As for Stalin, he was already generally aware of the battle that took place on the Kharkov front on May 23.
Comrade Dzhugashvili, who calls himself steel, cannot really be as strong as a piece of steel on the eve of what appears to be a devastating defeat.
On the same day, he convened an emergency military meeting in the Kremlin. A group of senior military officers who were still in Moscow and were famous in this war, as well as Beria, Molotov and other senior Soviet personnel participated in the meeting.
The focus of everyone's discussion is naturally how to continue this battle.
At the meeting, Stalin made a rare self-examination: "I misjudged the situation. The enemy is far stronger than we imagined. Now we can barely hold on to the current front, but I am very worried about whether we will continue to attack when the German army continues to attack."
We can continue to stabilize the front. If we lose this battle, it means that our counterattack in the past six months has failed!"
People like Beria keenly heard what Stalin meant and expressed his attitude: "Since this battle is vital to our country, then we must win it, no matter what the cost.
"
Beria took the lead, and even if others had objections, they had to keep it in their stomachs. Here, Stalin's words are the truth. Since he means to fight unswervingly, then he fully supports the fight to the death.
No retreat!
As a result, this meeting had no substantive results. Stalin was quite disappointed. His mind was in chaos, as if his wise self had disappeared today!
He had to carefully consider Timoshenko's phone call in the morning. If it was true as the old marshal's pessimistic speculation was, this battle would have the potential to repeat the tragedy of Kiev, and the Soviet Union would lose hundreds of thousands more. This would not only
The problem of Donbass and Crimea, but the door to the entire Don River Basin and the Caucasus region is wide open!
The ominous premonition had always hung in his mind, so much so that he had no intention of reading the other documents handed over to him. After nightfall, he couldn't sleep at night.
Stalin was sitting in his office, his already old face seemed to be getting older. He stayed here motionless, especially staring at the phone on the desk. This was the phone that could directly communicate with Timoshenko on the front line.
He no longer dared to personally supervise the battle situation on the front line. He only hoped that when the phone rang, he would get good news that the Soviet army had withstood the German attack.
The wait was so long, every second was as long as an hour! The bread and sausages on the table had long been cold. Stalin didn't eat a bite. His forehead was covered with sweat. His endless anxiety made him wait for a while in just a few hours.
, a lot more gray hair.
What is supposed to come will always come!
The phone suddenly came to mind, and Stalin picked up the phone calmly, hoping that Timoshenko would bring good news.
"Comrade leader! I sincerely ask you for help, please save the 300,000 soldiers on the front line! Just in the past day, the German army launched a crazy counterattack. On the entire battlefield, the German army is creating a huge encirclement network. I hope
You can issue an order to withdraw the troops before the enemy's encirclement is closed. As long as we maintain sufficient strength, we can still hold on to the previous defense line!"
The worst thing finally happened, and Stalin felt a little relieved after hearing this.
He took a deep breath and asked: "You mean that our army cannot stop the enemy's attack on all fronts. Where is the 21st Group Army? Where is the 8th Group Army? And the elite tank army you control, they
How is the situation?"
"The 21st Army was defeated by the Germans and had to retreat across the river. The enemy even crossed the Barvinko River on the right front and attacked the 28th Army as a reserve. The 8th Army suffered huge losses in personnel, and our army they stationed on the left
The side front has completely collapsed! And the two tank armies we had high hopes for advanced too fast during the attack, leaving the troops behind. Without infantry cover, they have lost at least 70% of their tanks! These two tanks
The tank army almost exists in name only!"
"Is this... is this all true?!" Stalin's standing body trembled involuntarily. In less than twenty hours, the war situation had actually deteriorated like this, which was beyond his expectation.
"Comrade leader! I implore you again, we must make a strategic retreat!"
"Where are your reserves?" Stalin roared anxiously.
"Reserve! We no longer have a reserve! No, we once had a reserve, but the reserve has long been making up for the huge losses on the front line. Now, we no longer have a reserve! We no longer have a steady stream of reinforcements to stabilize the situation.
The current battle line!"
Stalin did not completely believe Timoshenko's personal report. After all, it was too alarmist, but he had to believe it. The war situation began to deteriorate probably on the 22nd. Since then, the Soviet army began to lose the initiative.
Quan. Throughout the whole day on the 23rd, he was hesitant. He wanted to continue to expand the victory, but was afraid that the enemy would take away the victory the Soviet army had already achieved.
At this time, Timoshenko held the phone tightly and stimulated Stalin's heart again: "Comrade leader, haven't the lessons of our huge defeats in the Minsk Battle and the Kiev Battle not been profound enough? As the Commander-in-Chief of the Southwest Front, I, with my
The honor tells you that the front army is facing a life and death choice for the second time!
Compared with last year's Battle of Kiev, we have greater initiative. Now the German encirclement has not yet been closed. This is our last chance to break out! If you continue to persist, eventually all the troops crossing the river will be annihilated by the enemy. We
The direct losses will exceed 200,000 people! As a result, I no longer have elite troops on hand. It is too optimistic to expect that ordinary troops can guard our northern Donetsk River defense line! By then, I may also be like me
Like my predecessor, Comrade Kilponos who died, he personally fought with the enemy and finally died gloriously!"
"No! You! I won't allow you to sacrifice!"
When Timoshenko said these words, Stalin was really panicked. After all, Timoshenko had huge prestige in the army. He was one of the few strategists and military strategists in the Soviet Union, and he was also a member of the Military Committee.
One of the most important ones was also Stalin's right-hand man.
The intelligence services and the Military Commission received more detailed information about the front line than Stalin did. In fact, many people had met with him and explained to him that the situation on the Kharkov front was getting worse and worse.
.
Too many people have suggested that the troops should consider the situation and make a strategic retreat. Now Timoshenko has asked for a retreat regardless of anything. Stalin has realized that perhaps those who continue to support this battle and continue the offensive are already in the minority.
Stalin did not give Timoshenko a reply, but announced that he would give a reply an hour later.
It was during this short period of time that he decisively convened an emergency military meeting and ordered a group of military committee members who had stayed up all night to hold an emergency meeting.
When Stalin himself explained the phone call Timoshenko had just made, everyone present at the meeting immediately gave up their rhetoric during the day. Is there anyone else who claims to know more about military affairs than Timoshenko? No!
They believed that even if Zhukov returned from the northern front to participate in this meeting, he would not claim that the Battle of Kharkov could have been fought better if he had commanded it.
The attitude of all the committee members is surprisingly unanimous, that is, given the current precarious frontline situation, the frontline troops cannot continue to fight for a long time.
What should the troops do? Of course, withdraw! Withdraw to the front line before the battle and take defense.
Several senior staff officers from the General Staff who attended the meeting expressed the attitude of their chief of staff Zhukov, that is, the Kharkov offensive campaign could not achieve the previously set campaign goals in any case, which was tantamount to saying that the campaign had failed. Give Su
The army has only two choices, either to strategically retreat and then defend, which is an honorable failure, or to fight to the end and end up with the army suffering heavy losses. This is a recurrence of the tragedy of Kiev in 1941!
The attitudes of the Military Council and the General Staff were surprisingly consistent, and Stalin knew he had no choice.
He made his own difficult choice, that is, the failure of this battle was inevitable, so he should preserve the main force of the Southwest Front, strive to retreat to the past front, stabilize it, and prevent the German invasion.
Therefore, at three o'clock in the morning on the 24th, Timoshenko finally received a call from Stalin. Stalin's order was very simple: "I agree, the Southwest Front troops will withdraw to the defense line before the battle started!"