Chapter 44 Chapter Forty-Four

Barbarossa (from "The Lost Empire of the World") Translator's Note: Twenty-five years later, people all over the world are still wondering why Adolf Hitler turned to the East in June 1941.At that time, due to the disastrous defeats in Africa and the Balkans and the losses caused by German submarines, Britain had reached a critical point, and the United States was unable to withstand this devastating blow. Victory in World War I.Once Britain had been knocked out and the astonishing gains digested, he could start to take on the Soviets on a front.But on the contrary, he put Britain aside, turned east, waged the largest and longest bloody battle in history, left D-Day open in his rear, and destroyed himself and Germany.Why?

On this issue, I think General von Roon made a clearer explanation from the other side of the mountain.Since American readers are more interested in the war on the Western Front, I have made major cuts from this material.But I have tried to keep the main thread of von Roon's analysis. turn east Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union is widely regarded as his greatest blunder, perhaps the greatest in world history.There are two reasons for this view.First of all, it is impossible for people to have a clear understanding of Adolf Hitler's enigmatic and terrifying character.Second, and most important, the layman (and many soldiers, too) seldom take the trouble to grasp the facts when judging a military situation.This judgment generally begins by looking at a map.People often have a headache when they see a map.Yet the key to Hitler's turn east in June 1941 lay in the method of mapping.

You'll have to look at a map of Europe, preferably a topographic map that clearly shows areas of rivers and mountains. You also have to remember some simple facts about war that don't change.War is a violent clash of forces.There are three kinds of this kind of power, namely: animal power, mechanical power, and chemical power.Until the seventeenth century, although such machines as the catapult and the crossbow had been used, the animal power of the horse and man still played a decisive role, and with the chemical force of the explosion of gunpowder a new factor was added.south of america

The Civil War reflected above all a revolution in industry, chiefly the harnessing of the chemical power of fossil fuels (coal), via railroads, which greatly increased the mobility of armies, and in addition, guns and guns, thanks to advances in metallurgy and design, reached new ranges and accuracy. Industrial warfare was fully developed in 1914-1918.With a set of industrial facilities designed and built for war, the Germans carried out internal military operations on the railway network carefully planned by General Moltke to quickly mobilize troops like a shuttle, easily hitting the coalition forces almost including the whole world.By 1918, aerial battles at Amiens between British tanks and vulnerable scout planes revealed the revolutionary possibility of a new power fueled by petroleum engines.A few soldiers grasped this possibility, but only one postwar statesman really understood it, the obscure infantry veteran Adolf Hitler.

Hitler saw that the British, the French, the so-called victors were exhausted, the world empire was open to their successors, and even a small country could dominate if it dared to use oil engines in large quantities, especially in conjunction with ground and air operations world. Situation on the map The disadvantage of horses in war is that they must eat hay; Napoleon hesitated at Borodino more or less because of lack of fodder.Similarly, a petroleum engine also must have petroleum as fuel.It was absolutely impossible for Adolf Hitler to forget this simple fact, even though it has long been forgotten by many high-pitched strategists and smart-witted journalists.

The Germans fought hard on the European continent, and the only gas station they could get was the underground oil in Romania.We cannot get oil from the sea.Therefore, all Hitler's military operations and campaigns in the Balkans from 1940 to 1941 revolved around the oil fields in Ploiesti.The war cannot be won in the Balkans, and Germany may be defeated here. A glance at the map makes it clear that Ploiesti, on the great plain of the Danube Valley, is dangerously close to the Soviet border.From the Prut River to Ploiesti is an open plain, less than a hundred miles.But it is six hundred miles from Germany to get there, with the Carpathian Mountains in between.

