178

Episode 178: Time between dogs and wolves (4)

August 9, 1942

New Fuhrer's Residence in Berlin, Germany

"The plan to cause chaos in Britain by causing large-scale unrest in the British colonies, including Operation Watermill, was a great success, Mr. President."

"Britain is now in chaos both externally and internally."

An incident that would have been troubling even if it only happened in one place happened all over the colony at the same time, so by now the people at 10 Downing Street must be so dizzy that they are on the verge of exploding.

So who called for war? It's not for nothing that they say that just staying still is half the battle.

What I couldn't understand before was that even though he made not just one but several mistakes that could have ended his political career, the British people either stood by or gave enthusiastic support to Churchill becoming prime minister.

Not only here but also in real history.

Since the huge scandal called the Cambridge Five scandal broke out, it was thought that Churchill would focus on protecting his position as Prime Minister, let alone start a war, but Churchill ended up succeeding in starting a war.

Although the IRA's trolling played a big role in the interim, even taking that into account, Churchill's luck was astonishing.

I have no way of knowing whether he is truly lucky, or whether the British people are strange for supporting such a flawed prime minister.

Regardless of who you support, that is your personal freedom, so if you say it is none of your business, then there is nothing you can say.

Still, you should know this one thing.

Just as great power comes with great responsibility, any damage you suffer from someone you support is entirely your responsibility.

"What is the situation in Egypt? "Do you think there is some progress?"

The day after the coup, King Farouk I of Egypt left Egypt with his family and close associates and went into exile in Italian Libya.

After taking control of Cairo, the coup forces announced the establishment of a republican government, and within two hours of the announcement, Egyptian citizens supporting the coup came out and paralyzed downtown Cairo.

Naturally, the British did not like the anti-British coup that took place in their own country and declared the establishment of a republican government invalid.

"Anyway, the news is that the British Air Force carried out an airstrike on Cairo this morning. "It is not known exactly how many casualties there are, but it is said to be at least several hundred."

At Yodel's words, I looked at Kaitel and said.

"What do you think will happen to the enemy? Will the Egyptians really bend their tail and obey the British?"

"Well, considering the Egyptians' reaction to the coup forces, I don't think they will just obey."

If the Egyptians only fought like the Viet Cong and Mujahideen, there would be nothing left to hope for.

Still, it is said that even slugs squirm if you step on them, so I can only hope that they will do their best to fight.

The situation in Palestine was generally similar to that in Egypt. Iraq is maintaining a standoff with British troops stationed in Kuwait.

The Luftwaffe's bombers from Turkey and Syria bombed Kuwait and helped prevent the British attack on Iraq, but the situation of the Iraqi army is so bad that only small-scale clashes continue along the border.

Britain didn't just sit back and suffer. From the day of the declaration of war until now, Britain has consistently carried out air strikes against friendly army, navy, and air force bases, and also carried out air strikes on Narvik, Bergen, and Stavanger, achieving minor results by sinking three patrol boats and one Schnellboat belonging to the Norwegian Navy.

Lastly, attacks on Danish Greenland and Iceland were carried out after two years.

However, just because Denmark was not prepared did not mean that it was not prepared.

On the contrary, due to the vain loss of Iceland and Greenland in a British raid two years ago, Denmark began construction of large-scale defense facilities in Iceland as soon as the war ended.

Our troops stationed in Iceland also participated in building defense facilities to help the Danish army.

As war broke out again after two years, only 12% of the originally planned defense facilities could be built, but even so, they would not be left alone like they had been two years ago.

***

"Shoot!"

Along with the tank commander's shout, a loud roar came from the muzzle of Tank No. 4.

The Canadian troops, who were leisurely marching along the road, were suddenly shocked by the fire fired from left and right.

The officer and driver in the jeep took some turns and flew away, and soldiers with broken backs screamed from the overturned truck.

"Shoot, shoot!"

"Don't leave a single person alive! "Kill them all!"

Danish troops ambushed in a trench fired MG40s imported from Germany and massacred Canadian soldiers on the road.

True to its nickname, Hitler's Chainsaw, the MG40 chopped off the arms and legs of Canadian soldiers like a chainsaw cutting trees.

The Canadian army also responded to the Danish attack, but the Danish army, located on high ground, had an overwhelming advantage.

The Canadian army's bullets could not hit the Danish army, but the Danish army's bullets could hit the Canadian army.

The M3 Stuart rushed to save the infantrymen who were on the verge of destruction, but a single armor-piercing bullet from Panzer 4 caused it to stop in a ball of fire.

As the armor-piercing shell penetrated the armor, flames and fragments generated swept through the interior and tore the tank crews inside.

There are zero survivors. The Danish tankers alternately fired armor-piercing shells and grenades, giving the Canadian troops a hot hell.

