I Became Stalin?!

Chapter 154

“Those bastards raped and killed my sister! She was only fourteen!”

“…I understand your feelings, but this is a clear war crime.”

“Didn’t they start the war crimes first?”

The political officer stopped a soldier who was about to shoot a bullet into the heads of the prisoners and politely dissuaded him.

As most of the regions in Belarus and Ukraine were liberated, the newly enlisted soldiers could not control their anger towards the German army with their burning vengeance.

They were mostly partisans or those who escaped from the camps and joined the Soviet army. 

They had seen the most and the longest of the atrocities committed by the German army. 

They had to watch with their eyes open as the prisoners were abused, the civilians were massacred, and the women were raped. 

They seemed to think that all Germans should be killed.

“Do you want to become like them? The Soviet Union does not tolerate such criminals. Whether they are enemies or…”

“Comrade Commissar!”

“Or allies.”

The commissar pointed his gun at the head of the soldier who was aiming at the prisoner. 

The soldier lowered his head and put down his gun at his icy gaze.

Was it because of his eyes? Or was it because of his face that was horribly burned? Or was it because he was a commissar who was respected by the soldiers?

“Don’t become the same as them. We are fighting for the proletariat of the world, and if we forget that…”

That’s what will happen. 

The commissar muttered and returned to his original duty.

“Come to me if you want to write a letter. And have a cup of hot chocolate.”

***

The Soviet army overwhelmed the German army in most of the battlefields where there were no medium tanks.

They had deployed weapons like the ‘Panzerfaust’ that copied the Soviet portable anti-tank rockets. But there were obvious limitations.

“Ready, one, two…”

“Three!”

Whooosh, they fired the Panzerfaust at the Soviet tank that came right in front of their nose, but they missed the house-sized tank because they lacked equipment and proper training.

“Aaaah!”

“Run, run!”

And what came back was a shower of bullets from machine guns and automatic rifles. 

They had attached wire mesh anti-rocket armor for defense, so unless they hit it well, they couldn’t even destroy it.

The Panther and Tiger tanks were expensive. The German army command spent the money that could arm and train dozens or hundreds of infantrymen for one tank.

The new tanks that cost almost a million Reichsmarks were six times more expensive than the Panzer III or IV. 

With the money, manpower, and resources to produce one Tiger, they could deploy six Panzer IVs on the front line.

If they had received the support of the armored units, they might have avoided the situation where the infantry was one-sidedly smashed by the Soviet tank units.

Of course, that was only a possibility.

“Load the armor-piercing shell!”

“Take this, you fascists!”

They didn’t need to bring the medium tanks to catch the Panzer III or IV. 

The medium tanks broke the strongest part of the defense line and advanced, and the T-34s upgraded to 85mm caliber were used to annihilate the broken debris.

“Even if there were dozens more Panzer IVs that were pushed by the T-34s… it wouldn’t have made much difference.”

The best theorist of armored warfare, Guderian, left such a comment.

In a situation where they were already outnumbered, the Panzer IV lacked the ability to create variables. 

The consumption of tankers also increased greatly, the staff expected.

So the Third Reich squeezed out all its resources and technology to develop a new medium tank, but this also had problems.

They were forced to pay a hundred times the price, so they needed overwhelming offensive and defensive power. But the super tank they made had many limitations in terms of engine and design, even with Germany’s technology.

As the Führer ordered, they could not retreat due to the breakdown of the tank and the lack of fuel, and they were eventually surrounded. 

They covered the retreating allied infantry with their overwhelming size, and used it as a bunker, and they were consumed one by one.

“Please retreat first! We will cover the retreat here!”

“…Thank you! Ugh…”

The huge tank sat down with its heavy body and fired its cannon with a bang, bang. 

The Soviet army didn’t know what to do and shot at the back of the heads of the German infantry who were retreating behind the tank with their rifles. 

The thick armor was only scratched by the rifle bullets.

“Damn it… our tank…”

Four Soviet medium tanks had already been destroyed. 

Even though it became a lame duck due to the breakdown of the drive system, the German tank roared like a tiger that was still intact.

Of course, even the most ferocious beast would be caught and killed if dozens of hunters came and harpooned it and threw a net. 

The Soviet army already had experience of hunting dozens or hundreds of medium tanks.

“Retreat! Allied artillery is falling! Retreat!”

“Waaaaah!”

As the radio announced that the artillery signal was falling, the riflemen cheered and retreated.

The veteran soldiers who had never fought in a superior support situation laughed and told stories to their juniors.

“When we were drafted and fought!”

“Back then, the artillery was all towed guns and mostly 76mm, and we couldn’t even imagine something like a medium tank…”

“Have you ever fought without air support? Huh!”

