I Will Stage A Coup D’état - Chapter 53



Only Noblemtl

EP.53 Operation Barbarossa (2)

The Soviet government was not taken aback by the surprise invasion of German troops.

It was because I knew things would turn out like this and had prepared myself mentally.

Stalin did not run away to a dacha and live in seclusion like the original author.

Instead, he took the microphone and gave a speech to the nation.

“People! As the head of the Soviet Union, I am deeply sorry to inform you of the sad news. At 4 o’clock this morning, fascist Germany, without any warning, bombed the territory of our Union and launched its aircraft, signaling the beginning of the war. In the process, soldiers of the border guards of the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs were killed while doing their duty.”

The secretary’s voice was calm, but underneath it all, there was an anger that could not be hidden.

“What did we do wrong to Germany? For the past two years, a non-aggression pact has been concluded between the Soviet Union and Germany. Our government has faithfully fulfilled all the provisions of the pact during its term. Nevertheless, the Germans have only one reason for their aggressive ambitions: they covet our share.”

The secretary-general scolded Germany’s greed in a stern tone.

“Hitler was always talking. The Germanic peoples need more living space. They were always crying out for more, more, more land. When Austria wasn’t enough, he swallowed the Sudetenland, and when that wasn’t enough, he invaded Czechoslovakia, then Poland, Northern Europe, the Low Countries, France. Now the fascist beasts are saying they need land for the Federation!”

The secretary’s voice boiled over for the first time.

“The responsibility for this criminal act of aggression lies entirely with the German fascist leaders. I have rejected the deceptive declaration of war delivered by the German ambassador. Instead, I will give him the answer I could not give him. In the name of the great Soviet Union and its people, I declare war on Germany!”

Stalin even brought up the history of the Russian principalities and the Tsardom, something the Communists were not particularly proud of.

“Proud people of the Commonwealth. We have faced countless enemies. The Mongols, the Crimean Tatar chieftains, the Polish and Lithuanian feudal lords, the Swedish king, the French emperor, the German kaiser. Many enemies have trampled this land and sometimes tasted victory, but in the end, we have stood on this land.”

That doesn’t mean war is easy.

“The enemy we face this time is stronger than any enemy we have ever faced before. An unprecedented enemy that has united all of Europe stands before us with its mouth wide open. I cannot say for sure that this will be an easy war. A painful time of shedding blood and tears awaits you.”

Instead, he promised victory.

“But if all of our people are united and fight together, there is no enemy we cannot defeat. We have overcome the nightmare of the Red-White Civil War, when the entire world attacked the Federation. If the Federation is united, no one can make us surrender. And we will ultimately win. The day will come when the enemies will inevitably be defeated and beg for victory from us.”

Of course, there was no mention of how big the price would be.

The Secretary’s speech was immediately printed and distributed throughout the vast Commonwealth.

Soviet forces quickly retreated inland according to the original plan.

They deployed a massive army of 5.5 million men along the Stalin Line, their main defensive line.

Behind them, the strategic reserve force of 6 million troops stood by again.

The remaining troops were stationed along the coastline to prepare for any possible Axis landing.

At the same time, scorched earth operations were also carried out.

“Leave nothing to the enemy.”

The areas of western Ukraine and Belarus, originally occupied by the Soviet Union, were sparsely populated.

The Soviet forces completely destroyed these areas as they withdrew.

Farmlands were burned, residents were forcibly relocated, and railroad tracks were torn up or melted down and thrown away.

The Germans pursued the retreating Soviet forces, but achieved little.

All they had achieved was destroying and capturing a few rearguard units and border guards belonging to the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs conducting scorched earth operations.

The farmland and food that we initially calculated we would obtain were not as much as expected.

Still, the Germans got off to a pretty good start.

The leading German units advanced deep into Soviet territory, covering 80 kilometers per day.

By May 18, 1941, German forces had advanced nearly 150 kilometers into Soviet territory.

It was only around this time that a real battle began to break out.

Then problems started to arise.

“No, there are three roads on the map, but why is only one usable?”

“How would I know that? I’m not the one who made the map.”

The Germans paid a heavy price for operating under outdated maps.

Bottlenecks arose everywhere, and there was confusion between units.

In the midst of all this, ‘it’ appeared in front of the armored unit that was advancing steadily.

“Shoot!”

German tanks fired their shells valiantly at the Soviet tanks blocking the middle of the road.

“What, what is it?”

The Soviet tanks, hit by a barrage of fire from the Panzer III tanks, surprisingly did not budge at all.

“Try shooting from a little closer.”

German tanks cleverly approached enemy tanks to confuse them and fired shells at their flanks, but to no avail.

The 40-ton heavy tanks, which were like giants to the German army, easily deflected the shells of German tanks and fired back.

“Car number 3 was hit!”

German tanks had a high level of coordination ability, but they were helpless when their shells couldn’t even hit the target.

“What the heck. What about the Air Force?”

