Chapter 141 Marginalization
It is said that a good cook cannot cook without rice, let alone Yuri is not a good cook. The overall situation now is that the Soviet army has been stretched thin after a series of previous wars. As the Minister of Operations, he does not have the ability to create troops out of thin air.
Originally, according to Yuri's guess, it would not be long before he would receive an order to formulate a plan for the Kharkov offensive campaign, but he obviously underestimated Comrade Stalin's dissatisfaction with him. Comrade Stalin was a contradictory person with a mixture of sensibility and rationality. If he liked someone, he would have all the advantages of that person in his eyes. However, once that person did something that made him unhappy, his opinion of that person would quickly change to the other extreme, and vice versa.
To put it nicely, this kind of character is called straightforwardness. To put it bluntly, it is mean and ungrateful. Getting along with such a person, especially with such a leader, is a very difficult thing. And when the leader is Stalin, this kind of getting along is not difficult, but rather like walking on thin ice.
A week after Stalin's surprise visit, Yuri received a call from Vasilevsky himself. On the phone, the Chief of the General Staff asked him to go to the conference room on the third floor to discuss the latest offensive plan in the southwest direction.
Yuri did not realize the problem at first. When he arrived at the conference room, he suddenly realized that the scale of this meeting was a bit large. The people who came included not only the heads of the logistics equipment department, the military transport command, the communications department, and the intelligence department, but also the commander of the Southwestern Front, Vatutin, the commander of the Bryansk Front, Leyter, and the commander of the Voronezh Front, Golikov.
At this time, Vasilevsky had not arrived yet. The conference room was very lively, with everyone talking loudly and it was very noisy.
When Yuri walked in, the first person who saw him was Golikov. The two had met before, and although their relationship was not very close, they could at least talk to each other.
Seeing Yuri coming in, Golikov took two steps forward, stretched out his hand to shake his hand, and greeted him with a smile. Having been in the army for such a long time, Yuri was no longer a novice. He knew very well that the generals of the various parties in the Soviet command system did not get along as harmoniously as they seemed on the surface. Under the calm appearance before him, there were actually various contradictions and conflicts.
Take the few people in front of us for example. Those who have served in the General Staff are mostly close to each other, while those commanders who grew up directly in the field troops are another small group. As for the military commissioners, it goes without saying that they are a relatively closed group. In many cases, they are even incompatible with the commander's system.
Of course, in addition to these, there are also some small groups, such as the old cavalry army system, the Leningrad Military District system, the Siberian garrison system, the Far East Army system, the Steppe Military District system, and so on.
The existence of these small groups is actually quite normal. Everyone has their own closeness or distance to each other, and it is not difficult to understand why people with the same work experience get closer to each other.
Yuri now has nothing to do with these small groups. He started in Leningrad, rose to prominence in the Kiev Military District, fought in Moscow, commanded the Siberian Division, and commanded the Battle of Stalingrad, which was mainly staffed by the reserve troops of the Steppe Military District and the Far East Military District. And now, he has joined the General Staff... Well, the position of Chief of the Operations Department of the General Staff was recommended by Comrade Khrushchev, who was in the Military Committee system.
In short, Yuri's resume is very complicated. He seems to be related to all the groups, but the relationship is not deep. However, as far as Khrushchev's recommendation this time is concerned, many people will regard him as Khrushchev's man - although Khrushchev made some mistakes in the early stage of the Battle of Stalingrad, which made Stalin very dissatisfied, but based on the current situation, he is still one of Stalin's most trusted people.
It is precisely because of this that some people are kind to Yuri, while others keep their distance from him, but generally speaking, there is probably no one who truly hates him.
After talking with Golikov for a few words and greeting everyone in the conference room , Yuri walked to a seat in the right corner and sat down, waiting for the meeting to officially begin.
About ten minutes later, noisy and disorderly footsteps were heard outside the conference room. Then, Zhukov, with a serious expression, walked in first, followed by Vasilevsky, and behind him came the First Deputy Chief of General Staff Alexei Innokentyevich Antonov, who was currently replacing Vasilevsky in charge of the overall work of the General Staff.
When the three people walked in, the conference room instantly became quiet. It must be admitted that Zhukov already had enough prestige in the current Soviet Red Army system.
