"Our strategic goals on the Eastern Front?" Hoffman laughed at the base camp meeting and said, "There just isn't a goal!" ”

Looking at the confused expressions of the participants, Hoffman smiled even more: "Of course this is a lie to you!" In fact, my goal is very clear, or the goal at this stage has changed significantly compared to the beginning of 'Barbarossa', I am no longer obsessed with the gains and losses of one city and one place, but take a more long-term view - the war against the Soviet Union is a long-term war, and victory is not achieved by capturing a city or defeating a character, I don't know if you have watched "Total War" recently? ”

Several of the close generals nodded their heads one by one to indicate that they had re-read it, but by looking at their bewildered expressions, Hoffman knew that they had not read it to heart.

"If you understand Total War, you will be able to understand what I am going to say next." Hoffman began to brainwash his men, "Will the capture of Moscow force the Russians to surrender?" Obviously not, they will retreat further, even to the east of the Ural Mountains to continue their resistance. Will the elimination of Stalin force the Russians to surrender? Apparently even more so, without this leader, the Bolsheviks could immediately elect a dozen leaders to lead the war. Will the occupation of the enemy's vital resources and industrial zones force the Russians to surrender? It seems that it can be, but you should not forget that there are Americans who are giving them blood transfusions, and a steady stream of supplies and equipment is being sent from the American continent to the Russians, and we have eliminated one tank and one tank, and maybe the Americans can build two planes. There is only one thing that the Americans can't and can't give to the Russians, and the Russians themselves can't produce by leaps and bounds, you know what? ”

"What is it?" Everyone is thinking.

"It's people! More precisely. It is a man of appropriate age who is able to serve. Hoffman pulled out a stack of forms. This is a table of population data that he asked his secretaries to collect and collate. The data shows:

In June 1941, the population of Russia was about 1. 800 million, the population of the German nation is about 0. 800 million, the ratio of friend to foe 2. 25：1； Excluding the population of the three Baltic states, Ukraine, and the lands currently occupied, the population of Russia is estimated at 1. 3.5 billion, the ratio of friend to foe is about 1. 7：1。 According to demographic data, the total number of men aged 18-35 years of service age is about 15-17% of the total population, regardless of other factors such as disability, intelligence, disease, etc. According to the upper limit, it is estimated that Russia's overall mobilizable force is about 23 million, and at the same time, it can add 1.5 million new service population every year, and Germany's overall mobilized force is 13.6 million, with an annual increase of 900,000 service population.

"After more than a year of war in 1941-1942, we eliminated 5 million Russian troops, and our own losses were about 1.2 million. Based on comprehensive calculations, the current potential mobilization capacity of friend or foe is about 19.5 million to 13.4 million. What do you think would happen if we wiped out about 4 million of Stalin's troops a year for the next three years, while keeping our own losses to about 1 million? Hoffman pointed to the projections at the end of the table, "By 1945, Russia's potential total mobilization force would be less than 12 million." Our potential total mobilization is about 13 million, even if the Russians can extend the age of service to 45. The number of people who can mobilize will not be much higher. ”

The two Chiefs of the General Staff, Field Marshal Keitel and Admiral Zeitzler, stood in astonishment, they could not imagine that the war would have to be fought for so long and that so many people would have to die in Germany. The terrible prospect of 3 million dead and wounded and 12 million Russians wiped out in the next three years made their fragile little hearts unbearable, and they always felt that the Führer had gone mad.

"Gentlemen, don't stare at me like that, I'm talking about a theoretical state, and it can't be so." Hoffmann reassured the two that Germany had more than 3 million dead in the next three years, but no one believed him now. He could only comfort the two frightened men: "Factories need to be worked, farms need to be cultivated, domestic order and government institutions need to be maintained, and although there are a large number of women involved in the work to replace the men's jobs, these potential mobilizations are probably only about half at most." It is impossible to have sufficient supplies and equipment to accommodate such a large force, and it is really necessary to have 20 million troops Stalin conquered the world long ago. ”

The two chiefs of staff's faces turned pale and finally looked better, and Keitel spoke: "Führer, this conclusion of yours has taken us by surprise, and I never thought that the prospects of war could be analyzed in this way. ”

"Actually, it's not so scary, if you really wipe out Stalin's 4 million troops every year, let alone 3 or 2 years, he won't be able to hold it - new troops are constantly formed and constantly eliminated by us, and combat effectiveness and cohesion can never be cultivated, and then the quality of the service population is declining more and more, morale is getting lower and lower, and in the end, he obediently comes and surrenders without fighting the enemy." At the end of World War II, the Soviet Union was born between 1915 and 1925 in the best age of men, and the survival rate was very low.

