Chapter 825 Plan

Khrushchev took on the task of leading the Indian revolution and was going to liberate all kinds of bitches in India with a bunch of Brahmin revolutionaries who needed to be waited on even when they wiped their asses. Although it was a very difficult task, it was better than the hard work of being the boss of half of Ukraine and the military commissar of the Southwestern Front. So he was in a good mood when he left the Kremlin, and it can be said that he was in high spirits.

But Pavlov and Shalashnikov were not in such a good mood. Stalin and the Political Bureau denied their deployment in the Central and Southwestern battlefields, and actually overturned the overall layout of the People's Commissariat of Defense and the General Staff for the 1943 operation - the overall idea of ​​this layout was to attack in the north, defend in depth in the middle and south, and reserve a strong reserve cluster to be controlled by the Supreme Command. Although it was relatively conservative, it was a very safe plan.

In the war game simulations repeatedly conducted by Pavlov and Shalashnipov, the worst case scenario was nothing more than the successful relief of Leningrad + the German army occupied Kharkov and Stalinno provinces after paying a heavy price, and approached Moscow in the middle.

Although such an outcome would make the entire Soviet Union very uncomfortable, there would be no crisis of collapse. The war would enter 1944 in the tug-of-war between the central and southern routes. Moreover, it was impossible for Germany to capture Leningrad and Moscow, which had strengthened their defenses, at the same time in 1944.

In other words, the Soviet Union could hold on until Japan was defeated by the United States. By then, the Soviet Union would be invincible!

However, Comrade Stalin was very dissatisfied with this safe but very conservative plan.

"Comrade Pavlov, Comrade Shalashnikov, what's wrong with you? Today's meeting..."

When Pavlov and Shalashnikov arrived at the People's Commissariat of Defense together, they met Marshal Zhukov, who came from the siege of Leningrad, outside Pavlov's office.

Zhukov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and promoted to Marshal after the victory of the "First Battle of Leningrad" - the so-called "First Battle of Leningrad" was actually the "First Battle of Leningrad".

The result of this battle was "the siege was not lifted, and the city was not captured". In terms of lifting the siege, it was of course a defeat, but in terms of defending the city, it was of course a victory.

So Zhukov, who had made great contributions to defending the city, became a marshal, and was ordered to report back to Moscow a few days ago.

"Comrade Zhukov, you are here so soon, it seems that you have a smooth journey?" Pavlov and Zhukov hugged each other, and then forced a few smiles.

Zhukov smiled bitterly and said, "The plane took off before dawn, and the German Fokker planes were all asleep. How could it not be a smooth journey?"

After the three people exchanged greetings, they walked into Pavlov's office together. As soon as they sat down, Zhukov asked, "By the way, how was the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau today? Was the plan passed?"

Zhukov actually participated in the formulation of the 1943 combat plan. He was responsible for the "Leningrad Relief War". According to Zhukov's idea, the siege relief war should not only focus on Leningrad, but also look at the overall situation of the northwest battlefield.

The encirclement created by the German army outside Leningrad was already very solid. A defense zone stretching over 200 kilometers was built, during which countless minefields, trenches, fortifications, anti-tank strongholds, armored troop assembly areas, infantry assembly areas and artillery positions were deployed. The total number of troops deployed is expected to exceed 1 million. Although there are not many armored units, the anti-tank firepower is sufficient, and tank clusters cannot be used to crash into them.

In the first battle to relieve the siege of Leningrad, Konev, who was not aware of his strength, suffered a great loss, losing thousands of tanks and more than 200,000 troops. However, Konev did not lose his position because the Kalinin Front recovered most of the Novgorod Oblast abandoned by the Germans in the process of relieving Leningrad. So he was promoted to a general and now went to the Southwestern Front as commander.

After learning from Konev's lesson, Zhukov prepared to adopt a plan to relieve the siege of Leningrad but not fight in Leningrad. Let the Kalinin Front launch an attack on Pskov Oblast, and after retaking the southern part of the state, continue to advance into the Baltic region to threaten the rear of the German army group surrounding Leningrad.

To implement this plan, the Kalinin Front must be greatly strengthened, with enough tank and mechanized armies, only in this way can it fight a decisive battle with the German armored group on the plains in Pskov Oblast.

"The plan was not passed," Shalashnipov whispered, "but there is no problem with the part you are responsible for."

"The higher-ups do not agree to adopt a large-scale deep defense in Ukraine?" Zhukov immediately guessed where the problem was.

Shalashnypov nodded and said, "The Minsk-Smolensk line must also be appropriately strengthened, and the enemy must not be allowed to approach Moscow."

