The Rise of the Third Reich

Boom boom boom...

The dull sound of artillery continued to reach the underground command post where General Model was located. Because the artillery of the Soviet Red Army is so powerful, the German troops in Warsaw are hiding underground when possible. Model's 6th Army Headquarters is no exception, hiding in the basement of the former Polish Ministry of Defense building. .

"Joerg, Valentin, I'm sorry to have to bring you both from the comfort of Lithuania to Warsaw."

In Model's headquarters, two German generals arrived at this time, one was the former commander of the 41st Armored Corps, General Joerg Hans Reinhardt, and the other was the commander of the 16th Armored Division, Hans Reinhardt. .Major General Valentin Hube.

"Walter, I heard that you have a great armored force to command for me, so I came here." General Reinhard looked at the dark and damp basement where Model was, and asked with a smile, "My armored force What? I can’t wait to see them.”

"Me too, Your Majesty the General." Major General Hubei, who looked a little fat and looked like an uncle next door, also asked with a smile.

"The troops are in Womianki," Model said. "I am not willing to put 132 Tiger tanks and 88 Panther tanks in Warsaw to be bombed."

He was talking about the 5 heavy armored battalions from 501 to 505. After the Legionovo-Wovomin battle, these 5 battalions underwent some reorganizations and adjustments. 3 of them were all equipped with Tiger tanks, 2 The entire battalion is equipped with Panther tanks.

"Those five heavy armored battalions?" Reinhardt raised his eyebrows, although he, like most German armored commanders, opposed the large number of "Tiger" tanks and "Panther" tanks. But he still hopes to command an armored group composed of "Tiger" and "Panther".

The two views are actually not contradictory, because the "Tiger" tank and the "Panther" tank are undoubtedly very good tanks. Although there are constant minor problems, many armored commanders still like them. The objections raised are all from a strategic perspective, hoping to get more and more mobile tanks.

Model continued: "There are also the 1st Cavalry Division that originally belonged to the 9th Army, as well as the 5th SS Tank Battalion, the 5th SS Armored Artillery Battalion, the SS 'North' Regiment, and the SS' The Walloon Brigade, the SS 'Finland' Battalion and the Hungarian Mechanized Corps, as well as three smoke launcher regiments, will form a temporary corps-level armored group called the 'Reinhardt' Group."

Then he said to Major General Hube: "Among them are five heavy armored battalions, the 5th SS Tank Battalion, the 5th SS Armored Artillery Battalion, the SS 'Walloon' Brigade, and the SS 'Finland' Battalion. A division-level armored group will be formed, called the 'Hubei' heavy armored division, and will be commanded by you."

"Sure enough," Reinhardt nodded and asked, "Walter, how do you plan to use this military-level armored group?"

"Launch a short assault," Model said.

"where?"

"Legionovo-Wovomin line!" Model said. "Now the Soviet army has made progress on the middle and south roads of Warsaw. Only the north road is standing still. This means that they are accumulating strength and preparing for a big battle." offensive. Moreover, Air Force reconnaissance found that the Soviet army was gathering heavy troops around Wowomin recently, so I wanted to strike first and launch a counterattack before they launched their attack. "

The strategy of striking first before the enemy launches an offensive is more advantageous in the era of mechanized warfare. This is because the era of mechanized warfare will focus on "large-depth attack and defense." The defensive side has great depth. A defense depth of tens of kilometers is a minimum, but a depth of hundreds or even two hundred kilometers is not impossible. The attacking side must press forward as much as possible, and also stockpile a large amount of supplies near the front line to ensure that the attack kinetic energy is not consumed by one's own transportation lines.

In this case, the transition between offense and defense is very slow. It is impossible to be on the offensive one day and then deploy a large-scale defense in an instant.

If an army in an offensive state is suddenly attacked by an opponent and cannot disintegrate the enemy with an offensive, it will quickly fall into extreme passivity. Historically, the Soviet Red Army gave the Germans a sudden and violent beating, and there were factors in this regard - the Soviet Red Army at that time did not have a large-scale defense in depth, but concentrated a large number of troops near the border. This was a typical offensive layout.

Model paused, and then said: "If our counterattack on the Legionovo-Wovomin line is successful again, then the Soviet high command will most likely think that we are about to launch a counterattack near Warsaw, and will further A large number of troops are concentrated in Warsaw, creating the most favorable conditions for the Northern Army's offensive."

…

Preparations for the counterattack of Army Group North have been in full swing. According to the "Blue Plan", the main task of this Army Group is to break the Soviet army by launching counterattacks in three directions: Minsk, Brest and Leningrad. The attack on Poland severely damaged the Soviet offensive forces.

