I Will Stage A Coup D’état - Chapter 90



Only Krnovel

EP.90 Broken Faith (1)

As the Korean army was rushing to dispatch troops to Africa, the German army was struggling in hellish street fighting.

“How many times have we taken Mamai Hill and lost it!”

The German high command sent several telegrams a day about the situation in Stalingrad, pressuring General Paulus.

Paulus did his best, but he was unable to overcome the tenacious resistance of the Soviet troops who were trapped in a city that had been reduced to ruins by shelling and bombing.

The siege was meaningless, as the Volga River was frozen over and Soviet troops were frequently coming and going on sleds and the like across the river.

It was impossible to end the battle in a short period of time.

“It’s stuffy.”

Paulus felt extreme fatigue from the double burden of battle and pressure from his superiors, to the point where his face became numb.

I wish I had someone to share my worries with, but there was no one like that.

The fate of the 250,000-strong 6th Army rested on the shoulders of one man alone.

“Your Majesty. Reports of sniping of officers over the past 24 hours. 23 reported.”

“Okay, I got it.”

With so many officers and non-commissioned officers being killed by snipers, there was no one left to promote and fill their positions.

There was also a severe shortage of soldiers.

From November 22, when it arrived in Stalingrad, to January 3, 1943, over a period of about a month and a half, the 6th Army suffered approximately 80,000 casualties.

The damage was truly unbelievable.

The opposing Soviet forces suffered incomparable losses, but the enemy had vast reserves to make up for those losses.

As evidence, enemy resistance barely declined compared to the early days of the Battle of Stalingrad.

It was truly a terrible thing.

Paulus looked at the map again, his eyes not closing properly, after roughly compressing them with the eye drops his adjutant had given him.

However, as a result of pushing forward with brute force, 60% of Stalingrad was conquered.

It seemed like it would take two months for the remaining 40%, but it didn’t seem like we wouldn’t be able to win the street battle.

The problem wasn’t in Stalingrad.

‘The Soviets are creating a bridgehead on our side.’

Soviet forces established bridgeheads by attacking the areas defended by the weak Romanian 3rd and 4th Armies from the south and north.

This bridgehead really got on Paulus’ nerves.

Paulus believed that even if the attrition of Stalingrad were to go unaddressed, it was necessary to increase the number of troops needed to blockade this bridgehead.

Paulus repeatedly requested reinforcements and asked that this matter be resolved.

There were also voices of concern about Stalingrad in the Army High Command.

“If the Soviets attempt to surround both wings, our army will be finished. We need to redeploy the reserves to respond to that.”

But the voices of concern did not reach Hitler’s ears.

Hitler believed only the reports from the Army’s Eastern Intelligence Service and ignored the voices from the field.

“The Soviet strategic reserve will never move from Moscow. So, concentrate on capturing Stalingrad. If we can just take Stalingrad, we will have plenty of spare troops to deploy on the flanks.”

Hitler saw no need to send more troops, as he thought that the capture of a small town would only take a little more time.

Hitler, the Supreme Commander, made this judgment, and the Army High Command could not say anything.

The Army High Command relayed this story to Paulus.

“I hope His Excellency the President’s judgment is correct.”

Paulus stepped up his offensive against Stalingrad.

Meanwhile, the Soviets were moving large strategic reserves against both German flanks.

The number was close to 900,000.

Considering that at the same time the Soviets were massing 1.5 million troops targeting the Rzhev salient, it was not surprising that the Germans miscalculated.

‘How can you launch a million-unit offensive in both directions at the same time? Absolutely not.’

But the Soviet Union was the Soviet Union.

The Soviets succeeded in concealing their intentions by massing large forces on the German flanks.

In fact, there were constant signs that the Soviets were preparing for an offensive, but the German command failed to properly perceive them.

At 4:00 a.m. on January 10, 1943, as the German army was just taking a break from its tenth major offensive, Soviet artillery opened fire.

And then the disastrous wave of Red Army troops swept through the Romanian 3rd and 4th Armies, the Hungarian 2nd Army, and parts of the German 4th Panzer Army.

The Luftwaffe’s only hope of stopping the Soviets was to fail to secure sufficient sorties in the bitter cold.

Soviet troops advanced for more than 100 kilometers, tearing through the fragile Axis front lines.

Day 3 of the attack.

The Soviets completed a large-scale encirclement of the Germans by capturing the crucial Kalachi Bridge.

Paulus was immediately shocked by this shocking result.

“We’ll hold out using the hedgehog tactic. There’ll be some kind of action taken back home.”

The 6th Army hastily formed a circular defensive formation, received Axis soldiers fleeing from the broken front line, and reorganized its battle lines.

The number of Axis soldiers trapped in the encirclement was approximately 380,000.

It was a slightly larger number than the original.

The problem was how to feed this huge army of soldiers.

There were instances of air-supplied supplies to feed besieged troops during the winter season of 1941-42, but these were limited to no more than 100,000 men at best.

Feeding an army of nearly 400,000 men was something the Germans had never experienced before.

The German high command had to make a decision.

Either break through the encirclement and withdraw, or hold out while being supplied by air.

Hitler decided to hold out.

“If we retreat here, how can we end the Soviet Union in such a short time?”

If we were to deal with the Soviet Union before we reached the United States, we couldn’t take a single step back.

