I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 893 The end of the road

The Germans were woefully unprepared for the Russo-German war.

The German troops in the encirclement not only lacked cotton clothes, but also lacked doctors, medicines, field hospitals, and even had ammunition that could only be used for a week.

The encirclement of 50 German troops not only greatly boosted the morale of the Russian army, but also dealt a blow to Berlin that was beyond George's expectations.

The encircled German forces were part of Army Group North, commanded by Field Marshal Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb.

Before Loeb could organize his troops to counterattack and rescue the surrounded German troops, the order from Berlin reached Loeb's headquarters and Loeb was dismissed.

This isn't the first time Loeb has been fired.

On February 1938, 2, Leeuwenstein suddenly received an order to resign immediately and report to the Chancellery the next day.

A total of 12 generals "applied for resignation" at the same time as Loeb because they had to leave their command positions and give way to younger commanders.

On March 1938, 3, Le Breton was promoted to general and announced his retirement.

Loeb is a rare strategist in the German army, and his position within the German army is irreplaceable.

In July of that year, Leeb returned to work and was appointed commander of the 7th Army, commanding troops to participate in the military operation to occupy the Sudetenland.

Loeb was very dissatisfied with what the little mustache did. As early as before the outbreak of the Battle of France, Loeb had joined Rundstedt and Bock to write a letter to Army Commander-in-Chief Brauchitsch, saying: The military reasons for opposing the leader's attempt are obvious. The entire German nation deeply desires peace because they instinctively feel that it is impossible to destroy Britain and France, and all conspiracy plans must be abandoned immediately.

After Loeb's son was killed in Poland, Loeb denounced the Mustache as a "deceitful fool and criminal" and a "war maniac."

From then on, the secret police began to monitor Loeb's movements and examine his private letters.

The little mustache could no longer tolerate Loeb, but he had to rely on Loeb because of his influence in the German army.

Now the mustache has finally found an excuse to fire Loeb.

The person who succeeded Loeb was General Busch, commander-in-chief of the 16th Army.

When leaving the headquarters, Loeb held Busch's hand with some sadness: "God bless you, I hope everything goes well for you, no matter what, I hope you can bring the soldiers back from Russia."

"I'll try."

Bushi was in a heavy mood, now the pressure was on him.

George was under no pressure. The German troops in the encirclement were trapped with no way to escape.

In order to annihilate the German troops in the encirclement, Andre mobilized 150 million people including the strategic reserve. Not only did he have an absolute advantage in manpower, but he also had a huge advantage in weapons and equipment.

Although the German Army's latest armored vehicles have excellent performance, due to the limitations of Germany's industrial capacity, the number of equipment is not large, and the main armored vehicles are still the Type 3 and Type 4.

The Russian strategic reserve is equipped entirely with new tanks.

Like armored vehicles, Russia will have two aircraft factories put into production next month to produce the most advanced jet fighters.

Russia's artillery shell production hit a new high, producing 800 million rounds last month, including 25 rockets.

George never expected that it was the Yugoslav army that broke the deadlock earlier than the Russian army.

The reason why the Yugoslav army was able to open up the situation at the fastest speed was that it relied on arresting illegal businessmen.

After the outbreak of the war, some unscrupulous Italian businessmen made a fortune from the war. They not only cut corners in military manufacturing, but also arbitrarily withheld workers' wages, refused to pay overtime pay, and cooperated with Italian officials to cruelly exploit the workers.

After the Yugoslav army occupied Padua, the citizens of Padua, like the French, took the initiative to act as guides and lead the Yugoslav soldiers to capture people.

In addition to arresting illegal merchants, the citizens of Padua were extremely angry with Italian officials and nobles. They did not seem to care about whether the Kingdom of Italy would win or lose, but cared more about whether these people could get the punishment they deserved.

In this case, George had nothing to say and directly sent a telegram to Boris, asking Boris to fight the local tyrants and divide the land in Italy.

Like the Yugoslav army, the Hungarian troops attacking the Kingdom of Romania became weak after losing their initial momentum.

In order to relieve the pressure on the northern front, the Southern Army Group commanded by Rundstedt joined and launched a fierce attack on the Carpathian Mountain defense line held by the Romanian army.

Compared with the Russian army, the Romanian army was not as strong as before. For a time, there was a panic and the defense line was in crisis everywhere.

Mihaly sent a telegram to George, hoping that George would send reinforcements to Romania.

"Tell Michael that if he can't withstand the attack, no one can guarantee that he can still be the King of Romania after the war."

The main force of the Russian army was fighting a decisive battle with the German army on the northern front, and George had no troops to send.

After Antonescu committed suicide, the telegram sent by Alexandru, who served as the Minister of War of the Kingdom of Romania, was different from the one sent by Mihai.

The Romanian army's defense line in the Carpathian Mountains was not a single thin line of defense, but a defense belt composed of multiple lines of defense with a depth of nearly 50 kilometers.

