Five Hundred Fifty-Two Maps

The economic construction of the Soviet Union was actually not slow. On the contrary, for many reasons, it was very fast in the Stalin era. +◆, at least in terms of railway construction, the Soviets put in a lot of effort. Instead of hiring German engineers, they designed and built a large railway across Siberia under the leadership of their own technicians.

This railway stretches from Kyiv in Europe to the Far East, and is the main artery of the entire Soviet Union across the east and west. It is a pity that this railway is not a European standard, but was built using the backward railway standards of the Tsarist Russia period. This railway has its own locomotives and wagons, and it is almost a traffic artery operated independently.

In this time and space, the railway tracks in the Soviet Union are divided into two parts. The first part is the old-fashioned Tsarist Russian railway tracks, while most of the western regions of the Soviet Union use the new European railway tracks provided by Germany. The two systems are not compatible, but in line with the principle of waste utilization, the Soviets still use the two rail systems together.

Of course, the two types of rails are not as simple as just having different widths. There is also a gap in the number of sleepers within 100 meters. The rail standards in the Tsarist Russian era were very far-sighted. The load-bearing structure of the rails was too simple, and the transportable weight that could be expanded was also very limited. But the backward railway design standards also have an advantage, that is, the construction cost is cheaper, which allows the Soviet Union to lay more railways to solve the "have or not" problem.

Like China, which was waiting to be rebuilt, the current Soviet Union is not thinking about improving, but turning nothing into something. The pursuit of quality is not the focus, but whether we can produce something and fill a blank field is what everyone cares about.

The train is speeding on the very desolate plain, accompanied by the clang of the wheels hitting the junction of the rails, it is easy to hypnotize people. But at this moment, the people on this train are not in the mood to sleep, because they are soldiers from the Far East of the Soviet Red Army heading to the western front.

This military column is different from other military columns. The soldiers in this train are all armed, which means that in addition to being sent to the front line in western Ukraine, they are also responsible for part of the security work. Because this train was also loaded with 20 T-34 tanks that had just come off the production line.

In the penultimate carriage at the end of the train, sat an elegant Soviet military officer. He was looking at a military map of the Soviet Union's Ukrainian provinces in detail. On the other side of his desk, there was a Another map covered in German annotations.

This Soviet officer was Lieutenant General Zhukov who had just been ordered to take over Timoshenko's military power and was in charge of military affairs near Ukraine. He was appreciated by Stalin because of his outstanding performance in the battle of Nomenkan, and was promoted to Lieutenant General of the Red Army. Then, because of the tightness on the Western Front, he was transferred to Ukraine to command this counterattack.

"Look at this combat map seized from the German army..." Zhukov pointed to the map on the table and said to his staff officer. His tone was full of worry, and he seemed to be desperate for the deployment of the Western Front.

The combat map seized from the corpse of a German company commander was actually incomplete.

However, the road conditions and important information on the nearby areas recorded on it are countless times more detailed than the Soviets' own military maps. Apparently, German spies in some areas had already secretly drawn detailed maps, and it was undoubtedly the German engineers who helped the Soviets build the railways that provided the features of the landforms.

"It's been premeditated. The Germans have been preparing to invade us since 1930. At that time, we were foolish to cooperate with others to develop the western part of the Soviet Union." Zhukov shook his head and said with some disappointment: "What a surprise! A desperate war."

The combat staff closed the partial military combat map of the German army, and his expression was not very natural. Of course, he knew how long it would take to draw this detailed combat map, and he also knew how perfect the combat missions based on this detailed map could be. Degree.

However, he still opened his mouth and persuaded: "General, after all, we have a partial strength advantage, and we also have new weapons on the battlefield. The current international situation is also more favorable to us. After all, the United States' participation in the war is something we have been looking forward to, isn't it? Is it?"

The staff officer didn't know that the Soviet P-40 fighter force had suffered heavy losses in Ukraine, and he didn't know that it was not just the Soviet Union that invested in new weapons, but the Germans also showed their new equipment on the battlefield. And it is obvious that the new German equipment has more advantages: the Ta-152 fighter is obviously much better than the American P-40 fighter.

