Chapter 146: Victory in Defeat
As a front-line field commander, the battle ideas recommended by Rokossovsky to Stalin were not initially recognized by Stalin, because this leader with an iron will firmly believed that the Soviet army could still do something in Kharkov.
But belief is good, but reality is cruel. In the following days, the poor situation of the Southwestern Front poured cold water on Stalin, forcing him to calm down and seriously consider the advice of Yuri, the Minister of Operations.
The collapse of the Southwestern Front began with the rout of the Ninth Army. Under the German army's premeditated counterattack, the Soviet army's previous swift offensive was like a paper tiger and was easily punctured.
On the second day after the Ninth Army was defeated, a German SS armored infantry division launched an offensive against the Soviet 4th Guards Army with the cooperation of the aviation force, and quickly disintegrated the defense of the Soviet army. Subsequently, the division quickly advanced behind the Soviet army, and at midnight on the third day, it successfully joined forces with the 48th Tank Army advancing from the south in Pavlograd, cutting off the fuel transportation line of the Soviet Popov Group.
The loss of Pavlograd directly undermined the fighting will of the Southwestern Front. In the previous stage of the battle, the 9th Tank Army commanded by Popov had suffered serious fuel consumption. After the fuel supply line was cut off by the German army, they had no fuel to retreat, let alone continue fighting.
The German commander seized this opportunity and his 40th Tank Army immediately launched a swift offensive against Popov's group.
As an experienced commander, Popov led his 9th Tank Army to fight to the death. In the two-day battle, the German army advanced less than 10 kilometers in the direction of Kharkov. The price paid by the Soviet army was huge. The entire 9th Tank Army was completely crippled. Some tank brigades even had only two tanks left after the war.
By the end of February, in just over a week of fighting, the Southwestern Front was completely defeated, and the morale of the troops collapsed. Many troops forgot the orders issued by the headquarters and fled blindly to the rear before receiving the order to retreat. The Southwestern Front Command completely lost its ability to command its subordinate troops. For several days, Vatutin could only directly contact less than two full divisions, and he even lost contact with the Supreme Command for a time.
On February 24, Yuri, who was unemployed at home, received another call from the Kremlin. This time, it was Zhukov who called him personally. The call was very short. Zhukov only said one sentence to him: "Go to Office No. 1 in the Kremlin immediately."
When Yuri received the order, he understood that the battle had reached a point where no one could reverse it. The Supreme Command and the General Staff, including Stalin, must have recognized the situation, and now it was time to study a retreat plan.
As the Chief of the Operations Department of the General Staff, Yuri did not think that he should limit his focus to this battle. He should look further and prepare for the planning of the next battle.
In fact, although Yuri was drunk when he drank with Rokossovsky and Chuikov last time, he did not completely forget the plan for the Battle of Kursk. In his opinion, the defeat in Kharkov undoubtedly laid the foundation for the launch of the Battle of Kursk. If considered from this perspective, the Kharkov offensive campaign cannot be completely regarded as a failure for the Soviet army.
During this period, Yuri used his already abundant time to thoroughly perfect the overall operational plan of the Battle of Kursk. All he needed now was an opportunity to present this plan to Stalin.
After coming out of the apartment, Yuri originally planned to take his military vehicle as usual. Unexpectedly, at the door, there was already a black Volga waiting for him. This was a car arranged by the Kremlin, and it should have set off before Zhukov called him.
The driver was a second lieutenant of the Internal Guard. He was very serious and without any unnecessary words, he asked Yuri to get in the car. Then he started the car and drove directly to the Kremlin.
Affected by the failure of the Kharkov offensive, Comrade Stalin was in a bad mood and the entire Kremlin seemed to have become gloomy. Of course, this was just a psychological suggestion caused by the external environment. The actual reason was probably that the weather in Moscow had been very bad recently.
Ten minutes later, Yuri arrived at the Presidential Building in the Kremlin. The car stopped in front of the building. An Internal Guard soldier who had been waiting there trotted forward and opened the door for Yuri, whispering, "Comrade General, Comrade Zhukov asked you to go directly to Office No. 1 when you arrive."
Yuri didn't say anything, just nodded, and at the same time, he looked towards the east side of the second floor. The windows there were closed, and it was impossible to see what was going on inside.
