I became Stalin chapter 111

111

“After all, Leningrad?”

“Yes that’s right.”

All information pointed to the direction of the German offensive in one place.

The capital of revolution, the heart of northern Russia, and the undisputed second-largest city of the Soviet Union, Leningrad.

The spy network that infiltrated the Defense Forces, the Italian deserters who deserted and handed over the operational plans of the German army, and the movement of goods identified by the Partisans were all correct in this way.

Of course, it was a bland conclusion compared to what we had been struggling with over whether it was central or southern.

“The 1st Panzer Group, which was part of Army Group South, was reorganized into the 1SS Panzer Army and deployed forward in the direction of Leningrad. In May, it is predicted that the offensive will begin in mid-May when the ground hardens.”

“Is the commander still Manstein?”

“Yes that’s right. Unfortunately, he seems to have succeeded in preserving his place in the political upheaval within Germany, swearing allegiance to the Nazis and Hitler.”

It was kind of sad. Even in actual history, Manstein was loyal to the Nazis and Hitler despite his aristocratic background. In fact, it didn’t end there, it was just a rant at all.

So, it must have been an extremely difficult opponent to defeat with one spy operation… . In any case, it was not good that the commander was thoroughly verified in terms of ability among the many famous German military commanders.

“By the way… Why Leningrad?”

Leningrad was one of the most concentrated regions of Soviet industrial power.

They all agreed that it was a target worth aiming for. Army Group North, one of the three German Army Groups, continued to struggle towards Leningrad.

“Isn’t it to destroy our industrial capabilities, Comrade General? The symbolism of the capture of the capital of the revolution and the old capital is also… .”

“okay. let’s say we did So what’s next?”

“… .”

Leningrad is important, but what are you going to do if you take it? There was nothing more to do.

Instead of targeting Leningrad, there were also many important places to aim for.

For example, Moscow. Moscow is not only the capital, but it was also one of the key points through which the European and Russian rail networks passed.

Also behind were large cities such as Gorky, Yaroslavl and Ivanovo. If the Army Group Central took over Moscow, there were options to either annihilate the isolated Soviet troops or push them into the metropolitan cities.

The same goes for southern Ukraine. Although they had already been pushed too far and suffered heavy losses in the ensuing battles, there were many tasty targets in front of Army Group South Germany.

Let’s start with Kiev, which we intended to occupy last year. If Kiev is captured, Kharkov. After Kharkov, Stalino, an industrial area on the Don River. Then Stalingrad, who can rule the Volga River. Ultimately, Bakura, the world’s second largest oil producing region, had a goal.

But Leningrad?

“Are they going to go save Finland as an ally? Ha!”

Contrary to actual history, the German surface fleet was so installed that there was no rental service coming to Murmansk, which is adjacent to the Arctic Ocean.

So, I just gave up fighting with the Finns in a cool way and allowed the Finns to advance to the land they had stolen from the Winter War.

In return, the Finnish army was not coming down any further. The extent of exchanging bullets with the Soviet Army, who had built a solidly fortified line north of Leningrad, from time to time.

“First, let me introduce you to the important facilities of Leningrad. Maybe this is their goal, but… .”

“Yes! Comrade Secretary General.”

“Are there no more railcars available? You deployed the troops too early.”

“I will investigate and report!”

Millions of troops and equipment have already been deployed in the Central and South. It was impossible to tell them to cross this wide land on foot, so they put it down on a train, and literally tens of thousands of trains were tied up all over the place to take them.

These troops had to be reloaded and sent to the north, but the task required horribly many orders, timetables and paperwork.

uh… My head hurts already.

To just give orders and let subordinates take care of things… It was very suspicious. How to feel reassured to see what is going on with my eyes.

What will you do in your spare time?

In this era, entertainment was very scarce. Also, the birth rate was high (???). Living in the age of smartphones, YouTube, and web novels, there was nothing I could do. I’d rather work than play chess, trembling with worry and anxiety!

I flipped through the report, beating the calculator in my head as to how much more work I had to do. Estimated deployments of troops were written down.

“One million people in that narrow northern part… . Did Hitler have a plan?”

“That… That’s right. It seems that the newly formed divisions or the elite units of the Armed Forces have been moved to the north. According to intelligence… .”

At the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, Group Northern Army consisted of 3 field armies, 560,000 men, and 3 armored divisions. It had almost doubled in volume. Is it an expression of a strong will to occupy Leningrad without fail? Or is it just going crazy?

“We will also have to reinforce the Northern Front on a large scale. Reinforce the two fronts as scheduled. Marshal Konev!”

“Yes! Comrade Secretary General!”

“Explain your plan.”

“Okay. Now look here… .”

Here’s a summary of what the intelligence network had to say:

Germany is targeting Leningrad and plans to push up by massive reinforcements of Army Group North. As the elite units were concentrated in Army Group North, there was a relatively empty space in the central and southern regions.

These voids were filled with newly deployed units from France, Italy and Spain, whose combat strength is unknown, but not very high.

If it was Milduk, he probably remembered something here.

“It is said that Army Group North of the Fascists will select the Pskov-Leningrad axis as the main offensive direction and advance. At this time, the right wing of the main axis is bound to be elongated.”

It is said to be a ‘gateway’, but the distance from Pskov to Leningrad is approximately 300 km. If you march through this street for an offensive, of course, your side will be exposed for a long time.

They also knew this limitation, so they would have tried to defend the flanks by increasing their troops to close to 1 million.

