Chapter 864 How Long Can the Red Flag Last? (First Update)

"Hitler!"

The roar filled with anger rang out in the Kremlin, almost shaking the roof down. This was the roar of the proletariat - issued by Comrade Stalin himself, which made all the staff in the Kremlin shudder.

Marshals Pavlov and Shaposhnikov, who were standing in Stalin's office and preparing to report the latest military situation, were also trembling slightly. Because they already knew the reason for Stalin's roar, the Germans arrogantly rejected the Soviet Union's request for peace. Hitler and Hersmann did not even meet with Molotov, and even German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop did not go to Switzerland, leaving Molotov there.

And the reason why the Germans did this was simply to find fault in Stalin's view - Hitler actually declared that the Katyn Forest Incident was an unforgivable atrocity!

The German Nazis actually wanted to speak up for the Poles! Didn't they want to annex Poland themselves? Moreover, half of it was swallowed up. Many Poles were sent to various parts of Europe as refugees under the pretext of "Soviet invasion". I heard that some Poles were resettled in Syria... It was obvious that they wanted the Poles to make room for the Germans, but now they are acting like good guys.

This Hitler is really too reactionary!

"Comrade General Secretary..." Seeing that Stalin's anger had subsided a little, the Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, Shaposhnikov, began to ask for instructions, "Comrade Golikov, commander of the Bryansk Front, requested that the 38th, 40th, and 48th Armies break through.

In addition, Comrade Konev, commander of the Southwestern Front, requested to abandon the Dnieper River defense line and move to the Kharkov-Donetsk line..."

Although the Germans were jubilant, as if the war had been won, in fact, there were still bloody battles on the Soviet-German battlefield in the past two days.

The most fierce battle was still the "junction battlefield", but the main battle area was moving southward and eastward.

On the battlefield of the 13th collective farm in the north of the "junction battlefield", the fighting was no longer fierce during the day on May 15. After fighting for several days, the Soviet 5th Tank Army was finally defeated and surrounded in the 13th collective farm. The 11th and 24th Panzer Corps of the German Army withdrew their main forces to the south, leaving only two armored grenadier divisions to continue to besiege the remnants of the 5th Tank Army.

The two German armored divisions and one armored grenadier division that went south joined the main force of the 1st Panzer Army in the evening of the 15th and participated in the decisive battle of Gomel.

After defeating the 1st and 2nd Soviet Tank Armies, the main force of the German 1st Panzer Army (a total of 4 armored divisions and 3 armored grenadier divisions) did not stop to rest, but immediately marched south after a fuel and ammunition supply on the morning of May 16, and attacked the left bank of Ukraine from the north.

In this way, the "junction battlefield" has now become 4 battlefields.

One is the "13th Collective Farm Battlefield", where the remnants of the Soviet 5th Tank Army were besieged by the Germans.

One is the battle area around Trubchevsk between the 14th Armored Army and the Soviet 38th and 40th Armies.

Another is the Bryansk City Battlefield, where the Soviet 48th Army was surrounded by two German Panzer Corps.

The last battlefield is in Chernihiv Oblast, Ukraine, where the German 4 armored divisions, 3 armored grenadier divisions and a motorized infantry army fought fiercely with the remnants of the Soviet 1st and 2nd Tank Armies, the 3rd Tank Army (belonging to the Southwestern Front), and the 9th and 12th Armies (belonging to the Southwestern Front).

So although the battle at the junction has now been decided, it has not ended. There are still the 13th Collective Farm Battle, the Trubchevsk Battle, the Bryansk Battle and the Chernihiv Battle going on at the same time.

However, no military expert in the Supreme Command and the Bryansk Front Command and the Southwestern Front Command believes that the above four battles can still be won.

Since they are bound to lose, why not withdraw the Red Army, which is in an extremely disadvantageous situation, while some troops can still be withdrawn?

"No! Can't retreat!" Stalin immediately screamed like a cat whose tail was stepped on, "This is not allowed! The Red Army cannot retreat, not even a step... and now the Southwestern Front is being attacked by the German army from the northwest, and it is impossible to withdraw the troops to Kharkov and Donetsk completely.

In addition, the Germans have two large armored clusters in Bryansk Oblast, which are at least equivalent to an armored group army. If the 38th, 40th and 48th Army Groups break through. This group army will attack Kharkov to the south! How can the Southwestern Front resist at that time?"

Stalin's words also make sense. The Southwestern Front is now attacked by the German Southern Army Group in the west and the reinforced German 1st Panzer Army in the north.

