The Rise of the Third Reich

"General Secretary General, Comrade Mikhail Kovalev (Commander of the Belarusian Front) reported that the Third Army, the Fourth Army, the Tenth Army, the Eleventh Army and the Red Banner Special Mechanized Cavalry Group have all cooperated with the 8 All pre-war mobilization was completed on March 20. All 16 infantry divisions, 8 cavalry divisions and 8 tank brigades belonging to the four armies and a mechanized cavalry group have arrived at the designated positions.

Comrade Semyon Timoshenko (Commander of the Ukrainian Front) reported that the Sixth Army, the Ninth Army, and the Twelfth Army had completed all pre-war mobilization on August 21. The 12 infantry divisions, 8 cavalry divisions and 4 tank brigades belonging to the three group armies have all arrived at the designated positions.

As of August 21, there were 28 infantry divisions, 16 cavalry divisions, and 12 tank brigades, totaling 510,000 people, 3,739 tanks, and 380 armored vehicles ready for combat at any time. In addition, the Red Air Force has mobilized 2,000 combat aircraft to various frontline airports in Belarus and Ukraine..."

On August 25, a few days before the outbreak of World War II, in the Kremlin, the People's Commissar of Defense Voroshilov was reporting to Stalin and other members of the political bureau on war preparations.

Stalin smoked his pipe and listened to Voroshilov's speech expressionlessly. The upcoming war will be the first battle of the Red Army after the "Great Purge".

The "Great Purge" basically ended at the end of 1938. During this period, the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army experienced a "reborn" change. In this movement, a total of 35,000 military officers were suppressed, including 80% of senior officers, 3 of the 5 marshals, all military district commanders and most of the group army commanders and other senior military officials - 15 group army commanders 13 people were killed; 57 of 85 army commanders were executed; 110 of 159 division commanders were executed; more than 40,000 middle and high-level officers above the battalion level were punished to varying degrees.

Of course, the purge of the military is not indiscriminate. Stalin's purpose in launching this movement was to eliminate different factions in the army in order to achieve the purpose of purifying the ranks and unifying the ideology - except for the Stalin-Voroshilov-Budyonny faction, all other factions in the Red Army were destroyed A heavy blow, no longer posing any threat.

It can be said that the current Red Army of workers and peasants is unprecedentedly united and has truly become a taming tool for the Central Committee of the Soviet Union with Stalin at its core.

Now Stalin can let them do anything, but can the "Soviet Blade" of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army remain sharp after going through "purges"?

In fact, Stalin was not 100% sure.

"Comrades, the time has come to realize Lenin's last wish!" Stalin said thoughtfully, "Just now, German Ambassador Schulenburg officially informed us that Germany will attack Poland on September 1st. This is the final decision!"

His eyes looked around the conference room. Those who came to attend the meeting were the political bureau members who had just been elected in March. The political situation has also gone through some "cleansing". Compared with the previous term, there are fewer Kirov, Kuibyshev, Ordzhonikidze, Kosior and Chubalmo. Two more people were added.

One of them is Khrushchev, the first secretary of the Central Committee of Ukraine. This short-built comrade with a bald forehead only entered the political situation at the 18th National Congress. He is young, only 45 years old. He only joined the Bolshevik Party in 1918. He is not an old man with little energy. Most suitable to take over the work of right-bank Ukraine - which is not easy to do, because the Soviet Union does not occupy right-bank Ukraine, but liberates right-bank Ukraine.

"Comrade Khrushchev!" Stalin named the First Secretary of Ukraine. "How about it? Are you sure that the Ukrainian people on the right bank will voluntarily vote to join the Soviet Union?"

"Comrade General Secretary, please rest assured." Khrushchev said with a tone of admiration, "Following your instructions, the Ukrainian Bolshevik Central Committee has organized and trained 100,000 cadres, who will form 10,000 cadres." Multiple work teams followed the Red Army into the Right Bank. At the same time, the NKVD also organized tens of thousands of people and divided them into thousands of teams. They will work with Ukrainian cadres to complete the social transformation tasks in Right Bank Ukraine."

"The target for eliminating counterrevolutionaries should be set at 800,000 people." Stalin smoked a cigarette and issued the "enemy target." "I think there should be so many enemies there waiting for us to suppress."

In the Soviet Union, the "enemy" also had targets! Usually a little more, but not too much.

Because right-bank Ukraine has been ruled by White Poland for a long time, there must be many "enemies" there, such as landlords, rich peasants, counterrevolutionaries, capitalists, aristocrats, and this element and that element.

Therefore, Comrade Stalin issued a target of 800,000 people, which was not too much, because Stalin knew that Khrushchev was working very hard to eliminate counter-revolutionaries, and he exceeded the target of annihilating the enemy when he was in Moscow (the political bureau believed that Moscow State There were 35,000 enemies, but Khrushchev captured 41,000, and the number of people shot was 3,500 more than the 5,000 required)... It is estimated that this time Khrushchev can get a "big harvest" in Right Bank Ukraine , can catch at least 1 million "enemies".

