Germany is using strategic reserves of oil, and much more than it has historically demanded for industrial raw materials, such as oil. This is the inevitable result of the expansion of domestic production capacity and the increase in the degree of modernization of the armed forces. Tanks, automobiles, airplanes, warships, and submarines are all large users of oil, and the amount of these equipment is several times more than in the same period in another time and space.

"The coal-to-oil project is expanding, and in addition to providing some less good quality crude oil, it can also supply the production of napalm. Another general in charge of logistics told Accardo: "Bio-refined oil is also replacing some industrial oils, and we are trying to improve our energy environment." ”

Accardo looked at the whole picture of the Third Reich behind Rundstedt, and asked slowly: "So, what is the return on our oil investment in Libya?"

"My Führer, the infrastructure environment in Libya is really poor, and the current production capacity of oil extraction cannot meet the demand at all, and we can only use the oil there to supplement Marshal Rommel's military operation in Egypt. ”

After all, Libya is Italy's traditional sphere of influence, and part of the oil produced there is owned by Italy and needs to be transported back to Italy to supplement the navy, and the other part of the oil supplies are all transported to Rommel, because if you want to accumulate an attack on the Middle East, you need a lot of oil supplies.

The oil development in the Middle East has progressed very quickly because it is in peacetime and has the joint investment of several superpowers in the world, and it has become one of the world's major oil-producing areas in just a few years. Libya, the smuggling of Germany and Italy, was only built and exploited after the war, so a year later, the oil production capacity still does not meet the expectations of both sides.

Although the oil field relieved the pressure on North African transportation, saved the German army a lot of consumption, and gave a few British submarines hunting in the Mediterranean without a lot of prey, it still could not meet the growing demand for German oil. As for the North Sea oil fields, Accardo is now starving to death in a treasure mountain, knowing that there is oil there, but it can't extract it.

As a person from the future, Accardo knows what Germany's weakness as an industrial country is, he knows that Germany lacks tanks and other equipment in the war, and he knows that Germany ultimately missed many opportunities due to oil shortages at the end of the story.

That's why he has done so much effort to integrate Germany's industrial production capacity, and will use his own way to change Germany's industrial design methods, so that Germany has given birth to a lot of weapons and equipment that are easy to produce and have excellent quality. But this innovation also plunged Germany into a vicious circle.

The German army's tanks and other heavy weapons and equipment were too advanced in performance, resulting in fewer losses in battle, coupled with excellent performance and low failure rate, these heavy weapons and equipment survived in large numbers in the cruel battlefield environment, so that the number of German tanks surged.

In fact, due to the early and efficient design and compatibility considerations in Germany, the waste caused by the lack of clarity in the development process is almost zero. Take the weapons of the German armored forces as an example: most of the No. 2 tanks that were first arranged in Germany have been given to the Allies or converted into self-propelled anti-tank guns, and the improved chassis of the No. 2 tank, which is still being produced in small quantities, is mainly used by paratroopers as combat vehicles.

The No. 3 tank has also been discontinued, but its chassis has been produced as a carrier for self-propelled guns and assault guns, and there are even signs of expansion, and the Leopard tank has also been the backbone of the German armored forces because of its successful design, and its chassis has been improved into a large number of armored vehicles, including self-propelled guns and assault guns.

As the fist of the German armored forces, the Tiger tank surpassed the world's tanks and became an invincible superweapon in the hands of the German army. It can be seen that Germany has never wasted production capacity since the production of the first tank, and what it produces is useful.

In addition, since the No. 3 tank, German tanks have been known for their low failure rate and excellent reliability, so along the way, German tanks have rarely been scrapped except for those destroyed by the enemy, so the number of front-line tanks can be described as terrifying.

With such a large number of tanks, Accardo's troops were invincible, and finally they did not have to worry about being drowned in the terrible sea of Soviet tanks. But the most direct cost of this is that the consumption of oil resources is also terrifying.

Accardo did not work hard, he threw out the Middle East oil in peacetime, the big killer, and single-handedly promoted the exploitation of oil resources in the Middle East. Because of this, he secretly accumulated a large amount of crude oil reserves, which were once as high as 5 million tons, so that his oil accumulation plan was quite supported by the generals of the Wehrmacht at that time.

