Chapter 717: Gritting Teeth

The news indeed arrived a dozen minutes later. The entire 1st Panzer Corps, along with the 3rd SS Panzer Division and other units, all headed south, preparing to launch a new attack on Izyum, rather than the danger-filled Kharkov.

The main force of the German Army Group G was like a wolf king with a super-sensitive sense of smell. It had sniffed lightly in front of the trap and then left the camouflaged danger without even looking back.

Guderian ordered his troops to attack Izyum, and so the main German force began to head south. Their attack was beyond everyone’s expectations. The Soviets had never thought that the German armored forces, which had been charging towards Kharkov, would suddenly stop their advance and immediately change their direction of attack.

For a time, the Soviet Red Army deployed near Izyum was thrown into chaos. Without putting up any decent resistance, they allowed the German army to take advantage of the vacuum and capture this important city. Then, the German armored forces began to appear in large numbers near Kupyansk and North Donetsk, while Model’s army group infantry began to launch a fierce attack on Sloviansk. In an instant, the German deception of a northward advance was exposed, and the entire southern group began to frantically head south.

“General! General! North Donetsk is in a critical situation! The main German force did not attack Kharkov, but made a turn there and went south!” a staff officer shouted, rushing into Zhukov’s office in a panic with a telegram in his hand, startling the general who was studying a military map behind his desk. Zhukov looked up, clearly also somewhat in disbelief that such a thing could happen.

A few minutes ago, he was still studying how to hold off the German offensive at Kharkov, still studying how to have Timoshenko put up a stubborn resistance there to buy time for the entire Soviet northern army group, and also to dig a huge grave for the main German armored forces. But now it seemed that all of this was just a joke. The Germans seemed to have seen through his plan and had not continued their northward attack on Kharkov.

“This is impossible!” This was Zhukov’s first reaction. He subjectively judged that the German army could not possibly give up the plan to attack Kharkov, or rather, he had never thought that the Germans would give up such a huge piece of fat meat that they had already swallowed. “If the Germans give up Kharkov and don’t go north, aren’t they just handing me the victory?”

His question was reasonable. The only army that could threaten him was Guderian’s in the south. If this force had no intention of flanking him, then relying solely on Army Group E to defend Kiev to the death was an impossible task. Once Kiev was lost, even if the German army occupied Crimea and Donetsk, they would be encircled in a huge pocket. The only outcome awaiting these German troops would be annihilation.

The German army had greater mobility than the Soviet Red Army, and also had more powerful firepower and armored vehicles. But this also proved that the German army relied on logistical supply more than any other army. Once the logistical supply base of Kiev was occupied by the Soviet army and the supply lines were cut, the elite German tank units would instantly become a pile of scrap iron. Let alone exerting their power, it would be a blessing from God if they didn’t become a burden.

It was precisely because of this that Zhukov was so certain that the German army would head north and take the initiative with their speed of attack, attacking Kharkov to threaten the flank and rear of Minsk, thereby forcing the Soviet army to give up its plan to attack Kiev. This was the German army’s only chance of winning under normal circumstances, so Zhukov had so steadfastly laid a net in Kharkov, waiting for Guderian to take the bait himself.

Unfortunately, Guderian was too dashing, so dashing that he actually didn’t care about List’s life or death, and disregarded the danger of the main force of the three German army groups in the south being encircled. He had just made a magnificent turn at Kharkov and charged towards the important but strategically insignificant Donetsk. This had caught Zhukov somewhat off guard, and he even began to worry.

He stood up, took the telegram from the staff officer, and read it carefully twice before walking to the huge operational map hanging on the wall. He looked up and studied Rokossovsky’s current position, muttering to himself, “Are the Germans really so confident that List can hold his position? What makes them so sure?”

“Is this confidence a pure gamble? Or can that Führer who can always create miracles really be certain that List’s Army Group E can really block my entire offensive group?” Zhukov frowned, repeatedly saying these things. He walked back and forth in front of the map, his hand on his chin, unable to figure it out.

He still had a powerful Guards Front in his hand that he had not used. Once this unit was committed to the attack, then List’s frontal defense line could hold on for at most another 24 hours. At that time, there would be no obstacles between the Soviet army and Kiev. And Army Group A, under the command of Field Marshal von Rundstedt, which was still a few days’ march away from Zhukov’s flank, would be too late to rescue the collapsing Army Group E.

