158

Episode 158: Spear and Shield (9)

June 13, 1942

Kelsteinhaus, Berchtesgaden, Germany

The counteroffensive launched by Lev's Army Group North in East Prussia is progressing successfully.

In two days, Lev killed 20,000 Soviet soldiers, took more than 30,000 prisoners, destroyed 110 tanks, 300 vehicles, and 250 artillery pieces, and left 19 tanks, anti-tank guns, artillery pieces, 40 mortars, and 62 vehicles intact. It was reported that it was captured.

They succeeded in recovering almost all of the East Prussian territories that had been taken over by the Soviet Army, leaving only Memel and Heidekrug.

Bork's Central Army Group and Kleist's Southern Army Group also plan to launch a counteroffensive soon to completely drive out the Soviet Army and advance to the Soviet border.

Less than three weeks after the war broke out, the Soviet military was already showing signs of collapse.

"If this continues, it may be possible to occupy Moscow before Christmas this year."

Göring smiled heartily while holding a glass filled with cognac.

Those who participated in the meeting also stood around the map board, each holding a glass of alcohol or beverage in their hand.

As the war situation is slowly calming down, the atmosphere at the headquarters has become much more relaxed than at first.

"From now on, we need to think about how to adjust the border between Germany and Russia. Isn't that right, Marshal Brauchitsch?"

"Of course, Marshal. When the war is over, a new villa will be built in Sevastopol overlooking the Black Sea. "I swim in the Black Sea in the summer."

"Ha ha ha ha ha!!!"

"I'm sorry if I feel like I'm pouring cold water on a good atmosphere, but please don't be too proud. "No word has yet been exchanged about peace with the Soviet Union."

"Is that so?"

At my words, Göring, Brauchitsch, and the generals who had been laughing at their jokes looked puzzled.

Did I say it too harshly? No. It's good to be confident, but being cocky during times of war is a no-no. The opponent is not another country, but the Soviet Union.

In actual history, these are the people who lost over millions of troops and equipment at the beginning of the war, but eventually burned down Berlin, the heart of the Nazis, by mobilizing several times that many manpower and materials.

So you can never let down your guard.

It is estimated that the Soviet Army has lost approximately 350,000 troops so far.

That number of 350,000 is not entirely made up of dead soldiers and prisoners of war, but also includes many wounded, so the actual number of dead is probably much lower.

In the six months since Operation Barbarossa began, the Soviet Union succeeded in stopping the German offensive despite suffering 800,000 casualties, over 3.355 million personnel captured, and the loss of 21,200 aircraft and 20,500 tanks.

Therefore, the damage of 350,000 people alone is not enough to shake the Soviet Union.

Still, there is one thing better than actual history, and that is that it was the Soviet Union, not us, that started the war.

Since they were the first to attack and the war situation was not going well, their will to fight would be much lower than in actual history.

Therefore, there was some expectation that if we proposed reinforcement first at an appropriate time, they would probably accept it.

"Still, the war situation is going better than initially expected, so I don't know if it will be possible to end the war within this year. "I don't want all of European Russia, and I think I'll have enough business if they just hand over the west bank of the Dnieper River to us."

"On the west bank of the Dnieper River… . "It's not a bad condition, but wouldn't it be possible to receive more than that with Germany's national power?"

"Then what do you think is the appropriate limit for an imperial marshal?"

"I think the eastern part of the Dnieper River, that is, all of Belarus and Ukraine, would be suitable. Oh, and the Baltic countries, of course."

"Dream big too. Unless Stalin is a fool, do you think he would give us that large piece of land? "If I did that, my head would be blown off right away."

Enough talking about the future that hasn't happened yet, we talked about reality.

According to Ribbentrop, the Soviet Union made a secret proposal to Romania, which was at war with it.

If you switch to their side even now, not only will they help you regain Northern Transylvania and Southern Dobruja, but they will also help Romania take over half of Ruthenia and Hungary.

King Michael I of Romania flatly rejected the Soviet Union's proposal and even informed us that something like this had happened.

Keitel said with a proud face after hearing Ribbentrop's story.

"It seems like our Romanian friends know something. "When we see them confessing to us on their own without any instructions."

"Since you haven't done anything wrong yet, confessing seems like too much, and it would be more accurate to say it's a bit of a tattletale. "That's a good tell."

