The Rise of the Third Reich

"Requesting reinforcements? The bombardment is not over yet. This is too fast..." Hitler said in a surprised tone while looking at Hersmann with suspicion. He had some doubts about the employment standards of Schleicher and Hersmann.

Hitler had heard of Manstein. He came from a well-known Prussian family. His father and adoptive father (who was also his uncle) were both military generals. His two grandfathers were also famous Prussian generals. Even the late President Field Marshal Hindenburg and him were It's a relative. Could it be that this Manstein became a general because of his good family background?

"Prime Minister, war in the mechanized era is all about speed! Break through quickly, advance quickly... retreat and reinforcements must also be fast!" Hersman was standing at the second floor window of an old Orthodox church, looking around not far away. Tanks are being assembled on a large pasture.

He and Hitler were at an observation post at the exercise headquarters less than 6 kilometers away from the "Red Army" front line. Next to it is the assembly ground of the 1st Armored Division, where Maximilian von Weickers was the division commander. After the armored group completes its formation here, it can sail directly to the battlefield.

The breakthrough location Guderian chose was a terrain mixed with woods and farms and pastures. Route 6 passed through these farms, pastures and woods. Lake Usma is less than 6 kilometers northeast of the breakthrough point. Several streams with low flow flow pass through the "battlefield" and flow into Lake Usma.

In addition, there are many buildings scattered around the "battlefield", including churches, warehouses, and residents' residences. If it were on a real battlefield, these buildings would become strongholds for both sides to fight for. However, in this exercise, these buildings "do not exist". Except for a small number of public buildings that have been temporarily requisitioned, most private houses and warehouses are off limits.

However, many barbed wire fences and wooden stakes used to divide pastures and farms were pulled out by engineers. The pastures and wheat fields that were originally divided into small pieces have now become a whole.

All the assault forces of the German Army's 1st Armored Division, including most of the officers, soldiers and vehicles of the 1st and 2nd Armored Regiments and the 1st Motorized Sniper Brigade, have been assembled.

Looking over from where Hessman was, what he saw was quite a shocking scene. 363 No. 2 tanks (the full complement is 388 units plus a varying number of backup vehicles) have formed a huge tank phalanx (rectangular), with an expanded frontal width of 2,000 meters. Next to each tank, the tank crew members stood upright, waiting for the order to start.

Hundreds of steel behemoths, just lying motionless in the open wilderness, already make people feel frightened. If you witness them roaring, roaring, and spitting out fire, it is not difficult to understand why Major General Manstein requested reinforcements at the first time - this is not a force that an infantry division can stop relying on traditional defensive positions!

Immediately behind these Panzer II tanks were the half-tracks of the Combat Engineer Battalion of the 1st Armored Division. A part of the combat engineers have now arrived at the front line of the Red Army together with the 4th Reconnaissance Company of the 1st Armored Division, and are clearing obstacles for the armored forces to advance - according to the rules of the exercise, they have 15 minutes to "move freely" after the shelling ends ( In wartime they must operate between artillery fire).

Behind the engineer's half-track vehicle, there was another larger vehicle formation. This is a motorized troop formation composed of ADGZ-612M heavy wheeled armored vehicles and armored vehicles.

The ADGZ-612M heavy wheeled armored vehicle is a product of the Austrian-Daimler Company and was just finalized in 1934. It was originally sold to the Austrian police force in history, but now it is mass-produced by the German Daimler-Benz company and sold to the German Army. Thanks to the strength of the German automobile industry, there are now various types of products in the German Army. There are many more wheeled vehicles than at the same time in history, and the development of wheeled armored vehicles is also very good.

For example, this 12-ton armored personnel carrier is equipped with the same 20mm caliber machine gun as the No. 2 tank. The armor protection is also good, and it can carry 6 fully armed soldiers through the enemy's cannon fodder blockade.

More than a hundred ADGZ-612M heavy wheeled armored vehicles assigned to the First Motorized Sniper Battalion followed behind the phalanx of No. 2 tanks. Behind these heavy armored bodies are the armored vehicles used by the two sniper battalions of the 1st Motorized Sniper Brigade (composed of two sniper battalions and one motorized sniper battalion).

These armored vehicles are all modified from Opel brand trucks (in this time and space, Opel benefited from the "Keynes Plan" and had stronger financial resources and was not sold to General Motors of the United States during the Great Depression) and BMW brand trucks. It is to cover the outside of the carriage and cab with a thin layer of steel plate, which can withstand machine gun bullets and artillery shell fragments at a certain distance.

