From a causal perspective, the Battle of Volgograd was the inevitable result of the Battle of Elista.

Later, Wei Chenglong mentioned in his autobiography that without the great victory of the Battle of Elista, the Battle of Volgograd would never have started in mid-March, and he would have obtained enough troops and enough time to capture Krasnodar and Novorossiysk.

Of course, considering the relationship between Wei Chenglong and Qi Kaiwei, his autobiography is obviously not very reliable.[..com]

Judging from the situation at that time, if there were no major victory in the Battle of Elista, Wei Chenglong would definitely have used the strategic reserves earlier. The most direct result was that the Battle of Volgograd would not start in March, and the army commanded by Wei Chenglong would not be able to capture Krasnodar and Novorossiysk. The protracted Battle of Volgograd would end in March and at the latest in early April.

After the war, many people even believed that if the Battle of Volgograd ended at the end of March or early April, the situation would be more beneficial to China. For example, the troops used in this direction could be sent to Siberia to speed up the attack speed on the Siberian battlefield. Some people believe that this would allow Mu Haoyang to launch combat operations to attack Australia in advance, such as early as early May. If the former situation occurs, the Chinese army will have the ability to bypass Volgograd and avoid losing a large amount of troops on this cruel battlefield, and it is also possible to capture Moscow at the end of the year according to the strategic plan. If the latter situation occurs, it means that China's strategic counterattack on the Pacific battlefield will start half a year ahead of schedule, which means that the Third World War may end half a year ahead of schedule.

Of course, these are speculations.

There is only one thing that can be confirmed, that is, history cannot be changed.

With limited troops, the battle to siege Volgograd was reduced from strategic level to combat level, that is, the strategic encirclement originally formulated would not work.

In fact, this is also the main reason for the stalemate in the Battle of Volgograd.

If it is a strategic offensive, the Chinese army can make full use of the huge advantages of strategic maneuverability and consume the vitality of the US-Russian coalition on a wider battlefield. Through several large-scale annihilation wars, defeat the opponents to weaken the determination of the US-Russian coalition to defend Volgograd. At the battle level, reducing the scale of the battlefield is equivalent to giving up the strategic maneuverability and fighting with the US-Russian coalition forces with superior troops.

It is undeniable that this battle also has positive positive effects.

The most prominent role is to achieve the goal of bleeding Russia by consuming the US-Russian coalition forces on a large scale, especially the Russian army.

It can be said that the subsequent Battle of Moscow was able to proceed smoothly, which was not unrelated to the Battle of Volgograd.

Not to mention, in the Battle of Volgograd, the Moscow Front, which served as a strategic reserve team, lost about 550,000 officers and soldiers, and most of them were elite troops. In addition, the Kursk Front, Rostov Front, Ulyanovsk Front and Ural Front all suffered extremely heavy losses. The Rostov Front was crippled, and the other three fronts lost more than one million troops. These lost troops all contributed to weakening Moscow's strategic defense circle, which directly led to a serious shortage of troops when the Russian army was defending Moscow. It is also true that during the Battle of Moscow, Russia recruited a large number of 14 to 16 years old to join the army, and specially formed a youth army. Because by this time, Russia had no longer many soldiers of the age of appropriate age.

The problem is that this is also an extremely cruel battle for the Chinese army.

At the most intense battle, Wei Chenglong used 28 armies. By the end of April, when Qi Kaiwei had to admit that it was impossible to conquer Volgograd in one breath, the Chinese army had already killed 17,884 officers and soldiers in this battle, injured more than 76,000 disabled, and nearly 20,000 missing and captured, which was equivalent to the reduction rate of front-line combat troops exceeding 20%.

Judging from the personnel losses, the Battle of Volgograd was the most tragic battle of the Chinese army in the entire Third World War. You should know that in the larger Battle of Moscow, the Chinese army was killed, disabled and captured less than 60,000 officers and soldiers.

Fortunately, in this battle, the Chinese army had a shrewd front-line commander.

It can be said that it was this battle that made Wei Chenglong's ability recognized and made Wei Chenglong the army commander who could compete with Qi Kaiwei.

At the end of April, Huang Hanlin officially awarded Wei Chenglong the rank of first-class general, which is the best explanation.

You should know that before that, only Qi Kaiwei was a first-level general in the army, and Wei Chenglong was a third-level general, which was equivalent to two levels lower than Qi Kaiwei.

Of course, Huang Hanlin later asked Qi Kaiwei to serve as commander-in-chief of the Allied Army, which was also related to this battle.

