After studying in Shanghai for a few days, I gained a lot, especially those like soldiers who are basically deaf and devoted to writing their own books... The soldiers have never read online articles for a full twelve years since they wrote books. They can be said to have no idea about the context, direction, etc. of online articles. It is not an exaggeration to say that they are working behind closed doors. After studying, they realized that "so that's it, it's like this..." Thanks to the editor and the great master for their wake-up, and thanks to the support of the book friends, the soldiers will work hard to write online articles better.

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In the Kremlin of Moscow, Stalin took a conservative attitude in an abnormal manner.

Before this, Stalin had always been very tough, either asking the troops to defend until the last person was not allowed to take a step back, or ordering the troops to launch a counterattack and resolutely destroy the enemy.

But now, Stalin is hesitant about whether to attack.

This is not actually Stalin's fault.

First of all, it is proved that Zhukov is not invincible either.

For example, the counterattack plan prepared in Stalingrad had already retreated before the German army was launched.

If this could be said to be an accident, then the attack on the Caucasus Mountains could be said to be a complete failure... This attack not only consumed a large amount of manpower and material resources of the Soviet army, but also caused more than 100,000 casualties to the Soviet army.

More than 100,000 people may not be anything to Stalin, but these ten thousand people are elite troops selected from various troops. So it can be imagined that this has a negative impact on the combat effectiveness of the entire Soviet army.

Secondly, this attack was extraordinary, which forced Stalin to be cautious.

Stalin was smoking a dry tobacco with his eyes on the offensive plan on the table, but his head was thinking about other issues.

After a while, he said to Zhukov, who provided the plan: "Comrade Zhukov, have you considered that this plan has put all our reserve forces into it. If it fails... what will be the consequences?"

"Of course I have considered it, Comrade Stalin!" Zhukov replied: "If it fails, we will not be able to organize another counterattack of similar scale for a long time!"

Stalin didn't speak. In fact, he believed that it was not only impossible to organize another counterattack of similar scale, but also that the Baku oil field fell into the hands of the Germans and that the Soviet army had already run out of oil reserves, which would lead to a large-scale reduction in Soviet tanks, fighter jets and even all equipment.

In other words, Stalin was not only worried about the inability to organize another counterattack of similar scale, but also the question of whether the Soviet army could block the German counterattack if the defeat failed this time.

However, there seems to be no need to worry too much about this issue, because the British and Americans will not sit idly by and watch the defeat of the Soviet Union, so this situation is unlikely to happen. It is just that Stalin does not like to hand over his destiny to others... This is not only a matter of dignity, but more importantly, political and diplomatic resilience.

If the Soviet army still had the strength to compete with the German army, or at least could block the German attack, then the Soviet army would have the capital to negotiate with the German army. At the same time, the United States and the United States also had the power to speak, and could even use this to threaten Britain and the United States to open up a new battlefield.

But if the Soviet army was about to collapse... then let alone negotiations and threats, the Soviet Union had no choice but to seek Britain and the United States.

Thinking of this, Stalin asked again: "Do you know the defense of the Germans, Comrade Zhukov?"

"Yes, Comrade Stalin!" Zhukov replied: "They seemed to notice that we would launch a counterattack, so they prepared for defense!"

This is nonsense. The Soviet army gathered a large number of troops in Kursk, so who would not know that the Soviet army was going to counterattack?

After pausing, Zhukov added: "They have laid a large number of mines, barbed wire and fortifications on the front line, and also built two preparatory lines, with a depth of about 15 kilometers!"

"Even if you know this, are you still going to launch an attack?" Stalin asked.

"Yes, Comrade Stalin!" Zhukov replied: "But the Germans were so arrogant that they did not destroy the roads, railways and bridges, and they were not even prepared to blow them up!"

Zhukov was right, because the German army believed from top to bottom that the Soviet counterattack was only temporary, and the German army would eventually fight back or even launch a counterattack decision.

On the other hand, it was the German army's "blitzkrieg" and the difficulties in logistics supply that made them more dependent on roads and railways.

Therefore, the German and Soviet troops generally have two extremes in this regard:

The German army would rather leave the highway and railways to the Soviet army than destroy them.

The Soviet army would rather blow up than leave it to the German army.

Of course, the retreat of the Southern Army Group after the Battle of Stalingrad is a special situation.

"The problem is..." Stalin took the pipe from his mouth and asked, "How should we break through the enemy's defense without paying a heavy price? You know we can't go through another failure!"

"I know, Comrade Stalin!" Zhukov pointed to a point on the map and said, "That's why we set the direction of the main attack here!"

Seeing the place Zhukov pointed to, Stalin pondered for a while, and finally nodded in agreement, because even Stalin was deceived by Zhukov.

Therefore, Zhukov's main attack direction is not the front of the Kursk protrusion... These are all illusions deliberately created by Zhukov.

Zhukov called it the "Maskirovka" plan.

This plan is to deliberately create an illusion that the Soviet Army will launch a large-scale attack from the Kursk protruding unit...

To this end, Zhukov dispatched a large number of troops, infantry, cannons, and tanks here.

Among them, infantry are real, cannons, tanks, etc. are many of them are fake, and there are also a large number of fake fortifications and fake airports.

Among them, the fake airport is more troublesome to build because it actually needs to create an open space, which requires a lot of manpower. Otherwise, the German pilots will know the authenticity of the airport when they look down.

Then, Zhukov set up a large number of fake tanks and fake aircraft on these fake fortifications and fake airports.

Of course, these areas are stationed with absolutely trustworthy troops, and they are determined not to allow anyone or any unit to get close to them.

This is to prevent the German reconnaissance. The war has been fought so far, let alone Zhukov. Even ordinary soldiers know the experience of the German Brandenburg troops. They can always infiltrate the Soviet army and collect intelligence everywhere.

The German army had no doubt about these actions of the Soviet army, and even Marshal Manstein and Qin Chuan were kept in the dark.

Of course, it is understandable that Qin Chuan is kept in the dark because he has little information.

In addition to Zhukov's plan being arranged in a tight manner, another more important factor is that the Soviet army has always been unfair to implementing strategic deception.

This is a bit like a lie.

A person who is full of lies usually has doubts about what he says.

But if an honest person who has never lie occasionally tells a lie... Even if this lie has many loopholes, it has considerable lethality, which means it will deceive a large number of people.
Chapter completed!