However, the Germans’ strange behavior had put Zhukov on alert. Just as Guderian and the other German generals had seen through the Soviet plan, he also sensed the whiff of danger in the German army’s unusual actions.

“This is not a gamble! No madman would dare to bet all his chips on a losing hand! The Germans’ hand is not good, and there is even a risk of losing at any time. To place a bet at this time is something only a fool would do!” Zhukov said through clenched teeth. “Their trump card must be something that makes them firmly believe their chances of winning are greater! It must be!”

“It’s not List! It’s not Army Group E! They are confident they can hold Kiev, that’s why they’re not coming to the rescue! I know how Guderian saw through my plan! Because I didn’t go to the rescue of Kharkov, so they sensed the danger! Now they are not going to the rescue of Kiev, it’s the same principle!” Zhukov was suddenly enlightened. He cast his gaze back to Kiev on the map, which was already so close, and then a smile spread across his face. He had also sensed the Germans’ idea, which was to use Kiev as bait to capture the entire Zhukov group of over 700,000 Soviet troops.

Interestingly, the two sides, in two different places, had drawn up almost identical plans. Except for the opposite direction of attack, they had drawn almost the same attack curve on the map, and their countermeasures were also the same. Both wanted to wipe out the other’s attacking force and solve the problem of the other’s field armored strength once and for all.

“Interesting! Really too interesting!” After laughing a few times, Zhukov clapped his hands twice, as if applauding the enemy’s commander, and also as if he was happy that someone had had the same idea as his own personally drawn up attack plan.

However, to see through the opponent’s plan is one thing; how to deal with it is another. The Germans had seen through Zhukov’s Kharkov trap, and their countermeasure was to abandon the bait in front of them, change their direction of attack, and avoid a battle with the Red Army.

Now the same problem was placed before Zhukov. His choice would be the key to the final outcome of this battle. Would the Soviet Union, like the Germans, give up its plan to attack Kiev, or would it make another choice—it was all up to this commander-in-chief, standing in front of the map in his Minsk command headquarters.

“If we retreat the way we came, then the entire offensive group will be safe, and this war can continue to be fought!” Zhukov began to pace in front of the map again. He walked back and forth, repeatedly thinking about the different consequences of different choices. “But Guderian’s southward attack will cause Timoshenko to lose half of his troops. At least 400,000 men will be surrounded in Donetsk. We cannot bear this loss, no matter what!”

He walked to the other side of the map and looked at the position garrisoned by the German’s good-old-boy commander, Kluge’s Army Group F, who was as unmoving as a mountain. He then shook his head, rejecting his idea of changing the attack route. The German Army Group F was not a second-rate force like the Soviet Red Army in the direction of Donetsk. To wipe out Kluge’s Army Group F in one go, as Guderian had done to the Soviet Red Army in the direction of Donetsk, was not an easy matter. If they were delayed for even a little bit of time, and it dragged on until Army Group A arrived at its designated position, then they would be truly finished.

In other words, the only advantage Zhukov had now was a time window of about three to four days when attacking in the direction of Kiev. Once this time was used up, the arriving Army Group A would cut off his retreat, and his situation would fall from heaven to hell.

“Damn it, how did the German army, without anyone noticing, come to possess so many tough generals and so many tough troops?” Zhukov complained bitterly. He then called his adjutant and instructed, “Send a telegram to Comrade Stalin! State our army’s current situation! Let Comrade Stalin make the decision on how we should choose!”

An hour later, Zhukov received a top-secret telegram from Moscow. After reading the contents, he gave a bitter smile, then personally lit a match and burned this order from Moscow.

After that, he returned to his office, sat alone for a dozen minutes, and finally made a crazy decision: “The Germans got scared at the most critical moment. They chose to avoid the difficulty! We of the Soviet Red Army will not be cowardly! We will meet our challenge! Order Vasilevsky to have his 3rd Front continue to attack fiercely! Everything is to be carried out according to the original plan! We will decide the winner in our own Soviet way!”

“Yes! Comrade Commander!” The adjutant saluted solemnly after standing at attention. “The great motherland is with us!”

Published: 2025-09-21T03:34:54.000+00:00
Last Edited: 2026-03-08T18:26:50.000+00:00
URL: https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair/posts/mtr-c717-teeth-139373264

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