In the afternoon of that day, Stalin made a phone call to Zhukov: "All of our front troops lack sufficient combat command experience and seem to be a little panicked. The Politburo decided to appoint the Southwest Front Army to serve as the representative of the headquarters to stabilize the morale of the front line.
In addition, Shaposhnikov and Kulik will also go to the Southwest Front with you. You must fly to Kiev immediately. Admiral Pavlov will arrange for Khrushchev to join you, and then you will go to Kirpo together.
Go to the front headquarters in North."
After Zhukov heard this, he was obviously stunned for a moment.
Rather than sending him to stabilize morale, it was clearly to drive him out of the General Staff Headquarters.
It seemed that Stalin was really angry because he had repeatedly violated his orders.
However, even though he had guessed Stalin's dissatisfaction with him, Zhukov still did not forget his responsibilities, and then asked: "In this complicated situation, who will succeed me in leading the General Staff?"
Zhukov's intentions were good. After all, he knew the current situation best and was suitable to stay at the General Staff to take charge of the overall situation. If it were anyone else, just being familiar with the situation and taking over the work would have been enough for the German army to annihilate a large number of Soviets on the front line.
The army is strong.
But who would have thought that Stalin, who obviously knew Zhukov's intentions, said on the phone: "I will let Vadudin stay."
Immediately, Stalin even added with a bit of anger: "Please hurry up! We can cope with it without you!"
Stalin's attitude chilled Zhukov. He resisted the pressure and spoke out loyally, but his words were hard on his ears. Not only was Stalin unwilling to take the bitter medicine of his plan, but he even sneered at him and suppressed him.
If this continues, who will dare to tell the truth or correct the Supreme Commander's mistakes?
Although Zhukov still wanted to say something, Stalin had already hung up the phone.
"Hey..." Facing the other end of the phone that no one answered, Zhukov let out a long sigh.
He has done everything he should do, and the rest is no longer within his control.
If this situation continues, Zhukov dares to say frankly that no one at the top of the Soviet Union will be able to reverse the situation. At that time, the initiative will completely remain in the hands of the Allied forces.
The bad things don’t stop there!
Immediately after Zhukov left, the General Staff Headquarters where he was previously in charge formulated Order No. 3 under the direct leadership of Stalin.
As Zhukov expected, this order was still a blind decision based on Sir's misjudgment.
After Zhukov arrived at the airport, Vadudin, who stayed at the General Staff Headquarters, specifically informed Zhukov of this order by phone.
"Comrade Chief of General Staff, the new order requires our army to immediately organize a larger-scale offensive. It must invade the enemy's territory and continue to advance westward." Vadudin panicked and conveyed the latest situation to the phone.
Zhukov.
Although Zhukov was expelled from the General Staff, Stalin did not publicly declare his intention to suppress Zhukov. He still reserved the position of Chief of General Staff for Zhukov. He only claimed that Zhukov was sent to stabilize the morale of the front line.
On the other side, Zhukov couldn't believe his ears when he heard such an order: "But our troops on the front line have completely lost the ability to conduct large-scale attacks. Even if the Supreme Commander does not agree with the plan to switch to defense, wait for me
Wouldn’t it be better for the army to rest for a while and then reorganize the attack?"
Vadudin said helplessly on the other end of the phone: "I actually completely agree with you, but the high command has made a decision and it cannot be changed."
Is it such an arbitrary way of acting again?
Zhukov couldn't help feeling a little chilled: "Okay then, sign your name for me."
...
Southwestern Front Army Headquarters.
Kilponos, who was waiting for news, did not receive the long-awaited reply regarding approval for him to launch a defense. On the contrary, what he was waiting for was a new No. 3 offensive order.
"This is nonsense!" Kilponos angrily tore the telegram into pieces, crumpled it into a ball and threw it on the ground.
"What? The Supreme Commander not only failed to listen to General Zhukov's advice, but also sent him back to our front army?"
"It's not just that!" Kilponos was full of anger when he talked about this: "Khrushchev and his other political staff are also here, and they probably have to dictate our operations again. Moreover, I always feel that
, the supreme commander will deal with the matter of traitors from seven divisions in our front army at this time."
The defection of 7 Ukrainian divisions as a whole was no longer a small team, but a matter of several individuals. It has had a major political impact. To say that Stalin would not deal with poor supervision, Kilpono was responsible for the scandal.
I guess no one would believe it.
Now, Stalin has transferred Zhukov back to the Southwest Front, and also transferred Khrushchev and others. This formation is simply perfect for a trial of Kilponos and others.
After the trial, those who should be shot were shot, and those who should be sent to Siberia were sent to Siberia. Zhukov and others took advantage of the situation to fill the vacant positions without any difficulty.
When he thought of this, Chief of Staff Pu'erkayev also felt palpitations. When the time comes to take responsibility, he will definitely not be able to escape.
"Otherwise, we will immediately find out some heroic deeds of officers and soldiers of the Southwest Front who bravely killed the enemy and report them to Moscow." Pu'erkayev was a veteran after all, and he quickly thought of a remedial measure.
"Since there is a scandal in our front army, let's use heroic incidents to cover up the scandal. If the higher authorities need heroes, we will give them heroes. Even if there are no heroes, we will create a group of heroes."
"What do you mean, fabricate some fake heroes?" Kilponos quickly realized what the other party meant. This is simply a matter of hard work, and there is nothing difficult to understand.
"Yes, if you ask me, just select a team of people from Commander Panfilov, probably... about 28 people. Give them a resounding name, like 'Panfilov'
28 Warriors.' and so on." Puerkayev concocted a complete structure in just a few words.
Just find someone from the Propaganda Department of the Front Army and make up a specific story, saying that the 28 warriors tenaciously attacked the German positions and successfully destroyed a German tank unit, creating a feat of infantry fighting tanks.
Such a heroic incident, with a little polish, can become a good story in the eyes of idiots in the country who have never been on the battlefield.
Even if these heroes are all fake, it's still better than having no heroes at all!
Sometimes, as long as the fake thing is exciting enough, it will be more effective than the real thing!