More than three months passed in the blink of an eye, and the time came to September of the 29th year of the Republic of China, which was September 1940.
In the past three months or so, the New Regiment, which suffered heavy losses, has been huddled in the Wujiashan Fortress for rest and recuperation. The Japanese soldiers on the periphery also had no major movements, because the Japanese Far Eastern Army had just finished the Far East Battle and was also exhausted. In urgent need of a period of rest, the two sides adopted a temporary truce with a tacit understanding.
Of course, this situation will definitely not last for too long. When the rest is over, even if the Japanese do not come to take the initiative to attack, the new group will also take the initiative and will not let the Japanese on the periphery live in peace. But at least for now, Xu Rui's new group will The regiment and Yamashita Fengfumi's Seventh Army were still able to maintain a peaceful situation.
Everything is peaceful in the Northeast, and the battlefield in China is also peaceful.
But on the European battlefield, the British decisive battle has officially begun.
After France surrendered, Germany began to prepare intensively to attack the British Isles. However, because the British Isles were separated from the European continent by straits, and the German navy was at an absolute disadvantage compared to the British Royal Navy, so in a short period of time, the German army There is no possibility of landing directly in the British Isles.
So now, Germany can only carry out large-scale air strikes on the British Isles.
However, the Sea Lion plan implemented by the German army encountered stubborn resistance from the British, especially Churchill, who had recently succeeded Chamberlain as the British Prime Minister. He was even more militant. As soon as this old guy came to power, he immediately approved the order to establish an aircraft manufacturing department. , increasing aircraft production from 700 to 1,600 aircraft per month!
In addition, the biggest threat to the German Air Force is high-altitude radar!
The British built a large number of high-altitude radars on the British Isles. Therefore, as soon as the German Air Force planes took off from the European continent, the radar stations on the British Isles could immediately detect them, and they could immediately dispatch fighter groups to fight against each other. Interception, which posed a fatal threat to the Luftwaffe's bomber group.
However, the Germans are not vegetarians, especially the Brandenburg Special Forces.
In the original history, Brandenburg's special forces successfully infiltrated into the British Isles and blew up many radar stations. In this time and space, due to the special operations experience of fighting against the Wolf Fang Brigade in Finland, Brandenburg The Dengbao special forces have richer special warfare experience and stronger strength, and the threat to British radar stations has become more deadly.
By the end of August, fewer than ten radar stations on the island of Great Britain were bombed. Facilities at ports, power plants, steel plants, and aircraft manufacturing plants also suffered a lot of damage. The entire British air defense system was almost in a state of collapse. Paralyzed, half of London was bombed into rubble, and Britain was about to be unable to support itself.
But at this juncture, the Americans took decisive action.
Although the United States and the United Kingdom have been at each other's throats in history, a father is a father after all. If a British father is in danger, an American son will never stand idly by!
Under the lobbying of Special Envoy Churchill, the U.S. Congress urgently passed a special bill to assist the British with a batch of fighter planes. Relying on the U.S. emergency assistance of these planes, the British finally got through this hurdle.
By the end of September, Germany's Sea Lion program had effectively failed.
Because after spending the most difficult and dangerous three months, the UK has gradually stabilized the situation.
In the several large-scale air battles that have broken out in the past two weeks, the Royal Air Force has steadily gained the upper hand. Although German Air Marshal Goering boldly threatened to eliminate the Royal Air Force within three months, in fact , the German Air Force was already being pinned to the ground by the Royal Air Force.
In other words, except for the great changes in the outcome of the Japanese-Soviet War, the general trend of the world in this time and space is no different from the world in Xu Rui's memory. In other words, the wings of Xu Rui's little butterfly affected The Asian battlefield alone, at least so far, has not had much impact on the European battlefield.
However, this is only a superficial phenomenon. In fact, the entire world has been profoundly changed by this little butterfly Xu Rui!
The entire logic line looks like this.
Because Xu Rui and the Langya Brigade participated in the Soviet-Finnish War, the Soviet army achieved a major victory in the war against Finland, thus forcing the German army to intervene in the Nordic war, thus creating a conflict between the Brandenburg Special Forces and the Langya Brigade. This was a special battle contest, and through this contest, the high-minded Brandenburg special forces suffered their first defeat.
After the defeat, the Brandenburg Special Forces summed up their experience in time and became more powerful than ever in history.
