Chapter 826: Are You Afraid?

“If the SS is to be subordinate to the Army, under the unified command of the Army, then these outstanding soldiers should not be sent to the front lines to die in vain,” a general said, while stealing a glance at Akado, who was seated at the head of the table. “They need complete training and equipment that is truly suited for the battlefield.”

“The SS always has a way of encouraging young men to join the army. Their recruitment methods are superior to the Wehrmacht’s. They stir up people’s hearts, getting those who know nothing, who only want to dedicate themselves to the Führer, to join the army. In this, they are better than us,” another general lamented. “We, on the other hand, disdain to use topics like the Greater German Party and faith to incite those who are not of age.”

The reason the SS was able to quickly comb through the remaining population and form a full 15 divisions after the Wehrmacht’s recruitment drives was by relying on a faith-based incitement that appealed to all ages. Moreover, they were not picky, liking to recruit 17- and 18-year-old boys, skirting the law, and also liking to accept middle-aged uncles over 35. This made their expansion faster than the picky Wehrmacht.

“I have personally read the reports on these units, with an attitude of not discriminating and not negating,” Brauchitsch said, hoping to smooth things over. He was careful with his tone and choice of words. “Many of these units are not suitable for combat. They can be used to fill the ranks of the units that maintain local security, or they can be used in places like the more high-level concentration camps. But they are uniquely unsuitable for the front lines.”

He paused, stood up, and said to Akado, “My Führer, these men have joined the Waffen-SS out of their loyalty to you. We have no need to send them to die a meaningless death. The frontline troops are not yet in a desperate need of reinforcements. Their hasty recruitment will cause panic among the people.”

“I am aware of all this, but the front does indeed need two more complete army groups. You and I have already discussed this in the last recruitment meeting. We need troops to fill the ever-expanding defense line in the northern and central regions,” Akado said, looking at the standing Brauchitsch. “The land of the Soviet Union is simply too vast, vaster than we had imagined.”

After he had spoken, he signaled the slightly agitated Brauchitsch to sit down, and then continued, “My Field Marshal, the progress of the three newly formed army groups of the Wehrmacht is simply too slow. The candidates we chose together for the formation of the army groups are all very outstanding commanders, but they clearly lack an understanding of how to quickly build an army group.”

A few months ago, after completing the reorganization of Army Group A, the German army had begun to form another three new army groups: one was Army Group N, to be formed and commanded by Army General von Küchler; one was Army General von Reichenau’s Army Group O; and the other was the former Army Chief of Staff, General von Bock’s Army Group P.

These three army groups were to be committed by the German army to the northern and central operations, to serve as a follow-on effective force for the operations against Moscow and other areas. Unfortunately, it now seemed that these army groups might not be able to make it in time for the decisive battles near Moscow and Leningrad.

“Since the SS’s recruitment speed is faster than the Wehrmacht’s, and the front is indeed short of troops, then why are there still people forcing these young soldiers, who are loyal to me and to this Empire, to wear black uniforms that are unsuitable for the battlefield environment, and to fight the most powerful enemy with outdated, unwanted weapons?” Akado looked at the army general who had just spoken out and said coldly, “Are these SS men the enemies of the Empire? Are they dangerous elements that the Empire needs to be on guard against?”

At this point, Akado’s tone had become somewhat sinister. “If they are neither, then why should these soldiers, who are willing to die for me, who are willing to sacrifice for this country, be suspected, be excluded, and then die on a battlefield where they should not have died?”

Before the generals could speak in their defense, Akado continued quickly, “Generals, have we become so strong that we can afford to undermine our own people with internal strife? Are we already so sure of victory? The next time this kind of mutual undermining and tearing each other down happens, it will be treated as treason! I have spoken. Does anyone object?”

“…” You’ve already said that much, who would dare to object? At a time like this, even coughing would probably get you dragged out and hanged, right? All the generals fell silent, their heads bowed, waiting for Akado to continue with his thoughts. The Führer was the Führer, after all. Everyone present had sworn an oath before the national flag to be loyal to this great man until the end of the world.

“I will reiterate! The SS is not a replacement for the Wehrmacht,” Akado said loudly, looking at the silent generals. “The Third Reich has, and only has, one legal armed organization, and that is the Wehrmacht. The SS will always be an auxiliary to the Wehrmacht. Understood?”

