Chapter 129:

Chapter 129

Manstein was slowing down the Soviet advance with his desperate resistance.

The Northern Army Group, which had no proper defense line, seemed to be throwing all the troops they could scrape from the bottom into the offensive to stop the Soviets.

“The enemy’s offensive scale is estimated to be at least corps-level, if not more. But their fighting will is strong... If we’re not careful, they might break through to Novgorod!”

“What will we do if they break through? Do you think we can even capture Novgorod? Hahaha.”

The army that reached the end of the offensive had to stop.

The Soviet army, which had advanced tens of kilometers in an instant, began to slow down and eventually stopped.

The German army defended the Narva River, their retreat route, with a death wish.

And they launched an estimated two corps-level offensives to hit the flank of the Soviet offensive direction and advanced toward Novgorod.

Of course, these offensives were not scary. The Northern Army Group, which had stuffed all its elite combat troops into Leningrad and came back?

The commander of the Leningrad Front, Konev, boasted to me.

“Comrade Chief of Staff! The fascists will never escape easily! The enemy will bury their bones in Leningrad!”

But I was not quite satisfied. How many could we trap and capture?

The intelligence department estimated that there were about 600,000 Germans in the encirclement.

They might still be able to evacuate tens of thousands of troops using their superior air force.

300,000? 400,000? The 9th Army, which I had postponed for a while to take advantage of the opportunity in Leningrad, had about 300,000 men, so it was a break-even or a slight gain.

It was a bit regrettable to think that it was the result of making Leningrad a ruin with a bait.

“Hmm... Anyway, I wish we could get something more...”

I kept being greedy. In fact, whether 100,000 or 200,000 escaped, they had to leave behind heavy weapons like tanks and artillery.

Considering that there would be many exhausted and wounded among the 200,000 disarmed infantry, there wouldn’t be many who could actually return to the front.

It was almost time for Rasputitsa to come, so I should rest for a while and launch an offensive in the winter to decisively defeat the Central Army Group... I felt impatient. Was it because our casualties were not small either? Anyway, I thought there must be some trick somewhere.

“Comrade Chief of Staff, what about this idea...”

“Oh! Comrade Vasilevsky!”

Vasilevsky, the Basil of Glory, opened his mouth with his characteristic cautious expression. Whenever Vasilevsky made a suggestion like that, a good idea popped out.

“It’s not very groundbreaking, but... Since the United States has succeeded in occupying the Azores, why don’t we ask them to open a second front in the Atlantic?”

“A second front?”

Yes. The United States finally secured the Azores Islands in the middle of the Atlantic after a bloody battle.

Now the German defense line, which had lost its submarine and air force bases in the Atlantic, had to retreat to the Canary Islands or the European continent.

So a second front was possible.

The Soviet Union faced 80% of the German forces on the Eastern Front, but after all, the remaining 20% were on the Western Front. The German forces deployed to the North African Front, the Italian Front, and the French Front relieved the pressure on the Eastern Front a little.

“It would be nice to have a second front... if there is one. Anyway.”

Come to think of it, according to the actual history, the North African Front should have been settled by now.

In November 1942, the US and British forces landed in the French colony of Algeria with Operation Torch.

They hit the back of the head of the German North African Corps, which was fighting the British forces in faraway Libya.

François Darlan, the Vichy French governor, betrayed his homeland and cooperated with the Allies.

The Allies were able to advance like this, and Nazi Germany called Rommel back from North Africa at the end of being surrounded. Soon the German army was isolated and surrendered.

But here, the North African Front was settled in an instant, Spain joined the Axis, and even Britain surrendered.

So I guess they treated us better than in actual history.

Roosevelt seemed less tired as the situation improved.

“I have a proposal to make, so I contacted you. Mr. President. First of all... I want to congratulate you on the occupation of the Azores. Our Soviet people sincerely rejoice in the victory of our ally, the United States. We hope to cooperate with you on the anti-fascist front in the future.”

[Thank you, Comrade Chief of Staff. Sigh... We still have a long way to go.]

Yes. We have a long way to go. Anyway, that’s not the important thing.

“I agree with you. There’s a lot to do. That’s why I’m saying this... We have received some valuable information that can strike Germany very effectively. Would you like to hear our proposal?”

[Oh, what kind of proposal is it?]

“It’s... a strike on the German mainland!”

Molotov and Beria’s expressions changed strangely. What is this guy doing?

He said landing operations were impossible, and now he’s talking about striking the mainland?

He asked us to bring him documents on bombers, so he must be using bombers, but how can he fly from the high altitude of the Atlantic to Europe?

The B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator that the US is currently using can’t fly round-trip from the Azores to Germany.

He saw that and still called the US president right away to make a proposal. It was enough to make them panic.

[Is there a way to strike the German mainland?]

“Yes, there is. As far as we know, the B-17 and B-24 bombers can fly about 5,000 km with additional fuel tanks attached.”

A voice shouting “Get me the bomber data!” came from the other side of the phone. 5,000 km is far from enough. First of all, it’s about 3,500 km from the Azores to Berlin in Germany. Round-trip 7,000 km is not a level that can be handled with a little modification.

[Oh, yes, something like that.]

“Good. You may think that the slightly insufficient range of these bombers makes it difficult to strike the German mainland. It’s not enough to fly round-trip from the German mainland to the Azores base, right? But there is one way.”

[What is that way?]

There was no Doolittle Raid in this era. The US carriers were all sunk at Pearl Harbor, and the idea of striking the Japanese mainland with carrier-launched land-based bombers was not even possible to execute.

Of course, a few bombers like that couldn’t shake Germany. Even if hundreds of them flew from the base, it wasn’t enough for strategic bombing.

“Well, to return from the German mainland to the Azores, you have to fly 3,500 km. But if you turn your course south, you’ll find our allies, Romania and Yugoslavia.”

[...!]

“It’s about 1,200 km from Berlin. It’s a third of the distance. You can guarantee the safety of the pilots.”

That’s right.

The Doolittle Raid bombed Japan and then headed straight to China and the Soviet Union, which were allies.

In this case, Japan was replaced by Germany, but the basic concept was the same.

The bombers that flew from the unsinkable carrier, the Azores, destroyed the major industrial facilities and cities of Germany and ran away to the Soviet Union or Romania. And the falling crumbs – the planes! – we picked them up.

It would be meaningless if something like the B-29, which could bomb across the Atlantic from the US mainland, came out, but the B-29 was still in development.

[Hmm... So the pilots will go around the world and come back across the Pacific. What about the planes...?]

“I’d like to return them if possible, but I don’t know if Japan will allow it. But we don’t need a huge number of bombers, we just need to destroy the most important industrial facilities of Germany.”

[For example... what targets do you have in mind?]

“The bottleneck of German industrial production that we found out is the ball bearing factory in Schweinfurt. Also, if we destroy the dams that supply electricity to the heavy industrial complex in the Ruhr area, we can break their industrial capacity!”

[Good. We’ll review it and let you know. This is amazing... Comrade Chief of Staff, you seem to know everything.]

Haha... I wonder if they’re overestimating our intelligence capabilities over there. Beria looked at me with a look of how do you know all that?

Molotov and Beria both had expressions of awe for me on their faces.

I told them not to idolize me...