Chapter 426 A loving father’s chagrin

Stalin, who was quietly reading the day's Pravda in his office, seemed unusually calm. The battle situation where he could hold on to the front line but was unable to completely stabilize the front and was unable to launch a counterattack made his loving comrade a little frustrated.

But this frustration was not due to disappointment with Zhukov, the overall commander who was personally entrusted with the important task by Stalin, but because Stalin asked himself why he did not listen to Zhukov's advice in the last few hours before the war started and let him Several Soviet front troops who could have prepared in advance to deal with the German attack ended up doing nothing and lying on the grassland to sleep, which ultimately led to the current difficult battle situation and frustration.

Thinking of this, Stalin, who felt a little regretful about his original distrust of Zhukov, couldn't help but open the desk drawer at hand and stuffed it into the deepest part of the drawer. As if he was afraid of being seen by others, an old newspaper was lying quietly in the corner. , who originally thought that he would never take another look at this shameful newspaper until his death, then subconsciously reached out his hand.

"Against gabbers and idlers! June 20."

The moment I opened the somewhat crumpled Pravda, I saw the headline and publication date written in bold large letters. Stalin had seen the editorial article countless times and could almost recite it by heart.

"Recently, some bad phenomena have occurred among some of our comrades. These comrades have been blinded by the conspiracy theories and malicious instigation of Western capitalists and tampering with the truth. They are intentionally or unintentionally spreading things like "Germans" will be a threat to us" and "the Germans may launch an attack on the Soviet Union"."

“One point worth emphasizing is that a large part of the industrial products used by each of us now are produced by the machine tools and equipment provided to us by German aid. In exchange, our Soviet Union will have fully loaded trains every day. Food and raw materials were shipped to Germany via rail lines along the border.”

"If those Western capitalists had any intention in spreading these conspiracy theories, then conspiracy to destroy friendly relations between the Soviet Union and Germany is the only reasonable answer to this."

“I would like to call on all literary workers to be realistic in their work and not to be used as weapons by Western conspiracy capitalists. We in the Soviet Union are opposed to empty talk and chattering nonsense. This is incompatible with our society. It goes against the core concepts of doctrine.”

However, just two days after the headline of the Pravda newspaper published an editorial that talked about Soviet-German friendship and opposed those so-called conspiracy theories of Western capitalists, the German army with a total strength of 190 divisions was killed in the early morning of June 22. Three o'clock crossed the Soviet-German border and launched Operation Barbarossa, which was unprecedented and unique in the entire history of human war.

What's even more terrible is that the title of this editorial was personally reviewed and approved by Stalin before publication.

The so-called slap in the face is probably what it is.

Thinking of this, Stalin, who felt that his head was getting bigger again, couldn't help but wonder why he suddenly wanted to see this thing again. This was simply incredible.

Stalin stuffed a slightly crumpled newspaper back into the corner of the drawer. He was wondering whether he should call Zhukov to inquire about the execution of the order. Stalin had not yet made a decision and gently opened the door. The sound suddenly interrupted Starlin's thoughts and echoed in the room.

"Comrade Leader, I have your phone number. It's Comrade Zhukov. He's waiting for you online and says he has something very important to discuss with you in person."

After learning this sudden and unexpected news from his secretary, Stalin made an instant decision without much thought and immediately responded with a serious look on his face.

"Bring him in, I just want to talk to him."

"Yes, Comrade Leader, I will do it right away."

The Kremlin's exclusive operator, who was extremely efficient, completed his work the moment Stalin grabbed the phone receiver on the table. Zhukov, who heard some noise coming from the other end of the phone, immediately spoke first.

"Comrade Stalin, I have a very important situation to report to you. You should have learned from Chief of Staff Shaposhnikov that the German army has restarted a decisive general offensive against us."

"I will give you a detailed report on the specific situation in other directions later, but now we need to give priority to solving the problem in the direction of Tula. A main armored group of the Germans is using all its strength to launch a fierce attack on Tula. The local The garrison and workers' regiment were unable to withstand the fierce offensive and were defeated. "

"I plan to send some troops deployed in a slightly secondary direction back to the direction of Tula to block the German offensive. However, I currently lack a sufficient number of tanks. I request you to send those troops that are being transported The new tanks will be delivered to the Western Front as quickly as possible. If it is later, I am worried that the Germans may achieve irreversible decisive results. "

Stalin, who had been poured a lot of bitter water by Zhukov before he could even say a word, seemed a little dazed. After thinking about it for a long time, he finally realized what Zhukov meant. Stalin then calmly responded.

"This is the second time in less than a week that you have asked me for more tanks. Zhukov, how many tanks do you need? I mean under the extremely critical situation you say now."

What Stalin didn't expect was that Zhukov's reply came almost without hesitation, almost choking Stalin on the spot who was not expecting it.

"Of course the more the better, Comrade Stalin!"

""

Stalin, who was choked up by Zhukov's words, finally understood at this moment that Zhukov's ability to talk evil is really directly proportional to his ability to lead troops in war. If it were anyone else, Stalin would ask himself at this moment It is estimated that he was dismissed on the spot and ordered to be taken back by the Ministry of Internal Affairs to await trial.

"Okay, I admit that your answer really convinced me, Zhukov. The tanks you need will be delivered soon. You can call Shaposhnikov to discuss the specific matters later. I am You have only one request, and that is that Tula must not be lost! This is an order that must be fulfilled!”

Faced with Stalin's request for reciprocity on the other end of the phone, Zhukov, who knew that there was no free bread in the world, naturally gave the same firm reply as before.

"I assure you, Comrade Stalin! Tula will never be lost!"