Now we can hold on by relying on our positions. If we start to run away, we will probably be chased by the enemy all the way. By the time the troops retreat to Kharkov and Donetsk, there will be only a few people left.

"We need time!" Stalin seemed to have regained his sanity at this time, and said in a serious tone, "Now we must make plans for long-term resistance, so we need time to move the factories in Kharkov, Donetsk and Leningrad to the east of the Ural Mountains... That will be the rear base of the resistance."

Pavlov and Shaposhnikov were speechless now. On one side, the troops were withdrawn, and on the other side, the factory was moved. It was hard to say which was more important. Moreover, even if the troops of the Southwestern Front were withdrawn, most of the preparations would definitely be lost, all of them were riflemen.

If there were not enough equipment to replenish, even if there were hundreds of thousands or millions of riflemen, they would probably not be able to defend Moscow.

And once Moscow was lost... how long could the Soviet Union's red flag last?

...

"Hersmann!"

In the Alexander Palace in the Imperial Village on the outskirts of Leningrad, Russian Empress Olga was also shouting loudly, but the object of her gritting her teeth was not Hitler, but Imperial Marshal Hersmann.

Because her adopted daughter and heir, Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna, had just reported to her Hersmann's attitude towards the "Russian Integration Theory" - she could understand Hitler's opposition to "Russian Integration", and the Workers' Party, of course, opposed foreign workers coming to ruin their jobs.

But Hersmann was the head of the Junker military aristocracy, the backer of the Fatherland People's Party, and a Junker from East Prussia. How could such a person oppose "Russification"? If "Russification" succeeds, they, the East Prussian Junkers, can easily become transnational aristocrats (many Russian aristocrats in history have German ancestry, and most of the blood in the veins of the Tsarist family is also German). Isn't that good?

Moreover, the empress gave Hessman the biggest bonus - the heiress of the Yusupov family! If the Tsarist Russia is restored, a small part of the Baku oil fields will belong to the Hessman family in the future.

"Your Majesty..." Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna, the Russian crown princess, looked at the empress who was about to explode with anger and whispered, "Marquis Heinsberg (referring to Hessman) may still support us if Stalin refuses to cede the Left Bank Ukraine and Eastern Belarus. This is a difficult decision to make, which means serious consequences..."

The Russian empress snorted coldly: "Those Bolsheviks will cede, there is no doubt about that... The reason why no agreement has been reached now is that the German army has not occupied the Left Bank Ukraine. Once the Germans occupied there, Stalin can completely solve the problem by 'setting aside disputes'!"

The empress was a bystander and immediately thought of a way that neither Stalin nor Hessman had thought of - setting aside disputes and jointly developing...

"Your Majesty, that means we still have time." Prince Yusupov, the empress's confidant and Hessman's future father-in-law, also attended today's meeting and whispered to remind the empress who was confused by the authorities.

"The Germans will not occupy the entire eastern Ukraine soon," Prince Yusupov said, "If they also regard the Crimean Peninsula as part of Ukraine, then we still have at least a few months to operate."

"Operate?" The Queen looked at Prince Yusupov, "Operate what?"

"Of course, it is to take Petrograd!" Prince Yusupov said, "Although Imperial Marshal Hessman and Chancellor Hitler do not agree with the "Russian integration theory", once your Majesty enters Petrograd and becomes a real queen, Hessman will still support you. Because the people behind him all support "Russian integration."

The people behind Hessman are of course the Junker officer group. Hessman is their leader but not their master. If Leningrad becomes Petrograd, it means that White Russia has become a trend, and the "Russian integration theory" will become the mainstream of the Junker officer group. Hessman will naturally follow suit.

Moreover, the relationship between Hessman and Olga has always been very good, which can be described as "close". So if Olga can really restore Russia, it will be very beneficial to Hessman himself and his family. For Germany, "integration with Russia" is difficult, but once it succeeds, it will be at least a century of hegemony (dominating the world), and neither Hessmann nor Hitler will resist to the end.

"But how do we take Petrograd?" asked the empress.

"I don't know," said Prince Yusupov, "but someone knows!"

"Who?"

"Those who wrote you letters of loyalty!" Prince Yusupov said, "I remember that Lenin, the leader of the Bolshevik Party, once said: The fortress is easiest to break from the inside! Although the 11-month siege did not turn Leningrad into Petrograd, the interior of the fortress must have changed, and it is no longer a solid block."