I Will Stage A Coup D’état - Chapter 86



Only Krnovel

EP.86 The Road to Stalingrad (2)

As Germany gained momentum, Britain, the Soviet Union, and South Korea focused their diplomatic efforts on bringing the United States into the war.

‘The game gets easier once you get to America. Let’s take it easy.’

As in World War I, the sheer weight of America will end the war in an instant.

The three countries worked closely together in this regard, supporting Roosevelt’s efforts to enter the war.

Of course, there is no such thing as a free lunch.

Roosevelt demanded significant concessions and rights in return for his participation in the war.

As for Britain.

“I want to have the British Empire’s oil interests in Arabia.”

About the Soviet Union.

“America’s stake in the postwar Axis must be clearly guaranteed.”

About Korea.

“The promise to withdraw from Indochina and guarantee our interests in China must be kept.”

The three countries accepted Roosevelt’s demands.

It was cheaper to give in to America’s demands than to shed the blood of our own people.

As the agreement was reached, Roosevelt’s movements also quickened.

Roosevelt quickly turned on his calculator.

‘If we are to participate in the Great German War, we need to get public opinion to agree. In that sense, it is not a bad idea to use German-style public opinion warfare.’

If so, the answer was simple.

The U.S. government created a propaganda department and began to engage in propaganda and agitation targeting the public.

The target was, of course, Germany.

“Hitler of Germany is a madman who dreams of conquering the world. Now it is Europe, but later his army will cross the Atlantic. Do not underestimate the greed of these madmen. Their clutches could be in your backyard tomorrow.”

American propaganda experts portrayed Hitler and his empire as absolute evil.

He also did not forget to make personal attacks on Hitler.

“Hitler was a homosexual, an incestuous nymphomaniac, a dangerous man whose mere existence could destroy our Christian civilization.”

Of course, the President was a man who deserved to be called an absolute evil, but he was blamed for everything he did not do.

During this process, Bismarck and Kaiser, who were sleeping soundly in their coffins, were also hit by grenades.

“No, why me and Your Majesty who is sleeping soundly?”

“Ji, Jim, I have not committed a sin as serious as that pair of testicles.”

As the rulers of Germany through the ages, they stood before Americans as tools to demonstrate the nature of the ‘Germanic’ people.

“Blood and iron! German Chancellor Bismarck founded his empire with bloodthirsty cries.”

“The Kaiser, who inherited that legacy, set the world on fire once to fuel his ambitions.”

“Now a third German leader has come forward and is setting the world on fire again. How long will we tolerate these atrocities? How long will we tolerate them?”

Even without Roosevelt, the American people’s negative sentiment toward Germany had already exceeded 60%.

“Do you have to be able to trade with the UK?”

“If you are a Jewish, you are not a man.

“Let’s get rid of that guy quickly and restore the free world. It’s time for us to step up.”

The White House was flooded with questions about what this country was doing while the communists were fighting the Nazis for freedom and justice.

Now the mood was turning towards participation in the war.

It was clear that if we worked on it for just a few more months, public opinion would have tilted firmly in favor of going to war.

Isolationists were outraged by this, but it did nothing to ruin the blueprint Roosevelt had laid out.

Isolationists failed to stop Roosevelt’s moves in either the Senate or the House.

A destroyer and base exchange agreement, in which Britain would receive 50 destroyers in return for the Caribbean, passed with a simple 280-109 vote.

“With this, the United States has completely driven the European power out of its home turf.”

Roosevelt touted these achievements and steadily moved toward war.

The American Safe Waters Act was also passed, which expanded the safe waters in the Atlantic Ocean to protect large and small ships and ships trading with Britain.

“The North Atlantic is ours to protect.”

Although the US Navy did not immediately begin a war with Germany, the expansion of its activities was a threat in itself.

This was an indirect act of participation in the war, reducing the radius of German U-boat operations while also relieving the burden on the British Navy.

Soon, German Navy U-boats began to encounter hostile actions from American destroyers during their operations.

The German ambassador protested strongly against the US action, but was helpless.

But that didn’t mean I could fire a torpedo.

As soon as you touch the US Navy, Roosevelt will use it as a pretext for war.

