Chapter 860: Nibbling Is Better than Swallowing (First Update)

Luo Luo, please give me a monthly pass. I have to work hard this month and get a few more. Can you give me a monthly pass to encourage me?

.......

There was a crashing sound, and everything on the desk in Kremlin Office No. 1 was swept to the floor by Stalin's arm. The political bureau members and several most senior generals in the office were so frightened that they trembled for a while.

Pavlov and Shaposhnikov did not dare to raise their heads.

The news of the complete failure of the Battle of Gomel has just arrived! In last night's night battle, the tank group commanded by General Vatutin fought hard all night on the plain south of the Dobrusz Forest, and finally ended in a disastrous defeat.

The commander of the group, General Vatutin himself, was killed in the battle, more than 500 tanks/assault artillery were lost, and more than 20,000 Red Army soldiers were killed, seriously injured, and missing. If we include the losses of the 1st Tank Army and the 2nd Tank Army in the previous few days of combat, these two tank armies, which Stalin had high hopes for, lost a total of more than 1,600 tanks/assault artillery (not all were battle losses, Many were abandoned after malfunctions).

And now the remnants of the two tank armies that have just retreated into Ukraine on the left bank are still being chased and bombed by Breguet attack aircraft and Hs129 attack aircraft. In the end, even if the entire army is not wiped out, they will most likely be bombed into infantry!

In addition, a German "Panzer Group" moving south from Smolensk also completed the encirclement of the city of Dobryansk this morning. The 38th, 40th, and 48th Group Armies belonging to the Bryansk Front were also surrounded.

In addition, the 5th Tank Army, which was besieged in Collective Farm No. 13, seemed to be facing a dead end.

At this point, the victory of the joint meeting has been decided, and all six armies of the Soviet Bryansk Front have been surrounded or basically annihilated!

The most powerful mechanized group of the Soviet Red Army no longer exists! Stalin also lost his bargaining chip with the Germans in Switzerland.

And ceding left-bank Ukraine and East Belarus in exchange for peace meant political suicide for Stalin - this was losing Ukraine! It was the most valuable grain production base, coal mining area, steel industry and machinery industry center of the Soviet Union!

If it loses, the Soviet Union will no longer be able to become strong, and Stalin will become a sinner of the country and nation. How could a criminal continue to rule the Soviet Union? How could the party and the people accept the leadership of a sinner?

This is the Soviet Union (Russia)! The Russian people have always supported tyrants and opposed weak monarchs!

"Give... give Molotov power," Stalin muttered after a while, "tell him... that we can give up East Belarus to Germany, and... we also promise not to invade British India, We can also provide 10 million tons, no, 15 million tons of crude oil to Germany for free every year. In this way...Germany can use this oil to defeat the United States!"

The political bureau members and Red Army generals present all sighed inwardly. With the war going on like this, how can we get peace by cutting off half of Belarus?

When the Germans finish cleaning up the main force of the Bryansk Front, Left Bank Ukraine and Smolensk may not be safe, Leningrad will most likely fall into a tight siege again, and even... even Moscow is at risk of falling!

The Soviet Union is now in danger of subjugation!

…

"Haha, well done! Now the main force of the Soviet tank corps is finished!"

At this time, Hessmann, Chief of the General Staff of the German Wehrmacht, also received a successful message jointly sent by Marshal Manstein and General Mackensen.

Although he is a fake God of War, he still knows the value of this "Battle of the Junction" - the field battles on the Soviet-German battlefield are now fought by tank corps. If there is no powerful tank corps, ordinary infantry will only be fought. It's just a matter of defending a city. It's impossible to maintain a continuous front.

In the original history, the German armored regiments on the Soviet-German battlefield were basically at a numerical disadvantage, so the Soviet army could maintain a long front against the Germans.

And now, after the Battle of the Junction is completely over, the three Soviet tank armies will definitely be wiped out! If you count the tanks assigned to the combined army lost in Belarus, Smolensk and Bryansk. The number of tanks/assault artillery lost by the Soviet Union is likely to exceed 5,000!

Moreover, the Soviet Union will soon lose Donetsk, the center of the steel and coal industry, and Kharkiv, the center of the machinery industry. Its ability to replenish tanks/assault artillery will be greatly reduced. The loss of these 5,000 tanks/assault artillery will probably be difficult to make up for.

On the other hand, Germany has no production bottleneck for tanks because it is backed by the machinery and steel industries of most of Europe. The only constraint is the lack of oil, but this difficulty will become less and less due to the commissioning of the British synthetic gasoline project and the increase in production from the oil fields in the Middle East.

So from now on, the German tank corps will not only have an advantage in quality, but also greatly surpass the Soviet Union in quantity!