For this reason, in July 1940, when war threatened to break out between Hungary and Romania, Hitler was quick to force a reconciliation.The Soviet Union didn't like this.The Russians, whether Tsarist or Communist, had always extended their claws to the Balkans; at the time, the Russians were sending a vague and menacing memorandum to Romania.Yet Hitler never worried about Russian sensitivities as long as oil supplies were at stake.Without oil, the entire German war machine was a pile of scrap metal. But Russia's behavior gave him pause.His treaty with Stalin was only a truce.He thinks so himself, and he has to assume that a cruel butcher like Stalin thinks so too.The question is, when will Russia act?Hitler could only guess at this from Russian activity.In the summer of 1940, when we had completed our brilliant campaign in France, the Soviets entered Bessarabia in the Balkans, advancing an average of one hundred miles along a broad oil front facing us, so that the Red Army reached On the banks of the Prut River.At the same time, Bulgaria, whose border is only fifty miles from Ploiesti, also began to make territorial claims and military threats.From these gestures by Bulgaria towards Romania, we have definite information that a Russian conspiracy is at work.

These foreshadowing actions took place during the so-called "Battle of Britain".Western newspapers and radio practically paid no attention.Western historians also paid no attention.Politics in the Balkans often confuses and troubles Westerners, especially Americans.Yet this tense inconspicuous action over Romanian oil was far more serious than all the romantic headline-grabbing British air dogfights.Writers who have repeatedly studied the Battle of Britain have always wondered why Adolf Hitler was so uninterested in the Battle of Britain.None of them, it seems, had sufficient understanding of military chronology and topographical maps to appreciate the Führer's focus on the all-important Danube lowlands during this fruitless air battle.

At the end of July, when the British campaign had just begun, Hitler ordered General Jodl to begin deploying the invasion of the Soviet Union, scheduled for late 1940 or spring 1941.Western writers often cite this action as conclusive evidence of the "breach of faith" of the German leader.This is the result of not looking at maps or studying chronology.If Hitler had not taken this precaution after the intensified Russian squeeze on Ploiesti, he would have committed the crime of negligent neglect of the interests of the Fatherland. great strategic panorama Hitler's worldview was Hegel's.The great Hegel taught us that states, empires, and cultures all have periods of prosperity throughout history.They arise, they disappear.None are eternal, but each age has one that reigns and dictates.In this inheritance of world sovereignty, we recognize the evolutionary will of the master of history—the world spirit.The masters of history are thus manifested in the will of those world-historical figures, like Caesar, Alexander, and Napoleon, who led their countries toward world empire.Ordinary morality cannot be applied to the conduct of such men, for it is they who create new forms and new themes of morality in every age.

This Hegelian view of the world is, of course, the exact opposite of the morality of the petty bourgeoisie, which expects great states to behave like educated young girls in training schools, and believes that, according to its moral standards, an armed The powerful nation of China is no different from the white-faced clerk in some shoe store.The big bourgeois powers, such as France, Great Britain, and the United States, built up their power and expanded their territories through actions indistinguishable from military plunder.Having fulfilled their "historical destiny," it is of course easy for them to condemn a promising young Germany that wants to go on to play its world role.However, Adolf Hitler was not a man who readily accepted this preaching.In his plan, attacking Russia is the door for Germany to dominate the world.Russia is our India, and it should be conquered and developed in the British way.Germany has such a will, such a strength, such a mission.It lacks only food, space to live, and oil.It has to obtain these things.Hitler's point was that once the continent was firmly in German hands, the Anglo-Saxon sea powers would have to replace their governments and choose politicians who could get along with the new German World Reich .

