Steel Soviet Union

“It has now become increasingly clear that we not only grossly underestimated the economic and transportation power of the Soviet giant, but more importantly, we foolishly underestimated the Soviet Union’s overall military power.”

"Initially, it was expected that the enemy would only have about 200 divisions. This was the so-called "most accurate inference" drawn by the General Staff Headquarters based on intelligence sent back from the Soviet Union. But now, 360 troops have been identified with their numbers. Division, how did the Ivans manage to double the number of troops seemingly overnight?”

"Once a dozen divisions are annihilated, the Soviet Union will re-invest a dozen divisions into the gap and in the direction they think is the ideal fighting direction. On the other hand, our front seems extremely thin. The Soviet Union is really too big! As big as the head of state Faced with many high-value strategic goals, there was hesitation in choosing, and even the General Staff Department had great differences on the focus of strategic goals. "

"At this point, it can no longer be said that those who agree with the head of state to attack Ukraine and Leningrad at the same time are flattering. Romania's oil fields, Ukraine's grain, and Leningrad's heavy industrial base are indeed very important! Taking them is not only for our army It is of great help and can seriously weaken the Soviet Union's war strength."

"I don't know when the head of state plans to start the general attack on Moscow, but the time left for us is indeed running out. Many years ago, the French Emperor Napoleon fell under the harsh winter of Russian soil and failed to recover. I don't want our Germans to regain their strength. To follow the mistakes of the French, I hope the head of state can resume the offensive against Moscow as soon as possible through the advice of the General Staff.”

Halder, the German Chief of General Staff, who was ridiculed by Marshal Bock as "keeping everything in his little diary", was indeed so. Hal was extremely clear-eyed about the battle situation taking place on the front line and the mistakes made by the German army. Virtue, but did not dare to write these things recorded in the diary into a report and submit it to the head of state in person against his will.

But if the ongoing mistakes continue like this, Halder, who serves as the Chief of Army General Staff, will sooner or later become the sinner of the entire Germany because of his inaction.

The anxious Halder found his partner, Marshal Brauchitsch, then commander-in-chief of the German Army, to discuss countermeasures on August 12.

The Army Commander-in-Chief, who never dared to take a breath in front of Hitler and was ridiculed by Marshal Bock as a "cold aristocrat", didn't have any good countermeasures.

The head of state just issued a new directive to the General Staff Headquarters yesterday, requiring the German army to seize Crimea, the Donetsk industrial area and the coal mining area before the arrival of winter, so as to ensure that the German war machine can continue to operate efficiently .

Secondly, it is necessary to prevent the Russians from transporting oil from the Caucasus and cut off the Soviet Union's black blood lifeline in this region. According to the words of the head of state himself, "the Bolshevik tanks can only serve as fixed forts." At the same time, Marshal Loeb's Army Group in the far north will continue to maintain a high-pressure offensive, work with the Finnish Servant Army to seize Leningrad and restore the heavy industrial base there as soon as possible to feed back the German army's excessively lost armored units.

Obviously, Hitler, who had been able to keep a clear head in the early stages of the blitzkrieg against Europe, was now completely fascinated by the idea of ​​capturing Leningrad and the entire hinterland of Ukraine at the same time.

Hitler firmly believed that the fall of Leningrad would disgrace Stalin and deal a heavy blow to Stalin's prestige in the Soviet Union. Seizing the entire fertile hinterland of Ukraine will not only greatly increase the German army's war potential, but also pave the way for the subsequent attack on Stalingrad. More importantly, it will allow the Soviet Red Army, which has already suffered heavy losses, to fight in the war. The potential is even worse.

A group of "Moscow faction" generals and marshals in the General Staff strongly opposed Hitler's plan, believing that it would make the German army repeat Napoleon's mistakes and miss the perfect opportunity to occupy Moscow before winter.

However, Hitler, who believed that his strategic vision was unique and unparalleled, could not listen to these advices at all. He criticized the German General Staff as a group of "corpse meal" whose "brains have been stale with outdated theories from the First World War" "Even Army Commander-in-Chief Field Marshal Brauchitsch and Chief of General Staff Halder were not spared.

The two No. 1 and No. 2 figures in the German Army, who did not dare to speak out to the Führer, ultimately did not come up with any good solutions, although they both agreed that "the Führer's wanton interference in the affairs of the Army Headquarters and General Staff Headquarters cannot be tolerated." "Permissible" was the conclusion, but after much deliberation, the two German military leaders did not have the courage to say such words in front of the head of state. In the end, they had no choice but to give up.

Things are not over yet at this point.

The day after Halder and Brauchitsch held a secret meeting, Guderian, who was already burning his buttocks on the front line and was so anxious that he was wandering around every day, finally couldn't hold it anymore and took a plane directly to Hitler's base camp. Address him personally in an attempt to change the Führer's opinion.

"Winning the Soviet Union is not the end point of our strategy, Guderian! After that, we have to go south from the Soviet Union, march into the Middle East, wipe out those damn British guys and seize all the oil producing areas! The so-called so-called Churchill, the stubborn idiot, relies on The Royal Navy will be completely paralyzed due to lack of fuel, and the Sea Lion project will continue by then!”

"So we are in great need of Ukraine's raw material supply and agricultural and food base. In addition, Crimea is an unsinkable aircraft carrier used by the Bolsheviks to bomb Romanian oil fields. Even after knowing this, you still think that my plan is contrary to you and inconsistent with ours." What are the actual needs and Nagahara’s plans?”

Faced with the old "clichés" in Hitler's mouth that had hardly changed much, a red-faced Guderian had a heated argument with Hitler.

Guderian emphasized that attacking Leningrad and going south to Ukraine at the same time would make the German army lose sight of the real target at hand. Moscow is the most critical heartland of the entire Soviet Union!

Once Moscow falls, the huge Soviet Union will turn into a piece of scattered sand and lose its strong cohesion. Guderian, who understood Hitler's political intentions, even emphasized repeatedly that only taking Moscow would be the heaviest blow to Stalin's prestige!

This fierce dispute, which almost blew up the ceiling of the base camp, ended predictably with Hitler's spittle-splashing criticism that "my generals know nothing about war economics."