Hitler's foolish refusal to let the Germans retreat in Russia in time caused heavy casualties and weapons losses, which made many commanders lose their fighting spirit and made the situation in 1942 65438+ 10 and February almost out of control. Nevertheless, Hitler's crazy determination to fight to the death undoubtedly helped to resist the surging Soviet army. The brave and tenacious traditional spirit of German soldiers also played a role.
The Russian attack on the front lines from the Baltic Sea in the north and the Black Sea in the south had passed by February 20th. At the end of March, it was the muddy season again, and the long front with rivers of blood was relatively silent. Both sides are exhausted. 1942 On March 30th, a German report revealed how heavy the losses were in this winter battle. Of all the 162 combat divisions on the Eastern Front, only 8 divisions still have attack capability. 16 armored division, only 140 tanks are available-less than the normal number of 1 division.
When the troops rested, Hitler, now the supreme commander of the armed forces and commander-in-chief of the army, was already busy making plans for the summer offensive. In fact, it was much earlier. As early as winter, when the troops were still retreating in the heavy snow, he did so. These plans are not as ambitious as last year. Now he is beginning to understand that it is impossible to wipe out all the forces of the Red Army in one battle. This summer, he will concentrate most of his troops on the southern line, find out the Caucasus oil field, Donitz basin industrial zone and Kuban wheat producing area, and win Stalingrad on the Volga River. Taking these places can achieve several important purposes: on the one hand, it deprives the Soviet Union of the oil, a lot of food and industry that it urgently needs to continue the war, and on the other hand, it gives Germany almost the same urgently needed oil and food sources. When Hitler was about to launch the summer offensive, he said to the hapless commander of the Sixth Army, General Paulos, "If I can't get oil from Mekop and Grozny, then I must end this war." Stalin probably said something similar. In order to persist in the war, he must also maintain the oil fields in the Caucasus. This is why Stalingrad has become so important. When Germany occupied Stalingrad, it could block the last main route to transport oil to central Russia through the Black Sea and Volga River, if the Caucasus oil fields were still in the hands of the Russians.
Hitler not only needed oil to run planes, tanks and trucks, but also needed people to supplement his dwindling army. At the end of the winter battle, the total number of casualties was 1 167835, excluding the sick, and the reserve soldiers were not enough to make up for such losses. The high command asked Germany's allies-more precisely, servant countries-to send more troops. As early as winter, Marshal keitel rushed to Budapest and Bucharest to recruit Hungarian and Romanian troops for the summer offensive. Goering, and finally even Hitler himself, asked Mussolini to provide the Italian army. 1942 65438+1At the end of October, Goering arrived in Rome and incorporated the Italian reinforcements [9 10] into the Russian front. He assured Mussolini that 1942 could defeat the Soviet Union and 1943 could make Britain lay down its weapons. Ciano found the imperial marshal full of fat and decorated with medals on his chest unbearable. He wrote in his diary on February 2 nd: "This man is still so cocky and full of air." Two days later, he wrote:
Goering leaves Rome today. We ate at the Exercio Hotel. While we were eating, Goering kept silent and only talked about his jewels. He really wears some beautiful rings on his hand ... On the way to the train station, he wears a big mink coat, which looks like 1906 bus drivers and high-class prostitutes going to the opera.
The number two of the Third Reich has fallen for a long time.
Mussolini told Goering that he would send two Italian divisions to Russia in March as long as Germany gave artillery. But he was very worried about the failure of his allies on the Eastern Front, so Hitler thought it necessary to hold a meeting at this time to show how powerful Germany still had military power.
The meeting was held in Salzburg on April 29th and 30th. Mussolini, Chano and their entourage were settled in a baroque Claysham Palace, which was once the Forbidden City for princes and bishops, but now it has been decorated with curtains, furniture and carpets brought from France. The Italian Foreign Minister speculated that the Germans probably got these things at "little cost". Chano saw that the Fuehrer looked tired. He wrote in his diary, "The life in Russia in those months last winter left a clear mark on him. I found that he had a lot of white hair for the first time."
During the talks, as usual, the German side gave an estimate of the overall situation. Ribbentrop and Hitler assured the two Italian guests that everything was going well in Russia, North Africa, the western front and the high seas. They revealed that the upcoming offensive on the Eastern Front is aimed at Caucasus oil fields.
Once Russia's oil resources are exhausted [ribbentrop said], Russia will kneel down and surrender. Then Britain ... will also yield to save the remnants of the broken British empire. ...
America is full of boasting. ...
Chano listened patiently to his opponent's speech. But he got the impression: [9 1 1] No matter what action the United States finally takes, Germany is the one who really bragged. In fact, when they think about it, "they feel half cold."
As usual, the most talked about is the German head of state.
Hitler kept talking, talking and talking (Chano wrote in his diary). Mussolini was in pain-he was used to defending himself, but now he had to keep silent. After lunch the next day, after talking about everything, Hitler continued to speak 1 hour for 40 minutes. War and peace, religion and philosophy, and art and history, all the problems have faded, and they are really missing.
Mussolini couldn't help looking at his watch ... Germans, poor Germans, had to listen to Hitler patiently every day. I can assure you that they remember every gesture, every sentence and every pause when he spoke. After some efforts to restrain himself, General Jodl finally fell asleep on the sofa. Keitel also dozed off, but he finally didn't lower his head. He was too close to Hitler. ...
