Chapter 114:
Chapter 114
If we exclude the southern part that was separated by the Pripyat Marshes, the battle between the north and the center could be seen as a boxing match.
Let’s say Germany’s left arm was the northern group, and its right arm was the central group.
The right arm, realizing that the road to Moscow, their target, was too perilous, chose Leningrad instead, which was relatively closer and more tempting.
“If we use an analogy, it’s like throwing a strong punch with the left hand because the right defense is solid.”
“But didn’t they already reveal which hand they would punch with?”
“That’s right! Hahahaha!”
Chief of Staff Vasilevsky laughed heartily for the first time in a while.
The Soviet Union used all means to find out Germany’s direction of attack in order to avoid a large-scale strategic surprise like last year.
Germany, which was hit hard by Operation Dung and Operation Uncle, was still dazed and leaked all kinds of information.
In May, before the offensive began, the Soviet army had enough time to build layers of defenses.
“1.7 million of our soldiers will fortify the entire area and resist the enemy’s offensive. They will never be able to break through this line!”
The Soviet soldiers who faced 1 million Germans were 1.7 million.
They were veterans who had survived the battlefield where life and death were decided in a year since the outbreak of war.
Konev, their commander, confidently boasted.
On top of that, 4,000 tanks and armored vehicles, and 20,000 artillery pieces.
If Germany wanted to overwhelm us with their skill and sophisticated tactical operation, they would have to suppress this massive amount of equipment first.
Our plan was simple.
If Germany’s initial offensive was stalled by the layered defenses, we would deploy three tank armies as mobile reserves and destroy their offensive capability.
We wanted to make them give up on Leningrad, or even wipe out their spearhead, the armored army.
The Nazis would regret setting foot on Mother Russia’s land.
“To hide our intentions, we need a deception operation across the entire front.”
Stalin, who was encouraged by the success of the winter offensive in 1941, made a mistake in real history.
He started an offensive to drive out Germany from all fronts.
Germany, which had been trapped in the vast territory of the Soviet Union and suffered a severe blow from the Far East Army, might have been easy to deal with.
But the ambitious offensive that he started was crushed by Walter Model’s Rzhev meat grinder in the center. In the south, he lost Sevastopol, the home port of the Black Sea Fleet on the Crimean Peninsula, and also broke down in the second Battle of Kharkov.
The Soviet army, which had been smashed like this, focused on strengthening their defense on the Moscow front, which they thought Germany would aim for.
Of course, Germany’s goal was not Moscow but the Caucasus oil fields in the south, as it was well known.
Germany took advantage of these two mistakes and advanced to Stalingrad, the gateway to the Caucasus, with a fierce momentum after conquering the rest of Ukraine.
This was why the Soviet Union lost in the summer of 1942.
I had no intention of repeating that mistake.
“Yes, Comrade Secretary General. We are preparing a deception operation to hide our strategic objectives by launching division-level offensives on each front.”
“Very good.”
The largest deception operation was in the south with Yugoslavia Partisans and Romania.
“Horthy Miklós must be burning with anger right now? Hahaha!”
Even if Yugoslavia Partisans were armed with second-rate equipment, they were hundreds of thousands.
And even if Romania was weak, it was 500 thousand.
With these forces plus 1.2 million from Southern Front and Southwestern Front that conquered Balkans last year as main force – although most of them were elites who went north – it depended on where these forces would go whether they could aim for Axis’ homeland or not.
Hungary, which stood in front of them, had no choice but to tremble.
“Yes. Hungary is now trying to negotiate with us through Portugal and America…”
“Do we need to accept that?”
There were two main routes to go from Romania, our ally who had full intention to cooperate with us and Mihai King , to Axis’ ‘homeland’.
If we went westward , we would meet Yugoslavia that Germany and Italy had divided. We could cross Danube River and reach Serbia’s capital Belgrade right away and there was no natural defense line until Croatia’s capital Zagreb .
Was that all? If we dug into this side , we could reach Hungary’s capital Budapest , Slovakia’s capital Bratislava , Austria’s capital Vienna . All these major cities were within our reach .
It exposed Germany’s ‘soft underbelly’ .
Or if we crossed Carpathian Mountains to the north , we could hit Hungary first instead of Yugoslavia and dig into Germany’s underbelly as well .
How could Horthy Miklós, the dictator of Hungary, not be angry?
He probably begged Hitler to protect them first after hearing his decision – attack Leningrad!
If the Soviet army crossed the mountains with Yugoslavia Partisans and Romania …
“Germany will have to deploy more troops to defend Hungary and Croatia.”
“That’s it!”
Germany, which was already short of manpower, would have to allocate more troops to protect their allies.
They had already put a field army, nearly 300 thousand troops, to deal with Yugoslavia Partisans … What if several times more troops came over?
The reason why they occupied Romania was simple.
There was Mihai King who had full intention to cooperate with us, Ploie?ti oil field that was in charge of Axis’ oil, and they had borrowed 500 thousand large forces .
But Hungary was at best … 200 thousand? 300 thousand?