The Brandenburg special forces, with more powerful combat capabilities and more proficient special tactics, dealt a fatal blow to the radar stations of the British Isles in the air battle over Great Britain, which once paralyzed the air defense system of the entire British Isles.
However, even after the air defense system of the British Isles was paralyzed, the German Air Force still failed to achieve a decisive victory in the air battle over Great Britain. The German Navy was always at a disadvantage in the naval battle with the British Royal Navy.
This cruel fact made the German high command realize that it was unlikely to capture the British Isles more than half a year earlier than in the original history.
However, the German chariot has started and the wheels are rolling forward. It is impossible to stop anymore, at least until major economic or geopolitical benefits are obtained.
It is difficult to define what kind of situation counts as obtaining significant economic benefits.
However, what kind of situation counts as obtaining significant geopolitical benefits is easy to define.
For Germany, conquering the European continent, destroying or crippling the United Kingdom, and then destroying the Soviet Union would be considered to have achieved major geopolitical benefits. But at the moment, Germany has only accomplished the first two goals.
Therefore, the German high command turned its attention to the Soviet Union more than half a year earlier than in history, and the formulation and implementation of Plan Barbarossa was a full nine months earlier than in the original history! In the original history, the implementation of Plan Barbarossa was not until June 1941, but now, it has been advanced to the end of September 1940!
…
Wolfsburg, the huge underground war room is crowded with stars. Almost all the senior generals of the German army and air force, including generals and above, have gathered here to accompany the head of state to listen to the last report of the army commander-in-chief, Marshal Brauchitsch. This time After the report, Marshal Brauchitsch will fly to the front line.
Compared with a year ago, Marshal Brauchitsch's demeanor has changed a lot. Even when the head of state faces Brauchitsch, he will show a rare smile. The reason why the head of state looks at Brauchitsch differently is because It is entirely because the latter showed extremely superb command skills in the battles against Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium and France.
Moreover, the German army also won these wars very cleanly.
Especially the battle against France was a textbook performance!
"My dear Walter." When he saw Brauchitsch, the Marshal gave him a very warm hug and called him by his name affectionately instead of calling him Marshal Brauchitsch as usual. The head of state wanted to use this method to show how much he valued Marshal Brauchitsch.
Of course, the ultimate purpose of the head of state's display of this approach was to inspire all senior German generals present and encourage them to perform well in the subsequent German-Soviet war, especially Rommel, who had just returned from the Asian battlefield. For Rommel, the head of state really had unprecedented high hopes.
Because, with Rommel's qualifications, he could only serve as the division commander of the 7th Armored Division.
However, the Führer made an exception and promoted Rommel to the commander of the Fourth Army.
Back to business, after the announcement, the head of state then asked: "Walter, are you ready?"
Brauchitsch immediately replied: "Report to the Head of State that all the first batch of troops participating in the war have entered the designated positions. More than 2.6 million troops have been fully deployed along a thousand-kilometer-long front. All it takes is an order from the Head of State. Next, we can launch a fierce and devastating attack on the Soviet Union!"
The head of state could not hide the excitement on his face, and then asked: "Where are the support troops?"
Brauchitsch then replied: "The second batch of three million support troops has also been mobilized and will arrive and enter the battlefield within a month. This also means that within the first month after the war begins, The Axis Alliance can invest more than 5.5 million huge troops on the German-Soviet battlefield. Head of State, in the history of world wars, there has never been a large-scale battle of large armies. Regardless of victory or defeat, this war will be recorded in history!"
After hearing this, the head of state finally frowned slightly.
Brauchitsch immediately realized that he had said something wrong and immediately made up for it: "Of course, the Third Reich will undoubtedly win the final victory in this world war!"
The head of state immediately regained his smile and continued: "However, it is already the end of September, and winter will soon enter the Nordic region. Are the troops' winter clothing and transportation vehicles ready?"
Regarding winter clothing, there are obvious differences from the original history.
In the original historical time and space, Plan Barbarossa was implemented in June. Because the head of state blindly believed in the combat effectiveness of the German army and believed that the German army could end the war against the Soviet Union before winter came, he did not seriously prepare the more than five million troops on the front line. The required winter clothing was later collected with strong economic capabilities, but there were not enough transportation vehicles to transport these winter clothing to the front line. As a result, the frontline German troops suffered serious non-combat attrition.
But now, since the time has entered September, no matter how arrogant the head of state is, he definitely does not believe that the German army can destroy the Soviet Union within a month, so he pays special attention to the collection and transportation of winter clothes.