“It’s difficult right now.”

The Germans were advancing so quickly that there was not enough time for the Stukas to advance and catch up.

“Bring me an anti-tank gun.”

However, the German army had extensive combat experience.

By moving the anti-tank gun forward while fooling the eyes of the Soviet tanks, they succeeded in cutting off the tracks.

But still, the fearsome Soviet tanks were not destroyed.

By this time, the Germans had suffered the disaster of losing more than 10 tanks to a single KV-1 tank and having the main advance route of the Panzer Division blocked.

After many twists and turns, the Air Force managed to destroy the tank with an 88mm anti-aircraft gun, but the German army could not help but be shocked.

As these monstrous tanks appeared not just one but several times all over the front line, the German advance speed approaching the Stalin Line suddenly slowed down.

The problem wasn’t limited to just one KV-1 tank.

“Hello, we are T-34s. They are the newly manufactured medium tanks. We have over a thousand of them.”

The threat of T-34s moving in brigades in areas not yet under the influence of the German Air Force had a shock the Germans could not have imagined.

The mainstays of the Soviet Army, the T-26, 70, and BT series, were easy enough to make you yawn, but the T-34 was anything but.

“No, what on earth do you want me to use to defeat that thing?”

The army’s mainstay, the 37mm anti-tank gun, was no match for the T-34.

If this had been the original location, most of those troublesome T-34 and KV tanks would have melted away under the effect of the surprise attack, but that didn’t happen here.

Because of this, the German army suffered humiliation.

As if to add a variable to this complicated situation, heavy rain began to fall in late May 1941.

The rain continued to pour down for several days without stopping.

Swish.

Heavy rains across Ukraine caused unexpected mud swamps to cover the invading forces.

The German army began to flounder as it found itself in an unexpected quagmire.

“What, rain? When this much rain falls, the ground turns into a mud pit!”

The roads in the Soviet Union were already a mess, and when they became covered in mud, vehicles could not move at all.

The German offensive, which had been trying to show its power with the help of its forward-deployed air force, was again severely hampered.

Army Chief of Staff Franz Halder wrote about the situation in his diary:

“The situation is worse than I thought. I thought I had a lot of time until winter, but if I keep going like this, I will be stuck at the threshold of Moscow.”

Even the German Army High Command admitted that the operational planning was in disarray.

“We misjudged the Soviet Union.”

They realized that their vague calculation of 180 active Soviet divisions + 180 newly mobilized divisions = 360 divisions was completely off.

It wasn’t just a small force of 360 divisions.

The size of the Soviet army, estimated by the Germans through radio interception and other means, easily exceeded 600 divisions.

It was on a scale that was simply unbelievable.

However, this cannot be considered a deception, as Soviet defense units were thickly stacked wherever they attacked.

Frankly, considering the difference in troop strength, it would not have been surprising if the Soviets had counterattacked on all fronts.

“What on earth did the Eastern Intelligence Agency figure out?”

Front-line commanders shouted at their superiors.

As the advance faltered, German casualties also rose sharply.

Casualties, which had been less than 50,000 in late May, jumped to 100,000 in early June.

Of course, Soviet casualties were twice as high.

As the German army struggled in the mud, the countries that had been watching began to play the abacus again.

First, Turkey, which had received a request for alliance from Berlin,

“Ataturk said that Hitler was a man who would ruin the country if he tried to get revenge.”

Even though it seems like Germany has conquered Europe, seeing the Soviet Union struggling to survive makes it seem like Ataturk’s warning was right.

“We will not go to war.”

Turkey decided to remain neutral rather than participate in the war.

And Italy, which received a request for assistance to cover the casualties,

“No, our situation is urgent right now!”

Italy was also busy fighting a brutal war against the Chetniks in Yugoslavia.

At the moment, the number of Chetniks running wild on the Yugoslav front exceeded 200,000.

The Italians were forced to invest more troops in Yugoslavia as tens of thousands of communist partisans joined the armed resistance following the outbreak of the German-Soviet War.

“No, are you guys really that retarded? The great powers are too busy fighting a single guerrilla to even help their allies?”

Spain would have been more helpful.

Spain took the families of Republican soldiers hostage and sent its old enemies to Russia as the “Blue Division.”

Those who send at least one division, and those who send a soul.

From Germany’s point of view, it went without saying which of them was valuable as an ally.

Even Hitler, who had a crush on Mussolini, heaped insults on Italy.

“Those idiots haven’t done a thing since the fall of Rome.”

Hitler was dissatisfied, but still, he did not think that they would lose.

The reason it’s sluggish right now is because of the weather.

By mid-June, when the ground had hardened, the Germans would have a chance to show their strengths.

If you think about it, there was still plenty of time.

“You can’t afford to hesitate until mid-June.”

“Of course, Your Excellency the President.”

The generals repeatedly promised Hitler victory.

But no one knew how to unbutton the first button that was sewn wrong.