afterglow

Chapter 635: The Sole Survivor Act; Battle of St. Petersburg
It was a weekend morning in late April, and the sun was shining brightly in Waterloo, Iowa, with a clear blue sky.

The black Ford sedan drove slowly on the street, and after turning a corner, it stopped steadily in front of a house on Adams Street.

A naval lieutenant commander in navy blue uniform opened the car door and got out, followed closely by a pastor.

After hesitating for a long time, the major raised his hand and knocked on the door.

After a while, a middle-aged woman opened the door. Seeing the scene at the door, she immediately realized that the situation was not good and called her husband.

"Sir, Madam, I am a naval officer and I have some very unfortunate news to share with you."

Both husband and wife knew that one of their children must have died on the battlefield.

Old Sullivan calmly asked, "Which one?"

Facing the two people's earnest and sad gazes, the major felt his heart was deeply hurt.

He hesitated to speak, and at this moment he lacked the decisiveness that a soldier should have.

After a while, he lowered his head and replied in a very soft voice: "I'm sorry, all five."

The answer was so incredible that old Sullivan and his wife couldn't believe it.

The major tilted his head slightly and spoke faster to explain, "Sir, Madam, this is not a joke, this is true. The Juneau, where George, Francis, Joseph, Madison, and Albert served, sank in the battle last week. Only a few people survived."

Before the accompanying pastor could say anything, Mrs. Sullivan collapsed to the ground with a thud.

The Sullivan family came from Ireland and were the first generation of immigrants. The five brothers were only seven years apart in age. One of their playmates served in the navy and died in the Battle of Torres Strait, so the five brothers decided to join the army together.

According to convention, the U.S. Navy does not allow relatives to serve on the same warship, but the five brothers made a joint request, and the Navy finally made an exception and allowed them to go to the USS Juneau air defense cruiser.

This incident caused a great shock to the people. Massive anti-war demonstrations took place in major cities. The president himself was also deeply moved. He wrote in a letter to the Sullivan couple:

"Dear Sir and Madam, all citizens and parents across the United States grieve with you. This is eternal sorrow. But I hope you know that such sacrifices are valuable. Their unity and their courage in the face of the enemy are the foundation of the United States. This makes us believe that the glorious spirit of Washington leading his militia to defeat the British army is passed down to this day."

The President signed a special order directly requesting the Secretary of the Navy to select a destroyer and rename it the Sullivan.

In light of the painful lesson of the five Sullivan brothers, a congressman soon submitted a proposal for the "Single Survivor Act" - whether it is conscription or actual combat, it must be ensured that at least one person in each family can be safely retained, and relatives are strictly prohibited from serving on the same warship, the same plane, or the same company.

While the U.S. military achieved a phased tactical victory in the Pacific battlefield, the situation in the European battlefield was not optimistic.

Late April was an absolute hellish day for the British and American Expeditionary Force, as unprecedentedly fierce and large-scale battles continued on the muddy land of Russia.

At first, the two sides confronted each other and tested each other for a while, but not long after, the German army, having completed preparations for the battle, launched an attack.

美军参战部队为7个步兵师、3个装甲师、12个独立营（坦克歼击营和野战炮兵营），英军参战部队为2个步兵师和1个装甲师。

The total strength of the two is close to 30 (excluding service units), with approximately 1700 tanks and tank destroyers of various types; in addition, the air force deployed in the northern Russian region is very large, with approximately 2800 aircraft of various types.

The German participating forces were Army Group R, with a total strength of approximately 25, including 11 infantry and motorized infantry divisions, 4 armored divisions, 2 independent heavy armored battalions, and approximately 1200 tanks and assault guns; because the Air Force was willing but unable, there were less than 1100 aircraft to provide support.

As for the red and blue Russian armies, their troop strengths are roughly the same, with the former having about 80 and the latter about 67. However, the technical and tactical levels of both are not high. They are essentially mule and horse infantry units and cannot undertake major tasks. Their biggest role is to hold positions and maintain the front line.

The German army had an advantage in the quality of its troops, and the quality of its tanks far exceeded that of the British and American Expeditionary Forces.

The Allied Forces' greatest advantage was their air force, which far surpassed the Germans in both quantity and quality.

On April 4, following the order of General Georg Lindemann, Army Group R officially launched the offensive.

This was a standard pincer attack, aimed at annihilating the main force of the British and American Expeditionary Forces - if everything went well, it would probably be possible to annihilate most of the army at once.

