NOVPUBChapter 1328: Chapter 963: Northern Europe Offensive
Chapter 1328 -963: Northern Europe Offensive
In Spain, over a million British-French-Australian forces had been gradually narrowing the encirclement and were advancing towards Madrid, the very heart of Spanish power.
Although the advance was not fast, the overall plan was progressing smoothly. The Spanish military simply had no power to resist the union of the three countries, especially since they did not have many troops at their disposal.
In North Africa, with the surrender of Italy and the collapse of the Spanish troops, the situation was gradually being retaken by France.
Even the colonies originally belonging to Spain were completely divided up by the United Kingdom and France, which led to the ultimate surrender of over a hundred thousand Spanish troops who were forced to lay down their arms.
However, the most intense battle at the moment was certainly the Battle of Stalingrad on the Eastern European Battlefield.
Fueled by the victory fire from the Battle of Moscow, the Russian Government and people erupted with extraordinary fighting enthusiasm.
Swept by this enthusiasm, the red fire of Stalingrad seemed about to swallow the opposing black armor.
At this moment, Germany was certainly the most distressed. Due to the dilemma of fighting on two fronts, the German government found itself in a difficult position.
Spain seemed like it would not be able to hold out for a few more days, and if Spain surrendered as well, Germany’s allies in Europe would be reduced to just Bulgaria, Romania, and a few puppet governments it supported.
However, if the German Army were to return to aid, a vast expanse of territory won on the Eastern Front would simply be handed back to the Russians.
This land not only included Ukraine with its extensive black soil, but also a few of Russia’s most important industrial urban cities such as Saint Petersburg, Minsk, and Kiev, among others.
After all, if the German troops were to retreat, the remaining small number of forces would obviously be incapable of resisting the Russian army’s advance.
The Battle of Stalingrad proceeded amidst this difficult situation for the German government.
The German government imposed a news blackout on the counter-offensive from France in an attempt to stabilize the German military’s morale. Such a move proved effective; even though the Western Front was facing a severe crisis, the German soldiers in the East were still unaware of what had happened.
Stalingrad, backed by the Volga River, is not only the longest river in the vast expanse of Russian territory but also the longest river in Europe.
Because of its location along the river, taking Stalingrad became even more difficult.
The presence of the river made it impossible for the German army to completely encircle the city, and any attempt they made to cross the river would be detected by the Russian army.
If they couldn’t fully surround Stalingrad, Russia would be able to continuously transport supplies across from the other side of the Volga, helping the army in Stalingrad to keep holding on.
Thus, what the Germans expected to be a quick blitzkrieg turned into a war of attrition, a competition of national strength between both parties.
If it were a one-on-one between both sides, Germany might not fear Russia. But the critical issue was that the British-French-Australian forces had launched a full offensive on the Western European Front, and the Germans no longer had the resources to continue the attrition with Russia.
On July 15, 1938, the German Supreme Command held a military conference.
In this military conference, the German Chancellor repeatedly mentioned the Battle of Stalingrad, demanding the front-line troops intensify their offensive, and strive to take Stalingrad within two months.
In the Chancellor’s view, two months was already quite generous. After all, Stalingrad was just another Russian city, and the Germans had taken Poland in just over a month. Allocating two months to take one city was a very conservative estimate.
But the timeline given by the front-line German Army was up to six months, and they also needed a large number of armored troops and airplane support.
This infuriated the Chancellor. If Germany could have spared additional armor and aircraft, they would have already been deployed to the Western European Front to rescue Italy and Spain.
Seeing that seeking reinforcements was unsuccessful, the German Army commanders on the front line made another request: they hoped the German government could allocate more manpower and weapons and equipment to support the Eastern Front.
In return, the Eastern Front would attempt to capture Stalingrad within three months and push the front line to the Caucasus Mountains within four, seizing strategic resources that Russia possessed there.
Four months was marginally acceptable to the German government, and it was the best plan available at the moment.
Without much hesitation, this proposal was passed by a high vote in the Supreme Military Conference, signifying the official start of Germany’s last attempt to defeat Russia.
First was the support for the Battle of Stalingrad.
The current number of German troops deployed around Stalingrad had reached a whopping 3 million, the largest number of soldiers from a single country in a single battle since the start of WWII.
But the Russians opposite were obviously even more insane. Although the exact scale of the Russian forces was unclear, their numbers were definitely going to exceed 3 million.
The ratio of casualties on the Russian side was higher than that of the Germans, but every day new Russian soldiers continuously filled in, as if the Russian soldiers were endless.
Though Stalingrad was not a large urban area, the German occupation of the city was proving to be arduous and slow.
Since the outbreak of the Battle of Stalingrad, German troops had only managed to occupy less than one-third of the city’s districts.