It was helpless in front of the 75mm main gun of the M3 Lido IV tank, which was larger and heavier than the M3 Stuart. The commander of the hit tank rolled on the blood-soaked road to extinguish the fire on his upper body.

"Kwaaaa!!"

"retreat! "Retreat!"

The Canadian troops, unable to endure, left their dead or dying comrades alone.

However, because Panzer 4 blocked the road by blowing up trucks and tanks at the rear, the vehicles and tanks caught between the ranks were unable to move.

As the wreckage made it impossible to move backwards, the driver and tank crew abandoned the vehicle and fled.

However, as soon as they opened the hatch and came out, a bullet flew out and created a hole in the head or temple.

Of the 300 Canadian soldiers, only about 20 managed to escape alive. After finishing the 'slaughter', the Danish army came down the road, took up the supplies abandoned by the Canadian army, and fled the scene.

Since trucks and tanks could not be taken with them, booby traps were set up. The bomb was scheduled to explode the moment the Canadian troops arrived at the scene and opened the door to take over the vehicle, which appeared to be fine.

The Danish and German troops stationed in Iceland judged that it was impossible to defend the whole of Iceland from British attacks, so they devised a strategy of hiding inland and resisting for as long as possible since it was impossible to quickly repel the enemy who had landed on the coast.

Even if a defense line was built on the coast, it would not be able to withstand the British Navy's gunfire and air force bombing, so the German-Danish Allied Forces' strategy of giving up the coastline and drawing the enemy inland to wage a guerrilla war was a change from the expectation of a bloodless invasion two years ago. It was enough to dismay the British and Canadian troops.

The Allied forces, who had taken control of Reykjavik and advanced inland without shedding a single drop of blood, soon suffered heavy damage from attacks by Danish and German troops from all directions.

Fighter planes and bombers were sortied to destroy the Axis forces hidden inland, beyond the reach of the Royal Navy's naval guns, but there was little success.

The Axis forces' camouflage was so thorough that in some cases, German Air Force fighter planes flew out of underground bases located inland and shot them down.

Operation Mole. It was the name given to the Danish military's plan to defend Iceland, with the intention of hiding underground like a mole and harassing the enemy.

Greenland, which is several times larger than Iceland, actually had fewer defense forces than Iceland.

It was difficult to properly defend Iceland alone, but defending Greenland, which was 50 times the size of mainland Denmark, was impossible even if all of Denmark were mobilized.

Therefore, the Danish government planned to put aside the defense of Greenland and focus on the defense of Iceland.

However, this did not mean that Greenland was completely abandoned.

The Greenland garrison decided to abandon the city and hide inland to wage a guerrilla war, just as they did when the British and Canadian troops attacked two years ago.

Taking advantage of the enemy's lax surveillance, the Greenland garrison was divided into platoons and squads and hid in a city controlled by the British, Canadian, and Newfoundland troops.

He then put bullets in the backs of unsuspecting enemies and threw bombs into a pub filled with officers.

And as soon as he finished his mission, he fled inland.

"You did it again?!"

"Damn rats! "How many times has this happened?"

The Allied forces facing the guerrilla attack from the Danish army were going crazy and jumping about.

The area to be searched was large, but the number of troops was limited, and there were many places for the enemy to hide.

As the defenses on the outskirts of the city were strengthened, the resistance members operating secretly inside the city fired bullets and threw bombs from behind.

The only Danish territory that the British army succeeded in completely occupying was the Faroe Islands, and Iceland and Greenland soon emerged as troublesome problems for Britain that could not be ignored.

It was not impossible to completely dominate both regions if a large army was deployed, but from Greenland in the North Atlantic to New Guinea in the South Pacific, there were too many places where Britain had to deploy troops.

It was the moment when the inconvenient truth hidden in the shadow of the brilliant adjective 'the country where the sun never sets' was revealed to the world.

***

"-Therefore, it is the opinion of the Defense Forces that a landing on the European mainland by British troops in the near future is unlikely."

"Hmm, I understand. Still, we must not let down our guard, as we never know when the enemy may catch us off guard. "If Stalin grabs Churchill's pants and pleads to ease the burden on his country, Churchill will reluctantly accept Stalin's plea."

The Defense Forces believed that it was unlikely that Britain would attempt a landing within this year, as they were unable to organize their own affairs, but my thoughts were a little different.

I keep saying this, but the opponent is Churchill. Since Churchill is not an ordinary idiot, you cannot predict when and what he will try.

Who would have thought that he would persevere and declare war despite the huge negative news like the Cambridge Five incident?

There is a possibility that Britain will attempt to land in Europe as soon as possible, knowing that the defenses along the French coast will become stronger as time passes.

Therefore, I rejected Brauchitsch's suggestion to deploy large numbers of French garrison troops to the Eastern Front.

