"If we continue our attack like this, we will lose at least 500,000 people!" Kilponos said to himself angrily, staring at the bad battle reports constantly coming back from the front line.
Next to him, General Puerkayev, the chief of staff who had been following Kirponos recently and knew his situation well, stepped forward and disdainfully persuaded: "Commander, our front army has sent out 7 Ukrainian divisions to surrender.
This scandal is already a very serious crime. If you disobey the General Secretary’s offensive order and withdraw the troops without authorization at this time, I’m afraid we won’t be able to explain it..."
"Explain? If we wait for Germany's Army Group Center to counterattack across the board, we will all explain here. What else can we explain to the General Secretary?" After listening to Pu'erkayev's persuasion, Kilponos said again
A feeling of powerlessness.
Continuing to attack would not be in line with his sense of responsibility as a front commander, but ordering to stop the attack would not be in line with his standards of loyal action as a general under Stalin.
The hesitant Kilponos paced repeatedly in the headquarters: "Where is Comrade Zhukov? He should know the seriousness of the problem. If he doesn't issue an order to build a defense line now, then everything will be too late."
Kilponos has long been prepared to issue various orders to stop the attack, immediately garrison, and mobilize the militia... The drafts of various orders have also been prepared by Chief of Staff Puerkayev. Now
Still holding it in hand.
At this moment, Pu'erkayev held several order documents drawn up by himself, clenched his palms, and said through gritted teeth: "Of course Comrade Zhukov is not a mother-in-law, and he will not be willing to waste the war opportunity like this. But issuing such an order
I'm afraid the order must go through the Supreme Commander. I guess Zhukov is probably trying to persuade Comrade Stalin at this time."
After hearing this, Kilponos also felt that it made sense, and these words were in line with his inner conjecture.
With an easily irritable temper, he quickly walked to the telephone: "Anyway, the order will definitely arrive. I think we might as well make some decisions first and let the troops retreat to the front-line defenses first and give up the meaningless attack. Otherwise, it will be too late."
Got it!"
Seeing this, Pu'erkayev quickly grabbed Kilponos' hand that was reaching for the phone, and reminded him in fear: "Wait, we still have to wait for the order."
"Why?!" Kilponos shouted in surprise when he heard that the other party was still waiting for orders at this time: "Don't you know that the front line may collapse at any time!"
"Of course I know!" Pu'erkayev, as the chief of staff, shook his head and sighed seriously: "But I also know that the emergence of a large number of Ukrainian traitors in our front army has not had time to be dealt with by the rear. If we behave at this time
If there are some disloyalty to Comrade Stalin's instructions, then..."
Pu'erkayev's words stopped here. He could not and did not dare to say the rest of the content. However, Kilponos had enough knowledge to understand the meaning of his words.
"Do you still remember the fate of Marshal Tukhachevsky?" Finally, Pu'erkayev reminded him in a deep voice.
The fate of "Red Napoleon" Tukhachevsky, who fought against Stalin on the front line in Warsaw, is there for everyone to learn from.
The chief of staff's words caused Kilponos to think deeply.
Sometimes, the correct command is one thing, but more often than not, making the correct judgment does not mean that you will be praised and understood by the leader. In the eyes of the leader, a general who obeys his orders is comparable to a rebellious general.
A wise general is "more loyal".
After a long silence, Kilponos finally withdrew his extended hand from the direction of the phone: "Hey... let's wait for Comrade Zhukov to explain the Supreme Commander's side."
Stalin would definitely pursue the matter of the defection of the seven Ukrainian divisions. The reason why he did not pursue the matter immediately was because he still needed Kirponos to command the troops on the front line and fight for him.
If Kilponos disobeys orders and goes against Stalin's will, then Stalin has no need to keep him, and it's almost time to settle the score later.
"Yes, let's wait here for news about Zhukov."
Chief of Staff Puerkayev played a trick here: "However, blindly launching an offensive cannot continue. I think we can allow some troops with weak combat effectiveness to continue to maintain feint attacks. On the one hand, this can be done
Show it to the idiot member of the Military Commission who knows nothing except shouting slogans. On the other hand, it can also confuse the German army and conceal our intention to start preparing for defense."
"Okay, let's do it like this." Hearing the chief of staff mention the military commissar who was like a military idiot, Kilponos had a headache again. He couldn't figure out why he always arranged for some such lagging military idiots to guide him.
Regular professional soldiers.
Sometimes, Kilponos really envied his German colleagues across from him. At least their head of state would never let a layman call an expert into fighting.
Just when the two generals were worried, the correspondent suddenly rushed in: "Comrade Commander, Comrade Chief of Staff, urgent call from Moscow!"
...
Zhukov was not having a good time at this time either.
General Kilponos, whom he valued most, had called him many times to urge him to arrange for all fronts to carry out defensive operations.
Kirponos's chief of staff, General Puerkaev, was also Zhukov's old comrade-in-arms. Likewise, he also emphasized to Zhukov the dire situation on the front line.
Zhukov himself didn't know this.
Although he was the first to propose the idea of a preemptive thunderstorm plan, too many changes and unexpected factors caused his plan to fail.
For example, the once mighty British Empire collapsed so quickly.
For another example, after the Soviet army launched its offensive, it was discovered that the Germans had obviously made preparations for Eastern Front defense earlier before landing in Britain.
For example, the Germans were able to recruit so many allies to fight alongside them and willingly formed a coalition to fight against the Soviet army, which offset a large part of the Soviet army's original strength advantage.
The most irritating thing is that that idiot Pavlov is still stumbling in the rear, setting a trap for himself, repeatedly making things difficult for the key troops mobilized by Zhukov, and depriving the frontline of supplies.
Just what reached Zhukov's ears was no less than ten times when Pavlov slandered Zhukov in front of others.
In fact, there was no need for Kilponos to remind him that Zhukov had already planned to make another phone call to Stalin, asking him to abandon his previous order and let the troops rest and deploy immediately.
However, when he thought that Pavlov, who was deeply trusted by Stalin, was framing him in the rear, Zhukov was worried that if the content of his dissuasive call to Stalin was known to Pavlov, he would then discredit his well-intentioned suggestion.
Then, it is very likely that his phone call will anger Stalin and have the opposite effect.
After thinking about it, Zhukov finally picked up the phone and dialed the number.
However, he did not call Stalin directly.
"Hey, pick me up Marshal Timoshenko from the People's Commissariat of Defense. Yes, I have something important to discuss with him!" Zhukov decided to reach an agreement with Timoshenko first, and then jointly advise him. In this case, the effect will be
