The Third Reich: The Return of the King

Immediately after returning from the capital, Mainz began to gather troops and prepare for the expedition.

After the disarmament, the German army had only two corps and six divisions, including a cavalry division.

Mainz did not have any reservations, and directly notified all the troops to go out together, putting on a posture of desperate fighting with the Gauls!

"Major Guderian, your first division is the vanguard, set off now, the goal is Dort, control this place and stop the French army from continuing to advance east!"

Seeing Guderian's excited appearance, Mainz said sharply:

"Remember, your task is to hold back the advance of the French army, and you are not allowed to take the initiative until the follow-up troops have arrived, and if you disobey the military orders, no matter what you have achieved before, I will send you to a court-martial, understand?"

Seeing that Major General Mainz said so seriously, Guderian finally put away the excitement on his face and replied seriously: "Yes, I guarantee to complete the task!"

"Repeat my command!"

"The goal of the 1st Division is to capture Dott and block the French army in Tokyo, and never take a step out of Dott without an order!"

"Very good, let's go and prepare!"

Mainz nodded, then let Guderian leave.

The reason why Guderian was allowed to take the lead was because Guderian's troops had already prepared for war before Mainz left Hamburg, so his troops were the most prepared at this time, and they could set off as soon as they received orders.

The soldiers are fast, and if they seize the position one step earlier, they will be able to block the enemy's pace one step earlier.

The Ruhr industrial area is so important that Mainz could not sit idly by and let it fall into the hands of the French!

"Moder, the destination of your second division is Bocholt, here is the right flank of our army, occupying this place can block the French army from moving north, unless the French army and the Entente persuade the windmill country to enter the war, otherwise the security of our army's right flank can be guaranteed, this task is very heavy, if I am the commander of the French army, I will send at least one army of troops to attack here and cut off the connection between our country and the windmill country, so this task is very difficult, I want to ask you, are you willing to accept this task?"

Modell has a nickname called Mo Bu Offensive, which refers to the fact that he is good at defense but not good at attacking.

Mainz also knows this characteristic of Moder very well, so when it comes to the offensive aspect, he has no intention of handing it over to Moder to do, which is difficult for a strong man!

However, wherever there is a need to fight a tough battle, a defensive war, the first thing that comes to Mainz's mind is Moder!

In the entire German army, there was not a single person with defensive talent as high as Moder.

Unlike Guderian's excitement, after hearing the name of Major General Mainz, Model's face did not show too much excitement.

He even had time to think for a while before he spoke: "General, when our army is arranging defenses, does it need to defend against the enemy in the west?"

To the west of Bocholt is the Windmill Country, which is supposed to not be at war, but it is difficult to judge the actual situation.

The 2nd Division's strength was insufficient, and it was already somewhat overstretched for them to defend against the enemy in the south, and it would be even more clumsy if they added another threat to the west.

At that time, even if Moder reluctantly forms a defensive line, I am afraid that the defensive line will become a paper paste due to a serious shortage of troops!

Therefore, Moder's key to this problem will directly determine the German army's operational policy and strategic deployment.

Everyone looked at Mainz, waiting for his answer.

Mainz knew that his judgment was likely to directly affect the outcome of the war, but at the moment he could only gamble!

Historically, the windmill country did not participate in World War I, and was forcibly pulled into the war by the Third Reich in World War II, before that, the relationship between the windmill country and Hans has always been good, and even accepted the abdicated Kaiser for political asylum in the windmill country, so Mainz felt that the possibility of the windmill country participating in the war was very low.

"Don't worry about the windmills in the west, your mission is to defend the French army in the south with all your might!"

"Yes, General!"

Since Major General Mainz had already made his judgment, Moder did not doubt Major General Mainz's judgment, and after a respectful military salute, he quickly left the war department and rushed back to his unit to prepare.

"Dietrich, you lead your cavalry division, rush here at once, your task is simple, keep putting pressure on the French in the Rhine area from the east, and be ready to attack their supply lines at any time, understand?"

Mainz circled a range on the map with his baton and said to Dietrich, the commander of the cavalry division who had arrived from Odili.

Dietrich looked at it seriously for a moment, then nodded: "I understand, General!"

Seeing that everyone has got the task one by one, the rest of the people who have not yet received the task are anxious like ants on a hot pot.

In particular, the commander of the 3rd Division, Kesselring, wanted to speak again and again several times, wanting to ask for battle, but he was worried that it would affect the deployment of General Mainz.

Mainz was amused by the gesture of silence, and he called Kesselring's name.

"Kesselring!"

"General, what do you command?"

Kesselring was shocked when he heard his name, and immediately stood up and replied.

"The mission of the 3rd Division is here!"

Mainz pointed to a place on the map at a considerable distance from the Ruhr industrial area with his baton and said to Kesselring: "Your task is not heavy, enter Kaiserslautern and put on a posture that you are going to attack to the west!"

Kesselring scratched his head, this position didn't look like there was a battle to fight!

Placing a main division here, this made him a little puzzled.

"If you don't understand, think about it, by the way, don't be in a hurry to set off when you go back, I will ask people to contact factories such as Rheinmetall and Krupp, and ask them to send you a batch of equipment for 100,000 people, and take this batch of equipment with you when you leave!"

If Kesselring was only confused by the deployment of Mainz, then he was completely confused at this time.

Although the Third Division was the main force of the German army, the total strength of this division was only 16,000 people, and the 16,000 troops were equipped with 100,000 people.

Although it is said that the more equipment, the better, but this is directly several times more, which is a bit abnormal!

"What? Curious why you're being asked to bring so much gear?"

Seeing Kesselring's bewildered look, Mainz was angry and funny.

"Yes, it's a little confusing!"

"Hmph, if you don't understand, think about it more, by the way, this is Major Manstein from Bolin, he is a staff officer from the General Staff, I will transfer him to you, you will be the chief of staff, after arriving in Kaiserslautern, if you still don't understand, you can ask him!"

After Mainz finished speaking, he waved his hand to tell Kesselring to get out, he would definitely explain some things when he should explain, but Mainz was reluctant to say a word when he shouldn't.

At this time, it is not the era of all-out war, but a military conflict that may break out, at this time, it is natural to focus on training the officers under him, and naturally he can't do everything by himself, in that case, it will be difficult for them to grow, Mainz does not want the people under his command to become a group of machines that can only carry out orders, he wants a group of generals or even marshals who can take charge of themselves and can deal with various situations!

Caisselring's record in history is very brilliant, which shows that he is very talented, so Mainz has high hopes for him, hoping that he can show his military talent as soon as possible!

For this reason, he specially transferred Manstein to the Third Division, the purpose of which was to let these two tacticians learn more and discuss more!_

Fei Lu reminds you: three things to read-