The sun never sets

Fighting took place in every corner of the village. Although it was a rainy day, the air was filled with a hot atmosphere.

Karl Wuss was worthy of being the armored ace of the German army. He made full use of the advantages of the Tiger tank's powerful firepower and thick armor. He destroyed two tanks and an infantry fighting vehicle under attack from all directions, but he was also hit by several shells. One side of the track of the Tiger tank malfunctioned, and it could only spin in the mud and could not continue to maneuver.

As for the other Tiger tank, after having several of its road wheels shattered again, it completely lost power and stayed where it was, trying to resist. However, it was no match for the Allied tanks that came from behind, and it was riddled with holes, and then caught fire.

The commander opened the hatch and tried to escape, but was quickly fired upon by several assault rifles. He was hit several times in the upper body and was killed on the spot.

Timoshenko remained on the gentle slope and did not join the battle. Instead, he looked at the overall situation and commanded his troops to divide the enemy and then annihilate them one by one. On the muddy road in the village, the remaining lame tigers still fought hard, but they were no longer as threatening as they were at the beginning of the battle.

Both its power system and firepower system malfunctioned. Although it was still roaring in the mud, it was no longer able to launch an effective counterattack.

Timoshenko looked at the tiger struggling in the mud, and the anger and hatred in his heart gradually faded. After a moment, he issued a new order, "Let the tank surrender!"

After a pause, Timoshenko continued: "If it refuses to surrender, we will resolutely destroy it!"

Chapter 935: Bubble

Timoshenko wanted to capture the enemy crew, even though the enemy had caused him great losses, but unfortunately, Kalvus - according to the confession of the prisoners - did not have time to respond, and the Tiger in the mud was riddled with bullets, and none of the crew members inside the tank survived.

With the two Tiger tanks coming off the production line, the battle in the village was drawing to a close. The enemy's troops ambushing in the village were not many, only a little over 100 people in total, but they caused extremely serious losses to Timoshenko's troops, and only three of the main 38A-85 tanks were left.

This filled Timoshenko's heart with gloom, and he hesitated about whether to enter Nashik. If the enemy still had Tiger tanks in the city, he would not need many, just two more, and his troops would most likely be defeated.

The Alliance's 38A-85 tanks are positioned as medium tanks, the backbone of the armored forces, and will be at a disadvantage against heavy tanks. Previously, Timoshenko believed that the high quality and technical advantages of the People's Army could offset the disadvantages in armor, but after this battle, he revised his view: no matter how rigorous the daily training is, it cannot offset the gap in equipment.

It is not to say that Germany's Tiger tank can completely crush the Alliance's 38A-85 tank. The Tiger tank has all the shortcomings of a heavy tank. However, it is undeniable that the Tiger tank has strong combat effectiveness, and the quality of German armored troops is also very high, which is very likely to be higher than that of the People's Army, which lacks experience in armored confrontation.

Timoshenko briefly reported the course and results of the battle to the division headquarters by radio, emphasizing that the improved version of the German Tiger tank had strong armor-piercing ability and terrible accuracy, and suggested that if there was no three-fold armor advantage, the best way to face the Tiger tank was to call in artillery fire or dive bombers.

If you have to fight a Tiger tank head-on, you can either use heavy tanks or withstand the opponent's fierce and accurate firepower, go around to the rear and attack its tail. If that doesn't work, you can attack the flank.

In fact, Timoshenko overestimated the combat effectiveness of German heavy tanks. It is true that heavy tanks like the Tiger tank have a great advantage when facing medium tanks, but that also requires very excellent crew members and good logistical support.

Not every German tank crew is as good as Otto Karl-Würz. There are not many armored aces in any country.

In addition, the Tiger tank's wide tracks enhance its mobility and passability, but also bring it the problem of transportation difficulties. Whether it is strategic mobility or tactical mobility, the Tiger tank is not very good, and it often cannot even enter the battlefield.

Moreover, the Tiger tank had a high failure rate, and it was very troublesome to repair after a failure. However, Timoshenko did not need to worry about these. He only needed to report the performance of the German heavy tanks in battle.

The division headquarters soon issued a new order to Timoshenko.

Order, "Stop attacking temporarily and defend on the spot."

The Alliance Center received accurate information that the German army had transported most of its heavy equipment back to Germany, but now that Tiger tanks had suddenly appeared, the General Staff was somewhat skeptical about the authenticity of the intelligence previously collected.

Could it be that the German government deliberately released that information? Could it be that the German army was using the tactic of luring the enemy deep into their territory in order to trap them in a trap?

This possibility exists and is very likely. After all, it is Indian territory, so it is not a pity to destroy it. Moreover, the roads in the Republic of Madras are difficult to travel. As long as the railways, bridges and dams are blown up, the heavy equipment of the Indian People's Army will lose most of its function.

