The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 1335: Chapter 966: High Stakes Bet Chapter 1335: Chapter 966: High Stakes Bet At the end of 1938 to the beginning of 1939, it was arguably the most torturous period for the German Army.

The external resource supply was cut off and the transportation system in Russia Nation was essentially paralyzed. These two debuffs drastically reduced the combat effectiveness of the German Army.

It is to be noted that most of the elite units of the German Army had already perished on the battlefield.

Currently, the main force of the German Army in terms of combat capability was not so exaggerated; it did not have a significant advantage over the main forces of other Nations.

Especially when facing the tenacious Russian army and the powerful Australasia Army, the German Army rather struggled.

Although the Russian army often suffered several times more casualties than the Germans, they were indeed the force the Germans least wanted to face, aside from the Australasia Army.

Ordinary Militaries facing nearly half of their members as casualties would have their fighting will gradually eroded and their morale disbanded.

But the Russian army seemed to possess some kind of magic; even if the actual casualties exceeded half of their strength, the Russian Soldier still would not be affected, even charging faster and firmer than before.

By now, the Russian army at the Stalingrad battlefield had suffered at least 4 million casualties, while the Germans had less than two million.

Logically, the German Army should have held the advantage.

But apart from the initial phase of the war when the German Army held the advantage, most stages of the campaign were tough and back and forth between the German Army and the Russian army.

Especially after the arrival of Winter, the Russian army fought even more fiercely, seemingly unaffected by any shortages in logistics.

On the side of the German Army, it was primarily relying on superior equipment to barely capture most of Stalingrad.

After logistical problems arose, the German Army’s offensive suddenly stalled.

This not only gave the Russian army in Stalingrad a breather but also an opportunity to continue strengthening their positions.

For the Russian army, Stalingrad was no longer a simple Urban City; the city buildings were no longer just buildings but fortresses and positions they could rely on.

For each building the German Army conquered, the cost was several Soldiers wounded or killed.

Though it might not seem much, with an unknown number of buildings in Stalingrad, if each building required so many casualties to secure, then Stalingrad would only be a graveyard for German soldiers.

To swiftly resolve the current troubles faced by the German Army, the German High Command held a meeting to discuss breakthrough strategies for Stalingrad.

Ultimately, the German General Staff decided to focus the attack on the northern part of Salara at Stalingrad.

By crossing the river from there, they could directly maneuver to the rear of Stalingrad and disrupt the Russians’ supply lines to the city.

But Salara was not so easy to breach. Positioned similarly along the Volga River, across the river stood two other cities also named after famous figures.

It can be said that this was a reluctant choice for the German Army. Without better methods to break through Stalingrad, the German Army could only choose every possible strategy to completely capture Stalingrad.

Many German generals understood that if the German Army could not win the Stalingrad campaign, then they could not win this war either.

After all, at this time, Germany was not simply up against Russia Nation in a one-on-one duel. The Germans also had to face pressure from Britain-France-Australia to the west and north.

If they couldn’t defeat Russia Nation soon, how could Germany allocate forces to support Western Europe?

On January 17th, 1939, a large number of German armored forces began to assemble northward at Salara.

To avoid drawing the attention of the Russians, the German Army chose to assemble in Mikhailovka to the northwest and quietly moved along the railway line to Salara.

The reason for not choosing to go north along the river was that there were many Russian forces stationed along both sides of the Volga River.

If the Russians accidentally discovered their tracks, the plan to encircle Stalingrad from Salara would have to be declared a failure.

To facilitate this large-scale encirclement, the German government gathered a large amount of military supplies and consumables to meet all the needs of the frontline troops.

Even to assemble these supplies, the German government reduced some of the supplies distributed to the People, including sugar, fresh beef and mutton, and dairy products, even oranges produced in Italy had disappeared from the Germans’ tables.

The frontline German soldiers enjoyed a hearty meal, sipped a few hard-earned sips of spirit, and then resolutely set out on the road to battle.

According to intelligence from Germany Mainland, although the defensive forces at Salara were not few, they were comparatively weaker than those around Stalingrad.

And because of its deep geographical location, there were no military airfields near Salara, which meant that the Russian forces near Salara had no Air Force support.

As long as they were not discovered by the Russians before action, a successful raid could likely quickly breach Salara’s defenses and forcibly cross the river from nearby shorelines.

The one responsible for executing the raid on Salara was still the Commander of the second armor group, Manstein. Known as a representative figure of blitzkrieg, Manstein had demonstrated his exceptional talents in similar missions several times before.