center of gravity Clausewitz said: "We may... take it as a principle that if we are to defeat all enemies by defeating one of them, then the defeat of this enemy must be the object of our war, because on this enemy we must What is being struck is the common center of gravity of the entire war." An attack on Russia, aimed at controlling a vast center of the earth with unlimited human and natural resources, is a real blow to the center of gravity. There are many specious arguments that Britain is the "real" center of gravity because it can form another alliance against Germany.It's the stuff of people who can't escape the Napoleonic analogy in their head.In the spring of 1941, Britain was neutral, effectively out of the war, and engaged in at most minor air disturbances.It doesn't rule the oceans anymore.Both Japan and the United States surpassed it.They have not yet become an urgent problem for Germany, which of course will one day have to settle accounts with the United States. Since the United Kingdom is no longer capable militarily, why hasn't it surrendered yet?Obviously, because it wants the Soviet Union, or the United States, or both to aid it.America is far away and barely armed.Russia, on the other hand, is rapidly rearming and, right on our frontier, is openly threatening the German lifeline in Ploiesti.It is true that it tried to appease us by giving us wheat and oil in the crude manner of Russian diplomacy; but it took back machines to arm itself against us.It is unbearable to rely on Stalin in this way for a long time. Our demands for a world empire have always been a race against time.Germany is much smaller than its two rivals: the Soviet Union and the United States.Its merits lie only in unity of purpose, strict discipline, and Hitler's strong leadership.By 1941 it was clear that Franklin Roosevelt intended to go to war as soon as his industry turned to a war regime, coaxing his reluctant subjects to follow him; it was equally clear that Stalin was only looking for a safe and timid solution , cut the throat of Germany at Ploiesti.On the eve of June 22, Hitler made the situation clear in a frank and eloquent letter to Mussolini: "Both the Soviet Union and Great Britain are concerned with this ... Europe crushed by a long war. ... Interested, ... behind these two countries stands the United States, urging them to go ... Therefore, after long and hard thinking, I finally decided to cut the rope before it was taut." Barbaro Is the sand correct? "Hitler should have defeated Britain first." This kind of argument has no basis in reality. Hitler was determined to go wherever he wanted to seize the land and resources his country needed, much like Caesar.And he has a rich imagination for a peaceful new world order. In this respect, he is like Alexander.But his strategy was Napoleonic, because, like Napoleon, his central problem was to be surrounded by the enemy.Napoleon's solution was to use speed, strength, surprise, and a high concentration of forces on the point of attack in order to crush his enemies one by one.That's what Hitler did.His eye for grand strategy is perceptive, yet somewhat adventurous; but his utterly amateurish intervention in tactical operations, and his lack of military talent at the pinch, are devastating. In May 1940, after defeating France and driving the disarmed remnants of the British Army out of the European continent, he sent only 24 divisions to the Eastern Front to deal with the more than 200 divisions of the Red Army.It was a fantastic gamble, but also a gamble with vision.Stalin, who might have taken Berlin, expressed a special willingness to let Germany destroy France while he himself seized land in the Baltic and the Balkans. By 1941, the Soviet Union had grown stronger.It advanced a hundred miles from Ploiesti and gained control of the Baltic.It has amassed more than three million soldiers on the frontier facing Germany and the territories of Poland conquered by Germany.It demands freedom of movement in the Dardanelles, in Bulgaria, in Finland.These demands, made by Molotov in November 1940, finally drove Hitler to his limits. Hitler felt that he really had only three options.Either he kills himself, and let the German people negotiate their own surrender; or he kills himself across the Channel, making a fruitless attempt to overwhelm Britain, while having his back attacked by perfidiousness from the East; Great Britain achieved its entire historical goal with a single devastating blow when it was at its strongest.Barbarossa was the solution: a one-front Napoleonic shock, rather than a real two-front war. Unbiased historians of the future will never be able to blame Hitler for turning east.From the start he was desperate.Through a series of missteps and bad luck, due to the accident of history, he was confronted with a ruthless, same material, spidery genius Franklin Roosevelt, so his well-planned adventure failed. roosevelt's role Roosevelt's main problem in 1941 was time.He is at a temporary disadvantage while his opponent is at his strongest.The US president's weaknesses are both internal and external.The Germans were united behind their leader, but the Americans were scattered, overwhelmed and panicked by Roosevelt's arrogance and unreliability.Hitler commanded the most powerful armed force in the