Chapter 674: German-Soviet War (28)

The army cannot be without a commander for a day, so Stalin sent Ivan Stepanovich Konev to take over as the commander of the Western Front.

Konev was one of the three field horses of the Soviet Army in World War II, along with Zhukov and Rokossovsky. He was good at coordinated infantry and artillery operations, and could perfectly combine powerful artillery firepower with unexpected infantry attacks at high speed.

He successively commanded the Battle of Kursk, the Battle of Kharkov, the Battle of the Dnieper River, and the Battle of Berlin, with outstanding military achievements. British Field Marshal MacCarver ranked Marshal Konev as the second most famous general of the Soviet Union in World War II, believing that he was the only famous general among the Soviet generals who could rival Zhukov.

However, this famous general in the original time and space was also at a loss for the current situation and was helpless.

It was unknown how many of the hundreds of thousands of trapped troops had surrendered and how many had been eliminated, and now there were more than 100,000 troops trapped in the German encirclement.

Is this lining up to be captured by the Germans?

That stupid Pavlov is fine, but how could Marshal Timoshenko make such a mistake? He also sent 3,000 tons of supplies to the German army for nothing. In the end, even he himself ran to the German side, which was unbelievable. Could it be that Marshal Timoshenko had already had the intention to defect? ​​These were all gifts of surrender?

Konev shook his head and stopped thinking about these "terrible" problems. The most urgent task was how to rescue the hundreds of thousands of troops in the encirclement.

The German army completely controlled the air superiority, and a strong attack would definitely not work.

But apart from a strong attack, is there any other way to rescue them? Could it be that we negotiate with the Germans to redeem those troops? It's impossible to think about it!

Maybe we should give them up?

But would Comrade Stalin agree?

Moscow.

The atmosphere in the meeting room of the Kremlin dropped to the freezing point, so quiet that the breathing of the people next to him could be heard.

Everyone's face showed an angry expression.

Timoshenko's voice was coming from the radio in the corner.

From the brief opening remarks, we know that Timoshenko really ran to the German side. As a marshal of the Soviet Union, he actually defected so openly. It is undoubtedly a huge shame for the Soviet Union. Especially Stalin, he felt as if he had been slapped dozens of times.

"Damn bastard, I will never let him go!" Stalin gritted his teeth and muttered. The others did not dare to make a sound. They could feel how angry Stalin was at the moment, like a volcano about to erupt, on the verge of a restless eruption; no one dared to touch him at this time and burn themselves.

"Beria, have all his family members been executed?"

Beria trembled suddenly and spoke tremblingly. "Comrade Stalin, we only found his father and executed him for treason. But... his wife and daughter are missing."

Stalin frowned slightly. "What's the matter?"

The light words were like a mountain that pressed Beria so hard that he couldn't breathe and couldn't straighten his waist. He almost knelt on the ground and begged for mercy. "Comrade Stalin, I think they got the news in advance and hid. We are trying our best to find them, and we will definitely find them."

At this time, Timoshenko on the radio began to accuse Stalin of crimes, and the first one was that Stalin murdered the great revolutionary mentor Comrade Ulyanov.

Everyone lowered their heads even lower, almost shrinking to their chests, wishing to plug their ears or turn off the damn radio, but no one dared to touch the radio without Stalin's words.

Timoshenko listed ten charges in one breath, all kinds of unkindness, injustice, impoliteness, wisdom, unfaithfulness, disloyalty, filial piety, integrity, and shamelessness. All the crimes that could be involved were pinned on Stalin's head, and he scolded him bloody.

Molotov, who also lowered his head deeply, couldn't help muttering in his heart, he had never seen Marshal Timoshenko have such a good eloquence before, who wrote this speech? Could it be that the German Goebbels wrote it himself? He glanced at Stalin from the corner of his eye, and saw that the muscles on his face were trembling constantly, and the terrible murderous intent in his eyes burst out.

Molotov had no doubt that if Timoshenko stood in front of him at this moment, Stalin would eat him alive. However, if the two men really faced each other, Timoshenko would not let him off easily, after all, Stalin had become his father's murderer.

Finally, Timoshenko announced the establishment of the Restoration Army. The first batch of the Restoration Army would recruit soldiers from the surrendered Soviet army. They would fight for the liberation of the Soviet Union and rescue the Soviet people from Stalin's brutal rule, so that they could live in happiness and peace!

"I hereby call on more people of lofty ideals to join the Restoration Army. I invite Comrade Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky, Comrade Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov, and Comrade Ivan Stepanovich Konev in my personal capacity. You are all rare talents, and your talents should serve the Soviet people, rather than become Stalin's minions to help the tyrant! I hope you can turn back as soon as possible and turn from darkness to light; the door of the Restoration Army will always be open to you!"

Molotov secretly glanced at Zhukov, the only one of the three who attended the meeting. His face turned slightly pale, and beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.

After a long time, Timoshenko's speech ended, leaving only the sound of electricity in the radio.

"Turn off the radio!" Stalin ordered.

The secretary, who had been frightened for a long time, quickly turned off the radio, and everyone secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

And Stalin smoked his pipe silently, without saying a word.

This suffocating silence lasted for half an hour before Stalin finally spoke in a hoarse voice. "Comrade Budyonny, go and take over the Western Front."

Molotov secretly thought that the effect of this trick was really good. Konev was transferred from the Western Front less than a day after arriving at the Western Front. Isn't this Chi Guoguo's suspicion?

As mentioned earlier, Marshal Semyon Mikhailovich Budyonny's life was not very comfortable, and he was even a little nervous. Because he was the only one left among the five marshals who were promoted together with him, so he couldn't help but worry that one day it would be his turn.

Therefore, he tried his best to reduce his sense of presence everywhere, not to take the initiative to get involved in anything, and not to take the initiative to express any opinions and suggestions. However, he did not expect that he could not escape this time.

But he didn't dare to refuse, so he had no choice but to agree. "Yes, Comrade Stalin. Then I'll leave now."

Starling nodded. "Go ahead."

Everyone else looked at Budyonni with envy as he hurried out of the meeting room, but they had to continue to endure this terrible suffering.