Having decided on the number of "enemies", Stalin then lowered his tone: "Now I propose that the political bureau pass a resolution to liberate the oppressed workers and peasants of right-bank Ukraine and overthrow the colonial rule of the Polish reactionaries!"

Historically, the Soviet Union invaded Poland in the name of protecting "minor citizens" - at that time, Ukrainians and Belarusians were "minor citizens" of Poland and also "minor citizens" of the Soviet Union. However, this time and space situation is different. Poland is a federal country, and the Ukrainian Free State is the main body of the Polish Federation. Ukrainians are no longer "minor citizens" of Poland.

So Stalin decided to treat right-bank Ukraine and Western Belarus as Polish colonies.

"Agree!" "Agree!" "Completely agree!"

Members of the political bureau expressed their approval one after another and passed it unanimously.

Stalin nodded and said: "The Germans will go to war on September 1st, and we can submit an ultimatum to Poland on September 2nd, asking them to expel the Ukrainian Free State from the Polish Federation... This is Poland's last step. Chance!"

…

"Rudolph, how is the new plane? Is it easy to fly?"

Zossen, Heinsberg Manor, Hersmann's family is sitting around the dining table eating. This is the last big reunion of the family before the war begins!

Hessman is now the head of a large family, and Chloe has given birth to 5 children for him. It is really a good thing, but it is necessary. He looked at his eldest son, who had blond hair, blue eyes, a well-proportioned figure, and a very handsome appearance. Rudolf, who was only 19 years old this year, put on the uniform of the German Naval Aviation Corps - he graduated from Lichfeld 2 years ago and then entered Karlsruhe He studied at the Air Force NCO School in Ruhe for 24 months and was just assigned to the supplementary training unit in August this year - Hersman knew that he was likely to lose him in this world war!

Hersmann's second son, Reinhardt, has now entered the Lichfeld Junior Military Academy - if the war in this time and space lasts long enough, he may also go to the battlefield.

Hersmann's other three children are all girls, the eldest daughter Maria, the second daughter Elizabeth, the youngest daughter Amalia... They are not suitable heirs to the Junker officer family.

"Father, Uncle Fokker's Zero is a very good aircraft. It has very low wing load, good stall characteristics, and extremely responsive control at low speeds." Rudolf said to his father with a beaming smile while eating the steak cooked by his mother. Introducing his new aircraft - a "Fokker Zero" produced by the BF-FK consortium.

Although he is only 19 years old this year, he is already an "old pilot" because he was born in the Hersman family and is Anthony Fokker's nephew. Has over 1,000 hours of flying experience. Therefore, he was assigned to the elite 1st Combat Aviation Regiment of the Naval Air Force to serve as a supplementary pilot. In theory, he would go on the battlefield after completing supplementary training, but it was hard to say if he would actually fight.

Rudolf said: "Its plane turning capability, both in terms of turning radius and turning rate, is first-rate. It is said to exceed the Bf-109, and its climbing speed is also very fast. It can climb instantly, almost making it an aerobatic aircraft. The only shortcoming is It’s just that the dive performance is poor. I think the Air Force brothers flying the Bf-109E will suffer a lot..."

He didn’t even know there was going to be a war!

The troops were assembled in the name of the exercise. Including some aircraft of the German Naval Air Force, more than 2,500 aircraft have now been concentrated at various airports in eastern Germany.

Rudolf's unit was also transferred to a military airport near Berlin. Because the aircraft of the Naval Air Force have a long range and can take off from Berlin to bomb Lviv, there is no need to compete with short-legged Air Force aircraft for front-line airports.

Rudolf took leave today and went to a home not far from the station to have dinner with his parents - he didn't know that there was going to be a war, and neither did the commander of the 1st Marine Combat Aviation Regiment where he belonged. Because the troops had not yet entered the final battle-ready state, the supplementary pilot Rudolf was granted half a day's leave.

"Okay," Hessman nodded calmly. He could not tell his son military secrets. "You must pay attention to safety."

"It won't be a problem," Rudolph said with a smile. "I'm a veteran. I've been flying since I was 16. Of all the supplementary pilots in the 1st Marine Combat Aviation Regiment, there is no pilot with better skills than me."

"Then I'm relieved," Hessman paused, "But you still have to be careful not to fly too low. The Zero has no armor and can easily be hit when flying at low altitudes."

"Hit?" Rudolph was stunned for a moment, then smiled, "I have never been hit during simulated air combat training..."

At this moment, a maid from the Hersman family suddenly walked into the restaurant quickly. She said to Hersman: "Marquis, there is a phone call. It's for Master Rudolf. It's from the army!"

Hersman knew that this was the order to cancel the vacation...