If 1937 had been the most opaque year of World War II, then 1938 was its most brutal.
This was no baseless claim. In the first half of January 1938 alone, the Anglo-French-Australasian powers launched the North African offensive, the great counteroffensive on the French front, and the Normandy landing in succession. The three battlefields together committed several million soldiers, while the planes and tanks deployed were beyond counting.
To deal with the successive pressure from the Anglo-French-Australasian forces, Germany could only continue mobilizing new soldiers at home and send them to the French front after hasty training.
The flames of war in Eastern Europe showed no sign of dying down, either. On January 22, 1938, while fighting raged fiercely on the French front, the Germans urgently launched the Battle of Stalingrad.
According to the German Prime Minister's exact words, they needed to seize all of Stalingrad as quickly as possible within six months, then send their troops toward the Caucasus and cut off Russia's energy supplies.
Once they dealt with Russia, that troublesome enemy, Germany could easily turn its armies back toward France and wipe out the Anglo-French-Australasian Army cavorting around there.
At this point, Italy and Spain became even more important. During the six months Germany spent attacking Stalingrad, Spain and Italy would shoulder the crucial task of defending against the armies of the Anglo-French-Australasian powers.
Only if those two countries could absorb most of the pressure for Germany would Germany have enough energy to focus on dealing with the powerful enemy that was Russia.
World War II was a contest not only of the nations' overall strength, but also of the schemes and stratagems behind them.
As far as Australasia and the United Kingdom were concerned, neither wanted to defeat Germany too early, before Russia had suffered