I Will Stage A Coup D’état - Chapter 85



Only Krnovel

EP.85 The Road to Stalingrad (1)

As late as June 1942, the Germans had no intention of launching a large-scale summer offensive against the Soviet Union.

“Your Majesty, we have seen the Ivans deploying an army of ten million men. Expanding the front will only give the Ivans a chance to strike at our weak flanks. Your Majesty, there is absolutely no way to go on the offensive.”

The Army High Command, remembering the relentless Soviet offensives of the winter season of 1941-42, repeatedly tried to persuade Hitler.

“Really, you’re saying it won’t work?”

“Your Excellency the President, this is not my personal opinion, but the unanimous opinion of the entire military.”

Even the most loyal Nazism, the Waffen-SS, were saying things like this, so Hitler had no choice.

“Then let’s try to defend it for just one year.”

By August, both the army and Hitler had agreed to rebuild their forces and bide their time.

But all calculations fell apart when the British entered the war.

As traditional maritime powers became enemies, the supply lines for crude oil from Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela were cut off.

The importance of oil in modern warfare has been repeatedly emphasized.

The core of the army, including tanks, self-propelled guns, and trucks, the air force’s aircraft, the navy’s ships, and virtually every other means of combat that made combat possible required oil.

If you don’t plan on fighting with infantry alone, you absolutely have to secure oil.

Unfortunately, Germany was unable to produce the oil it needed.

They had built synthetic oil facilities and stored oil reserves in preparation for an emergency, but it was not enough to withstand a long-term war.

The amount of oil consumed by the Luftwaffe, which already had a large military force, was beyond imagination.

Germany is in trouble.

The only immediate oil producing wells were a few in Hungary and Romania.

The oil obtained here was barely enough to meet half of the German military’s needs.

Although the situation was much better than the original, for Germany, which had never felt a shortage of resources until now, these conditions were still stifling.

Of course, if we had conserved oil, we could have lasted a few more years.

But doing so would require abandoning actions such as large-scale strategic redeployments to catch the enemy off guard.

How can you exercise initiative like that?

Hitler thought that even a war that he could win was lost.

Hold on and rebuild your power?

Are the British guys just sitting there?

Hitler began to harass the Army High Command in late August.

“No matter how much you think about it, now that we still have some power left, it’s best to strike the Soviet Union. If it’s impossible to launch an offensive along the entire front, launch a limited offensive on the southern front.”

The target is Baku, the largest oil field in the Soviet Union.

Hitler intended to alleviate Germany’s oil shortage by taking control of this region.

“If we could get Baku, we could strike a fatal blow to the Soviet Union. But to advance there would be too much stretching of the front. Stalin would not leave us vulnerable.”

The German military resolutely opposed the advance.

The Soviet counterattack was scary, but it came too late.

I didn’t know it was May or June.

But it was now the end of August.

Even if we start advancing now, Rasputitsa will begin in about a month.

After Rasputica, winter comes.

Winter was Soviet time.

If we were only going to make progress for a few months and then have to give back what we’d achieved, it would have been better not to have even started in the first place.

Hitler was furious at the generals’ defeatism.

“If you guys think this way, isn’t that why the military had a bitter winter?”

“dismissal.”

“Let me be clear: There will be no changing my mind.”

The President’s stubbornness was as strong as iron tendon.

On top of that, Hess’ exile(?) made me hysterical, so there was no answer.

Finally, the Army High Command gave up trying to persuade Hitler.

It was impossible for the Army to disobey an order given by the President, Prime Minister, and Commander-in-Chief of the Army.

By the time he had defeated France and purged his generals in the winter, Hitler’s prestige was incomparable.

“Do as the President says.”

Army Chief of Staff Franz Halder actually thought it was a good thing.

If Hitler fails badly this time, the anti-Hitler forces within the military will gain more traction.

The German Army pulled out the plans for Operation Blau, which had been sitting in the cabinet, waiting to be scrapped.

Each unit of the Southern Army Group, which had received the operational order, began to move toward the offensive starting line.

The Soviets interpreted the German preparations as a ‘well-planned deception tactic’.

“Oh, why would you come to Moscow, the center of politics, military, and transportation, instead of the rural Caucasus?”

The Soviet strategic reserve did not move from Moscow.

Germany succeeded in outwitting the Soviet Union from a strategic point of view.

However, the lack of time was the biggest disaster for Germany.

“God bless Germany.”

Marshal Fedor von Bock, Commander-in-Chief of Army Group South, expressed his complicated feelings in the following words:

Whatever their commanding officers thought, the German soldiers were determined to finish off the Ivans with this attack.