After entering the conference room, Zhukov walked to the left side of the oval conference table with a stern face and without saying a word, and stood in front of the seat that belonged to him.
"The war situation is urgent. There is no time for unnecessary nonsense." Zhukov swept his eyes over everyone's faces and waited for Vasilevsky and others to take their seats. Then he took off his military cap and put it beside him, saying, "I have summoned you all here for only one purpose, and that is to confirm the next combat plan in the southwest direction."
After saying this, Zhukov looked at Vasilevsky, who was sitting on his right. The latter stood up and handed a thick document in his hand to everyone present one by one.
"Comrade Stalin, the Supreme Command has formulated the latest combat plan, which aims to liberate the Kharkov industrial area and parts of eastern Ukraine. At the same time, in the offensive, we will destroy the German Southern Combat Group to the greatest extent possible." Zhukov waited for the document to be sent down before continuing.
As his fame grew during the war, Zhukov was no longer the pure soldier Zhukov he once was. Many people probably felt this. Now, when Zhukov discussed military issues, especially when he talked about the operational plans of the Supreme Command and the General Staff, he could naturally put Stalin's name first.
However, Yuri was not paying attention to these details now. He was very surprised because what Zhukov took out was the complete copy of the Kharkov Operation Plan. This was a complete set of operational plans that bypassed him, the Minister of Operations, and did not even let him know about it in advance.
It's so sad that after he took office as the Minister of Operations, he was marginalized without even being involved in a real combat plan. Was it because he made Stalin unhappy that day?
Even though Yuri was a veteran of many battles and had a strong will, he couldn't help but feel confused at this moment. For him, no, not just for him, I believe that anyone who put themselves in his position would probably feel the same.
The next combat meeting was chaired by Zhukov, Vasilevsky assigned specific combat tasks, Antonov was responsible for recording and supplementing details, and Yuri basically had nothing to do. It seemed that his only task at the meeting today was to sit in .
Yuri was absent-minded, and since he had nothing to do in the meeting, he was almost in a trance from beginning to end. He regretted that he was too utilitarian and gave up the choice of continuing to command the battle on the front line, and instead stepped into the quagmire of Moscow. Then he regretted that he was too serious and denied Stalin's views, which led to the predicament he faced today. He was so confused that he couldn't cheer up until the meeting ended.
After Zhukov announced the end of the meeting, Yuri was the last to leave the meeting room. He took a copy of the battle plan and returned to his office.
This meeting reminded Yuri that being marginalized is not terrible in itself, but the deeper message behind this fact and the chain reaction it may trigger. There is no shortage of people who take advantage of others' misfortunes, and these people often have sharper noses than dogs and meaner behavior than skunks. If they want to attack someone, they will not consider whether the other party has a grudge against them.
Pretending to flip through the battle plan in his hand, Yuri could not help but smile bitterly in his heart. After all, he was too slow to adjust his mentality. Moscow was no longer the front line, and the position of Minister of Operations was not just a military position. This position was close to Stalin's characteristics, which meant that it was already linked to politics. To consider political issues simply with a soldier's mentality was undoubtedly courting death.
The battle plan was obviously made by a talented person. Yuri guessed that the person who came up with this plan was either Vasilevsky or Antonov.
Yuri had previously given in-depth consideration to the issue of the Kharkov offensive operation, and the issues he considered were basically covered in this plan. However, in terms of the main ideas, this plan was different from Yuri's plan, and the difference mainly lay in the confidence of both sides.
If this plan was drawn up by Yuri, he would be more conservative and cautious in launching the campaign. Considering that the German Army Group Center was greatly weakened in the previous battle, he would focus the campaign on the Oskol River area, that is, to strengthen the offensive of the Bryansk Front in the Belgorod direction as a support for the Voronezh Front. On the southern front, the primary task of the Southwestern Front is not to attack aggressively, but to defend the German Caucasus Corps while being alert to the movements of the German Donetsk and Northern Donetsk Corps. Yuri will never forget that the troops commanded by Manstein are still entrenched in the Northern Donetsk area. This is a cunning and ferocious lone wolf. Although he has been injured, he is still full of threats.
