Chapter 707: Britain First, Then the Soviet Union
In October 1942, US President Franklin Roosevelt was faced with a difficult choice. His opponents, German leader and chancellor Hitler and Imperial Marshal Hessmann, also had to make choices on many battlefields that seemed very critical.
Because the relationship with the Soviet Union could not be maintained, Germany was finally caught in a situation of fighting on multiple fronts. However, the situation is definitely more favorable than the same period in history - Germany is now able to cope with the situation of fighting on multiple fronts. And there is already a "front" in this "multiple fronts", that is, the front of the war with Britain is in sight of victory.
"From the end of 1942 to the end of the Soviet muddy season in 1943, we should strive to end the war on our homeland!"
At the meeting of the Supreme Command on October 3, Hessmann put forward the current primary goal. He said: "As long as we solve the British mainland, the empire will be invincible."
"Imperial Marshal, if we want to occupy the British mainland in the next 6 months, will we still be able to launch a large-scale offensive on the Black Sea coast?" Hitler asked.
He was obviously more concerned about the Eastern Front. Britain now looks like a dead tiger. Due to the complete blockade for several months, Britain has to rely on reserve materials to survive. Although the oil reserves can barely maintain, the food is temporarily enough to make a living, and coal and iron ore can also cope with it temporarily (Britain itself is a major coal producer with abundant iron ore reserves). However, there is a serious shortage of various non-ferrous metals except tin ore, and without non-ferrous metals, the British war machine immediately has a big problem.
Because there is not enough aluminum, British aircraft have begun to use a lot of wood and steel as fuselage and wing materials since June 1942, which has increased the empty weight of British aircraft. At the same time, due to the lack of rare metals, the engine level of British aircraft and tanks has also begun to regress, and the engines have become heavier and less heat-resistant. Coupled with the shortage of high-quality gasoline derived from the lack of oil (without good gasoline, the performance of aircraft engines will further decline), and the lack of gasoline caused by the serious lack of pilot training. Now the Royal Air Force has almost disappeared from the English Channel and the island of Ireland.
The German Navy can now swagger across the English Channel in good weather during the day!
German planes could even enter and exit southern England (south of London) at will, bombing British radar stations, airports, ground artillery and other targets.
On the island of Ireland, although Britain had accumulated a large number of ground troops. However, because of its air superiority, it was firmly controlled by the European coalition led by the German army, so every attack was weak and meaningless except for increasing casualties.
If Germany had not gone to war with the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front, the voices of peace in Britain would have drowned out the stubborn Prime Minister Churchill - in fact, in May 1942 before the outbreak of the Soviet-German War, Churchill and the British war faction were ready to flee to Canada!
Even after the outbreak of the Soviet-German War, the cruise ships flying the flag of a neutral country and traveling between Britain and Canada (after Germany completely controlled the North Atlantic route, cruise ships flying the British flag were no longer allowed to pass, but they agreed to allow neutral cruise ships to transport British people to Canada, but these cruise ships must be subject to strict inspections by the German Navy to prevent strategic materials from flowing into the British mainland) were not only not deserted, but even more prosperous. Obviously, the British government is still implementing the plan to move to Canada.
In this case, Hitler and Hess, who have always been pro-British, believe that as long as they can establish an unshakable advantage on the Eastern Front, the British mainland will join the Greater Europe led by Germany, so they are now keen to attack the Soviet Union.
"I'm afraid not." Hessman shook his head and said, "We now have two powerful enemies and a half-dead but very insidious enemy. Therefore, the use of troops is not loose, and there must be trade-offs. If we use the army and fleet in the Black Sea, then we can land on the coast of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. But it is not easy to advance from the coast of the Sea of Azov to the Caspian Sea area, and it cannot be done before the end of the muddy season in 1943. If we cannot complete the offensive from the Sea of Azov to the Caspian Sea, we will not be able to cut off the connection between the Baku-Grozny oil-producing area and Moscow. Therefore, my opinion is to postpone the attack on the Caucasus and southern Russia until 1943."
Adolf Hitler looked at Marshal Kesselring, the Chief of the General Staff, again. Kesselring nodded and said, "The General Staff thinks so too. Our progress in Ukraine is going smoothly. We estimate that we can seize the entire right-bank Ukraine by May 1943. In this way, we can launch a large-scale offensive in southern Russia in the summer of 1943."
"Is the target the Caucasus oil-producing area?" Hitler asked.
Kesselring shook his head and said a place name that made Hersman a little scared: "It's Stalingrad! From Kiev, advancing 1,000 kilometers to the east is Stalingrad. If we can capture Stalingrad, the connection between the Caucasus oil-producing area and Moscow will be cut off.
