Chapter 37: D-Day (19)

On June 27, 1944, the Armistice Agreement between the Axis and the Soviet Union Republic was formally signed in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 The treaty was signed on one side by the foreign ministers of the Axis countries that declared war on the Soviet Union, and on the other side by Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov.

After Operation Barbarossa began, many countries declared war on the Soviet Union, including Romania, Hungary, Finland, Slovakia, the three Baltic states, Turkey, Iran, and even Slovenia, Croatia, Iraq, and other countries, which could not be defeated.

And this was not all the armed forces fighting against the Soviet Union: the French Volunteers, the Spanish Lancers, the Belgian Dutch SS, the American SS, and so on all fought on the Eastern Front, and at most a total of 21 countries fought against the Soviet Union under various names. Bulgaria, which has always been the little brother of the Axis, has never declared war on the Soviet Union under the pretext that the Slavs do not fight the Slavs, has maintained neutrality, and has always mediated between the Soviet Union and Germany.

Field Marshal Hult was the most prominent among the generals of the Eastern Front, commanding the troops of 14 countries in the army group he belonged to, and was known as the commander of the 14-nation coalition forces, and he was able to win battles not only with German troops, but also with troops from Italy, Romania, Slovakia, and other countries, and won high praise.

The country that has made the greatest contributions and sacrifices in the war against the Soviet Union is none other than Germany. In three years, Germany maintained about 5 million troops on the Eastern Front for a long time, concentrated 75% of the main force of the army and 65% of the main force of the air force in the country, and suffered nearly 2 million casualties, and more than 700,000 people were killed in battle alone, which is equivalent to the number of men born in Germany in two years, and it is the place where the greatest sacrifice is made on all fronts.

Other Battles: The Western European Campaign, the Polish Campaign, the African Campaign, and even the Anglo-American Campaigns together were less than half of the losses on the Eastern Front.

Germany also gained the most, not only successfully dismembering the huge system of republics of the Soviet Union and establishing a series of new countries, but also dividing Russia into two parts: East Russia and West Russia.

The Soviets paid a terrible price for this bitter peace, with cumulative losses of more than 14 million troops and more than 35 million people, Germany lost 2 years of male births, and the Soviet Union lost almost 20 years of births. The economy plummeted, and the overall national strength regressed to the 1917 period.

In addition to receiving 300 million tons of oil compensation and a quarter of Baku's production, Germany also took a stake in the main mining areas and industrial complexes of West Russia -- this was not because of the forcible robbery of Vlasov, but because Germany repaired these mining or industrial areas destroyed by the Red Army, the repair costs were offset against the shares, otherwise West Russia would never be able to repay the debt.

The only territorial gains were minimal: before the war (1939) he received from Lithuania the German-concentrated region of Memel, and then from Stalin's East Poland - although Hoffmann did not intend to annex East Poland, he announced that he would move all Poles in West Poland to East Poland and establish a Polish protectorate with a population of about 15 million.

Before the war, Poland had a total population of 34 million, but there were only 22 million pure Poles, and the rest included Germans, Jews, Ukrainians, etc., who lost millions of Poles in the war, and then divided part of the territory, and there are about 15 million pure Poles left.

Germany set up the Polish protectorate for a very good reason: West Poland was established using the territory of German East Prussia, Germany took pity on the Poles in World War I and agreed to restore them in East Poland, but Pilsudski later colluded with Britain and France to annex Prussia's homeland, tried his best to build a great Poland, repeatedly opposed Germany, and occupied the Danzig area for a long time to divide German territory, which led to the Polish War.

As a result of this territorial change, Germany's northeastern borders were largely restored to 1918 levels (with a slight increase in some sections compared to 1918) and bordered the protectorates of Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Romania, and Poland.

Germany did not occupy the eastern countries, but also supported their independence, restored the economy and helped to transform the collective farms of the eastern policy of the country is very admirable, although there is a lot of resistance within Germany, but Hoffmann forced to suppress it, from a practical point of view the effect is very good, the eastern countries are determined to follow Germany, the originally very active guerrillas have also faded and disappeared, as for the peasants and military families who have been allocated land, they are even more grateful to Dade, especially like Ukraine and other places, every household hangs the portrait of the head of state, Valuable grain and other agricultural products were provided to Germany.

Only a man like Mussolini muttered an "idiot" because Germany did not occupy territory, did not seek reparations, and he could not make any demands, which made him very unhappy, and felt that it was a loss to send troops to fight in Russia. In the end, Ziano repeatedly mediated, and Vlasov made concessions, promising to provide Italy with 20 million tons of coal in the next 10 years (now Italy has Libyan oil fields, and he feels that there is no shortage of oil, but there is still a shortage of coal) to express his gratitude, and Mussolini agreed to sign.

