Chapter 206
< World War II - River of Fire and Blood (2) >
As France and Finland succeeded in completely securing the Kola Peninsula, the Soviet Union lost its ice-free port to the Barents Sea.
On top of that, Germany and Poland had driven the Soviet Army out of Poland with Operation Liberation, and had gone on to secure all the Ukrainian and Belarusian territory on the West Bank of the Dnieper River with minimal losses.
Our government was, of course, overjoyed, and the generals who had put on a show of military merit in Operation Liberation were honored with mass promotions.
The four Army Group Commanders—Fedor von Bock, Johannes Blaskowitz, Günther von Kluge, and Ewald von Kleist—were promoted to Field Marshal.
The generals under their command were also promoted in droves. In particular, Erwin Rommel, Heinz Guderian, Hans-Valentin Hube, and General Walter Model, who had served as the shield and spear of the Panzer Group and shot to stardom, were promoted to Colonel General.
Erich von Manstein, who had achieved astonishing military gains in Operation Liberation, and Wolfram von Richthofen, who had actively supported the operation with the Luftwaffe, also became Colonel Generals.
Considering that most of the men who had just become Colonel Generals, four-star generals, were only Lieutenant Generals before the New Government Coup, it was a truly meteoric rise.
It was somewhat reminiscent of the promotion show Hitler put on after the victory in the invasion of France, but we didn't just hand out Field Marshal batons like we were imitating Napoleon. Everyone had performed more than adequately.