As the Eastern Front expanded, more than one or two divisions were taken out of the Western Front's garrison. If more were taken out, thinking that there would be no landings right away, the strength of the Western Front's garrison would be seriously weakened.

In this situation, what if the Allied landings, which were thought to be unlikely, become a reality?

What if Britain attempts a landing with all available troops?

What if the Allied Forces, who had successfully landed in the meantime, expanded their beachhead and charged straight into Paris?

Since the United States did not participate in the war, it would be impossible to recapture all of France with the strength of Britain and its followers alone, but the fact that a second front was formed in France alone was a huge burden for Germany.

The original plan to attack Moscow within this year would naturally be aborted, and the failure to attack Moscow would inevitably lead to a prolongation of the Eastern Front.

When I returned to the Eastern Front and looked at the situation, a red arrow approaching Kiev and Smolensk caught my eye.

Army Group North also took control of Estonia and advanced to Narva, the gateway to Leningrad.

The Axis forces in Finland are also launching a counterattack and driving out the Soviet troops from Finnish territory.

"Before Rasputica begins in mid-October, we must take control of these three places, no matter what the cost. "Is that possible?"

"Of course, Mr. President. "It is entirely possible if the pace of advance remains the same."

Kaitel answered with confidence.

Rasputitsa (Распутица). It refers to a phenomenon in which the land, which is heavily saturated with water, turns into a swamp due to heavy rain between mid-March to late April and mid-October to late November in areas of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine.

When Rasputitsa occurs, all roads in the Soviet Union turn into a state similar to a swamp, and passage becomes extremely difficult for not only most vehicles and carriages, but even trams that roll on endless tracks.

In preparation for the inevitable Rasputitsa, logs and wide tracks called 'eastern tracks' were supplied to the entire army.

The same is true for the Soviet Army, which suffered greatly from Rasputitsa, but the Soviet Army, which frequently suffered from Rasputitsa even before the outbreak of the German-German War, filled the muddy roads with logs and actively used wide tracks with low ground pressure against tanks such as the T-34 and KV-1. applied to prepare for Rasputitsa more easily than the German army.

There was no problem with the Panther and Tiger since they adopted wide tracks from the start, but the 4th Panzer, which occupied the main body of the armored force, was a different story.

Tank No. 4, which had a narrow track width, boasted the worst combination with the Rasputitsa due to its high overall pressure. Therefore, in the rear, work was in full swing to replace the tracks of all Panzer IVs with eastern-type tracks.

"Marshal Keitel, how is the supply of winter equipment going?"

"It is progressing as planned, but there are reports that there are various complaints coming from the front lines. It's summer now, so why are we distributing winter clothes? . Wouldn't it be better to send more fuel or ammunition?"

"You only know one thing and don't know the other. Unless Stalin comes to an agreement midway, this war will most likely be a long one. Marshal, do you know how harsh winters are in Russia? Even Napoleon of the world could not defeat General Dong of Russia.

It's summer now, but it will be fall when our troops reach Moscow. Autumn in Russia is short. That means winter is coming quickly. "How long can our soldiers, who are accustomed to the warm climate of Europe, survive in such extreme cold that even animals armed with thick fur freeze to death?"

"… .My thoughts were short."

Keitel immediately raised the white flag.

Germany, which had set a goal so absurd that it would fly to Andromeda to end the Soviet Union in just 12 weeks, neglected the supply of winter equipment, believing it could end the war before winter came.

However, contrary to expectations, the Soviet Union did not collapse within 12 weeks, and the German army faced the Soviet winter completely unprepared for the winter.

Even the winter of 1941 was unusually cold, and the German army, which was wearing summer uniforms, lost tens of thousands of soldiers to frostbite and frostbite.

However, the explanation that the Soviet winter was the primary contributor to the failure of the German army's attack on Moscow is incorrect, and in fact, General Dong's actions began in earnest when the German army ended its offensive and went on the defensive.

In other words, the statement that the German army could have occupied Moscow if not for General Dong can be seen as an exaggerated boast.

Since I had no intention of repeating the mistakes made by True Hitler, I checked the supply status of winter equipment every day.

Fortunately, despite the lot of talk at the scene, the instructions themselves were being carried out steadily.

"Are the Soviet troops in Kiev still not moving at all?"

"yes. "Thankfully, it stays in its current position without moving even a centimeter."

Brauchitsch said with a big smile.

"It seems to be true that if you believe in communism, your brain will harden. Even a second lieutenant, or even a cadet, who had been commissioned for two days would know that it was time to retreat right now, but these guys, as high as generals, were defending their positions, let alone retreating. "I just feel sorry for the soldiers below."

"It's probably because of Stalin's instructions. They say Stalin gave a strict order that if you retreat, you will be considered a traitor, regardless of the reason. "It's such a dizzying country."