Chapter 96
Chapter 96
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: The Conditions of the Superman (1)
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Stalingrad's defeat brought a catastrophe upon the German army.
Combining the 380,000 Axis troops that were directly annihilated in the Stalingrad encirclement with the casualties from the two months of brutal urban warfare and the forces encircled and destroyed nearby, the Axis losses approached one million.
The Soviet losses were no less severe, but the Union had strategic reserves sufficient to make up for them.
The balance on the Eastern Front tipped decisively toward the Soviets in one fell swoop.
“Advance! Keep advancing!”
The Soviets poured nearly three million troops into the 250 km gap ripped open by the annihilation of German forces.
“How the hell are we supposed to stop that many Ivans?”
The Germans had no way to halt the massive horde surging westward like a tidal wave.
In this situation, Mussolini was begging for support, and divisions were being demanded for coastal defenses in France.
At that moment, the fate of the German Reich could have ended.
Once again, it was Stalin who gave Germany a chance.
The General Secretary, buoyed by victory, issued reckless orders to the Red Army.
“Reach the Dnieper River by spring. If you hesitate and the fascists secure half of Ukraine, how much of a headache will that be?”
The Soviet generals, scarred by the purges, dared not defy Stalin's commands.
The Soviets kept pushing their exhausted armies westward nonstop for hundreds of kilometers.
Even with countless German units holding out behind them, threatening supply lines, they ignored every risk.
Of course, the pressure on the German side was beyond imagination.
When Soviet forces approached within 20 km of the Führer Headquarters in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, even Hitler could no longer be stubborn.
The Führer finally admitted that trying to control everything would mean losing everything.
“I'll give the general full authority. Do as you see fit.”
Hitler then fled to East Prussia.
With full authority from Hitler, Erich von Manstein was finally free of the Führer's constraints and could execute his operations as planned.
“Launch the counterattack.”
Just then, the spring rasputitsa had the Soviets stuck, unable to move after deeply penetrating the German lines.
Manstein spearheaded the counterattack with the full might of the Luftwaffe.
“The army might be struggling, but the Luftwaffe still rules the skies!”
For the entire month of March, the Germans hammered Soviet supply lines and trucks with air power, then switched to the offensive in April, pushing the Soviets back.
The iron dictator Stalin was stunned by the turn of events.
“What? Does this make any sense?”
By division count alone, it was 180 versus 60.
The Germans were overwhelmingly outnumbered, but with precise air support and efficient force management, they reversed the power balance and succeeded in their counterattack.
By May, the Germans had annihilated 30 Soviet divisions and rebuilt the collapsed front line.
It was nothing short of a miraculous victory.
The Germans caught their breath with this win, but the strategic situation remained unfavorable.
Even after the massive losses in spring, the Eastern Front's force ratio still favored the Soviets.
Western Front, Italy, and the Balkans kept demanding more troops.
Germany was truly in a bind.
Without action, the dam would burst, but the stones to plug the holes had to come from the least damaged sections of the dam.
‘If we keep patching things up like this, we'll really go down without a fight.’
The Junkers watching the war situation knew it was time to act.
They had to make peace with the West immediately and focus on the East, or Germany would be crushed under the red tide.
First, they had to eliminate Hitler.
“Let's finish Hitler with a bomb first.”
“A bomb? That's a bit unreliable.”
The conspirators were wary of using a bomb.
It was because of the failed bomb attempt in Korea's reverse coup.
“What if we put a bomb on the plane he's flying in?”
“No, half-measures like that won't cut it.”
Hans Oster insisted on deploying an assassination squad if it had to be done.
“An assassination squad.”
That did seem feasible.
Admiral Canaris, the Abwehr chief among the conspirators with the best intel on Hitler's movements, shared what he knew.
“Hitler is planning an inspection of the Eastern Front soon. He'll show up by October at the latest.”
“Then, around the time you mentioned, we lure him to a secluded spot and take him out with a handpicked unit.”
“What about Operation Valkyrie?”
“We launch that at the same time.”
Blame it all on the SS.
Killing Hitler and activating Valkyrie gave them a fighting chance.
General Beck, the senior-most conspirator, spoke quietly.
“Then we need to line up people for the interim government beforehand. The army should prepare to seize control of each field command, and General Fellgiebel?”
“Yes, Field Marshal.”
“The moment Hitler is eliminated, communications must be ours alone.”
“Of course.”
“See you next week, then.”
The conspirators discussed the Hitler elimination plot once more, then scattered into the darkness.
Hitler didn't know about the Junkers' conspiracy, but he felt the gravity of the situation deep in his bones.
He had abandoned the idea of a single decisive victory.
The Soviet enemy was far too vast to be felled in one blow.
Instead, he aimed for limited offensives with sharp strikes to whittle down Soviet strength.
‘If I can quiet the Soviets, I'll have breathing room. Sink the Allied landings in Western Europe once with that force, and the West will beg for peace. Then concentrate everything on the East for final victory.’
Hitler hadn't given up on victory yet.
Realistically, it was an impossible dream.
But he couldn't endure without dreaming it.
“All I can trust is this offensive.”
The Führer repeated to himself many times.
This faith existed in parts of the German military too.
“The Führer's judgment hasn't always been right, but this offensive decision is.”
Chief of Staff Kurt Zeitzler strongly supported the attack.
Of course, most of the military viewed preemptive strikes against the Soviets with suspicion.
‘With troops already draining to the Balkans, Italy, and Western Europe, why launch an offensive now?’
If it worked, they could cut off the Soviet salient, shorten the line, and weaken the enemy.
But things rarely went as planned.
There was no guarantee the Soviets would sit still.
“Our army's new tanks will solve everything.”
Zeitzler trusted the power of the newly produced Panther main battle tanks and Tiger heavy tanks.
With Germany's superior armored forces backing it, victory was possible, in his view.
Generals like Heinz Guderian disagreed.
“How do you know the new tanks won't have defects? Betting everything on them?”
Even the Luftwaffe couldn't guarantee the same level of powerful support as before.
With the Western Front opening across Europe, much of the German air force was already diverted to homeland air defense.
That number would only grow, not shrink.
The days of the Luftwaffe dominating the skies and pounding the Soviets were gone.
There were more concerns.
German infantry was critically short.
Added to the massive attrition around Stalingrad, they fought desperate battles even in spring.
Most German divisions were understrength as a result.
Even these weakened divisions were being sent to Yugoslavia, Italy, and France, leaving even fewer available than in spring.
In light of this, generals like Manstein argued:
“If we're attacking, better do it now while we still have some strength left.”
Hitler opposed.
“Armor is insufficient, so postpone until Panthers and Tigers arrive.”
Truth be told, Hitler himself was uneasy about the offensive.
Failure here would make him no better than Duce after the Egypt debacle—it was only a matter of time.
‘I am not like Mussolini. I am different from that loser.’
Hitler tried to convince himself.
Suddenly, someone came to mind.
It was Yi Seong-jun.
The vulgar, ill-mannered leader of an inferior race who knew no etiquette.
Why think of him now?
Hitler bit his lip.
On reflection, that man had never failed once.
Victorious in every war, always on the winning side.
How was that possible?
Hitler wondered if perhaps that inferior race's leader was a chosen Übermensch, then shook his head.
No, that couldn't be.
A crass, low-class human like that, an Übermensch?
Absurd.
That's why Hitler had to win.
He had to prove he was better than that filthy yellow monkey.
‘I am the true Übermensch. I am the truly chosen one.’
Hitler burned with resolve toward Korea's dictator Yi Seong-jun, far away in the distant East.