I Will Stage A Coup D’état - Chapter 96



Only Krnovel

EP.96 Conditions of a Superman (1)

The defeat at Stalingrad was a catastrophe for the German army.

If you add the 380,000 Axis troops who were directly annihilated in the Stalingrad pocket, the casualties incurred in the two months of street fighting, and the troops who were surrounded and annihilated in the surrounding areas, the Axis losses would be close to one million.

Although the Soviet losses were no less severe, the Union had strategic reserves sufficient to make up for the losses.

The balance on the Eastern Front suddenly tilted toward the Soviet Union.

“Forward! Forward!”

The Soviets pushed nearly 3 million men into the 250-kilometer hole left by the annihilation of the German army.

“How on earth are we supposed to stop all those Ivans?”

The Germans had no way of stopping the great corps that were advancing westward.

In this situation, Mussolini was crying out for support and demanding divisions for defense along the French coast.

At this moment, the fate of the German Empire could have been sealed.

This time, it was Stalin who gave Germany a chance.

The secretary, encouraged by the victory, issued unreasonable orders to the Red Army.

“Reach the Dnieper by spring. If you hesitate and the fascists seize half of Ukraine, how much trouble will that be?”

Soviet generals who had experienced purges did not dare to disobey Stalin’s orders.

The Soviets continued to advance westward, their exhausted troops running for hundreds of kilometers without stopping.

They ignored all the dangers, even though there were numerous German units standing behind them, threatening their supply lines.

Of course, the pressure on the German side was beyond imagination.

As Soviet troops approached within 20 kilometers of the Führer’s headquarters in Zaporozhye, Ukraine, Hitler could no longer be stubborn.

Even the President belatedly admitted that if you try to grab everything, you will end up losing everything.

“I will give you full authority, General. Do as you wish.”

Hitler then fled to East Prussia.

Erich von Manstein, who had been granted full authority by Hitler, was finally able to shake off the Führer’s restrictions and carry out operations as he wished.

“Launch a counterattack.”

As the spring storm arrived, the Soviet army was deep inside the German lines and could not move.

Manstein launched a counterattack with the help of his powerful air force.

“The Army may not know it, but the Luftwaffe still rules the skies!”

The Germans, who had been bombing Soviet supply lines and trucks with their air force throughout March, went on the offensive in April and began to push the Soviets back.

The steel dictator Stalin expressed his bewilderment at this situation.

“What, does this make sense?”

In terms of division numbers alone, it was 180 vs 60.

Although the German army was overwhelmingly inferior in numbers, they were able to reverse the situation and launch a counterattack with the proper support of the air force and efficient use of troops.

And in May, the Germans succeeded in destroying 30 Soviet divisions and rebuilding the broken front line.

It was truly a miraculous victory.

The Germans barely caught their breath with this victory, but the strategic situation was still unfavorable for Germany.

Despite the enormous losses suffered in the spring, the balance of power on the Eastern Front was in the Soviet Union’s favor.

In this situation, the Western Front, Italy, and the Balkans continued to request additional troops.

For Germany, it was a truly awkward situation.

The embankment would collapse if no action was taken, and the stones to plug the hole in the embankment had to be taken from embankments that were in relatively good condition.

‘If we keep turning back, we will really perish helplessly.’

The Junkers, who had been watching the situation, thought that now was the time to act.

Unless Germany immediately makes peace with the West and concentrates its forces on the Eastern Front, it will be trampled by the red wave.

Hitler had to be finished off before that.

“Let’s finish off Hitler with a bomb.”

“A bomb? That’s a bit unsettling.”

The conspirators did not like the bomb.

The reason was that the attempt to use a bomb in a coup d’état in Korea failed.

“If you put a bomb on Hitler’s plane.”

“No, I told you, that kind of lukewarm method won’t do.”

Hans Oster insisted on using assassination squads if necessary.

“Assassination squad.”

Certainly, that was a possibility.

Among the conspirators, the chief of counterintelligence, Canaris, who was most sympathetic to Hitler, took out the information he knew.

“Hitler will soon be inspecting the Eastern Front. He will be seen in October at the latest.”

“Then, at the time you mentioned, let’s lure Hitler to a secret location and kill him with a select force.”

