Bab 165: 165
Episode 165: Operation Barbarossa (1)
June 30, 1942
Insterburg Air Force Base, East Prussia, Germany
"Everyone salutes His Excellency the President!"
"Heil Hitler!!"
The bomber pilots and flight attendants in flight suits were embarrassed by my sudden visit, but could not hide their excitement.
I responded by raising my hand to those who extended their right hand in a straight line and saluted.
"I'm sorry for coming to you without warning. "I'm causing all the trouble."
"No, Mr. President! Just the opposite!"
"It is an honor to meet Your Excellency the President!"
"i love you!"
The bomber crews, gathered in a semicircle, were scheduled to take off in the bomber 20 minutes later.
Today's sortie may not be a particularly special day for them as they have already experienced combat several times, but for Germany as a whole, today was not an ordinary day.
That's because today is the day that Operation Barbarossa, the invasion plan against the Soviet Union, begins.
It was the Soviet Union that started the war first, so strictly speaking, it was not an invasion but a counterattack.
Who would have imagined that in real history, the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union would become a German counteroffensive here?
Originally, I planned to go to the front line to encourage the soldiers and observe the status of the operation, but people around me opposed it, saying it was too dangerous, so I changed it to meeting the bomber crews instead.
Still, I plan to go to the front line in person someday. Wouldn't that save face even though he is the president in name and name?
"We're about to go on a mission, are you all confident?"
"of course!!"
"You look so confident, it's great to see. Yes, this is how it can be called the German Air Force. As you may have already heard, the fate of Germany is in your hands. Please keep that in mind."
"I will definitely convey the news of victory to His Excellency the President!"
"Heil Hitler!!!"
I shook hands with each of the pilots taking off and saw them off.
After a while, 16 He 177s lined up on the runway and took off one after another.
The soldiers waved their hands at the sortie bombers, praying for their safe return.
Each of the bombers that sortied had one Legger weapon mounted inside them.
***
The bombers took off from the base's runway and headed straight east.
-… We will soon arrive at our destination. So that you can drop it as carefully as possible. more.
The flight commander said. Captain Alfred Regen today recalled how he had practiced dozens of times for this operation.
Their goal, the Stalin Line, was an impregnable defense line known as the Soviet Union's version of the Maginot Line.
Because it was built with great care and no sparing use of steel and concrete, ordinary weapons are not effective, and at least a train cannon is needed to discuss a breakthrough.
In fact, the defense power of the Stalin Line was not up to the level that the German army feared, and it was not yet completed, so it was a defensive line with many loopholes and problems in many ways, but the German army still had to endure considerable blood loss to break through from the front.
The Soviet military also knew this, so they deliberately deployed fewer troops along the Stalin Line and deployed the remaining troops and equipment to the Hungarian-Romanian border.
Stavka firmly believed that the German army would bypass the Stalin Line on the front and attack from Hungary and Romania, and this judgment was extremely common sense.
However, the German army took advantage of the enemy's judgment.
They made it look like they were going to launch an offensive in the direction of Hungary and Romania, but then they attacked in the scene. That was Manstein's strategy.
However, for his strategy to succeed, there was a restriction that he had to succeed in breaking through the Stalin Line.
When asked how to break through that strong defense line, Manstein answered by mobilizing all of Germany's weapons.
One of them was the seismic bomb Léger, which played a big role in the Baku air raid.
"That's the Stalin Line I've only heard about."
As the target came into view, Regen's hands and feet trembled lightly with excitement. It wasn't difficult because he had already done it dozens of times.
Unlike the Ju88, which was capable of dive bombing, the He 177 was a heavy bomber, so attempting dive bombing itself was suicidal.
However, the Ju88 was too light to carry the Leger, and only the He 177 and Fw 200, which were capable of flying with the Leger, could perform this mission.
Before reaching the target, Regen opened the bomb bay. The bombardier put his finger on the button and waited for the perfect moment.
'Now!'
After separating from He 177, Leger immediately fell towards the ground. Immediately after dropping Regen, he increased his altitude.
Soon, loud explosion sounds rang out simultaneously.
"You got it right! "It's a hit!"
"I did it!!"
"Kyaat! downpour!!!"
Upon hearing the bombardier's report, the crew let out the breath they had been holding and shouted hurray. Even Regen, who didn't usually smile, laughed heartily now.
"It was a success this time too."
"okay. "Failure has no place in my dictionary, cancer!"
The Leger he dropped hit the concrete anti-tank gun emplacement located on the Stalin Line.
The Soviet soldiers, who had complete faith in the defense capabilities of the reinforced concrete positions, were evaporated by a huge flash of light the moment the bomb hit the positions.
Soldiers who were loading ammunition on the bottom floor were crushed to death when the ceiling collapsed.
Leger's power was beyond imagination. Even soldiers in positions and trenches located about 100 meters away from the epicenter of the explosion were swept away by the explosion and suffered significant damage. A huge firestorm spread in all directions, engulfing everything.
Soldiers in the exposed positions were engulfed in flames, and soldiers crouching in the trenches were killed or injured by concrete fragments falling from the air.
