Chapter 973 It’s Stalin’s Turn

It is now March 1944, and the "winter break" on the Eastern Front in Europe is almost over. The ice and snow on the Russian land began to melt, the frozen soil gradually turned into mud, and the temperature began to rise. In a month or so, the Russian plains will become the most ideal battlefield for mechanized corps operations.

The Soviet-German War, which lasted for nearly two years, will most likely be decided between May and November 1944.

It is no exaggeration to say that 1944 will be the decisive year of World War II! The battlefield that can decide the outcome of the war cannot be in the Pacific, but can only be in Russia.

Today, on March 10, 1944, the military meeting held in the General Staff in Zossen was not about the so-called great victory achieved by Japan in the Hawaiian Islands - this was just a small episode before the main topic began.

For the current German Wehrmacht General Staff, the war in the Pacific is not important at all. Whether Japan suffered a disastrous defeat or a great victory, it made no difference to Germany - the Japanese were just a tool to bleed the US air force.

Now the only things that can really decide the outcome of the war are the Soviet-German battlefield where tens of millions of troops are fighting and... the atomic bomb!

The latter has been assembled and is waiting to be tested in the desert of the French Algerian province - in fact, Germany had already collected 100 kilograms of weapon-grade plutonium-239 at the end of 1943, which was enough to assemble 10 atomic bombs according to later technology. However, the current technical level is limited (it is a big question to create a chain reaction with as little plutonium-239 and uranium-235 as possible. It is impossible to get the correct conclusion by calculation alone, and repeated experiments are required), but two atomic bombs can still be assembled.

The reason why the test was not carried out was mainly because there was a problem with the pre-selected test site. Because the French government promoted "Europeanization" and "Christianization" in Algeria, it triggered a "God War" aimed at opposing France and Germany in August 1943.

So France and Germany had to use their troops to suppress the "Saints" in Algeria, and the bloody war lasted until February 1944 before it was basically over. However, the planned nuclear test was postponed.

The postponement of the nuclear test was of course related to the lack of urgency to use the atomic bomb. The current Soviet-German War has, to some extent, become a Soviet-Russian civil war. If the atomic bomb was used to bomb Moscow in the Soviet-Russian civil war, Queen Olga would be "extremely politically incorrect".

As for the use of atomic bombs against the United States, Cuba must be taken first, otherwise the Me264 long-range bomber loaded with atomic bombs can only break into the US mainland without escort... This is absolutely a suicide mission!

In addition, according to the reliable intelligence held by Germany, the progress of the US atomic bomb project is very slow.

Not only do they lack enough scientists, but they also do not have enough metallic uranium for research - all the high-quality uranium mines produced in the Belgian Congo in Africa that were shipped to the United States in history fell into the hands of Germany. So the Manhattan Project in the United States had to start with prospecting and mining.

Although the Americans soon found a uranium mine in the Great Bear Lake area of ​​Ontario, Canada (this mine existed in the 1930s, and was mainly used to produce radium at the time, but the output was not high), and obtained several tons of uranium ore. But the quantity is too small and it is of no use at all. We can only wait patiently for the uranium mine to expand production and dig out enough ore before the Manhattan Project can really start. However, due to the lack of enough top scientists, the progress of the Manhattan Project is still slow, and it is now far behind Germany.

So in the competition to make atomic bombs, Germany undoubtedly won. Therefore, this matter is not what needs to be discussed at today's General Staff Operations Meeting. The main content of today's meeting is only one, that is, to defeat the Soviet Union!

...

"According to the reliable intelligence we have," when the meeting officially began to discuss the issue of fighting against the Soviet Union, the first speaker was Lieutenant General Geiger, director of the General Staff Military Intelligence Bureau, "In the past few months, the Soviet authorities headed by Stalin have been actively preparing for the final decisive battle. Not only did they recruit a large number of Red Army troops, but they also developed and produced the JS-2 heavy tank that claimed to be able to defeat our Tiger tanks.

According to the Red Army officials who defected to the Russian Empress Government, this JS-2 heavy tank has a total weight of about 45 tons, is equipped with a 122mm main gun, and has the thickest front armor. 120mm! The heavier JS-3 tank is also being developed at an accelerated pace and is expected to be put into use in 1944.

In addition, the Soviet Air Force has received a lot of assistance from the United States. The Yak-9 and LaG-5/LaG-7 fighters have been developed. It is expected to pose a certain threat to our Fw-190 series and Fokker Zero series. "

Although the Soviet Union has now lost its most important industrial bases, Eastern Ukraine and Leningrad, Stalin and the Soviet heavy industry have not given up the effort to seek more powerful heavy tanks.

