Almost at the same time, news of the Soviet army's victory in Karelia also reached Germany.
When the news came, the Führer was summoning Keitel, Ksnet, Jodel, Vallimont and other senior army generals to discuss the next phase of combat strategy in his Wolf's Lair Palace. In addition, there were also Admiral Canaris, Air Force, etc. Commander-in-chief Goering and others also attended the meeting. Guderian, Manstein, and Rommel were not eligible to attend the meeting at this time.
Since the annexation of Poland in mid-September, the German army has temporarily suspended all military operations.
The reason why the head of state suspended military operations was firstly to digest Poland so as to accumulate more manpower and material resources for the next stage of military offensive, and secondly to observe the international situation, especially to see the reactions of the four countries including Britain, France, the United States and the Soviet Union. , in order to decide the direction of the next phase of operations.
Now, after nearly three months of observation, the international situation has been basically clear.
Today, there are only three military blocs left in Europe, one is the German-Italian Axis Alliance, the second is the British-French military bloc, and the third is the Soviet Union. The remaining countries are all supporting roles, either declaring permanent neutrality like Switzerland, or relying on In a certain camp, apart from these two paths, there is no third path to take.
Among these three major military groups, the most powerful on paper is of course the Anglo-French group. The German-Italian Axis Alliance is slightly stronger than the Soviet Union, but it is also very limited. However, this is only a comparison of strength on paper. In reality, It's not that simple. At least for now, no one can do anything about the three-pronged pattern.
However, the head of state is very clear that if the Germanic nation wants to finally rise, it must cross the Soviet Union and the Anglo-French Alliance. Therefore, both the Soviet Union and the Anglo-French Alliance must eventually be resolved. The only thing that needs to be considered is the sequence. Whether to deal with the Soviet Union first or the Anglo-French bloc first is indeed a question.
This issue has been bothering the head of state for a long time, and now it is time for a final decision.
However, even though the head of state had made a decision in his mind, he still convened a collective discussion with senior generals from the army, navy and air force to prove whether his decision was correct.
The one who was speaking was the Deputy Chief of Operations, General Vallimont.
General Vallimont said loudly: "There must be a war between Germany and the Soviet Union, but the sequence of solving the Soviet Union by force should be put at the end. Before the Soviet Union is finally solved, the threat from Britain and France must first be eliminated."
"I agree!" Chief of General Staff Marshal Keitel said solemnly, "Although the Red Soviet Union has just experienced a wave of purges, and a large number of experienced senior generals were executed. Therefore, the Soviet army's combat effectiveness has also been weakened to a certain extent. But everything has two sides. Stalin strengthened his power through purges and unified the command of the Soviet army, which was a positive factor. The important thing is that the Soviet Union was too vast and had a large population, and its war potential was by no means comparable to that of the British and French groups."
After a pause, Keitel continued: "It is completely conceivable that once Germany and the Soviet Union start a full-scale war, it will be difficult to win in a short time. Once the war reaches a stalemate, Britain and France will never sit back and watch. By then, Germany will It will fall into the dilemma of being attacked from both sides. Although Germany is strong, I am afraid it will not be able to cope with attacks from both directions at the same time."
Hearing this, the head of state nodded subconsciously, thinking that Marshal Keitel's words were really words of wisdom for the country.
After Keitel finished speaking, General Ksnet, deputy chief of staff of the headquarters, added: "On the contrary, if Britain and France are solved militarily first, we have every chance to solve our opponents in a short time. Once Britain and France are solved, We can then gather the manpower and material resources of the entire Europe to launch a final decisive battle with the Soviet Union! The chance of winning will be even greater!"
After Ksnett finished speaking, the entire conference room fell into a long silence, and no one spoke.
The head of state's eyes fell on the face of Admiral Canaris, the admiral of the navy, and asked: "Canaris, if the British and French groups are solved militarily first, is your navy confident in defeating the British Royal Navy?"
Canaris looked bitter and said: "I can only say that the naval officers will fight to the death for the Führer."
When the head of state heard this, his face immediately showed dissatisfaction because Canaris did not give him a definite answer.
At that moment, the head of state turned his attention to Air Marshal Goering and asked: "Goering, do you have confidence in your air force?"
"Of course." Goering was much more confident than Canaris and said calmly, "As long as the head of state gives the order, our air force can completely wipe out the Royal Air Force within a week."
Although he knew that Goering was bragging, the Führer was still very happy.
But after he was happy, the head of state quickly frowned again, because this meeting did not achieve the results he wanted. Through this military meeting, the doubts in his heart were not eliminated, but became more serious. In a word, If the Soviet Union is solved first, the strength of the German Army will be a little insufficient, but if Britain and France are solved first, the German Navy will not be able to handle it!
