Chapter 606: Stalingrad(2)
Chapter 606: Stalingrad(2)
The battle of Stalingrad, an inescapable clash between the Black Devil and the Red Army, had broken out.
Unlike the chapters featuring the Giant, the Red Army’s segments were known for their high level of intensity, so readers were filled with anticipation for the coming struggle.
While the US military moved from place to place to hunt down Japan in the Guadalcanal campaign, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union were locked in a single location: Stalingrad.
[A siege masquerading as urban warfare. Every single building is a fortress.]
[Artillery can damage buildings, but it can’t level them completely. Is this even possible?]
[It’s true that stone buildings are stronger than wooden ones. But I didn’t expect it to be this extreme.]
As this world displayed an unbalanced level of scientific progress, its architecture was actually closer to the modern era.
The Elves were known to have spread the foundations of civilization, the Dwarves were masters of craftsmanship, and finally, the Demons had introduced the concept of water and sewage systems.
Architecture is often called the mirror of civilization, naturally following its level of development. Accordingly, the architectural styles of this world were quite advanced.
However, this was mostly limited to buildings classified as works of art; commoners' dwellings were still primarily made of wood.
Part of it was the budget, but there was also the unavoidable fact that mass production had been impossible until recently.
[Wood burns easily and is extremely vulnerable to firepower. But buildings made of concrete are incredibly sturdy.]
[From now on, we shouldn't just rely on city walls; we need to change how we build.]
[If the buildings had been made of concrete during the Ascanal Incident, the damage would have been far less.]
Watching the Battle of Stalingrad, people began to advocate for the necessity of concrete structures.
Since they were in an era transitioning from the Middle Ages to the modern age, city walls still existed, and even the capital of the Minerva Empire was surrounded by them.
However, news had recently broken that Machina was researching airplanes and ironclads, and city walls were meaningless in the face of aerial bombardment.
Furthermore, with the appearance of tanks—the embodiment of firepower itself—city walls would likely prove ineffective.
[But we shouldn't give up on city walls, if only to keep out monsters. They must remain our final bastion.]
Of course, no one suggested getting rid of city walls entirely. They were still necessary because of monsters.
While useless against flying monsters, city walls were essential even when taking that into account. Everyone agreed on this point, so the discussion moved on without much fuss.
One might wonder why there were concrete buildings in a medieval setting, but in truth, concrete could have been invented quite early on Earth as well.
There are records of the Romans using cement, after all. Unfortunately, most of those records were lost after the fall of the empire, delaying its development.
In this world, thanks to the existence of Dwarves, the importance of cement was realized early on and put to good use.
Of course, since mass production was impossible, it was mostly reserved for vital locations. As such, the field of architecture itself was highly developed.
[Urban warfare is a nightmare, whether in the present or the future. But for a defending army, it’s the ultimate fortress.]
[Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union have chosen to plunge themselves into purgatory. All that remains is for the death toll to rise.]
People shared their various opinions as they watched the progression of the Battle of Stalingrad.
Some believed Nazi Germany would eventually break through, while others thought the Soviet Union would hold the line regardless of the staggering losses.
However, there was one aspect that people hadn't anticipated at all.
"No. Why don't they just stop fighting and go somewhere else?"
Marquis Mathews, the commander in charge of the Northern Region, felt a sense of bewilderment as he read about the Battle of Stalingrad.
Geographically, Stalingrad as shown on the map was a vital location. If ignored, the Nazi German army risked being struck from the rear.
But Nazi Germany had made a fatal mistake here. They had entered the battle while voluntarily limiting their own greatest strengths.
Heavy tanks couldn't exert much influence in urban warfare, and even aerial bombardment couldn't completely level the buildings.
In other words, it meant they had to rely solely on infantry—which was exactly what the Soviet Union wanted, and Nazi Germany had walked right into the trap.
"There are plenty of other places to target besides Stalingrad..."
As a commander of the Empire, Marquis Mathews was a man with a keen eye for strategy.
Blood and Iron provided maps as the story progressed, which he found incredibly useful.
How did he use them? Naturally, he used them to test his own vassals.
Of course, since unfamiliar weapons kept popping up one after another, he eventually scrapped the tests, but he gained something else in their place.
"Are they even running wargames before they think?"
Since Blood and Iron was so deeply connected to war, it provided a wealth of military knowledge.
From Nazi Germany's greatest strength, the mission-type command system, to the concept of wargaming.
Wargaming, in particular, was a godsend for Marquis Mathews, who valued the life of every single soldier.
If he ran a wargame and realized a plan was flawed, he could immediately devise a different strategy.
Even if it was an operation he was forced to carry out, he could run simulation after simulation to find a way to increase the odds of success.
'What the Japanese did during the Battle of Midway is still absurd, no matter how many times I see it.'
At the same time, the book showed what one must never do in a wargame: arbitrarily changing the results to suit one's wishes.
Before the Battle of Midway, the Japanese Navy had run a wargame, and when they didn't like the outcome, they changed the parameters to their liking.
When the actual battle began, things unfolded exactly as the original simulation had predicted—or rather, with even worse results.
'Now that they've learned how important intelligence is, everyone should have come to their senses.'
Above all, the Battle of Midway highlighted the importance of intelligence. Perhaps because of this, many commanders had begun to focus more on intelligence than on the operations themselves.
Knowing the enemy and knowing oneself leads to victory in a hundred battles; this knowledge provided a huge boost to the Northern Region, where the difficulty of duty was exceptionally high.