Of course, the premise for Germany to maintain this dual advantage of tank force quality and quantity is that the Soviet-German war continues.

If peace negotiations can succeed in the near future, Germany will no longer need to pursue numerical superiority.

"Heinz," Hessmann smiled at Guderian, "With this victory, the initiative on the Eastern Front battlefield is completely in my hands, and a glorious peace is not far away."

Guderian just nodded without commenting.

Hersman continued: "The focus of our work will also need to be shifted in the near future. Once peace is achieved, the army will not need to occupy so many resources and labor. Now we should start to formulate plans to cut the army and effectively control the newly occupied territories... Of course, disarmament does not mean a significant weakening of the army's combat effectiveness. The Soviet Union is unwilling to fail, and we must be prepared.

So the army's armored divisions and armored grenadier divisions must still be retained, and the E-50 tank plan must be implemented to the end. In addition, before the E-50 tank goes into production, the Tiger G tank and its improved models should become the main tanks of the armored forces, and the No. 4 tank can be gradually retired from active service."

As the Tiger tank becomes more mature, the value of the No. 4 tank is also declining. At present, the advantage of the No. 4 is its strong mobility. But if Germany wins peace on the Eastern Front, then the Wehrmacht's mission on the Eastern Front in the future will be defense. Then mobility is not as important as defense and firepower.

Therefore, Hersman planned to phase out the Type 4 tank after the Soviet-German peace talks, and replace it with the Tiger G tank, which had actually been transformed into a "medium tank" (similar to the Black Panther in history, but with an 88mm gun) and the E-50 tank under development.

In Hersman's view, the day of peace between the Soviet Union and Germany seemed not far away.

"Imperial Marshal, can we really not consider restoring the Russian Empire?" Guderian couldn't help but speak out his thoughts, "The Soviet Union is a scourge after all. Although it has been defeated by us now, it is hard to guarantee that it will not rise again in the future."

"The Soviet Union will rise again? Haha," Hersman laughed.

A Soviet Union that lost Ukraine, Belarus, and the three Baltic countries was not much stronger than the weak Russia in later generations. What about the Soviet Union's rise again? Maybe there were still people who said it in the 1990s, but 20 years after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, it was probably just a joke.

Moreover, the Soviet Union, which lost the world war in this time and space, faced a more sinister international and domestic situation. It is a miracle that they can hold out for 20 years without collapse. It is simply a dream to want to rise again.

Hersman shook his head and said: "Without Ukraine, the Soviet Union will only become weaker and weaker. How can it rise again? And our peace treaty with the Soviet Union is not always valid!"

"Not always valid?" Guderian asked, "Will there be a second Soviet-German war?"

Hersman shrugged and smiled: "That's not certain! We now have Ukraine's food, coal, steel (Lviv has a huge iron ore) and non-ferrous metals, and we also control the oil sea in the Middle East. The next 10 years will surely be a decade of rapid development of Germany's national strength.

The Soviet Union not only lost its most valuable industrial base and grain production area, Moreover, the authority of the Bolshevik Party was greatly damaged. In the next 10 years, it would be difficult for the Bolshevik Party to maintain its power, so how could it have spare energy for construction? After 10 years, there would be a more powerful German Empire that united the whole of Europe. Would it still be afraid that it would not be able to destroy the Soviet Union? Therefore, the Bolsheviks who overthrew the Soviet Union did not need to rush. The current priority was to compete with the United States for the leadership of the world. As long as the world obeyed Germany, the Soviet Union was just a dish that could be eaten at any time. "

Hersmann's way was to nibble, eat bite by bite, eat a meal to digest, and then continue. It was a bit difficult to swallow the Soviet Union in one bite, so it was better to eat slowly.

Moreover, Germany did not only have the Soviet Union as an opponent at present. There was also the United States across the Atlantic Ocean. If Germany wanted to start a war on two fronts, it would have to fight the Soviet Union while joining Japan to fight the United States. That... not enough oil!

The current Soviet-German war basically had not left the railway line far, and the oil consumption was already so high that it was distressing. If the Soviet Union was to be destroyed, where would the battlefield go? The fuel consumption will be even more frightening.

In addition, the United States is not so easy to deal with. The advantage of the German and Japanese navies is just to play a time difference, temporarily suppressing the US Navy before the US "dumpling ship" is launched.

However, the "dumplings" will come eventually! And Germany has been prepared for this. Shipyards in Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, and even the UK are now rushing to build ships.

But these ships must have oil to start. Now the scale of the European Joint Fleet is 20,000 tons a day. If all the ships piled on the slipway are launched, 50,000 tons or 60,000 tons a day may not be enough!