Chapter 406: The Global Situation

It didn’t even take three days. Roosevelt, of course, had capable men on his staff. After a brief deliberation, they devised a foolproof pla

It didn’t even take three days. Roosevelt, of course, had capable men on his staff. After a brief deliberation, they devised a foolproof plan. America’s core interests were absolutely not to be sold out; it simply wasn’t the American way to bleed for someone else’s benefit.

Thus, a telegram was sent directly to Churchill, leaving him to weigh the pros and cons. If the British felt that American aid was optional, then they could continue to cling to their interests in the Middle East and fight Germany on their own. However, if the British believed they couldn’t defeat Germany by themselves, then they would have to obediently spit out the juicy morsel that was the Middle East.

In simple terms, America’s approach was to use Britain’s interests in the Middle East as a gift to America’s Jews in exchange for the American Jewish lobby’s support for Roosevelt. This solution perfectly aligned with American interests and was therefore smoothly approved within Roosevelt’s circle.

The next day, Roosevelt met with Baumann again and laid out the entire plan, even including the good news that the British leadership had decided to relinquish their interests in the Middle East in exchange for America’s full support.

“This is truly excellent news,” Baumann said, clearly very satisfied with the outcome. He then laughed heartily. “Well, since the British have been so generous, we Americans can’t be too stingy, can we? No matter what proposals you bring up in Congress tomorrow, Mr. President, we will no longer stand in the way.”

And so it was. The following day, at the congressional session on February 10th, Roosevelt once again submitted the “Aid to Britain Act.” To everyone’s surprise, after being rejected three consecutive times, the bill passed with an overwhelming majority.

The true peak of American aid to Britain had begun. On the first day after the bill’s passage, 20 American transport ships joined the convoys bound for Britain. At that very moment, however, Germany was preoccupied with other matters.

Germany, Berlin, the Führer’s Residence.

Akado was frowning at an intelligence report from the Eastern Front. Seated at the long table before him were August, Brauchitsch, Kluge—the “Governor” of Poland who had rushed back from the East—as well as the commander of Army Group D on the Eastern Front, List, and the new commander of Army Group G, Guderian. The Luftwaffe’s Kesselring and the Navy’s Raeder were also present. Even the head of the Abwehr, Gascoigne, and the head of the SS, Reinhard Heydrich, were in attendance. This was likely one of the most important German military conferences since the invasion of France.

The Soviet Union had recently deployed a massive number of Red Army troops to the German-Soviet border, with their numbers swelling to a full 2 million. At least 2,000 tanks and armored vehicles had been deployed simultaneously in the Soviet-occupied zone of Poland. Such a large-scale military buildup could obviously not be hidden from Germany, which had a vast network of spies in the Soviet Union.

Moreover, it seemed that Stalin, Khrushchev, and their ilk had allowed the Red Army to move into the border regions with great fanfare. It was as if some mastermind was advising them from behind the scenes, and this Soviet maneuver had put Germany in a difficult dilemma.

The large-scale operations on the Western Front had just concluded, and post-war reorganization was not yet complete. Germany’s elite panzer forces had been broken up and restructured, leaving the Wehrmacht’s combat capability at a relatively low point for the time being.

The most experienced and decorated unit, Army Group A, had in fact been split into three parts: the new Army Group A preparing to attack Britain, nearly 200,000 infantry resting on the French border, and a portion of elite panzergrenadiers taken by Rommel, who were currently en route to Austria to rest and refit.

The famous 1st Panzer Corps had returned to the Eastern Front, where Guderian was in the process of forming his Army Group G. Although the Eastern Front had List’s Army Group D, as well as Army Groups E and F, their combat effectiveness seemed a step below that of Army Groups A and B in the West.

The surrender of France had freed up Army Group C, but this was primarily an infantry formation. Even setting aside its combat capability, the logistics of transporting 400,000 troops to the Eastern Front was not something that could be accomplished in a short time.

Across the entire Eastern Front, the most loyal to Akado was undoubtedly Kluge, the Governor of Poland and commander of Army Group F. But when it came to steady and reliable command, that title belonged to List.

The general was now pointing at a map, briefing the Führer and the others on the situation in the East: “The current situation is as follows: facing my Army Group D, the Soviet Red Army has approximately 900,000 men deployed along the border, threatening our security. To the north, General Kluge’s Army Group F is also under considerable pressure, facing about 700,000 Red Army troops. In the southern sector, the Soviets have deployed fewer forces out of consideration for Romania, but they still number 600,000.”