Since the location was set in Office No. 1, it is certain that the person who actually recruited Yuri was definitely not Zhukov, but Stalin. After all, Zhukov did not have the power to use that office directly.
Without any delay, Yuri went straight upstairs to where Office No. 1 was located.
When he climbed the stairs and stepped into the corridor on the second floor, he saw several people standing outside Office No. 1 from afar. Because of the overlapping figures of these people, he could only recognize the two or three people on the outermost side. They were: Vasilevsky, Antonov and Khrushchev.
A Chief of General Staff, a Deputy Chief of General Staff, and a People's Commissar could only wait in the corridor. Yuri thought to himself that today seemed to be a big scene and someone was probably going to be in trouble.
Although there were some tiny thoughts in his mind, the expression on Yuri's face remained as calm as ever, showing a sense of not caring about fame or disgrace. This was also an ability he had developed during the period of marginalization.
Walking quickly towards the office, Yuri's footsteps alarmed the people guarding outside the door.
Antonov turned around first, and when he saw Yuri, he said nothing, and even his facial expression didn't change. He just turned his head away stiffly again.
Yuri knew why Antonov was like this. The reason was simple. The entire operational plan for the Kharkov offensive was drawn up by this former chief of operations. If the battle had been won, it would have been fine. But now that the battle had turned out so badly, it would have been strange if he didn't feel embarrassed when facing Yuri.
The next person to turn around was Vasilevsky. The Chief of the General Staff forced a smile at Yuri and nodded as a greeting.
The last person to turn around was Khrushchev, who had recommended Yuri to take over the position of Minister of Operations. He had the most varied expressions on his face. When he saw Yuri, his face, which had become noticeably fatter, had a very interesting change of expression. The specific description of this process was that his thick lips first stretched out to the sides of his cheeks, and then the corners of his lips slightly rose, his swollen cheeks swelled up, and the corners of his eyes were bent downward by the muscles, thus outlining a very distinctive smile.
With a smile on his face, Khrushchev raised his left arm, gently scratched the big mole on the left side of his nose with his left index finger, and walked towards Yuri - this combination of actions showed that Khrushchev was in a very happy mood when he saw Yuri, well, so happy that it was hard to describe.
"Baolianka, did you come here in the car I arranged?" Khrushchev walked towards Yuri, shook his hand and whispered.
Only then did Yuri realize that the car was not arranged by Stalin, but by the comrade in front of him.
"Yes, Comrade Nikita," Yuri replied, also smiling.
"Very good, very good," Khrushchev said, holding his hand tightly, "Comrade Stalin is talking to Zhukov and will see you in a moment."
Yuri nodded and was led by the committee member who promoted him to the door of Office No. 1.
When he reached the door, Yuri saw the two people who had been blocked just now: Vatutin and Golikov.
These two, one is the commander of the Southwestern Front, and the other is the commander of the Voronezh Front. They must have an unshirkable responsibility for the current situation of the Kharkov offensive. The only difference is who has a greater responsibility and who has a smaller responsibility. Yuri doesn't care about these.
In fact, if we really want to argue, Yuri believes that the General Staff and the Supreme Command should bear the greatest responsibility. After all, they formulated the battle plan, and the commander of the front was just commanding the battle according to the plan. Who can expect a great victory with a battle plan that is fundamentally wrong?
Neither Vatutin nor Golikov were obviously prepared to face Stalin's wrath directly. Both of them looked very nervous, especially Golikov. In such cool weather, his forehead was covered with sweat.
"We suffered a disastrous defeat in Kharkov," Khrushchev said bluntly, taking Yuri to stand outside Office No. 1, ignoring the presence of several generals. "And it was the worst defeat since the early battles of Stalingrad. The entire southern front was in retreat, the troops lost contact, and there were deserters everywhere. Comrade Stalin was very angry, and someone must be held responsible for this."
Khrushchev was such a person. He seemed to have no good feelings towards the commanders of the army. He rarely gave any good face to them, whether they were generals or ordinary grassroots commanders. This might be the most direct reason for his lack of support in the army.
"Comrade Nikita, I don't think now is the time to pursue responsibility," Yuri hesitated and said frankly, "Since the defeat in Kharkov is irreversible, we must be prepared to deal with it."
