Chapter 426: Father's Regret

Stalin, who was quietly flipping through the Pravda newspaper of the day in his office, seemed unusually calm. The battle situation on the front line, which was barely able to hold on but could not completely stabilize the front line and was unable to launch a counterattack, made Comrade Cifu a little frustrated.

But this frustration was not due to disappointment with Zhukov, the commander who was entrusted with the important task by Stalin himself, but because Stalin questioned himself why he did not listen to Zhukov's advice in the last few hours before the war, so that several Soviet fronts that could have been prepared in advance to deal with the German attack ended up lying on the grassland without doing anything, which eventually led to the current difficult situation.

Thinking of this, Stalin, who felt a little regretful for his distrust of Zhukov, opened the drawer of his desk and stuffed an old newspaper in the innermost part of the drawer as if he was afraid that someone else would see it. Stalin, who thought he would never look at this newspaper that was equivalent to shame again until his death, subconsciously reached out his hand.

"Against the chatterboxes and idlers! June 20."

The moment he opened the wrinkled Pravda, he saw the title and publication date written in bold and large letters. The content of the editorial article, which Stalin had read countless times and could almost recite by heart, came into his eyes.

"Some bad phenomena have occurred among some of our comrades recently. These comrades have been blinded by the conspiracy theories and malicious instigation and tampering of the truth by Western capitalists. They have intentionally or unintentionally spread dangerous arguments such as "Germans will be a threat to us" and "Germans may launch an attack on the Soviet Union."

"It is worth emphasizing that a large part of the industrial products used by each of us now are produced by the machine tools and equipment donated to us by Germany. In exchange, we in the Soviet Union have trains loaded with food and raw materials transported to Germany through the railways on the border every day."

"If those Western capitalists spread these conspiracy theories with any intention, then The only reasonable answer to this is that the conspiracy to destroy the friendly relations between the Soviet Union and Germany is a conspiracy. "

"Here we call on the majority of literary workers to be pragmatic in their work and not to be used as a weapon by Western conspiracy capitalists. We Soviets oppose empty talk and chattering about nonsense, which is contrary to our core socialist concept. "

However, just such an editorial that talked about the friendship between the Soviet Union and Germany and opposed the so-called conspiracy theories of Western capitalists was published on the headlines of the Pravda newspaper that day. Just two days later, the German army with a total strength of up to 190 divisions rolled over the Soviet-German border at 3 a.m. on June 22, launching the Barbarossa Operation, which was unprecedented and unique in the entire history of human warfare.

What's more terrible is that the title of this editorial was personally reviewed and approved by Stalin before it was published.

The so-called slap in the face is probably like this.

Thinking of this, Stalin, who felt his head was bigger, couldn't help but wonder why he suddenly wanted to look at this thing again. This was simply incredible.

He rolled up the wrinkled newspaper and stuffed it back into the corner of the drawer. He was wondering whether he should call Zhukov to ask about the execution of the order. Before he made a decision, the sound of knocking on the door suddenly interrupted Stalin's thoughts and echoed in the room.

"Comrade Leader, there is a call from Comrade Zhukov. He is waiting for you online and said that he has something important to discuss with you in person."

After learning this unexpected news from his secretary, Stalin, who made a decision in an instant without thinking much, immediately responded with a serious face.

"Please bring him in. I just want to talk to him."

"Yes, Comrade Leader, I'll do it right away."

The Kremlin's exclusive operator, who was extremely efficient, completed his work the moment Stalin just grabbed the telephone receiver on the table. Zhukov, who heard some noise coming from the other end of the phone, immediately spoke first.

"Comrade Stalin, I have an important situation to report to you. You should have learned from Chief of Staff Shaposhnikov that the German army has launched a decisive general offensive against us again."

"I will give you a detailed report on the specific situation in other directions later, but now we need to prioritize the problem in the Tula direction. A main German armored group is launching a fierce attack on Tula with all its strength. The local garrison and workers' group could not withstand the fierce offensive and have been defeated."

"I plan to send some troops deployed in a slightly less important direction back to the Tula direction to block the German offensive, but I currently lack a sufficient number of tanks. I ask you to transport the new tanks that are being transported to the Western Front as quickly as possible. If it is later, I am worried that the Germans may achieve irreversible decisive results."

Stalin, who was first scolded by Zhukov without saying a word, seemed a little dazed. After a long while, Stalin realized what Zhukov meant and responded calmly.

"This is the second time in less than a week that you have asked me for more tanks, Zhukov. How many tanks do you need? I mean in the current situation that you described as extremely critical."

What Stalin didn't expect was that Zhukov's answer, which he gave without hesitation, almost choked Stalin on the spot.

"Of course the more the better, Comrade Stalin!"

""

Stalin, who was a little angry after being blocked by Zhukov's words, finally understood at this moment that Zhukov's bad mouth was really proportional to his ability to lead troops in battle. If it were someone else, Stalin would have ordered him to be dismissed on the spot and brought back to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to await trial.

"Okay, I admit that your answer really convinced me, Zhukov. The tanks you need will be delivered soon. You can call Shaposhnikov to discuss the specific matters later. I have only one request for you, that is, Tula must not be lost! This is an order that must be completed!"

Facing Stalin's equal request on the other end of the phone, Zhukov, who knew that there was no free bread in the world, naturally gave a firm answer as always.

"I assure you, Comrade Stalin! Tula will never fall!"