African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1747 The Soviet Union Prepares to Enter the War
The environment in West Africa is inherently drier the further north you go. Most of Upper Wörth is arid and barren, which is why the Kingdom of New Austria received more land than the Habsburg Monarchy.

However, the new Austrian kingdom also needed a large number of immigrants to develop Upper Wörth. Upper Wörth was Burkina Faso in the previous life, but it supported a population of 20 million.

Therefore, if Upper Walter is developed, the potential profits will be considerable.

……

When Japan occupied the Dutch East Indies, the Nomonhan War was still ongoing. Undoubtedly, the Nomonhan War caused great losses to Japan and dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese.

However, the situation on the Soviet side was not much better. The Soviet army, which had an absolute advantage in weaponry and was highly mechanized and motorized, was still forced to lose tens of thousands of men to Japan.

Moscow, USSR.

Joseph has recently been extremely worried about the performance of the Soviet army in the Nomonhan War.

He asked Soviet Chief of the General Staff Shaposhnikov and others, "How did our army achieve such results?"

"Despite having an absolute advantage in manpower and weaponry, they actually managed to fight a stalemate with Japan, an island nation with a relatively low level of industrialization!"

The Soviet army had more than twice the number of Japanese troops, giving them an absolute advantage in numbers. In addition, the Soviet Union had an overwhelming advantage over Japan in tanks and artillery.

As a result, despite this overwhelming advantage, the casualty figures for the Soviet and Japanese armies were almost equal, a result that Joseph naturally found difficult to accept.

Not to mention Joseph, other high-ranking Soviet officials also found it difficult to understand how frontline Soviet commanders managed to bring casualty numbers down to the same level as Japan's, despite having an overwhelming advantage.

Of course, another reason Joseph was angry was that he had previously placed high hopes on the Soviet army.

His initial plan at the war conference was to teach Japan an indelible lesson. Now, it's unclear whether Japan has learned its lesson, but the Soviet Union itself is in dire straits.

General Staff Chief of Staff Shaposhnikov said with a forced smile, "Comrade Joseph, we have indeed underestimated the fighting capacity of Japan this time."

"However, the main responsibility lies with the frontline commanders. It's hard to imagine how incompetent they were to cause our troops to suffer such heavy losses."

"It now seems necessary to send a general with outstanding military command skills to the front lines to resolve the current command issues!"

Joseph was not angry that Shaposhnikov blamed the Soviet frontline commanders, because he thought so too.

For this war, Moscow had provided ample support to the frontline commanders in various ways, including manpower, weapons, and supplies; the Soviet troops on the front lines were far superior to the Japanese.

If the battle turned out this way, then the problem must lie with the frontline commanders!
Joseph said, "That's all we can do now. We need a truly capable officer to go to the Far East. I don't want our troops to continue performing so poorly."

"Our frontline military commanders should be officers who can integrate and perfectly utilize a modern army to achieve perfect results, rather than officers who use a modern army but whose thinking and tactics remain stuck in traditional infantry thinking."

"Chief of the General Staff Shaposhnikov, don't you have any suitable candidates to recommend?"

After a moment's thought, Shaposhnikov said, "I think Lieutenant General Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov is a good candidate."

At this time, Zhukov was only a mid-to-high-ranking general in the Soviet army, and Joseph did not have a deep impression of him, but he trusted Shaposhnikov's judgment.

"Tell me more about it?" Joseph gestured for Shaposhnikov to elaborate.

Shaposhnikov said, "Zhukov was a cavalryman, but he had a keen and unique perspective on modern warfare and had studied the German army in depth."

"Moreover, Comrade Zhukov had also traveled to the Far East for inspection and had a certain understanding of the Japanese army. Therefore, all things considered, Comrade Zhukov should be able to serve as the front-line commander."

With Shaposhnikov's guarantee, Joseph no longer hesitated on the matter and said, "Then it's decided on him. Hopefully, this young man can bring positive changes to our Far East front."

Even after a new frontline commander was appointed, Joseph's brow remained furrowed.

He continued, "Now let's move on to the next topic, which is that the Nomonhan War has had an extremely negative impact on us."

"If Japan were to report the performance of our army to Berlin, I can't even imagine how smug that warmonger Adolf would be!"

