In February 1944, at a time when the United States was mired in a fierce internal political struggle, the Soviet Union was struggling to launch a counterattack in the Caspian direction. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

According to the original plan, the main offensive force of the Central Asian Special Front should arrive at the intended offensive site in early February, but due to the rugged roads, bad weather, and untimely supply of materials, the large force has been advancing slowly, and Chernyakhovsky carefully dispatched 3 cavalry divisions, 3 tank brigades and 2 mechanized corps to form a 100,000-strong assault force to accelerate the advance, even so, this offensive force did not fully arrive in place until February 11, and the troops that received them were still faltering behind. The offensive campaign was forced to drag on and on.

This not only frustrated Zhukov in Tashkent, but also Stalin in Moscow, who had already regarded this counterattack as the last straw for the Soviet Union to achieve a decent peace, and had high expectations. Zhukov was not only anxious for fear that the long nights and dreams would attract the attention of the German army, but was also worried that there would not be enough time for follow-up operations, while Stalin was worried about the unfavorable situation he would face after the winter had passed--if he lost the Central Asian Front, he would no longer be able to draw any mobile forces, unless he gave up one of the two important towns of Moscow and Stalingrad, which he could never agree to.

Under the urging of telegrams one after another, the offensive cluster accelerated its advance despite fatigue and shortage of materials, and the non-combat losses of the most elite offensive spearhead were as high as nearly 10,000, and the non-combat losses of the subsequent 300,000 other troops also exceeded 20,000. It is equivalent to the loss of more than 30,000 troops before the start of the war, and the number of animals killed and damaged tanks or other heavy equipment along the way is also very large.

Chuikov, who was guarding the exit of the basin, was also having a hard time, and Schellner's troops often launched air raids and short assaults on his line, suppressing the line with absolute firepower, and at first he thought that the Germans were killing themselves, and how much ammunition and fuel would be consumed for such a fierce offensive? Even if the Germans were prepared in the early stage, it could not last too long, but then the German attack intensity remained high, although his troops could barely hold the defensive line, but in fact, they were all piled up with human lives, coupled with the bad climate outside the basin, he had more than 40,000 casualties in less than a month, and Zhukov had to add another army to him from behind to stabilize the situation.

They never imagined that Scherna's supplies and supplies were not only on the Caspian Sea line, but also on the transportation line in Iran. The southern flank of the German army had a total of three sea supply lines, one was from Italy through the Mediterranean Sea to the Dardanelles Strait to land in the Black Sea, and sent to the Caucasus, which was the main trunk line, which greatly reduced the pressure on land transportation and enabled the railway network to replenish more supplies to Army Group Center; The other is to take the Mediterranean Sea all the way to the landing in Haifa on the east coast, and then take the railway to Iraq and Iran -- this line is actually the main force of Middle Eastern oil to be exported to Europe before the pipeline is completed; The final route is the Suez Canal around the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf to Bandar Abbas, Iran, where it is transported to northern Iran via the Iranian Inland Railway - in the opposite direction of the Persian Gulf oil exports. The third line was originally the route taken by the United States to aid the Soviet Union, and now it is all in the hands of the Axis.

Although the surface road from Iran to Central Asia was not ideal, it was easier to use airlift: the Soviets had no air force at all, and the road was unimpeded, and the Luftwaffe fighter units over the basin ensured the smooth flow of supplies.

Schellner, who is shrunk in the Fergana Basin, is not worried about the fuel problem at all, because the facilities of the Iranian Abadan refinery have been basically restored to the pre-war refining capacity - 4 million tons per year, not to mention that his small Central Asian army group is basically enough to supply 2-3 army groups in the south, and it is true that the production capacity of the Abadan refinery not only replenishes fuel for the German army on the southern flank, but also occasionally takes into account the direction of the Indian Ocean, and the four German Marine brigades in India all use oil produced in Iran, Even Yamashita's Indian troops often bought oil directly from Germany -- why didn't they sell a lot of gold and Indian minerals, but they were big financiers.

Therefore, there is a very interesting phenomenon in the Persian Gulf-Mediterranean route, the heavy oil of the Axis material fleet is all replenished in Iran, usually filled with oil in Iran to go to Europe to receive goods, and then go to Iran to replenish after the return of full cargo; The heavy oil left in the Italian direction is basically supplied to warships, and now the Italians no longer have to live on 200,000 tons/month of fuel, and Germany has not only increased the supply to 500,000 tons/month, but also given Italy a lot of coal resources, ensuring that the Italian navy, navy, and even the small Mediterranean Air Force are enough. Mussolini and the navy were very satisfied with this, which is why they made a big move to continuously send warships to fight with the Germans.

