BXBX NOVEL Chapter 400: transportation line
Churchill frowned while watching when he received the information from Colonel Stephen.
After a while, he put the documents aside and lit a cigar thicker than a finger and puffed out the smoke expertly.
"Stewart!" Churchill asked Menzies, the director of MI6: "What do you think of this information?"
"The tactics of the Soviets are not as old as we thought!" Menzies replied: "In fact, their performance surprised me, especially the 1st Guards Tank Brigade. From the whole battle...they In fact, as a mobile force, they constantly entered the battlefield to defeat the enemy, which is very similar to the way the Germans fought. What is even more amazing is that they can also win the victory with the 'Matilda' tank!"
"That's because of the new equipment they call 'the bazooka,' isn't it?" Churchill asked.
"Yes!" Menzies said: "But your Excellency, although a new piece of equipment has a strong shock to the Germans, strictly speaking, the Soviets know nothing about it...even this anti-tank weapon It has been ignored in the United States, but the Soviets have used it, perfected it, and put it on the battlefield to win. It is unimaginable...”
"I don't care about this, Stuart!" Churchill interrupted Menzies: "I only care about the form of this war. Do you think the Soviets are gaining the upper hand?"
Compared with those trivial things, Churchill should of course consider the overall situation.
"Yes!" Menzies replied: "The Soviets have one surprising equipment after another, impressive tactics, and victory in the Battle of Moscow... We believe that the situation is developing in a good direction for the Soviets !"
Churchill stood up and took a few steps, then walked to the window and looked at the drizzle outside, and said thoughtfully: "This is not a good thing for us, Stuart!"
Menzies did not answer.
This is unquestionable. What Britain hopes more is that the Soviet and German armies will lose both, rather than the Soviet army driving the German army out cleanly.
Because of this result, the German army turned around and turned its attention to Britain and Africa.
"And we are still transporting relief supplies to the Soviet Union at this time!" Churchill said angrily in the smoke: "This is the most stupid thing we have done, giving supplies to others, but putting ourselves in danger !"
"What do you mean!" Menzies asked.
"We also lack supplies in Africa, understand?" Churchill said: "Even to the point where we are going to withdraw from Africa and abandon the Suez Canal, so we have to give priority to supplies to Africa!"
"Yes, Your Excellency Prime Minister!" Menzies understood.
Then there was a war in Africa soon, and a considerable part of the materials that were supposed to be sent to the Soviet Union, including those sent by the United States to the Soviet Union, were intercepted by the United Kingdom.
There are three main routes for US and British assistance to the Soviet Union. One is transported from the Norwegian Sea to the north of the Soviet Union, and the other is transported into the Soviet Union from the Siberian Railway. A more important route is from the Suez Canal to Turkey to the Caucasus of the Soviet Union or from India to the Caucasus by land.
The reason why it is important is because many materials are actually produced in India and then shipped to the Soviet Union, such as cans, ammunition, etc. India has many factories... Indians have a lot of people and labor is very cheap.
At this time, Britain's colonization of India was very cruel. This is mainly because Britain is in a state of war and urgently needs war supplies, so it exploits Indian labor as much as possible and even imposes heavy taxes, which directly leads to intermittent famine outbreaks in India since 1942.
After the war, Britain was eager to recover, and its exploitation of India continued unabated, even though Britain even promised to give India independence and freedom after victory during the war.
This led to the outbreak of a famine unprecedented in human history in India in 46 years, and it is conservatively estimated that 26 million people starved to death.
But of course these are not things that Churchill has to consider. He only knows that India at this time is a very good production base, whether it is food, military uniforms or ammunition, and more importantly, the transportation is convenient, no matter where it is sent... At least for That's how it was during World War II.
Even a considerable part of the US aid to the Soviet Union was produced in India.
This transportation line was affected, which immediately caused a shock at the top of the Soviet army.
Shulka knew about this from Mahlis.
This day Mehlis called Shulka to his headquarters.
"Comrade Shulka!" Mechelis said, "I heard that the T34 tanks have been replenished by fifty?"
"Yes, Comrade Mekhlis!" Shulka replied: "They arrived in three batches!"
"Fifty T34s!" Mehlis said: "This is already a decent force, supplemented by other tanks and half-tracks... Do you think we are not enough to attack the enemy?"
"Comrade Mehlis!" Shulka said: "I am afraid that the situation has changed! I mean that the German reinforcements have arrived, and they have also completed the logistics facilities of the airport in time..."
This is inevitable.
The reason why the German army failed to improve the airport facilities before this was because they were attacking fast all the way forward. It was considered unnecessary to improve the airport facilities, because the battle line would soon move forward and the aircraft would follow. .
Now that the line of defense has basically stabilized, and air supremacy is very important to the German army, the first thing to do is to strengthen the airport.
Hearing this, Mehlis fell silent.
Because he also felt this change in the battlefield situation, the Soviet army's counterattack was weak in many places and could not move.
But Mechlis is still hesitating, because he thinks this may be his opportunity: if he can lead the 1st Guards Tank Brigade to victorious battles and victories when other troops cannot be beaten, wouldn't it be more eye-catching ? !
But at this moment, a phone call came in.
After answering the phone, Mechlis couldn't help being furious.
"These bastards, these hateful British!" Mechelis: "They actually cut off our aid!"
Shuerka couldn't help being stunned when he heard the words. After asking, he realized that it was the supplement from the Caucasus Mountains who gave the question.
Shulka frowned involuntarily.
This seems to be something that has never happened in history.
If it happened, it was because the German army fought all the way to the Caucasus Mountains to cut off this transportation line.
But now the German army did not come in, but the transportation line was broken for other reasons.
It is really unpredictable.
(end of this chapter)