Chapter 17:

Chapter 17:

“When there’s a person, there’s a problem. When there’s no person, there’s no problem.”

― Josef Stalin

Chapter 17

Lend-Lease supplies began to flow into the Soviet Union gradually.

It was like gaining vitality from blood transfusion.

The supplies that came up through Vladivostok and the Volga River route were essential for the Soviet economy and war effort.

For example, the Soviet Union lacked radios and communication equipment.

They had invested heavily in the chemical industry to increase their munitions production, but they had fallen behind in advanced fields like electronics.

That’s why some frontline units had to rely on runners to deliver orders without radios, and even those that had them were intercepted by the Germans.

How could they not lose to the Germans in this situation?

With 300,000 radios and 150,000 km of telephone wires that the US promised to send, this problem could be solved.

The US easily solved what the Soviet Union had to squeeze out of its meager electronic industry and copper resources.

Also, as well known, food was supplied in massive quantities.

Thanks to Zhukov’s successful defense in Ukraine, they did not lose the vast plains where wheat grew abundantly, so the food shortage was less severe than before...

But the Soviet Union had always suffered from a severe lack of food.

And producing food did not mean that it automatically became a meal on the front line.

They had to deal with such problems in war.

Should they supply flour or bread?

If they gave flour, they needed fuel and facilities for cooking.

If they gave bread, where would they bake it and how would they prevent it from spoiling?

But the US was like a cheat code.

Oh?

There’s not enough bread on the front line?

Then just feed them meat!

Millions of cans of spam and various canned goods arrived by ship and were distributed all over the front line.

Instead of bulky and hard-to-manage flour or bread, they gave high-calorie meat that the soldiers loved!

The Soviet Union had a vast land, but they could not farm like the US.

The weather was cold, they lacked agricultural machinery and fertilizers.

The US fed their surplus corn to livestock and raised millions of cows and pigs to make canned meat for us.

The Soviet officials who received these canned goods could not help but marvel.

The metal cans were too precious to be thrown away in the Soviet Union.

They had to send all the iron they made to factories to make machines, and they did not have enough precious metals to make fighters... And the Americans made canned goods with them?

In a fresh shock, it seemed that the weather was getting cooler.

Rasputitsa is coming!

Winter is coming!

Operation Barbarossa began on June 22nd.

The war started at the beginning of summer, and Russia’s summer was short.

The temperature that had once reached its peak began to drop gradually.

“Do you know how to say ‘winter is coming’ in English?”

“Excuse me?”

“Winter is coming. Hahahaha!!”

I laughed hysterically as I said ‘winter is coming’, but others did not understand me.

But it was a very good thing that the secretary-general was in a good mood.

He was someone who could always send me to Siberia where winter was raging at any time, but he didn’t seem to have such thoughts.

To others, ‘Stalin’ seemed to be in a good mood lately.

He seemed to be planning another purge before the war broke out, but he lost his will completely after it started, and then he suddenly changed his personality.

He was less paranoid and harsh than before, but he also showed competence that made people wonder if those who were purged could have done this well.

Sometimes he made incomprehensible jokes... But that was tolerable.

Unlike Moscow, which had become cooler by now, Berlin was still in the peak of summer.

Of course, as the moon wanes when it is full, the heat that reached its climax would also break.

The German generals who suffered from the heat did not wish for this summer to pass.

“We need at least 30,000 more trucks. Although we are not lacking in transportation now because we are using horses and railways, we have to consider the future losses...”

When autumn rain falls and vehicles get buried in mud, the loss rate will soar.

Halder could not say that they would be able to plant their flag in Moscow before Rasputitsa came, so he stopped talking, but most people seemed to understand his intention.

In fact, that was not all.

There were hundreds of vehicles in each armored division and motorized division at the tip of the spearhead.

They also suffered losses and needed supplies by vehicles.

But Germany lacked the capacity to do so.

Production could not keep up with losses. Even if the factories under construction were completed now, the Soviet army would only grow stronger and the German army weaker by then.

“...When we annihilate six enemy divisions, they just form twelve new divisions.”

“Is that so?”

The Führer did not seem to be very interested in Halder’s report.

“Deal.”

Small models of various colors poured out.

The lieutenant and the orderly placed the models one by one on the map.