Although the overall performance of the T-34 tank on this train is better than the M4 Sherman tank in service in the United States this year, it is still at the level of the German Leopard tank. There is definitely still an insurmountable gap for the Tiger tank. It is obviously unrealistic to count on the emergence of T-34 to challenge the technological superiority of Germany's armored forces.

Of course, confidence must be full, this is a matter of attitude. The commanders of the Soviet Red Army had been terrified by the incomplete purge, and dared not say anything against Stalin's ideas anyway. This is a means of saving one's life, and has nothing to do with one's character or ability.

If the United States hadn't been dragged into the water by Japan and forced to join the war, the Soviet Union might have shaken hands with Germany by now, right? Zhukov thought helplessly. In fact, he does not agree to attack Germany in advance, but he himself knows that if the start of the war against Germany is delayed, it will only be more difficult for the Soviet Union.

From this military map, he saw Germany's deliberate deliberations, as well as the quality gap between the grassroots officers and soldiers of the two sides. It may be very difficult for the company commanders of the Soviet Red Army to investigate the nearby terrain maps by themselves. Many Soviet grassroots commanders did not receive a good military education. They only fought with faith and courage, and the brains were mainly left to the generals.

Ideally, it is not impossible to do this, but the purge held high the banner of loyalty and killed most of the officers and generals with brains, which also created a terrible fact: the Soviet army Most people can't use their brains to fight, they are as clumsy as a bear with strength but can't use it.

There is a group of generals who can't use their brains, a group of mid-level officers who can't use their brains, and a group of low-educated soldiers who can't use their brains—what an army like this has to face is the level of professionalism in the world. The highest and most educated high-tech army makes people feel hopeless when they think about it.

Zhukov poured himself a glass of boiling water, and then looked at the scenery outside the window. His motherland has such a vast territory, which is the highest honor obtained by countless ancestors' continuous efforts to expand, but now he doubts whether he has the ability to hold this territory. Let your descendants continue to live in this beautiful land.

"Send a telegram to Comrade Stalin and tell him that if possible, I hope to stop this offensive and strengthen our front line of defense to stick to the existing position." After thinking for a few minutes, Zhukov finally spoke to himself. The staff officer said: "To be frank, I am not sure about the offensive. I would prefer our diplomats at the negotiating table to end this war."

"General..." The staff officer was stunned when he heard Zhukov's words, and then reminded his chief: "If we send electricity to Moscow like this, we might go to court-martial..."

"I would rather be sent to Siberia, or be shot in Moscow, than accept such a trial after burying 1 million Red Army soldiers!" Zhukov said firmly: "This is my choice and my right!"

The staff officer nodded, and he also felt that in this way, he might still have a way out: if he was sent to Siberia because he offended Comrade Stalin, at least he still had a chance. But if the command of the war fails and a large number of personnel and materials are buried, then it is not as simple as going to Siberia, and it may even harm the wife and children.

He went to another carriage to send a telegram, and Zhukov picked up the military map and looked at it again. The German army was shrinking its forces on the frontal battlefield, trying to laugh at the part of Ukraine that had been occupied. Where he despaired.

To be honest, he was not afraid of the German army advancing straight in. After all, the German army's crazy advance could not threaten the huge deep hinterland of the Soviet Union. Even if he lost Moscow, he was confident of winning the war, because using land to consume the German armored forces was a sure-fire business for the Soviet Red Army. The rear instability caused by the same rapid attack will definitely bring greater and more convenient opportunities for the Soviet Union to counterattack.

However, the German strategy planner was simply a genius, which prevented Germany from being dazzled by the victory on the border, but stopped steadily in Ukraine. The defense line deployed along the Dnieper River allowed the German army and the Romanian army of the slave country to shorten the line of defense, and the defense system arranged along the river can be described as impenetrable.

At this stage, the Soviet troops do not have the strength to ensure that their troops can successfully cross the river and penetrate the defense, nor can they guarantee that their troops will not be annihilated by the German armored troops that are coming over after crossing the Dnieper River. Therefore, Zhukov felt that it was a very unwise choice to start a counterattack at the end of May this year. He felt that this time could be postponed to the end of July or even the end of August.

The reason is very simple: the battle will continue until the cold winter in Ukraine, when the time comes for the Soviet troops who are good at winter combat, and the advanced German tanks and aircraft will be greatly reduced because they cannot adapt to the cold weather in the Soviet Union.