By this time, the shelling had ended, and the entire "battlefield" suddenly became quiet. An electromechanical man carrying a radio on his back rode a motorcycle and came to Guderian, who personally served as the commander of the Blue Army Armored Assault Group.

"Reporting to the commander, the exercise headquarters has instructed: We can launch an attack in 15 minutes!"

Because it was an exercise, there were no "Red Army" soldiers in the trenches when the live ammunition was fired. Therefore, the exercise headquarters will give the "Red Army" time to return to their positions after the live-fire firing.

At the same time, the referee of the exercise command also had to enter the position and determine the losses of the "Red Army" in this artillery attack based on the damage ratio of the dummies and fake guns. Of course, within these 15 minutes, all military movements of the "Red Army" must be suspended.

"Got it!" Guderian nodded, then slowly raised his right hand, "Everyone pay attention! Start the vehicle now!"

"Start the vehicle!" After receiving the order. The crew members standing next to various armored vehicles also began to move. The drivers took out the joystick and came to the engine of the car, and began to shake the joystick desperately. "Boom boom boom..." The engines of tanks and armored vehicles roared one after another, and then smoke was sprayed from the exhaust pipe. Fifteen minutes later, most of the vehicles started successfully (there were still a few that broke down).

Guderian exhaled heavily, picked up the headset on his command vehicle, and ordered loudly: "Everyone pay attention, everyone pay attention! The target is right in front! Armored troops! Assault!!"

The motors of more than 750 combat vehicles that had already started began to run slowly with wheels or tracks. The pungent exhaust gas enveloped the entire assembly site in an instant, as if it was in a cloud of fog.

The huge roar startled Adolf Hitler. He walked to the window and stood with Hessmann, witnessing the armored cluster like a torrent of steel, slowly rolling over a green land, raising dust and smoke, and rolling forward.

"They are so dense! This is too dense!" Hitler blurted out.

"Yes, very dense," Hessmann said, "Seven hundred and dozens of armored vehicles, the front of the deployment is less than 2,000 meters... How many 37mm anti-tank guns can be opposite us?"

...

"Can't hold it!"

Before Falkenhausen agreed to the order for reinforcement, Manstein knew that his division could not hold the position. He thought he was quite familiar with the operations of the armored forces, but he didn't expect that so many tanks and armored vehicles would actually form such a dense formation on the battlefield and concentrate their forces to attack a "point".

"Across from them, how many 37 guns can we use?" He asked the staff officer beside him.

"General, there are only 8 37mm guns in front of the enemy tank formation, and there are also 10 infantry guns and dozens of anti-tank guns."

"No, it's impossible. We can't hold it at all..." Manstein put down the telescope, turned around and walked towards his division headquarters, and ordered as he walked, "We must retreat!"

"Retreat? General, the higher-ups won't agree..."

"It doesn't matter. We can't hold it anyway. We might as well think of other ways to delay the enemy." Manstein said, "There are many forests and several small villages along Highway 6 northwest of Lake Usma. We can set up defenses there, so we can always resist it."

At this time, the sound of aircraft engines came from the sky again. Manstein looked up and saw a group of 20 to 30 biplane Hs-123 attack aircraft rushing towards the artillery position of the 18th Division. After the Blue Army armored group began to advance, Manstein immediately ordered his artillery group to open fire (this time it was not live ammunition, just a few signal flares) to block it, thus exposing the target.

"The artillery will suffer heavy losses," Manstein shook his head, "We must retreat, otherwise we will have to eat lunch in Guderian's prisoner-of-war camp today."

"General, Lieutenant General Falkenhausen will not agree." The staff kindly reminded.

"I will retreat even if he disagrees," Manstein said with a smile, "This is an exercise, not a real war. Can he send me to a military court? Besides, what's the point of us staying here for an hour or half an hour? We can't hold this place, no matter how brave and tenacious we are, because the exercise referee will soon sentence us all to death... It's better to save some troops. As long as we can get into the blocking position before these steel monsters, we can postpone the exercise until tomorrow."

"So, General, what should we do?" The staff took out a notebook as he walked, ready to record Manstein's orders.

"Order the 30th Regiment to hold its position until it is completely wiped out. The 51st Regiment will take over the reserve position and also hold it until it is completely wiped out. The rest of the troops will begin to retreat in 30 minutes...Except for the 37mm gun, no other heavy weapons need to be carried, and all baggage must be abandoned. Just take ammunition and two days' worth of field rations."