Chapter 992 Stalin's Determination

April 13, Valdai, Soviet-German front.

Colonel Kaminsky arrived at Valdai in a muddy Volkswagen 82 barrel truck. The 8th Armored Grenadier Division of the Russian Imperial Army, of which he served as deputy commander, had just withdrawn from the front line to Valdai for rest.

From April 5 to 10, the Russian 8th Armored Grenadier Division fought hard on the front line, knocking over many "Stalin" tanks with "Olga's hammer". However, it also suffered a lot of losses, with no less than 5,000 casualties and missing persons. When the troops were ordered to withdraw from Kuvshinovo, the original 15,000-man division had less than 10,000 people left. Most of the heavy equipment was also consumed in a few days of fierce fighting, but when the Russian 8th Armored Grenadier Division retreated to Valdai, the additional troops and equipment had arrived - all transported from the capital of the Russian Empire via the Petrograd-Moscow railway line.

A few days ago, the former Soviet Union's Leningrad Army surrendered to the White Army, which suddenly made the White Army's manpower more relaxed. So Prince Yusupov now has enough soldiers to send to supplement the front-line troops.

In addition, a lot of "Olga's Hammer" has also been delivered.

With the help of Britain, France and Germany, Petrograd's military industry is recovering rapidly. Among them, the Petrograd Navy Factory started construction of two "Prussia" class aircraft carriers (built for the Japanese Navy) in March.

The Petrograd Military Factory (the former Kirov Factory and Voroshilov Factory) is working at full capacity to produce the "Olga" tank destroyer. Not all of them are assembled with T-50 parts, a considerable part of them are assembled with "Hunter" parts, but the artillery is still the 6-pound tank gun given by the British-the current Russian Empire does not have a complete industrial system to support the production of tanks.

However, Kaminsky and Voskoponiko (the commander of the 8th Armored Grenadier Division of Russia) didn't care whether the "Olga Hammer" they got was of the T-50 or "Hunter" descent. The most important thing was that it could be used.

Because the rest and recuperation of the 8th Armored Grenadier Division of Russia was about to end early!

Kaminsky, who got off the barrel car, frowned and trotted into the division headquarters. When he saw Major General Voskoponiko looking at photos of women (he was looking at photos of White Russian noble girls, which were sent by Empress Olga. Her Majesty is now keen on matchmaking for the White Army generals who "lost their families"), he shouted loudly.

"General, there is another big battle to be fought!"

"Oh? Are we going to fight Moscow?" Major General Voskoponiko didn't even look up, and continued to choose a wife for himself. In his opinion, the Soviet Union was doomed, and even the current counterattack was mediocre... Those big Stalin tanks were still destroyed by the small Olgatan tanks, so what hope was there?

The next big battle was to enter Moscow and capture Stalin - Major General Voskoponiko really wanted to capture Stalin and ask him: Why did he and Kaminsky, "old revolutionaries", get sent to labor reform?

However, Kaminsky's answer surprised him.

"No! The Red Army is about to reach Valdai!"

"Hahahaha..." Voskoponiko laughed when he heard this, "Are you kidding? Our division just retreated from Kuvshinovo on the 10th, which is 120 kilometers away from here. No matter how powerful the Red Army is, it is impossible to advance 120 kilometers in two days, right? Now is the muddy season! Even if the Germans in front don't resist, Stalin's tanks can't go fast in the mud."

Although Zhukov was determined to drive the Germans (coalition forces) north as much as possible, the Red Army's progress was not smooth, and Kuvshinovo has not been completely occupied by the Red Army yet.

"They didn't come from Kuvshinovo," Kaminsky sat down on a tattered sofa that he didn't know where he got from, "They came from Andreapol..."

"What? Andreapol?" Voskoponiko looked up at Kaminsky-he had remembered that Kaminsky had just returned from the Russian 1st Army Headquarters in Okulovka. "Is this true?"

"Really!"

"But Andreapol is still in the hands of the German paratroopers." Voskoponiko frowned and asked, "Could it be that Germany also..."

"The Germans did not report falsely," Kaminsky said, "Andreapol is still in the hands of the German 2nd Paratrooper Division, but the Red Army bypassed Andreapol... This morning, German reconnaissance planes discovered a large number of armored clusters coming towards us."

"They can't come," Voskoponiko exhaled, "The German Air Force will catch them all."

"No, they are coming!" Kaminsky said with some distress Shaking his head, "Marshal Kappel (Vladimir Oskarovich Kappel, in this time and space he was sent to Crimea by Kolchak to meet Empress Olga, so he escaped death and followed Olga ever since) said that the Germans were going to put this Red Army in Valdai and let them temporarily cut off the Red October Railway!"

"What?" Voskoponiko couldn't sit still anymore and stood up all of a sudden, "What do the Germans want to do? Do they want to be surrounded by the Red Army themselves?"

