Rise of Australia

Chapter 967 A big gamble
The period from late 1938 to early 1939 was the most torturous period for the German army.

External resource supplies were cut off and the transportation system in the Russian region was basically paralyzed. These two debuffs directly reduced the combat effectiveness of the German army.

You know, the most elite German troops had basically died on the battlefield.

At present, the combat effectiveness of Germany’s main forces is actually not that exaggerated, and there is not much gap between its combat effectiveness and that of the main forces of other countries.

Especially when facing the strong-willed Russian army and the powerful Australasian army, the German army struggled.

Although the Russian army often suffers several times more casualties than the Germans, they are currently the army that the Germans are most reluctant to face, except for the Australasian army.

When an ordinary army faces nearly half of its casualties, its fighting will will gradually be eroded and its morale will collapse.

But the Russian army seemed to have some kind of magic. Even though the actual casualties had exceeded half of the army's strength, the Russian soldiers would not be affected. They even rushed forward faster and more determined than each other.

At present, the Russian army in the Sudalingrad battlefield has suffered at least three to four million casualties, while the German casualties are less than two million.

Logically speaking, the German army should have the advantage.

But except for the early stages of the war when the German army had the upper hand, most stages of the battle were fought back and forth between the German and Russian armies.

Especially after the arrival of winter, the Russian army fought more and more fiercely, and it seemed that the logistical shortage had no effect on their departure.

As for the German army, it was only by relying on its equipment advantage that it was able to capture most of Sudalingrad.

After logistical problems arose, the German army's offensive came to a sudden halt.

This not only gave the Russian army in Sudalingrad a breath of relief, but also gave the Russian army the opportunity to continue to strengthen its positions.

For the Russian army, Sudalingrad was no longer a simple city, and the houses in the city were no longer simple houses, but fortresses and positions that they could rely on.

Every time the German army captured a house, several soldiers were injured or killed.

Although it doesn't seem like a lot, there are countless houses in the whole of Sudalingrad. If each house requires several casualties to occupy, then Sudalingrad will only be a cemetery for German soldiers.

In order to solve the current troubles faced by the German army as soon as possible, the German High Command held a meeting to discuss a solution to break the deadlock in Sudalingrad.

Ultimately, the German General Staff focused the offensive on Saratov, north of Sudalingrad.

By crossing the river here, we can go directly around to the rear of Sudalingrad and destroy the Russians' route for transporting supplies to Sudalingrad.

But Saratov was not so easy to capture. It also had its back on the Volga River, and there were two other cities named after famous people on the other side of the river.

It can be said that this was a helpless choice of the German army. Before there was no better way to break through Sudalingrad, the German army could only choose any decision that had the opportunity to completely occupy Sudalingrad.

Many German generals understood that if the German army could not win the Battle of Sudalingrad, then the German army would not be able to win this war.

After all, Germany was not in a one-on-one duel with Russia at this time. The Germans also had to face pressure from Britain, France and Australia in the west and north.

If Germany cannot defeat Russia in a short period of time, how can it withdraw its military forces to support Western Europe?
On January 1939, 1, a large number of German armored forces began to gather in Saratov in the north.

In order not to attract the attention of the Russians, the German army chose to gather in Mikhailovka in the northwest and quietly bypassed Saratov along the railway line.

The reason why they did not choose to go north along the river was because there were a large number of Russian troops stationed on both sides of the Volga River.

If the Russians accidentally discovered their tracks, the plan to encircle Sudalingrad from Saratov would be declared a failure.

In order to facilitate this large-scale detour of the army, the German government mobilized a large amount of military supplies and consumables to meet all the needs of the front-line troops.

In order to gather these supplies, the German government even reduced the distribution of some supplies to the people. Sugar, fresh beef, mutton, dairy products, and even oranges produced in Italy have disappeared from the Germans' tables.

The German soldiers on the front line enjoyed a sumptuous meal, took a few sips of hard-earned liquor, and then resolutely set out on the road to the battlefield.

According to intelligence from Germany, although Russia has a lot of defensive forces in Saratov, they are weak compared to the defenses around Sudalingrad.

Moreover, due to its remote geographical location, there is no military airport near Saratov, which means that the Russian troops near Saratov have no air force support.

As long as they were not discovered by the Russians before the action and successfully completed the raid, it would be very likely that they would be able to quickly break through Saratov's defense line and force a crossing from the nearby river bank.

The commander of the Second Panzer Group, Manstein, was still in charge of the raid on Saratov. As a representative of blitzkrieg, Manstein had demonstrated his outstanding talents many times in similar missions.

Manstein played a significant role in the German army's effective blitzkrieg against Poland and Belgium.

The use of Manstein and his Second Panzer Group to carry out this raid was considered an effort by the German army to capture Sudalingrad.

After all, if the Second Armored Group was withdrawn, the German armored forces on the front battlefield would be much smaller, and it might even provoke a counterattack by the Russian army.

On a vast white plain, a large number of camouflaged German tanks were slowly moving towards their destination.

Tanks pressed the soft snow into solid snow, and the ruts that continued to form were quickly covered up by the tanks following behind.

After an unknown amount of time, the armored army finally stopped. Looking ahead, the outline of a small city could be seen in the distance.

"General Manstein, according to the route map, we are only 20 kilometers away from Saratov." Inside the tank, a soldier carefully observed the route map and turned to report to Manstein.

"Very good." Manstein rubbed his hands, trying to wake up his numb arms, and then ordered the soldiers: "Rest in place for ten minutes, and then advance to Saratov at the maximum speed.

I hope we can capture the city as quickly as possible, and then force our way across the river before the Russian defenses can react."

