Chapter 827 The Queen Comes but No Grain Is Paid
The plan submitted again by Pavlov and Shalashnikov finally satisfied Comrade Stalin. The Southwestern Front was strengthened and heavily deployed on the Dnieper River defense line. At the same time, the Western Front, Kalinin Front and Reserve Front still maintained 2.5 million people. The above-mentioned powerful forces are enough to cope with a large-scale main decisive battle.
It seems to be foolproof, now the evil Nazi invading army will all go to hell!
Therefore, in the remaining days of April 1943, the Soviet high command once again mustered up its energy and went all out to adjust its deployment, strengthen the defense on the southern front, and weaken the central and northern routes.
At the same time, Hessmann and Guderian selected several frontline German commanders - Marshal Küchler, commander-in-chief of Army Group Northern, which encircled Leningrad on the north road, and Commander-in-Chief of Army Group Center, who was responsible for the main offensive in the middle road. Marshal Manstein and Marshal Rundstedt, who was responsible for the frontal attack on Ukraine from the south, were all summoned to the General Staff in Zossen.
"Marshal Imperial, where is our target? Is it Moscow?"
Marshal Manstein, the German general in charge of this campaign, had carefully studied the "Purple Plan" formulated by Hessmann and Guderian. However, Manstein was still a little confused as to the ultimate goal of the German army in the "Purple Plan".
He said: "If we have won two battles in Smolensk and west of Moscow, then why should we go south? Leningrad has been besieged for more than half a year. By September or October, it will be How much defense capability does the city have? We can capture it and surround Moscow at the same time.”
“Moscow is a big city that is difficult to capture,” Hersman told Manstein. “If we want to capture Moscow, we must be prepared to suffer hundreds of thousands or even millions of casualties, and we are very likely to We’re going to spend the winter outside Moscow.”
According to the estimates of Hessmann and Guderian, the decisive battle in Smolensk and the area west of Moscow will be very fierce! The Soviets are likely to invest a huge military force of 3 to 4 million people to resist. Even if the German army wins, it will definitely consume a lot of money, and it is really uncertain to attack Moscow again.
Moreover, once Moscow is in danger, Stalin will mobilize troops at all costs to relieve the siege. At that time, the main force of the Red Army in Eastern Ukraine will inevitably be transferred northward, and Ukraine will be quite empty. Then the German army can use fewer troops to outflank the front and rear and eat up the entire Eastern Ukraine.
“Ideally,” Hersman said, “in this winter, the front line on the Soviet battlefield should be maintained along the Pskov-Smolensk-Bryansk-Kursk-Voronezh-Stalingrad line. "
Because it was expected that the Soviets would transfer all the main forces on the southern front to the center to defend Moscow, Hessmann and Guderian made a plan for Army Group Center to divide its forces and move southward. After completing the encirclement of Ukraine with Army Group South, they would then move eastward. The plan to storm Stalingrad.
"Cut off the communication between the Caucasus oil-producing areas and Moscow?" Marshal Rundstedt also asked at this time, "Then will Turkey join the war? I heard that Ambassador Papen has been doing Turkey's work."
Ambassador Papen was Franz von Papen, who historically served as Prime Minister from June 1 to November 17, 1932. At this time and space, he did not become prime minister, but he was still the leader of the Catholic Center Party (later the Christian Democratic Union). After the merger of the Center Party and the Fatherland Party, he became a member of the National Committee of the Fatherland Party and a member of Parliament.
After the war broke out, he was sent to Turkey as an ambassador (he served in the Turkish army for most of World War I, so he had many connections in Turkey). He once successfully pushed Turkey to open its borders after the Mediterranean Campaign decided the winner. for German troops to transit. However, he was not satisfied with such diplomatic achievements and always wanted to push Türkiye to join the war.
“That’s the idea of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” Hersman shook his head slightly and said, “But I don’t think the Turks need to participate in the war, because the Turks will not participate in the war in vain, and in order to win over them we will probably have to take out the Caucasus oil producing areas. And once we complete the occupation of Stalingrad, the war is likely to be over, so why should we involve Turkey?"
"What if the war doesn't end so easily?" Old Marshal Rundstedt asked.
"If the war does not end after we capture Stalingrad," Herschmann said with a shrug, "then Leningrad will probably become Her Majesty's loyal Petrograd! Then... how can we What about handing over the Caucasus oil-producing areas to the Turks?”
