On the evening of June 17, in the operations room of the German Army General Staff, Emperor Qin Tian of the Empire, Minister of War and Chief of Staff Field Marshal Manstein, Air Force Minister Albert Field Marshal Kesselring, Army Group A Commander Marshal Blomberg, Army Group B Commander Marshal Guderian, Army Group C Commander Marshal Rommel, Army Group Commander Field Marshal Brauchitsch, and Army Group Commander General Rundstedt had all gathered there.
Two months had passed since the German military launched its Eastern Front campaign that year. Although the German military had achieved bountiful results over those two months, advancing to the gates of Moscow and Yuzefgrad and battering the Russian army until it suffered grievous losses and untold misery, Germany's overall objective was far more than that. It wanted to destroy Russia in one stroke. Thus, the German military still had a long road ahead.
These frontline commanders had returned from the front to Berlin because both Oscar and Field Marshal Manstein believed that their plan to use the attacks on Moscow and Yuzefgrad to wipe out the Russian army's living strength would likely come to nothing. For that reason, the German military needed to change its strategy.
"Gentlemen, we originally planned to fight urban siege battles in Moscow and Yuzefgrad for around three months, using that opportunity to exhaust the Russian army's living strength in one fell swoop. But only one month into the plan, the Russians have already seen through our intentions and no longer wish to keep playing with us. Now, we have no choice but to think of another way," Field Marshal Manstein said helplessly.
According to the original plan, after three months of urban siege warfare, even if the Russian army's living strength was not entirely ground away, there would not have been