The soldiers in the tank turret, which was deployed to be used as a fixed battery, were not harmed, but the impact of the explosion shattered the periscope and sights and bent the main gun, losing its role as a fixed battery.
After completing delivery, the bombers turned their noses.
The bombers returning to base encountered friendly armored units that had begun advancing toward the Stalin Line, which they had overturned.
The march of our troops started from the west and continued endlessly towards the east.
***
The German army mobilized all possible means to break through the Stalin Line.
Starting with the earthquake bomb Leger, various train guns developed by Germany during the interwar period, and large-diameter light artillery used during World War I were all brought in and smashed into the Stalin Line.
It was a truly simple and ignorant method, but at the same time, it was also the most effective method.
In the first place, the weapons mobilized by the German army were made for the purpose of breaking through the enemy's strong defense line, so they were only used for their intended purpose.
Even the 28cm shell fired by the Bruno train gun was lethal, but the 5.2-ton Leger could not withstand any defenses.
The Stalin Line, which seemed strong enough to be comparable to the Maginot Line, gradually began to collapse due to simultaneous artillery bombardment and air strikes across the entire front.
"It's like watching a volcano explode."
Manstein whistled as he watched the mushroom cloud rising from the battery that had been destroyed by Leger's direct hit.
When the Führer ordered the creation of a simply large and heavy bomb weighing over 5 tons, Manstein wondered whether this would really be an effective weapon.
However, the President's will was firm.
It is said that it is much more effective and economical to make and launch hundreds of very large bombs at the cost of making a train gun.
Leger, who was completed in this way, made a great performance in the Baku oil field raid and proved his value at once.
Look at that huge mushroom cloud. A bomb with that much power exploded, but how many enemy soldiers would be alive?
Even I, who was dozens of kilometers away, felt my ears tingling, but the eardrums of all the Soviet troops near the epicenter must have burst.
Manstein, recalling the sight of deaf Soviet soldiers communicating with hand and foot gestures, chuckled involuntarily.
I'm not supposed to laugh, but I wonder why I laugh like this.
"Shall we begin now?"
Manstein judged that the enemy's defenses had been sufficiently weakened and ordered a sortie.
As soon as his instructions were given, the waiting tanks and infantry all rushed out of their positions and charged towards the tattered enemy defense line.
"Company, move forward!"
"Tank, forward!"
"We are spending Christmas in Moscow this year!"
For Operation Barbarossa, Manstein brought 70% of the heavy tank battalions and 80% of the assault tank battalions deployed throughout Europe to the Eastern Front, particularly in the East Prussia-Poland direction.
Even if you destroy the Stalin Line with Leger and the train gun, there will always be one or two intact positions left alive.
Manstein's strategy was to deal with such positions by deploying heavily armored Tigers and Broombears.
Tanks equipped with mine clearance devices on the front of the vehicle took the lead and opened the way.
A specially manufactured chain that was 2 to 3 times thicker than a regular chain mounted on a drum rotated and cut through the ground, touching and exploding mines buried under the ground.
Even if the mine exploded, there was no damage to the tank itself, only the chain attached to the drum was broken, so it was a very effective equipment that could not be matched in terms of cost-effectiveness.
The only drawback was that the tank's main gun and machine gun on the front of the hull could not be used while moving forward, but the Germans compensated for this by having a tank equipped with a mine roller accompany them.
Since the roller crushes the mine and explodes it, it was a significant advantage in actual combat because there was no need to turn the turret back at the cost of direct damage to the equipment.
"OMG! Aaaaa!!"
"mom mom!"
Even if they survived the bombardment and air raids, the shell-shocked soldiers did not dare to stand up and fight.
Although their lives were saved, the soldiers who had lost their senses threw down their weapons and sat down in their seats, crying incessantly.
Soldiers who were not suffering from shell shock had no time to look after their comrades who had gone crazy fighting the enemy forces that were coming in like a tide.
"Hey, you bastards! Stand up and fight!"
An officer, covered in dust from head to toe and looking like a fossil, scolded the soldier crouching in the corner, suffering from shell shock.
Even when he saw the muzzle of the officer's pistol, the soldier did not stand up and just lowered his head, covering his ears.
The officer, who lost his senses at that sight, shouted.
"You pig!"
Flames spewed out from the muzzle and a hole appeared in the back of the soldier's head.
The officer who punished the 'coward' looked back to warn the soldiers, but the soldiers were already busy fighting and did not care about the officer's work.
"The Germans are coming! Where's the ammo?"
The Maxim machine gunner, who had run out of ammunition, stamped his feet.
There were voices desperately looking for ammunition here and there, but the soldiers were unable to get ammunition because the remains of the ceiling collapsed by German artillery shells blocked the path leading to the ammunition depot.
The soldiers had no choice but to continue shooting with individually issued SVT-40s and Mosin-Nagants.
A rectangular model of a heavy tank, the Tiger, appeared in front of the soldiers who stopped the enemy with a single shot instead of a machine gun's continuous fire.
The Tiger's turret slowly rotated and aimed at the machine gun Torchka.
The soldiers who saw the black round circle of the main gun froze.
My head told me I should run away, but my body didn't listen.
