Bismarck

This was the case with cars, and the original French aircraft manufacturers and tank production lines were simply taken over by people sent by German military industrial enterprises.

It's really depressing.

I don’t know why, but inexplicably, Stalin felt as if the wheel of history had entered the Arctic Ocean…

What about your side?

Kiev had just lost 700,000 troops to the German fascists, and the remnants of the Southwestern Front were less than 200,000. Although Guderian was arrogant and went deep into the enemy's territory alone, Timoshenko seized the opportunity to counterattack and almost cut off the retreat, but with Manstein...

Stalin also knew that Timoshenko had tried his best, but...

If you lose, you lose. There's nothing to say.

"Hey, should I consider what that person in northern Shaanxi suggested when I was in contact with him a few days ago to exchange information?" Seeing that the German army was much stronger than expected, Stalin was helpless and wanted to change his tactics...

"Comrade Kalinin, how is the industrial evacuation and population evacuation in Kharkov and Donetsk going?" Stalin asked.

"Comrade Stalin, the industries over there have basically been evacuated, and those that could not be evacuated have been destroyed as much as possible. The evacuation of the people has also been basically completed. Those who have not been evacuated and those who have voluntarily stayed have been issued weapons, organized into guerrilla forces, and appointed guerrilla leaders, political commissars and local cadres in enemy-occupied areas. Now we are organizing those troops that have switched to guerrilla warfare on the spot to get in touch with the guerrillas. This work can be completed in the next few days."

Kalinin, a Soviet veteran with a gray beard and glasses, Chairman of the Supreme Soviet, answered in an orderly manner.

"That's good... Comrade Vasilevsky, please inform Timoshenko and ask him to kill as many German troops as possible. In addition, in order to preserve our troops' manpower, I allow him to retreat across the Don River if he can't hold on."

"Yes."

But at this moment, there was a knock on the door. After getting permission, a staff member hurried in and handed a document to Soviet Foreign Affairs Commissar Molotov.

"What's going on, Comrade Molotov?"

"It's an urgent diplomatic telegram from the British, Comrade Stalin." Molotov glanced at the document quickly and handed it to Stalin: "The British army in North Africa suffered a disastrous defeat in the Battle of Alexandria. Three divisions were surrounded and surrendered, and four armored divisions lost their combat effectiveness. Churchill said that the Middle East is in a state of emergency. He hopes that we can launch one or two counterattacks to delay the Germans' pace."

"Humph, these British guys will just do the same as before, letting others fight to the death on the European continent while they reap the benefits." Stalin snorted disdainfully and threw the document aside: "Those are British colonies. We communists do not export revolution to these colonies. We support the just struggle of the colonial people for independence. Do you still want us to be their scapegoats? Dream on!"

"Comrade Molotov, go tell Churchill that we have finished our counterattack. Marshal Timoshenko's Southwestern Front was defeated and is retreating to the Don River, so we can't help. In addition, our army has suffered heavy losses in weapons and equipment. I hope that the next batch of material assistance can include a batch of better tanks, and don't use second-rate stuff like Valentine, Grant, and Matilda to fool people - forget it, delete this sentence."

"Okay, Comrade Stalin." Molotov quickly wrote down the content and handed it to Stalin for review. Stalin saw that there was no problem, so he signed his name and stamped it.

"Does everyone have any questions?"

"Yes, Comrade General Secretary." Beria, wearing a blue wide-brimmed hat, came out and took out a report as usual: "According to the investigation, there is evidence that the Kalmyks, Chechens and Cossacks have colluded with the Germans. The Germans promised to allow them autonomy in exchange for their opposition to the Soviet Union. The authenticity of this news has been confirmed."

"Oh? Is there such a thing?"

After taking the report and taking a few glances at it, Stalin, who was suspicious by nature, frowned and realized that the problem was not simple.

"The Kalmyks are indeed brave on the front line, but they are not of our race and their hearts must be different. The Soviets cannot withstand any betrayal - even if it is just a possibility." Stalin quickly made up his mind:

"The Soviets cannot afford betrayal. Comrade Beria, go and evacuate all the Kalmyks, Chechens and others on the front lines, and have them move their entire families to Central Asia to open up wasteland and build our rear areas."

Comrade Iron, who was as hard as iron, quickly issued an infamous but necessary order, and Beria agreed and retreated.

"Is there nothing else? If not, then let's adjourn the meeting."

Seeing that no one was ready to say anything, Stalin prepared to adjourn the meeting. However, just as the Soviet Politburo members were about to leave the meeting, a soldier with a briefcase ran over in a hurry...

