Chapter 87:
Chapter 87
In the actual history of 1942, the German army was still advancing and conquering.
In the winter of 1941, and in early 1942, Stalin was encouraged by the victory of the Moscow defense and launched an offensive on all fronts against the unprepared German army.
He managed to achieve some results by exploiting the weaknesses of the Germans, but he was completely blocked by the 9th Army led by Walter Model in the center.
And he continued to launch an offensive on all fronts without concentrating on the points of attack, but with an absurd optimism, and he ended up using up all his reserves.
This gap in power contributed to the defeat in the summer of 1942.
The Soviet Union remembered that the Germans had tried to take Moscow in 1941 and gathered their remaining reserves in front of Moscow.
On the other hand, Hitler ignored the opposition of his generals and ordered to conquer Ukraine, cross the Don River, and advance to the Volga River and the Caucasus.
The Soviet army, which had rushed to destroy the offensive capacity of the Germans, had destroyed their own defensive capacity. And since their main force was in Moscow, they were pierced through.
The Germans took advantage of this opportunity to conquer Crimea and sweep eastern Ukraine, then headed to the Volga River, where the Soviet Union’s lend-lease supplies came from.
They planned to block Stalingrad with Group B and capture Baku, the Soviet oil field, with Group A.
Of course, this is entirely a story from actual history. Manstein, who should have crushed the Soviet army in Sevastopol and Kerch Peninsula, became the commander of Group North and repeated a seesaw battle with Konev.
Bock, who was supposed to command Group South, retired, and Model, who should have crushed the Soviet army in the Rzhev salient, took his place and could not even cross the Dnieper, let alone the Don and Volga rivers.
Group Center was somewhat close to the original history line, but Smolensk and Rzhev were 300km apart.
Looking at the front line… it could be said that it was very good. But the problem was that now I could not know anything about the German army’s actions or policies based on the knowledge I gained from actual history.
At Stavka, we discussed day and night to figure out the intentions of the German offensive and determine our strategy.
Where? Where would the Germans attack?
The opinions at Stavka could be summarized into two: center or south.
“There are only two targets that Fascist army can aim for. The industrial capacity of Ukraine or Moscow, a political symbol. They tried to take Moscow through Group Center and Ukraine through Group South. But they failed both and this year they will focus on one of them, but I think they will aim for Moscow.”
“Moscow? Do you think they can come here? They won’t even be able to supply their troops to Moscow. We are about to retake Velikiye Luki right now… How can they attack in the center when their flank is unstable?”
“Isn’t it more unstable in the south? We still occupy the railway hubs in Pripyat Marshes. If they want to advance beyond Rovno, they have to wipe out Pripyat, Romania, and Bessarabia.”
There was a debate going on, but it didn’t seem like a meaningful conclusion would come out. It was too wide for them to touch the Soviet industrial capacity by occupying the rest of Ukraine. But Moscow was too far for them to push through. Both were right…
Shaposhnikov was almost speechless at the meeting and kept coughing. Are you okay?
“Ah, sorry… cough… cough…”
He was born in 1882, so he was 60 years old now.
He was four years younger than me, but he looked like he was dying.
I didn’t know what disease he had, but anyway he resigned from public office this year in actual history and died in 1945 with only an honorary position…
It seemed like it was time to let him go.
Shaposhnikov started as a colonel in the Russian Imperial Army and joined the Red Army as one of the few officers who received formal military education and quickly rose to important positions in the Soviet Army.
He was literally a veteran among veterans.
He was next in seniority after Borosilov and Budennyi, who were among only three survivors of five original marshals who were purged. But Borosilov and Budennyi were practically pushed out of key positions and Kulik was executed. If Shaposhnikov also retired?
It would be no different from a generational change.
At the forefront of new generation officers was Zhukov who had recently been promoted to marshal.
I would also promote Konev to marshal after the end of the northern front battle…
I would also promote Vasilevsky, who would be the next chief of staff, to marshal, and Rokossovsky would soon get his marshal’s badge.
That’s how I would fill the gaps left by the seniors.
“Comrade Shaposhnikov. Are you okay?”
“Ah, Comrade Secretary… cough, cough, cough…”
He kept coughing and looked at me with watery eyes. I wondered if it sounded like I was purging him even though I said it, but fortunately he didn’t seem to take it that way.
He barely stopped coughing and answered in a strained voice.
“If you allow me… thank you… Comrade Secretary…”
“Hmm, you don’t have to answer. If your health is too bad… it’s okay to retire honorably. You have made a great contribution to the Soviet Union so far. You can rest now. I will send doctors for my comrade.”
He coughed again and covered his mouth with his hand and bowed his head deeply.
Borosilov had tears in his eyes and dabbed them with a handkerchief.