"We can say that we were tricked by this war. Once the Germans thought we were weak, the Axis powers might have cooperated with Japan to launch an attack on us in Europe."

Joseph's original plan was for the Soviet army to display its might in the Nomonhan Incident, showing Japan the power of the Soviet steel torrent and also opening the eyes of other countries in the world, especially the Axis powers in Europe, so that they would not dare to easily start a war against the Soviet Union.

Instead of gaining recognition in the Far East, they ended up exposing their true colors.

Joseph felt embarrassed and uncomfortable about it, but even so, he had to bring up the topic.

Even if the Soviet Union wanted to cover up the Soviet army's less-than-expected performance on the Khalkhin Gol battlefield in the Far East, Japan would probably not cooperate with them.

This is different from the previous life, in which Japan went to war with the Soviet Union, but at that time the relationship between Germany and the Soviet Union was ambiguous, so Japan was also unsure of Germany's attitude.

Therefore, after the Soviet Union and Japan clashed in the Nomonhan Incident in their previous lives, neither side was satisfied with the outcome of the war, and they tacitly covered up the result.

The situation is different now. Germany is a clear enemy of the Soviet Union and an ally of Japan, so Japan has fewer concerns.

Joseph was worried that Japan would use this opportunity to instigate Germany to wage war against the Soviet Union in Europe, which would be extremely detrimental to the Soviet Union.

Voroshilov, the Defense Commissar, said, "Comrade Joseph, your concerns are also my concerns."

"I'm afraid Japan will use this as an excuse to reveal the outcome of the Nomonhan Incident to Germany. If Germany underestimates us because of this, the possibility of them launching a war against us is extremely high."

Voroshilov and Joseph's meaning was clear: the Soviet army's performance in the Khalkhin Gol was truly poor. To almost fight the Japanese to a draw despite overwhelming superiority—how could the Germans view the Soviet Union in this light?

What kind of country is Japan? Admittedly, Japan's performance in the Far East War and the recent war against the Netherlands was particularly remarkable.

However, this did not change the fact that the major European powers looked down on Japan. After all, Japan was strong, but that only meant it could swagger around in the Far East. Their rival, the Far Eastern Empire, was an extremely backward agricultural country, and the Netherlands was also a small European country, and it was at war with Germany on its own soil, so it had no power to take care of its Asian colonies.

Even in the eyes of those powerful European nations, Japan's strength was only slightly greater than that of a country like Spain, and at best, it was comparable to Italy.

However, Spain and Italy are among the worst performing countries in Europe, especially compared to the four major European powers: Germany, Britain, the Soviet Union, and France.

But now the Soviet Union and Japan have actually fought to a draw in the Far East. If the Germans knew this, they would definitely underestimate the Soviet Union even more.

In fact, this situation is already better than that of the Soviet Union in its previous life. After all, the Soviet Union in its previous life had an even more embarrassing incident: the Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland, which made them a laughing stock in Europe.

However, the relationship between the Soviet Union and Germany in the previous life was complicated, and Germany in the previous life was far less powerful and militarily strong than Germany is now. Therefore, even though the Soviet Union performed poorly in the Nomonhan Incident and the Winter War, they were not so nervous about Germany.

Even Joseph and others naively believed that Germany would not wage war against the Soviet Union because of Germany's dependence on Soviet energy and minerals and the previous cooperation between the two countries.

At present, Joseph obviously does not have such wishful thinking, so when the Nomonhan War turned out this way, his first thought was Germany.

They feared that Germany might launch an attack on the Soviet Union because of this disastrous war.

Shaposhnikov also said with a bitter expression, "It's not impossible. Right now, it's only Britain and France that are keeping Germany tied down in Western Europe, so the pressure on us isn't that great."

"But this does not mean that Germany is incapable of waging war against us, especially now that Germany still has a number of Eastern European allies."

"Among the Axis powers, only Germany, Italy, and Japan are deeply involved in the war, while the other countries have not yet exerted their strength."

"Especially the Ottoman Empire, Poland, and western Ukraine around us. If Germany opens an eastern front, these countries will most likely become Germany's allies."

The three core Axis powers had already gone to war, but the other Axis powers were not very involved in the war. For example, Poland and western Ukraine were completely focused on the Soviet Union and did not even send a small number of troops to cooperate with Germany in launching the war against France and Britain.