Without gasoline, even the most powerful tank will be unable to move.

Taking this possibility into consideration, the General Staff in Chang'an sent a telegram to India, suggesting that another comprehensive reconnaissance of the south be conducted to ensure that they would not fall into the enemy's trap.

The results of the reconnaissance came out quickly. There were no traps, nor were there tens of millions of elite troops hidden. The battle in the village outside Nashik was just an exception. The German army had no ability to open a second battlefield in India.

If the German government really had some spare strength, it would not have lost Aachen after more than four months of bloody fighting.

After confirming that the Madras Republic had no resistance, the Indian People's Army accelerated its offensive. Three armies launched together and annihilated the main force of the Madras Republic within a month. It seemed that this country, which was supported by Germany, was about to be destroyed.

[People's Revolutionary League] first wiped out the South Australian government, then sent troops to Egypt and occupied Morocco, and now is about to destroy Madras. Its appetite is growing, and its momentum is becoming more and more aggressive.

Although the German government was determined to delay and wait for changes, using space to buy time, wanting to defeat the trade unions first to eliminate their worries, and then turn around and fight a decisive battle with the People's Revolutionary League, unfortunately, something went wrong in the first step of the plan.

The trade unions, with the Anglo-French alliance at their core, were not destroyed, but became more courageous. After getting used to the rhythm of the war, the trade union Red Army turned around and suppressed the German army.

The German Army was indeed very elite and highly professional, but they also had a very obvious weakness, which was that they could not replenish their technical equipment as fast as the Anglo-French Alliance.

The German army could achieve a good exchange ratio, but it was getting weaker and weaker. Many armored divisions were not fully staffed with tanks. They should have used Panzer IV and Tiger tanks as their main armored forces, but later on they had to bring many Panzer III*K and Panzer II*K to the battlefield.

The armor and firepower of the Panzer III were no longer enough, so it was still quite useful to convert it into an assault gun and a self-propelled anti-tank gun. Even so, the German army's equipment gap was still slowly and steadily growing.

In the Battle of Aachen, the German army fought well in the early stages, but when the fierce and bloody battle stretched to three or four months, the German army's combat effectiveness declined significantly.

The Red Army's tanks were constantly replenished, and the damaged equipment could be repaired and used. The German army had to wait for new equipment to be delivered. The production capacity of German factories could not keep up with the consumption, and the speed of repairing damaged tanks was also very slow.

In the later stages of the Battle of Aachen, a large number of German tanks and armored vehicles were abandoned on the battlefield. The once majestic Tiger tanks were thrown all over the ground due to various failures, and the crews had to blow up their precious technical equipment and then retreat in tears.

On the European battlefield, with the Battle of Aachen as a turning point, the German army had fallen into a situation where it could only take beatings and could not fight back. The plan of first eliminating the enemy on the Western Front and then turning back to fight a decisive battle with the People's Revolutionary League became a pipe dream.

Chapter 936 Collapse

"........First we lost Egypt, then India........Using land to fight the [People's Revolutionary Alliance] is like putting out a fire with fuel. If the fuel is not exhausted, the fire will not go out........Today we will cede five cities, tomorrow we will cede ten cities, and then we can sleep peacefully for one night. When we get up and look around, the alliance troops have arrived again."

The Human Innovation Alliance is so powerful in this world that cultural exports are very convenient. Various audio and video products are subtitled in English, Russian, German and other languages and exported to the world.

Germany borders the People's Revolutionary League and has obtained many pirated videotapes from the league. Even the "Six Kingdoms Theory" has a night raid group: Lu ⑨ Si ⑨, San Lu ①③ Wu people know about it.

William III slammed the newspaper on the table and said, "Gentlemen, tell me what should we do about this? The Madras Republic is about to become history. Are we just going to watch it happen?"

Army Commander-in-Chief Brauchitsch frowned and said: "Your Majesty, our army is temporarily unable to launch an offensive on the Eastern Front..."

"The Marshal means that there is nothing we can do?"

The Minister of Foreign Affairs stood up and said, "We can lodge a serious protest against the [People's Revolutionary League]!"

"Protest" has been used and it didn't work, so now we have to use "serious protest". It doesn't matter whether it works or not, the main purpose is to appease the people in the country and let them know that the government is not doing nothing.

"Huh, serious protest?"

William III sneered, "What if the People's Revolutionary League still ignores us? What if they are still not satisfied after annexing the Republic of Madras?"

The Foreign Minister could not respond and could only remain silent.

William III asked again: "Will the People's Revolutionary League stop?"

"probably not.