The reason why Manstein successfully broke through the enemy's defense line many times was the powerful German armored forces and the effect of surprise. If the enemy had noticed and been prepared, even the powerful German armored forces would have found it difficult to cross the Volga River when the enemy was on guard.

The order was quickly conveyed to every tank, and the ten-minute rest time began soon.

For all the German armored soldiers on the tanks, these ten minutes were both exciting and worrying. In order not to alert the enemy, the German army did not even send out aircraft to investigate the situation in Saratov in advance.

After all, if German planes appeared in Saratov, the Russians would certainly be prepared and might even strengthen their defenses.

While this ensured that the Russians were unlikely to discover it early, it also meant that the German army had almost no detailed intelligence on Saratov.

The last intelligence from Saratov was more than two months ago. The German army had no idea whether the Russians had increased their troops or the current defense situation of Saratov.

This is also the real reason why Manstein was dispatched for this raid, because this is a bold adventure, and the German army will deal with all unknown possibilities.

If the gamble succeeded, the German army would most likely be able to capture the entire Sudalingrad in one fell swoop, thus changing the outcome of this battle and the entire war.

But if the bet fails, the Second Armored Group on the mission will most likely be doomed, and the Battle of Sudalingrad will most likely collapse directly.

The Russian army at this time was not just for show. During the long war, the Russian army also produced many outstanding generals and excellent military commanders.

In addition, Russia's philosophy has endowed ordinary Russian soldiers with a fearless will, which has also made the current Russian army's combat effectiveness soar.

With the support of the Great Patriotic War, the overall combat effectiveness of the Russian army at this time was fully able to rank among the top three in the world, and even the German army had to go all out to deal with it.

An entire armored group was deployed to the front Sudalingrad battlefield, which also meant that the firepower of the German army would be greatly weakened in a short period of time.

If the Russian army took advantage of the situation, Germany would most likely lose half of Sudalingrad, which it had occupied at the cost of a large number of soldiers' lives.

Realizing how heavy the burden was on him, Manstein no longer had his usual confidence and arrogance.

Although Manstein had repeatedly refuted the German Prime Minister's opinions and even put forward completely opposite views at military meetings.

But that was just opposition to the German Chancellor, and did not mean that Manstein was willing to see Germany fail.

Even as a soldier, Manstein wanted to see Germany's continuous victory. Even if he was proven wrong in the end, it was better than seeing his beloved country fall into the dilemma of defeat again.

The Germans had suffered enough from the defeat in World War I, and no German wanted to experience the punishment of defeat in World War II again.

Even if there is only a glimmer of hope, Manstein will grab it without hesitation and do everything possible to save and fight for it.

Germany made the right bet. Russia did not increase Saratov's defenses, nor did it build a military airport in Saratov to increase its air power.

But Russia also made a wrong bet. Although Saratov had no airport, there was a recently built airstrip between the two cities on the other side of the Saratov River.

There are more than 40 brand new Australian-made aircraft parked at this airport, for which the Russian government paid a huge amount of resources.

The war caused the currencies of many European countries to depreciate continuously, the most representative of which were France and Russia.

The French currency was already in a cycle of depreciation, and coupled with the fact that one-third of the country was occupied, the value of enamel reached its lowest point.

How serious is the devaluation of the franc? The franc is no longer used in any international trade.

France's imports of military supplies from Britain and Australasia must be made in the form of gold or other important resources, or in other currencies of equal value.

In these trades, the Australian dollar has been welcomed by many countries and has become the strongest currency besides gold and important materials.

Even the British pound, which was once a world currency, could not replace the Australian dollar during the war. After all, Britain was also a belligerent country, and its homeland was also bombed by a large number of German planes, which also led to the depreciation of the pound.

Arthur is also happy to increase the circulation of the Australian dollar in this way. If all countries in the world use the Australian dollar as an international currency for international trade, Australasia will become the only beneficiary.

At the same time, this will also enhance Australasia's international influence and strengthen Australasia's influence on other countries.

This also made Arthur very glad that he had chosen to separate the Australian dollar and the British pound before, and to minimize the connection between the two.

If the exchange rate between the Australian dollar and the British pound remains pegged, then the world currency at this time can only be the British pound, and other currencies will not have any competitive qualifications.

Thanks to the large-scale purchase of arms and other food and medical supplies by European countries, the Australian dollar has now circulated in many countries and regions, and Australasia has also collected a lot of gold reserves through trade.

These gold reserves are very important for the issuance of the Australian dollar. With more gold reserves, Arthur can issue more Australian dollars, and the currency value of the Australian dollar will be stronger, without worrying about depreciation like the franc.

One of the important reasons for the depreciation of the franc was that the French government did not have enough gold reserves. A large amount of gold reserves were used by the French government to purchase supplies, or were stolen by the Germans during the occupation of Paris.

This resulted in the French government having no solution when faced with the depreciation of the franc, and it even felt that allowing the franc to depreciate was more cost-effective than controlling it.

The Russians also did not expect that the dozens of aircraft deployed between the two cities on the opposite bank of Saratov would play a big role in the war.

The German armored forces were indeed powerful, but they seemed so helpless when facing dozens of advanced aircraft.

These armored units were like living targets and could only continue to endure the bombing and attacks of the Russian Air Force.

Although the anti-aircraft guns and machine guns on the tanks could also pour out flames to cover the aircraft, the anti-aircraft guns' firing rate and firepower were too weak, and the machine guns' power could not pose a threat to the metal frame aircraft manufactured in Australasia.

Therefore, the outcome of this battle was already doomed. After suffering the casualties of most of its tanks, the German armored group retreated in a panic.

(End of this chapter)