Moreover, in Stalingrad and Kharkov and Donetsk that need to be occupied on the way to Stalingrad, they are all important industrial cities of the Soviet Union! If our plan to attack Stalingrad is completed, the Soviet Union's war potential will be reduced by 50%."
"But... can we win?" Hitler asked again, "We have to advance 1,000 kilometers!"
"Yes!" Marshal Kesselring said with great confidence, "because the Soviet Red Army must relieve Leningrad in the summer of 1943! Otherwise... Empress Olga will get her Petrograd, plus a population of 2 million, 600,000 troops and a solid industrial base.”
The current siege of Leningrad is a complete siege and it is a siege without a fight. It is clear that Leningrad will be forced to become Petrograd through starvation. This was a situation that Stalin and the Bolshevik Party did not want to see under any circumstances.
Therefore, this winter and next summer, the Soviet Union will definitely launch a campaign to relieve the siege of Leningrad. By then, the Soviet Union's elite troops will definitely be concentrated around Leningrad, and the southern Russian region will be relatively empty.
"Reichsmarschall, do you agree?" Hitler asked Hersmann again.
"Agreed." Hessman nodded. Although he was frightened by the name Stalingrad, Hersmann agreed to the plan drawn up by the General Staff.
"Then...we can't attack the Russians severely before the summer of 1943?" Hitler seemed unwilling to do so. “Are we going to watch the Russians use this winter to recover?”
"No." Hessman shook his head, "We will continue to attack the Soviet Union!"
"Where to strike?"
"At sea!" Hersman said, "If we want to attack the Soviets at sea... we must first completely blockade the Soviet Union. This is the best way to weaken the Soviet Union's war potential!"
Although Stalin's three five-year plans enabled Soviet industry to achieve great achievements. But the Soviet Union was still not a truly "self-sufficient" country. Although the Soviet Union was self-sufficient in raw materials, its industrial categories were also very complete.
However, the foundation of Soviet industry was too thin after all. Many products were only of quantity but not quality. Therefore, it needed to obtain key components and high-tech materials from the United States.
"Complete blockade?" Hitler frowned, "Relying on the aircraft carrier Seidlitz?"
Admiral Raeder added: "There are also the guided missile cruiser 'Kaiser Friedrich III', the reconnaissance cruiser Warsaw, the light cruiser Posen and four other destroyers, as well as a seaplane carrier, two fast supply ships, 2 fast refueling ships and 4 camouflaged assault ships.”
"That's all?" Hitler asked doubtfully, "Is that enough?"
Redl replied: "That's enough! They're enough to block the North Pacific shipping lanes."
"Okay, so where are these ships now?"
"In the Mediterranean, Alexandria."
…
The name of this small expeditionary fleet now gathered in Alexandria, Egypt under Italian rule, is the "European Combined Fleet Eastern Squadron". The commander of the fleet is Lieutenant General Leopold Siemens, chief of staff and flagship of the fleet. The captain of the guided missile cruiser Kaiser Friedrich III is Colonel Hans-Karl Mayer, and the captain of the main aircraft carrier Seydlitz is Colonel Gerhard Wagner. And Hersmann's eldest son Rudolf von Heinsberg-Hersmann was also in this expedition fleet.
He is currently flying his new aircraft, a Fw-190T carrier-based fighter-bomber produced by Fokker Company, for dive bombing training.
"Captain, it missed. It missed a lot."
As soon as the training bombs were dropped, fluent English came from Little Hersman's earphones. This was a Japanese soldier talking to him - the man who was watching him drop the bombs from the flight console of the Seydlitz liked to carry a handle. Japanese Navy Major Shigeru Itani who boarded the plane without a parachute.
Major Shigeru Itani was sent by the Japanese Navy to the European Eastern Fleet as a liaison officer and observer. He was also responsible for studying the German new carrier-based aircraft Fw-190T-1. In the words of his good friend Hersman Jr., the Fw-190T is an all-purpose aircraft that can do everything, but can do nothing well.
This aircraft can not only carry out air combat, but can also carry bombs and rockets to attack surface ships. It is said that special dive bombing and torpedo attack types are being developed (Fw-190T-2 and Fw-190T-3).
In addition, although this aircraft is a carrier-based aircraft, it has quite good high-altitude performance (because the BMW-801S has a MW50 jet afterburner system and a supercharger that can adapt to high-altitude environments). It can cover Ju288 bombers carrying remote-controlled gliding bombs, and can also escape from high altitudes without defeating enemy carrier-based aircraft.
However, the shortcomings of this aircraft are also very obvious. Its performance in mid- and low-altitude combat is poor, its landing speed is too fast, and its bomb delivery is inaccurate... In short, it can't do anything well.