181

Episode 181: Time between dogs and wolves (7)

"Aren't these guys really crazy?"

Goering spoke in a tone that made it seem absurd and absurd.

"The chaos erupted in the colonies, and then they suddenly landed in France. "I don't know what's going on in these guys' heads."

Göring's words expressed everyone's feelings.

The Strait of Bab el-Mandeb, the Strait of Gibraltar, and the Suez Canal are covered with mines, and uprisings are taking place in India, Egypt, Palestine, Iraq, and Northern Ireland, and they are suddenly preparing to land in France.

At this point, I seriously doubt whether Churchill really suffered from dementia.

Don't you usually focus on controlling the house in situations like this?

But after thinking about it carefully, I had a rough guess as to why Churchill would attempt to land in France in this situation.

Since there was internal chaos due to the conflict in the colony, they probably thought that we would let our guard down and that large-scale operations would be difficult for the time being.

And it was Churchill's idea to use it against him.

With the British invasion of France approaching, it was clear what we had to do.

Strengthening the defenses of the northern coast of France in preparation for a British landing.

"Tell Marshal Rundstedt. You never know when the British might try to land, so be on your guard. "In particular, pay special attention to the areas expected to be enemy landing sites, which I mentioned earlier."

"I understand, Mr. President."

Several proposals were made regarding sending additional troops to France in preparation for the Allied landings.

Needless to say, there was no discussion about drawing up troops from the Eastern Front and sending them to France.

It is unclear whether we can reach Moscow with our current troops alone, and it will take a long time to reach France from the Eastern Front.

Therefore, it was decided that reinforcements to be sent to the Western Front would be selected from units stationed in mainland Germany.

Reichenau said, with many units fielding candidates.

"Why not send the Free Russian Army to France?"

"You mean the Free Russian Army?"

"yes. Although it was founded recently, most of the members of the corps are former Soviet prisoners of war and have combat experience, so we can expect some combat power and this will be an opportunity to test the loyalty of the Russians, right?"

Although there was not much opposition to the creation of the Free Russian Army itself, there were quite a few voices opposing its deployment to the Eastern Front, saying that its loyalty had not yet been confirmed.

However, Reichenau's argument was that unlike the Eastern Front, where there was a risk of troops escaping to the original Soviet camp, there was no need to worry too much about deployment on the Western Front, as there was no such worry.

In actual history, the Eastern Unit (Osttruppen), made up of Soviet prisoners of war, was busy surrendering or running away as soon as they encountered the Allies, let alone fighting, but since it is 1942, not 1944, when Germany was falling, they surrendered in droves, just like they did in history. I thought there would be nothing to do.

"Not bad. "Order Vlasov to prepare to move to France immediately."

"Yes, Mr. President."

In this way, the dispatch of the 1st Army Corps of the Free Russian Army to France was confirmed. The 2nd Corps and the Air Force were still being formed, so they were excluded from the dispatch to France.

Because France sent its elite troops to the Eastern Front, there were only 6,000 troops that could be expected to have the fighting power of a combat unit.

The French government also did not oppose Rundstedt's decision to deploy them to the rear, perhaps because it did not expect the combat power of its own troops.

It was quite a contrast to the fact that the French army dispatched to the Eastern Front was weak, but was still doing its part.

However, direct comparison was difficult because the French troops dispatched to the Eastern Front were handpicked from among the French military and also had equipment loaned by the National Defense Force.

Just as it is impossible to treat the Marine Corps and the Rear Mobilization Division as the same even if they are from the same Armed Forces.

After the discussion on the Western Front was over, news about the Balkan Peninsula, which had been buried in the Eastern Front news for a while, came to the fore.

"According to Afweer's report, the Croatian government is having some difficulty suppressing the partisan movement within the country."

Yodl explained the situation of the Croatian government and military, which are having difficulty suppressing communist partisans.

"There was no such report from the Croatian government?"

"So far, the Croatian government has not requested our support because it believes it can suppress the attack on its own, but we believe early intervention is necessary to protect Croatia's resource zone."

Perhaps out of pride or because he really thought he could sort it out on his own terms, Pavelic has so far not requested support from Germany.

In reality, the communist partisans began to act in earnest after the outbreak of the German-German War, but they were small in scale and poorly armed, so they did not pose a significant threat.

However, as the Croatian army dispatched troops to the Eastern Front, a power vacuum was created, and the Partisans took advantage of this gap and began to gradually increase their power.

The majority of Partizan members were Serbs who opposed the Ustasha's expulsion policy, but the leader of these Partisans was actually a Croat.

Josip Broz Tito. In history, he is a friend who led the Yugoslav Partisans to fight against the Axis powers and became the first president of the Yugoslav Federation after the war.