“Then what about Operation Valkyrie?”

“That also needs to be activated at the same time.”

All blame is placed on the Praetorian Guard.

If we could kill Hitler and launch Operation Valkyrie, we would have had a chance.

Marshal Beck, the most senior of the conspirators, spoke quietly.

“Then, we need to secure the people who will form the government before then. In the military, prepare to take control of each field unit. General Pelgibel?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“As soon as Hitler is eliminated, communications must be restricted to our side.”

“Of course.”

“Okay, see you next week.”

The conspirators discussed their plan to remove Hitler again, then dispersed into the darkness.

Hitler was unaware of the Junkers’ plot, but he was keenly aware of the gravity of the situation.

Even Hitler had now given up on the idea of ​​winning in one go.

The Soviet Union, their enemy, was too large an enemy to be defeated with a single attack.

If so, the goal would be to deliver a sharp blow with a limited offensive, reducing the capabilities of the Soviet forces.

‘If we can silence the Soviets, we will have the power. If we can defeat the Allied forces that will land in Western Europe with that power, the West will beg for peace. Then we can concentrate our power in the East and achieve the final victory.’

Hitler has not yet given up on victory.

Realistically, that was an impossible dream.

But I couldn’t stand it without having at least one dream like that.

“The only thing I can trust is this offensive.”

The President repeated to himself several times.

This belief was also found among some in the German military.

“His Excellency the President has not always made the right decisions, but this decision to go on the offensive was the right one.”

Chief of the General Staff Kurt Zeitzler actively supported this attack.

Of course, the majority of the military viewed the idea of ​​launching a preemptive strike against the Soviets with reluctance.

‘Why go on the offensive when troops are already flowing out to the Balkans, Italy, and Western Europe?’

If the operation went well and the Soviet salient was cut off, it was possible to expect the results of shortening the front line and weakening the enemy.

But, things in this world don’t always go as planned.

There was no guarantee that the Soviets would sit back and take it.

“Our military’s new tank will solve all our problems.”

Zeitzler had faith in the power of the new main battle tank Panther and the heavy tank Tiger, which had just begun production.

Zeitzler believed that with the support of Germany’s superior armored forces, they had a good chance of winning.

Generals like Heinz Guderian disagreed with this.

“Do you know that the new tank has some defects and you believe that?”

However, the Air Force could not guarantee the same powerful support as before.

As the Western European campaign opened, the Luftwaffe had already diverted significant forces to Germany for homeland defense.

In the future, that number will only increase, not decrease.

It was difficult to expect the Luftwaffe to maintain air supremacy and beat up the Soviets as before.

There were further concerns.

The German army was woefully short of infantry.

In addition to the large-scale war of attrition that preceded and followed the Battle of Stalingrad, the Germans faced fierce fighting in the spring as well.

Because of this, most German divisions were suffering from a shortage of personnel.

As these weakened divisions were sent to Yugoslavia, Italy, and France, their available forces were reduced even further than in the spring.

Given these circumstances, generals like Manstein argued as follows:

“If we are going to attack, it would be best to attack now while we still have some strength left.”

Hitler opposed this.

“We are short on tanks, so postpone the operation until the Panthers and Tigers are replenished.”

In fact, Hitler himself was also anxious about the offensive.

If they failed this time, it was only a matter of time before they would end up like the two failed attempts at attacking Egypt.

‘I am not like Mussolini. I am not like that loser.’

Hitler tried to convince himself.

At that moment, someone suddenly came to mind.

It was Lee Seong-jun.

A shallow, rude, and impolite leader of an inferior race.

Why did I think of him?

Hitler bit his lip.

If you think about it, he has never failed before.

He won every war and was always on the winning side.

How on earth could that have happened?

Hitler shook his head, wondering if perhaps the leader of that inferior race was the chosen Übermensch.

That wasn’t it.

What a shallow and low-quality human being called an Übermensch.

It didn’t even make sense.

That’s why Hitler had to win.

I had to prove that I was better than that lowly yellow monkey.

‘I, I am the true Übermensch. I am the true Chosen One.’

Hitler turned his attention to the Korean dictator Lee Seong-jun, who was far to the east.