The Rise of Australia - Chapter 986

c967 Big gamble

The period from the end of 1938 to the beginning of 1939 was the most torturous stage for the German army.

The external resource supply was 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 have basically died on the battlefield.

At present, the combat effectiveness of the main forces of Germany is not so exaggerated, and there is not much difference between the combat effectiveness of the main forces of various countries.

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

Although the Russian army often has to pay 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 the casualties, the army’s fighting will will be gradually eroded and the morale will be broken.

But the Russian army seems to have a kind of magic. Even if the actual casualties have exceeded half of the army’s establishment, the Russian soldiers will still not be affected, and even rush faster and more determined than one.

At present, the Russian army in the Sudalingrad battlefield has suffered at least three or 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 stage of the war when the German army had the advantage, most of the battles were fought back and forth between the German army and the Russian army.

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

On the German side, it was originally relying on the equipment advantage to barely capture most of Sudalingrad.

After the logistics problems arose, the German army’s offensive stagnated.

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 position.

For the Russian army, Sudalingrad is no longer a simple city, and the houses in the city are no longer simple houses, but fortresses and positions they can rely on.

Every time the German army captured a house, the price paid was that several soldiers were injured or killed in battle.

Although it doesn’t seem like much, there are countless houses in Sudalingrad. If each house requires several casualties to occupy, then Sudalingrad will only be a graveyard for German soldiers.

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

In the end, the German General Staff focused the attack on Saratov, north of Sudalingrad.

Crossing the river from here, you can go directly to the rear of Sudalingrad and destroy the Russians’ route to transport supplies to Sudalingrad.

But Saratov is not so easy to break. It is also backed by the Volga River, and there are two cities named after famous people on the opposite side of the river.

It can be said that this is a helpless choice for the German army. Before there is no better way to break Sudalingrad, the German army can only choose all decisions that have the opportunity to completely occupy Sudalingrad.

Many German generals understand that if the German army cannot win the Battle of Sudalingrad, then the German army will not be able to win this war.

After all, Germany was not fighting 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 Russia could not be defeated in a short period of time, how could Germany withdraw its troops to support Western Europe?

On January 17, 1939, 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 go around to Saratov along the railway.

The reason why they did not choose to go north along the river was that 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 have to fail.

In order to facilitate this large 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 and mutton, dairy products, and oranges produced in Italy have disappeared from the German table.

After enjoying a sumptuous meal, the German soldiers on the front line took a few sips of hard-earned liquor, and then resolutely embarked on the road to the battlefield.

According to intelligence from Germany, although Russia’s defense force in Saratov is not small, it is already weak compared to the defense around Sudalingrad.

And because of the geographical location, there is no military airport near Saratov, which means that the Russian army near Saratov has no air support.

As long as the Russians are not discovered before the action and the raid is successfully completed, it is very likely to quickly break through the Saratov defense line and force a crossing from the nearby river bank.

The commander of the Second Armored Group, Manstein, is still responsible for the raid on Saratov. As a representative of blitzkrieg, Manstein has demonstrated his excellent talents many times in similar tasks.

Manstein’s contribution to the German army’s effective blitzkrieg against Poland and Belgium is definitely not small.

Using Manstein and his Second Armored Group to carry out this raid mission can be regarded as the German army’s attempt to conquer Sudalingrad.

After all, if the Second Armored Group is withdrawn, the German armored forces on the front battlefield will be much less, and it may even cause a counterattack by the Russian army.

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

One tank after another presses the soft snowflakes into solid snow, and the ruts that are constantly formed are quickly covered by the tanks behind.

After an unknown period of time, this armored army finally stopped. Looking around, a small city in the distance can already show its outline.

“General Manstein, according to the route map, we are only 20 kilometers away from Saratov.” In the tank, a soldier carefully observed the route map while turning to report to Manstein.

“Very good.” Manstein rubbed his hands, trying to wake up his numb arms from the cold, and then ordered the soldiers: “Rest in place for ten minutes, and then move towards Saratov at the fastest speed.

I hope we can break through the city as quickly as possible, and then force a crossing to the other side before the Russian defense line reacts.”

The reason why Manstein successfully broke through the enemy’s defense line many times was the strength and unexpected effect of the German armored forces.

If the enemy had noticed and prepared in advance, 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 each 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 find out the situation in Saratov in advance.

After all, if German aircraft appeared in Saratov, the Russians would definitely be on guard, and they might even strengthen their defense.

Although it ensured that the Russians were unlikely to discover it in advance, it also meant that the German army had almost no detailed intelligence about 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 and 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, the German army will deal with all unknown possibilities.

If the bet is successful, the German army is likely to break through the entire Sudalingrad in one go, thus changing the outcome of this battle and the entire war.

But if the bet fails, the Second Armored Group on the mission is likely to fall into an irretrievable situation, and the battle of Sudalingrad is also likely to collapse directly.

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

In addition, the Russian philosophy gives ordinary Russian soldiers the will to be fearless, which also makes the current combat effectiveness of the Russian army soar.

With the blessing 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.

The frontal battlefield of Sudalingrad was a whole armored group, 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 loophole, most of Sudalingrad, which Germany occupied with the lives of a large number of soldiers, would also be likely to be surrendered.

Knowing how heavy the burden on him was, Manstein no longer had his usual confidence and arrogance at this time.

Although Manstein had refuted the opinions of the German Prime Minister many times, and even put forward completely opposite views at the military meeting.

But that was just to oppose the German Prime Minister, and it did not mean that Manstein was willing to see Germany fail.

Even as a soldier, Manstein wanted to see Germany’s continuous victories. Even if he was proven wrong in the end, it would be better than the country he loved falling 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 after the defeat in World War II again.

Even if there was only a glimmer of hope, Manstein would not hesitate to grab it, and do everything possible to save and strive for it.

Germany made the right bet. Russia did not increase the defense of Saratov, nor did it build a military airport in Saratov to increase air power.

But Russia also made a wrong bet. Although Saratov has no airport, there is a simple airport built not long ago between the two cities on the other side of the Saratov River.

There are more than 40 brand new Australian-made aircraft parked in this airport, and the Russian government has paid a lot of resources to exchange for it.

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

The French currency was originally in a cycle of depreciation and depreciation, and the fact that one-third of the country was occupied directly brought the value of enamel to the lowest point.

How serious is the depreciation of the franc? The franc is no longer seen in all international trade.

France’s imports of military supplies from Britain and Australasia, etc., all need to be done 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 status of the Australian dollar in the war. After all, Britain was also a belligerent country, and the British mainland 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 countries around 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 increase Australasia’s international influence and strengthen Australasia’s influence on other countries.

This also makes Arthur very glad that he chose to separate the Australian dollar and the British pound before, and try to reduce the connection between the two.

If the exchange between the Australian dollar and the British pound is still linked, then the world currency at this time can only be the British pound, and other currencies will not have any competition 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 is that the French government does not have enough gold reserves. A large amount of gold reserves were used by the French government to purchase supplies, or were taken away by the Germans during the occupation of Paris.

This led to the French government having no solution when facing the depreciation of the franc, and even letting the franc depreciate was more cost-effective than controlling the franc.

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

The German armored forces are indeed powerful, but these armored forces seem so helpless when facing dozens of advanced aircraft.

These armored forces are like living targets, and can only continue to withstand 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 had too low firing rate and firepower, and the machine guns were not powerful enough to threaten the metal-framed aircraft made in Australasia.

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