"It's true." Zeitzler nodded, "These were the case with many of the Russian soldiers we captured in the summer campaign, compared to the beginning of the war, their will to fight and combat effectiveness declined rapidly, they did not receive the necessary training at all, and whether they were criminals or mentally ill, they were stuffed with rifles by the political commissar to resist our attack, these farmers who had just learned to hold a gun had no combat effectiveness. ”

"This conclusion has been confirmed in the last war...... "In the last war we had more people than either England or France but less than the two combined, and in the four years of war we had an unequal ratio of exchange between the enemy and us, and we achieved a rate of casualties far exceeding the enemy, both relative and in absolute numbers." The empire itself has not been invaded much and is almost intact, while the north of France has been scorched by us, and its population has lost more than 10% of the total population - this is why Britain and France did not dare to do anything to us before 1939, although their troops, equipment, and resources seem to be larger, but their people are scared, and 20 years ago adult men died too much, and these are exactly the mainstream of society 20 years later. ”

Others do not think this is true, and according to the Führer's own theory, it should not be Germany's turn to surrender in World War I...... The theory of population war, everyone thinks it's good to listen to it.

Seeing the disapproving look below, Hoffman had to raise his voice: "Our weakness lies in resources, if we hadn't run out of resources in the later stage of World War I and were stabbed in the back by the Jews, as long as we fought for another 4 years according to the original war loss ratio, who do you think would not be able to hold on?" The first one is definitely not us! In fact, in 1917 the Russians could not hold out because of their higher proportion of casualties, and at a time Russia was far from exhausted with support from Britain and France. In the final analysis, "Total War" is clearly written: War is a contest of the overall national strength of both sides. National strength is composed of two aspects, one is the material factor, including economic capacity and resources; The second is the human factor. The second factor had to be worked on against the Russians, so a new approach had to be pursued in the war against the Soviet Union. ”

"New policy?" There have been rumors that Stalin is trying to sue for peace, I wonder if the Führer is tempted?

Zeitzler stabbed Marshal Keitel beside him, whispered a few words in his ear, suggesting that he asked this question, the latter shook his head and said that he didn't want to touch the Führer's moldy head, and put on a posture of "I want to ask you to ask, I won't be scolded", but he couldn't stand Zeitzler's repeated persuasion and a group of colleagues in the base camp to pay attention to it, and he himself was also concerned about this issue, so his attitude was a little shaken.

Hoffman saw their little movement and asked in displeasure, "Keitel, are you guys listening to me?" What are you still discussing in private? ”

Seeing that the Führer was unhappy, Keitel could only stand up and stammered the topic.

"Peace?" Hoffman's face pulled down, and his voice rose an octave, "Is that what you think?" Or whose idea is it? ”

Everyone only felt that the atmosphere of the venue was frozen.

"No, no!" Keitel cried and mourned, his head drooped, he felt the cold sweat oozing out of his back, he knew that he would definitely be scolded for asking about this, he hated that his position was not firm enough, if he insisted on it for a while just now, he would have regarded the persuasion of these people as if he had not heard it, but now he could only reluctantly explain, "Because we have adopted a policy of contraction and rest on the Eastern Front, many senior generals, especially the group army group generals, are very concerned about this, they cannot directly listen to the instructions of the Führer, and at the same time there are all kinds of rumors spreading, They all hope that there will be further clear instructions. I myself am a firm advocate of fighting the Bolsheviks to the end! ”

"It's not impossible to talk about peace, some time ago the Ministry of Foreign Affairs conveyed the meaning of the Bulgarian Tsar Boris III, saying that the Russians have the idea of peace, and asked me if I could talk to them, and I said that you can go and listen to their opinions." To everyone's surprise, the Führer did not become angry, but calmly said this, "In the end, there is always peace in war, and this is especially true of wars between great powers, and the French have not negotiated peace with us, and the conditions we have given them are much more generous than the conditions that the French gave us at the beginning." I never thought of Germany occupying or dominating the whole world, it was not a fantasy but arrogance, and we should fight for a suitable living space for the German nation. But the idea of peace was easy, but the terms of peace with the Russians were difficult. ”

The crowd was in a state of confusion, could it be true, as rumored that the Führer had had secret contacts with Stalin? (To be continued.) )