Even Army Chief of Staff Franz Halder, who had hoped for Hitler’s failure, could not help but speak out when things got to this point.

The destruction of the 6th Army and Army Group B was a major event that could have led to the collapse of the entire Eastern Front.

Halder confronted Hitler’s judgment in a strong tone.

“Your Majesty, we absolutely cannot afford to shoot locally. We must prepare to withdraw.”

Hitler did not let Halder’s disobedience go unchecked.

Even so, Halder was the type of person who didn’t fit in with him.

Hitler dismissed Halder on the spot and promoted Major General Kurt Zeitzler to become Chief of the General Staff.

The army had no choice but to remain silent in the face of Hitler, who even replaced the Chief of Staff for disobeying his orders.

At this point, Reichsmarshal Hermann Goering stepped in.

“Your Excellency the Führer, our Air Force can supply the Army at Stalingrad. I promise you that.”

“Yes. I thought the Imperial Marshal would say something like that.”

Hitler believed Goering’s promise.

Has the Air Force ever broken a promise?

If Goering can do it, it is possible.

Hitler, with a very excited face, recited Goering’s promise to his army generals.

As Hermann Goering was leaving the meeting, the new Army Chief of Staff, Kurt Zeitzler, asked him:

“Your Excellency Marshal, do you know how many planes are needed each day to supply the troops in Stalingrad?”

“I don’t know personally.”

In fact, the disaster was predicted from here.

On 14 January 1943, the Luftwaffe began a supply operation for the Army at Stalingrad.

The Army needed at least 650 tons of supplies per day, but the Air Force dropped only 100 tons on the first day.

“Well, it’s not something you can do well from the start.”

Of course, the German Air Force’s air supplies continued to increase steadily.

When things were going well, up to 300 tons were dropped per day.

However, due to the lack of airfields and supply lines, interference from Soviet forces, and harsh weather, the efficiency of German air supply always fell short of what was needed.

If the German Army did not intervene, the encircled Axis forces would wither away and die.

“Your Excellency the Führer, Field Marshal Goering’s assurances have proven to be empty words. The 6th Army cannot be saved by air resupply.”

The two weeks it took for the Army to speak out again were invaluable to the 6th Army.

During that time, the 6th Army was running low on supplies.

Only then did Hitler begin to listen to the army’s voice.

“If a proper retreat is not possible, we must break through and deliver supplies.”

The army convinced Hitler with that logic.

Of course, after making a breakthrough, the plan was to take the 6th Army troops and retreat.

“Marshal Manstein. The fate of our soldiers rests on your shoulders.”

“Don’t worry. I will definitely rescue them.”

Erich von Manstein, the mastermind behind Operation Sickle, which made Germany’s revenge possible, appeared as the savior of the German army in crisis.

As Manstein was a famous general who had created miracles several times, the military also had high expectations of him.

“Operation Winter Storm is launched.”

As soon as Manstein could reorganize his few forces, he quickly launched a counteroffensive.

Although the German military’s strength was insignificant, Manstein’s name could not be ignored.

“Manstein is coming. The reverse Manstein is coming to save us!”

The German army, trapped in Stalingrad, had high hopes for Manstein’s attack, which cut through the thick encirclement like splitting bamboo.

For a moment there seemed to be hope.

However, the Soviet military’s power was not small enough to be overcome with tactical capabilities and such.

“We destroyed a hundred tanks in one day, and now another tank corps is advancing towards us?”

“Attacks are also coming from the side.”

When Manstein heard that his own flank, the Chirgang Front, was being beaten, he lost his will to attack.

It was only 50 kilometers more to Stalingrad, but we couldn’t overcome that distance.

A German tank commander who had been sent to the rescue sent his last radio message towards Stalingrad before withdrawing his vehicle.

“I wish you good luck.”

The 6th Army in Stalingrad was sentenced to death at that moment.

The Soviets laughed at the Germans who were like rats in a trap.

In propaganda broadcasts,

“In Stalingrad, a German soldier died every seven seconds, one second, two seconds… seven seconds, another one.”

The disaster did not stop at Stalingrad.

The Soviets were expanding their offensive with the intention of destroying the entire Army Groups A and B that had advanced into the Caucasus.

Manstein somehow managed to protect the flank of Army Group A and assist their withdrawal.

Fortunately for Germany, Army Group A did not advance too far into the Caucasus, allowing them to hasten their escape.

A significant number of troops were left on the Kuban Peninsula, west of the Caucasus, but a considerable number retreated through Rostov into Ukraine.

In the midst of this chaos, Hitler gave Paulus the rank and baton of field marshal.

It was an unspoken instruction.

‘I heard that the Prussian marshal will not surrender. So, don’t surrender ugly, but die with dignity.’

Paulus, who had been leading the hellish battle while obeying the orders of the Führer, was also furious at this moment.

“Would a German marshal die for a Bohemian corporal?”

On March 5, 1943, Paulus, who had been holding out stubbornly, surrendered to the Soviets under a white flag.

With this surrender, 150,000 Axis soldiers, including German soldiers, became prisoners of war of the Soviet Union.

The political fallout from this defeat was enormous.

Even those who acknowledged the Führer’s judgment began to doubt Hitler’s abilities.

Even Hitler wasn’t unaware of this.

That’s why the President had no choice but to be even more stubborn.

I had no choice but to shout that they would not give up even an inch of land.

It was the beginning of a vicious cycle leading to defeat.