Transmigrated as the Crown Prince

In a blink of an eye, the year came to 1942.

Yannick couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. It seemed that the terrible winter spell had been broken. Now he only had to wait until spring arrived to capture Moscow in one fell swoop.

Moreover, capturing Moscow is already a sure thing.

The European coalition led by Germany plus the Russian Liberation Army and the Ukrainian and Belarusian armies have a terrifying number of more than 8 million troops; plus the reserves that can be put into war at any time, this number can easily exceed 12 million. Moreover, the entire Europe is producing and equipping German-style weapons, and even the weapons performance of the Russian Liberation Army equipment far exceeds that of the Soviet troops.

The Soviet and American troops assembled in Moscow were only 4 million strong. Stalin might arm all the old and weak prisoners in Moscow, maybe 3 million more. However, it is hard to say how much combat effectiveness these old, weak, women and children can exert; perhaps their biggest role is to waste the ammunition of the European coalition forces.

Stalin obviously felt that these numbers were far from enough, so he sent his most effective confidant, Beria, to Siberia. He heard not very good rumors, and sending Beria there would firstly stabilize the rear; secondly, he would supervise production, increase the production speed of weapons as much as possible, and send more weapons and equipment to Moscow.

"Siberia" generally refers to all Russian territory in Asia, starting from the Ural Mountains in the west. Stretching from the Bering Strait in the east to the borders of Mongolia, Kazakhstan and China in the south, it covers an area of ​​12.76 million square kilometers, accounting for more than 60% of the entire Soviet territory (at this time, due to the rebellion in the Far East, this area shrank significantly).

However, during the Tsarist Russia period, due to its reliance on foreign investment (especially French capital), Russia's construction center was still the western region. Coupled with limitations in capital and technology, Siberia was not fully developed. In 1908, Siberia's industrial output was only It accounts for 25% of all Russia. In this case, Siberia is more famous as a penal colony, such as the famous Internet meme of later generations, "Sent to Siberia to dig potatoes."

After 1917, with the victory and stability of the Soviet Russian regime, strengthening national strength and developing industry became the top priority of the Soviet regime. Rich in resources and geographically invulnerable, Siberia was a godsend. Since the "First Five-Year Plan", the Soviet Union began to invest heavily in Siberia, and the formerly bitter cold land ushered in rapid development.

Under the strong mobilization force of the highly centralized planned economic system, the second metallurgical center of the Soviet Union - the Ural-Kuznetsk Coal Mining and Metallurgical Complex was quickly established in this barren land. This enterprise lasted for two years. five year Plan. The Belovo Zinc Plant was completed in 1928. The plant accounted for a quarter of the Soviet Union’s zinc production just three years later in 1931. There are also coal fields like the Kuzbass Coalfield, which produced coal at the end of the “First Five-Year Plan”. The volume accounts for 15% of the Soviet Union. The success of the first two five-year plans won Siberia more investment in the "Third Five-Year Plan". Its investment accounted for 6% of the Soviet Union's national investment that year. The huge investment brought huge returns.

The "Third Five-Year Plan" started in 1938 not only further strengthened Siberia's original coal industry and metallurgical industry, but also built a large number of machine manufacturing industries, such as the construction of a turbine factory in Novosibirsk. All of the companies mentioned above will play an important role in the war effort.

The third mission of Beria's trip was to collect more troops and send them to the front line, that is, Moscow.

In World War II in the original time and space, faced with the problem of the Soviet army's shortage of troops, Beria proposed a method, which was to organize people in prisons, that is, prisoners in labor camps and prisons, and send them to the front line to "cleanse" them. To clear up the crimes committed against the motherland." His exact words were. "Don't let these 'Soviet dust' waste Soviet food anymore. They should be allowed to shoulder the responsibility for the war." (Prisoners who have committed criminal crimes such as robbery and murder are not included in this).

According to statistics from the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs in 1956, a total of more than 1.3 million labor reform prisoners and "problem soldiers" were sent to the front lines. These criminals who joined the army were divided into many levels. Generally, criminals who made minor mistakes were assigned to ordinary troops, but some serious criminals were assigned to punishment camps. This team was also called a field prison.

Files show that those sent to punishment camps ranged from civilians to high-ranking military officers. The famous one is Lieutenant Matvinko. He was injured in the battle of Vyazma in October 1941. After being discharged from the hospital, he deserted on his way back to the army and hid in his hometown. He was later sent to the 265th Penal Battalion and became an outstanding soldier. A reconnaissance hero behind enemy lines.

In order to facilitate management, especially to prevent people from escaping, punishment troops generally adopt a battalion-level organization. Each battalion has about 800 people, and each company has about 150-200 people. During combat, punishment battalions are often interspersed among combat troops to facilitate surveillance by neighboring troops. The combat missions of the punishment battalion are basically the same as those of ordinary infantry units. The difference is that they are often sent to perform high-risk tasks such as reconnaissance and flank penetration. The purpose is to discover the enemy's firepower points, seize enemy high ground in a surprise attack, etc. This also causes casualties in the punishment battalion. The rate was extremely high. In 1944 alone, their loss rate exceeded 50%, which was 3-6 times that of ordinary troops. At that time, the Soviet army once spread the saying that "people in the punishment camp could not survive more than 3 months."

Ziabnyatov once served as the company commander of the 123rd Punishment Battalion. He personally told one of the most tragic battles he experienced. It was during the Oder-Vistula Battle in early 1945. The 123rd Punishment Battalion served as the vanguard for forcibly crossing the Vistula River and opened a landing bridgehead for subsequent troops. Without any artillery cover, the 123rd Punishment Battalion's attack began late at night on January 2. As soon as they set off, they were suppressed by extremely fierce firepower from the Germans. The soldiers of these Punishment Battalion could only cling to the sides of the rubber boats. While paddling, I listened to the bullets fired from the other side whizzing past my head. From time to time, mortar shells hit the ferry boat full of soldiers, and fragments of human bodies and rubber boats were mixed together and blasted into the sky.

The 123rd Punishment Battalion lost more than half of its rubber boats when they rowed to the center of the river. The river was full of floating corpses. However, the soldiers still tenaciously climbed to the river bank, but were mercilessly fired by German machine guns. Some people hid in despair. The last few minutes of life are vainly extended under reedy floodplains or banks. After repeated battles, by noon the next day, the 123rd Punishment Battalion, which had suffered heavy losses, finally occupied the bridgehead with the support of large troops. A captured German soldier said with lingering fear: "You are carrying corpses across the Vistula River. "." After this battle, only 47 of the 670 officers and soldiers of the 123rd Punishment Battalion survived, which shows how cruel the punishment camp is.