The Saga of Tanya the Evil - Vol. 25 Ch. 80 - Long-Distance Reconnaissance Mission VI

[JosebaZilarte]

The meta irony of this story is on some galactic level.

A true "It is OK when we do it" moment, without a hint of irony.

Sometimes I can't tell if Zen is writing one of those fanfics where the author's avatar almost single-handedly wins World War II or if parodying the whole thing.

 

[Blackspace_2]

Lets go  gambling invade russia in the winter!
Aww dangit
Aww dangit
Aww dangit
Aww dangit

 

[SuperOniichan]

If it was just a war between Germany (plus minor allies) and just USSR I don't think there's any question Germany would win.
IRL Germany had to station something like a million troops in various occupied countries in western Europe. And also had to dedicate significant resources to defending that territory (weapons, aircraft, ammo, fuel, etc). They also couldn't import materials/oil due to the blockade.

If you give all of that to the Eastern Front, suddenly issues like the Soviet partisans is much easier to deal with. The Army Groups would have much more sustainable replacement soldiers to keep their units at better strength.

Also, USSR wouldn't benefit from Lend Lease, which Soviet historians say made a big difference after 41. Without Lend Lease there's no Operation Uranus.

Some things are immutable obstacles to the Germans ofc. Weather, poor logistics. But all the extra resources Germany could throw at the Soviets would make the war very winnable imo.

I don’t know which Soviet historians you read about Lend-Lease, but the idea that the war was won thanks to Lend-Lease was considered in the USSR and is considered in Russia a big taboo due to expected Soviet-American disputes about this. As for resources, I don’t presume to judge, but such disputes are always speculative, because they operate on theoretical things and often depend on the attitude towards one side or another. For example, among German historians one can often hear a soft devaluation of one or another crushing victory of the German troops.

A true "It is OK when we do it" moment, without a hint of irony.

Um, I clearly assumed that the irony came from the author, and not from Tanya herself. Although reading the author's Twitter often makes me raise an eyebrow at his thoughts.

 

[Kireato]

Oh wow, the expansion of the age for military service in the empire shows how dire the situation is; they are completely spent.

 

[ampnaman]

My boi Kim Jong Un just casually eating rockets. Lmao!

 

[Saya2879]

Tanya is letting her hate of commies clouding her judgement.
Even her is not immune to hubris

 

[SuperOniichan]

Tanya is letting her hate of commies clouding her judgement.
Even her is not immune to hubris

I understand that this is largely a parody, but jokes aside, I’m interested in what this will ultimately lead to, given that the author himself is interested in communism and semi-seriously (?) argues about it on Twitter.

 

[Kushikime]

Thanks for the chapter

 

[AlvoradaGD]

Tanya got stoned just thinking about erasing communism from that world.

 

[StealthAria]

If it was just a war between Germany (plus minor allies) and just USSR I don't think there's any question Germany would win.
IRL Germany had to station something like a million troops in various occupied countries in western Europe. And also had to dedicate significant resources to defending that territory (weapons, aircraft, ammo, fuel, etc). They also couldn't import materials/oil due to the blockade.

If you give all of that to the Eastern Front, suddenly issues like the Soviet partisans is much easier to deal with. The Army Groups would have much more sustainable replacement soldiers to keep their units at better strength.

Also, USSR wouldn't benefit from Lend Lease, which Soviet historians say made a big difference after 41. Without Lend Lease there's no Operation Uranus.

Some things are immutable obstacles to the Germans ofc. Weather, poor logistics. But all the extra resources Germany could throw at the Soviets would make the war very winnable imo.

It would be winnable, but the losses due to the weather would be heavy and the remaining forces would be spread thin. With the military devastated after such a campaign, the nation would fall soon after as rebellions start and other nations move in with the military spread too thin to take effective action. They could take on conscripts from the new territories to bolster the ranks, but with their loyalty questionable it might be worse having those troops than having none at all.