Hersman was actually not very interested in wooing the Turks to join the war, because if he wanted to negotiate a peace with the Soviet Union, it would be best not to capture the Caucasus oil-producing areas. It was so important to the Soviet Union and Russia - without the oil fields in Baku and Grozny, it would be difficult for Russian oil and gas companies to operate!
If the Soviet Union stubbornly refuses peace, then Leningrad will be besieged until October this year and it will almost be time to surrender. At that time, whether Hersman is willing or not, his empress friend will definitely return to the Winter Palace as a winner, and become the real Russian monarch under the cheers of a group of former Soviet people who were defeated by hunger.
In this way... Of course Hersman cannot give the oil in the Caucasus to the Turks, because it is the property of Empress Olga and will belong to the empress of the German Empire in the future.
"Don't worry about Turkey," Hessmann said, "we will fight the battle ourselves! If...Stalin does not admit defeat before this winter, then a large part of the Russian people will become our allies, and Olga's court will They fought for it.”
Russian Queen Olga has issued the "Agrarian Reform Decree" in Pskov Oblast, announcing that the land owned by the former Soviet collective farms will be equally divided among the farmers of the collective farms and will be privately owned! And exempt from land tax for three years!
If this "Amnesty Order" is widely publicized in the Russian countryside, I am afraid that many Russians will sing "Miss the Queen, welcome the Queen, and the Queen will not pay for the food when she comes."
"Isn't this better?" Marshal Kuechler, commander of the Northern Army, asked somewhat strangely. As the commander-in-chief of the German forces surrounding Leningrad and a close friend of the Russian Empress, he very much hoped to capture Leningrad.
Hersman shook his head and said: "If we capture Leningrad, there will be no room for relaxation between us and the Soviet Bolshevik Party, and there will be a long-term war."
He paused and then said: "And Queen Olga's appeal in Russia is limited. Although many people miss her in rural Russia, there are still many people who oppose her and the Romanov dynasty in the entire Soviet Union. . Especially in order to gain our support, she must give up the entire Ukraine, which will make her rule lack legitimacy in the minds of a considerable number of Russians.”
The separation between Russia and Ukraine was not a problem during the Tsarist Russia. Although Ukrainian separatism already existed at that time, it was not very powerful.
Moreover, there was no "Ukrainian State" during the Tsarist Russia. The territory that was later called Ukraine was called "Little Russia" at that time, and the people living there were also part of the Russian nation. "Little Russia" does not have a clear territory, and the difference between Little Russians and Great Russians is not very obvious. Even the language differences between the Little Russians and the Great Russians are not big (equivalent to the dialects in various parts of China).
However, after so many years of Soviet and Polish rule, Ukrainian language, writing, national territory and national consciousness have all been formed. Ukraine's separation from the Soviet Union or Russia has become a trend.
But for the Russians, the main ethnic group in the Soviet Union, losing Ukraine will be their eternal pain! No matter who loses Ukraine, he must be the sinner of the Russian nation, and this sin will not be changed just by practicing a little so-called benevolent government.
Because Russia’s great power chauvinism has long penetrated into the bone marrow, it is even more stubborn than the militarism of Germany and Japan. It is very difficult to eliminate it, and it will take at least one generation of denationalization and brainwashing.
Moreover, Russia, which has lost Ukraine, is just a worm. The future Emperor Putin will have no tricks, let alone Olga, a woman with no experience in governing?
"So Olga didn't really come on stage. There are many people who support her and miss her," Hessman sighed softly, "but once she really comes on stage, there will definitely be more people who oppose her, so I We don’t want the Romanov dynasty to be restored in Russia. If we insist on this, then the oil-producing areas of the Caucasus must be left to Olga. Otherwise, how can she continue to be the queen? Russia’s trouble is not ours. of?"
If the queen wants to be benevolent, she must have the capital! Without Ukraine, Russian industry will definitely not be able to survive, and agriculture will not have much hope (Ukraine is also a granary). If the oil-producing areas are not left to Olga, how will the future Russian imperial regime settle the dissatisfaction of the domestic people?
This is not something that can be solved once and for all by dividing a few acres of land, because the Soviet Union in the 1940s was a socialist country with a high level of urbanization.
The high level of urbanization means that the distribution of farmland to each household cannot take care of everyone's interests - otherwise Leningrad would not have resisted tenaciously until now!
The socialist country means that the Soviet Union has many benefits, such as a pension system, free medical and education systems, basically free or low-cost housing and various public utilities, such as a lot of inefficient but still must be on time Empress Olga has to shoulder the burden of state-owned enterprises that distribute money and welfare. At the same time, she must also provide benefits to farmers, otherwise the Russian people will continue to make endless troubles.