Everyone's heart skipped a beat...

"what happened?"

“What happened…?”

"What's going on? Don't be anxious, tell me slowly." Vasilevsky hurriedly called the soldier in, closed the door again, and asked.

"Comrade Chief of the General Staff, the Germans have launched a general offensive on the southern front."

"What?! What happened? Tell me quickly."

Frightened, Vasilevsky quickly pulled the officer to the table and took out a large map from his briefcase.

Stalin, Kalinin, Beria, and other members of the Soviet Politburo also hurriedly gathered together.

"They...their Ninth Army came down from the center. This army...is the fascist army that has concentrated all the elite troops of the entire central group. It has 700,000 people and 1,700 tanks. The commander is Rundstedt, who has a low-level and high-level configuration...Now the southern front is being attacked from both sides. Marshal Timoshenko has ordered a retreat...Also, the Germans have just organized a large-scale airborne operation...At least more than 17,000 paratroopers, with the cooperation of their Brandenburg Task Force, occupied the Maikop oil field...All the oil wells have been occupied by them before they could destroy them...Air supremacy is also in their hands. On the southern front...we no longer have any other troops to fight back..."

A shocking piece of sad news.

Everyone was stunned.

Ninth Army. 700,000 men. 1,700 tanks.

If we add Manstein's 11th Army and Guderian's 2nd Tank Army...

Three German armies, 1.3 million troops, nearly 4,000 tanks. And now, after the losses in the continuous fighting, even the most pessimistic intelligence assessment estimates that the strength of the German army is less than 2 million people and less than 5,000 tanks.

It seems that the Germans are concentrating all their mobile forces on the southern front and want to launch a large-scale offensive?

The more I think about it, the more likely it is. Rundstedt is the most prestigious veteran in the German military. He was personally assigned to the Ninth Army... I'm afraid this headquarters is not an army group, but an army group.

Not to mention that Marshal Timoshenko's 200,000 troops could not hold on, now the entire lower Don River and North Caucasus region are in danger of collapse.

For a moment, everyone looked at each other, and no one knew what to do.

Stalin looked at his subordinates and felt furious.

"Comrade Vasilevsky, there is no need to issue the previous order allowing retreat. Tell Timoshenko immediately that if we cannot defend the Don River, we must defend the Volga River. We must adjust our deployment and buy time to change the situation."

Stalin, with a stern voice, almost shouted out the order.

"Give me a death order: I don't care what method he uses, and I don't care how many people die! Tell him to defend the Don River. Especially the largest water transport hub here. There are water networks and swamps all around here, and Stalingrad is the only transportation hub."

"Vasilevsky, tell Timoshenko that the relocation of Soviet industry will not be completed until the end of the year. They must fight to the last man for the victory of the entire Soviet Union. They must use their own sacrifices to buy time for the victory of the Soviet Union to reorganize the rear industries and resume production."

"Before the Soviet Union is ready, before I give new orders, no retreat is allowed. We must defend the city where I fought. I defended Tsaritsyn. Now I need him to defend Stalingrad for me..."

In the conference room of the Kremlin, echoed the unyielding roar of the leader who led the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in the name of steel.

Chapter 517: Stalingrad

"Continue—continue—continue—continue—"

In the Stalingrad railway station, dozens of tanks of various types, under the command of security officers holding small flags and whistles in their mouths, were carefully and slowly driven onto the platform from flatbed trucks parked on the platform. Then, one by one, they drove out of the station along the freight lane on the platform, drove to a square outside the railway station, and began to assemble.

Soon, the square was filled with various types of tanks.

Five KV-1 heavy tanks, sixteen T-34/76 medium tanks, and twenty T-6 light tanks weighing less than 20 tons, with 35mm steel plates on the front of the hull, 500mm shields on the front of the turret, and equipped with a 35mm SHVAK-TNSH machine gun that can penetrate 60mm/20-degree inclined armor at a distance of 60 meters, mainly used for reconnaissance, escort, and support of infantry. And a car with a similar number to the sum of these miscellaneous tanks, and a few tractors... In addition, there are three 45mm anti-tank guns, four mortars, and several small circles gathered together, which looks to be about people, probably a battalion of infantry.

These more than 300 people, 40 tanks, several anti-tank guns and mortars are the entire strength of a Soviet tank brigade.

This is one of the troops that was transferred here to reinforce the Southwestern Front Army...