 

[SuperOniichan]

It would be winnable, but the losses due to the weather would be heavy and the remaining forces would be spread thin. With the military devastated after such a campaign, the nation would fall soon after as rebellions start and other nations move in with the military spread too thin to take effective action. They could take on conscripts from the new territories to bolster the ranks, but with their loyalty questionable it might be worse having those troops than having none at all.

We all also forgot that the German economy was completely built for war. It's like one big financial pyramid with a war instead of new clients. That is, if the war had stopped for one reason or another or had ceased to satisfy the request, then Germany would simply have fallen into a new economic crisis.

 

[Manchura]

Tanya: We must protect the liberal world from totalitarianism.
Also Tanya in the same chapter: we will capture Moscow, something that emperors and dictators failed to do.

The meta irony of this story is on some galactic level.

Sometimes I can't tell if Zen is writing one of those fanfics where the author's avatar almost single-handedly wins World War II or if parodying the whole thing.

one: she's in a militaristic monarchy so there is aligned interest in stopping socialism of the national and international varieties by winning this war

two: we know the future, she loses and it might have to do with that ego she's getting much like a certain Austrian painter

Swiftly taking down the capital is an excellent way to strop conflict before it can really start, but it overlooks one of the important rules Germany learned from WWII: don't invade Russia in the winter.

as for you, the correct time to invade IS the back half of winter, that way you miss out on the brutal parts and get hard ground to gain early on before the Rasputitsa kicks in and bogs you down, then you get the full summer (when everyone who lost in russia attacked) to solidify logistics

the poles invaded in winter and won, the Mongols invaded in winter and won, the Baltic independence wars... the list goes on but the point remains

INVADE IN WINTER TO GET SUMMER LATER ON AND NOT SUMMER TO GET WINTER LATER ON

 

[SuperOniichan]

one: she's in a militaristic monarchy so there is aligned interest in stopping socialism of the national and international varieties by winning this war

two: we know the future, she loses and it might have to do with that ego she's getting much like a certain Austrian painter


as for you, the correct time to invade IS the back half of winter, that way you miss out on the brutal parts and get hard ground to gain early on before the Rasputitsa kicks in and bogs you down, then you get the full summer (when everyone who lost in russia attacked) to solidify logistics

the poles invaded in winter and won, the Mongols invaded in winter and won, the Baltic independence wars... the list goes on but the point remains

INVADE IN WINTER TO GET SUMMER LATER ON AND NOT SUMMER TO GET WINTER LATER ON

The fact that she lives in a monarchy that is negatively disposed towards socialists does not in any way negate the fact that Tanya first positions herself as a defender of the liberal world from the commies (which in itself is ironic), and then openly lists herself as the spiritual heir of the dictators and emperors who fought with Russia.

Two of the three examples you gave took place in the Middle Ages and during strong political-economic crises in Russia and Kievan Rus. First, rough feudal fragmentation (not to mention the fact that the Mongols as a whole had completely unique military techniques and tactics for the region and era, which allowed them to conquer not only Russia), when everyone was for himself, and then a time of troubles during the fall of the Rurik dynasty and disputes around Godunov’s problems. It would be very speculative to compare them with Napoleon or Hitler, And in both cases, the Russians ultimately won thanks to the restoration of strength and the emergence of conflicts within their opponents (the victory and expulsion of the Poles is still celebrated as a day of national unity in Russia). I don’t know what Baltic wars you are talking about, however. As I said before, winning or losing a war comes down to a combination of many factors, not just the weather.

 

[BanzaiYuri]

Huh, I mean yeah I guess this is like the late 1920s so Elizabeth would still be a child. Please mangaka, istfg if she goes to fight Tanya as a mage I'm kicking your ass.

 

[SuperOniichan]

Huh, I mean yeah I guess this is like the late 1920s so Elizabeth would still be a child. Please mangaka, istfg if she goes to fight Tanya as a mage I'm kicking your ass.