The main assembly point of the German army was Nizhny Novgorod (Gorky). The left-wing assault route was to the north along the eastern shore of Lake Ladoga to Lake Onega, and the right-wing assault route was to go straight to Lake Rybinsk and then turn north to White Lake.

During this period, if necessary, an attempt could be made to carry out a tactical airborne landing in the area between Lake Onega and White Lake to cut off the Allied retreat.

On April 4, the German troops on both sides made smooth progress, and could even be described as unstoppable. The British and American Expeditionary Force underestimated the speed of the offensive, and the Allied response on that day was lackluster.

On April 4, the German 22rd Armored Division arrived at Lodeinoye Pole and engaged in a fierce battle with the US 3st Cavalry Division that came to reinforce. The collision between steel was earth-shaking, and hundreds of tanks were destroyed in just one day.

4月23日，右路的德军第7装甲师和第10摩托化步兵师配合紧密，成功突破了突破了英军第18步兵师和国民共和军第226步兵师的双重防线。

Up to this moment, looking at the overall situation, unusual spearheads have clearly emerged on the left and right sides of the entire front line. All signs indicate that the Germans have a big appetite and are trying to swallow up most of or even an entire heavy military group in one go.

However, the commander, Admiral Mark Clark, was too confident in his air superiority and mistakenly believed that this was enough to resist the enemy's swift offensive. It is true that the terrible air raids of the British and American air forces have caused great obstacles to the German army, but it seems that they cannot completely stop the German offensive.

For example, 6% of the 70th Armored Division's trucks, half-tracks, off-road vehicles, tankers and other service vehicles were destroyed in air raids, but the direct loss of tanks was very small. However, the serious loss of service vehicles soon caused a chain reaction. The deteriorating maintenance support led to many tanks being abandoned due to mechanical failures and lack of gasoline. On April 4, the armored division had only 25 Type IV tanks that could still operate normally.

The 6th Armored Division then pieced together available vehicles to form a regimental-sized battle group, continued to advance deep into the enemy territory, and repelled the 202nd Infantry Division of the National Republican Army that attempted to block it.

The British and American Expeditionary Force tried hard to resist, but found that they could not withstand the German offensive. Even strong air support could only temporarily delay the enemy's actions. Once the enemy was ready for a coordinated infantry and tank attack, it would be almost inevitable that their positions would be torn apart.

Sherman and Cromwell were still able to hold their own against the Panzer IV, but the Germans had sufficient Tiger I production. Even the most ordinary infantry division of Army Group R was equipped with a Tiger I heavy tank company, while in the original plane, there were only a handful of infantry divisions that had such treatment.

Although 65-70% of the Tiger I tanks lost their combat effectiveness due to mechanical failures and lack of gasoline, the few remaining Tiger I tanks and a large number of infantry were often enough to shake the Allied defenses.

M4/M4A1谢尔曼的75㎜、40倍径坦克炮对付德社人民军的IV号H型都相当吃力，更不用提甲坚炮利的虎I了。

The absolute disadvantage of tanks may not be fatal. What is more terrifying is that the 57mm (6-pound gun) anti-tank guns equipped by the Allied ground forces are also difficult to effectively penetrate the frontal armor of the Tiger I.

The tiger's powerful dominance made the Allied officers and soldiers terrified, and "tiger phobia" spread rapidly for a time.

By May 5, affected by air raids, the German pincer attack finally formed a semi-encirclement, which was two days later than expected.

Seeing that the actions on the left and right wings to contain the German offensive had failed, General Mark Clark considered retreating.

In order to delay the retreat of the US army and cooperate with the German army's actions, the Russian army on the front line launched an all-out offensive, continuously assaulting the Allied positions. They suffered heavy losses under the three-dimensional firepower, and several infantry divisions lost their combat effectiveness in just one day and night.

With the order issued by the headquarters, the Allied forces officially began to retreat on May 5. The air force increased its bombing efforts on the German offensive on the left and right wings, and dispatched heavy bombers to bomb the railway marshalling yards in Brest, Minsk, and Nizhny Novgorod, resulting in the interruption of key hubs of the German logistics line for 3 hours.

Soon, even the scarce airdropped supplies were cut off. As the supplies were completely exhausted, the German troops advancing on two fronts had to stop their attack.

At this time, the left route had reached Lake Onega, and the right route had reached the south of White Lake. The huge encirclement was only a hundred kilometers long between the two lakes.

