Chapter 88:
Chapter 88
Stalin seemed to know the nature of war quite well, as one could tell from his sayings.
<We are behind them by 50 to 100 years. If we do not catch up in 10 years, we will be crushed.>
<If we use less ammunition, we have to sacrifice more troops. We have to choose one of the two. Whether to save soldiers by using more shells, or to save shells by sacrificing more soldiers.>
<Artillery is the god of modern warfare.>
To Stalin, war was essentially a fight between national powers.
The nation that could project more resources more effectively won, and the nation that could not lost.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire in World War I collapsed because they poured their resources into resolving social conflicts on the battlefield due to internal cracks in their national systems.
Conversely, it could be said that they had less resources to project because they spent a lot of resources on resolving social conflicts.
Similarly, Britain and France, which had higher overall national power, but failed to properly deal with the battlefield in their homeland because they were obsessed with their colonies, also lost to Germany.
Their colonies may have increased their total production and output, but it took a tremendous amount of resources to maintain their huge size.
That’s why Stalin brutally suppressed the minorities who raised their flags against the regime.
To maintain the world’s largest country efficiently, he had to suppress internal conflicts, and in his eyes, the aspirations of nationalists were nothing but sources of discord.
He did not tolerate any kind of rebellion, even though he himself was once a Georgian nationalist.
After suppressing these conflicts, all surplus resources were invested in heavy industry, the industrial sector that could most efficiently increase national power – productivity.
<If we do not catch up in 10 years, we will perish>
This was what Stalin said exactly in 1931.
And in 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union.
Under this prophecy-like insight, Stalin pushed for industrialization like a bulldozer.
With this productivity, he was able to fight a close battle with Germany, which had twisted the whole of Western Europe.
And the second saying mentioned above. Shells or soldiers’ lives also reflected Stalin’s insight into total war.
War is a fight of productivity.
At the same time, it was also important how much damage you could inflict on the enemy’s productivity.
Considering the limited productivity and ‘resource consumption’ (including human resources!), it was better to shoot cannons than to grind soldiers who were future producers and laborers.
Maybe that’s why the third saying came out?
Artillery was the most efficient way to inflict damage on the enemy in this era.
Under this principle, the Soviet army succeeded in greatly increasing its artillery power.
“From June last year to December last year, a total of 140,000 mortars were produced.”
“Good, good! Everyone clap!”
In the process of mass expansion of troops and weapons, mortars were the easiest and fastest artillery power to increase.
It took less time to get used to it, and wouldn’t it be better to give them something more than just rifles if they had to charge at the German army with only rifles?
So the Soviets mass-produced mortars and produced 140,000 mortars in just six months.
Considering that about 50,000 were deployed initially, it was almost three times as much as they had. Of course, many of them were 82mm and not many 120mm were deployed due to poor conditions… Anyway, the soldiers were happy enough with the mass deployment of 82mm mortars.
The head of the department in charge of mortar production was at a loss for what to do with the pouring applause.
“This year, 1942, it is important to produce 120mm mortars that can provide real fire support rather than small mortars of 82mm or less that infantry can carry around. We now have enough trucks and tractors. Thanks to our good friend Roosevelt. Hahaha!”
82mm was hard enough but it was possible to carry around at about 12-14kg in size while 120mm was a stupidly heavy thing with a combat weight of 280kg.
Of course transportation means had to be provided and trucks from America’s lend-lease were a great help.
Trucks or light tanks or tractors either pulled mortars directly or modified them into dedicated mortar firing vehicles.
There were not enough vehicles yet so most of them welded two or more mortars together or carried anti-aircraft machine guns as well but they received rave reviews from the front line anyway.
Anything is better if you give more and it’s not like infantry have to drag them around anyway.
“76.2mm field guns have been newly deployed with a total of 15,000 units including self-propelled units using T-70 chassis. The self-propelled SU-76 has 2,200 new units…”
“Was there any difficulty in modifying the T-70?”
“Yes, Comrade Secretary. At first, there was a problem with reliability due to the wrong design of the engine structure, but now it has been resolved.”
“Hmm, I see. The 76.2mm gun is no longer used as a tank gun, so unify the existing production lines and do your best to produce self-propelled guns.”
The T-34/76 was no longer produced. Its place was taken by the T-34/85, which had been upgraded with an 85mm gun. And if there were any medium tanks that were still lacking, it was the job of the heavy tanks to deal with them.
Or they could use Katyushas to blast them.
The 76.2mm field gun had been used as the Soviet army’s anti-tank gun and infantry gun in real history.
It had a high casualty rate as it had to drag and fire the gun while being exposed to enemy fire on the front line.
And it was a mistake to use the T-70 chassis, which had a basic flaw in its design, to make it self-propelled in order to produce it cheaply.