Similarly, Romania and Bulgaria, due to their geographical location, were also unable to cooperate with Germany in the war in Western Europe.

However, there is no doubt that if Germany were to turn its attention to the Soviet Union at this time, these small countries in Central and Eastern Europe would certainly cooperate with Germany to wage war against the Soviet Union.

Then there was the Ottoman Empire, which was also a regional power and directly threatened the strategic locations of the Soviet Union's Black Sea coast and the Caucasus.

The Soviet Union did not believe that the Ottoman Empire would stand idly by like Spain when Germany and Italy went to war against France. If Germany went to war against the Soviet Union, the Ottoman Empire would certainly cooperate with the Germans.

Joseph said with a serious expression, "We now have to consider the possibility of Germany launching a war against the Soviet Union, especially after the outbreak of the Nomonhan Incident, and the poor performance and weakness of our army."

"Our army has not yet adapted to the new weapons and equipment and the corresponding modern tactics, and Germany may therefore launch a war against us ahead of schedule."

"Then we will face a dire situation of fighting the Axis powers on three fronts at the same time, including the Ottoman Empire, and even the Ottoman Empire."

Joseph believed that the Soviet army was weak, and he attributed this to the outdated thinking of Soviet military personnel and their unfamiliarity with new tactics and modern warfare.

His idea was not without merit. It should be noted that the Soviet Union had only established a complete defense industry in less than two years, around 1937, after the completion of the Second Five-Year Plan.

In other words, it wasn't until 1937 that the Soviet Union established a relatively complete defense industry system through two five-year plans.

Furthermore, relying on this industrial system, the Soviet Union initially acquired the capability to produce modern weapons such as tanks, artillery, and aircraft.

Even though the Soviet Union has made great progress in weaponry and equipment in recent years, the professional competence of its military personnel in related fields has been difficult to keep up.

In this respect, the Soviet Union was particularly evident compared to Germany. After all, Germany's military was absolutely world-class. Even a global military power like the Soviet Union would expose problems such as insufficient personnel training, incomplete weaponry, and a lack of experienced commanders when facing Germany.

For example, the Soviet army, with its large number of tanks, cars and artillery, was a "steel torrent" and a "war behemoth" for Japan.

However, when the Soviet army was placed in front of the German army, it was laughable to talk about "iron torrents" or "war behemoths." These terms would be more accurate in describing the German army. This is the difference between the great powers.

Joseph turned to Shaposhnikov and asked, "How is the war in Western Europe going now?"

Even if Joseph now has ideas about Germany, he must first see the situation in Europe. If Germany is bogged down on the Western Front, the Soviet Union will have more initiative. Conversely, if Britain and France cannot hold out, the Soviet Union will have to step in immediately!
Shaposhnikov said, "The situation is not good. The British and French armies are clearly at a disadvantage when facing Germany. The Netherlands is about to collapse, and it is only a matter of time before Belgium falls."

"Moreover, Britain and France were already at a disadvantage compared to Germany in terms of weaponry, army size, and the quality of their personnel. In other words, Britain and France could suppress the Axis powers in terms of navy."

"However, their naval advantage over the Axis powers was clearly not particularly significant."

"More importantly, pessimism persisted in France, so the voices of the surrender faction were not low, which may have had a significant impact on the subsequent war."

"The heavy losses France suffered in the last World War have greatly weakened the French people's fighting spirit. If a major change occurs on the front lines, it could trigger a chain reaction in France. Our intelligence personnel say that France probably doesn't have the confidence to fight Germany to the death like it did in the last World War..."

Intelligence from all sides indicated that Britain and France were struggling to cope with the German offensive, which was Joseph's biggest concern. If Britain and France could not hold out, the consequences would be unimaginable if the Soviet Union had to bear the pressure from the Axis powers alone.

The Soviet Union might even face the surrender of Britain and France if they succumb to pressure in their war with Germany and join the Axis powers.

In light of this, Joseph finally made up his mind: "We can't wait any longer. If Germany integrates Europe, it will be a disaster for us. Now we should take the initiative, especially to give Britain and France the confidence to continue the fight."

Joseph intended to bring the Soviet Union into the war and take action against Germany ahead of schedule, rather than continuing to wait and see.

(End of this chapter)