“When Christmas comes, the Ivans will surrender and we will go home.”

On September 9, 1942, amidst the expectations of the soldiers and the concerns of the command, the autumn offensive that would determine the fate of Germany began.

*

The scale and speed of the German offensive were tremendous.

In the first week, several Soviet divisions were destroyed and the road to the Don was opened.

Even so, compared to the vast power of the Soviet army, it was like drawing a bucket of water from the sea.

“Still, if the Germans advance too far, there will be a disruption in the supply of oil to Baku.”

This is not our story.

We were able to import crude oil from Southeast Asia, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.

Even without that, Korea had oil.

It was the Daqing Oil Field, the largest oil field in Manchuria.

In the original region, the oil fields were developed only after the Japanese were defeated and China came to power, but in Korea, there was no need to wait until 1959 when the oil fields were originally discovered.

All they had to do was select an area suspected of having genetic material and dig to a depth of 1,500 meters.

When they had drilled about a hundred boreholes like that, oil hit.

Thanks to this, the empire’s negotiating power regarding oil improved somewhat.

Of course, the Daqing oil field alone was not enough to provide the empire with oil, so it did not have a major impact on the war.

Until now, that is.

But as circumstances change, the value of things also changes.

Don’t umbrella prices go up during the rainy season?

The value of our umbrella could be like that now.

“Ambassador, if Baku is threatened, won’t the oil supplies to Moscow be jeopardized?”

“If the Germans advance to the vicinity of Baku, then that will happen. But our Federation will not be pushed back that far.”

The Soviet ambassador expressed great confidence in the Baku shooters.

You seem too confident.

Then you’ll get a big nose injury.

I proposed to the Soviet Union that we could supply oil from the Daqing oil field in case of emergency.

“I will convey to the Secretary General Your Excellency’s kind offer to provide oil in case of emergency.”

The Soviet ambassador seemed confident that that would never happen.

Well, it’s not that difficult.

The Soviets fought well in 1941, but they fought too well.

With the thickness of an army of 13 million men, he absorbed the shock of the German army and stopped Hitler’s sharp offensive with only 3.5 million casualties, far less than the original attack.

And that’s not all.

Although it ended in failure, the Winter Offensive managed to push the Germans back more than 150 km.

The mere fact that they were on equal footing against the superpower that united Europe gave the Soviet Union a right to brag.

However, it was one thing for the Soviets to fight well and another to underestimate the Germans’ capabilities.

Despite its extreme attrition in 1941, the German Wehrmacht was still a dangerous opponent capable of striking a threatening blow.

A beast whose teeth are still sharp is rushing towards the Caucasus with all its might, and the Soviet Union, which has not even redeployed its strategic reserves, can easily stop it?

Such a picture could not have been expected until after 1943.

‘I gave advice.’

However, I had no intention of holding onto the confident Soviet ambassador and advising him that things would be difficult for them.

If you get in a hurry, you’ll just grab onto your trouser legs and hang on, so why waste your energy on that?

Well, that’s good.

If the Soviet Union sheds more blood, it will get closer to the post-war structure I have in mind, so this picture isn’t so bad.

And exactly one month passed.

By October 1942, the Soviet attitude had changed completely.

‘The German advance forces have reached the bend of the Don River.’

At this rate, it was only a matter of time before German troops reached Stalingrad, the main Soviet industrial city, and cut off the connection between the Caucasus and Moscow.

The Soviet ambassador asked for my favor with a completely different look from a month ago.

“Your Majesty, is your promise to provide oil assistance in times of emergency still valid?”

“Of course. Aren’t we friends with a common enemy?”

I promised oil aid to the Soviet Union in a very friendly manner.

Of course, there was a reason for this kind of giving.

Negotiating power.

The more the Soviet Union owed us its debt, the more we were able to reflect our position on the post-war structure of Europe.

We are now playing the role that the United States played in the distant past.

In order to maximize the stake before the US came in, it was necessary to provide solid support from these points onwards.

And, one more reason.

There is a ‘one in a million variable’.

The situation became somewhat more delicate as the Germans entered the Caucasus late.

If the Germans had not come to Stalingrad, history might have been different.

Then, there was no guarantee that the Soviet army would achieve a great victory like the previous one.

Well, in a situation like now where the Soviet Union suffered less damage, that wasn’t so bad, but if possible, it would be easier to draw a picture where the Soviets won in a similar way to the original.

That was all I did to help the Soviet Union.

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“you’re welcome.”

I was lost in thought as I sent the Soviet ambassador off with a smiling face.

Well, to eliminate more variables, it would be certain to involve the United States, right?