In order to strengthen the oil output in the Middle East and also to consolidate the relationship with the Middle East allies and European allies, the German Petroleum Fund took the lead in the construction of three petrochemical bases in the Middle East: the first is the expansion project of the Abbas refinery, which is ready to increase the processing capacity to 10 million tons/year, and reach 15 million tons/year in the long term; The second is the Iraqi oil refining base, which is located in the newly annexed Kuwait area, with a planned annual plan of 5 million tons in the first phase, 10 million tons in the medium term, and 20 million tons in the long term; The third is the petrochemical base of the United Arab Emirates, under the mediation of Germany, the emirs of Bahrain, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Dubai, Ras Al Khaimah, Ajman, Fujairah, and um Al Quwain met in Dubai, and agreed to establish the United Arab Emirates and accept German protection, the military and security are the responsibility of the German garrison, the foreign policy is coordinated with Germany, the internal affairs are autonomous by the sheikhs (confederation), and the Protectorate of Aden (Yemen) also adopts similar arrangements. This petrochemical base is similar in size to the Iraqi base.

In order to prevent the emergence of extremist forces, Hoffmann and the top of the two protectorates carried out a series of detailed measures: including secularization as much as possible on the basis of respect for the power of the church, the introduction of the Reichsmark (the future unified currency of the European Union) in the economy, the sending of children of the nobility and elite to study in Germany, and the efforts to ensure the stability of the chieftains' regimes.

The countries of the Middle East are very satisfied with the arrangements for the construction of petrochemical bases proposed by Germany, and everyone knows that the profits from selling crude oil and selling refined oil are not at the same level at all; in the past, the British did not want to build an oil refinery except for the Abadan refinery, and now the Germans are doing this with the intention of pulling everyone to make a fortune together. The proportion of shares in the petrochemical bases in Iraq and Iran is one-third of the shares of the two Iraqi countries and two-thirds of the oil fund, and it is clearly stipulated that all technology, facilities, and construction projects belong to the oil fund, and the two Iraq are only responsible for providing a little land, oil exploitation area and labor, waiting to take over the ready-made factory area; The shareholding arrangement between the two Protectorates was one quarter of the Protectorate, two thirds of the Petroleum Fund, and the difference in proceeds was used to pay for the German garrison.

As a result, the oil fund market is rising, although there is no public stock issuance and listing, but the industry believes that if the IPO is issued now, the multiple will not be less than 25 times! All the German military and political circles and industrial and commercial circles who received the original shares were smiling, and the capitalists of the major European countries also got a piece of the pie. As far as the huge volume of the three petrochemical bases is concerned, it is impossible for Germany alone to take it, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and other countries have good production capacity of complete sets of equipment, and Germany sent a large part of the order to them; As for Spain, Portugal, and Italy, which have less industrial capacity, Germany also has arrangements. This was originally the interests of Britain and the United States, but now it has become a European one, and even if Germany takes the lion's share, the rest of Europe will still benefit a lot -- how can there still be a lot of unemployment in Europe now?

Ribbentrop used this as a bait in his negotiations with Edward VIII, declaring that the sooner Britain changed its flag, the more benefits would be shared between the oil fund and the European integration process, and if the war was completely lost and occupied by Germany, then it would not be such a good thing.

In addition to the three major oil bases that have been identified, Speer also considers planning three other bases: one in the Kingdom of Najd (Saudi Arabia), Saudi Arabia because it is the last in the Middle East countries to be soft, so it has been hit the hardest, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and even the United Arab Emirates, Aden in the early stage with the acquiescence or even connivance of Germany to seize a large area of land from Saudi Arabia, anyway, everyone is from a nomadic background, anyone can be "since ancient times" hat, and in the subsequent conflict, Germany is on the other side of the opposition to Saudi Arabia, All sides have nothing to fear - you have the ability to do the German armored division! Finally forced the Saudi coup d'état to form the kingdom of Najd, after the coup d'état Najd kingdom territory is less than 70% of Saudi Arabia, if it is not for the rush to tie up with Germany and declare to accept German protection, the surrounding countries can swallow the whole of Saudi Arabia, and now they are ready to arrange a base for Najd, and there is also the intention of easing relations and engaging in Huairou.

The second is to be placed in North Sudan, where oil was also discovered after it was annexed by Egypt, and the Egyptians are eager to try it; The third is in Libya, where Italy is a less reliable teammate, but Libya is so close to Europe, a natural fuel supply base, and Germany has an agreement with Italy on crude oil output, so it is embarrassing not to take advantage of it.

In addition to the oil base, Hoffman also proposed to build a network of railways in the Middle East to bring Middle Eastern countries closer to Europe. These measures were proposed and strengthened as part of Hoffmann's post-war arrangement, which used German force to ensure the centripetal force of the Middle East countries towards Germany, and then used the Middle East oil supply and control capabilities to ensure the obedience of the European countries to the EU system -- with a big stick in one hand and a carrot in the other.

The two regional powers, Iraq and Iran, have also done their best to cooperate, sending supplies and supplies to the Ferghana Basin along with their air forces, armed with Ju-52s that Germany has half-sent and half-sold to them. Although Aunt Juncker's performance has lagged behind, she still exerts her residual heat in Central Asia, which is not a threat.

This is where Schellner has always had the confidence to fight firepower offensives and short assaults.