155

Episode 155: Spear and Shield (6)

June 6, 1942

New Fuhrer's Residence in Berlin, Germany

While the US and Japanese forces were fighting a decisive battle in Midway in the Pacific, the Soviet army launched a large-scale offensive in East Prussia.

"Given the scale of the offensive, it seems clear that the Soviets want to take Königsberg this time. "The enemy is divided into two major groups and is attempting an offensive in the direction of Labiau and Innsterburg."

"I guess Stalin urged me to do this. "What about our troops' damage?"

"The Army's 44th Infantry Division, 17th Motorized Infantry Division, and 102nd Armored Brigade suffered damage and were quickly sent back to the rear for reorganization, but overall, it is still a minor level, Mr. President."

After Keitel's briefing, Brauchitsch took over the baton and explained the future counterattack.

The counteroffensive operation that Brauchitch explained to me was easy to understand even for someone who had little knowledge of military science.

Hold in the current position as much as possible until the enemy reaches the end point of the offensive, draining the enemy's power, and then quickly deploy armored units to penetrate both sides of the enemy.

Before the enemy notices our troops' counterattack and retreats, they cut off the ranks, surround them, and beat up the surrounded enemies. It's so easy, right?

In the case of the Central and Southern Army Groups, the situation was slightly different.

The Soviet army realized that an offensive targeting the German army was useless, so it attempted an offensive targeting the Hungarian and Romanian armies.

The Soviet army's strategy of focusing only on the weakest areas instead of the strongest areas of the friendly forces was quite successful, with two Hungarian divisions and three Romanian divisions being defeated by the Soviet army's offensive.

However, thanks to our troops' quick deployment of reserve forces, the Soviet army's advance was quickly stopped.

Bork and Kleist reported that it would be better to turn the Allied troops, whose combat power was somewhat lacking, to the rear and deploy the Wehrmacht in their place.

"The experts say that's what they think, so it's probably right to follow their opinions. But won't Hungary and Romania feel uncomfortable?"

"I will coordinate that part well."

said Keitel, who speaks frequently with Hungarian and Romanian military commands.

Surprisingly, Kaitel showed quite an ability in persuasion and coordination, so I thought it would be no problem to leave it to him.

"Then I will leave this part to the enemy. And I heard you have a few more things to report to me."

"yes. Next is the issue of the deployment of each Allied division."

The Slovak and Hungarian troops are part of the Central Army Group, and the Romanian Army is part of the Southern Army Group and are already fighting the Soviet Army.

The allies Keitel spoke of included volunteers from France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Croatia, Montenegro, and Albania.

The Norwegian and Swedish armies are engaged in combat with the Soviet army on the Finnish front, and the Ethiopian army is turning its bow toward Iran because Britain has not allowed passage through the Suez Canal, so it will take some time for it to reach Europe.

In addition to these, there was also the issue of organizing volunteer soldiers from neutral countries Bulgaria and Switzerland.

Two hours passed quickly as we discussed the deployment and organization of allied divisions and volunteer soldiers.

It was uneasy in many ways to blindly deploy allied forces whose combat capabilities had not yet been properly tested on the front line, and since the situation of our troops was weak at the moment, it was decided to deploy them to the rear for the time being and entrust them with training and security maintenance duties.

Volunteers from Switzerland were sent to the Nordland Division, which had been created a month earlier, and Bulgarian volunteers were organized into the 1st SS Bulgarian Regiment.

Himmler was pleased with the increase in the size of the Waffen-SS, but Brauchitsch, who was not on good terms with Himmler, was dismayed.

"Now this is the last item on the agenda."

The meeting was already approaching its end. I wanted to finish the meeting quickly and take a nap, but when I heard the topic of the last agenda, all my thoughts disappeared.

"The Soviet Union is advancing on the mainland."

The Wehrmacht had long ago drawn up various measures to prepare for a war with the Soviet Union, which was the most likely conflict after Poland and France, and included a plan to advance into the Soviet Union's mainland.

However, with the signing of the Non-Aggression Treaty, the plan was put into storage and seemed to be forgotten by the world.

However, as the Soviet Union launched a preemptive attack, the plan to invade the Soviet mainland, which had been forgotten by everyone, was revealed to the world again.

When the atmosphere with the Soviet Union began to deteriorate, I instructed the Ministry of Defense to develop a plan to invade the Soviet mainland in case of emergency.

Finally, the result has come out into the world today.

The Soviet Union's advance plan for the mainland, as explained by Brauchitsch, was as follows.

First, the friendly forces focus on defense and induce a war of attrition until the Soviet military's capabilities reach their limits.

As soon as the Soviet Army's operational capabilities reach their limit, our forces launch a large-scale offensive, encircling each Soviet Army across the Eastern Front and ultimately annihilating them.

