Rise of Australia

Chapter 913 Operation Barbarossa
The climax of the war that Arthur wanted was finally coming.

On March 1937, 3, Germany transferred all its troops in the Balkan battlefield to southeastern Poland and northern Romania. It goes without saying that it attached great importance to the Romanian oil fields.

At the same time, a large number of troops on the Western Front were also being mobilized towards Poland. Knowing that such a mobilization could not be concealed from the Russians, the German ambassador to Russia informed the Russian General Staff that Germany's mobilization was just to send younger soldiers to replace older soldiers who were about to retire and participate in industrial production.

During the troop movement, the Chief of Staff of the German Wehrmacht General Staff, Jodl, also issued instructions to all German troops, describing in detail the methods of camouflage and concealment when the troops advanced, and stated that the Russians must not be allowed to form the impression that Germany planned to attack Russia.

Of course, at the current stage, Germany can only mobilize its troops and let the general staff conduct certain war drills.

At present, the armies are not yet fully prepared, and it is absolutely impossible for Germany to launch an attack on Russia at this moment.

Although the German army was confident that the Russian army would be vulnerable, this did not mean that the German army would attack the Russian army without any preparation.

From the time the decision was made to open the Eastern European battlefield until now, the German General Staff has been carrying out a task, which is to conduct a series of military exercises and to list as many problems as possible that the army will encounter during the offensive.

Of all the serious problems, the German army was most worried about space and manpower. In short, the German army did not suffer much space problems whether in France or in the Balkans.

After all, whether it is France or the Balkan countries, their territorial area is less than one million square kilometers, and the front line is only a few hundred kilometers at most.

But Russia is different. Russia is the largest country in Europe, and even in the world, no country can compare with Russia in terms of land area.

How exaggerated is Russia's land area? Even Russia's current Eastern European territory alone is larger than the sum of Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the entire Balkan Peninsula.

The Germany here refers to the present-day Germany, that is, the German Empire that successively annexed Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Latvia, Estonia, Sweden, Finland and Norway.

It is not an exaggeration to say that with the current border between Germany and Russia dividing the whole of Europe, the area of ​​the two sides of Europe is actually not that different.

To the west of the dividing line are the four major powers of Britain, France, Germany and Italy, while to the east of the dividing line there is only one country, Russia. This is enough to prove the exaggeration of Russia's territory.

Although Germany expected to deploy more than 200 million troops in Russia, this number would not seem so exaggerated if 200 million troops were dispersed across the plains of East Europe.

The most difficult thing for Germany is that due to the demise of the three Nordic countries and the three Baltic countries, currently in the whole of Europe, the only countries neighboring Russia are Germany and Romania.

Because of the importance of Romanian oil fields, the Romanian-Russian border also needs to be protected. This also means that the line of fire between the German and Russian armies extends almost from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea, running through the entire Europe.

This line of fire is more than 2000 kilometers long. If more than 200 million troops are evenly distributed on every kilometer of border, only 1000 soldiers can be deployed per kilometer of border, which is equivalent to one soldier per meter of border.

Considering the importance of certain areas, this also means that along the long border between Germany and Russia, some areas are destined not to receive too many troops, which may affect Germany's offensive.

What's even worse is that because of the joint division of Poland and Lithuania, the border between Germany and Russia is relatively complicated, forming a protruding area in the Polish region.

The complex terrain will make it more difficult for the German army to attack and defend, and the detailed deployment of the army and the options for attack also require more detailed discussion and thinking.

Although the staff members of the General Staff seemed very fanatical when the decision to attack Russia was made, they began to become rational when the actual combat plan was formulated.

They couldn't help but be irrational. This was a real battlefield, not a simulated war game.

Their slight negligence in the choice of attack could lead to the failure of a battle. A battle often involved hundreds of thousands of soldiers, which also meant that they had not only offensive plans in their hands, but also the lives of hundreds of thousands or even millions of German soldiers.

Even if it is an attack plan that seems very safe, the General Staff has to discuss it internally many times before it can be finalized.

Not to mention some plans that seem ambiguous. If you can avoid making them, the best way is to avoid them from happening.

In addition to the difficulties brought about by Russia's vast territory, there is another point that cannot be ignored, that is, the poor road conditions in Russia.

Although Russia at this time has made significant improvements compared to the period when the Tsarist Russian government was in power, it is absolutely impossible for Russia today to fully repair the railways and roads in Eastern Europe.

It took more than 10 to 20 years for Australasia to fully improve its railways and roads. A large part of the reason for this is that the large desert in western Australia, coupled with the small population, reduced the scale of railway and road construction.

But Russia's East European Plain is different. Although the temperature is relatively cold, most areas are still relatively suitable for living. As long as it is not close to the Arctic Circle, the vast East European Plain is almost a habitable area.

In addition, due to the large rural population in Russia, many rural areas are inhabited by a large number of people, which also increases the mileage of railway and highway construction.

The Russian government has not been able to fully repair the railways and roads in Eastern Europe until now, which also proves the difficulty of building a large number of railways and roads for a country with large land and population.

Of course, inconvenient transportation is a major disadvantage for Russia in peacetime, but for Russia in wartime, it becomes the best way to delay the enemy's attack.

What gave the Germans a headache was the poor transportation environment in Russia. One of the reasons why Germany's blitzkrieg was able to be implemented smoothly was that Western and Central Europe had relatively developed railway and road systems.

Germany's armored forces could gallop freely on the roads, which naturally guaranteed the army's advance speed.

But there are no well-developed roads in Eastern Europe. In addition, Russia itself has a relatively large land area, so it will probably take a longer time to complete the planned attack.