The subsequent blitzkrieg against Poland and the fierce battle against France both won incredible victories, and Germany's oil reserves rose instead of falling, reaching the most exaggerated 11 million tons in history. France's quick defeat allowed the Germans to harvest not only foreign exchange reserves such as gold, but also a large number of industrial facilities, as well as unimaginable strategic resources.

Relying on these strategic resources, the Battle of the English Channel was successfully fought, Germany's strategic plan to invade Britain was implemented, and Germany completed the construction of the "ultimate Atlantic barrier", which eliminated the possibility of fighting on two fronts, and completely completed the strategy of the Western Front in Europe.

However, from the beginning of the war in England, Germany's oil reserves began to go downhill to make ends meet. Slowly, but still thrilling: the British left the Germans with few strategic supplies, and the Germans' crude oil reserves fell to 10 million tons after the defeat of the British.

At this time, in order to improve the living standards of the people, Germany carried out a series of internal economic revitalization reforms, Accardo as the head of state promised to let every family have their own car, Germany will begin to popularize high-end luxury electrical equipment such as televisions in 40 years. This has allowed Germany's civilian industry to develop on a large scale, and it has also brought domestic oil consumption to a new level.

By the end of 1938, Germany's crude oil reserves had fallen to 8 million tons, and the Wehrmacht units stationed in France and Germany began to reduce their strategic fuel reserves, and in early 1939, the Navy had to join the sequence of "tightening their belts to get by", and the voyages of the aircraft carrier fleet were reduced to twice a year.

Because the war was going on so fast, there was no return on oil investment in Syria, and Rommel's Middle East strategy was forced to come to a standstill because of the bloody battle on the Eastern Front. Due to the growth and development of domestic industrial capacity, German crude oil has almost declined to a worrying point.

It is true that the total amount of crude oil reserves is now nearly 3 million tons more than when the war began, but the scale of the German army and the area under German rule have expanded several times or even more than ten times, and the industrial production capacity is more than five times larger than before.

"Field Marshal Brauchitsch. Accardo was a little anxious when he thought about these things about energy, he looked at the nominal boss of the army, and asked: "If Vlasov is given some restrictions and let him form a new Ukrainian army group to fill the southern front, will it be effective?"

Brauchitsch was stunned for a moment, then frowned and thought about it, and finally he opened his mouth with some hesitation and answered Führer Accardo's question: "My Führer, this will indeed alleviate some of the problems, but ...... But how much can be alleviated, I and the General Staff will have to evaluate before we can give results. ”

"The plan is to go in two parts!" Accardo made up his mind, then stood up and walked to Rundstedt's side, pointed to the map and said: "Let the three new armies N, O, and P each draw some troops out, and hand them all over to Quchelel! Let his N army first form a combat force and pull directly to the southern front to ensure that the battle in the Caucasus can be successfully concluded, as long as we seize the oil-producing areas of the Caucasus, we can improve the current passive situation." ”

Then he turned back to Rundstedt and said: "Marshal Rundstedt, the attack on the central region has completely stopped after the capture of Smolensk, and the next point is to seize the Caucasus, which is a compromise that must be made for the sake of oil." ”

The more Accardo spoke, the more irritated he became, and he was the only one in the room who knew what he was talking about and what it meant. He was repeating Hitler's order to abandon the plan to attack Moscow and the whole army turned south -- to fight an "economic war."

There are still differences, Hitler's southward campaign did not have the scale of Accardo's current scale, and the strategic goal of fighting for the Caucasus oil fields was not as certain as Accardo is now, and what is more reassuring is that Accardo's current war situation is much better than that of Hitler.

It is precisely because of this that Accardo dared to fight, and if he had followed the exact same path as Hitler, now he was thinking about begging for peace. Another thing that made him feel that he had the capital to gamble once was because of the time he had spent in the Caucasus in the spring and summer, which was much more abundant than in the time and space in which the Germans had in their hands.

"Generals, the victory is here!" said Accardo, pointing to the map: "Take the Caucasus!

"Whoa!" all the generals present stood up and saluted: "Yes!