It makes sense that the supply of oil to Germany was interrupted in 1942. Because the Soviet Union did not give German oil for vain, but instead exchanged oil for German equipment, mainly for the construction of key equipment used on the "Soviet"-class battleships and "Kronstadt"-class battlecruisers, such as heavy oil specialized boilers, steam turbines, and main gun systems. Before these equipment were obtained, Stalin could not say that he would turn against him, otherwise the huge amount of funds invested in the "Soviet" and "Kronstadt"-class projects would be wasted.

"Tell the British about the news that we will stop supplying fuel to Germany in January next year and give them some encouragement." Stalin told Molotov, "In addition, let's explain our position to the British: If Britain surrenders to Germany first, then we think India should become a sovereign and independent socialist country!"

The position proposed by Stalin is true. The Soviet Union's main opponent was Germany, which had established hegemony in Europe, rather than the British Empire, which was left with only one breath. Therefore, the purpose of the Red Army entering Afghanistan was to open up the road to liberating India, but it was not to attack the British Indian Empire through Afghanistan immediately.

In Stalin's plan, the attack on India should occur after Britain surrendered or Germany was defeated. In addition, the best solution in Stalin's mind was to defeat Germany in the Middle East, Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

If this plan is achieved, then a super socialist camp including the Soviet Union, China, India, Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the Middle East will emerge. With the population of India and China, the oil in the Middle East, the industry and technology in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, it will be a matter of time before socialism overcomes capitalism.

However, it is not easy to realize this plan of human liberation. Although the Soviet Red Army had more aircraft, tanks and artillery than the Germans, the German Wehrmacht performed much better in actual combat than the Soviet Red Army. This made Stalin dare not act rashly, and also made him very worried about the prospect of a one-on-one war with Germany in the future.

Therefore, Stalin believed that the Soviet Union must participate in the war with the United States before Germany defeated Britain.

"Klimente Yevremovic," Stalin asked Voroshilov, "has the military committee studied the issue of fighting against Germany?"

The "Military Committee" that Stalin refers to was not the "Revolutionary Military Committee" that once held the supreme command of the Red Army. The Revolutionary Military Committee was abolished on June 20, 1934. The command of the Red Army was actually directly controlled by the Political Bureau, which is actually Stalin himself. What he now calls the "Military Committee" refers to an institution composed of 80 members established within the People's Committee of National Defense.

"Comrade Stalin, we have studied the issue of going to war against Germany," Voroshilov replied. "We believe that there are two prerequisites for the Red Army to start a war: 1. The German army landed on the British mainland; 2. The British and American coalition forces landed on the coast of Western Europe. The ideal and safest time for going war should be between July and August 1942."

Stalin nodded and continued to look at Voroshilov, waiting for his explanation. Voroshilov said: "Since there is no sign of the second state yet, the Military Commission believes that the plan should be formulated first based on the German landing in the UK.

Since the Battle of the Western Front, Britain has been strengthening its local defense and has formed 6 army-level army commands, 2 independent zones and 1 air defense command. Each army command and independent zone has 2 regular divisions and 4 local divisions, and there are 12 air defense divisions under the jurisdiction of the Air Defense Command. In addition, 5-6 armored divisions are stationed on the local land. The total strength is as high as 65-66 divisions, and there are a large number of land guards. The British defense force is sufficient. If the German landing occurs after 1942, the British army's strength will increase, and there are likely to be 100-120 divisions. The Germans must invest the same amount of troops to conquer Britain. Moreover, the British local air force and air defense forces are very strong, and the Germans must concentrate most of their combat aircraft to obtain air supremacy.

In this case, the Germans' defense on the Eastern Front will inevitably be empty, which will help us launch a surprise attack!

The time for launching a surprise attack is best scheduled between July and August 1942, because Germany has controlled the oil-producing areas in the Middle East, but the oilfield railways in the Middle East are currently severely damaged, and the waterway from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean has not been opened. Therefore, the Germans will not be able to obtain enough fuel from the Middle East in the short term. The General Staff of the Red Army estimated that by 1943, the Germans should be able to solve all problems and significantly increase the oil production in the Middle East. By then, Germany's war machines will be able to exert their greatest power, and we must defeat Germany before that."