Fortunately, however, the power of the Partisans was not that large so far, thanks to the thorough prevention of the Ustasha massacres that occurred in real history and the encouragement of moderate measures in the occupied territories.

About 60,000 people? You may ask whether 60,000 people is not a small number, but considering the fact that 800,000 people participated in the Partisans in actual history, it is definitely a low number.

This figure of 60,000 is the sum of all Partisans in Serbia and Montenegro, but the Partisans' main area of activity is Croatia, and they are destroying railways leading to Germany and impeding the flow of Croatian minerals into Germany, so only the Croatian government I couldn't just trust it and leave it alone.

If Britain, which has entered a state of war with Germany, starts supporting the Partisans to screw us, then it will be more difficult to deal with them.

Therefore, it was necessary to nip the partisans in the bud before their power grew any further.

"The next item on the agenda is a report on the status of preparations for Operation Zeppelin, scheduled to be implemented tomorrow."

***

August 13, 1942

Magnitogorsk, USSR

Magnitogorsk, founded in 1743, was a common village in Russia until iron ore was discovered at the end of the 18th century.

However, as iron ore was discovered and people looking for work began to migrate, Magnitogorsk, which was just an ordinary village, gradually grew in size, and when large-scale mining began in the summer of 1929, it recorded explosive growth.

Magnitogorsk was designated as an intensive development city in the Soviet Union's five-year national economic plan and experienced tremendous development in the 1930s. By 1942, it had become one of the leading industrial cities in the Soviet Union and the center of the Soviet steel industry.

Even today, tens of thousands of workers in the factories lined up in Magnitogorsk make weapons to be sent to the front line, and workers in the iron mines mine iron ore.

Even though we couldn't go to the front line where bullets came and went and artillery bombardment and airstrikes continued every day, a fierce war was going on here too.

Even though it was a war, the city was still full of life.

Although rations were reduced compared to before, thanks to being an industrial city and being designated as a city for providing priority supplies, there was no major inconvenience in making a living right away, and various free performances were held to boost the morale of residents and soothe the minds and bodies of workers tired from hard work.

A free ballet performance was held in Magnitogorsk today as well.

While the famous Bolshoi Ballet was performing 'Swan Lake' to a packed audience, uninvited guests appeared over Magnitogossk.

The identity of the guests was thirty Me264 Siberian bombers.

The range of the Me264 is 6500 km. It was suitable for a round trip from Batman to Magnitogorsk.

Although awareness of air raids was higher than before due to the air raid on the Baku oil fields, air raids only applied to cities in the rear, far from the front lines.

German bombers could not reach cities far from the front lines, such as Kazan, Perm, and Sverdlovsk, even if they were Moscow or Stalingrad.

After the Baku air raid, air raid preparedness drills were conducted several times in those cities, but they have never been carried out since the possibility was raised that it could hinder the city's material production and have a negative impact on the morale of the residents.

The same goes for Magnitogorsk.

Therefore, the city residents enjoyed their daily lives calmly until the air raid began.

There were air defense units, but since they were in the rear of the rear, they were few and they were negligent in their vigilance because they had no idea that German bombers would come this far to the rear.

When 30 Me264s were first observed passing through Soviet airspace, the Soviet air defense units assumed they were friendly bombers in training and passed over them.

And their laziness returned as a huge disaster to Magnitogorsk.

"Drop the bomb!"

The Siberian bombers that arrived over the Magnitogorsk industrial complex opened their bomb bays all at once.

Each Me264 could carry up to 3 tons of bombs, and in order to cause even greater damage to the Soviet Union, every single bomber went on a mission with bombs loaded up to the limit.

A total of 90 tons of bombs and incendiary bombs fell toward Magnitogorsk.

When the air raid warning went off, the air raid had already begun.

Workers who were still working at the factory had no time to evacuate to underground air-raid shelters before disappearing without a trace from the pile of bombs raining down from the sky or being crushed under the rubble of the collapsing ceiling.

Although the bomb was powerful enough, it was the incendiary bomb that caused the greatest damage to the citizens of Magnitogorsk.

Unlike regular bombs, where the fire is extinguished by spraying water, the fire caused by an incendiary bomb did not go away even if water was sprayed on it.

Rather, the sprayed water vaporized and the flammable substances from the incendiary bomb flew in all directions, which had the negative effect of intensifying the fire.

The anti-aircraft battery opened fire a bit late, but the 25mm and 37mm anti-aircraft guns failed to cause significant damage to the Me264.

The 76mm and 85mm anti-aircraft guns, which are larger in caliber than these, were intensively allocated to forward cities such as Moscow, Leningrad, and Stalingrad, so cities in the rear had to fight a desperate struggle with the enemy with poor anti-aircraft guns that were weak in power and had a short range. did.

The bombers, who dropped all their bombs without leaving any bombs, immediately increased their altitude and fled the scene at full speed.

