 Complete the following phrase:  For the first time since June 1941, Soviet forces had stopped the Germans and driven them back. This resulted in an overconfident Stalin further expanding the offensive. On 5 January 1942, during a meeting in the Kremlin, Stalin announced that he was planning a general spring offensive, which would be staged simultaneously near Moscow, Leningrad, Kharkov, and the Crimea. This plan was accepted over Zhukovs objections. Low Red Army reserves and Wehrmacht tactical skill led to a bloody stalemate near Rzhev, known as the Rzhev meat grinder, and to a string of Red Army defeats, such as the Second Battle of Kharkov, the failed attempt at elimination of the Demyansk pocket, and the encirclement of General Andrey Vlasovs army in a failed attempt to lift the siege of Leningrad, and the 