“A total force of over 2.2 million. Are the Soviets planning to attack us?” Brauchitsch asked, frowning as he looked at the Eastern Front defense plans in his hand. “Our Army Groups D, E, and F have a combined strength of over 1.4 million. If we include Army Groups C, G, and I, which are moving towards the border, we don’t seem to be at a numerical disadvantage.”

August stared at the map and spoke slowly, “Like the Americans, the Soviets are no fools. They do not want a single nation to dominate Europe, as that would create a crisis on their western border. Their interests currently align with those of America and Britain, so it’s not surprising that they are deploying troops to tie us down.”

“If we count the forces they are still moving to the border, their total strength will exceed 3 million, while our effective strength is about 2.7 million. Factoring in our air force and panzer divisions, it seems we still have the advantage,” List said, tracing a line on the map with his pointer. “However, if war breaks out, the data the Führer has provided us indicates that we have no chance of winning an offensive against the Soviet Union. They have a reserve of about 10 million regular troops. Our war games show that our army would be defeated near Minsk.”

“A defensive war is a different story. If they attack us first, then defeating these Soviet soldiers would be no problem at all,” List concluded.

“But if war breaks out, at least 30% of my air force will be forced to redeploy to the East. The continuous bombing and suppression of Britain could fail,” Kesselring reported to Akado.

“Intelligence from Canada reports that Britain is setting up Hurricane fighter production lines in Canada and Australia. In a month, new Hurricanes will be joining the air battle over Britain,” Gaskell said, his voice hoarse from a recent cold.

“Take care of yourself,” Akado said, comforting him while nodding to accept the intelligence report. “Therefore, we cannot afford a war with the Soviet Union right now. Even if we must fight, it has to be at least a month from now!”

This was why Akado and August wanted Japan to fight a battle of attrition against the Soviets at Nomonhan. The recent pressure from the Soviets was becoming suffocating, forcing Akado to resort to this less-than-ideal plan of luring Japan into slapping the Soviets in the Far East.

In reality, the debate within Japan over striking north versus striking south had been going on for a long time. The faction led by the Imperial Japanese Army believed that Japan’s rise had been built on the Russo-Japanese War. That conflict, fought on Chinese soil, had convinced the Japanese that “the Russians were nothing special.” Thus, the Army now wanted to strike north, invade the Soviet Union, and complete Japan’s true ascent in the Far East.

However, the Imperial Japanese Navy had always been at odds with the Army, upholding a glorious tradition of opposing whatever the Army advocated. They proposed a completely opposite “Strike South” plan, which involved invading coastal China, pushing into Vietnam, Burma, and Cambodia, and then attacking the American Philippines to seize oil-producing regions in Southeast Asia and challenge America’s interests in the Far East.

Therefore, the bait Akado had cast was not falling on deaf ears; it had a considerable market within Japan. Upon hearing that their distant European ally, Germany, also wanted them to strike north, the Army was instantly energized. They used every means at their disposal to get the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters to approve the plan to attack the Soviet Union, mobilizing a massive force of seven divisions for the operation.

The world situation was now incredibly delicate: the Germans were focused on attacking Britain, the Soviets wanted to drag Germany down from behind, the Japanese were planning to backstab the Soviets, and the Americans were trying to contain Japan’s gains in China while simultaneously suppressing Germany’s rise in Europe. Not a single major power could remain on the sidelines.

“The key now is to see when the Japanese will launch the promised Battle of Nomonhan!” August said, staring at the map of the Far East. “Every day they start earlier is a day of pressure taken off us.”

“That may be true, but we all know that Japan’s chances of victory in this northern campaign are very slim,” Akado said, standing up. “Meanwhile, it is very likely that the Americans will soon reach an agreement with the domestic Jewish lobby and intervene in our war with Britain.”

He walked to the front of the map, looked at his men, and pointed to the map. “So our focus must remain on the West. General von Rundstedt’s landing plan is still the top priority! On the other hand, we must adopt a posture of resolute defense on the Eastern Front to deter the Soviets from attacking rashly!”

“Yes, my Führer!” all the generals stood at attention and answered loudly.

“August, pass a message to Merkel. Tell him to urge the Japanese to launch the Battle of Nomonhan as soon as possible! We are waiting for news of our Japanese ally’s victory in the Far East!” A smile touched Akado’s lips as if he had thought of something amusing. “After we use them this one time, Japan won’t have much of a beneficial relationship with us anymore.”

The novel has already been fully translated up to the final chapter. You can access it on my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/caleredhair