In terms of territory, Romania has the greatest advantage, not only successfully recovering Bessarabia, which was forcibly taken by Stalin, but also obtaining more than 7,000 square kilometers of land from Ukraine - this is also difficult to say in Ukraine, because this land bordering Bessarabia is full of Ukrainians, Magyars and even Slavs, and the proportion of the Magyar population exceeds 45%, and the Romanians occupied it as soon as the war began, and they also tried every means to move the non-Magyars and the population of other places over, Now three years have passed, and the proportion of the population of Magyars is nearly 55%, even if there is a referendum, there is no fear of a referendum, and the final decision is still settled.

Western Carpathian Ukraine (now Transcarpathia in Ukraine) was part of Czechoslovakia after World War I, declared independence during the dissolution of the Czech Republic, but was then annexed by Hungary and supported by Germany - which is why Hungary is desperate to follow Germany. In addition, unlike later generations, the Crimean Peninsula clearly belonged to Western Russia at this time, and it is thought that Vlasov would not give it to Ukraine with a wave of his hand like Khrushchev.

In addition, Romania and Hungary both took part of their territory from the Polish campaign and the Yugoslav campaign (and a part of the Polish population also flowed into the two countries), which was recognized by Germany, so both countries happily followed Germany into the war. The Italians boasted of paying a lot, but in fact, their contribution on the Eastern Front was not as good as that of Romania and Hungary, and the Romanian army, navy, and air force were all engaged in the war against the Soviet Union, and also provided food and other logistical support for the southern flank, and Hungary did not have a navy, and also took out almost all of the most elite army and air forces to join the Eastern Front operations.

The two countries were very self-aware and thought that it was already a lot cheaper, and since Germany did not get much land and reparations, they did not bother with this and that, and happily signed the treaty. As a reward, Hoffmann asked the High Command to give them some preferential treatment: Romania would receive heavy equipment that could equip 150,000 people, Hungary would have 100,000 men, and when the Eastern Front was completely safe, the German Navy's light and auxiliary ships on the Eastern Front, including 7-8 submarines, would be assigned to Romania; Hungary can get more than 200 aircraft from the Luftwaffe stationed on it, in addition, Hoffmann is also ready to give the Hungarians two production lines such as the T-34 and the Stalker, and the Romanian aviation industry has a little strength and is ready to give them the Ju-88 production line. Both countries are grateful to Dade for this.

As for small countries such as Slovakia, Slovenia, and Croatia, they also received a batch of munitions, and out of gratitude for sending troops to fight against the Soviet Union, Germany sent the remaining armored trains and train guns selected by Japan to these countries, as well as a batch of aircraft. Under the pretext of suppressing the Serbian partisans, Ziano quickly took away 5 armored trains for Italy, plus Western Russia, Ukraine, and the Baltic countries, the original total number of nearly 100 guns and captured Polish and Soviet train guns and armored trains on the eastern front were suddenly divided up.

Lieutenant General Schmunt, the general manager of the Eastern Front, did not care about this, because it would be troublesome for these things to be brought back to Germany, and besides, Germany still had a number of domestic and French-made train guns and armored trains, and except for some of them, which were to be sold in the Middle East in the future, they were waiting to be exported, and Japan and South American countries expressed a certain eagerness.

The country that still has territorial benefits is Iran, and Pahlavi has not only succeeded in getting rid of the control of Britain and the Soviet Union, but has also successfully ceded territory in Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and even Pakistan, and is now a hegemon in the Middle East. Of course, there are reasons for ceding Pakistani territory, firstly, because of religious customs and racial proximity; Second, when Britain was struggling in northwest India, Iran did not embarrass the British according to Germany's instructions, and secretly sold a batch of grain and gasoline, and even returned to the British the British equipment that they had eliminated and the more than 2,000 British prisoners held in Iran.

In order to maintain a tacit understanding with Iran, the British not only tolerated Iran's seizure of more than 5,000 square kilometers of land, but also returned Reza Khan, who was detained in India, to Pahlavi. The old king's health had long since collapsed, but he finally returned to Iran in his lifetime, and it was very gratifying to see that Pahlavi had won independence and started building and expanding the land.

The most lost country is Turkey Undoubtedly, when Turkey sent troops, it was violent, swept the entire Transcaucasia and forcibly occupied Baku, and even grabbed Iranian territory, and finally was caught by the opportunity to Chernyakhovsky, who lost nearly 200,000 people, and also lost the Transcaucasia and Baku that had been in hand, and finally Germany gave a part of the territory of Armenia (less than 1000 square kilometers) and a quarter of Baku's shares as payment, but no country sympathized with Turkey, Even Bulgaria says that Turkey is too greedy - Germany does not occupy land, and you Turkey dare to swallow Transcaucasia in one gulp?