180

Episode 180: Time between dogs and wolves (6)

August 10, 1942

War Office, London, England

"Stalin seems to be in a hurry. "They planted a spy on our side, and now they're in a situation where they're just holding on to our pants."

After hearing about the internal situation in the Soviet Union from British Ambassador Archibald Clark, Churchill smiled as if he were sorry.

Although Britain was not in a position to say anything to others, the situation in the Soviet Union was very serious even in Britain's opinion.

The Baltic states and Belarus were already completely occupied by Germany, and Ukraine was about to follow suit.

Moreover, due to the air raid on the Baku oil field, the Soviet Union was experiencing great difficulties in fuel supply.

The situation in the Soviet Union was so bad that there was a joke that the reason Stalin issued the ban on retreat was actually to save oil.

Even now, at this very moment, equipment that could be used safely on the battlefield was self-destructing or being abandoned.

Just because there is no oil.

"But Mr. Prime Minister. The fall of the Soviet Union would not be a good thing for the British Empire."

"Dear Clement, although I am old, I am not at the point where I have forgotten even this obvious fact."

Churchill narrowed his eyes at Attlee's point.

Although he wanted to destroy Stalin and his henchmen if possible, Churchill knew better than anyone else that the very existence of the Soviet Union was essential to Britain's survival.

If the Soviet Union, which played the role of a deterrent that held back the German army's power with its vast territory and enormous population, collapsed or broke away from the anti-Germany front, the power of Germany and the European Axis powers would turn towards Britain.

Therefore, Churchill could not simply ignore Stalin's plea to open a second front as soon as possible.

If the Soviet Union were to truly collapse or make peace with Germany, Britain would end up like a duck egg on the Nakdong River.

It would be a different story if the U.S. entered the war, but unless Hitler went crazy and declared war on the U.S., it seemed unlikely that the U.S. would enter the war.

Therefore, Britain had to open a second front through its own efforts, but there were pessimistic concerns within the British military about this.

"Mr Prime Minister. "I have something to tell you."

"What do you mean?"

Churchill, who had a premonition of what would come out of Brooke's mouth, snapped bluntly.

Brooke was troubled for a moment by Churchill's cold response, but she gathered courage because she was determined to say what she had to say.

"Can't we delay the start of Operation Luther?"

"That sound again, General?"

As Brooke expected, Churchill stared at her with eyes as if asking if she was still saying that. But he also had something to say about Brooke.

"We have not completely suppressed the uprisings in India, Egypt, Palestine and Iraq, so it is premature to land in France. "For now, the focus must be on suppressing rebellions in our colonies and protectorates."

Brooke also agreed with Churchill's opinion that a second front should be formed in France to pressure the Soviet Union and Germany from the east and west.

But in his view, the landing in France was too early.

Considering the timing and the current situation of the British army, the landing in Northern France was premature.

It was no different from having a child who had just started walking run.

"Not only has our army, especially the army, not fully recovered from the damage suffered at Dunkirk, but only two elite divisions remain in mainland Britain. "The majority are fighting the Japanese army on the Indo-Burma border."

"I know that. However, the German troops stationed in France only have second- and third-tier units, so there will not be much difference in the quality of the troops. And don't we have the Royal Navy? Although they were defeated in Norway two years ago, it was only a result of coincidence, and the German Navy is still weaker than the Royal Navy. "You can tell by the fact that they only stick to the Baltic Sea and Norway."

"It is not wrong, but superiority in naval power alone cannot guarantee the success of Operation Luthor. As in the case of the Army, our Air Force is also inferior to the German Army."

At Brooke's words, British Air Force Chief of Staff Marshal Cyril Newell and Air Force Fighter Command Commander General Hugh Dowding frowned, but did not particularly refute.

In their view, the RAF was inferior to the Luftwaffe.

The air battle that took place on the first day of the war revealed that the skills of RAF pilots and the performance of its fighter aircraft were inferior to those of the Luftwaffe.

The Spitfire MK.V, created by British engineers, could not match the performance of the Luftwaffe's Bf109G and Fw190D.

The difference in performance was so overwhelming that it was accepted as an established opinion among pilots that two Spitfire MK.Vs were usually needed to deal with one Bf109G or Fw190D.

The new fighter Hawker Typhoon was found to have various problems, including the engine, during testing, and was being reworked, not to mention the Defiant and Hurricane, which are older than the Spitfire.

It was widely said among pilots that fighting German planes in Defiant and Hurricane was suicidal.

In Brook's view, the vacuum of Europe was a huge unreasonable number, with the country falling behind Germany in all areas except naval power.

