I Became Stalin?!

Chapter 61

The situation on the southern front could be summarized in one word.

‘There were more holes than lines.’

The German army responded with a demand for disarmament to the desertion of the Romanian army and the German attack. 

Some of the Romanian army complied with the disarmament demand and handed over their weapons and supplies and retreated to the occupied areas in the rear. 

This mostly happened on the southwestern front, where the German army was much more superior in numbers.

But on the southern front, where there were many more Romanians, there were various reactions.

“What? Do you want to torture us like those soldiers? Or massacre us? Go ahead and try!”

Many Romanians distrusted the Germans now. 

The regime they had been loyal to collapsed, and the comradeship they had fought with melted away in the lack of supplies and racial conflicts.

Most of them had witnessed the German army’s civilian massacres, and they did not think that they would leave the ‘prisoners’ alone. 

Some of the more radical ones answered the German army’s disarmament demand with gunfire, and they brought about their own fate as they had predicted.

“Kill anyone who resists. But show as much leniency and mercy as possible to those who surrender! They were once our comrades, and they can join us again in the great cause of resisting Soviet Union. Act like gentlemen for our honor and theirs.”

General Model issued a strict order, and the soldiers faithfully followed at least the first part of it. 

Those who resisted were brutally killed, and those who surrendered in fear were sent to the prisoner camps in the rear with at least their limbs intact.

The trains that brought supplies from the rear and carried only a few wounded soldiers from the front, leaving most of the space empty, began to fill up with Romanians.

Whether there was a fierce battle or a peaceful disarmament, there were gaps in many parts of the front, and the Soviet army began to target these points.

“Romanians, surrender! Stop fighting for the oppressor Germany!”

“Surrender and lie down on the ground! Soviet Union guarantees your safety!”

There was always a crackling Romanian broadcast at the forefront of the offensive.

Some unit commanders, who had very few troops, deployed a few ‘trustworthy’ Romanian soldiers along with the German army on the battlefield after a brief meeting with the Romanian commander.

Some soldiers who had already surrendered to the Soviet side were suspected as traitors and forcibly disarmed and dragged back to the battlefield with only one gun. 

Quite a few of them chose to surrender again.

“Surrender! Surrender! Aaargh!”

“Save me!”

And the German soldiers actively killed them. General Model’s order to ‘kill anyone who resists’ justified their massacre.

Even the commander himself, who received the report, could not punish them. 

He had to gather one more soldier for his reserve force for mobile defense, and he could not afford to punish his elite troops composed of Germans.

“Just three days! Just buy us three days of time! That’s the only way for Southern Army Group to survive!”

“We’ll do our best! Your Excellency!”

The armored vehicles salvaged from Soviet Union’s autumn offensive were endlessly deployed to repel Soviet Union’s offensive across all fronts.

The new Panther tanks, which had received 150 units as support at first, were reduced to only 56 units after fierce battles, but they received 45 new units urgently and became General Model’s most valuable reserve force.

Fortunately for him, Colonel Kirponos of Southwest Front Army was surprised by the huge exchange rate of 10:1 and cautiously launched a limited offensive despite Soviet Union’s abundant human resources.

Even that was blocked by Germany’s solid defense line, and two of them were broken down, and the other two were crushed by General Model’s specialty, mobile defense. He gave up any further offensive and responded with sporadic shelling.

***

The southern front, or Romania direction, could not maintain a line at all. 

The southwestern front was mostly occupied by German or Hungarian troops, but on the southern front there were mostly Romanian troops who could not tell whether they were enemies or allies.

‘We can produce tanks and artillery again, but skilled soldiers are hard to train again.’

Especially in this kind of total war. He had to somehow get one more soldier out of there, but it was difficult.

If one unit retreated from the front line, it could collapse all over. It was hard to tell who was loyal or who was opposed.

If a veteran soldier died on that battlefield, he had to fill his place with a recruit. 

In peacetime, recruits would receive rigorous training and become veterans after a few years, but in this hellish war, recruits usually died before becoming veterans.

He filled his place with lower quality recruits, then filled it again… And then his army and country would weaken until they collapsed.

Model knew that well as he had tasted the hell of the last war as a junior officer.

“Bucharest, 30 kilometers ahead!”

Whirr whirr kiyoooooot!!!

General Budenny swung his saber. 

The cavalrymen responded to his scream with fanatical cheers.

“Long live the Red Army!! Long live General Budenny!!!”

The Soviet army broke through the collapsed front line and galloped to the Danube River.

The vanguard was always the 1st Guards Cavalry Army.

General Budenny and the soldiers waving the flag of the Guards Cavalry Army rode their horses at a speed that would reach the Danube River in one breath.

Bucharest was already occupied by the royalists, so the Soviet army that entered Bucharest received a warm welcome from the citizens. 

It was awkward to be welcomed by those who had been fighting each other with guns until recently, but it was not incomprehensible.

