Chapter 489 Winning Is the only Way

"...After comprehensively analyzing intelligence from all sides, the General Staff believes that the Soviet Union is preparing to go to war with our country! However, the Soviet-German war is not inevitable, and it will not break out in the short term, because the Soviet Union has not completed its war preparations."

At the regular meeting of the Supreme Command on August 8, 1941, the Chief of the General Staff of the Wehrmacht, Imperial Marshal Hersmann, reported lightly that the Soviet Union was preparing for war.

In his opinion, there is nothing to worry about, because the Soviet Bolshevik Party has just begun to create public opinion, and it is already August. In at most three months, the climate in the Baltic coastal areas, Poland, Ukraine and Finland will become unsuitable for combat. If the Soviet Red Army really wants to launch an offensive, it will have to wait until the spring of 1942.

"According to the exact situation known by the General Staff of the Wehrmacht, the current situation of the Soviet Red Army is also difficult to undertake large-scale mechanized assaults. Although the Soviet Red Army has a large number of tanks, more than twice as many as we have, they do not have enough cars to motorize infantry, artillery and logistics. At present, the three military districts in the western part of the Soviet Union, the Western Military District, the Southwestern Military District and the Northern Military District, have a total of only 150,000 cars, and the total number of cars owned by the entire Soviet Red Army is only about 270,000. Moreover, the performance and quality of these cars are generally poor, and it is difficult to meet the needs of logistics and infantry mobility in mechanized warfare..."

Hersmann then began to analyze the combat readiness of the Soviet Red Army. In this time and space, the depth and breadth of Soviet-German cooperation are greater than in history. Therefore, the German Wehrmacht General Staff has a more comprehensive understanding of the Soviet defense force.

The Soviet Union's war capabilities are undoubtedly very strong. The number of aircraft, tanks and artillery owned by the Red Army is far greater than that of the German Army. But the Red Army also has a weakness that is difficult to overcome, that is, there are not enough cars to motorize infantry and logistics. Although the Soviet Union attached great importance to the development of the automobile industry in its two five-year plans, the development of the Soviet automobile industry was never ideal. As of 1940, the annual output of automobiles in the Soviet Union was only 145,400 vehicles, including 136,000 trucks.

Although the annual output of 145,400 vehicles is not small, it is less than one-third of Germany (this is the output after Germany restricted the production of civilian vehicles in order to save fuel), and even less than France's output in 1939. Considering the vastness of the Soviet Union and the large number of the Red Army, these cars can only serve as a supplement to railway transportation, and cannot provide transportation and logistical support for 2 million or more heavy troops when the railway line is partially paralyzed (bombed or deep into enemy territory).

"In addition, the combat effectiveness of the Soviet Red Air Force is also relatively weak. Although they have a large number of combat aircraft, the performance of most of the aircraft is generally poor. They are no match for the Fw-192, BF-109 and Fokker Zero, and the Soviet electronic industry is very backward, lacking high-performance radar and communication equipment. This further weakens the combat capability of the Soviet Red Air Force.

The Soviet Red Navy currently has no ability to confront our navy. Their "Soviet" class battleships and "Kronstadt" class battlecruisers have not yet been built, so the Soviet Navy has no ability to maintain the North Atlantic sea transport line during wartime. Once a war breaks out, the Soviet Union's external traffic will be completely cut off by us and Japan, thus losing the possibility of obtaining assistance from the United States..."

Hersman said proudly at the headquarters meeting A lot of them, and finally came to the following conclusion: "Unless the Soviet Union first gets enough American aid to motorize their huge Red Army, and get thousands of high-performance P-51 and P-40 aircraft, and also reserves at least 20 million tons of fuel to ensure that there is enough oil to sustain the war and the national economy after the Baku, Batumi and Grozny oil-producing areas are completely destroyed. Otherwise, Stalin will never rashly provoke a war. And to achieve the above goals, the Soviet Union needs at least 10-12 months to prepare. In other words, the war between us and the Soviet Union will occur as early as June 1942. Of course, this is only the earliest time that the Soviet-German War may break out."

Hersmann hoped to delay the outbreak of the Soviet-German War as much as possible, and even hoped to avoid the Soviet-German War. Because it is impossible for the US and British navies to destroy the Third Reich, but only the Soviet Union's land force-historically, if there was no Eastern Front, the Normandy Landing would not have happened at all. The German Third Reich will definitely not have a problem in surviving until the 21st century, not to mention the existence of a thousand years.