Kaminsky nodded, "I think so!"

"What about us?" Voskoponiko asked.

"Our mission is to hold Valdai... We may be surrounded!" Kaminsky said with a wry smile, "A tank destroyer brigade (equipped with German-aided Jagdpanzer tank destroyers) will come to reinforce us later. Then we have to hold Valdai until the muddy season is over."

...

"What? The vanguard of the 7th Guards Tank Army is approaching Valdai?" Zhukov almost suspected that there was something wrong with his ears. He looked at Lieutenant General Kokopev, the chief of staff of the Central Front, in surprise, "You mean the 7th Guards Tank Army is about to cut off the main logistics line of the German army?"

"Yes!" Lieutenant General Kokopev seemed a little excited, "This is a major turning point! The situation on the northern front will change completely, and the Germans will have to take a big step back."

This is really a pie in the sky! Zhukov immediately walked to the map table, where Lieutenant General Kokopev had already drawn the direction of the 7th Guards Tank Army with red and blue pencils.

"Fezuninsky did a great job and caught the Germans off guard." Kokopev said to Zhukov with a smile, "The Germans may have been careless. When our army launched a counterattack, they still transferred the troops on the northern line to the central line according to the original plan. Obviously, they underestimated the enemy."

He was talking about the Red Army General Staff's speculation on the reasons for the German army's mobilization. The Red Army General Staff really couldn't figure out why the German army transferred troops from the northern line after the Red Army launched a counterattack. The only reasonable explanation seemed to be that they were carrying out the original plan.

Zhukov nodded without comment.

"Comrade Commander," Pepekov said again, "There are about 20 days left before the end of the muddy season. We have plenty of time. We should expand the offensive on the northern front."

"No," Zhukov shook his head, "The purpose of the counterattack has been completely achieved, and there is no need to cut off the Red October Railway Line... Now we just need to maintain a certain intensity of offensive on the front and wait for the German army to retreat."

He would not naively believe that he could encircle Paulus's 6th Panzer Army. Even if Paulus lay still, he would not encircle him.

Because it would be useless to encircle him. Now the weather has cleared up and the roads are very muddy, which is not conducive to the Soviet army's attack without air superiority.

So Zhukov was satisfied to force the German army to retreat from the north and let the Soviet Central Front gather its forces to deal with the large-scale offensive that the German army was about to launch in the middle.

Eating Paulus's army...that is obviously impossible!

But although Zhukov's thinking is correct, he still has a great leader Stalin above him.

"Why not surround the enemy?" In a map room in the Kremlin, Stalin pointed his pipe at the arrow on the map that symbolized the 7th Guards Tank Army.

The arrow is now close to Valdai and seems to be not far from the Red October Railway Line.

"As long as we cut off the Red October Railway Line, we can put at least 500,000 enemies in our pocket, right?" Stalin asked.

"Yes..." Zhukov already felt something was wrong, "but... we don't have the ability to eat up these 500,000 enemy troops. In early May, the German army will inevitably launch a fierce attack in the middle, and may also send a powerful mechanized group to outflank Moscow from the south. So we should end the battle on the northern front as soon as possible, gather our forces, and prepare to deal with the enemy's attacks on the central and southern fronts."

"It's only the 13th now," Stalin said, "There are still 20 days before the beginning of May... Can't we win a real victory on the northern front? Even if we can't encircle and annihilate the German army, we should force them to break out in the direction of Leningrad. I think they will break out, so the threat of the German army on the northern front can be temporarily lifted. As for the central and southern routes, there is no need to worry at all, because we have the strong city of Moscow, even if the German army fights to the gates of Moscow, it doesn't matter. If it's not enough, we can transfer more troops to Moscow!"

After hearing what Stalin said, Zhukov was also a little shaken-Moscow is indeed a big fortress, not afraid of the German armored forces. In Zhukov's view, what Moscow really feared was being surrounded. If the German army's northern route could be severely damaged, it would be difficult for the German army's central route to besiege Moscow alone. After all, the Soviet Central Front was large in number, and there was also the Orel Front nearby that could support Moscow at any time.

Stalin's idea seemed feasible... But the battle on the northern route could not be fought endlessly.

Thinking of this, Zhukov said to Stalin: "Comrade General Secretary, we should set a termination time for the battle on the northern route. If the German army on the northern route still refuses to break through by April 20, then the battle should also be ended."

"April 30!" Stalin said, "At the same time, the Orel Front will be reorganized into a reserve front and used on the Moscow battlefield!"

The fatherly leader showed an unusually firm expression at this time: "The key to the success or failure of the GCist cause lies in Moscow! Now that we have the opportunity to severely damage the German army, we must never give up!

Even if it is a trap, GCist fighters can turn it into an opportunity to annihilate a large number of German troops!"