If it succeeds in annihilating the main force of the Soviet Army, the Northern Army Group will begin its advance toward Leningrad, the Central Army Group will advance toward Moscow, and the Southern Army Group will begin its advance toward Rostov.

If all three cities above are taken over, the Soviet Union's transportation network will completely collapse, and the Soviet Union will completely lose the ability to wage war. After a short period of rest and reorganization, it will launch a final major offensive, capturing Arkhangelsk to the north and Arkhangelsk to the south. Advances to Astrakhan!

It was almost similar to Operation Barbarossa in history, except that we were attacked preemptively and were in a defensive war.

The difference is that, unlike the actual Operation Barbarossa, which was full of baseless confidence and delusions that the Soviet Union could be defeated within 12 weeks, the deadline is set until next summer.

The problem is that the period until next summer is too short to take control of all of the vast European Russian territory up to the AA line, which is the goal.

"Why are you doing this, Mr. President? I wonder if something is wrong... ."

Brauchitch was visibly embarrassed when I showed signs of discomfort.

"hmm… . First of all, you worked hard to set up the strategy. Only ten days have passed since the war broke out, but I had no idea that an operational plan would already be released. "I was very surprised that it was faster than I expected."

"Thank you, Mr. President."

"But even considering cancer alone, it seems like the period was set too short. Marshal Brauchitsch, Russia is large. Even if you add up all the lands that Germany has conquered so far, it would still fall short of the territory of European Russia in the operational plan. But don't you think it's too overconfident to be able to control all of this large territory by next summer?

And in order for our troops advancing into the vast Russian territory to fight properly, supply must be provided without a hitch, but it seems that the explanation regarding the supply issue is also poor. "There are insufficient measures to protect against Russia's harsh winter."

The solution to the supply problems and winter problems that would arise while advancing east, as explained by Brauchitsch, was absurd, to the point of absurdity.

The railways of Germany and other European countries and the Soviet Union have different standards.

While Europe used standard gauge, the Soviet Union used a wider gauge, so a large number of separate locomotives tailored to broad gauge were needed.

However, the operational plan stated that the locomotives used by the Soviet Union could be captured and used, or that locomotives suitable for the Soviet Union's broad gauge could be manufactured and supplied.

It's easy. Do you think locomotives fall from the sky? Do you think the Soviets will just let us take over the locomotive?

The same applies to cold weather measures. As I've said repeatedly, winter in Russia is on a different level from winter in Europe.

There are no winter supplies available to our troops right now, and we need specially made winter supplies that can withstand Russia's winter. It is also a very important issue to supply these to our troops across the Eastern Front before winter sets in.

However, Brauchitsch's solution was to spend the winter in the occupied city.

As I pointed out the problems one by one, the generals who had been listening as if they had no idea what the problem was also turned serious.

As such, the eastern front operation plan underwent major revision.

Of course, as I said before, my goal is not to conquer the Soviet Union and build Lebensraum, a paradise on earth for the Germanic people, but to compromise within a reasonable range and end the war as quickly as possible.

If the Soviet Union requests reinforcement tomorrow, and if the conditions they propose are reasonable, I am willing to accept it right away.

Therefore, looking at it now, I think that planning to advance to the AA line may have gone a little too far.

But what if the Soviet Union refuses to strengthen and suggests that we go as far as we can?

In this case, the only way left for Germany is to fight until the Soviet Union's ability to wage war and its will to fight is completely destroyed.

Fortunately, we did not attack preemptively, but the Soviet Union attacked first, so the Soviet people's will to go to war may be weaker than in actual history (probably), but things in the world always go as expected.

It would be nice if Stalin made even a little wiser judgment.

Or, maybe someone under him makes a 'decision to save the country'.

***

June 8, 1942

USSR Moscow Kremlin Palace

"-The 15th Rifle Corps and the 27th Rifle Corps have reached the point of virtual annihilation and are being disbanded and retreated to the rear of Kotovsk to reorganize. The 19th and 41st Tank Divisions of the 22nd Mechanized Corps succeeded in defeating two divisions of the Romanian army and advancing, but were soon blocked by the stubborn resistance of the German army. In the process, the commander of the 19th Tank Division was killed and the 41st Tank Division also suffered a blow and withdrew to the rear, leaving the front in charge of the 215th Mechanized Division... ."

"Shit."

As Voroshilov's briefing ended, Stalin swore without even realizing it. Voroshilov held up his pointing stick and made no reply.

The Ukrainian front was a mess.

The Soviet army achieved some success against the Romanian army, which was weaker than itself, but soon the Romanian army fell to the rear and German divisions took its place, so they had no choice but to stop again.

The Soviets attempted to attack several times a day, but each time the Germans repelled all their attacks like a spring, and it was always the Soviets who piled up the damage.