Because the German fascists launched a war without declaration, the Soviet army's reorganization of the army after the Great Purge was interrupted before it had time to start much. The large-scale relocation of industries also inevitably put the construction period and plan of military production into a tight situation.

Industry is a system of large-scale socialized production that requires close collaboration among workers, factories and scientific research across the country. The impact on arms production of large numbers of enterprises forced to relocate during wartime is self-evident.

Even the hastily built "light tank" T-60 has become the main force of the Soviet armored brigade - and even for such light tanks, the factory often lacks turrets for some batches and engines for others...

The same was true for the reorganization plan of the troops. The originally planned large-scale armored army was completely disbanded, and the temporary organization lacked both people and weapons - although the Soviet industry was not to the point where it could not even produce guns, heavy weapons such as tanks and artillery were really lacking.

Theoretically, a tank brigade should have 34 tanks, but the current temporary organization is only 76 tanks and more than 1 infantry. And only of them are T-/, and the other are KV-. The Germans have tanks in a tank company. If it is a tank battalion, there will be to tanks.

The combat effectiveness of a tank "brigade" is not as strong as that of a tank battalion.

The Soviet Union suffered heavy losses when it was suddenly attacked by Barbarossa, as can be seen.

However, although the equipment was thin, and even many of them were wearing World War I style uniforms, wearing Budyonny cavalry caps embroidered with large cloth red five-pointed stars, and holding Mosin-Nagants in their hands, all the soldiers who were assembled were nervous, disdainful, and some were nervous inside but pretended to be disdainful, and some even secretly prayed to God for help behind the eyes of the political commissar and instructor...

However, as long as you see the naked or suppressed hatred in the soldiers' eyes, you will know that among this group of soldiers, everyone is afraid of everything except death.

In front of a T-34 tank, several crew members are checking their tanks together...

"Sergey, is the oil filled?"

"All right, Lieutenant Lavrinenko."

Someone called Sergei by his comrades stuck his head out from behind the tank's turret and answered. His yellow skin, black hair, and black eyes made him stand out in this crew.

However, we are all comrades and comrades-in-arms, and we have a very good relationship.

such as…

"Hey, Sergey, don't be so taciturn. As a mechanic, do you want me to help you check the motor? That's a tough job. We are all comrades, so don't say I won't help you."

"Hey, hey, hey, Shura, stop making trouble."

A blond boy wearing a tank cap and with oil stains on his face threw himself on Sergei Yongfu's back without a care in the world and started to pull each other's shoulders like a best friend for life. Yongfu, who was a little uncomfortable with his friend and partner pulling his neck, pushed the young but energetic guy twice. The highest-ranking and oldest tank commander, Rylavnenko, glared helplessly at the 16-year-old boy and said to Shura like an older brother scolding his younger brother:

"Does your sister know that you are so naughty?"

"Hehe, she's not here now, so she certainly doesn't know that I'm being so naughty." The naughty kid called Shura let go of Yongfu and jumped off the tank with a grin. "But I want to make one thing clear. Although my sister is one of the most beautiful girls in the medical team, as her younger brother, I will strictly control whoever wants to pursue her."

He said so, but his expression was as if saying, "Please me quickly, and when I'm in a good mood I'll go to my sister and say good things about her."

Looking at the naughty kid who dared to betray his sister even when joking, the silent and introverted Yongfu and the older and steady Lavrinenko looked at each other and shook their heads helplessly.

"Shula, if your sister hears this, you'll be in trouble."

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. My sister is well-educated and beautiful, so of course she needs to get married. She is now 18 years old and an adult, so she can find a boyfriend... Hey, hey, hey. It hurts... Sister, when did you come..."

"The war is about to start, can't I come and see you?" Twisting Shura's ear, Zoya looked angrily at her brother and said, "The German fascists are about to attack us, and you are talking nonsense here instead of following your comrades and preparing for battle."

"Sister, don't be stubborn. I'm wrong, isn't that okay..."

"If you know you're wrong, stop talking. Go and get ready. Mom is waiting for us at home." Although Zoya said it harshly, she still let go of her brother's ear. Seeing a naughty kid covering his ears and running to the side, she looked in the direction of Lavrinenko and Yongfu a little embarrassedly: "Comrade Commander, I'm sorry, my brother may have caused you trouble..."

"No, no, Shura is very lively and is our happy pill." Lavrinenko waved his hand and said with a smile.

Seeing her brother's superior being polite, Zoya nodded shyly, and at the same time turned her head slightly to glare at her naughty brother. But just when she wanted to say something, suddenly, the sound of an air raid alarm rang out on the street.

