Regarding the arrangements of the offensive battle, due to the pause of the summer battle, the army groups had communicated with the General Staff more frequently, and relatively speaking, they could not play any tricks. However, not everyone was completely optimistic about the overall battle. Guderian, who had returned from Africa, frowned and thoughtful after reading the overall plan, but this time he did not start rashly. The ups and downs of several years made him mature a lot. He knew that his relationship with most of the main officers on the Eastern Front was very average, and Dala's opening was likely to bring unnecessary trouble.

"Heinz, talk about your opinion. Among so many people, you are the only one who has been busy with African wars and has not yet fully participated in the battle planning. Maybe you have unusual opinions." Hoffmann turned his attention to Guderian.

"First of the People, there is no unusual opinion..." Guderian smiled bitterly, "I just vaguely worried, I hope I am over-thinking."

"Tell me?"

"Please see, the Voronezh-Tambov front line is not only the starting point for our army's large-scale attack, but also the main storage point for logistics supplies. It is also a key node for connecting and communicating with the north and south battlefields. It is located just stuck in the center of the entire front. It is less than 500 kilometers away from Moscow and about 520 kilometers away from Stalingrad. Suppose our army first advances on the central front and gets its wish to occupy Kazan, Ulyanovsk, and Gubishev (the capital of Sassa).

In the right bank of the Volga River, our army's vanguard was more than 500 kilometers away from the rear base. If I were Zhukov, Guderian glanced at everyone, "I will make my last try and send troops from Stalingrad and Moscow to intercept the important strategic points of our army's middle route with a fierce attack. This will not only force our army's middle route to return to rescue, but also may reverse the current passive situation."

Everyone below nodded, and the north and south were advancing and the central assault seemed to be in line with Guderian's appetite. Although everyone did not think that the Red Army had such sharp offensive capabilities, at least such a response strategy was wiser than simply drawing troops from the north and south wings to fill the gap in the central battlefield. In the castle battle, the axis continued to attack the central front, and the Red Army could not establish a stable defense line at all. The draw of troops from the north and south wings was quickly eliminated in the continuous consumption.

Hoffman smiled slightly and asked, "Besides Tambov and Voronezh, what other nodes do you think are likely to be hit hard by the Red Army?"

"It may be Kharkov, but this place is a bit far away, more than 600 kilometers from Moscow and Stalingrad." Guderian looked at the map again, "And in front of Kharkov, there are at least three defense lines of our army. The enemy's long-distance raids of 700 kilometers, and I think the possibility of destroying three defense lines in succession is extremely small."

Hoffman nodded with satisfaction, and the rest of the people began to become active, and intuition and unconsciously switched their positions to the Red Army's position and perspective to look at the problem. However, after discussion, it was found that there seemed to be no other particularly clever way except Guderian's method.

Marshal Weix emphasized that the Eastern Army Group was originally the overall strategic reserve team of the Eastern Front, but now it is also brought to the front line. Although each army group has prepared at least one army reserve team, he hopes that the General Staff must prepare at least enough strategic reserve teams. For such a large-scale battle involving an attack of 3 million people, it is impossible for the reserve team of the battle cluster to be without a reserve team.

Zeitzler's smile on his face became stronger, and then he revealed the answer to everyone: "According to the request and instructions of the head of state, the General Staff took the SS First Armored Army Group, which completed the reorganization, as the backbone, and the 5th and 8th Army of the National Defense Forces, to form the Shuguang Campaign Army Group and serve as the general reserve team for this battle. The commander of the army group was Marshal Guderian, and he declared it to the public as the reserve army group..."

Everyone whispered to each other. This time, the capital of the reserve army group was quite large. The SS First Armored Army was a newly established unit this year. It has four armored divisions, including the Guard Flag Team, the Empire, etc., which completed the organizational adjustment and addition in 1943, 2 armored grenadier divisions and 4 armed SS divisions. The strength is stronger than any one of the National Defense Army armored army, and the other two armies cannot be underestimated. If the Russians are deceived by the "reserve" name of this army group, they will be covered with big heads.

"The reserve army group is located on the front lines of Kharkov, Voronezh and Tambov, with Voronezh as the core."

It was only then that Guderian suddenly realized why Zeitzler had been looking at him with a smile just now: It seems that the General Staff had not considered this possibility, but on the contrary, they were fully prepared. And he happened to take on and fulfill the relevant role.

The overall meeting policy was finally determined, and at this time, less than 24 hours left before the launch date of the offensive battle.

While the German army was intensively advancing the campaign, Stalin was also listening to reports from the General Staff and Molotov in the Kremlin.

"From the intelligence we have, the German army seems to be about to launch a new round of attack soon, and the direction is still on the central battlefield."

Stalin nodded without comment and asked, "Is there a way to stop them?"

Huasilevsky hesitated for a moment and finally said frankly: "It's very difficult. The enemy has the advantage of equipment and the troops have a lot of combat experience, and..."

Stalin waved his hand: "I know all the things you emphasize. What I asked about is your solution. Are you consistent with Comrade Constantine?"

"This..." Huasilevsky hesitated a little, and then said for a moment, "Inconsistent, I mean to continue to retreat and further expand the German army's logistics supply line."

At yesterday's situation analysis meeting, Zhukov made the next strategic deduction. Any German army is likely to repeat the techniques of the last battle, attack on the central battlefield, continue to break through, and force the Red Army to draw troops from both wings for reinforcements. Once the two wings are weakened, the German army will take the opportunity to attack one of the wings. He believes that the Germans cannot lead the nose and must take the initiative. Therefore, he proposed that the central government lure the enemy deeper and widen the distance between the German army. At the same time, in December, it is implemented to advance north and south, cut off the German retreat route, and force the enemy to retreat.

Of course, Zhukov knew the gap between the Red Army and the axis, and did not pin his hopes on the power and effectiveness of the offensive battle, nor did he think that the Red Army had the ability to encircle and annihilate the German heavy army. He just hoped to force the German army to stop and create opportunities for the Soviets to win the winter respite.

However, Huasilevsky had different opinions this time. He was not optimistic about Zhukov's offense-based tactics. He suggested further retreat, not to mention the right bank of the Volga River. If the German army wanted, they could allow them to attack, even if they attacked the Ural Mountains. (To be continued.)

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Chapter completed!