"

Keitel, Chief of Staff of the Supreme Command Headquarters, said: "According to reliable information, the total number of troops of the People's Revolutionary League has exceeded 800 million, and the total number of the army has exceeded 550 million. This is just the public information collected. We have reason to believe that the number of troops of the People's Revolutionary League will only be greater."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "The People's Revolutionary League may expand its army to more than 10 million at any time!"

"If the People's Revolutionary League launches an attack on us at this time... I mean if, gentlemen, what will happen next?"

"Shouldn't it be...?"

"This is about the life and death of the country, and you actually used the word should?"

"As long as there is profit, the pretext for war is not a problem."

"quiet!"

The generals and officials could see that the People's Revolutionary League would not stop at India. After India, the next move would most likely be Turkey, Romania, or Iraq.

The Persian Empire has been infiltrated by the People's Revolutionary League like a sieve. As long as there is no "land reform" in Persia and the laws of the People's Revolutionary League are not enforced, the Persian emperor will not refuse the passage of the People's Revolutionary League's army.

More importantly, the Persian Empire did not have the power to refuse.

If the People's Revolutionary League's next target was Romania, Germany would be on the brink of defeat. Romania's annual oil production was 500 million tons, accounting for one-third of the total oil needed by Germany. Without Romania's oil, the number of aircraft and tanks that Germany could deploy would become even smaller.

As long as the People's Revolutionary League takes action against Romania, Germany will have no choice but to declare war on the Alliance, no matter how reluctant it is to fight on two fronts.

If the Human Innovation Alliance's next target is Iraq or Türkiye, Germany will not be in danger of immediate defeat, but the noose around its neck will become tighter.

Everyone seemed very pessimistic. Under the mode of total war, the outcome of the war was no longer determined by the whims of one or two generals, but more by how much steel, how many planes, tanks, and cannons there were, as well as how many young and middle-aged people could be brought to the battlefield.

The young men of the trade unions were quickly consumed on the battlefield, their blood and flesh turned into fuel and lubricant for the war machine. The same was true for Germany, where millions of casualties had devastated the country.

Unlike in another time and space, the German Empire in this world does not have so many vassal states, and cannot pass on the casualties to their vassal states, so the number of casualties is shocking.

"If, I mean if," William III looked at his generals, "if we declare that we will join the People's Revolutionary League, will the situation be reversed immediately?"

The hall suddenly became quiet. At this moment, even if a pin dropped on the floor, it would be heard. The silence lasted for a long time. Everyone present was either silent, looking around, or staring in amazement. No one wanted to speak up to express agreement, and no one wanted to express opposition.

Finally, it was William III who broke the silence, "Is this possible?"

"...We must uphold the traditions of the German Empire!"

"Your Majesty, the policies and laws of the People's Revolutionary League are not suitable for Germany. We cannot agree to put the great German nation under the Chinese!"

The civil servants thought it was okay, but Brauchitsch, Alfred, Halder, Redl and others all expressed their opposition.

"If the People's Revolutionary League can agree to let Germany maintain its existing political system and laws like the Persian Empire and New Zealand, why can't it join?"

"Gentlemen, please note that the German Empire is a great country. We are not Persia, let alone New Zealand. The People's Revolutionary League can tolerate the existence of Persia and New Zealand, but will never tolerate a country like Germany. We are too powerful!"

Although the German army was at a disadvantage on the battlefield, Germany still had tens of millions of ground forces, thousands of tanks, tens of thousands of aircraft, and thirty or forty battleships. Such a huge armed force was even stronger than the military strength of the People's Revolutionary League in some aspects.

If Germany maintains its current political system and power range and joins the People's Revolutionary League, will the alliance listen to Chang'an or Berlin in the future?

Under normal circumstances, William III would not have made such an unreliable proposal. He was not like the previous German emperor who made sensational statements all day long. But Germany was no longer normal. The difficulties Germany encountered during the last world war, such as shortage of manpower and materials, had all returned.

The German Navy could not defeat the Red Navy and could only be trapped in various ports, which could save a lot of fuel. However, as a result, Germany suffered from shortages of various supplies, especially food. People starving to death were no longer news. If no one starved to death one day, that would be a surprising thing.

There are reports that the Syndicalists suffered greater casualties and are about to collapse, but on the Syndicalist side there are the French Commune, the Spanish Republic and Syndicalist Britain, and their available manpower is greater than that of the Axis.

Before the trade unions ran out of steam, the German Empire would most likely have collapsed.

Chapter 937 Ideal

As technology develops, weapons become more advanced, the cost of war becomes higher, and the damage and casualties caused become greater.

The damage caused by war to a national economy was not as great as it is today. During the Hundred Years' War and the Thirty Years' War between England and France, although the participating countries were exhausted and some even owed a lot of debts, at least the countries could still operate normally.

