Churchill? How about it, is it about opening up the second battlefield?"
"What second battlefield? This is still a matter of nothing." Stalin said impatiently: "Among the military supplies that the United States aided us, there were originally 20 P-47 'Thunder' fighters, but Churchill decided to replace it with 'Hurricane' fighters. I was bargaining with him just now. Our pilots didn't like this fighter at all,..."
When the two learned that Stalin was actually bargaining with Churchill for the fighter jets of the US aid, they were both surprised. Just as the two were considering how to bring up a counterattack plan to Stalin, Stalin asked in a calm tone: "I asked you two to formulate a counterattack plan last night. How about it? Has the plan been formulated?"
"Yes, Comrade Stalin." Zhukov nodded and replied affirmatively: "We have formulated a plan for a counterattack in the Stalingrad region."
After Stalin stuffed the tobacco into his pipe, he did not ignite it immediately. Instead, he looked at the two of them and asked with interest: "So who will report to me next?"
Zhukov turned his head and looked at Huasilevsky, then replied: "You can ask any of us to report, because we both have the same opinion."
Stalin pointed at Huaseyevsky with his hand and said, "You are the Chief of Staff of the Red Army, I think you will report it." After that, he put his pipe in his mouth, lit a match and lit the tobacco.
Vasilevsky took out the folder under his armpit, took out two pieces of paper from it, and handed it to Stalin. Stalin stared at the two pieces of paper, but did not reach out to pick it up, but asked expressionlessly: "What is this?"
"Comrade Stalin," Vasilevsky quickly replied respectfully: "It is a preliminary draft of the Stalingrad regional counterattack plan. Please see what else needs to be modified and improved."
Stalin still did not reach out to take the document, but looked at Zhukov and asked, "Comrade Zhukov, do we have enough strength in the Stalingrad region to carry out this counterattack?"
Seeing that Stalin did not look at the draft plan or asked about Vasilevsky, Zhukov could only take a step forward and said truthfully: "Comrade Stalin, with the existing strength of our army, he will definitely not be able to launch a strong counterattack against the German army immediately. It will take us a month and a half to replenish troops and technical equipment for the frontline troops and be prepared to launch an offensive battle."
Chapter completed!