Although Hitler spent a lot of words, or because of his words, Mussolini finally agreed to provide more Italian cannon fodder to the Russian front. Hitler and keitel gained a lot from various servant countries. According to the statistics of the German Supreme Command, there will be 52 divisions in the Allied Forces fighting in summer-27 in Romania, 9 in Hungary 13, 9 in Italy, 2 in Slovakia, and 0 in Spain 1. These 52 divisions account for about 1/4 of the total strength of the Eastern Axis countries. In the south of the front line where the German attack is concentrated, 4 1 division will be reinforced. Half of them, 2 1 division, are Hungarian troops [10 division], Italian troops [6 divisions] and Romanian troops [5 divisions]. Hald and most other generals disapprove of pinning most of their hopes on so many "foreign" divisions. They think that the combat quality of these troops is unreliable at best. However, due to their own shortage of manpower, they had to accept these reinforcements. This decision soon led to the coming disaster.
At first, in the summer of 1942, the shaft was still very popular. A sensational victory had been achieved on the battlefield in North Africa before the battle to attack the Caucasus and Stalingrad began.
1942 On May 27th, General Rommel resumed his attack in the desert area. "He led the famous African army [with two armored divisions and 1 motorized infantry divisions] and eight Italian divisions [in which 1 division was armored], defeated the British desert troops in lightning speed and fled back to a place not far from the Egyptian border. On June 2 1 day, he captured the bloody sand on the British defense line. 194 1 year, the British army stayed here for nine months until Germany retreated. Two days later, he entered Egypt. At the end of June, we arrived in Alaman, 65 miles from Alexandria and the Nile Delta. Many politicians in the Allies were shocked. They repeatedly studied the map and thought it was almost impossible to stop Rommel from giving Britain a fatal blow: conquering Egypt, then advancing northeast with reinforcements, sweeping the big oil fields in the Middle East, and then joining forces with the German troops stationed in Russia in the Caucasus. At this time, the Germans in Russia have begun to advance from the north to the Caucasus.
This is one of the darkest moments of the allied forces in the war, and relatively speaking, it is also one of the brightest moments of the Axis countries. But as mentioned earlier, Hitler knew nothing about global strategy. He doesn't know how to make use of Rommel's amazing achievements in Africa. He gave the heroic leader of the African army a marshal's scepter, but did not send him materials and reinforcements. "Due to the repeated urging of Lei Deer, Admiral of the fleet and Rommel, on June 194 1, 1 and 65438+2, Rommel's troops were completely expelled from cyrenaica Province and retreated to Agra, the western border of the province. However, in June of 1942, Rommel made a comeback with his usual flexibility. After 17 days of rapid fighting, we recovered half of our lost land and returned to Jiacaila. At the end of May 1942, a new offensive was launched from Jialela.
Taylor reluctantly agreed to send African troops and a small amount of air force to Libya first. He did this only to prevent the Italian army in North Africa from breaking up, not because he foresaw the importance of conquering Egypt. The key to the German conquest of Egypt actually lies in malta island. This island is located in the middle of the Mediterranean, between Sicily and the Axis base in Libya. British bombers, submarines and surface ships set out from this British military fortress to attack German and Italian ships carrying supplies and troops to North Africa. 194 1 August, about 35% of the supplies and reinforcements to Rommel were buried at the bottom of the sea; 10 months, the figure reached 63%. 165438+1October 9, Chano wrote sadly in his diary: Since September of 19, we gave up the plan to transport materials and personnel to Libya; Every attempt paid a high price ... Tonight we tried again, and seven ships set out, escorted by two 10,000-ton cruisers and 10 destroyers ... All our ships-I said all of them-sank ... The British buried our ships and returned to their port [in Malta].
The Germans had no time to release several submarines from the Atlantic battlefield to the Mediterranean, and added several squadron planes to Marshal Kesselring for the use of Sicily base. The Germans decided to paralyze malta island and, if possible, destroy the British fleet in the eastern Mediterranean. This decision received immediate results. 194 1 At the end of the year, Britain lost three warships, the aircraft carrier 1, two cruisers, several destroyers and submarines, and the remaining ships were driven back to Egypt. Within a few weeks, Malta was bombed day and night by [9 13] planes flying to Germany. This enabled the supplies of the Axis countries to be shipped out smoothly-1without losing a ship-and Rommel was able to regroup and March into Egypt on a large scale. In March, Lei Deer and Admiral of the fleet persuaded Hitler to approve Rommel's plan to attack the Nile ["Ayida Plan"], and at the same time approved the plan to occupy Malta with paratroopers ["Hercules Plan"]. The attack from Libya will begin at the end of May, and the attack on Malta is scheduled for mid-July. But on June 15, when Rommel achieved initial success, Hitler postponed his plan to attack Malta. He explained to Lei Deer that this was because troops and planes could not be transferred from the Russian front. A week or two later, he postponed the Hercules project again, saying that he might as well wait until the summer offensive on the Eastern Front was over and Rommel conquered Egypt. He instructed that in the meantime, Malta could be paralyzed by continuous bombing.
But Malta was not conquered. Germany will pay a high price for failing to paralyze Malta and take it down. On June 16, a huge British convoy sailed for the besieged island. Despite the loss of several warships and transport ships, this operation restored Malta's role as a base. The spitfire fighter on the American aircraft carrier Hornet flew to Malta, and soon German bombers could no longer bomb the island. Rommel suffered greatly. His supply ship sank three quarters.
Rommel had only 13 battle tanks in Alaman. In his diary on July 3, he wrote: "Our troops have been exhausted day by day." At this time, the pyramid is almost in sight. Looking further away, it is the great trophy of Egypt and Suez Canal! Hitler lost another great opportunity and the last godsend opportunity brought to him by the war.