On March 1, 1943, Operation Bagration and the Sandomierz offensive in Lviv ended in a decisive victory for the Soviet troops. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

In the successive offsets, the Soviet Red Army successfully drove the German Army Group Center out of the territory of the Soviet Union, and the German Army Group North Ukraine was encircled and annihilated by the Soviet Army, and the German troops of the three armies became prisoners of the Soviet Army, causing the Germans to suffer permanent losses of millions of people (killed + number of prisoners).

On the battlefield of Western Ukraine alone, as many as 400,000 German troops and 200,000 Hungarian troops were captured by the Soviets as a result of the surrenders of Paulus and Stupnag. The rest of the German army, in the face of the superior Soviet army in strength and equipment, was completely vulnerable, and finally after Moder committed suicide with his gun, he also announced his surrender, and only a few diehards fought the Soviet army desperately, and finally died in a foreign land.

However, the Soviets did not regain all the lost territory from the Germans, and there were still 200,000 German troops stubbornly holding on to the Courland region and Saaremaa Island in Latvia, relying on the local terrain to form a strong defensive line.

Historically, the German army entrenched in Courland was trapped in October 1944 and did not surrender until the fall of Berlin, and it was not until May 10, 1945, the day after the German government announced its surrender, that Courland's 200,000 German troops announced their surrender, and the last Nazi German army was disbanded.

From this point of view, the German army entrenched in the Courland area is indeed a hard bone. They had a stubborn will to fight, relying on the terrain and a solid defensive line to stubbornly hold on, and were completely able to withstand the repeated attacks of 300,000 or 400,000 Soviet troops.

Fortunately, Courland was not without its shortcomings, and although it was easy to defend, it did not have many resources in itself, had no economic value, did not produce much food, and had to rely on the sea for all supplies. If the Soviets were able to cut off the supply lines of the German army in Courland by sea, perhaps the Germans would have surrendered early.

And in this world, the strength of the Soviet Navy is far stronger than in history, and there are Soviet-class battleships that can compete in the world in terms of firepower and protection, and no German ship is its opponent.

However, the number of submarines in the German Navy was very unrealistic, and more than a thousand submarines were built throughout World War II. If the Soviet Union sent its navy over, it would be easy to be attacked by German submarines, knowing that submarines can sink battleships, and if the Soviet battleship is accidentally sunk, it will be a loss.

Despite this, the Soviet Navy dispatched a fleet of submarines, destroyers, cruisers, and battleships to blockade the waters around Courland and cut off the supply routes of the Kurland army by sea.

Although the presence of the Kurland army was a headache for Stalin, he did not set his sights on this one-third of an acre. His goal was not only to recover the territory of the Soviet Union, but also to use the war to occupy and liberate Central and Southeastern Europe, and to make most of Europe the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union.

At that time, the Soviet army had fully recovered the territory of Ukraine and Belarus, the First Belorussian Front had already advanced to the banks of the Vistula River, approaching Warsaw, the capital of Poland, and the First Ukrainian Front had advanced to the borders of Hungary and Slovakia, preparing to invade the territory of the two Axis powers.

Not to be outdone, the Belorussian Third Front had recovered all of Lithuania and approached Königsberg, an important town in eastern Germany, and the Romanian First and Second Romanian Fronts had begun to assemble on the borders of Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, respectively, in preparation for an offensive against Bulgaria and Yugoslavia.

Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and Germany in East Prussia were about to become the Soviets' possession, and a series of defeats deprived the Axis forces of the ability to launch a large-scale counteroffensive, but this did not mean that they could not hold on to their existing territory.

In Manturov's view, with the current national strength and military science and technology of the Soviet Union, it is not very difficult to bring the whole of Central and Southeast Europe into the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union; as long as sufficient troops and a sufficient number of aircraft, artillery, and tanks are dispatched, the entire Central and Southeast Europe, and even Western and Southern Europe can be pushed flat.

But the problem is that the entire Soviet leadership, including Stalin, Molotov, Manturov, etc., did not want the Soviet Union to pay too many casualties in this war, nor did they want to get a region full of ruins, devastated and of no economic value.

They wanted the Soviet Red Army to get a region with less damage, an industrial and technological base, and economic value with as few casualties as possible.

However, no matter how this battle is fought, casualties will be paid, and no matter how it is fought, it will destroy the buildings along the way, destroy the factories along the way, destroy the local industrial base, and no matter how it is fought, it will make a region lose its original economic value, so it is not advisable to rely on war alone and military conquest alone to achieve these goals.

So what should I do?

The best way at the moment is to support the communist forces and pro-Soviet and anti-fascist forces within the Axis countries to launch an uprising or coup d'état to overthrow the fascist regime.

This would not only prevent the Soviet Red Army from paying too many casualties, but also achieve the goal of expanding the sphere of influence, and at the same time get more allies, so why not?

As things stand, Germany, Hungary, and Poland do not have the conditions to allow the pro-Soviet forces to revolt and seize power, because the communist forces in these countries have little to gain popular support and do not have the weapons, supplies, and revolutionary fighters necessary to start an uprising.

What about the other Axis powers or the Axis occupation areas? In fact, they more or less possessed the conditions sufficient for the pro-Soviet/communist forces to revolt and seize power.

Historically, there have been three Axis powers that have had communist uprisings, including Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovakia, and four countries with communist armed forces, including Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia, and Vichy France.

In this world, the situation in these countries is not much different from the historical trajectory that Manturov is familiar with, but with the early victory of the Soviet army and the early defeat of the German army, the pro-Soviet and communist forces in some countries have gained the confidence to resist the fascist forces, and have unconsciously grown stronger.

The communist parties in Bulgaria and Slovakia, having even taken control of some of the troops, began to prepare for an uprising to seize power and overthrow the fascist regime.

The communist guerrillas in Yugoslavia, Greece and Italy had also grown to a considerable size, ready to launch a large-scale counteroffensive against the local fascist army and overthrow the local fascist rule when the Soviet Red Army arrived.