They could force Germany to put hundreds of thousands of troops in the mountains for 300 thousand Hungarian troops that were much less useful than German troops .
“It doesn’t matter how much actual power we have. It matters how much they think we are strong .”
We would bluff that we would cross over and trample Budapest , and distract them from the main force .
This was the strategy in the south .
“Ah, and in the center … Our Khan! Comrade Budenny!”
“Hahaha, Comrade Secretary General, you flatter me.”
And in the center , we placed Budenny as a ‘bluff’ to attract Germany’s attention .
In fact, if I had to choose the best commander in the Soviet Union , I would definitely pick Zhukov , but did Germany think so too?
Zhukov , who was arrogant and ambitious , was somewhat restrained by the Politburo , and they promoted Budenny as his rival . ‘The Savior of Minsk ‘, ‘The Invincible , and Legendary Cavalry Commander ’ Comrade Budenny !
The cavalry was already outdated , but its strong symbolism was still alive .
Germany seemed to be quite shocked by the fact that a five-star general rode a horse and shot a gun in a field battle . According to the interrogation of captured soldiers , they all thought that he was a typical Soviet general …
Anyway, we bluffed that there would be a major offensive in the center by placing Budenny there and spreading all kinds of propaganda .
Germany would be afraid of the cavalry or Budenny’s surprise attack , I didn’t know , but at least I succeeded in attracting their attention .
The vanguard of the 1941 offensive , the First Guards Cavalry Army , was deployed in the center , and we spread it around the neighborhood .
Would Germany not pay attention to that side ?
Which one was real and which one was fake ? They would probably have a headache .
****
“You are all worse than dogs ! You and them , all of you !”
No one could stop the Führer’s scream.
Those who had the courage to stand up to him were dragged away by the SS.
Those who were favored enough to speak frankly were sent to the battlefield as commanders.
The rest were either cowards who trembled at his every word and gesture, or flatterers who bowed their heads and rubbed their hands whenever he shouted and fussed.
Then the Führer would soon collapse as the effect of Pervitin wore off, and he would give some vague orders and dismiss everyone.
The remaining problems were left to their discretion, to figure out on their own.
They were lucky today.
No one was injured by the objects that the Führer threw around.
The senior staff gathered in groups and discussed the future policy.
“Miklós Horthy and the Hungarian diplomats are whining so much, we can’t ignore them, can we?”
“But to divert the main force of the Northern Group…”
“General Model should take command of the Hungarian army…”
Romania’s defection shook the situation in the Balkans like a domino.
When Romania, with 500 thousand troops, joined the Soviet side, Bulgaria also sided with the Soviet Union, chanting ‘Slavic nationalism’.
The Yugoslavia Partisans also received supplies and weapons from the Soviet Union and threatened Croatia and Hungary. The red plague spread in the Balkans and endangered Axis’ domination.
Now Horthy Miklós, Hungary’s regent, began to challenge Germany seriously. If you can’t protect us, give us your army. Hungary had sent about 100 thousand troops to the Southern Group.
Since a considerable number of them had disappeared in the past year, Horthy claimed that his country’s security was seriously compromised and that Germany should protect Hungary from ‘traitors’.
Protect Hungary and Croatia while it was already burdensome to suppress Tito and the Partisans? Against the regular army of the Soviet Union and Romania? Even for General Model, the lion of defense, it was too much.
Knowing that, Horthy began to hint that he might leave Axis and join the Soviet side. That was why the Führer went berserk.
“We have to show them victory as soon as possible. If more allies defect…”
Clang. A man in a black SS uniform walked out of the Führer’s office. The generals of the Wehrmacht stopped talking and looked at him.
Or should I say they glared at him?
The status of the Waffen-SS, which had achieved great feats in the ‘rebellion suppression’, was growing day by day. Surpassing the Wehrmacht.
The conservative generals did not like that.
“The Führer has ordered.”
“… What do you mean?”
Himmler looked around at the generals with his thin eyes, then casually showed them a few orders.
“It’s not for the Wehrmacht anyway… It’s for our SS, but you can refer to it when you make your plans.”
“!!!”
A general who was wearing a monocle dropped his glasses on the floor with a clang. But no one cared about such things.
There were only a few instructions written in a scribbled handwriting on the orders.
“Kidnap Horthy Miklós?”
“Just like how the Soviet Union crushed Antonescu with a coup, if Horthy tries to withdraw from the war, we’ll do the same to him. Hahahat.”
It was different.
Antonescu was a leader of an enemy country, and the Romanian people supported Mihai I. But Horthy was a ‘ally’ who showed signs of betrayal, and there were not many fascists who could oppose him because he had suppressed fascist forces.
Of course, there were not many people who wanted to point out such ‘minor’ problems after seeing the Führer’s signature drawn big and bold.
“Heil Hitler! Long live victory!”
“Heil Hitler!”
Suddenly someone raised his right arm and shouted Nazi’s salute slogan. Heil Hitler!
Himmler smiled broadly and shouted Heil Hitler as well. One by one, the generals of the Wehrmacht raised their right arms.
Heil Hitler! Heil Hitler! Heil Hitler!
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