Chapter 180 Going to Moscow Again

The great victory just achieved in the Yelnya salient is certainly worthy of everyone's rejoicing.

But for Zhukov, who had just submitted an almost perfect answer sheet to Stalin, stabilizing the battle to retake the salient in the Yelnya theater was only a partial firefighting.

In the far rear of the Moscow Kremlin, the Soviet supreme leader Comrade Stalin had a more important task to assign to him.

After handing over all the work on hand in the Yelnya direction, Zhukov, who was on the go, immediately returned to the Moscow Supreme Command according to the order of the General Staff. The Gorky sedan, which had the highest right of passage in Moscow, carried the Red Army warrior who had just returned from the front line and sped all the way to the direction of the Kremlin.

After this carefully prepared counterattack and defense battle, the Yelnya salient was certainly recovered by the Red Army, but the problem that Zhukov was really worried about was how to deal with the subsequent defense plan in the Yelnya direction.

The German Central Army Group, which was equivalent to pulling out a front tooth from a tiger's mouth, would never give up.

Zhukov, who had just returned from the front, knew deeply that the German Central Army Group, which had the largest offensive energy and manpower among the three army groups, was currently unable to cope with the withdrawal of troops to support friendly forces in Leningrad in the north and Kiev in Ukraine in the south, so the Soviet army seized the opportunity to recapture the Yelnya salient in one fell swoop and reverse the situation.

Once the battles in Leningrad in the north and Kiev in the south came to an end, the German Central Army Group would definitely resume its offensive towards Moscow after withdrawing all its main forces.

By then, the newly recovered city of Yelnya would be the Soviet army's defensive bridgehead against the fierce army of the German Central Army Group.

Although the main forces of the 24th and 43rd armies under the Reserve Front are still there, it is a pipe dream to rely on the forces of these two main armies to resist the entire Central Army Group. Zhukov, who is about to meet the Supreme Leader, has been thinking about how to explain this serious problem to Stalin.

Zhukov, sitting in the back seat of the car, was worried and had no extra time to pay attention to the scene of Moscow City under the night outside the window.

Until the whole Gorky car slowly stopped with a beam of strong flashlight shining into the car, Zhukov, whose thoughts were interrupted, raised his head and looked out the window.

"Is it General Zhukov?"

Looking at the familiar face outside the car window, Zhukov immediately recognized the true identity of the person in front of him after searching for a moment in his mind.

"Comrade Vlasik, I am Zhukov, and I have been ordered to report to the Supreme Command."

The identity of the visitor was confirmed by the clear face illuminated by the flashlight and the familiar accent. The general, the captain of the personal guard of the Soviet supreme leader Stalin, then slowly nodded and signaled his subordinates to open the roadblock.

"The Supreme Leader ordered me to come to greet you, General Zhukov, please follow me."

After getting off the car outside the Kremlin wall, Zhukov followed behind Stalin's guard all the way, and passed through many internal checkpoints unimpeded all the way to the final destination.

Although it was late at night under the starlight and it was already past the dinner time for ordinary people, Stalin often had a reversed work and rest schedule due to insomnia and neurasthenia after the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, and often hid during the day and went out at night.

When he was in a bad mood, he sometimes had difficulty falling asleep all day, and for the Soviet supreme leader, three meals a day were eaten when he was hungry, otherwise he had no appetite at all.

Zhukov happened to catch up with Stalin's evening meal time and walked into the restaurant. Accompanying Stalin to dine and discuss work and problems were familiar faces such as Foreign Minister Molotov.

Seeing this, Zhukov stood at attention quietly and said to Stalin at the head of the table.

"Report to Comrade Stalin, I'm sorry I'm an hour late."

Putting down the spoon in his hand and looking at his watch without any emotion in his words, Stalin quietly responded.

"It's one hour and five minutes."

Holding the spoon next to the plate back in his hand, Stalin, who was only halfway through the meal, did not intend to end it because of Zhukov's arrival.

"Please sit down, Comrade Zhukov. I wonder if you have eaten on the way. If you are hungry, sit down and eat together. We can talk while we eat."

From Stalin's brief words, it is unclear whether the supreme leader is angry or happy at the moment. Zhukov, who is like a tiger with a king, is worried and has no mood to enjoy these delicious dishes specially provided for the leader even if his stomach is empty. Zhukov, who has a lot to say, immediately began to explain the entire Yelnya salient battle to Stalin after sitting down.

While slowly chewing the food in his mouth, he quietly listened to Zhukov's report like a string of cannons. Stalin, who had been silent and noncommittal, suddenly took the opportunity of Zhukov's breath and spoke quietly.

"I have a question. Have you read Pravda today? Zhukov."

Being a little overwhelmed by Stalin's sudden and irrational words, Zhukov, whose mind was spinning rapidly but still couldn't figure out what Stalin was singing, had to answer truthfully.

"Comrade Stalin, I have not read today's edition of Pravda because of the war."

Stalin, who had long anticipated that his love would answer like this and knew Zhukov's character well, smiled and reached out to take a volume of today's Pravda not far from his plate, and handed it to Zhukov without saying a word.

"This"

Unable to figure out what Stalin was up to, Zhukov, who was confused, had to open the newspaper and read it as Stalin indicated.

The front-page headline of the newspaper was, as expected, a large-scale propaganda report such as "The heroic Red Army liberated Yelnya and dealt a heavy blow to the Nazi invaders". Such a long-awaited victory was indeed worthy of being written about on the front page, and it did not surprise Zhukov, who had won the victory himself.

After secretly glancing at Stalin with his peripheral vision, Zhukov did not find anything unusual about the supreme leader. Zhukov, who had been with Stalin for quite a long time, naturally knew that the supreme leader's real intention was more than that.

Zhukov, with a head full of questions, had no choice but to turn to the second page. However, the content published on the second page of the newspaper surprised Zhukov.