Shattered World -
A Worse World War: Part 15
Storm in the East! And the fall of Minsk.
July 6th 1941 to September 20th 1941
July 6th 1941
Japanese naval aircraft smash the Soviet Pacific port of Vladivostok, sending
the lone battleship, and most of the cruisers, to their watery graves. The
port facilities and oil storage infrastructure, as well as the railroads
leading into the city, are smashed beyond the capacity of the Soviets to
repair any time soon. Later that same day Japanese troops land in and around
Vladivostok, Sakhalin island, Magadan, and Nikolaevsk.
Japanese and Manchurian forces initiate a large thrust towards Svobodny,Belogorsk,
and Bira. Japanese aircraft range at will over the Soviet far eastern coast
and the Manchurian-Siberian border. Soviet resistance melts in the first
hours of the well coordinated Japanese attacks. Stalin, who has stripped
Siberia of all of it's best trained forces to hold the eastern front, remains
in a state of mute shock well into the evening. Just when it appeared he
would hold back the Axis in the west, the Japanese have pounced on the Soviet
Union from the east.
German radio hails the Japanese actions as "Glorious strikes against world
Communism" while U.S. and Alliance governments remain relatively silent.
The Japanese moves have served two purposes for the U.S. and the Alliance.
It has diverted them away from their own Pacific possessions and dealt a
major blow to the Soviet Union, who they universally regard as the worse
of the two totalitarian evils.
July 7th 1941
In the early morning hours a massive surge of Luftwaffe aircraft and the
movement of over 2000 panzers, divided among 3rd and 4th panzer armies, marks
the opening of Germany's operation Eastern Fury. (An ironic name given the
Japanese invasion taking place. )The German thrust is massive but the Soviets
have been waiting for just such a move and they are ready. German progress
is miniscule and casualties are heavy.
The news of the latest German offensive finally brings Stalin out of his
state of near-shock. Here is what he has been waiting for, a chance to confront
and destroy two entire German panzer armies. Stalin and his generals put
carefully planned battle doctrine into action. The Soviets will hold the
German thrust, build up massive armored strength in the German flanks, and
then unleash an overpowering counter attack to envelop the two panzer armies.
The plans are straight from the writings of the now deceased Marshall Zhukov.
The Germans, however, have detailed plans of their own.
In Siberia, meanwhile, the Soviet situation is in danger falling into total
chaos. Japanese forces have secured Vladivostok in less than 16 hours and
are moving rapidly to secure Nikolaevsk, Magadan, and Okhotsk to the north.
Sakhalin island has been secured and Japanese naval aircraft are ranging
inland to hammer rail and road lines leading towards the coast. The thrust
from out of Manchuria is proceeding slowly and the Soviets are starting to
form a real defensive front from Svobodny to Bira. The Japanese and Manchurian
forces, severely lacking in tanks or mechanized transport, are finding the
Soviet armor to be absurdly deadly. The strength of the T-34 is the only
thing holding the Soviet front together. The Red Air Force in Siberia, much
of which was destroyed in the first day of the Japanese attacks, is beginning
to fly some defensive sorties.
July 10th 1941
A second wave of Japanese landings take place on the eastern and western
shores of the Kamchatka peninsula. Resistance there is somewhat more organized
since the garrison commanders have had a few days notice of events to the
south. The Japanese manage to land and establish beach heads in spite of
the better-prepared Soviet resistance.
With German and Soviet forces heavily engaged west of Minsk, the Luftwaffe
unleashes a huge air drop. 40,000 paratroopers and all their supporting
supplies and light equipment are dropped directly into Minsk and to areas
just east of the city to cut supply and communication lines. Fierce house
to house fighting rages in the central and eastern parts of the city where
scattered German clumps of paratroopers attempt to link up and reach their
objectives. The Luftwaffe fails, in spite of a massive surge in its number
of sorties, to gain total air superiority. Many transport aircraft are lost
in the airdrops, but the majority made it though. The operation is not off
to a good start for the Germans.
July 11th 1941
With Minsk still the site of chaotic urban combat, the German 3rd and 4th
Panzer armies commit the last of their offensive reserves. Over 500 carefully
held back panzers smash into the thinnest portions of the Soviet lines. The
Red Army bends, shudders, but somehow holds the line. Losses on both sides
are extremely heavy.
July 13th 1941
The Japanese have secured most of the Siberian Pacific coast, only a few
pockets remain stubbornly in Soviet hands, mainly on the Kamchatka peninsula.
Japanese and Manchurian forces are having worse luck in their offensive inland.
Japanese artillery is hitting Bira but the other objectives remain firmly
in Soviet hands. The Soviets, now over their initial shock, are rapidly assembling
a strong defensive line and building up reserves. The Manchurians, weak puppet
allies of the Japanese, are proving to be spectacularly poor allies in the
field. The Japanese are basically reduced to using the Manchurian forces
as human-wave bullet absorbers.
July 17th 1941
Minsk, still being fought over, has been effectively cut off from the Soviet
supply systems. The effects of this are beginning to be felt by the Red Army
units engaged with the Germans to the west. The Soviet commanders are on
the verge of being forced to withdraw back towards Minsk in order to secure
their supply life-line. In spite of everything, the Soviets have managed
to scrape together a force of over 20 divisions on the relatively thin German
flank to the south of Minsk. Stalin is about to play his Ace card in the
poker game that is the Battle of Minsk.
July 19th 1941
The German air drop, which has been a major disaster from the start, has
nevertheless succeeded in creating enough chaos in the Soviet rear to cause
the Red Army to begin withdrawing eastwards towards Minsk. The German paratrooper
forces, now down to 20,000 men, have come together in a pocket in the eastern
suburbs of Minsk and are being occasionally supplied by Luftwaffe air drops.