Romania, which had betrayed Germany and sided with the Soviet Union as defeat approached at the end of the war, now refuses the deal that the Soviet Union first proposed.

President Lee was truly moved!

To put it bluntly, the combat power of the Romanian army is evaluated as inferior to the second-tier units of the National Defense Force, but the total number of Romanian army troops, which is close to 500,000, is not a figure that can be easily ignored.

In particular, considering the Ploiesti oil field, which covers most of Germany's oil needs, Romania is essential.

If Romania suddenly switches to the Soviet side, not only could oil be depleted and the southern front collapse, but in the worst case scenario, the entire Balkan Peninsula could fall to the Soviet side.

In fact, Romania's betrayal at the end of the war was so influential that it is said to have accelerated the end of the European front by more than six months.

Of course, it would be possible for the entire Balkan Peninsula to fall to the Soviet Union if we just sucked our fingers, but it goes without saying that if Romania had really fallen for the Soviet Union's coaxing, a very difficult situation would have been created.

I praised Romania's decision and suggested that the Panther and Tiger, which Romania had recently expressed interest in, be donated to the Romanian military.

"The Romanian army is fighting hard in its own way, but can they properly operate the Panther and Tiger?"

Brauchitch immediately showed his disapproval and shook his head.

"As Marshal Brauchic said, the Romanian army will not be able to operate these tanks properly. "It would be better to send more hatchers."

Reichenau's words. As they said, if the precious Panthers and Tigers were given away for no reason and they were captured by the Soviet military, it would be a real headache.

"The generals' opinions are so there is nothing to do. Oh, and... How about passing on to Bulgaria what the Soviet Union had offered to Romania? Even if Bulgaria had an amicable relationship with the Soviet Union, I think it would really turn a blind eye if it found out that it was arbitrarily trying to give its land to Romania."

Bulgaria has already been providing convenience to Germany in its own way, such as by sending volunteer troops to Germany and exporting minerals and agricultural products at low prices, but it seemed like it would be a good idea to take this opportunity to have Bulgaria also participate in the war.

At least 200,000 troops will be added to the force.

Everyone unanimously decided to send the Soviet Union's proposal to Bulgaria.

It would be good for Bulgaria to participate in the war, but it would be okay if it did not participate, so Germany would have nothing to lose.

If you win, you win, and if you lose, you have nothing to lose, so why not do it?

"Heydrich, as you know, we must make sure that Bulgaria gets this information by chance. If we make them feel like we've intentionally faked it, they'll be suspicious of its authenticity. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Mr. President. Do not worry. SD will handle it skillfully."

Heydrich, with his signature sinister smile, assured the success of the operation.

Guderian took the opportunity to explain what he had discovered by examining the Soviet tanks captured by our troops. First of all, from the T-34.

"First of all, the performance of the 76mm gun mounted on the tank is not very good compared to its caliber. As a result of testing with the shells that were still in the car body at the time of capture, they only penetrated 69mm at 1km and 75mm at 500m. However, in the case of light armor-piercing shells, they showed lower penetration than regular armor-piercing shells at 1km, but penetrated 87mm at 500m and 117mm at 100m.

As such, the penetration power was similar to that of the PaK 38, and the sights mounted on the tank were of poor quality, causing problems with accuracy. There were even cases where the scope's lens broke due to the impact from shooting. At first, there was speculation that it might have been damaged in battle, but the same was true for all other tanks."

I heard that due to the overall inferiority of Soviet optical technology, the accuracy of Soviet tanks was much lower than that of German tanks.

At least at the end of the war, thanks to support from the United States, technology had improved slightly, but without full-scale support from the United States, it was clear that improvement in accuracy would be slow.

The T-34's problems did not end with firepower and sights.

Like the sight, the periscope has poor performance, a crude and unreliable drivetrain, a narrow interior, and a two-man turret that forces the tank commander to double as a gunner, etc.

Due to the Soviet-made armor being of lower quality than the German-made, there was also a problem that the frontal armor, which was supposed to have a thickness of 90mm in design, was actually only about 86mm.

However, it also had significant advantages, such as a long range of nearly 300 km, excellent fuel efficiency, excellent defense for its weight achieved by sacrificing crew habitability, and a rear drive system.

"… Therefore, overall, the T-34's comprehensive performance is evaluated to be comparable to our Army's Panzer IV."

Guderian's conclusion was that the T-34 had better defense, mobility, and range, but that the Panzer IV was superior to the T-34 in other aspects.