The originally planned tactical airborne operation has obviously become a beautiful fantasy. If there is really the ability to carry out large-scale airborne operations, it would be better to airdrop spare parts, gasoline, and ammunition to the ground troops.

The main force of the Allied forces retreated northward in an orderly manner. The unfortunate 40th Infantry Division of the US Army was mistakenly bombed by air support during the retreat, and then received ambiguous and erroneous orders, which resulted in a delay of 7 hours of precious time. The infantry division was then tightly attacked by the swarming Russian army and was forced to switch to defense on the spot. Two days later, it was defeated by the 36th Infantry Division of the German Army and the division commander was captured.

On May 5, although the main force was unable to launch a large-scale offensive, the German army still made every effort to block the Allied forces from breaking through.

The 3rd Armored Division had recently suffered heavy losses in a battle with the 1st Cavalry Division of the US Army. Even after emergency repairs, only 28 Type IV tanks and 89 Sdkfz251 half-track vehicles were still usable. In addition, due to lack of gasoline, two-thirds of the vehicles could not be started.

The armored division incorporated 11 captured Shermans and dozens of M3 reconnaissance vehicles and M3 half-track vehicles into its combat sequence, and used the captured gasoline to supply a battle group to pursue eastward.

Many German troops on both sides made such efforts. Although the scale was small, it still caused great trouble to the Allies. Because of the same square shape, many people mistook the IV for the Tiger I and caused panic.

On the night of May 5, the rear guard of the 7rd Infantry Division of the US Army discovered that a German unit was pursuing them all night. In order to escape, the infantry division abandoned most of its baggage and equipment, and even fired flares over the friendly British 43th Infantry Division to attract the attention of the pursuing German troops.

In the melee that lasted until midnight, the British 59th Division suffered dozens of casualties due to a car accident alone. An entire brigade (regiment) was defeated before it could organize an effective defense, and the division commander was killed by a 105mm grenade during the transfer.

As one division after another passed through the area between Lake Onega and White Lake, the main force of the Allied forces completed the retreat journey with an average length of more than 100 kilometers with difficulty. For most people, this was a painful memory that was too painful to recall.

The Battle of St. Petersburg was basically over on May 5, lasting 11 days.

The British 51st Infantry Division and the US 40th Infantry Division were completely annihilated, and several divisions suffered heavy losses, with 4.5 casualties; 12 infantry divisions of the National Republican Army were also completely or mostly annihilated, with 5.8 casualties.

A regiment of the German 95th Infantry Division was surrounded and almost wiped out during the pursuit. Only a few people broke through. However, the German army suffered main casualties in conventional combat, with 4.1 casualties. In addition, the equipment losses were serious. Almost half of the trucks, tanks and armored vehicles of Army Group R were consumed in one battle.

The annihilation war turned into a defeat war and failed to achieve complete success. It can be said that the German army had too big an appetite and was too greedy. At the same time, it was also too confident and underestimated the effect of the British and American air forces in restraining and consuming their own ground forces.

In the summary of the commander's battle report sent back to Berlin, General Georg Lindemann reviewed this and pointed out that in addition to subjective reasons, the disparity in the strength of the air force was also an important objective factor. He hoped to overcome difficulties and send more air forces to the Eastern Front.

The General Staff was powerless. The British and American Air Forces had deployed 1.6 aircraft in the three directions of Britain, Spain and Italy, and the number was still increasing day by day. The German Air Force had only about 7200 aircraft, and the Hungarian, Slovenian and Czech air forces could only help share a little bit of the pressure. Therefore, assigning more than a thousand aircraft to Army Group R was already the limit.

In order to break this situation, the Workers' Navy Command proposed to dispatch a fleet to carry out a large-scale interception of the Arctic Ocean route, rather than just attacking with aircraft and submarines as it did now, in order to offset the air force of the British and American Expeditionary Force by blocking the transportation lines.

Considering the size of the British and American Expeditionary Force and the continuous blood transfusions it provided to the National Republican Army, the General Staff estimated that even a month's interruption of the Arctic Ocean route would be fatal.

The proposal was therefore required to undergo a full theoretical justification and was subsequently approved.

For Britain and the United States, the Battle of St. Petersburg gave them hope - at least it showed that with air superiority, ground forces could contain the German army. What was urgently needed now was a powerful heavy tank and anti-tank gun.

In addition, some people proposed to land on the eastern coast of the Black Sea via the Mediterranean Sea and Constantinople, further threatening the Baku oil fields.

(End of this chapter)