Even if the front line was breached, the German army still had a long way to go to cross the Carpathian Mountains.

Alexandru hoped that Russia would send out its air force to provide air protection for the Romanian army.

When Vasily learned about the situation, he cursed Carol madly.

After Carol's restoration, he made a profit of at least 10 billion rubles through trade with Germany.

Carol did not invest the money in the construction of the Kingdom of Romania, nor did he use it to arm the army, nor did he even distribute it to the nobility and bureaucracy in the Kingdom of Romania. He pocketed all the money. After Carol's death, the whereabouts of the money were unknown, and it was likely that it fell into the hands of the Germans.

George called Peter and asked the Air Force to enter Romania to fight.

After Busch became the commander-in-chief of the Northern Army Group, he mobilized three armies to launch a fierce attack on Vasco, hoping to open a way out for the German troops in the encirclement.

The German troops in the encirclement were also launching a frantic attack on Vasco, hoping to escape.

What was unexpected was that the army with the most resolute attitude to attack was not the German army, but the Italian army.

Whether in North Africa or in Yugoslavia, the Italian army performed terribly.

In North Africa, the Italian army not only failed to play its due role, but also hindered Rommel, causing Rommel to be unable to fully utilize the mobility of the German armored forces, and he was stretched to his limits and exhausted.

The ones who fought against Rommel in North Africa were Charles de Gaulle and Montgomery respectively.

Although the French and the British were constantly at odds, after returning to North Africa, de Gaulle still worked closely with Montgomery to jointly deal with Rommel's attack.

When Rommel attacked the French North African colonies, Montgomery led the British army to attack Italian North Africa from Egypt.

The Italians were completely unable to stop the British, and Rommel was forced to turn around and attack Montgomery.

As soon as Rommel left, the French army, which had been struggling to hold on, immediately launched a fierce attack on the Italian defense line, forcing Rommel to return to defend.

Rommel was extremely disappointed with the Italians. In order to get rid of the unfavorable situation, Rommel ignored the French army and launched an all-out attack on Egypt.

Good luck tricks people.

Shortly after entering Egypt, Rommel's armored forces were forced to stop the attack due to lack of fuel.

If Montgomery was pardoned, he would retreat to Cairo and continue to seek help from London.

Churchill was helpless and ordered the Indian Corps, which was originally heading to the British mainland, to change its route to Cairo and defend the Suez Canal at all costs.

Charles de Gaulle was very smart. Shortly after the French army entered Italian North Africa, he ordered the French army to stop the action and not to put too much pressure on Rommel to prevent Rommel from turning around again.

Rommel was no longer able to fight.

After Rommel arrived in North Africa, he fought a series of fierce battles and there were very few armored vehicles left.

Due to the blockade of transportation lines by the British and Russian Mediterranean fleets, Rommel found it difficult to obtain supplies. Now the troops under Rommel's command have changed from being equipped with all German equipment to a mixture of British, French, German and American equipment.

For Rommel, supplies from the British and French captives were more stable than those from Italy.

Unfortunately, even if the British and French were defeated, they would rather burn the precious oil than leave it for Rommel.

"what should we do?"

Rommel's chief of staff, Alfred Gauss, who had also studied in Russia, was at a loss.

If there were enough armored vehicles and fuel, Gauss was confident that he could reach Cairo in one go, cut off the Suez Canal, open up a channel to the Abyssinian Empire, and completely reverse the situation in North Africa.

Now Gauss and Rommel were at a loss, trapped in the desert, and even the best cook could not cook without the rice.

Rommel remained silent. He still didn't understand why he should start a war with Russia.

There really is no room for two tigers in one mountain in Europe.

But even if it cannot cross the English Channel, Germany can continue to attack North Africa and gain more living space. There is no need to fight to the north with Russia.

The German army learned its blitzkrieg tactics from Russia. How could Russia not be prepared?

Now the war against Russia has not made any progress as Rommel expected. The attack in North Africa is also weak due to insufficient troops. If this continues, Germany will be at the end of its rope.

General Ettore Bastico, the Italian commander-in-chief of North Africa, was very dissatisfied with Rommel's procrastination and personally went to Rommel's headquarters to urge Rommel to continue the attack on Cairo.

"What happens after taking Cairo?"

Rommel sneered. Since he arrived in North Africa, he had been in constant disagreement with Bastico and had even had a fierce conflict over the combat plan.

According to Rommel's plan, he would ignore Montgomery's attack for the time being and attack Montgomery after completely defeating de Gaulle.

Due to Bastico's insistence, Rommel had to turn around.

Therefore, Bastico should bear the main responsibility for the current embarrassing situation of the German-Italian coalition in North Africa.

"After we capture Cairo, we can move on to attacking the Suez Canal—"

Bastico suddenly stopped talking in the middle of his speech.

"Ah--"

Rommel sneered and said, "Why don't you say anything?"

(End of this chapter)