It is unlikely that this is the 20s, given the mature Stalin and Beria and the clearly alternative historical pre-war 30s. However, for obvious reasons, I would not even try to calculate the exact year in this plot. Because there were never Nazis or the Weimar Republic here, but instead we got a fantasy version of the German Empire.

 

[Nicelittleotaku]

I really hope everyone who reads this series has enough understanding of history to know how far from real life germany of ww1 and 2 the empire is regardless of countless visual and geographical similarities

 

[SageVonManga]

Some folks are getting a little caught up on the invading in winter thing.

In this story flight mages serve as assault helicopters, aerial superiority fighters, and to some extent guided rockets. They are even given spells by the author specifically so they can fit into these inhuman roles without having to worry about some annoying human needs like temperature or oxygen. The 203 isn't an invasion force, it's a tactical/strategic strike group and what they do is not at all comparable to a ground force trying to walk through Siberia in any part of winter.

 

[welcome2atlantis]

Great. Take the enemy's capitol. Make propaganda videos to show Empire's might. Sing your imperial anthem in the skies above them!

 

[Manchura]

The fact that she lives in a monarchy that is negatively disposed towards socialists does not in any way negate the fact that Tanya first positions herself as a defender of the liberal world from the commies (which in itself is ironic), and then openly lists herself as the spiritual heir of the dictators and emperors who fought with Russia.

Two of the three examples you gave took place in the Middle Ages and during strong political-economic crises in Russia and Kievan Rus. First, rough feudal fragmentation (not to mention the fact that the Mongols as a whole had completely unique military techniques and tactics for the region and era, which allowed them to conquer not only Russia), when everyone was for himself, and then a time of troubles during the fall of the Rurik dynasty and disputes around Godunov’s problems. It would be very speculative to compare them with Napoleon or Hitler, And in both cases, the Russians ultimately won thanks to the restoration of strength and the emergence of conflicts within their opponents (the victory and expulsion of the Poles is still celebrated as a day of national unity in Russia). I don’t know what Baltic wars you are talking about, however. As I said before, winning or losing a war comes down to a combination of many factors, not just the weather.

Tanya sees the monarch's time as over using the fact s(he) is from a post monarchy liberal society and sees it as inevitable that either socialism or liberalism will inherit the world she is in, in that regard she IS the defender of liberalism as she does not want socialism to spread like it did in our timeline by cutting it off in the bud

also the polish soviet war was 1921...and the Baltic independence wars also happened 20s, so no, not the middle ages

 

[SuperOniichan]

Tanya sees the monarch's time as over using the fact s(he) is from a post monarchy liberal society and sees it as inevitable that either socialism or liberalism will inherit the world she is in, in that regard she IS the defender of liberalism as she does not want socialism to spread like it did in our timeline by cutting it off in the bud

also the polish soviet war was 1921...and the Baltic independence wars also happened 20s, so no, not the middle ages

The very idea of defending liberalism with the help of aggressive ideological wars looks like a very big meta-irony and satire of any modern Western liberals. Or more accurately, neoliberals. Which is quite in keeping with Zen's past political satire in this story. Especially when this is argued not just as a conditional protection against the “red plague” in the spirit of American conservatives, but as the salvation of the whole world from countries that need to be destroyed. At least if you understand the essence of liberalism as a political concept. But one way or another, why are we again discussing Tanya’s personal motivation if any satire in the any fiction obviously comes from the author?

The Soviet-Polish war did not consist of a Polish invasion of Russia. The young USSR overestimated its strength and tried to re-annex Poland to Russia after the death of the Russian Empire, which, after a series of events, led to the so-called “Miracle on the Vistula” (that is, even the Poles themselves did not hide the improbability of this) and the USSR’s refusal to do so. There was no invasion here, no question of weather. The Polish invasion only happened during the so-called Time of Troubles, which is why I mentioned the Middle Ages. In the same way, you can describe any military conflicts with the participation of the USSR in the 20s, including the Entente invasion, so again, very dubious speculation and ignoring a whole range of events related to this.