Steel Soviet Union

"Continue to attack tomorrow morning. Your main task in counterattack is to keep the enemy's offensive edge away from the main city of Stalingrad. This will buy us time to mobilize more troops."

Stalin's final order was very clear. Zhukov must command the troops to continue the counterattack to delay the German troops in the suburbs outside the city. This was also the main purpose of this counterattack.

Zhukov put down the phone and felt a little mixed.

From the bottom of his heart, Zhukov knew very well and understood why Stalin issued such an order.

This great city is of extraordinary importance not only to the Soviet Union as a whole, but also to Stalin personally. It belongs to the type that must be defended no matter how many troops are folded in and fight for their lives.

But Zhukov vaguely felt that Stalin seemed a little too neurotic. Now Stalin almost regarded any possibility of the German army entering the main city as a complete fall of the city, and was doing everything he could to avoid such a situation.

Even when he knew that he was "hitting an egg against a stone" with a serious shortage of troops, he still asked Zhukov to launch a counterattack, just to delay the German offensive and keep it away from the city.

There are many reasons for this situation. Zhukov speculated that it may be because the familiar situation in Kiev last year made Stalin a little nervous. Being invaded means that the city has completely fallen into the hands of the enemy. Although this statement is a bit far-fetched, it is one of the reasons at the moment.

Under the current unfavorable war situation, leaving the strong bunkers in the city and pursuing a decisive battle with the German army in the wild suburbs is undoubtedly a move that plays into the German army's appetite.

From a personal perspective, Zhukov really does not want to fight such a costly and costly battle.

To completely eliminate the German Sixth Army that launched the offensive and resolve the crisis in Stalingrad, the only way Zhukov could think of was to mobilize more reinforcements and formulate a larger encirclement and counterattack plan.

With the troops currently on hand, it is absolutely impossible to defeat the German army head-on. It will only waste precious troops in vain due to the enemy's superior strength. Zhukov can understand this very clearly in his heart.

Sitting behind his desk, Zhukov spent ten minutes thinking carefully about the entire war situation. Recalling every detail of the tone on the phone just now, Zhukov gradually felt that Stalin should have realized the seriousness of the problem he emphasized. Stalin had just You can already read a little bit of the tone when he gave the order to continue the attack tomorrow morning at the last moment.

At the end of his thinking, Zhukov finally decided to continue the attack in accordance with Stalin's order tomorrow. As expected, when Stalin calls again tomorrow, he should be able to think about some things clearly, and then he can add more. Huo Qu's advice from the side may have the effect of getting twice the result with half the effort.

Under such circumstances, it is very unwise to continue to bluntly criticize Stalin. If not, it will anger Stalin and produce some unpredictable consequences. Moreover, the counterattack at this stage is not a meaningless and useless move. While eliminating the effective strength of the German army, it also delayed its original planned offensive on the main city. In the final analysis, it still has certain strategic significance.

After clarifying his thoughts, Zhukov immediately came to the conference room, participated in the second half of the combat meeting, and exchanged views with Front Army Commander Yereomenko and others.

At the end of the meeting, Zhukov and Yeremenko reached a consensus and made a unanimous decision.

The second round of counterattack starting tomorrow morning will increase the offensive force and bring more aviation units that have arrived one after another today into the battle, including the newly arrived Il-2 attack aircraft and Figure 2 bombers.

As for the specific tactical objectives to be achieved in tomorrow's counterattack, how many German troops to destroy, and to advance to that position and hold it, Zhukov and Yereomenko did not issue any specific orders.

It was around 8:30 in the night. Malashenko, who had just chaired the regiment meeting, was thinking about getting some water to wash his face and head.

Malashenko can’t remember the last time he washed his hair.

During the meeting just now, he scratched his head when he felt itchy. Malashenko actually pulled out two flies from his hair, and his hands were covered with dust and blood-stained soil.

Feeling quite speechless, Malashenko immediately came up with the idea of ​​washing his hair. If he continued like this, the top of his head would probably become a petri dish for parasitic mosquitoes and flies. It’s no joke that maggots will pop out of your tank cap all day long!

After wandering around outside the regimental tent for several times without finding a decent water container, Malashenko, who was getting a little anxious and angry, finally ran directly to the field hospital and grabbed one to hold the amputated arm and leg. Come over with a bloody iron basin.

I rinsed the basin with clean water twice and it was basically clean. I immediately prepared to take the water and wash my hair. But before Malashenko could put his head in the basin and splash it with water, the political commissar Petrov, who always appeared suddenly at any time and at any time, appeared again. Arrived as promised.

"I've been looking for you for a while! Someone said that I saw you going to the field hospital and I even ran around to find you. What are you planning to do? Why are you taking a basin of water?"

Malashenko, who was a little confused by the question, pointed to his head and shook it deliberately. Visible soil particles immediately fell from the messy henhouse-like hair.

"If I don't wash my hair, my head will probably become a gathering place for mosquitoes and flies. Why are you so worried about me?"

Seeing that Malashenko had changed the conversation back to the main topic, Commissar Petrov, who was still holding a freshly minted telegraph newspaper in his hand, immediately raised his arm.

"See for yourself."

""

Malashenko, who had temporarily given up the idea of ​​washing his hair immediately, took the telegram handed to him by Commissar Petrov and looked down. The bright moonlight above his head was enough for Malashenko to clearly see the telegram listed on the paper, but this was The content expressed in the telegram really made Malashenko unhappy.

"We're going to counterattack tomorrow? How the hell are we going to attack?! The Germans even brought out the siege cannon and they're counterattacking even the balls!"

Inwardly complaining that the more he read the telegram and newspaper, the more unpleasant he felt. In the end, Malashenko just threw it away and ignored it. He turned around with an expression full of trouble, put his head in the basin and immediately started washing his hair.

Political Commissar Petrov, who said nothing, bent down and picked up the telegraph newspaper that Malashenko had thrown away from the ground. After carefully putting it away, he suddenly said something to Malashenko.

"Perhaps you should give Front Command a call."

In the silence, no one else could hear the conversation between Malashenko and Commissar Petrov. Those who had nothing to do went to bed early to rest, while those who had something to do were still busy, and Malashenko's head was almost completely buried in the basin. Ke, almost without thinking, replied with a meaningful sentence.

"If the phone call had been useful, we wouldn't have received this telegram now, and that would be the same for everyone."