At this moment, a female secretary walked in with two telegrams and placed them on the head of state's desk.
After the head of state read the telegram, he immediately raised his brows and an idea quickly took shape in his mind.
The head of state then passed the telegram to Keitel. After reading it, Keitel passed the telegram on.
After a while, more than a dozen senior generals attending the meeting had read the telegrams. The two telegrams said two things. One was that the Soviet army had won a great victory in Karelia, and the annexation of Finland was inevitable. The other was that Britain and France The two countries issued statements publicly condemning the Soviet Union's barbaric act of blatant aggression against a sovereign country in disregard of international law.
After all the generals had finished reading the telegram, the head of state said: "Judging from the statements of Britain and France, the Soviet Union's annexation of Finland is inevitable, and with the greedy nature of the Slavs, they will never stop here, and will definitely set their sights on Sweden next." and Norway, and Norway is not only our iron ore base, but also our ally, so we must not sit idly by."
After a pause, the head of state continued: "So, I decided to send a part of the elite army to Sweden to participate in the Soviet-Swiss War in the name of volunteers. It was just a good opportunity to test the Soviet army's combat effectiveness. If the Soviet Army's combat effectiveness is higher than expected, If the Soviet army is weak, then deal with the Soviet Union first. If the Soviet army’s combat effectiveness is as expected or even stronger, deal with Britain and France first!”
"This is indeed a good idea." Keitel nodded and added, "But which troops should be sent?"
The head of state lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then said in a deep voice: "Let the base camp guards go. If Rommel's performance in this battle is still as good as in the German-Polish War, then I will satisfy his wishes and let him take over. Commander of the 7th Armored Division, otherwise let him go back to where he came from and continue to be his principal."
"Okay." Keitel took out his notebook and recorded it carefully.
…
The Soviet army was advancing faster than the Finns imagined.
Finnish President Kallio originally thought that it would take about half a month for the Soviet army to advance to the outskirts of Helsinki. However, only five days had passed, and the leading armored force of the Soviet Red Army had already appeared 20 kilometers east of Helsinki. Of course, By this time Kallio had already fled to Vasa.
And the small town of Vaasa also officially became the temporary capital of Finland.
The Mannerheim Line of Defense was lost, the Finnish Defense Forces were almost wiped out, and the whole of Finland was filled with mourners. Sweden, which is close to Finland, also immediately became nervous. King Gustav V of Sweden did not even want to make superficial remarks and no longer borrowed volunteers. In the name of entering Finland to participate in the war, the Swedish Army was directly sent to Vaasa.
At this juncture, the Swedish royal family also figured it out.
If they cannot help the Finns block the Soviet offensive, and if the Soviet Union is allowed to annex Finland, then the Slavs will definitely target Sweden. Instead of going into full-scale war with the Soviet army on Swedish soil, it is better to take advantage of the opportunity. Now Finland has not yet been destroyed. Join forces with the Finns to fight against the Soviet invasion on Finnish soil.
The Swedish royal family judged that the Soviet Union would never give up when things got better. Not only the Swedish royal family, but also the head of state, Chamberlain, Lebrun and others had the same judgment. They all believed that the Soviet Union would never stop after annexing Finland, but would definitely Pointing the finger at Sweden, which is next to Finland, then, is this really the case
In fact, the Slavs' territorial ambitions were literally ingrained into their bones.
From Peter the Great to Catherine to Stalin, it’s all the same!
Upon learning that the leading armored forces of the Soviet Red Army had advanced to Helsinki, Stalin immediately summoned a group of close aides to hold an emergency meeting. There were two main topics. One was to immediately establish a Finnish puppet government and join the Soviet Union in the name of a union republic. The second was to The first issue is whether to continue to march and occupy Sweden
The Northwest Front advanced to Helsinki in less than a month, which gave Stalin great confidence. It also caused him to seriously misjudge the strength of the Soviet Red Army, making him believe that since the Soviet Red Army If you can annex Finland in one month, you can annex Sweden in one month!
In particular, the condemnation statements just issued by the British and French governments greatly encouraged Stalin. He originally thought that Britain and France would definitely intervene with force. But now, the Soviet Union is about to annex Finland, but the British and French governments are just Issue a bland statement of condemnation.
This shows that the British and French governments have been troubled by Germany. Similarly, Germany's power has also been contained on the Western Front by Britain and France. Now neither Germany nor Britain and France have time to take care of Northern Europe, so the Soviet Union can completely Take this opportunity to conquer the entire Nordic region, greatly expand the territory of the Soviet Union and improve the external security environment!