On the Spanish front, more than a million Anglo-French-Australasian troops had already begun tightening the encirclement and advancing toward Madrid, the very center of Spanish power.
Although the advance was not particularly fast, the overall plan was proceeding smoothly. The Spanish Army was utterly powerless to resist the combined forces of the three countries. After all, they simply did not have many troops at their disposal.
Meanwhile, in North Africa, as Italy surrendered and the Spanish Army collapsed, France gradually retook control of the situation there.
Even Spain's former colonies had been divided up between Britain and France, leaving more than a hundred thousand Spanish soldiers with no choice but to lay down their arms and surrender.
However, if one had to name the most intense battle at present, it was undoubtedly the Battle of Stalingrad, which was raging on the Eastern European battlefield.
Riding on the flames of victory from the Battle of Moscow, the Russian Government and its people erupted with extraordinary fighting spirit.
Swept along by that fighting spirit, the red fire of Stalingrad seemed poised to devour the black armor opposite it.
Germany was suffering more than anyone at this point. Because it was fighting on two fronts, the German Government had fallen into an impossible dilemma.
Spain clearly could not hold out for more than a few days. If it surrendered as well, Germany's allies in Europe would be reduced to Bulgaria, Romania, and several puppet governments it had supported.
But if the German Army sent reinforcements back, the vast territories it had conquered on the Eastern European battlefield would have to be handed back to the Russians for nothing.
Those lands included not only Ukraine, with its vast expanses of black soil, but also several of Russia's most important industrial cities—St. Petersburg, Minsk, Kyiv,