The engine output was so low that it could not be armored, and it was so vulnerable that it could catch fire and explode from the infantry’s Molotov cocktails. Anyway, there was no need to fight anti-tank battles with 76mm anymore, so it would be relatively better to use it only for infantry fire support.
The 122mm and 152mm howitzers were also being produced diligently.
When I saw thousands of them being circulated for training in the rear, I felt that this was truly the spirit of the bear country.
I scolded or praised them moderately, and gave them some instructions.
Sometimes I relaxed a little and nodded as if my body was automatically giving orders. Was I Stalin… or was Stalin me?
“…And in the production of white phosphorus smoke shells…”
“What, wait a minute. White phosphorus shells?”
“Yes. That’s right, Comrade Secretary.”
“Did we use white phosphorus shells too?”
They looked at me as if I was saying something absurd.
They used white phosphorus shells?
That was banned… no, it wasn’t. Judging by their expressions, it didn’t seem to be banned.
I remembered that it was banned by the Geneva Protocol, but was that not the case in World War II? Huh, this is…
“No, aren’t we prohibited from using poison gas?”
“Yes, Comrade Secretary. The Geneva Protocol banned the use of poison gas and biological weapons… but the fascists have already violated this agreement and used poison gas in Abyssinia and China. But why are you suddenly talking about white phosphorus shells…?”
Damn those Japanese bastards. They really did all the dirty things.
Germany did not use poison gas openly in poison warfare, although they said it was because of transportation problems.
They had invested tens of thousands of horses for transportation, and if the Soviet army responded with poison gas as well, they would not care about the soldiers but the horses would die en masse. Instead, they used it to kill European Jews.
They had a huge chemical production capacity, but they knew that they would lose more if they got into a fight with the Soviet Union over poison gas. Or maybe they actually had limitations…
If Hitler in this world was crazy enough, he might use it. Even if the German bombers flew over our cities and dropped poison gas, we had no ability to retaliate against German civilians on the East Coast.
They burned Smolensk and Pskov, massacred people in Liverpool after setting London on fire, but they didn’t have the guts to use poison gas.
Anyway, let’s leave aside poison gas that hasn’t been used yet.
“Where do we use white phosphorus shells?”
“They are used in various ways such as anti-tank grenades, field gun shells, mortar shells, aerial bombs, rocket shells, and tank smoke shells. About 20% of mortar shells are also white phosphorus shells, Comrade Secretary.”
It had multiple uses such as incendiary effect, civilian killing ability, and dirty aftermath.
There was nothing better than this to break the enemy’s morale, inflict damage, and consume medical resources.
White phosphorus burned into the body when it stuck to it and was more vicious than ordinary burns.
The gas produced by oxidation was also toxic.
I felt a sense of incongruity.
The people of this era must have had enough scientific knowledge as well, but their way of thinking was quite different. Hmm.
This might be my weakness.
The 21st century was also a cruel and violent era of course. But it was much more moderate than the 20th century that was full of madness.
Even though I came into Stalin’s body, I felt a repulsion towards ‘cruel’ means such as nuclear bombs, white phosphorus shells, and poison gas as a person from the 21st century.
‘Is this the limit of a future person?’
Maybe this was the limit of a future person.
Criticizing things that were inevitable in this era’s situation too harshly from a later perspective.
Not only white phosphorus shells or poison gas, but also the case of Beria.
It was hard to see it as a rational thought to doubt Beria now because he ‘betrayed’ after Stalin’s death in the future.
Was it because he was famous for being a cruel and wicked person?
Knowing the future changed the way I looked at people.
“Hmm…?”
And maybe, this was not just me.
“That’s enough for today. Molotov, Beria, stay with me.”
Pipe.
As I said that, the bodyguard quickly took out the pipe stone pipe that I had been using lately and handed it to me.
The people looked at me with curiosity at my sudden whim and ran away quickly.
Molotov and Beria sat down on the chairs next to me, wondering why they were called.
I weighed the tobacco and took out a match.
“Do you want to smoke too?”
They both politely declined, so I lit the match and lit it.
Puff, puff, a few puffs and the rich and fragrant smoke of tobacco began to flow in.
I threw the match into the ashtray and gestured to the bodyguards, and they also quickly left.
The guys were big but their actions were really fast.
“…Can you do me a favor?”
“We will do anything for you, Comrade Secretary.”
They were quick to respond too.
Do you really mean that, or is it just an instinct to survive?
You don’t even know what I’m going to ask you to do.
You can’t use them if you say that. You’re all grown-ups.
“Go to the fascists and propose a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t use poison gas, white phosphorus shells, landmines, biological weapons, etc.”
“??!?!”
Molotov’s expression was exactly like this.
Has the Secretary gone mad?
Beria also had a strange expression on his face.
But I felt like laughing somehow.
The laughter of a conspirator who was up to something.
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