The world war had only lasted five years, but Europe was already in mourning, with people starving to death every day. In this European war, the German Empire had not lasted as long as the last time, and many rebellions broke out in the country.

When the British and French allied forces reached the Ruhr industrial area, the German Empire was in extreme distress, and there were many signs that a larger-scale rebellion was about to happen. Massacres and repression can solve the problem of people taking to the streets, but they cannot fill their stomachs.

When people start to starve to death in large numbers, even the most stringent laws lose their force. The army and police are also made up of people, and the largest number of soldiers and police are mostly from the lower classes of society. In the recent rebellion, many soldiers and police were involved.

If it had not been for the extremely dangerous moment, William III would not have proposed such an unreliable suggestion as "joining the People's Revolutionary League". The German government is now in a desperate situation.

In addition to the option of "joining the People's Revolutionary League", the German government also established diplomatic contacts with the French Commune through the neutral country of Switzerland, hoping that the two sides would stop fighting and restore the border to the state before the war.

German Ambassador Brian said compassionately: "Both France and Germany have suffered heavy losses since the war began. Continuing the war will not benefit France, but will only benefit the People's Revolutionary League."

The armistice condition proposed by Bryan was that the trade unions compensate the Axis with a large sum of money. This was not the final condition. The bottom line of the German government was an unconditional ceasefire, meaning that neither side would have any gains or losses.

The French Commune naturally would not agree to pay war reparations to the Axis. After several rounds of negotiations, when Germany gave up its demand for war reparations, the French Commune still disagreed.

The Ruhr industrial zone had been destroyed by artillery fire, and Germany was clearly running out of steam. How could the French Commune and other members of the syndicate agree to a ceasefire at this time? Unless Germany declared an unconditional surrender!

"That's impossible!" Brian reacted fiercely, "Germany is not a defeated country!"

"Soon!"

Brian took a long breath and threw out his trump card, "If you are unwilling to make concessions, Germany will choose to join the [People's Revolutionary League]!"

"........"

Ambassador Bryan stared at his negotiating opponent closely. "Mr. Henry, you don't want to see this happen, do you?"

Henry did not come alone. There were two deputies sitting beside him. He knew that one of them must have been sent by the intelligence department, or it was possible that both of them were sent. The reason why the Red Army of the Workers' Syndicalists could win many victories on the battlefield was certainly because of the high morale, proper tactics and higher degree of organization of the Red Army.

A high degree of organization means that the syndicate has established an effective order, which allows it to compress consumer goods to the limit and use most of its resources to produce arms and military-related products.

In terms of integrating resources, the syndicalists did a better job than Germany and the People's Revolutionary League. Of course, the syndicalists paid a price for this. Everyone was under close surveillance, and the bureaucracy was running wild on the road of rigidity. In addition, the living standards of the French Commune and syndicalist Britain have gradually declined over the years, and eating meat has become a luxury.

But the people of the trade unions have ideals. In the face of the great ideal of liberating the world, what does it matter if they can't eat meat? It's not that they can't eat it, but they eat it a little less every year. Well, it's a lot less. But people can still eat fish. Britain is surrounded by the sea. Are they still afraid of having no fish to eat? France also has a long coastline, so fishing is not a problem.

The current difficulties are only temporary. Once the whole world is liberated, there will be bread and milk, and people's living standards will improve.

However, these things must be built on victory. The Syndicalists must defeat the Axis, annex the best areas of Germany, and use Germany's manpower and industrial strength to complete the final step.

What if Germany joined the Human Innovation Alliance before this?

Henry was shocked. It seemed that no one had ever thought of this possibility. No, some people had thought of it. For example, Henry, as a diplomat, must have an international perspective. Could it be that he had never thought of it? But he couldn't say it. In the French Commune, many people had disappeared quietly.

If you don't want to cause trouble for yourself, you must learn to adapt to the environment. In Paris, it is not enough to be careful about what you say and do, you must show that you support the leader more than others.

Henry glanced at the two assistants beside him, then said to Brian seriously, "Even if you join the [People's Revolutionary League], you will never be a match for the Workers' Syndicalist Red Army, right?"

The two assistants looked very serious and remained silent.

Brian asked, "Do you really think so, Mr. Ambassador? The naval power of the People's Revolutionary League is much stronger than that of Italy, and is comparable to that of the German Empire. If the People's Revolutionary League and the German navy join forces, can the Red Navy still maintain its advantage?"

Obviously, this is impossible. The Allied Navy has built many cutting-edge warships over the years, including six armored aircraft carriers, which are much stronger than the German Navy. As long as the Allied Navy joins the war, it will not be Germany that will be blockaded.

, but France and Britain.