In fact, the Soviet Union, which is currently on the strategic defensive, needs heavy tanks with strong armor and firepower more than Germany. Because the Red Army on the defensive does not have high requirements for tank mobility, they need heavy tanks or powerful artillery that can fire and destroy the enemy in a stationary state and withstand the enemy's tank fire counterattack.

Therefore, the JS-2 heavy tank with a 122mm main gun and solid armor became Stalin's hope to turn the tide of the war. Its importance is almost similar to that of the German Tiger King heavy tank in the same period of history.

However, the Tiger King did not appear in Germany, which was on a strategic offensive. This tank weighing nearly 70 tons was too heavy for roads and bridges in the Soviet Union.

So the weight of about 50 tons has now become the upper limit of the combat weight of tanks that the German Wehrmacht can accept - in fact, the combat weight of the JS-2 heavy tank is only 45-46 tons.

The Tiger tank and E-50 tank, which have shrunk in weight, meet the tanks currently needed by the German Wehrmacht.

After several months of research and development and full production, the Tiger H tank and E-50A tank have become the main force of the German armored forces.

Among them, the Tiger H tank adopted the same 6 pairs of road wheels as the E-50 tank, and its combat weight was further reduced to 45 tons. It is also more reliable and durable than the previous E, F and G types. The speed has also increased a lot, with a maximum speed of 48 kilometers per hour and a maximum off-road speed of 24 kilometers per hour. Therefore, it is possible to replace the No. 4 H tank as the main tank of the German armored forces.

At present, all German armored regiments have adopted a mixed formation of Tiger H tanks and Panzer IV H tanks. Each tank regiment has a medium tank battalion equipped with Panzer IV H tanks (88 tanks at full strength) and a heavy tank battalion equipped with Tiger H tanks (66 tanks at full strength). As a result, the number of tanks in each tank regiment has been reduced to 154.

When the Tiger H began to replace the Panzer IV H, the E-50A tank, with a combat weight of 55 tons (5 tons heavier than the prototype E-50-0, and improved performance accordingly, with the frontal armor thickness increased to 130mm/50 degrees, and the theoretical defense capability equivalent to 202mm vertical armor), replaced the original Tiger tank and became the main tank of the heavy armored battalion.

At present, all 26 armored divisions are equipped with a heavy armored battalion equipped with 44 E-50A tanks and 22 Panzer IV H tanks.

While equipping a large number of Tiger H tanks and E-50A tanks, the German military industry department developed two tank destroyers based on the Tiger H tank chassis, one of which was named the "Cheetah" tank destroyer.

The reason why it is "Cheetah" instead of "Jagdtiger" is that the current Tiger H tank is the product of "Tiger and Panther fusion". The "Black Panther" tank that appeared briefly in 1942 was not eliminated, but was integrated into the Tiger. Therefore, in order to commemorate the "Black Panther" tank, the German Wehrmacht Armored General Directorate named this latest tank destroyer "Cheetah".

In fact, the appearance of this "Cheetah" tank destroyer is very similar to the historical "Cheetah", but the chassis uses 6 pairs of road wheels instead of staggered road wheels. In addition, the main gun does not use the same 88mmL/71 gun as the E-50A, but uses the latest 105mmL/68 gun developed by Krupp.

However, the powerful "Cheetah" was not equipped in large numbers. The German Wehrmacht only used them to form more than a dozen heavy tank destroyer battalions directly under the army group to deal with the possible Soviet "super tanks".

The "Sturmtiger" self-propelled artillery (weighing 60 tons), which was also based on the Tiger H tank chassis, was also developed and equipped with troops at the end of 1943. This self-propelled artillery was developed for the upcoming Moscow street fighting. It has a 380mm mortar that can launch rockets to destroy any building.

In addition, there is also a strange "impact tiger" obstacle destroying tank that appeared at the end of 1943. This "obstacle destroying tank" belongs to the equipment of combat engineers. It is a streamlined protruding superstructure added to the chassis of the eliminated Tiger E tank, and a plowshare or shovel is optionally installed in the front. This "tank" can be used to crash into enemy obstacles, bury enemy bunkers and trenches, and clear mines.

This kind of "impact tiger" was, of course, tailor-made to bury Comrade Stalin's red regime!