I couldn't move, as if my legs were fixed to the ground with adhesive.
"launch!"
The grenade that entered the gun barrel exploded, tearing the soldiers inside Tochka to pieces.
The flesh that splattered on the wall melted in the high heat and stuck to itself, and the iron door, which could not withstand the pressure of the explosion, bounced off and flattened the body of the unlucky officer who was passing by.
The 45mm guns mounted on the BT-5 and T-26, which were used as fixed turrets by burying the hull in the ground, leaving only the turret, could not even put a scratch on the Tiger.
The Tiger leisurely fired shells as if shooting a target, blowing away the fixed turrets one by one.
The penetration power of the 88mm armor-piercing shell was so high that in some cases, the shell passed through the gunner's body and flew through the rear of the turret.
However, although the Tiger was a powerful tank, it was not completely invincible.
Some anti-tank gun positions waited impatiently until the Tiger came within 100 meters and opened fire with their main guns when the Tiger, caught off guard, came within 100 meters.
-Quaaang!
"Defeat!"
The Tiger's engine, which had been pierced through the side, caught fire and the tank came to a halt.
Skilled gunners succeeded in destroying several Tigers by drawing in the Tiger as much as possible and then shooting from the side.
However, another Tiger immediately appeared and fired a grenade towards the anti-tank gun position.
Even if they managed to defeat the Tiger, the Soviet army had no future.
There were only two ways for them to survive: either abandon their anti-tank guns and positions and run away as soon as they defeated the Tiger, or stay calm and then take out the prepared white flag and wave it when the Germans approached.
"Yaaaa!!!"
An unknown Soviet sergeant charged at the Tiger alone with an RPG-40 anti-tank grenade.
The sergeant, who looked like a monster covered in the blood of his dead comrades, pulled out the pin of a grenade and threw it at Tiger.
The grenade thrown by the sergeant exploded in the air, damaging the Tiger's main gun.
The sergeant who damaged the Tiger's main gun climbed onto the Tiger with a grenade and tried to put the grenade into the hatch.
However, before he could get on the Tiger, the infantryman following the Tiger fired an MP38.
The sergeant, who had a hole in his chest, fell down and was crushed by Tiger's tracks.
Thanks to the help of the tanks, the infantrymen quickly reached the enemy trenches and threw grenades and fired flamethrowers to kill the remaining enemy infantrymen in the trenches.
The Soviet soldiers, who had lost their will to fight, raised their hands and shouted for surrender, but the German soldiers, who had tasted blood, did not hear their raised hands or their desperate cries of surrender.
A soldier carrying a Flamenwerfer 41 sprayed flames at the surrendering Soviet soldiers.
The orange flames first burned the Soviet uniforms, then their skin, and finally their muscles and bones.
***
"This is Marshal Manstein's report. Successfully broke through the Stalin Line. "Currently, our forces are advancing east and it is estimated that they will be able to reach Kaunas by tomorrow."
"It's a success!"
"Ha ha ha ha ha!! Sieg Heil!!"
When the report arrived from Manstein that they had succeeded in breaking through the Stalin Line, the generals all exclaimed in exclamation.
Manstein's gamble to break through the Stalin Line from the front by mobilizing all of Leger and train artillery was successful.
Our troops succeeded in breaking through the Stalin Line, and the main force of the Soviet army was concentrated on the border between Hungary and Romania.
By now, news that the Stalin Line has been breached has probably reached Moscow, so they will try to hastily bring the troops deployed in the south to the north, but it will not be easy.
The military power deployed in the south is a big problem, but the Luftwaffe, which has secured air superiority, is cutting off all railroads on the ground.
The Soviet Union was even running out of fuel due to the air raid on the Baku oil fields.
It looks like they are somehow holding on with their oil reserves, but the oil reserves do not keep flowing indefinitely, so they will eventually run out.
We could ask the US and UK for some gas, but would that be easy in the current situation?
This is the guy who was blatantly planting spies in their own country to steal information? Even if I were to give it, I would only give it very little out of fear of the public's eyes.
Or asking for other things in exchange for fuel.
Operation Lucho was a huge success that exceeded expectations.
Both British and American people are turning their heads and saying with one voice that they are attacking the Communist Party at everything they see and that the Soviet Union should be left alone regardless of whether it collapses or not.
Some pro-German factions argued that war should be declared against the Soviet Union, but few voices agreed with this.
However, the mere fact that such claims are being made must be quite a burden for Churchill and Roosevelt.
That's why they won't pay attention to European affairs and just quietly beat up the idiots. If they set out to enjoy some kind of wealth and fame, they'll bring disaster upon themselves. You idiots.
"Mr. President, please tell me something."
"huh? Oh, of course."
As today is the first day of Operation Barbarossa, we had a small celebration at Goering's suggestion.
The bomber crew members who had just returned from a sortie were looking at me, each holding a glass of Coke in their hand.
Since we were scheduled to go back to work as soon as this position ended, we were given cola instead of alcohol.
I saw a lot of disappointed faces because it wasn't alcohol, but as soon as I started the toast, everyone raised their glasses to the sky.
"Good luck to everyone here. Sieg Heil."
"Heil Hitler!!!"
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone