"The Russian army has occupied Baku!"

"Oh, yes, did they get the oil they wanted?" After listening to Keitel's report, Hoffman casually asked, "If it is not enough, it implies that they went to Turkey to grab a little ......"

"Führer!" Keitel and Zeitzler looked at each other, not knowing what to say about this sentence. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

"What, you're scared?"

"I'm afraid or not, the key is that if the Russians control the passes of the Caucasus, it will be more troublesome for us to take it back, and we will have to pay a great price."

"Really?" Hoffman smiled, "The price of control in the hands of the Turks is smaller?" ”

It is not difficult to pinch the hands of the Turks militarily, but politically it is difficult, and it is necessary to take it back unless it turns its face, but now Germany is vigorously promoting the construction of the European Union, and the face still has to be maintained, but it is different to take it back after the Russians occupy it, and it is logical.

"But the Russians still acted very much beyond our expectations, we thought they would keep pestering the Turks, but we didn't expect to pounce on the Caucasus so quickly." Zeitzler said, "Although our strength in this area is not weak, and the troop establishment and materials are relatively complete, we cannot take it lightly, in case the Russian army on the southern flank cooperates with the operation, the whole will break out into an unprecedented fierce battle." ”

"It's good to have a fight...... Haven't you been complaining that you can't find the Russian heavy army? Isn't it delivered to your door now? Hoffman stood up and looked at the map carefully, "You can't always expect the enemy to appear where we expect him to be, and you have to be prepared for surprise." To tell the truth, the Russians didn't retreat after grabbing supplies from the Caspian Sea, and I think they worked hard. For such motivated opponents, we should be more tolerant and encouraged. ”

"What do you mean?"

"This is probably the last time the Russians will go on the offensive." Hoffman almost said the "Ardennes counterattack", but he suppressed it, "So I made unprecedented determination and used unprecedented troops, if I guessed correctly, this time the commander is still Zhukov." ”

"Yes, you guessed it right, the intelligence shows that it was indeed Zhukov who led the team, and the second-class generals under him were Chernyakhovsky, Malinovsky and Chuikov, the first to lead troops in the Transcaucasia to find the Turks' bad luck, and the second to dispatch on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea; The third with troops blocked the Fergana Basin, and Zhukov himself suppressed bandits in Central Asia......"

"Bandits?" Hoffman snapped and almost laughed, "He actually picked the most difficult job." ”

The other two could not laugh, they did not understand why the Führer said that "suppressing bandits" was the most difficult job? Zhukov also has hundreds of thousands of regular troops in his hands, and he is not ready to deal with the guerrillas?

"You're still ignoring the power of the guerrillas?" Hoffman shook his head and said, "How many people did the Italians die in the guerrilla war in Serbia?" I don't think they died less than they did on the Eastern Front, so why can't Tito be caught until now? If Greece had not been lined up with large orders, which reduced the resistance and economic pressure of the Greeks, the communist guerrillas would have been rampant! ”

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was originally a whole, but after the German occupation, it was divided internally, Croatia (including Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Slovenia became independent and accepted German protection, Macedonia was occupied by Bulgaria for a large part, and Germany "protected" it by force, and took back more territory from Bulgaria - although Hoffman understood Bulgaria's refusal to join the war against the Soviet Union, he would not distribute too much spoils to such allies, Bulgaria was dissatisfied at first, but as Germany became stronger and stronger on the battlefield, Naturally, this sentiment has also vanished.

The Macedonians were very grateful for Germany's arrangement, especially in the face of the two powerful enemies of Greece and Bulgaria, without the support of Germany, the country could not survive a day, so it was Germany's most hardcore little brother in southeastern Europe. Most of the remaining Serbia in the former Yugoslav territory was originally occupied by Germany, and a small part was occupied by Italy - Albania was occupied by Italy at this time, and when the German army marched towards Belgrade, Italy also took advantage of the fire and plundered and occupied part of Serbian territory from Albania.

When Hoffman came to power, he knew the strength of the Serbian partisans and Tito, and the deep-seated contradictions between the Serbs and Austria-Hungary during the First World War (the German part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was now all German territory), and believed that Germany could not annex them or take full control of them, and that the Muslim population near Kosovo was cut off from Albania. Under the pretext of adjusting relations with Italy, he gave the Italians control of Serbia (Germany enjoyed arbitrary access and some economic privileges), withdrew the troops concerned, and ceded some territory to Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, etc., in other words, creating a situation in which Serbia had enmity with all its neighbors.

Mussolini didn't know how deep the pit was, and he rushed to control Serbia, but he didn't expect this to be the beginning of a nightmare for the Italians, and the endless guerrillas were active throughout the country, and Italy deployed the troops drawn back from the Eastern Front battlefield and the domestic front-line army in Serbia, using all heavy weapons, including Tiger tanks, and using all the counter-guerrilla warfare tricks that could be used, even then it was difficult to suppress Tito. Keitel, Zeitzler and others thought that the Italians were not good, but Hoffmann did not think so. Historically, Italy's level of anti-guerrilla warfare was not bad, and it was even stronger than the German army, which had a rigid and rigid mechanism, Serbia and Tito were really hard bones, and the top priority was to build a quarantine zone and a firewall, and Italy would let him waste a little if he was willing to waste energy, so that the Italian army would have nothing to do and go to Africa for nothing.

As for the gagged Chuikov, Hofmann, who knew very well that he had performed in the Battle of Stalingrad in history, certainly did not dare to despise it, and it was extremely dangerous to underestimate the willpower and combat effectiveness of such a master who quietly fought from 100,000 to hundreds of people.

"The Turks have sent continuous telegrams asking for help from our troops, and I intend to throw in the troops that Marshal Manstein had deployed on the west bank of the Caspian Sea......," Zeitzler said, "and the other main forces are already making full preparations, and the SS Panzer Army, the strategic reserve under Field Marshal Guderian, will complete operational preparations in late March, and it will not be a problem to eat this part of the Russian army." ”

"You still have to be open-minded, you can't block us wherever the Russians fight, such a hard-hitting strategy is too rigid, and you must be flexible." Hoffman walked to the map and said, "Why do you have to push the Russians back in Transcaucasia?" If they do not allow them to occupy all of Transcaucasia, how can we successfully recover it? ”

Now Keitel and Zeitzler finally understood: the Führer thinks that the Russians are not ruthless enough to fight Turkey, and he is not satisfied, and the Führer is also black enough!

"How many days will it take for the Caspian Sea to thaw?"

"About ten days."

Hoffman swiped his finger on the map and asked, "Let as many Russians in as you can, and then send troops to attack the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea first, cut off the supply routes and retreats of the Russian army in the Transcaucasia, and lock them all here." If this heavy army group can be locked in, not to mention the Transcaucasia, it doesn't matter if the Caucasus Mountains or even the South Caucasus allow the Russians to occupy a little more - the important thing is to drive the Russians out of the hard turtle shells and destroy the opponent in a field battle on the vast Caucasus plain! ”

"In this way, it is possible that the three Russian fronts of the southern front will be connected in a line and attack at the same time." "Field Marshal Manstein spoke about this idea, but I insisted that it would be the least expensive and less effort involved to extinguish the Russian army now. ”

"Let them come, after this battle, the war on the Eastern Front will basically come to an end, if Stalin still has a little self-knowledge, he will obediently go to Asia, otherwise at the turn of summer and autumn, we will fight the Caucasus battle and then take the Ural Mountains Industrial Zone, he wants to seek a unified ending will not be possible!" Hoffman thought for a moment and added, "Send a telegram to Schellner and ask him to increase the offensive against Chuikov's troops and put pressure on Zhukov." ”

At the very moment when Hoffman was giving Keitel and others a face-to-face lecture, a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU was discussing the proposal sent back by Zhukov. Although the war is generally going smoothly at present, after taking Baku, the Red Army's front has swept across Azerbaijan and taken advantage of the situation to advance towards Georgia and Armenia, and the Turkish army has retreated again and again, some to the country, and some to the Caucasus passes, Zhukov's proposal to make peace regardless of victory or defeat still makes everyone's mood heavy.

No one dared to speak first, and it was not good to rush for or against, especially since the risk of preemptively expressing his position before Comrade Stalin had clearly expressed his attitude was very high, and after a long silence, the veteran Molotov cleared his throat and decided to say a few words, otherwise it would not be a matter for this large group of people to sit still.

"What do you say about Comrade Zhukov's proposal? It still embodies the spirit of seeking truth from facts and the sober mind of a Bolshevik party member. "Personally, I believe that we should consider political and military issues in a joint manner, fully understand the protracted, complicated, and arduous nature of our struggle against the German fascists and Menshevik bandits, and we must always persist in the struggle against them, not for one or two years, or even for ten or eight years." The situation of struggle can adopt a variety of means according to the objective situation, and the current large-scale offensive is one kind, resolute defense is also another, and the same is true of retreating and counterattacking in great strides. As for a temporary truce, I think it is also possible to consider a counteroffensive by waiting for a more favorable moment.

Imperialism has developed to a stage of decay, and in particular, it is difficult to maintain the extreme system of fascism, which has reached its peak, and we should be good at preserving the flame of revolution and wait for the internal contradictions of the enemy to intensify before sweeping again...... Therefore, I initially agree with Comrade Zhukov's idea, but after the fight, how to talk and what conditions to discuss will still be discussed by the Politburo, especially Comrade Stalin, who will control the overall situation......"

PS: In the last 2 days, there is a risk that the monthly pass will be overtaken, so I ask for great assistance......