Voroshilov paused and said, "There are two other reasons for choosing to start the war from July to August 1942: 1. Considering that the attack may be unfavorable, the Red Army must turn to defense. If the attack fails, the German army is likely to turn to counterattack in October 1942, but starting from November, the territory of the Soviet Union will come to the winter, with muddy roads and cold weather, which is extremely unfavorable to the counterattack German army.

2. Considering that Baku, Batumi and Grozny oil-producing areas are likely to be bombarded by the Luftwaffe after we started the war against Germany, we must reserve enough fuel before the war begins…”

Stalin suddenly frowned when he heard this, interrupting Voroshilov and said, "We now have 15,000 combat aircraft, which is more than the combined combat aircraft that Germany, Britain, the United States and Japan have! And we also have excellent MiG-3, Jacques-1 and Lager-3 fighters, aren't it enough to resist German bombers?"

MiG-3, Jacques-1 and Lag-3 are both new fighters from the Soviet Union. They saw enough for the German B-109 and Folk Zero. Moreover, by 1942, old Soviet fighters would be replaced by new fighters such as MiG-3, Jacques-1 and Lag-3. At that time, these new fighters would have a great advantage in number, and there was no reason not to beat the German aircraft.

Voroshilov quickly explained: "Comrade General Secretary, although our fighter jets have excellent performance, they cannot guarantee the occurrence of unexpected situations. Therefore, we need to reserve more fuel and accelerate the development of the Second Baku (referring to the Volga-Ural Oil and Gas Zone)."

Seeing that Stalin's brow still did not spread, Voroshilov said: "And we will also discharge the bomber group to destroy the oil fields of Kirkuk and Khuzestan."

"There are also the Ploiesti oil fields in Romania!" Stalin instructed, "These major oil fields controlled by Germany must be destroyed as soon as the war begins... Do we have such ability?"

Destroying German-controlled oil fields is undoubtedly the best solution to combat Germany's war potential. However, it is difficult for Britain to achieve this goal. Because the British mainland is nearly 2,000 kilometers away from the Ploiesti oil field, while India's distance from the Khuzestan oil field and the Kirkuk oil field are about 2,000 kilometers and 2,500 kilometers respectively. This has almost reached the limit of the combat radius of existing long-range bombers, and no fighter can escort them.

Therefore, in Stalin's view, the task of destroying Germany's oil production capacity can only be completed by the Soviet Union, which is closer to the Ploiesti oil field, the Khuzistan oil field and the Kirkuk oil field.

Voroshilov said: "We now have TB-3 heavy bombers, SB-2 and SB-3 light bombers and Pe-8 heavy bombers. The performance of the Pe-8 is comparable to the world's most advanced heavy bombers. In addition, the MiG5 twin-engine long-range fighter that is currently under development is expected to be in service in 1942 to be able to undertake the mission of escorting the bomber fleet. Therefore, by the second half of 1942, we will have the ability to destroy the Ploiesti oilfield, Kirkuk oilfield and Huzistan oilfield."

"TB-3 is too old," Stalin continued to give the highest instructions, "it cannot complete the bombing mission, but it still needs to speed up the production of the PE-8 to ensure that we can destroy the German-controlled oil fields in the first time."

"Yes, Comrade Stalin," Voroshilov replied, "we must speed up the production of PE-8."

Stalin then instructed: "In addition, four Soviet-class battleships and two Kronstadt-class battlecruisers must also be in service before July 1942. They should be equipped with the Northern Fleet to ensure that the North Atlantic channel is not cut off by Germany."

Since Germany had already controlled Iran and formed an alliance with Japan, Stalin believed that the Soviet Union's external waterway was only the North Atlantic, so he had to make every effort to ensure it. The four Soviet class and two Kronstadt class could obviously complete this task.

"I will definitely instruct the Red Navy to speed up the progress." Voroshilov agreed, but he was not sure. Because these six warships were started in the shipyards in Leningrad and the Black Sea. They may not be completed by the first half of 1942, so I'm afraid there will be no time to go to Murmansk.
Chapter completed!