Berlin had no choice but to be on the edge of its seat.

This situation made the German government extremely uneasy.

‘Not only Britain, but even the United States is trying to become our enemy.’

In fact, Germany was in a dangerous position at the time, having three of the five major powers as enemies: Britain, the Soviet Union, and South Korea.

However, it was no wonder that Berlin became anxious when the world’s largest economic power was about to join the new hostile camp.

The emergence of the United States was a threatening event.

“We have no choice but to finish off the Soviet Union before the British and Americans set foot in Europe. If we drive out the commies and fill the Atlantic coast with divisions, what will the Anglo-Saxons do?”

Hitler was convinced that the possibility of American entry into the war should lead to a greater effort in the Caucasus offensive.

If the Caucasus were cut off from oil, Soviet armored forces would become scrap metal.

What if Soviet tanks lose their power?

Get the chance to advance to Moscow.

It was Hitler’s own logic.

The German military did not agree to this.

‘Considering the oil that the US and UK are providing, there’s no way the communist tanks will run out of gas.’

Of course, I couldn’t say that outright in front of Hitler.

The Germans were forced to commit more supplies and men to the offensive.

As the number of troops increased to the point where it could not be managed as a single army group, the Southern Army Group was divided into two army groups to carry out operations.

These were Army Group B, which was in charge of the Volga River region, and Army Group A, which was in charge of the central Caucasus.

As the Southern Army was divided in two, the strategic objectives of the German army that launched Operation Blue also became unclear.

Initially, Baku was the main target of the German army, but as the operation unfolded, unexpected locations emerged.

It was ‘Stalingrad’.

Stalingrad was an industrial city on the Volga River and served as an important transportation hub linking the Caucasus and the Soviet Union proper.

There was a problem that if this place was not subdued, the burden on Army Group B, which had to organize the front line along the river, would become too great.

Naturally, the German military’s attention was also focused on Stalingrad.

“I told you, if you can’t get to Stalingrad, you can’t go to Baku?”

This made Hitler also take interest in Stalingrad.

‘Isn’t the name Stalin’s city? If we follow this place, we can sufficiently lower the morale of the Soviet bastards.’

Strategically and politically, Stalingrad’s value was compelling to the Führer.

The President was capricious again.

“So, you’re going to concentrate your supplies on Group B? Are you kidding me right now!”

Field Marshal Wilhelm List, commander of Army Group A, protested strongly to the Army High Command.

Of course, this did not happen because the German army was short of supplies.

The only limit was the supply line leading to the Caucasus, which limited the supplies that could be provided to frontline units.

“That is what happened, Your Majesty.”

When their fuel supply ran out midway, Army Group A was faced with a situation where they could neither advance nor retreat.

“While you’re doing this kind of work, what? You’re going to Baku?”

But maybe this was a blessing in disguise.

Army Group A’s advance was halted at Stavropol, far short of their final destination in the distant region.

Instead, Army Group B reached the outskirts of Stalingrad much earlier than planned.

It was November 20, 1942.

In fact, at this point the German army should have dug winter positions and started preparing for defense.

When winter came to the Russian front, the ground froze so much that it was impossible to even dig trenches.

The German generals also knew this fact.

However, since the Führer was insistent that Stalingrad must be captured within the year, the very idea of ​​digging in and defending was out of the question.

“How did the Air Force manage to get us here so quickly, but will it be of any help in urban combat?”

Even the world’s best Luftwaffe had difficulty demonstrating its power in urban warfare, where close-range combat was the norm.

On this point, the opinions of Field Marshal Maximilian von Weycks, commander of Army Group B, and Generalleutnant Friedrich Paulus, commander of the 6th Army, were in agreement.

“Even if we can’t prepare for a defensive battle, it doesn’t seem like a good idea to enter the city. It would be better to surround the enemy and slowly kill them.”

“I think so too.”

The frontline commanders came to a reasonable conclusion, but the problem was the President.

“Enter Stalingrad immediately.”

The coercion of the Führer, who was also the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, was something the commanders could not dare to endure.

“There’s no choice. Let’s go into Stalingrad.”

The German command was eventually forced to begin an advance it did not want to make.

The name of the hell they were heading to was Stalingrad.