However, it is not possible to hit enough troops on every battlefield. Germany chose to draw two field troops from Army Group Center and to place French and Italian troops in their place. Konev marked the armies of both countries in light blue and yellow on the map.

“As it has been identified as a battle so far, the Italian army can be said to be extremely weak. Our plan is to launch an offensive into the areas they defend, return to the rear of the German forces defending Smolensk, and destroy the siege.”

It was Operation Uranus that led to the victory of Stalingrad.

Germany’s Army Group A, which was forced to advance to occupy Baku under Hitler’s orders, resembled Army Group North, which is now reaching out to occupy Leningrad.

Group B, including the German 6th Army, held the gate called Stalingrad and waged a bloody war with the Soviet Army so that they would not be trapped in the Caucasus and die.

Of course, the struggle of the 6th Army ended when the weak Romanian Army broke through and the entire Field Army was surrounded by Stalingrad. That’s what we’re looking for now. Breaking through the poor Italian forces and turning Smolensk into their “Stalingrad”.

“There is one more advantage to attacking from the central side. As a topographical effect, if the Western Front Army advances like this!”

widely! The baton pointed at two points.

The places Konef pointed to were Riga and Königsberg.

These two places were kind of bottlenecks.

Going from west to east, past Königsberg came the Kurland region protruding north. Similarly, after passing Riga, there were Latvia and Estonia regions that protruded north again.

What we were aiming for was this. Siege and annihilate the German 9th Army in Smolensk, and pierce through the gap created and imprison the enlarged Army Group North in the Baltic States.

When the Germans advanced and entered, the wide gates made it easier for them to advance, but not when they left.

“It will be possible to cut the Germans off these two bottlenecks. Leningrad will become an anvil, and the Western Front will become a hammer, crushing them through them!”

Everyone applauded enthusiastically. After all, it’s good to hear the plan… .

As mentioned above, the basis of this plan was Operation Uranus, which ended the Battle of Stalingrad, and Operation Bagration, which broke the spine of Army Group Center.

How many people died before turning the tide in Stalingrad and driving a wedge into Bagration?

The Soviet Union is strong, but Germany is still strong. In real history, Germany continued to increase its arms production until 44. Despite the savagery of the Allied Powers, including Britain, production actually increased!

What if the US finds a way to cross the Atlantic and conduct strategic bombing? It was only possible to hit Germany from the mainland with a large bomber, such as a B-29.

Even the Azores Island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean was not something the United States could ask for.

However, cutting off the supply of oil and chromium was truly a godsend. It seemed to be able to maintain the quality because it was still consuming the stockpile, but soon enough, it will reach its limit soon enough.

“I will end this war as soon as possible and fly a red flag over Berlin!”

“This summer will be the turning point in Daejeon!”

Many thought that the war would soon be over.

Last year, the German army lost its first fierce momentum and collapsed. After a hard-hitting counter-attack in the winter, generals and politicians alike seemed to regard Germany as a good opponent.

Even the Air Force, in which Germany had an overwhelming advantage, began to raise the exchange cost by deploying the MiG-Molnya fighters.

There was no longer the Soviet Air Force in 41 years, when only the Ju87 Stuka, which was not a full-fledged air-to-air fighter, had to fall. Molniya, as the Germans call it, the brown bear was able to fight equally against the Luftwaffe’s first-line fighter, the Bf109.

Germany still had the upper hand because of the pilot’s proficiency, but Air Force commander-in-chief Novikov assured us that soon, really soon, we would have the upper hand.

“Molnya is truly a revolution! revolution! Dozens of aces have already been born.”

“Good. We’ll focus on producing and delivering more fighters. The production quantity of engines is still acting as a limiting factor… . How do you feel about the new machine gun?”

The US was hard at work, bringing US-made engine production facilities and engineers to the Urals and producing them, but the supply was still insufficient compared to the demand.

Undoubtedly, the Air Force units who had tasted brown bears all shouted more brown bears.

“More brown bears! Give me more brown bears! As long as we have those goddamn bastards, I will crush all the fascists!”

Promising huge rewards to Americans, they were working hard to replace engineers in three shifts, but you can’t produce tens of thousands of cars overnight.

In addition to the production of fighters such as the Sturmovik, which is indispensable even if there is a new fighter, the current aircraft production was 140% in full operation. And while the Germans didn’t seem to notice yet, the Air Force had been given a few more new toys.

“Yes, it is, Comrade Secretary-General! Since the introduction of Comrade Kalashnikov’s new machine gun, the number of machine gun failures in dogfights has been significantly reduced compared to before. It’s a huge hit with pilots.”

“Did you hear it? Let us focus on the production of machine guns.”

“Yes! Comrade Secretary General!”

The young Kalashnikov showed his genius without regret.

After inventing the “assault rifle” AK-41, he developed several automatic machines. Heavy machine guns for aircraft, light machine guns for squad support weapons, and high-speed grenade launchers.

Soldiers who have used the gun gave great acclaim. All of the firearms Kalashnikov made were reliable and worked well in the harsh conditions of the battlefield. The simple structure and simple use also had the advantage that it was easy to train quickly and put on the battlefield quickly.

Of course, above all else, productivity was high. It was absolutely overwhelming in terms of productivity by omitting all complicated metal processing processes and minimizing the number of parts.

Although I gave some concept… After all, isn’t Kalashnikov a genius?

The generals were still talking among themselves about the operation.

It was like a child who had been given a bunch of new toys, as he happily talked about how he was going to crush the Germans. I could feel the loving father’s smile appearing on my face.

“character… Let’s try it!”

I became Stalin chapter 111

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