Now, if the enemy’s armored units appeared, they could call their own armored units. 

If the medium tanks were installed, they could call the flying bears and strike the ground attack.

If that didn’t work, they could request artillery from the self-propelled artillery units that followed the armored units. 

The artillery units that got new toys wanted to use these dangerous and fun toys.

Once, they didn’t even have radios and had to run around themselves, the old sergeant who told the unbelievable stories to the recruits lifted the binoculars around his neck and put them on his eyes.

“Oh! It’s falling!”

Boom, boom, boom, the heavy sound of the medium guns firing came from behind.

The ‘Zveroboy’, or beast hunters, could hunt down the Panther or Tiger tanks well enough.

Even if they couldn’t penetrate the armor, they could smash the steel and destroy the tank with a direct hit. 

The power was truly tremendous. It was common for the tracks to come off or get stuck in a ditch and become immobilized.

“Let’s go! Let’s advance!”

“Ura! Ura! Long live the Red Army!”

In the end, the Tiger tank came to a complete stop in front of the repeated shelling.

What happened to the people inside? The Soviet soldiers didn’t bother to think. The fascists, the German bastards, were all looters, invaders, rapists, and arsonists.

That’s what most of the Soviet soldiers thought. 

For the world revolution of the proletariat, by the order of Comrade Stalin, they didn’t vent their anger on the prisoners, but there were few people who tried to avoid shooting the Germans when they had the chance.

There were a few corpses of the German army around the destroyed tank. 

They either died trying to escape, or hid behind the tank and died.

“Spit, spit!”

“Go to hell, you filthy fascist bastards.”

The Soviet soldiers cursed and spat as they advanced.

The aces couldn’t withstand the shells. The sticky red blood seeped into the earth that smelled of dirt and gunpowder.

Like the millions of German soldiers who had already buried their bones in their motherland.

However, one rookie who hadn’t seen the cities and towns swept away by the war yet shook his head and ran after his senior, looking at the corpse.

‘Are they human?’

He couldn’t imagine them as living, breathing humans, seeing them who couldn’t even keep their own appearance.

Even more so after hearing what they had done. How could a person do that to another person?

***

“Vilnius has been liberated. Now the 3rd Belarusian Front will liberate Kaunas and advance to Königsberg… no, Budennygrad.”

“The 1st Ukrainian Front is advancing to Lublin, and the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts are heading to Krakow. Lublin can be captured within two weeks. Comrade Secretary General.”

I personally prevented the cities from being named after people to prevent ‘idolization’, but Budennygrad was the last exception.

In real history, Königsberg, or ‘King’s Mountain’, was renamed Kaliningrad in honor of Kalinin, a Soviet revolutionary and politician who died.

Well, he hasn’t died yet, and I was going to rename the city near Moscow ‘Kaliningrad’ along with ‘Kalinin’, but unlike real history, the Politburo unanimously approved the name ‘Budennygrad’ to honor Budenny, who died bravely in battle.

“And… is the interrogation over?”

“Ah! Yes! Comrade Secretary General. He insists that it wasn’t his doing until the end…”

Otto Skorzeny was wounded and captured by our Spetsnaz agents who were planted in the Tito assassination operation.

Beria suggested summary execution for the one who cowardly ambushed Budenny’s enemy, but I decided to spare him.

After all, killing and being killed in war was common, but ‘the most dangerous man in Europe’ was not. Besides, he claimed that he only rode the media for camouflage, and that it was his men who killed Budenny.

“Wow, what a great guy, huh? He captured two heads of state, and almost got the third one. If he had succeeded, he could have rescued Mussolini, right?”

“That… that’s right. Our Spetsnaz is still lacking…”

The commander of the special brigade under Borosilov didn’t know what to do and groveled, but not everyone could be like Otto Skorzeny.

Thanks to him being captured here, the German army couldn’t rescue Mussolini and wasted their time wandering around Italy, so I was honestly grateful.

“Let’s go and hear some stories. Don’t tell me, he’s going to cut the line and come out and strangle me to death?”

“There’s no way that would happen! Comrade Secretary General! Please trust me!”

“Haha, just kidding, just kidding.”

Whenever I tried to make a joke, the subordinates were so nervous that they freaked out, so I couldn’t say a word.

“By the way… isn’t NKVD in charge of interrogation?”

“That… that’s right.”

“Why is Spetsnaz still holding him?”

As I went down to the secret interrogation room and asked the brigade commander, he started to panic again. 

He looked like a Karelian, and it was awkward to see him like that.

“Well, that’s… I have something to report to you…”