Therefore, he argued that we should put aside the landing in Europe, suppress colonial rebellions for the time being, and pay more attention to raising and training troops.

"Forming the Western Front and recapturing France are important issues, but it is still too much for Britain. "The first thing you need to do is build up your strength for at least a year, Your Excellency."

Hmm.

Even Churchill, who was known for his stubbornness, was swayed by Brooke's earnest persuasion.

In reality, the rebellion in the colonies and the blockade of the Channel were strangling Britain.

As Brook said, it may be time to put aside the desire to land in Europe for a while and pay attention to strengthening the internal stability.

"The enemy has a point."

After pondering for a minute, Churchill opened his mouth.

"But. "The situation on the Russian front is not good enough for us to leisurely train as the Marshal said."

Brooke, who thought Churchill was finally listening to her, felt her hopes being shattered.

"Now the German army has advanced to Smolensk, Leningrad, and Kiev. In particular, the distance from Smolensk to Moscow is only 395 km. It's not a short distance, but considering the speed of the German army's advance, Moscow is definitely not safe.

What if the German army enters Moscow if we hesitate to build up our strength? "What do you think will happen if the Soviet Union surrenders because of that or if Stalin negotiates with Hitler?"

"… ..All German troops in the Soviet Union will flock to France."

"yes. I know it well. The survival of the Soviet Union is a very important issue that is directly related to the survival of Britain. "No matter how powerful Britain is, it lacks the strength to match the entire strength of the Axis powers."

The fact that a human who knew that would even start a war was nonsense in itself, but Brook remained silent. Churchill's words were not yet finished.

"The most urgent problem before us is to relieve the burden on the Soviet Union by opening the Western Front as quickly as possible. It is said that Germany devoted 80% of its forces to the Eastern Front, making the defenses of the Western Front - France, Belgium, and the Netherlands - relatively weak. There are many areas of the defense line along the coast of Northern France that are still unfinished.

The longer we delay, the more advantageous the Germans gain. Therefore, we must quickly land in France before their power is strengthened. Only then will our troops be able to retake Paris and advance to the Siegfried Line."

"But, Excellency, even if our troops land safely in France, it is impossible with our current strength to advance all the way to Paris. If we do it wrong, there is a risk that the front lines will become stalemate like in World War I. "The operation must be postponed until at least next summer, or even spring."

"The Soviet Union may collapse by then! There is no guarantee that the Soviet Union will not collapse by this winter, let alone next spring! And, soldiers have already been notified that operations will begin within this month. However, if the operation is postponed until next year, the details of the operation may be leaked to German spies. "We cannot control all outings and correspondence of soldiers who are scheduled to be mobilized for operations until next spring."

Ahead of Operation Luther, all troops scheduled to be deployed for the operation had been quarantined in the barracks with their outings restricted for a week.

Of course, since they cannot be quarantined until next spring, there is no choice but to lift them midway, but in this case, there is a high possibility that the details of the operation will be leaked to the outside world.

Before Germany's defenses become stronger, the operation will proceed when the number of German troops stationed in France is even one smaller, and a bridgehead for a vacuum in Europe will be established.

Even if the German army fails to advance inland due to strong resistance, if it solidifies with the support of the Royal Navy, which is more powerful than the German Navy, Germany will have no choice but to be concerned about the Allied forces that landed in France.

Naturally, Germany will have no choice but to continuously deploy troops to hold back the Allies, and naturally the pressure on the Eastern Front will decrease.

If the Soviet Union, having taken a breather, gathered its forces and launched a counterattack, then Britain would also launch an offensive and advance inland. This was Churchill's plan, and it was also Britain's strategy.

'The best situation would be for the Soviet Union to hold the Germans in their current positions.'

It would have been good for the Soviet Union to advance and drive out Germany, but the best situation would have been for the Soviet Union to just hold off Germany's power.

And that too for as long as possible. Until the Allied forces crossed the Rhine River and advanced towards Berlin.

Of course, the possibility may be slim, but you never know.

"What the Prime Minister said is correct. Our soldiers have already been training for several months to ensure the success of the operation. Therefore, I am confident that if we launch the operation, it will be successful. Moreover, wouldn't the morale of the people and soldiers greatly increase if a large-scale operation capable of turning the war around was carried out and succeeded in a chaotic time like now?"

Louis Mountbatten, commander of the British Combined Operations Command, also actively insisted on pushing ahead with the operation.

Mountbatten's rank was brigadier general, and although he was a rank that could not even be held in this position, the royal blood flowing through his body made up the difference in rank.