In this time and space, Germany has already controlled the oil in the Middle East. After 1943, the production of Middle Eastern oil will be greatly increased to meet the wartime needs of the entire European Community and Italy. By then, Germany's military strength will be greatly strengthened! Moreover, Germany's U project will be closer to success than it is now.

In addition, the naval forces of Germany, Italy, France and Japan may also achieve a decisive victory over Britain and the United States before 1943. By then, Germany will be invincible, and it will be much easier to deal with the Soviet Union.

Hitler listened carefully to Hersmann's analysis. When Hersmann finally expressed his conclusion, the Nazi leader showed a wry smile, and his mustache and mouth moved. He said: "Marshal Reich, can't we consider taking action against the Soviet Union first? There are 3 to 3.5 million Wehrmacht troops sitting idle. And we also have the most powerful air force and armored forces in the world... although they are not as numerous as the Soviet Red Army. But the combat effectiveness is certainly far greater than that of the Soviet Red Army, and perhaps we can eliminate this scourge once and for all within a few months.”

"Leader, your thoughts are the same as those of Emperor Napoleon." Hessmann had long known Hitler's thoughts. He said in a disapproving tone, "More than a hundred years ago, Napoleon's army was also very powerful, far exceeding the Tsar's. army, but the war against Russia became a watershed in the decline of Napoleon’s empire.”

"It was the Russian winter that defeated Napoleon's army." Adolf Hitler's attitude was unswerving, and he obviously firmly believed that victory must belong to him. "We don't need to attack immediately, but we can launch an attack in the spring of 1942. If we start the attack in April, we have 6-7 months to use. Can't we still defeat the Soviet Union?"

"It's possible, but not certain." Hersman shrugged. "We can't imagine the Soviet Union as another France. The Bolsheviks have a very strong will to fight, and they will fully tap the military potential of the entire Russian nation."

"But the Russians don't support the brutal rule of the Bolsheviks, do they?" Adolf Hitler looked at Hersmann, "We have a Russian empress in our hands. She is very attractive. The tyranny of the Bolsheviks will definitely be missed by the Russian people. From the Romanov dynasty. If we carry the queen’s banner, we might be welcomed by the Russians.”

Hitler obviously didn’t know enough about Russian history! Hersmann thought to himself that the German leader knew the situation in Central Europe and France very well, but he knew very little about Russia.

"Empress Olga only has a strong appeal in Belarus," Hersman said, "but no one in the Soviet Union knows her, and Russians do not love the defeated Romanov dynasty."

He winked at Marshal Schleicher, another "Russian-knowledge" figure. Schleicher said: "My leader, if you study the history of Russia carefully, it is not difficult to find that there are no good tsars in Russian history. Those tsars are all tyrants by European standards.

But as long as the countries led by these tyrants can win the war, there will be no problem. If a tyrant can't win a war, he's in big trouble... This is Russia. Russians are actually just European-looking Tatars who like brutal and powerful rulers. And the Bolsheviks are precisely such rulers! "

Hersman also said: "In the history of Russia, as long as it can win foreign wars, the tsar's power will be consolidated, no matter how cruel he is. If the country loses the war, then the tsarist government must immediately Various improvements were made to appease people's hearts. And now the Bolsheviks have defeated Poland, Finland, taken back Bessarabia, and now occupy most of Afghanistan... Although the victory is not very good, it is a victory after all."

The history of Russia or the Soviet Union can be summed up in one sentence: winning is the last word! As long as the country can win foreign wars, any tyrant will be loved by the Russian people. If we can't win, then the people will make trouble, and the people above will be unstable.

Hersman continued: "So we cannot expect those in Russia to abandon the Bolshevik Party that won the war and welcome a foreign puppet that lost the war. At least the Russian nation will not do this. The Ukrainians may welcome us, but The Russians definitely don’t.”

Hitler hesitated for a while and seemed to waver in his original position. He did not understand the Russians very well, but Hersmann and Schleicher, who were from East Prussia, had been dealing with the Russians for generations. He shrugged and said, "So what are we going to do about these nasty Bolsheviks?"

"A solid line of defense can be established," Hessman said. "If the Soviet Red Army wants to attack, it will attack them hard and completely defeat the Bolsheviks! As long as the Bolsheviks lose a war they started, they will be in big trouble. At that time we might consider supporting the restoration of Queen Olga."