world, at the apex of power and fighting condition; Roosevelt had neither an army nor an air force, only a scattered and ill-trained navy.So, how can the US president carry the burden on his shoulders? Yet he provoked it.He is best at playing tricks from a disadvantage, and he won the presidency from a wheelchair. The first thing he had to do was strengthen Churchill.Only Churchill, an amateur military adventurer with a relentless hatred of Hitler, could keep Britain fighting.Churchill, as he says in his memoirs, did an excellent job as both general and admiral.Under his leadership, however, the empire went from bad to worse.Getting rid of this big talker prime minister, electing a responsible politician and making peace with Germany is a chance for Britain to save itself.If this kind of thing happened, it is impossible to imagine what the world map looks like now. But the pink regions of the British Empire still dot the globe.Roosevelt's Lend-Lease cunning kept Churchill in power.In 1941 the Americans gave the British very little.But Lend-Lease gave hope to this brave and defeated nation, and the war was fought on hope. Hope was also the main item that Franklin D. Roosevelt sent to the Soviet Union in 1941, and of course by November and December supplies began to arrive gradually.Stalin understood the great industrial potential of the United States.This understanding, and Roosevelt's promise of aid, supported him in his fight.He understood that since Roosevelt would not allow many Americans to shed blood to save the Soviet Union, he might give the Russians all the weapons and use the bravery and self-sacrifice of the Slavs to fight for American world supremacy. Escort decision Roosevelt's subtly, frighteningly treacherous instincts in world affairs were never on display so well as in his approach to the problem of Atlantic convoys. Most Americans in May 1941 were indifferent to the war in Europe.Those who are most sedate object to meddling.Roosevelt found a very ugly name for them: "isolationists".Around him, however, sycophants kept urging him to start escorting American steamers to England.Indeed, it made little sense to load American food and arms onto British ships and let them sink to the bottom of the sea. Roosevelt stubbornly refused to escort.He has received information that he is going to attack Russia.In fact, the whole world except Stalin seemed to know about it, and of course Roosevelt was unwilling to intervene.He knew that large numbers of Germans would inevitably be killed.The prospect thrilled him. But a war in the Atlantic might bring Barbarossa to a halt.Until the dawn of June 22, Hitler may cancel the order.The German General Staff would carry out the order to withdraw from Barbarossa with a sigh of relief. Franklin Roosevelt understood a truth that many politicians at the time could not understand-that Hitler had to rely on public opinion in the final analysis.The Germans rallied behind him, ready to make any sacrifice, but they did not intend to commit suicide lightly.News of war with the United States would demoralize the German army from advancing on Russia.The German public is unaware of America's military weaknesses.Despite Goebbels' propaganda, they remembered that the last major war was defeated because of America's entry into the war. Roosevelt was getting ready to go to war with Germany, he was eager to do it, but not until we got our hands dirty with Stalin's horde of thugs.So he made up his mind, ignored the advice of his advisers, and went around to avoid journalists' prying on the escort issue.Delaying a decision on convoys was one way he ensured war between Germany and Russia.That's what he does.He disorients and frustrates everyone around him, even his wife.But when Hitler turned east on June 22, he achieved his terrible purpose. Translator's note: Long's defense of Barbarossa is unusual; most other German military writers have condemned it as a fatal opening to two-front warfare.It seemed that Ryu had been involved in the planning of the operation, or that the plans submitted by the General Staff coincided with the research he had done at the Supreme Command.Everyone cherishes their own thoughts, especially soldiers. The argument that the Ploiesti oil field played a pivotal role is not emphasized in much other military histories.As early as July 1940, Hitler planned to attack Russia.The non-aggression pact had only been signed for a year, and Stalin was still serious about shipping large quantities of war materials, including oil, to Germany.Hitler's behavior seems to have been a bit of a breach of trust, if there was any trust between the two great murderers.The generally self-excusing statement in German writings is that the deployment of the Soviet troops indicated Stalin's intention to attack and that Hitler simply preempted him.But most German historians now admit that the Russian The deployment of the Chinese is defensive.Hitler always regarded as his main policy the attack on Russia in order to obtain the leben-sraum.So naturally he would have started planning in July 1940, when his mighty Army was at its peak and there was nowhere else to go.This is the whole picture, and the oil supply problem may be just a detail.In any case, however, Long's remarks illustrate Hitler's problem. ① German: living space.