In the Eastern Front in 1942, both the Soviet Union and Germany were fighting wits and courage. It has been suggested that if Zhukov had prioritized a large-scale encirclement and annihilation operation against the Modell group in the direction of Lezhev before launching Operation Uranus, it would have cut off the connection between the German central and southern fronts, and would have led to the early closing of the eastern front. So, according to the situation on the battlefield at that time, why did Zhukov not do this?
As early as the autumn and winter of 1941, when the German army launched the Moscow Campaign, by mid-November, the German high command was already preparing for the postponement of the offensive, because 1.8 million troops were trapped in the muddy road and could not extricate themselves, and even Guderian, who had always advocated the attack, took the lead in asking for withdrawal from the battlefield, indicating that the defeat of the German army was inevitable.
To this end, after the removal of a large number of senior generals, the Germans gathered the strength of 70 divisions of Army Group Center into the area of Vyazma and Lezhev-Sechovka, in an attempt to prepare here for two aspects: on the one hand, to prepare for the continued threat to Moscow, but also to provide supplies for the northern front and to provide cover for the blue plan operation on the southern front; on the other hand, to use the 9th Army of Modell as bait to prevent the main force of the Soviet Central Front from going south, so as to free up the hands and feet of the Army Group South to attack the Caucasus in two ways. To achieve the purpose of occupying the energy and resource center of the Soviet army, if the purpose is achieved, it is equivalent to cutting off the back road of the Soviet army.
In fact, in November 1941, the chief of the general staff Halder had already discovered the shortcomings of the Eastern Front operations, the Battle of Moscow was not lost in strength and command, but the problem of supply difficulties and armored troops could not adapt to the muddy roads, so they were already secretly drawing up a plan for the German army to adjust the direction of operations, changing the occupation of important Soviet cities to the occupation of Ukrainian and Caucasus food and energy.
In this sense, after the Battle of Moscow, the German army placed the Modell group in Lezhev for defensive deployment, and it was clear that the Soviet army would come and fight back, and the Soviet army did not invest less troops, and the results were all fruitless. On the contrary, Modell made a name for himself in this 13-month battle and won the title of "Defense Master". It can be seen from this that the German army just wanted the Soviet army to focus on the central line, so that Army Group South could take the opportunity to march into the Caucasus, which was a strategy of attacking the west.
In the history of the Soviet-German war, on November 25, 1942, Zhukov launched the "Mars Operation" in the direction of Lezhev encountered Waterloo, according to the reasoning That the Soviet army lost so much, why did Stalin not say anything to Zhukov? In fact, the biggest achievement of "Operation Mars" was twofold, one was that it prevented the Modell Group from going south to reinforce the Stalingrad battlefield, forcing the German army to temporarily form the Don Army Group, and Manstein became a battlefield firefighter; second, although the Soviet army suffered heavy losses, it made Modell prepare to hold on to Lezhev's attempt to disintegrate, and had to withdraw from the central battlefield to completely remove the German threat to the direction of Moscow.
In fact, from January 1942 to March 1943, the Soviet army in the direction of Lezhev against the Modell group also attached great importance to the operations, for Stalin, the German army of 70 divisions could not fight and did not run, the Soviet army had to mobilize a large number of troops to defend in the direction of Moscow, this move of the German army made Stalin sleep and eat like a fish in the throat, so before and after was also a lot of big battles, small battles were fought countless times, and Modell fought more and more fiercely, the reason is that the German high command continues to send more troops to the center line, Even in the desperate need for tank reinforcements in Manstein, Modell was still supported by two panzer divisions, indicating the importance that the German high command attached to the direction of Lezhev.
From the perspective of the operational deployment of the two sides, the Soviet army also made two-handed preparations, on the one hand, in the passage defense of the central and southern fronts, the central front army played a role in taking into account both ends, for the Soviet army, Stalingrad resolutely can not be lost, the Volga River is the link and transportation channel connecting the central line and the southern line, without it the Soviet army lost the backing of energy and supplies; on the other hand, to maintain the security of the passage between the central and southern fronts, it is conducive to the Acceleration of the Soviet army, and later operations also proved that when the "Uranus Operation" was launched on the southern front, Operation Mars on the central line was also launched at the same time, which was tantamount to the disintegration of the German army to use the Lezhev battlefield as an alternative battlefield, and strategically, the Soviet army was right.
