The military strength expressed by Soviet Russia still exceeded Heldon's estimate.

Before the war, due to the impact of the great economic crisis that swept the world, a large amount of American investment, especially all kinds of idle equipment, was sold cheaply to Soviet Russia, which greatly accelerated the industrialization process that began in Soviet Russia in the early thirties. Since 1928, Soviet Russia, with the help of the United States, Britain and France, has established a complete industrial system on a grand scale in the Urals.

In fact, before the outbreak of the war, with its abundant natural resources, Soviet Russia's total industrial output was basically equal to that of Austria-Hungary, with an annual output of 15.8 million tons of steel, 150 million tons of coal, 50 billion kWh of electricity, and 660,000 metalworking machine tools. Before the war, Soviet Russia had far surpassed Britain and France in industrial capacity, becoming the world's third largest steel producer (Austria-Hungary produced 12.9 million tons of steel in 1939 and had 720,000 machine tools).

Although Soviet Russia has been greatly weakened after World War I compared to the imperial Russian era, losing 40 percent of its population and more than 7 million square kilometers of territory, it still has 120 million people and nearly 15 million square kilometers of land. Despite losing the oil fields of the Caucasus and the coal and iron of the Donets region, with the development of minerals in the Urals, Siberia and Central Asia, Soviet Russia still has sufficient industrial raw materials and an annual crude oil production of 43 million tons (this figure is far more than the 7.5 million tons of crude oil produced by Austria-Hungary per year, while Germany has almost no oil).

In terms of human resources, Russia had 120 million people, Germany had 75 million, and Austria-Hungary had 73 million, which was a slight advantage compared to the German and Austrian empires, but Russia was able to mobilize half of the country's 21 million male citizens aged 20-39 into the army. Germany was unable to do this, as Germany now had a total strength of 3.8 million men, including 720,000 in the navy and 3.1 million in the army, with about 200 divisions. The Austro-Hungarian mobilization was even worse, with a total strength of only 3.2 million men. Among them, the navy and marines have 930,000 people, and the total strength of the army is only more than 2.2 million, with 150 divisions.

The Red Empire was in fact a huge warplane, and its military strength was far beyond people's imagination.

In this world, due to the formation of the US-Japan-Soviet alliance, there were no obstacles to the import of machinery and raw materials from the United States. In fact, after the outbreak of the war, more than 10,000 aircraft, 120,000 tons of aluminum, and 200,000 machine tools were transported to Soviet Russia along the Trans-Siberian Railway or the ports of the White Sea. The Russians had enough gold reserves, which was the main reason why the Americans were more willing to come to their aid.

Before the war. With about 12,000 tanks and a comparable number of armored vehicles, about 20,000 combat aircraft of various types, and about 55,000 artillery pieces, the Soviet army far surpassed the size of other countries in the world, including the German Empire and Austria-Hungary. Germany had about 3,600 tanks before the war, while Austria-Hungary had only 2,200, and the two countries had 5,200 and 3,800 aircraft before the war.

This is also one of the main reasons why the Red Empire dared to start this war.

The "Red Tsar" had always wanted to restore the territory and sphere of influence of the Russian era, but the existence of Germany and Austria was the biggest obstacle. This is also the enemy that Britain and France have to face. The French have always been bitter about the loss of Alsace, especially Lorraine, and regarded the defeat of the First World War as a great humiliation. Many people have a strong desire for revenge. The British, who wanted to restore their former dominance in Europe, were also trying to bring down Germany and Austria.

The British envisioned that the Germans and Austrians would first fight to the exhaustion of the Russians and the French, and then the British would reap the fruits of victory at the end, as they had in World War I.

But as the times progressed, the course of the war was far beyond their expectations. So now, the British are also almost finished. Germany and Austria did not fight the Russians with all their might, but used their main forces against France, and the Ukrainians, Caucasians and the Baltic states became a barrier between Germany and Austria, and the Russian Red Army has not been able to conquer these places until now.

With the temporary end of the British service. The focus of the campaign was on the naval and air side of the battle, and the German-Austrian armies were finally able to slowly mobilize their forces to the east, and the Russians were now dangerous.

The sea breeze blows from the Black Sea with the salty and wet smell of the students, and the weather has become warmer. There was a lot of rain this spring, and it almost didn't stop. The sky was gloomy, and for most Kalmyks and Cossacks, the port of Novorositok, on the Black Sea coast, was a strange city, and the air was filled with a terrestrial, unsettling smell of a foreign land.

The Soviets have already attacked the upper Kuban River, and a large number of fleeing Cossack and Kalmyk civilians have poured into the city, crowded at the docks, waiting to flee from the land that is already burning with war. German or Austrian warships were stationed in the harbor, and several patrol boats flying the flag of the Don Army patrolled the sea.

"We will defend our motherland to the death, and all male citizens under the age of 45 must stay and join the army!" The guards responsible for maintaining order at the wharf were verifying, confirming and registering the identities of the refugees, and the patrol cars on the wharf were repeatedly broadcasting the latest orders of the Government of the Don republic.

"Oh, so many Kalmyks?" Captain Prokhov walked over, stared at the crowd with the Mongol three-eared fur hats on their heads, and said to Captain Mishkov, who was on duty at the dock.

"Maybe they can't stand the reign of the Red Terror either!" Mishkov sighed and said that it was now known how many Cossack villages had been destroyed by the war.

"We still have to give out precious food to help these infidels, damn it, they should be put to face the enslavement of the Soviet power." Prokhov said, "How many transports are coming today?" ”

"This batch is 18 ships, and there may be 21 more ships coming ashore in the afternoon." Mishkov said, pointing to the distant cargo terminal, where the long arms of a dozen tower cranes were swinging back and forth in the harbor, and the dock was filled with military supplies painted in yellow and green camouflage: tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, military trucks and piles of bullets and shells, as well as oil drums, provisions, clothing and tents.

"This should be the Austro-Hungarian 27th Panzer Division, which has just been transferred from North Africa, and the command has their unloading plan." Prokhov noticed that the turrets of those tanks were very different from those of both German and Soviet tanks, and that they were similar in appearance to the British "Covenanter" tanks, except that the turrets looked larger. The tanks were also painted in earthy desert paint, and it was clear that they had just been transferred here from the battlefields of Africa or the Middle East.

"It looks like a big war is really going to break out, in recent times, in Novorositok alone, four armored divisions have gone ashore, I heard that there are more armored units arriving in Rostov, this is good, the counterattack is about to begin, so many tanks, but enough for the Red Army to drink a good pot." Mishkov said with a smile, "The Germans and Austrians have sent a million troops, probably all the way to the Volga!" ”

"Oh my God, an army of millions!" Prokhov's face twitched involuntarily. (To be continued......) R1292