Although Brooke was much higher than Mountbatten in terms of rank, as he was Mountbatten's royal family, his right to speak at meetings was never inferior to him.

Mountbatten's insistence on pushing ahead with the operation was partly because he agreed with Churchill's plan, but more importantly, he was the one who conceived the operation.

He had strong confidence in the strategy that came out of his head, so he could hardly give up on it.

There are already complaints and sarcasm emerging that he was favored by Churchill because he was a member of the royal family, and if the operation was cancelled, the voices of those criticizing him would become louder.

However, if the operation is successful, there will no longer be voices criticizing him for having risen to a position he deserves only through blood.

"The Admiral's words are valid, but Operation Luthor has many shortcomings. "Right now, we don't even have a detailed plan on how to advance inland after landing."

Brooke's words were interrupted by a loud noise coming from somewhere and the vibrations caused by the heavy drinking.

Churchill's secretary ran into the conference room and shouted.

"It's an air raid warning! "You must evacuate to the bunker immediately!"

"shit! Damn Jerry again!"

"Your Excellency, please come this way!"

The meeting was interrupted by the V2 air raid on London.

***

While the V2 swarm crossing the Strait of Dover turned London into a sea of fire, a squadron of Ar234 Blitz jet reconnaissance aircraft took off from an air force base in Northern France and flew over southern England, taking pictures of ports and inland bases.

In actual history, the Ar234 was developed as a high-speed reconnaissance aircraft, but Hitler, who was crazy about bombers, was fascinated by the speed of the Me262 class of the Ar234 and ordered that the aircraft be converted into a bomber rather than a reconnaissance aircraft.

Hitler thought that it would kill two birds with one stone, as it could reach the enemy's lines at high speed, drop bombs, and leave the scene at high speed, naturally causing less damage than existing bombers, and bombing Britain more quickly.

However, there was a problem with using the Ar234 as a bomber that Hitler had not thought of.

Although it was possible to drop the bomb, the speed of the aircraft was so fast that it was impossible to hit the bomb accurately.

The Ar234's high speed was useful in evading the enemy's pursuit, but on the other hand, it was not possible to confirm whether the bomb hit or not.

It was a natural result since there was no opportunity to even check whether it was a hit or not.

By the time the Ar234 was deployed, the skies of Europe had long since been taken over by the Allies, and this war situation further worsened the position of the Ar234, which was already limited due to its inherent limitations.

Therefore, the Ar234, despite its nickname as Germany's fastest bomber, had the poorest performance, and ended the war without showing much performance other than being the only bomber to bomb Britain at the end of the war.

The future Hitler, who knew what kind of waste Hitler's reckless actions had caused, used the Ar234 only as a reconnaissance aircraft for its original purpose.

After completing its mission, Ar234 turned around and returned to northern France.

Hurricanes and Spitfires quickly took off after hearing the news of the enemy plane's appearance and chased the Ar234, but it was not enough to catch up with the Ar234, which reached a maximum speed of 742 km/h.

Most pilots chose to give up the chase and return to base, but some pilots who were strong did not stop the chase.

However, what was waiting for them was not the tail of the Ar234, but the Minengeshos fired by the Bf109.

As such, the RAF failed to shoot down a single Ar234 and, conversely, lost only a dozen fighters.

The photos taken by Ar234s while flying over southern England were soon analyzed in detail within the Defense Forces and republished into several reports.

***

"As a result of analyzing the photos, it is estimated that Britain is planning a large-scale landing operation in the northern France area in the near future.

After Brauchitsch finished his explanation, the faces of the meeting attendees became as hard as rocks.

At a time when all forces were concentrating on the Eastern Front, the news of Britain's preparations for a landing was enough to panic the leadership of the Wehrmacht.

Now that the worst-case scenario, which was just a prediction, has become a reality, everyone must be worried.

Even I, who had expected the British landing to some extent, could not hide my frustration when I heard directly that the British landing might actually happen in the near future.

"What is the expected size of the enemy?"

"We are still analyzing it, but it is estimated to be between 90,000 and 100,000 people."

"Between 90,000 and 100,000. "It won't be a simple surprise attack; it will be a full-scale landing."

Churchill's purpose is obvious even without saying anything. To form a second front in Europe - perhaps France.

Even though relations with the Soviet Union had become distant due to the Cambridge incident, it seems that Churchill made a reasonable decision, as cooperation was needed to crush Germany.

Or, regardless of the Soviet Union, they simply thought that now was the right time to land, with German forces concentrated on the Eastern Front.

Although the exact reason was unknown, it was clear that Britain was preparing to land in France.

I'm going to turn around