“Soviet Union promised to return the land that we Romanians have dreamed of. The Germans tried to control us by setting up a dictator and a puppet government, but Soviet Union liberated us. This is our gratitude.”

“Thank you! Your Majesty!”

The young King Mihai, who pinned another medal on General Budenny’s chest, had a flushed face. 

Even though he had borrowed someone else’s hand, when had he not been manipulated by someone else’s hand in the past years?

But now the dictator Antonescu was gone. 

King Mihai, who had the power of the Guard Division in his hands, secured the loyalty of the border defense forces, and received Soviet Union’s support, had the opportunity to pursue his grand dream for the first time.

The people also supported the king. 

They were happy to get their land back. 

The Germans had taken away many young people and made them cannon fodder, but they did not give back even a bit of land. 

Hungary and Bulgaria had participated in the war as allies, so it seemed unreasonable to get their land back from them.

They had only pretended to be loyal under Antonescu’s gun. 

There were some who hated the Soviets, but most of them hated Germany much more.

“Bulgaria also expressed its willingness to surrender. They made various excuses, saying that they were only Slavs who did not want to be hostile to each other and that they only cooperated with Germany’s war effort under pressure…”

“Good. Good. Is the Caucasus Front Army ready?”

The situation was going as planned. 

They induced a war of attrition in the north and central regions, while cutting off almost all of Germany’s war resources in the southern sector. 

In addition, they also injected a huge amount of counterfeit money produced in the homeland into the Axis countries.

Already half of the 5 million marks of counterfeit money that they had injected in the first round were in the hands of the French Resistance, and the other half turned into gold that could be used anywhere in the world and headed to America via Portugal.

The useless counterfeit money would transform into gold and return to Soviet Union via America. 

Spam and Hershey’s chocolate, airplane engines and fuel, trucks after another transformation.

Compared to the amount of materials that America sent, the gold earned from counterfeit money was not much, but it was enough to make a face-saving gesture.

The noisy bureaucrats of the US Treasury Department would lower their voices a little.

America also had a plan to build a few more battleships passed by Congress, so they probably didn’t have much financial leeway either, but Roosevelt seemed determined to crush Germany.

Across the Pacific, across Siberia, lend-lease arrived every day and we screamed with joy.

“Yes, Comrade Secretary. We are ready to move out at any time you order.”

The Axis fleet was still focused on the English Channel. 

Probably to protect Britain’s supply line from the American battleships that were sailing at full speed across the Atlantic, as well as from the few remaining British ships.

That meant that there was very little naval force left in the Mediterranean, let alone in the Black Sea.

The Soviet navy, which had taken over Romania’s weak but existing naval force, could now fly freely in the Black Sea.

Turkey probably knew about Romania’s surrender, but not about Bulgaria’s surrender yet, so they were at ease… 

They were exposed to attacks from three sides in an instant.

One direction was two field armies under Soviet Union’s Southern Front Army that crossed Bulgaria. 

Renamed as Balkan Front Army under Colonel Malinovsky, they seized the European side of Bosporus Strait and surrounded Istanbul to choke Turkey’s neck.

Afterwards, their goal was to expel Italy’s army and eliminate Axis influence in Balkans by cooperating with Greek and Albanian partisans who resisted forced occupation.

Another direction was Caucasus Front Army that started from Georgia’s coast and ran towards Ankara, Turkey’s capital, through northern Anatolia Peninsula along Black Sea coast. 

Most of Turkey’s army was concentrated on Soviet Union border for fear of Soviet Union, so they had to march a long distance with many clashes, but they were given well-mechanized forces accordingly.

The 1st Guards Tank Army and 2nd Guards Tank Army, along with one mechanized corps, became the only fully mechanized front army in Soviet Union after receiving them. 

Tolbukhin, who was promoted to colonel and became front army commander as usual calmly prepared for offensive.

Finally, Soviet fleet that crossed Black Sea to cooperate with Balkan Front Army was waiting for departure order at Odessa. 

The Black Sea Fleet loaded with thousands of mines was scheduled to lay mines at Dardanelles Strait, entrance of Marmara Sea as soon as Balkan Front Army captured Istanbul.

If both sides of strait, Canakkale and Gallipoli Peninsula were occupied by Soviet army then Axis could never enter Black Sea unless they paid a huge price. 

Either they would fight a nightmare-like Gallipoli landing battle like in World War I or clear mines under fire from both sides.

What if Turkey did not surrender? 

Then the place where mines would be laid would be Bosporus Strait that flowed through middle of Istanbul.

“With this it will be one on one? Considering that America joined it will be one on ten but hehehehe.”

Stavka’s commanders were now making plans to completely destroy Southern Army Group. Hey, be careful, will you…?

“Comrade Secretary! Urgent news!”

“What? Urgent news? What is it?”

When everyone was immersed in the plan for a hopeful future, a communication officer came into the conference room with a bang.

What is it? Did Leningrad fall? Or Britain?

“Ja… Japan attacked America!”