Now ‘I’ and Borosilov were old too. I still remembered fighting on the front line as a commander during the Civil War, but my thighs were fat and my back was bent and I became an old man in the back.
Budennyi seemed relatively unaffected by such sentiments.
Maybe because he was riding a horse on the battlefield until recently?
“I will appoint General Vasilevsky as the successor chief of staff. You have worked hard for the Soviet Union as deputy chief of staff, so I believe you can handle the position of chief of staff.”
“I will do my best! Comrade Secretary.”
“Report two candidates for deputy chief of staff as you think. I will select the appropriate one from them. After Shaposhnikov Marshal retires and the northern front is settled, I will promote both General Vasilevsky and General Konev to marshals, so keep that in mind.”
“Yes! Comrade Secretary!”
Zhukov seemed unhappy, but what can I do?
Zhukov couldn’t dominate the Soviet military as easily as he thought.
He was also purged in actual history on the disgraceful charge of looting gold in Berlin.
Beria was even more hostile to Zhukov and was looking for any chance to report his faults.
It was better for his safety to have some competitors.
“Stavka, prepare the expected routes of attack and our countermeasures for when the Germans launch operations on both the center and the south. Well, let’s end today’s meeting here.”
“Yes!”
According to the report from the intelligence department, Germany had started to draw troops from the three Western European countries as well as a massive conscription.
France, a traditional land power, Spain, which had few but experienced soldiers after the civil war, and Italy, which was weak but could fill the numbers.
Germany’s mobilization capacity was gradually reaching its limit.
And it was doubtful how good the condition of the troops from the three Western European countries was. But if a huge army of 2 million came, it would be a heavy burden.
Spring would come and the snowstorm would stop, and the Soviet air force, which was still overwhelmingly inferior, would start to be deployed in large numbers…
The supply problem that plagued the German army would also be largely solved.
The amount of supplies needed would decrease and the road conditions would improve.
I wanted to inflict as much damage as possible before that, but I had to finish predicting this year’s offensive first.
If I stuck to the wrong place and got exhausted, and the Germans broke through the weak point of our army that had no reserves left, it would only increase the loss.
‘What… which side are they going to stab?’
***
“North, we will aim for Leningrad.”
“!!!”
Everyone seemed shocked by the bombshell statement of the Führer.
There was a plan to attack Leningrad from both land and sea by coordinating with Group North and Kriegsmarine, but Group North was not even near Leningrad, let alone Novgorod.
Even if they sent dozens of battleships that emptied the Atlantic and bombarded Leningrad, how would they capture it?
Not to mention, the Führer had already used his ingenious methods to bring down Britain.
It was a well-known method to use mines to block the coast, but it was his idea to use it to block the landing at its source.
But those who saw it could use the same method.
What if a Soviet submarine or aircraft that broke through our anti-submarine ships planted mines, and what if our main battleships were damaged by them?
That would be an unbearable situation.
“Führer, but… if they block Finland in the same way…”
“We have an overwhelming naval and air superiority in that area. The army is…”
The Führer’s eyes glared coldly at the army generals and they all looked away with pitiful expressions.
The incompetent and stupid ones who couldn’t finish off one Soviet even after taking over all of Western Europe?
He wasn’t entirely wrong.
The Führer used his navy and air force with brilliant strategies and tactics to finally avenge the last war and make Britain and France surrender.
The navy and air force almost worshiped his ingenious abilities.
On the other hand, the army’s performance was very poor.
The Soviet industrial areas were mainly three: eastern Ukraine, Leningrad area, and Ural Mountains, and wheat and coal from western Ukraine’s plains and oil from Caucasus supported Soviet production.
But Germany only occupied a very small part of western Ukraine and the Soviet Union was gradually rising with its huge body.
Even after taking over all of Western Europe, Germany still couldn’t catch up with them in terms of production.
The workers in occupied countries were generally uncooperative, and Germany couldn’t enter a three-shift wartime production system because of public opinion problems.
Albert Speer, the minister of armaments, was quite competent, but under the Führer’s tacit consent, each high-ranking bureaucrat of the Third Reich exerted their influence and hindered efficient mass production.
“G?ring Marshal, can you make a bomber that can bomb Ural?”
“What? What do you mean, Führer?”
“If we don’t have that, we have to go there and smash it with either army or navy. Is that possible? Now? I want to take the closest target first. Do you have any complaints?”
The army couldn’t dare open their mouths, and the navy agreed to lend their ships if they were battleships instead of aircrafts since they were waiting for an opportunity to advance while securing their base in Azores.
With Raeder’s ok sign to test aircraft carriers in real combat this time, naval admirals nodded their heads.
“Even if Rasputitsa comes, it won’t turn into mud. Go and make Leningrad a wasteland. Even if we can’t take it right away, make sure those filthy Reds can’t touch it either.”
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