Transmigrated as the Crown Prince

The next day Yannick called Kesselring and Richthofen and issued an order.

"Develop a battle plan to bomb Baku's oil fields."

Baku is located on the Apsheron Peninsula on the west coast of the Caspian Sea, covering an area of ​​about 2,200 square kilometers. It is a very ancient city with its earliest history dating back to the 5th century. It became the capital of the Baku Khanate in the 18th century. Incorporated into Russia in 1806, it became the capital of the Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan in 1920. Until the beginning of the 20th century, Baku was still a backward city with no trees and smoke and dust billowing from the streets.

The Russian government abolished state monopolies in the early 1870s, and private enterprise developed explosively. The first drilling rig was built between 1871 and 1872. By 1873, there were more than 20 small refineries in operation. Before 1873, most of Russia's oil market (kerosene) was occupied by the United States.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Baku oil field became the oil field with the highest production volume in the world, becoming the industrial center of the South Caucasus and the Russian oil base. Since then, Baku has been known as the "Oil City".

In 1940 in the original time and space, Baku's oil production reached its peak, and its output accounted for 5% of the total output of the Soviet Union at that time (the scope was then expanded to the vicinity of the Caucasus Mountains, where the oil produced accounted for 90% of the Soviet Union's national output). After that, Baku's crude oil production began to decline, but until 1950 it was still the largest oil field in the Soviet Union, with oil production accounting for 2% of the Soviet Union's total production (after the 1950s, due to the increasing decline in reserves, by the 1980s, all its oil fields accounting for less than 2%).

During the Soviet-German War, the Baku Oil Field became a key point in the war. Once the Soviet Union lost the oil field, the Soviet tanks and fighter planes became decorations. Once the German army occupied this oil field, they would have no worries at all. The top German military leaders even believed that the strategic significance of capturing the Baku oil fields was even greater than that of Leningrad and Moscow.

Naturally, the top Soviet officials saw through the Germans' intentions. Stalin warned the newly appointed deputy director of the oil industry that if the Germans capture Baku, they will give you a bullet. If necessary, the oil field must be destroyed. But then you can’t resume production immediately and give you another bullet.

The German army targeted the oil-producing areas of Baku and even frightened the United Kingdom and the United States. Britain considered bombing oil fields in the Caucasus to prevent them from falling into German hands. Because the British know that if the oil in the Caucasus is occupied by Germany, Germany can increase the oil production here several times in a short time; not only the Soviet Union, but the United Kingdom will also follow suit.

The United Kingdom suggested that the Soviet Union block all the Krasnodar quiet areas north of Baku (there are nearly 1,300 oil wells here). We don't need it, and we can't let Germany use it. The British suggestion was not wrong. Assuming that neither the Soviet Union nor Germany used oil, Germany would ultimately be unable to withstand it. After all, it was a resource-scarce country. The Soviet Union did not use oil and had other resources available. The Soviet Union was too large.

The Soviet Union transferred a large amount of cement and poured it into each oil well to create a giant cement plug, about 20 meters deep. The German army was very far away from the oil-producing areas of the Caucasus. When they reached the Caucasus, they were faced with oil wells that did not produce any oil at all.

Germany does not believe in evil and has mobilized many advanced oil drilling rigs. The top management issued an order: The oil well must be drilled at all costs. "Unfortunately", the Germans' work was in vain. Among the 1,300 oil wells, not one of them could produce oil.

The Soviet Union had blown up the oil refinery before the German troops entered, leaving Germany with no oil available. The only option was to adopt the stupidest method of drilling new oil wells, but the Soviet Union obviously would not let the German army dig oil leisurely and dig its own grave. Four Soviet Siberian divisions moved south to stop the German plan.

At this time, Yanik no longer looked down upon the Baku Oil Field, and decided that once the time came, he would strike first; destroy the Baku Oil Field.

Kesselring asked. "Your Highness, can we take the opportunity to pass through Iran?"

Whether from Romania or Western Ukraine, the round-trip flight range exceeds 3,000 kilometers, and the HE-117 bomber can barely perform it. But it would be easy if we go through Iran. Iran and Azerbaijan are adjacent; if you take off from Iran, the straight-line distance does not exceed 300 kilometers, even the short-legged Stuka can participate.

Yannick thought for a moment and nodded. "It should be no problem. Also, by the way, make a plan for bombing the Second Baku Oil Field."

After the Soviet Union's "Second Five-Year Plan", the coal group won a great victory in the "kerosene dispute", but Stalin did not give up his established policy. Under Stalin's vigorous promotion, the oil exploration department has been looking for new oil fields in the hinterland of the Soviet Union, hoping to increase oil production and promote changes in the Soviet energy structure. At that time, the exploration team placed the exploration area in the Volga and Ural river basins. At the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the resolution was finally adopted to "establish a new oil base between the Volga and the Urals - the Second Baku."

Despite the obstruction and lack of cooperation from interest groups at that time, the exploration and exploitation of new oil fields continued unhurriedly. In order to show their high hopes for the new oil field, the top leaders of the Soviet Communist Party at that time called the new oil field in the Volga-Ural region the second Baku - the oil-producing area eventually explored here reached 700,000 square kilometers.

Of course, prospect is one thing, reality is another. In the original time and space, until 1940 (one year before the outbreak of the Soviet-German war), only a dozen small oil fields were discovered in Baku, and the output was only 1.8 million tons, accounting for 8% of the entire Soviet Union, which was far behind the Baku oil fields. .

On the one hand, the infrastructure construction of the entire Volga-Urals oil-producing area is still in its infancy; on the other hand, although the oil reserves here are very large - the large Dumaz oil field with reserves of 200 million tons was discovered in 1937, the main force here is The oil layers are buried in deeper Devonian strata - the oil layers in the Baku Oilfield are mainly distributed in the shallower Carboniferous strata, and the oil products here have high mass density, high viscosity and sulfur content. Considering the economic cost alone, The short-term benefits were not significant, so it was obviously impossible to prioritize the development of Second Baku when funds were insufficient at the time.

As a result, the Soviet-German War broke out, and the German army moved southward. Azerbaijan was once occupied by Germany in 1942. The Soviet Union had to adopt a strategy of clearing the country and moving all personnel and important equipment to the Volga-Ural area, and then evacuated Previously, all the facilities in the Baku oil area were blown up to prevent the Germans from using the oil resources here.

And this move just greatly strengthened the power of Second Baku. During the war when all kinds of resources were most scarce, Soviet engineers were still conducting exploration and mining operations here. In 1944, the Mukhanov Oil Field was discovered in the second Baku, with reserves reaching 200 million tons. As of 1945, the output of the new oil area increased by 52% compared with 1942.

"Volga-Ural oil-producing area?" Kesselin was confused. "Your Highness, this distance has exceeded the combat radius of the HE-117 bomber. Even the Me-264 will probably have to pay considerable losses if it penetrates into the heart of the Soviet Union for such a long distance."

The Me-264 can be said to be the Hans version of the B-29 bomber. Its design goal is very clear, that is, it can take off from Germany, cross the Atlantic, and bomb the United States. The aircraft made its first flight on December 23, 1942 (the B-29 bomber made its first flight on September 21, 42, and the two are highly similar in appearance. The biggest identifying feature is the single/double vertical tail). However, due to the later war situation Deteriorating and resource shortages, the Me-264 program was canceled in 1944 in order to allow Messerschmitt to concentrate its resources on manufacturing fighter aircraft.

"That's true." Yannick nodded. "Then we need to deal with the Baku oil field first. Expanding the scale of exploitation in the Ural oil-producing areas will also take time, so there is no risk."