Cabinet Meeting October 1944
0000 October 1st 1944
Reichstag Building, Berlin, Germany
"Good evening gentlemen. It's finally Autumn and we can already feel the days are changing, but by the news we have it seems like it's springtime for Hitler--er, Germany once again. Heinz, I'm eager to listen to news from the Eastern front."
"With much delight, Martin. As we all know, Rommel launched early in September a bold operation to cut off and encircle one hundred Soviet divisions. With a bit of luck and sluggish Soviet answer to the threat, the Cracow pocket surrendered on September 29th. This is how the Front looks at present."
"As you can clearly see, we have suddenly reverted the odds in our favour. We've shortened the lines to the shortest extent possible and we have numerical superiority everywhere. The only thing that keeps us from launching a grand-scale offensive now is because of Winter approaching, and our will to have all our troops refitted at their maximum level."
"This did not refrain the Soviets from continuing their offensive in Finland, however. We've been forced to withdraw some divisions in Norway, as with the Swedish neutral it makes a perfect bottleneck to defend. Cyan lines represent our last defensive line beyond which the Soviets shall not penetrate. Shall the need arise, we will transfer some of our troops there, but I've got news that von Rundstedt is planning a secret operation that may be very fruitful to both German and Finnish armies."
"What do you want to do in Finland when Winter is knocking at their doorstep? Even if we destroyed one hundred divisions that doesn't make dead yet!"
"And who said he's going to start this operation now. He'll wait till May 1945 before launching this operation. He will need at least twenty divisions."
"Nothing impossible, I think. Julius, how are things going in Italy?"
"Not really good as I wished."
"British forces have changed target; we're just drawing divisions from one side to another everytime they attack either Florence or Rimini. This will change however by mid-October when twenty divisions will enter the battlefield. That means we need to hold out for twenty more days, which is reasonable afterall."
"Do you plan on taking over Italy before the end of the year?"
"Hopefully yes, Heinz. Italy is not really suited for blitzkrieg tactics, but I will try and force the British to get pocketed in southern Italy with numerical and qualitative superiority at my disposal. I do not intend to take Sicily, I just want to free mainland Italy from those pesky British divisions and free up many more divisions for the awaiting 1945. Operation Husky will hopefully see its end by December 1944."
"Albert, can we afford such movements?"
"Actually yes, Martin. Our dissent has been razed to the ground, our populace is satisfied again, and our production, albeit still limited compared to that of our enemies, has plenty for almost every need. Our stockpiles are fairly large, with the usual exception of Oil. Manpower is getting short by the day and we need a furter seventy-thousand men to replenish our divisions. Considering that we have more than two million men to the front lines, such a number is negligible compared to the disasterous situation we had prior to and immediately after June 20th, but with Winter approaching, we do not fear an imminent bloodshed. Transport capacity is quite a worry but there's little we can do about it at present."
"Also, we can now divert some spare production to upgrades, and several of our Tactical bombers have already received their new aircraft."
"By what I see here it looks like our factories are back producing something. Albert, what is that?"
"Now that our ground forces are in full shape once again, only the Luftwaffe needs serious repair and enlargement."
"We have started producing three Turbojet Fighter squadrons. It is imperative that we achieve total air superiority against Russia next year if we want our bombers and Close Air Support - the key to blitzkrieg - to be of any help. Until now, we could barely maintain the skies free, albeit with heavy losses."
"That's a far-seeing move indeed. Ernst, what about our Intelligence?"
"I have news for both Intelligence and Research."
"I.G. Farben is about to complete his research on Agricultural Production, and this will ease our problem with manpower in the future. Heinz and his staff are also working on how to better organize our logistics so to soften the burden on our transport capacity - and with a second imminent Barbarossa that will be desperately needed - von Braun is equipping our CAS with the new Jet technology, while Zuse and Heisenberg are working on how to shorten the gap between us and our enemies about decryption and encryption systems."
"These news, instead, are somewhat puzzling."
"Our previous intelligence report said that the Soviet Union had an estimate of 264 infantry divisions and 65 armored divisions. Now they are 339 and 34. Such reports are totally inaccutare."
"British numbers are quite similar as last month's. One interesting thing to notice it that they seem to experience some material shortfall of sorts, as their industry is not running at 100% efficiency. It is very strange and we don't know the reasons of it."
"Simply put, the US are a beast of a nation. Their industry is by far the greatest in the world and we can only thank our brave soldiers that we've managed to pull them off in France, else their breakthrough would have spelt certain death for us. Their ground forces are not that large - and that is easily explained by their defeat in France - but their Navy is surely to be causing severe troubles to Japan's survival."
"Sadly, you're right."
"What is the problem, Joachim?"
"Look at this paper."
"I've been informed by the Japanese that they have lost seventeen ships over the last month, and some of their largest caliber too. Two of their battleships, the IJN Yamashiro and IJN Fuso, saw the botttom of the ocean; two of their Carriers, IJN Amagi and IJN Unryu joined them as natural habitat for tuna fish; four Heavy Cruisers have been sunk aswell, and in all response the Japanese have been able to sink only four Transport flotillas. With such losses, we can say the IJN is pretty much dead by now."
"That's a grim report. Let's hope their ground forces can hold their ground enough for us to continue turning the tide."
"Their situation in China and Burma is slowly deteriorating. I think it is safe to assume they will end 1944 without any further major defeat, but I'm not too sure about the USA not invading their mainland somewhere in 1945, with the IJN reduced to a floating carcass."
"Well, that's an overall mixed report we have. A weakened Soviet Union, and a weakened Far Eastern ally. Let's hope we can change things soon enough before the Allied wrath unleashes upon us again, in case Japan falls sooner than expected. Gentlemen, this meeting is over. Let's everyone come back to each respective business."