During the intense war preparations, the German Chancellor was also very concerned about the army's preparedness.

At a new military meeting, the Prime Minister personally inquired about the troop deployment and inquired about Germany's current reserves of strategic materials and production of weapons and equipment.

"If we launch an offensive against Russia now, can our air force withstand the pressure from both Britain and France and Russia?" The German Chancellor looked at the Air Force Commander Goering. "Mr. Prime Minister, if our war against Russia lasts for half a year, the air force will be able to fight on two fronts at the same time.

Of course, if we get assistance from our ally Italy, I believe this guarantee will be more solid." German Air Force Commander-in-Chief Goering said confidently.

Although the Battle of Britain had just been lost, there were many reasons for the failure of this air battle, including the Prime Minister's eagerness for the air battle and Goering's desire to curry favor.

If the air battle had been fought well, even if the German Air Force could not have won, it would definitely not have created a battle with such a huge disparity in casualties.

After hearing what Goering said, the German Prime Minister nodded with satisfaction and instructed everyone present: "

In the war against Russia, we have to protect the territory of the empire from attack and protect the safety of Berlin and the eastern industrial zone. This also means that we need sufficient strategic depth to ensure that enemy aircraft will not threaten our homeland.

Moreover, if Russia could be crushed, it would be broken into a number of unarmed autonomous provinces, all inhabited and ruled by Germans from the Polish border to the Volga.

As for the pristine lands east of the Volga, the frozen Siberian regions and the empty forests beyond the Urals, we will take them when we have time.

Of course, if our allied island countries are interested, it is not impossible to cede some areas to them.

Remember, the premise of everything we do in this campaign is to ensure that Russian aircraft do not threaten our homeland.

After the war begins, Russia will probably defend the Baltic Sea and Ukraine to the death, because they have their only two sea outlets in Europe.

If they focus on defending the Baltic Sea and Ukraine, a large area of ​​central Poland east of Poland will be left out, and the Russian government is likely to give in.

Compared to quickly capturing Moscow, I would prefer to see our armored army group, after solving the Polish problem, occupy the Baltic Sea and Ukraine to the north and south respectively, depriving them of their access to the sea and thus destroying their economy.

Russia's economy has always been fragile. If their seaports are occupied, they may not be able to sustain the war for long.

At that time, we will concentrate on conquering Moscow and, by the way, eliminate the enemies who come to support Moscow, so as to achieve our ultimate plan, which is to effectively kill Russia's vitality and disintegrate and rule this huge country.

Do you have anything to add to my opinion? "

Hearing the Prime Minister's question, the staff officers and generals present shook their heads.

Putting aside whether the Prime Minister's proposal is reasonable or not, just looking at the Prime Minister's confident smile, if they raise objections now, wouldn't that be asking for trouble?

Seeing many marshals and generals, including Army Commander-in-Chief Brauchitsch, shaking their heads, the German Prime Minister nodded with satisfaction and continued to give instructions: "

According to what I said, the General Staff should formulate a new operational plan as soon as possible. I personally named this operational plan Barbarossa Plan, and I hope that one day, our Barbarossa Plan will shock the whole world. "

This meeting directly determined the strategic policy for attacking Russia. Based on this strategic policy, a new anti-German combat plan, code-named Operation Plan No. 13 by the German General Staff and officially known as Operation Barbarossa, was freshly released.

Because this latest plan was based on the strategic policy proposed by the Prime Minister himself, it was immediately praised by the German Prime Minister himself, and after being voted through by the General Staff, it became a formal operational plan.

Based on this operational plan, the German General Staff and High Command issued orders to each army group and specific military branches.

Although the core policy is formulated according to the Prime Minister's orders, the General Staff also has its own ideas on some smaller issues.

Field Marshal Brauchitsch, the Army Commander-in-Chief who had a certain say in the General Staff, formulated a policy to strengthen the strength of the Northern Army Group.

In the view of Marshal Brauchitsch, compared with Ukraine in the south, the Baltic region in the north is the area where Germany should focus its attack.

Because Germany already controlled the three Baltic countries, an attack from the north could quickly approach St. Petersburg, Russia, and capture the second largest and second most important city in Russia.

After occupying St. Petersburg, the Northern Military District could move south and reap large tracts of Eastern European land west of Moscow.

In this way, they can also echo with the Southern Army Group. Because according to the Southern Army Group's combat plan, they will first attack Kiev, then move east to Kharkov, and then north to Moscow.

The northern and southern army groups will cut off the vast Russian land and the Russian mainland, while the army group in the center will have the main purpose of quickly occupying Poland, then besieging Minsk, and finally joining forces in Moscow.

If the attacks of the three armies were successful, the Russian army would soon be defeated and large tracts of territory west of Moscow would soon fall into the hands of the Germans.

As long as this strategic plan is completed, Russia, which has lost a large amount of important territory, will have its overall strength greatly reduced and will basically pose no threat to Germany.

On March 1937, 3, the German Chancellor approved the specific combat plan submitted by Field Marshal Brauchitsch, and clearly stipulated that priority should be given to eliminating the enemy in the Baltic Sea and capturing St. Petersburg and Kronstadt.

In order to achieve this strategic goal, the German Chancellor specifically approved the request that the Central Army Group transfer a large number of armored units to the Northern Army Group to take the lead in occupying the entire Baltic coast.

Only after completing the tasks of the Northern Army Group could the Central Army Group safely occupy large tracts of Polish and Russian territory and plan the grand event of the three army groups joining forces in Moscow.

Since then, the plan for the war against Russia has been thoroughly formulated. According to this battle plan, the German army has also begun to take action, and the North, South and Center Army Groups are also being formed and prepared.

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(End of this chapter)