After emphasizing this, he looked at Brauchitsch. “My Field Marshal, find a way to make those generals of yours with their wild ideas treat the Waffen-SS units with impartiality. Use them to complete missions, to annihilate the enemy, to build their own merits on the battlefield! Because everyone is a German, all are the people of the Third Reich. Everyone has one goal. We are all on the same boat!”

“There is no need for our own people to exclude our own people!” Akado said. “I can legislate, I can sign an order, that after the war is over, when the Empire no longer needs the Waffen-SS, these units will be disbanded. But do not let me hear of you excluding the SS again, because they, like you, are soldiers who wholeheartedly want to fight for their country, my most loyal people!”

“Yes! My Führer! The Wehrmacht is willing to accept these soldiers and to use them normally,” Brauchitsch stood up again and said at attention. “Apart from the few divisions that I do not think are suitable for the front line, we will treat the rest of the units as if they were Wehrmacht units.”

“Thank you very much, my Field Marshal,” Akado nodded, then stood up and walked to the map behind him, looking at Field Marshal von Rundstedt. “Since you have returned from the front, please tell the generals present about the situation on the central front.”

Hearing the Führer wanted to hear the report on the central front, Rundstedt’s face became grave. “My Führer, the situation on the central part of the Eastern Front seems very favorable to us, but in fact, because the advance on the southern front was too fast, it is not as optimistic as it looks.”

He walked to the map and began to explain in detail. “Ever since we captured Minsk, we have only engaged in one large-scale battle with the Soviet forces on the Orsha line. The Soviet army responded hastily and suffered heavy losses. But we were not able to catch the main force of Zhukov. Instead, by getting entangled with the Soviet second-line units, we consumed a large amount of ammunition and fuel.”

The German army had engaged in a fierce struggle with the Soviet Red Army in the central region of the Eastern Front. The Orsha Heights had become the focus of the fierce battle between the two sides. To capture this place, the German army had used the new heavy tank, the King Tiger, and had only barely managed to take the Orsha Heights. And here, one King Tiger tank had been destroyed by a group of Soviet tanks, which also set a precedent for the destruction of Germany’s new type of tank.

“After our hard-fought battle at Orsha, the Soviet side seems to have given up the idea of stopping our advance on Smolensk. They began to use small units to delay our offensive, and then deployed about a hundred thousand troops in Smolensk to defend the isolated city to the death. Their main force has retreated to a position 70 kilometers west of Moscow,” General von Rundstedt said, pointing at the map.

After a detailed analysis of this campaign, he explained the shift in the situation in the central region for both sides. “It looks like we have been advancing triumphantly, capturing Minsk and encircling Smolensk. But in fact, our defense line has advanced several hundred kilometers, and we have also extended our supply lines by several hundred kilometers.”

“These places need troops to maintain security. From Minsk onwards, most of the Soviet railways have a different gauge from ours, and there are problems with their repair and use. The supply of materials to the front line basically relies on trucks and mules for transport,” von Rundstedt said, pointing to the roads and railway lines between Minsk and Smolensk. “The infrastructure in the Soviet Union is simply too poor.”

“The railways are completely unusable. The construction standard is simply too poor. This is something that cannot be improved in a short period of time,” a general in charge of coordinating the transport department chimed in. “The roads are even worse. Apart from the few pilot projects that we helped the Soviets build in the early days, most of the roads they have marked are just dirt roads. When it snows, they are almost impossible to find.”

“So in fact, after we have taken Smolensk, the plan to attack Moscow cannot be launched immediately. The Soviet supply lines are getting shorter and shorter, while ours have more than doubled in length,” von Rundstedt said. “We will have to wait at least until spring, when the army’s supply needs have decreased, before we can launch an offensive.”

Unlike the construction of roads and railways in the southern region, during the Soviet-German honeymoon period, especially in the early days, the transport of Caucasian oil to Germany in Europe was a key project for cooperation between the two sides. Therefore, the roads and railways in the southern Caucasus region of the Soviet Union were relatively complete. But the construction of the railway lines connecting to Moscow and other places in the north was seriously lagging, which had caused many unexpected difficulties for the German army as it advanced.

The railway lines marked on the map were completely unusable. The high-grade roads marked on the map were in fact just ordinary roads. And some of the ordinary roads on the map were just potholed dirt roads, and some didn’t even have a road at all, just an uninhabited jungle.

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