The original Soviet plan was to keep the Romanian army in check to the extent that it could not hinder the Red Army's advance.

However, as the Ploiesti oil field raid turned into a huge failure, Stalin asked Tymoshenko and Zhukov to revise the operation.

As long as the Ploiesti oil field is not taken over or destroyed so that Germany cannot use it, the German war machine will operate unfettered.

Therefore, the Ploiesti oil field must be destroyed or Romania must be withdrawn from the ranks of the Axis powers.

Axis powers. It was a word that Goebbels used for the first time in a radio broadcast two days ago.

In the future, international relations in Europe will change with all lines leading to Berlin as an axis, and European allies following the German-led order will unite as the Axis to protect European culture and freedom from the ambitions of the Bolsheviks... .

Immediately after Goebbels' speech, the German and Hungarian media began to refer to Germany and its allies as the Axis powers.

Not to be outdone, Pravda immediately published an editorial boasting that the center of gravity of the Axis powers would soon change from Berlin to Moscow.

Romania was absolutely, absolutely necessary to realize the international order led by Moscow.

Under Stalin's instructions, Zhukov drew a large number of troops from the Western Front Army, which was already suffering accumulating damage, and the Reserve Front Army, and drove them to the Southwestern Front Army under Major General Mikhail Kirponos.

Kirponos did his best, but the German defenses were too thick.

Stalin, who had been looking at the map for a while, suddenly raised his head and stared at Molotov.

"Comrade Molotov, what better solution could there be?"

"What do you mean… .?"

"I mean, isn't there a way to get Romania out of the Axis powers?"

Why are you asking me that? I'm a diplomat, not a soldier.

At Stalin's absurd request, Molotov looked at him with an absurd expression on his face, but soon realized his mistake and quickly turned into a worried face.

Damn it, what can I say to convince the Secretary? What way... ..

Okay, how about this?

"Comrade Secretary General? "Then how about this method?"

"What method?"

"Two years ago, Hungary and Bulgaria returned some of the territory they had lost to Romania under Germany's neglect. That's why Romania has a very bad relationship with Hungary and Bulgaria."

On August 30, 1940, under the mediation of Nazi Germany, the Hungarian and Romanian delegations met in Vienna and signed a treaty agreeing to return North Transylvania, half of Transylvania, which Romania had taken from Hungary as a result of its victory in World War I, to Hungary.

Shortly after, on September 7, Namdobruja was returned to Bulgaria.

As the territories they had gained were taken back, the anger of the Romanians, who were already on bad terms with Hungary and Bulgaria, reached the sky. In the aftermath, Romanian Field Marshal Ion Antonescu staged a coup and overthrew King Carol II. He dethroned him and reinstated Michael I, the son of Carol II.

"We are trying to persuade Romania to join us by saying we will help them regain North Transylvania and South Bruja. And if we use this opportunity to encourage them to take over half of Ruthenia and Hungary, wouldn't Romania also have its share of concerns?"

"Hoo. "Not a bad idea."

I thought about Molotov's proposal while fiddling with Stalin's thick mustache, which was his trademark.

Romania was as bad with the Soviet Union as it was with Hungary and Bulgaria, but it might have been worried if it had reached out to them and offered to help them reach a reasonable compromise and seek revenge.

Even if it failed to bring Romania to the Soviet Union's side, dividing their national opinion was enough of a boon for the Soviet Union.

"Berry, what do you think?"

"I think it's a very good method, Comrade Secretary."

"As expected, you have the same thoughts as me. "Then I will leave this matter to you."

"Please leave it to me, Comrade Secretary."

He was the one who suggested it, but when the implementation fell to Beria, Molotov looked at Beria with puzzled eyes.

Beria looked at Molotov and smiled slyly as if asking what was the problem.

"Comrade Molotov? Is there a problem?"

"ah… . "It's nothing, comrade."

Feeling better, Stalin returned his gaze to the map board.

The Western Front Army is also at a standstill, blocked by the German army's tight defense.

Vasilevsky's Northern Front Army entered Finnish territory, but soon ran into the Finnish defense line and was engaged in a tough fight.

"What is the situation on the Northwest Front?"

"yes. The Northwestern Front Army has also launched an offensive and is currently advancing toward Labiau and Innsterburg. Currently, the 3rd Mechanized Corps, 29th Rifle Corps, 10th Corps, and 4th Mechanized Corps under Marshal Kulik are at the forefront of the offensive and are facing the German army head-on."

"Kulik is a capable soldier, so he will do it. Yes, I think I heard that the guy under him named Vlasov is also capable. Am I right?"

"That's right, Comrade Secretary General. "They are both capable people, so they will come back with a victory report soon."

"okay. "I'm looking forward to it."