According to the order of the Supreme Command, the 1st Guards Army under the command of Moskalenko must first attack the German 16th Armored Division, 3rd and 60th Armored Divisions that suddenly reached the Volga River in the Znoye area in the early morning of the 2nd. The Motorized Infantry Division carried out a counterattack and joined the 62nd Army in the direction of the city. Kozlov's 24th Army and Malinovsky's 66th Army will launch a counterattack against the Germans after the friendly forces have completed their rendezvous and drive them away from this area.
In later generations, there was a group of uneducated people who posted nonsense on the Internet, saying that Stalingrad had no strategic significance at all. The reason why the German army attacked this city was simply to threaten the Soviet army holding on in the Caucasus from the flanks. , the Soviet army does not need to fight to the death with the German army here.
When Sokov saw these posts, he wanted to puke on the faces of these people. They did not understand the military and political significance of the battle to defend Stalingrad. If Stalingrad fell into enemy hands, the Germans would cut off the southern and central parts of the Soviet Union. At the same time, the Soviet Union will also lose the most important waterway transportation lifeline of the Volga River, which transports large amounts of supplies northward from the Volga coast and the Caucasus region. Because of this, the Soviet Supreme Command sent all available forces to the Stalingrad area.
After Zhukov accepted the order to organize a counterattack, he immediately rushed to the participating troops to understand the situation. However, when he found that the troops were not ready for counterattack, he personally called Stalin and reported his views to him: "...The Artillery Station The required artillery shells will not be delivered to the artillery positions until after the 4th. Comrade Stalin, I strongly suggest to postpone the counterattack and postpone the date of the attack to September 6th."
Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Stalin said angrily: "Comrade Zhukov, do you think that the enemy will wait for you to slowly prepare before launching an attack on Stalingrad?... Yeremenko concluded that if you don't Immediately launch an assault from the north. The enemy can capture Stalingrad with just the first fierce attack. You should launch an assault immediately and find a way to drive the enemy away from the vicinity of Stalingrad. If successful, you can eliminate the enemy established by the German army. That Volga corridor..."
"Comrade Stalin, if there are not enough artillery shells, the artillery will not be able to provide the necessary artillery cover for our troops when they attack..."
However, before Zhukov finished speaking, he was interrupted by Stalin: "Without artillery support, our troops don't know how to attack? Comrade Zhukov, don't forget, back then we still had no artillery support." We defeated the Cossack White Guards of General Krasnov who attacked Tsaritsyn. Since we were able to defeat the enemy back then, why can’t we still defeat the enemy today when we have a stronger army?”
Seeing Stalin mentioning the battle that took place here more than 20 years ago, Zhukov knew that continuing to argue would only achieve his goal, so he could only choose to surrender: "I understand, Comrade Stalin. The counterattack troops will be in accordance with the regulations. Within a certain period of time, carry out a counterattack against the enemy north of Stalingrad."
Since the 1st Guards Army was the main force of this attack, after Zhukov ended his call with Stalin, he called Moskalenko and asked in a stern tone: "General Moskalenko, Supreme Command The attack time specified for us is five o'clock in the morning on September 2, can your army enter the attack position on time?"
"Don't worry, Comrade General." After listening to Zhukov's words, Moskalenko vowed: "The troops of our group army promise to launch an attack on the enemy within the specified time."
However, the plan could not keep up with the changes. When there were only four hours left before the attack started, Zhukov heard that the 1st Guards Army had not entered the designated position, so he quickly called Moskalenko and asked angrily: " Moskalenko, where are your troops now?"
"I'm sorry, Comrade General." Moskalenko replied in a panic: "Due to the lack of fuel for the vehicles transporting the troops and the delays caused by the poor road conditions, we were unable to enter the starting position at the specified time. In order not to As a result, the troops entered the battle in an unorganized manner and suffered unnecessary losses. I request that the attack time be postponed."
Although Zhukov wanted to kill Moskalenko with one shot, considering that the war was imminent, he still suppressed the anger in his heart and asked: "Then when will you enter the starting position?"
In response to Zhukov's question, Moskalenko was silent for a moment and said cautiously: "Comrade General, judging from the current situation, the troops will not be able to enter the designated position until this evening at the earliest."
Since the troops can only enter the designated position in the evening, it means that the counterattack originally planned for today cannot be carried out. Although Zhukov was furious, he had nothing to do. He could only sigh and said into the microphone: "In this case, then change the attack time to five o'clock in the morning on September 3. If your troops are not able to do so by then, If you take part in the attack, then you can expect to be court-martialed.”
Faced with Zhukov's threat, Moskalenko couldn't help but tremble and hurriedly replied: "Comrade General, please rest assured. I assure you that our troops will be able to launch the attack on time tomorrow."
Since the attack time of the 1st Guards Army, which is the main offensive, has been postponed, the attack time of the other two armies also needs to be adjusted accordingly. Then, Zhukov called Kozlov and Malinovsky respectively and informed them that the attack time had been changed to September 5.
Zhukov could not conceal such a major event as the postponement of the offensive, otherwise once Stalin was held accountable, even if he was the deputy commander-in-chief, he would still be held responsible. So Zhukov dialed the Kremlin's main computer. After hearing the sweet voice of the female operator, he said in a deep voice: "I am General Zhukov. Please take me to Comrade Stalin's office."
"Hello, Comrade General." The female operator said respectfully, "Please wait a moment, I will connect you right away."
After the call was connected, the person who answered the phone was Boskrebyshev. He politely said to Zhukov: "Sorry, Comrade Zhukov, Comrade Stalin is resting. If there is nothing important, I can't wake him up at this time. he."
"Comrade Poskrebyshev, please tell Comrade Stalin." Zhukov hesitated for a moment, and finally mustered up the courage to say: "The planned attack has been postponed!"