“It was an air raid.”

"Everyone get ready. Evacuate the vehicles."

Lavrinenko's face changed. Zoya, who was standing opposite him, also changed her face when she heard the air raid alarm. She quickly performed a ladylike manner and said, "Sorry... I have to go back to the medical team. Goodbye."

"Well, goodbye." Lavrinenko nodded, turned around, and began to command his crew to drive the tank to a hidden place.

Over there, Zoya ran away, waving her hands from a distance, calling out to her brother: "Shura, be careful. Don't cause trouble for everyone. Live peacefully and go home together!"

As he was shouting, the man had already run away...

Shura, who had already jumped onto the tank and was about to get in through the hatch, cupped his hands like a trumpet and shouted back to his sister as she ran away, "Sister, you too. Be careful!"

Meanwhile, Yang Yongfu ran to the armored cover of the cab, and while crawling in through the narrow window, he couldn't help but glance in the direction of Zoya and Shura...

The armored door of the T-34 tank was pulled shut heavily, leaving only a gnashing complaint:

"Damn you, German devils. Give me your life."

And this sentence is also the voice of all Soviet officers and soldiers in the city of Stalingrad...

(PS1: Zoya and Shura are famous Soviet heroes in the Great Patriotic War, but the historical line has changed a little now, so Zoya did not join the guerrillas in Moscow, but joined the army with Shura. Please don't pay attention to the details...)

（PS2:德米特里·拉夫里年科，卫国战争爆发后仅用半年时间即在28次战斗中驾驶T-34/76摧毁德国坦克52辆的苏联头号坦克王牌。可惜的是英年早逝，于1941年11月即在莫斯科战役中阵亡，牺牲后追授苏联英雄。）

Chapter 518: Alexander's sequel

Alexandria, North Africa…

The ruins of the city after the war were still emitting faint black smoke, and under the setting sun, they looked very dilapidated. However, among the ruins, the busy crowds coming and going gave people the illusion of post-war reconstruction and hope...

Even though the war has not ended at all - even now, in the sky over the port area where the sunset has dyed half of it red, you can still see the neatly arranged light tail clouds left by the patrol fighter planes in groups of four high in the sky.

From the direction of the large offshore fleet, a light cruiser slowly approached the port, but it did not enter the port area. Instead, it stopped outside the port area, lowered a transport boat, and let the transport boat sail towards the port.

On this transport boat was Admiral Lütjens, commander of the German Kriegsmarine Mediterranean Fleet, and several of his entourage.

And a certain secretary ship naturally follows its own admiral closely.

The small transport boat was not slow and soon entered the port area of ​​Alexandria.

In Bismarck's eyes, one after another, the wreckage of ships that were blown into various postures, with colorful reflective panels on top, indicating the navigation and hydrological signs of shipwreck obstacles, were scattered in the harbor with thick oily sea water - and the source of the oil was these sunken ships.

Engineers and port workers from Germany and Italy, as well as refugees conscripted from refugee camps by Rommel as part of his "work-for-relief" program, were using cranes, harbor tugboats, buoy nets, pumps, and even underwater blasting to clean up the mess in the port.

On the other side, in the direction of the city, team after team of British officers and soldiers, with their heads hung and faces sad, like defeated roosters, holding their weapons high in the air, waving small white flags in their hands, walked out of their positions, and faced the black muzzles of the German army's guns opposite them. They obediently threw their weapons into a small hill of weapons piled up on the side of the road.

That was a group of more than 20,000 British officers and soldiers from three divisions who had been forced to surrender after being cornered by the Montazah landing operation commanded by their own captain and the southern land offensive commanded by Rommel himself. They were now surrendering to the German and Italian armies.

----

The Battle of El Alamein-Alexandria, which lasted from the end of August to the end of September 1941, came to an end.

Under the joint efforts of the Axis Africa Corps and the Axis Eastern Mediterranean Combined Fleet, a total of one aircraft carrier and one battleship of the British Mediterranean Fleet were sunk, one light aircraft carrier and two battleships were severely damaged, and the sea control in the Eastern Mediterranean was successfully seized. On the mainland, three Allied divisions were annihilated and six Allied divisions were defeated one after another. And most importantly, the world-class port of Alexandria was successfully captured. Even though this port has not been dredged and renovated yet, with the throughput capacity of Tobruk and Matruh, the logistics and shipping problems that have plagued the Africa Corps for a long time can now be declared completely solved.

This time, Lütjens, along with Bismarck and other staff members, went to say goodbye to Rommel.