The German airdrop was intended to secure all of Minsk and slow down retreating
Soviet forces. They were to be retreating because 3rd and 4th panzer armies
were to have smashed them by now. The General staff's plans didn't come together
the way they'd hoped.
July 23rd 1941
With the Siberian coast now firmly secured, Japanese forces have begun to
probe inland and are meeting fierce Soviet resistance. The shock and chaos
among the Soviet far eastern forces is at an end, the going will be tough
for the Japanese from here on out. The Japanese can claim their first significant
success on the inland front as the Imperial Japanese Army raises the Japanese
flag over Khabarovsk on the Manchurian border. The city had been surrounded
since the first day of the Japanese invasion.
July 27th 1941
Japanese and Manchurian forces enter Bira where the Soviets have firmly entrenched
themselves for a prolonged defense. Japanese aircraft have begun to strike
at key transportation hubs to the north of the fighting front in an effort
to slow the building flow of Soviet supplies, material, and soldiers towards
the Siberian front.
August 2nd 1941
With the Japanese invasion apparently contained in the east, Stalin's entire
attention is now focused towards the town of Gomel and the 20 fresh divisions
that have been carefully massed there. With the Red Army withdrawing in good
order eastwards towards Minsk the Germans have pressed forward their thrust
with more effort than ever, and the German southern flank is becoming thinner
than ever.
August 5th 1941
Turkey has quietly, and cautiously, begun a buildup of forces along their
border with the Caucasus. German advisors, who have been stealthily slipped
into Turkey, are busy helping the Turks draw up several possible operations.
August 11th 1941
The last Soviet pocket of resistance on the Kamchatka peninsula is forced
to surrender to Japanese forces. Word of Japanese massacres and forced marches
enrages the Soviets. A policy of "take no prisoners" quickly becomes the
norm among Red Army units on the Siberian front. The Japanese feel the same
way.
August 17th 1941
20 Soviet divisions smash into the German southern flank near Minsk. The
Germans, believing the Soviets were pouring everything into holding Minsk,
are caught by surprise by the strength of the counter attack.
August 20th 1941
After three days of intense armored combat the German southern flank has
held. An obscure German Field Marshal, by the name of Erwin Rommel, has led
a brilliant series of tactical counter attacks that caught the Soviets off
guard. Outnumbered and outgunned, Rommel nonetheless drove his panzer columns
into the exposed flanks of the attacking Soviet forces and brought them to
a sharp, and bloody, halt.
August 22nd 1941
The full scope of the Soviet reversal south of Minsk becomes evident as the
German 4th panzer army launches a new thrust towards Gomel. Stalin had ordered
virtually all the available reserves thrown into the disastrous counter attack.
German panzers are now rolling towards Gomel with little Soviet resistance.
The 3rd panzer army, with its southern flank now secure,
is free to press its attack in the northern prong driving to encircle Minsk.
August 23rd 1941
First German "Ural" heavy bomber rolls out of an assembly line.
August 27th 1941
The Soviet position in Minsk has become untenable. Gomel is in German hands
and the 4th panzer army is now northeast of Minsk proper. The Red Army begins
withdrawing from the city, leaving behind a fanatical garrison to serve as
a rear guard and to make the Germans pay for every inch of Minsk they secure.
September 2nd 1941
Japanese forces capture the center of Bira, but stubborn Soviet defenders
remain in possession of the northern half of the town. Japanese artillery
is now falling on Obluche.
September 5th 1941
German forces complete the encirclement of Minsk after elements of the 4th
and 3rd panzer armies link up east of the city. Over 700,000 Soviet troops
have escaped to new defensive lines west of Smolensk.
September 7th 1941
With Soviet manpower being stretched beyond it's limits and with the Axis
Powers and Japan bearing down on two fronts, Stalin and the communist party
have been forced to begin massive new force-drafts. The age limits for those
being press-ganged are lowered to include male teenagers and men as old as
60. Woman are forced to work in factories and even in non-combat military
posts.
September 11th 1941
Ukrainian and Romanian forces enter the Soviet city of Taganrog, putting
Rostov in danger for the first time.
September 13th 1941
The Soviet garrison in Minsk has been forced into the city's center but continues
to fight in spite of mounting losses and dwindling supplies.
September 15th 1941
The Japanese land invasion of Siberia has totally bogged down and it is becoming
widely regarded as a disaster by many in the Japanese government. Talk begins
of offering the Soviets peace terms that would allow Japan to keep the Siberian
coast plus existing gains inland. The inner circle decides against this action
only narrowly, citing the dishonor it would incur on the Empire and the Emperor.
More gains are needed before a peace can be declared, enough gains to erase
any possible dishonor. In spite of everything they refuse to admit that the
Imperial Japanese Army is simply outclassed by the Red Army. They will press
on with Manchurian human-wave attacks and poorly equipped Japanese army divisions.
Their one bright spot is their continuing air superiority.
September 17th 1941
In Ankara, German and Turkish diplomats sign secret documents committing
Turkey to join the Axis Powers by the end of the year.
September 18th 1941
In Moscow there are stirrings of unrest among the highest ranks of the Red
Army. The head of the NKVD, Lavrenti Paviovich Beria, is taking a keen interest
in these rumblings. Whether he agrees with the malcontents or disagrees is
something no one can tell, not even Stalin. Quite suddenly, the tension in
Moscow has become as thick as the layer of fresh snow on the ground outside
the Kremlin.
September 20th 1941
The last of the defenders of Minsk surrender to German forces, putting the
city in the hands of the German army.
To Be Continued...
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