The Führer sat back in his huge chair and surveyed the country.

He muttered the troop information he obtained through intelligence from time to time.

When the colors and quantities were roughly sorted out, the Führer gestured lightly.

The orderly left the office quickly and the lieutenant stood quietly again.

“Now that we have cleared the Expeditionary Force in Dunkirk, the main force of the British is stuck in Africa. But these troops will be nothing but birds in our hands once we take control of the Mediterranean.”

The blue pieces in North Africa were swept away by his rough gesture.

The green pieces representing Italy were divided and deployed in North Africa.

“Cleaning up the African front is a double-edged sword for us. We can annihilate the main units of the British army and destroy their last hope of rebuilding their army. And we can redeploy the Africa Corps led by Field Marshal Rommel and the Italian army.”

“What do you mean...”

“The Eastern Front is... Even if the Africa Corps are elite troops, throwing them into the Eastern Front is like throwing a handful of sand into the sea. But what if they are the vanguard of the British landing force? Wouldn’t that be nice?”

The Führer moved a pile of gray pieces that were stationed in North Africa to Britain, which was completely unoccupied.

Halder could now see it.

He needed at least a field army-sized elite force to subdue Britain.

If he withdrew such a force from the Eastern Front, he would have a big problem with the lack of reserves to deal with the enemy’s strategic offensive.

And what if he only sent fresh recruits who had just been conscripted from the homeland to the landing operation, while all the veterans were sent to the front line?

He did not think that was a good choice either.

There was a limit to Kriegsmarine’s capabilities.

Maintaining supply lines across the sea was never easy, and even if they annihilated the British Mediterranean fleet at once, the home fleet was still holding on, albeit not very well.

The more troops he sent, the more strain he would put on his supply.

“We have to finish it by this year. There are people waiting for us...”

“Yes? My Führer? What do you mean...”

The Führer chuckled.

As he reached out his hand, the orderly and lieutenant started to clean up the map and pieces from the table again.

“Oh, and did you deliver my message to Duce?”

“Yes, my Führer. But... Duce was curious where you heard that from. Is it some intelligence you obtained?”

“You don’t need to know that. I command, and you execute. Did Duce say he would do it?”

Halder felt cold sweat on his forehead.

He asked a stupid question.

Under the Führer’s cold gaze, he bowed his head miserably.

“Yes, my Führer. He agreed to form a development team consisting of engineers and workers from Italy under your condition of dividing North Africa among Italy and Spain. He also notified Field Marshal Rommel to cooperate as much as possible.”

“Good. We need to develop oil wells in Libya as soon as possible so that we can get all the oil we need.

Damn those French fools, can’t they find any oil in the Middle East?”

“Yes, yes, my Führer.”

Halder started to stutter.

He did not like this sudden change of front line as a staff officer who relieved his stress by solving math problems.

The Führer did not seem to like him very much either, who was weak-hearted.

Where did I solve up to in my math book, he thought about what problems he would solve later in his mind.

Then another shocking but slightly better verdict came down.

“Bring Ribbentrop with you when you go out. I need to consult with him on how to notify Inönü and... our friend, Mannerheim.”

“Yes? Inönü of Turkey?”

The Führer’s cold gaze fell on him again. Halder stood stiffly and saluted with an exaggerated posture.

Yes, my Führer!

I will follow your orders!

He saluted loudly like a second-class soldier who was full of spirit and ran out of the office as fast as possible, faster than the word ‘quickly’ could describe.

He did not say a word about the report he intended to make on the winter equipment and winter clothing preparation for the Eastern Front.

“You can go too.”

“Yes!”

“Understood, my Führer.”

Göring and Dönitz also left the office after receiving the dismissal order.

The Führer buried himself in his chair.

He envisioned the country in his mind.

The Soviet Union, the Soviet Union was too powerful.

The German army, which had crushed France in just six weeks despite the intensive intervention of Britain, was sucked into the quagmire of the Eastern Front and struggled.

This was no different from China.

Endlessly vast and primitive, but with many people.

But they all knelt before his ingenious strategy.

The Soviet Union would be no different.

‘Someone’ was... interfering, but he was already the most powerful man in the world. At least, he was convinced of that.

He muttered to himself as he looked at the map.