Unlike the T-34, which had many favorable reviews, Guderian had many bitter comments about the T-43.

Lower reliability than the T-34, frequent drive system wear, and a more complex engine than the T-34 caused Guderian to give up on the T-34 despite its superior defense.

"From what I heard, the Soviet Union is only producing the T-43, not the T-34, but I really don't understand why they made that decision."

"It won't be obvious. The tank that Kulik was pushing in earnest was the T-43. And Kulik has Stalin's trust."

For the Soviet military, it was a disaster, but for us, who had to deal with them, it was nothing short of a blessing.

The biggest advantage of the T-34 is its overwhelming productivity, so how fortunate is it that they are giving up that and continuing to produce the T-43?

Guderian also did not have a very good evaluation of the KV-1.

Rather, it was downgraded as a tank that was heavier than the T-43 and had inferior defense capabilities.

Even in 1942, the German army, which had Tank 3 equipped with a 50mm main gun as its main force and Tank 2 and Czech-made tanks in the first line, gave the KV-1 a good evaluation, but here it was used in Panthers and Tigers, so it did not sound good. I couldn't come out.

How can you not criticize a so-called heavy tank because it has firepower that is worse than our medium tank?

The KV-2 was harshly criticized as being the worst tank in every aspect except the firepower of the 152mm main gun, but the KV-3 was a little different.

Although he criticized the tank's excessively heavy weight of 68 tons, the tank's defense and firepower were evaluated as quite threatening.

None of the captured KV-3s were healthy enough to fire, so I had to bring the original 107mm M-60 anti-tank gun mounted on it and test it. As a result, it had a frightening penetration power of 106mm at 2km, 113mm at 1.5km, and 121mm at 1km. It is said that he showed.

"For the Tiger, which has a 100mm front body, it is a threatening opponent in many ways. Even though their accuracy rate is low, if you get a good hit, it's over. "The Panther turret front is only 100mm wide, so you can't be at ease."

It's not a big problem right now because we're in a defensive position, but when the time comes for us to advance into the Soviet Union's mainland, our position will change.

In order to reduce the damage to our troops even a little, we have no choice but to hasten the deployment of the Tiger II, which is more powerful than the Tiger and has excellent defense.

"Mr. President, that is why."

"hmm? "Did you have more to say?"

"yes. In order to accelerate the development of Tiger II as much as possible, as instructed by His Excellency the President, the current cost and manpower alone are insufficient. So, if you would invest the cost and additional manpower necessary for development-"

***

June 16, 1942

USSR Moscow Kremlin Palace

-bang!

"Gagging!"

Beria made a loud noise and kissed the floor on the back of her head, panting as if she would run out of breath at any moment.

However, Stalin still glared at Beria with cold eyes and gave orders in a tone as cold as his eyes.

"Stand up straight, Berry."

"Yes, yep. Comrade Secretary General."

Despite the tingling pain she felt in the back of her head, Beria quickly stood up and straightened up like a roly-poly doll.

"Why did the offer we made to Romania go to Bulgaria as well?"

"Well, that is…" . I'm fine too... ."

As Beria mumbled, Stalin drove his fist into Beria's philtrum as if he had been waiting.

Although he is currently distancing himself from the movement, he still retains the fighting skills he learned when he was young and robbing banks to raise 'revolutionary funds' with his best friend Voroshilov.

"Aaaah!"

Beria, hit by a strong punch from Stalin, fell backwards and struggled like a pig dragged to the slaughterhouse.

"You don't do anything right! "At most, I barely gave you a chance, but you screwed me over like this!?"

"Ugh!"

Beria cried out as he was kicked by Stalin, who was both angry and full of weight.

He was the head of the NKVD and the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs, a position that made everyone tremble with fear at the mere mention of his name, but even he was no different from a rat caught in a trap in the face of Stalin's anger.

"You pathetic bastard! "You fucking idiot!"

"Sorry, comrade! "Please save me!"

After learning of the Soviet Union's secret proposal to Romania, the Bulgarian government announced that it would sever diplomatic ties with the Soviet Union.

In this way, the Soviet Union lost even the remaining friendly countries with its own hands.

In addition, there was one more piece of news that made Stalin angry.

But in this case, it wasn't Beria's fault (although the previous incident can't be said to be Beria's fault either).

The fundamental cause was Stalin himself.