Of course, the German army put the main force of Army Group Center in Lezhev, not only to contain the Soviet army to the south, but also to take advantage of the 6th Army's occupation of Stalingrad to detour north to re-attack Moscow, so after Manstein won the victory on the Kerry Peninsula, he first commanded the 11th Army Headquarters to go north to Leningrad, and then deployed the headquarters on the center line, including the idea of preparing to launch an attack on Moscow, but this attempt was destroyed by "Operation Uranus", the day after the Soviet counterattack, Manstein was ordered to rescue Paulus, aborting the plan.
Therefore, from this level, even if the Soviet army concentrated its forces to surround and annihilate the German army on the central front, it could not quickly change the situation on the eastern front. On the contrary, the Soviet army is likely to fall into the trap of the German army, not only the Modell 9th Army will not be able to leave, but even Paulus's 6th Army will detour north, so that the Soviet army will be passive, let alone the problem of seizing the initiative on the battlefield.
Some people have been critical of Zhukov's role in World War II, arguing that he would not direct the war and would only use the tactics of the sea of men, which is actually a prejudice. As far as the combat conditions of the Soviet army at that time were concerned, what else did the Soviet army have in addition to the superiority of troop strength? As far as war is concerned, as long as it can be won, the result is much more important than the process.
By early September 1942, Paulus's 6th Army had captured 90 percent of Stalingrad, and the German mustache commander had personally inspected the front, promising paulus another two weeks to finish the fighting. Almost at the same time, Stalin also sent Zhukov from Moscow to Stalingrad, and it was at this time that Paulus's fate began to change, and the initiative on the Eastern Front began to shift to the Soviets.
What schemes was Zhukov prepared to use to command the operation? It is the "Double Star Project". While everyone was focused on how to drive Paulus's 6th Army out of Stalingrad, Zhukov proposed to use Stalingrad as bait to lure the enemy deeper, and the Soviet army freed up energy to quickly assemble more reserves and try to launch two leading battles in the winter, one was "Operation Uranus" in Stalingrad to annihilate Paulus, and the other was "Operation Mars" in the direction of Lezhev to annihilate Modell.
Macroscopically speaking, the "Double Star Plan" was a combat operation in which the Soviet army had used the most troops and was the most targeted since the beginning of the Soviet-German War, so Stalin ordered that the plan could only be carried out in secret, and at first only he and Zhukov, Vasilevsky and his assistant Molotov knew that the other front-line commanders were not informed until 8 hours before the battle began.
Therefore, when launching the final operation, the Soviet army was completely using reserve forces to launch a counter-offensive, and the 62nd Army under the command of Trikov, which was fighting on the front line, was used as bait. To a certain extent, to say that the Lezhev battlefield was a meat grinder, and that the Stalingrad battlefield would change a group of soldiers in 24 hours, were all preparations for "operation double star". On 19 November, when Operation Uranus was launched, Zhukov commanded six armies to encircle Paulus from both the north and the south at the same time, and the Germans did not know where these troops came from, and it was far from quenching the thirst to rush to the rescue of Manstein.
From the above analysis, it can be seen that Zhukov's "double-star plan" is a bigger game than the Battle of Stalingrad in the next game, and if the Soviet army can only be regarded as a small victory from the siege of the 6th Army of Paulus, but at the same time defeating Manstein's "Winter Storm Operation" and forcing Modell to retreat from the direction of Lezhev, it is not simple. Therefore, Stalin's decision to command Zhukov in the name of supreme deputy commander is well deserved, and even if operation Mars is insufficient, it is nothing compared to the victory of the entire Eastern Front.
For more information, please pay attention to what the island owner said, and readers who like this article should like, collect and share it!
The Battle of Stalingrad in World War II, how Zhukov and Trikov built the iron wall
Why did Zhukov not evade responsibility in his memoirs during the Soviet-German War of World War II? Dare to take responsibility
In the Soviet-German war, Why did Zhukov not win more battles with less, and commanded all the big battles
In the Battle of Lezhev in World War II, why Did Modell become famous in the First World War, Zhukov took care of both ends of the body and lack of skills