An hour later, Stalin summoned Zhukov and Vasilevsky again. Compared with the situation he was so angry that he had just experienced great improvement, and Comrade Stalin, who could do everything and had everything in control, was back. ([[[( ?( ?

"I'll tell you a good news first. Comrade Molotov called and said that the supplies provided to us by the United States from the Pacific direction have arrived. The total amount is close to 40,000 tons, including 10,000 tons of fuel, 10,000 tons of various kinds of armored steel, aluminum ingots, copper and other materials, as well as more than 2oo P-39 aircraft, more than 25o Sherman tanks, more than 4ooo trucks, jeep and other vehicles, and a large number of grain, canned meat and other materials..." Stalin told his two subordinates with great enthusiasm, "The Americans expressed great indignation at Turkey's treason and apologized to us. They said they would freeze all Turkey's assets in the United Kingdom and the United States. At the same time, they will provide another batch of materials in the middle of next month, and the quantity will remain between 40-50,000 tons."

"This time the Americans are very generous."

"On the one hand, because the materials promised to be given in the previous few times have not been provided to us. On the other hand, the main Japanese fleets are all in Europe and the Far East are quite empty. The Americans have organized transport teams of multiple ships." Stalin waved, "Although we cannot pin our hopes of victory on the Americans, at least these materials can help us a lot now. I tell Comrade Molotov to ask the Americans to find ways to increase the aid of our refined oil. These difficulties are caused by the sneak attacks from Turkey; Comrade Voroshilov has transported the materials as soon as possible in coordinating the Far East."

Zhukov and Vasilevsky looked at each other and breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.

"I just thought it carefully. I think your ideas are very reasonable and constructive, but..." Stalin unexpectedly made a turning point. "We cannot passively deal with the Germans' next moves like this. We must take a more positive attitude."

“You mean?”

"I cannot allow the Germans and Turks to encircle the Caucasian Front, and I will not tolerate their attack on the three fronts in the Don River area. We should take decisive measures..."

Zhukov asked with a frown, "Do you want to retreat early?"

"No! Attack!" Stalin waved his arms vigorously, cooperated and strengthened his tone, "Comrade Constantine, let's start the attack first!"

"What?" Vasilevsky almost screamed out. In such an unfavorable situation, he was still thinking about attacking. Comrade Stalin was crazy about gaining and losing his mind, right?

"This sounds a bit unrealistic, but I think it's a surprise and good idea." Stalin explained his thoughts to the map. "You see, if we use the Persian Army and the Baku defenders to drag the enemy's Middle East Army, and at the same time draw 10,000 troops from the Caucasus Front to block these passes and key points in the Caucasus Mountains, we can win a relatively long time. Use this time to take the lead in attacking the target of the Klester Cluster in the enemy's Southern Army Group. I am planning to draw two out of the three fronts that are currently confronting Manstein and add other forces from the Caucasus Front to attack first, so that the troops we can mobilize will exceed 10,000, which can form a significant advantage over the Klester Cluster. Even if we cannot eliminate this heavy army group in one fell swoop, at least we can force it to retreat, and then our army will shrink northward..."

Zhukov frowned and patiently listened to Stalin's overall idea and did not rush to deny or express different opinions. In fact, although he had not communicated with Huasilevsky, he had personally considered this idea. In theory, it was more proactive and proactive, but in fact there were many difficulties in implementing it:

First, how long can the Transcaucasus' 170,000 troops last to withstand the Turks and Rommel? He was completely unsure of how long it took for him to resist the Turks and Rommel;

Secondly, the Caucasian Front's dispatch of 10,000 troops to defend the pass is not impossible, but under the attack on both sides, these 10,000 troops may not be as easy as summer's defense;

Again, he only planned to draw one front army and the Caucasian front army to attack the Klester cluster and force the enemy to retreat. Stalin was more extreme than him and planned to draw two front army. Of course, he was sure to deal with Klester, but the problem with Manstein's front army was too big.

Finally, even if everything was successfully completed, the defense line between the two sides had to be determined where they were finally set after large-scale contact.

Of course, he could understand what Stalin meant. Since the 170,000 troops of the Transcaucasus were destined to lose most of it, he might as well not bother to rescue them. He would rather let them play a more positive role and value, even if he would take advantage of the 10,000 troops drawn from the Caucasus to use their bait and abandoned children to exchange their final collapse for the basic stability of the southern wing of the entire front.