However, there are many plans for choosing one, two, or three of these three planned counterattack targets at the same time.

Among these three targets, the closest to the possible launch site of the attack - a transportation hub in the Baltic States or the Grand Duchy of Lithuania - is Minsk, the capital of Belarus, which is also the base camp of the Soviet Western Front, stocked with There is a large amount of military supplies, and there are also a large number of fortifications built in the early years of the Stalin Defense Line around it.

In addition, the Soviet reserve front troops are concentrated in Smolensk and can reinforce Minsk at any time.

Therefore, it is not a big problem for the German armored group to break through to the vicinity of Minsk, but it is not easy to capture Minsk.

Brest, which is closest to the Polish front line, was the starting point for the Soviet Union to launch a thunderstorm assault. It was originally a Polish fortress that was captured by the Soviet Union in 1939, and was later developed into the most important stronghold of the Soviet army on the Western Front. According to intelligence, the Soviet army stored a large amount of supplies there, which could support the main force of the Western Front in long-term operations.

In other words, even if Minsk falls and the connection between the Western Front and Moscow is interrupted, the Western Front can still rely on supplies from Brest to maintain operations and move towards Ukraine.

It would be extremely difficult for Army Group North to capture Brest. Because Brest is at least 250 kilometers away from all possible locations where Army Group North would launch a counterattack. Moreover, there are very few good roads available along the way. After the Soviet Union seized the Ukrainian land on the right bank west of the Bug River in Poland, it carried out preventive road destruction. All north-south roads in the former West Belarusian land were thoroughly overhauled. Destruction, while the east-west highways and railways have been strengthened.

Therefore, if the German army wanted to attack Brest from Lithuania, it would require almost a 250-kilometer cross-country march. The speed of cross-country marching by mechanized troops cannot be compared with road marching. It is considered fast if they can advance a few kilometers in an hour. A 250-kilometer cross-country journey would take forty or fifty hours even if there was no enemy obstruction. If we did not implement a day and night march, it would take at least four days.

The last pre-selected target for counterattack was Leningrad, the historical Petrograd, the capital of the Russian Empire. This is a goal of great political significance. Considering the close relationship between the Hohenzollern dynasty and the Romanov dynasty, once Leningrad falls into the hands of Germany, the name of Petrograd will be restored and Olivier will be restored. The Queen returned to the Winter Palace where she thought day and night.

However, since Germany has controlled Estonia for more than two decades, the Soviet Red Army has always been very focused on the defense of Leningrad. This city is basically a large fortress, and it is still the base camp of the Northwest Front. It is very difficult to capture it.

And to launch an attack on two or all of the three pre-selected targets at the same time, the amount of troops required will be an astronomical figure! And considering that Leningrad, Minsk and Brest Fortress are all strong cities, Germany also needs to invest in powerful siege artillery.

However, the German army, which emphasized mechanization and field operations, was actually insufficient in its ability to attack fortified cities and positional warfare. Unless Germany can be supported by powerful French artillery, it will be difficult for them to capture a city heavily guarded by the Soviet army and with strong defenses in a short time.

"The French government has agreed to declare war on the Soviet Union when we need it!" In the headquarters conference room at No. 73 Wilhelmstrasse in Berlin, Foreign Minister Ribbentrop, who had just returned from Paris, loudly reported something that Hersman had expected. great news.

He continued: "Whenever we want the French to declare war, they will declare war! On the issue of fighting against Bolshevik aggression, the French people and the German people stand completely together!"

This is a matter of course! Hersman thought to himself: There are V2 ballistic missiles, sarin gas, and the atomic bomb that will inevitably be built. What reason do Pétain, Darlan, and Weygand have not to surrender completely?

Moreover, Germany will support France in using fascism and Nazism to deal with various dissatisfactions in North Africa!

Hitler looked at Hessmann with great satisfaction and asked: "Marshal Reich, now we will be able to completely defeat the Soviet Union, right?"

"Of course," Hessman smiled and nodded, "Now our troops are suddenly much more abundant... I think the French can organize their powerful artillery into artillery divisions and reserve artillery groups, and use them in the blue plan. Counterattack plan. With the help of French artillery, we can equal the Soviet Union in the number of medium-caliber suppressed artillery, and far exceed the Soviet Union in the number of large-caliber super-heavy artillery!

In this way, we may be able to consider executing the plan to attack Minsk and Leningrad at the same time. "