"This is not a problem," Zhukov said, "As long as the Battle of Pskov is won or even tied, Smolensk will not be in danger. However... Ukraine may have problems, and the Germans' attack focus is likely to be in Ukraine."

"There is no other way, we can only strengthen the Southwestern Front," Pavlov said with a frown, "focusing on the Dnieper River bend area, and at the same time reserve enough counterattack forces. However... if we want to strengthen the Southwestern Front, the Reserve Front and the Kalinin Front can only be weakened."

After speaking, he looked at Zhukov. Zhukov is now the coach of the Northwest Front, and his opinion must be sought to reduce the strength of the Kalinin Front.

"If the Germans focus their main attack on Ukraine, then the Western side can attack with fewer troops." Zhukov thought for a moment and said, "If the Kalinin Front is to be weakened, then the second Leningrad relief operation can only be postponed. The time to initiate the battle is to wait until the main direction of the German attack is known.”

"But if it's postponed...can Leningrad persist?" Pavlov was very worried about the situation in Leningrad. The city had been besieged for nearly half a year, and there were more than two million residents and soldiers in the city. Every day The necessary material consumption is a staggering number.

"There is a way," Zhukov said calmly. "Comrade Comrade Zhdanov, the military commissar, has a way. There will be no problem until July. It won't work any later..."

He didn't say what the solution was, so naturally Pavlov and Shalashnipov wouldn't ask.

Marshal Pavlov nodded and said: "Okay, then postpone the launch of the northwest battle to June 1."

…

In mid-April 1943, when the Americans were busy repairing the canal locks, a group of Japanese "Showa Staff" who were somewhat brain-dead were busy messing around. While the Soviets were preparing a plan for the decisive battle in 1943, the Chief of Staff of the German Wehrmacht, He The Marshal of the Ottoman Empire focused most of his energy on the plan for a decisive battle with the Soviet Union.

The plan for the decisive battle has long been in place, and it is the plan code-named "Operation Blue". The biggest difference between this plan and the historical "Barbarossa" plan was that it had a clear strategic goal - to capture the coal, steel and oil centers of the Soviet Union, and then force the Soviet Union to sue for peace or have a civil war.

To achieve this goal (referring to seizing the coal, steel and oil centers of the Soviet Union), the main targets are Ukraine and Southern Russia.

However, since the Soviet-German negotiations had begun in secret for several months, and during the negotiations the German side had already put forward the conditions for ceding left-bank Ukraine, the Soviets, no matter how slow they were, would surely be able to guess the main target of the German army. Therefore, there will definitely be elite troops on the left bank of Ukraine standing ready.

Therefore, the previously drafted sub-plans for breaking through the Dnieper River from the front are obviously not feasible. Although with the current combat power of the German army, they should be able to win by storming the front, the casualties will definitely not be small.

Under this circumstance, Marshal Guderian, who was transferred from the Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Front to the First Munitions Director, and Hessmann began to formulate a new plan, code-named "Purple Plan."

By the way, because the Soviet Union is the only enemy left on the European battlefield. Therefore, the Eastern Front Headquarters was abolished in March, and the army groups on the Eastern Front were directly commanded by the General Staff. Marshal Halder, the original First Director of Munitions, became the commander of the Indian Front, and the British Governor-General of India Mountbatten and the British Montgomery, the commander-in-chief of the Indian army, went to India to fight against the Brahmin revolutionaries.

In fact, the purple plan is not that difficult to come up with - Hessman, the "fake military god", has now experienced it and knows how to command an army with a large number of people and well-equipped equipment.

"Heinz," he said to Guderian who was looking at a map in a war room in the General Staff of Zossen, "the Soviet Union must break the siege of Leningrad on the northern front, and defend Eastern Ukraine on the southern front. Then the Minsk-Smolensk salient in the middle should be the weakest area. We can fight a salient battle first, severely damage the Soviet troops in the middle, and then drive them into Minsk and Smolensk to siege, and then move our troops. Move south to Irkutsk, Belgorod, Vorozhne and Luhansk to encircle the Soviet Southwest Front."

"1200-1500 kilometers... this detour is a bit big." Guderian frowned slightly.

"Is there a problem?" Hersman said, "We now have a lot of cars, tanks and assault artillery, and we have also concentrated 15,000 aircraft of various types on the Eastern Front battlefield. It's enough to blow up the Soviet army until it can't move!"

"The problem is fuel! Now our mechanization level is very high, the number of tanks and cars is huge, and there are also many aircraft. These things are all oil guzzlers." Guderian said, "A long detour of 1,200-1,500 kilometers, and it is still It’s not an easy road to travel on Russian soil, and it will consume a lot of fuel. Marshal of the Empire, how much fuel have we prepared now?”