'They're throwing away their own initiative. If they don't snap out of it, the tide will turn before long.'
Marquis Mathews clicked his tongue as he watched the Battle of Stalingrad, where hell was becoming a reality.
He didn't know why Hitler was being so stubborn, but he had a strong feeling it was because of pride.
Hadn't he lost the Battle of Moscow because he'd turned his eyes elsewhere when he could have won?
It seemed like a similar process was unfolding here. And in that process, corpses would pile up like mountains.
'Rommel... sigh.'
After the Red Army chapters, he had read the "Giant" segments, and his eyes had welled with tears—all because of the heartbreaking struggle of Rommel, the man called the Desert Fox.
Rommel was a commander capable enough to maintain the North African front, but Nazi Germany was the problem.
All the supplies were being funneled to the Soviet Union, Italy was incompetent, and the desert weather was miserable.
To make matters worse, the Battle of El Alamein broke out while Rommel was briefly away, leaving him unable to salvage the situation.
'As a commander, you can't defy the high command, but you can't afford to lose the war either.'
While Rommel's own recklessness contributed to the defeat, he wouldn't have had a reason to be reckless if his supplies had been plentiful from the start.
The Nazi German high command was so dysfunctional that they even cheered at the thought that Rommel was finally being taken down a notch.
The problem was that every time they thought that, Rommel would block everything with his uncanny mobile warfare.
'It truly shows the absolute importance of logistics.'
Blood and Iron was so well-crafted it could serve as a textbook. First and foremost, he liked that it established logistics as the fundamental premise.
It clearly demonstrated the consequences of neglecting supplies. In any battle, if logistics failed, it led directly to defeat.
Furthermore, he could accurately gauge the capabilities of the Axis Powers. The Axis couldn't match the Allied Powers' logistics, yet they insisted on creating a two-front war.
No matter the era, a pincer attack from both sides is bound to collapse even the most powerful empire.
Mathews leaned back in his chair after finishing both the Red Army and the Giant chapters.
"So just lay down some damn railroads already. You stingy Emperor..."
He grumbled in a frustrated voice. Ever since the test run of the magical locomotive, he had been actively appealing to the Emperor.
He argued that the Northern Region was so barren that logistics were incredibly difficult, and that a magical locomotive would allow for smooth resupply.
Moreover, Xenon's—that is, Isaac's—brothers were serving in the Navy Knights. It was a point of great concern for Berit.
But the request was rejected. The aftereffects of the Great Depression hadn't fully vanished, and the budget hadn't even been allocated yet.
Interest rates needed to drop for a budget to be granted, but he wondered if he could wait that long.
Knock, knock, knock—
[Marquis Mathews. It is Viscount Kalas. May I enter?]
While Mathews was grumbling, Viscount Kalas—Marshall—knocked and asked for permission.
Mathews straightened his back and gave permission in a deliberately solemn voice.
Creeak—
As soon as permission was granted, Marshall appeared. His bright eyes and thick lips still commanded a strong presence.
Marquis Mathews didn't say a word, asking with his expression alone why he had come.
Marshall read that expression, showed the letter in his hand, and spoke.
"A message from His Imperial Majesty. He asked that it be delivered to you, Marquis."
"What?!"
He had expected it to be something trivial, but this was a matter that made his eyes snap wide open.
Upon hearing Marshall's words, Marquis Mathews jumped up from his seat and hurried toward him.
Hoping it might be related to the magical locomotive, he snatched the letter away. Marshall remained silent the entire time.
"..."
As he read through the letter, Marquis Mathews' expression changed in real-time.
From anticipation to gradual disappointment. Watching him, Marshall could tell it wasn't good news.
"What does it say?"
"...Soccer."
"Pardon?"
"He's telling me to go watch soccer. That ball game that's been popular lately. He says it's to relieve the stress of the Knights... Sigh..."
Marquis Mathews let out a long sigh. The Navy Knights were already enjoying rugby, not soccer.
Yet the reason for telling them to watch soccer was obvious. A plan to make soccer popular.
Still, he couldn't refuse. He didn't know what kind of disadvantage he might face if he didn't go.
When it wasn't a military matter, if the Emperor told you to jump, you had to ask how high.
"You're coming with me."
"Understood. When should we depart?"
"As soon as possible. Oh, by the way, have you read the latest release?"
"Of course I have."
He was fast, as expected. Unlike Marquis Mathews, who was busy with grueling work, Marshall was relatively free.
Also, as everyone knew, he was an ardent fan of Blood and Iron and was currently busy studying artillery.
However, even he had once perceived Blood and Iron as mere 'fantasy.'
'Did he say it was impossible when he saw the Lend-Lease support being given to Britain and the Soviet Union?'
The overwhelming logistics of the United States. He had insisted that even the Lend-Lease Act, which was but a glimpse of that power, was impossible.
He argued that no country could handle the logistics required to decide the fate of two nations.
But the US military had begun to show their overwhelming capabilities during the Guadalcanal campaign.
"Right. Did you feel anything after reading it?"
"I can only think that it's incredible."
"In what way?"
Mathews expected him to say logistics. But his guess was wrong.
"The Soviet army, charging forward with overwhelming firepower, was truly impressive."
"..."
"On the other hand, if you charge without firepower, you'll end up like the Japanese Banzai charge. I learned a lot thanks to that."
Is there not a single normal person around me? Mathews lamented his lot in life.