"Comrade Stalin, I understand what you mean, but there are two points that need to be reconsidered. First, it seems more appropriate to position the battle to eliminate the enemy Klester cluster and repel it; second, the act of drawing two fronts may be too radical, and the remaining fronts may not be able to withstand Manstein. Whether to transfer one front and strengthen it in addition."

Hearing that Zhukov did not deny his opinion in principle, but proposed major revisions, Stalin also hesitated and asked after a moment: "Why?"

"You want to use 270,000 troops to drag the enemy down in order to create an opportunity to encircle and annihilate the more than 40,000 Kleist. There is a big variable. Since the enemy's equipment is superior to ours and the number of people is more than us, it is very likely that the enemy has not yet collapsed before the collapse of our 270,000 troops, so all the previous efforts will be wasted."

Stalin nodded. He could understand Zhukov's subtext: Not only was the number of 270,000 troops less than 40,000, but they were not opponents in terms of quality. To explain it in Go terms, when both sides were tight at the same time, the Red Army belonged to the side with less energy.

"The second thing you plan to do?"

"The Stalingrad Front Army was drawn, and then 50,000 troops were drawn from Central Asia, all the 20,000 reserve teams directly under the base camp were all allocated to him, and the forces of the front army were strengthened to more than 650,000, and the forces of the Caucasian Front were attacked. In this way, we can almost assemble 90,000 to 950,000 troops and also form an advantage over the enemy." Zhukov paused, "As for the troops directly under the base camp were drawn, 150,000 troops were drawn from Moscow and 50,000 new recruits were reorganized."

"Agree with your idea, and then draw 10,000 from the Grassland Military Region to ensure more than 10,000 troops." Stalin said gritting his teeth, "We must form a local advantage."

"The General Staff will re-program the plan around this plan, which will take about two days."

"Yes." Stalin said generously, "Give you three days, I will let the Transcaucasian troops defend steadily. Anyway, even if they want to retreat, they must wait for the inland fleet. Three days may not be able to organize the fleet."

Just a minute after leaving Stalin's office, Huasilevsky began to complain to Zhukov: "How can you agree to Comrade Stalin like this? This is obviously a very dangerous thing. According to the knowledge of the Turkish troops, no less than 50,000 Germans and Iranians, more than 10,000. It is a miracle that the 170,000 troops in Mezov and Baku can last for ten days. How can you pin your hope on them?"

"Who can you still hold it on them if you don't put it on?" Zhukov sighed, "According to my opinion, the three fronts of the Don River should have retreated long ago, but Comrade Stalin was afraid of losses and refused to issue a retreat order. He always thought that when spring came, the roads bleed, and the enemy's mechanized troops lost their advantage, we would retreat calmly again. Now it's okay..."

"Since this is the case, you still cater to his offensive proposal?" Huasilevsky looked at the no one beside him and lowered his voice, "Originally, we would have to retreat according to my plan. At worst, we would have to lose 150,000-20,000 people. According to his plan, we might have lost 70-80,000 people."

"How many will the Germans lose according to your plan?"

"It's 10,000-20,000, maybe 10,000 Turks."

"Where do it according to his plan?"

"This..." Huasilevsky hesitated for a moment and spoke, "The enemy may lose 20-250,000."

"You and I are probably the same." Zhukov took a deep breath, "The situation is very clear now, and the focus has become a problem of whether it is cost-effective to spend more than 50,000 to get the enemy to lose 20,000 more. What do you think?"

"I..." Huasilevsky couldn't answer this question, and stomped his feet hatefully, "If a person dies, he will never survive again."

Zhukov was also speechless: In Stalin's eyes, if it was the price that had to be paid for victory, not to mention 50,000 for 20,000, he might not frown even if 10,000 for 20,000.

"And, not only dead people, but also aircraft and tanks will suffer huge losses, at least in a thousand."

After a long time, Zhukov said leisurely: "It's better to have it all out, and you won't have to worry about them at that time."

"You!" Huasilevsky stopped and glared at Zhukov.

"Baku is lost. How many tanks and planes do you think can be activated by autumn? If it is still the current amount of ownership, Comrade Stalin will definitely take down all the heating oil and use it on the tank..." Zhukov closed his eyes and said sadly, "That by then it will not be as simple as 50,000 people dying. It may be 150,000 people and 50,000 people ..."

Vasilevsky was speechless and could not say a word, because he knew that in the case of oil shortage, the scene depicted by Zhukov was very likely to occur. When he thought of this chilling consequence, he felt that all the hairs on his back were standing up one by one. (To be continued.)8
Chapter completed!