Fighter planes that took off from an air force base near Magnitogorsk chased down the fleeing German planes, but it was not enough.

Because all the latest fighters were deployed to the front, the rear air bases only had older fighters such as the I-16, and their poor performance could not catch up with the Me264 flying at high altitude.

Even if they caught up, the poor firepower of the ShKAS machine gun mounted on the I-16 could not shoot down the Me264.

The Soviet pilots who went on a sortie due to the overwhelming difference in performance were soon forced to turn their noses around.

They lamented their situation as they had to spend their time leisurely without being able to do anything against the enemies who burned down their country's cities.

***

August 14, 1942

USSR Moscow Kremlin Palace

Although not as loud as the news of the Baku oil field raid, the Magnitogorsk strike had a significant impact on the Communist Party leadership in the Kremlin.

The approximate distance from the front line to Magnitogorsk is 2360 km. No one expected that it would fly that far away and launch an air strike.

This meant that all cities located west of Magnitogorsk were within range.

Which city will be next? Perm? the right wing? Kazan? Kuiby Chef?

The Magnitogorsk airstrike itself was shocking, but what angered Stalin more than the airstrike itself was the fact that no one had noticed that German bombers were passing through Soviet airspace until after the airstrike.

"What on earth did the Air Force do that they didn't notice until the fascist bombers were burning our cities!"

"I apologize, Comrade Secretary General."

When Stalin was furious and hit the desk with his fist, Sudetz repeatedly bowed his head.

He didn't even dare to raise his head. If I looked into Stalin's eyes, who had lost half of his senses, I felt like I would turn to stone.

In this airstrike, 70% of the Magnitogorsk industrial complex was destroyed or damaged, 420 buildings were destroyed, and nearly 800 people were killed.

Considering the industrial capabilities of the Soviet Union as a whole, it was not a huge loss, but considering that the number of German bombers that appeared over Magnitogorsk was only about 30, it was significant damage.

Above all, the biggest problem was that the people's morale dropped significantly due to this airstrike.

As even the rear, which was thought to be safe, was subject to air raids, the people began to become agitated.

Despite the movement control order issued by the government, the number of people leaving the city and fleeing to the countryside has increased exponentially.

At this very moment, people were fleeing from every city in the Soviet Union, from Moscow to Stalingrad to Kazan.

Stalin, who was a cool-headed realist, quickly came to his senses.

Since the news of the Magnitogorsk bombing has already spread widely among the people, controlling information will not have much effect.

then-

"Immediately announce throughout the country that quitting a job or leaving the city without permission will be considered an act of treason that will cause social unrest."

"Yes, Comrade Secretary General!"

"Comrade Sudetz, I will pass this time, but please know that this is your last chance. Comrade, please discuss right now the plan to defend each Soviet city and submit the results in a report. "You'd better submit it as soon as possible."

"I understand, Comrade Secretary!"

Still, Sudetz was lucky.

Because there were not many useful officers in the air force right now, he was able to survive even though he was out of Stalin's eyes.

Unlike the Army, which had ample manpower, the size of the Air Force and Navy were smaller than the Army, and as Novikov was executed and several high-ranking Air Force officers were executed, the vacuum in command was larger than in other branches of service.

Therefore, Stalin concluded his responsibility with a verbal warning to Sudetz.

Anyone with enough brains to reach the stars would know that there would be no next time, so saying anything more would only make my mouth hurt.

Dealing with the aftermath of the Magnitogorsk air raid was a headache, but there were a mountain of problems that were even more concerning.

Kiev was virtually surrounded - the main contributor to the siege of Kiev was none other than Stalin himself - but the German army had arrived at the entrance to Smolensk and Leningrad and was shelling the city.

The soldiers had to travel to the front lines on foot due to lack of gas, but the procession of refugees escaping the city often impeded the movement of troops, making operations difficult.

Stalin signed a document prohibiting the people from fleeing and directing soldiers to help them fight.

It was like killing two birds with one stone, as it prevented the movement of troops from being delayed due to refugees and also provided manpower to mobilize for battle.

When he thought of the hardships the refugees would endure, he felt a twinge of sorrow, but he tried to rationalize his decision by thinking about the situation his motherland, Russia, was facing.

After all, this is wartime, and during wartime, all people must lay down everything they have for victory.

Sacrificing a cow for the greater good was a long-standing tradition in history, and it was something that should be done.

This was especially natural in a society like the Soviet Union that valued the whole over the individual.

Right now, his eldest son is fighting on the front lines as an artillery captain, but he cannot be accommodated for 'trivial' reasons such as feeling sorry for him or feeling sorry for him.

Winning the war at any cost was Stalin's goal, the Soviet Union's goal, and the path the Soviet Union should take.