Not to mention anything else, the failure of Qi Kaiwei to fulfill his promise made before the war made Huang Hanlin very disappointed, and Wei Chenglong and Mu Haoyang's views on the situation made Huang Hanlin realize that the mainland war could not end quickly, and excessive political expectations would only make the situation unfavorable to China.

Looking further, Wei Chenglong's ability to lead his army to capture Moscow was also related to the Battle of Volgograd.

The reason is very simple. This fierce battle made important members of the Chinese military and political circles realize that capturing Moscow is definitely not something that can be done by sending a few armies. As a result, Huang Hanlin granted Wei Chenglong full authority and asked him to lead fifty armies to Moscow.

Of course, from a post-event point of view, it feels like killing a chicken with a slaughter.

You should know that after the end of the Battle of Volgograd, the US-Russian coalition had no strategic natural barriers to defend in the direction of Moscow. In other words, the US-Russian coalition had never thought of defending Moscow, and did not leave many main forces in Moscow. Although the Russian authorities mobilized nearly 10 million combatants, 95% were temporary armed civilians, including more than one million minors. Fifty armies were not used to deal with these Russian troops, which were like a mob.

At that time, the most significant impact of the Battle of Volgograd was on the other side of the earth.

By the end of March, a decisive battle between the Chinese and US navies in the Pacific became inevitable. Everyone knows that when the mainland battlefield enters a critical moment, no matter whether the US Navy is willing or not, it must launch a strategic offensive in the Pacific as soon as possible, forcing China to divert its attention.

Perhaps, the strategic offensive of the US Navy will not have much impact on the Chinese Army.

By the end of March 2054, the total strength of the Chinese Marine Corps had exceeded three million, of which the front-line combat troops had reached forty-eight Marine Divisions, and twelve Marine Divisions would be trained and reorganized within three months, and had strong enough ability to deal with ground combat on the marine battlefield.

However, as long as the battle starts on the marine battlefield, China will be more inclined to the marine battlefield in the allocation of strategic materials.

You should know that many strategic materials of the army are universal. If you attach importance to the marine battlefield, you must reduce the total amount of materials invested on the ground battlefield. In addition, the decisive battle on the marine battlefield will also have an impact on China's military industry, allowing China to increase the production scale of military industry related to the navy. Take ammunition as an example, almost all arsenals are producing ammunition for the army and for the navy. If the demand of the navy increases, the arsenal will increase the output of naval ammunition, while the production materials obtained by the arsenals have not increased, and the overall production capacity is also limited by labor and other factors, which cannot increase on a large scale, so the output of the army ammunition will inevitably be reduced.

Of course, on the political level, the US military launched a strategic offensive in the Pacific Ocean is of great significance.

For example, the news of a great maritime decisive battle will definitely inspire the US-Russian coalition forces on the mainland battlefield, especially the Russian military and civilians.

In fact, it was the Russian authorities who were eager to launch a strategic offensive at that time.

In early March, Brushilov mentioned to the Russian President that the United States should be urged to launch a large-scale strategic offensive in the Pacific as soon as possible. Although it was not until the end of the Battle of Ellista that the Russian President realized that the hope of the US-Russian coalition forces in defending Volgograd was not high, and the Chinese army would soon pose a threat to Moscow, and therefore, in mid-March, he mentioned to US President Lucas that if the US military cannot make a difference in the Pacific battlefield and instead let Russia bear all China's military pressure alone, Russia will not be far from defeat. However, this reminder is not too late, because the US Navy will not be able to obtain six aircraft carrier battle groups until the end of March. In other words, even if the United States decides to launch a strategic offensive in the Pacific, the time will not be before the end of March.

By the end of March, the matter of the US military launching a strategic offensive in the Pacific was basically confirmed.

Of course, this is just a decision on the political level.

The problem was that at that time, French, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, firmly opposed the launch of a strategic offensive before the end of May, because the fleet's training will continue until at least the end of May.

For this matter, French even threatened the US president with his resignation.

According to the information disclosed after the war, on March 29, when French returned to Washington to report his duties, he clearly told Lucas that if he was forced to launch a strategic offensive before the fleet completed all training, he would definitely not lead the US Navy's last hope to die and could only resign.

Fortunately, there is no admiral in the US military who can replace French.

Lucas made a concession, that is, the strategic offensive launched in early April was reduced to a strategic counterattack, and the main fleet that had already joined the combat sequence could be used without using.

On the last day of March, Lucas also awarded French the rank of five-star general.

At that time, French was the first five-star general to emerge in the US Navy in this war, only one month later than Marshall was promoted to Army five-star general.

French didn't care whether he could be promoted or not, but was not very happy because it meant he had to re-customize his military uniform.
Chapter completed!