The Rise of the Third Reich

"Lieutenant General Falkenhausen's reaction is too slow. He has not made any useful decisions since the start of the war. It's so disappointing..."

Falkenhausen, who was about to be "defeated", complained in the temporary residence arranged for Hitler and Hessmann by the General Command of the Exercise.

"His reaction is normal," Hessmann explained to Hitler while drinking the beer served by the hospitable hostess, a very beautiful Latvian woman. "The troops deployed to the defense line cannot be adjusted at will... Those are traditional infantry with weak mobility. The baggage and artillery are mainly dragged by animal power. If you want to withdraw the troops in an orderly manner, it will take a lot of time just to make a plan."

Most of the infantry divisions in European countries at this time followed the idea of ​​"heavy firepower" and "light mobility". They were equipped with a large number of artillery and machine guns, and relied on trains, walking and livestock for mobility. Once they left the railway line, these troops could hardly move at all.

The "World War I-style infantry" combat method also limits mobility. The troops are not concentrated on the battlefield and ready to go at any time, but are scattered on a long line of defense. It is very troublesome to concentrate them.

And unlike the situation during World War I, the aviation industry has made great progress in the past decade. The party with air superiority can use air strikes to delay the opponent's mobilization.

After watching for most of the day, Hitler seemed to have some understanding of the "blitzkrieg". "Ludwig, what you said before makes sense. In front of the mechanized army, the traditional army dominated by infantry and horse-drawn artillery is simply vulnerable."

Hersmann took a sip of beer and nodded, "Yes, they are vulnerable! And this exercise has not fully demonstrated the power of armored assault... It just verifies some views, and at the same time, we need to find some existing problems and deficiencies."

The problems and deficiencies are obvious. First of all, the quality problem of the No. 2 tank is worrying!

In fact, Hessman wanted to give the German tank a golden thigh or something. The small body of the "No. 2" and the 20mm caliber machine gun were distressing. It would be more pleasing to the eye if it was replaced with the "Tiger" and "Leopard". But the cruel reality is there. The famous German manufacturing can't even handle the "No. 2" now!

When the First Armored Division arrived in Riga, it was equipped with a total of 425 "No. 2s", including reserve tanks. And the march from Riga to Lake Usma caused 62 of them to break down. There were a lot of various problems, either the engine was not working or the suspension device was malfunctioning-due to the backwardness of the crawler tractor industry and the treaty restrictions for more than ten years, Germany's technical accumulation in tank manufacturing was seriously insufficient.

In contrast, wheeled armored vehicles based on the automobile industry performed very well. The ADGZ-612M heavy wheeled armored vehicles assigned to the 1st Armored Division and the 3rd Motorized Infantry Division had a very low failure rate. On the way from Riga to Lake Usma, only a few wheeled armored vehicles broke down, and they were quickly repaired.

In addition, the performance of the HS-123 attack aircraft was also satisfactory. In today's daytime exercises, the HS-123 attack aircraft successfully dispatched 300 sorties without a single accident that caused the aircraft to be damaged.

The problem exposed after the poor quality of German tanks was that the infantry divisions of the German Army had no ability to defend against the attacks of enemy armored forces. Even after being equipped with a large number of 37mm anti-tank guns, they were still vulnerable to the assault of armored clusters.

"Armored forces are not invincible!" Hitler said during dinner, "General Manstein's report shows this."

Because Manstein blocked the armored cluster commanded by von Thomas for several hours, his opinion of Manstein seemed to have changed.

Hitler said: "As long as the infantry division is motorized and equipped with a large number of anti-tank weapons and a small number of self-propelled anti-tank guns, it can resist the attack of the armored division."

"That's right," Hersmann nodded, "Motorizing the infantry division and equipping it with a small number of tanks or self-propelled anti-tank guns is indeed a way to counter the attack of the armored division. But this is a defensive organization model, which is very suitable for countries that do not want to start a war."

The debate over whether to use tanks in a concentrated or dispersed manner began after military theorists such as Fuller and de Gaulle proposed the theory of mechanized warfare. Those who advocate the concentrated use of tanks to form armored divisions regard tanks as an offensive weapon and want to use the mobility and firepower of tanks, plus motorized infantry, to launch a fatal assault on the enemy's defense system.

The view that advocates dispersing tanks to infantry divisions to form mechanized infantry (armored infantry) is based on a defensive standpoint. Officers who hold this view actually realize that traditional infantry divisions are difficult to withstand the assault of armored clusters. Therefore, it is advocated to assign weapons such as tanks or self-propelled anti-tank guns to infantry divisions to enhance the anti-tank capabilities of infantry divisions.

Of course, establishing an army with armored divisions and armored infantry divisions (mechanized infantry divisions, armored grenadier divisions) as the main force is definitely the dream of military leaders of all countries. As for the French, they definitely want a Maginot Line that stretches from the Alps to the sea.

But no one has unlimited money to waste! Therefore, they can only choose between "offensive" armored divisions and "defensive" mechanized infantry divisions - for Germany and France before World War II, equipping an army with thousands of tanks and self-propelled artillery would It is already the upper limit that the national power can bear.

These armored weapons can be used to form about 10 armored divisions or dozens of mechanized infantry divisions.

"So do we in Germany need armored divisions or mechanized infantry divisions?" Adolf Hitler asked thoughtfully.

"Of course it's the Armored Division!" Hessmann replied decisively. "In the future we will need more armored divisions and better tanks."

…

"Admiral, the Red Army has deployed defenses around Fort William." Von Thoma, who had suffered a lot from Manstein today, was in a warehouse that smelled of horse manure, approaching the man who had just arrived. Guderian reported on the "battle situation".

The plan to end the exercise before dinner seemed to be impossible, and now Guderian had already had dinner. Moreover, Manstein also retreated into Fort William with the remnants of his 18th Division and joined at least two infantry regiments there.

"They have at least 7,000 people, and they also have about 50 37mm guns, 4 150mm infantry guns, and 8 75mm infantry guns." Von Thoma said, "The tanks have no way to defeat them and can only wait for the artillery to be in place. According to the exercise According to the rules, if we can mobilize 100 cannons and 10,000 men, we can capture Fort William within 2 days.”

The Blue Army now has many cannons in its hands, some of which were originally assigned to them, and some of which were captured during daytime battles. Two infantry divisions have been defeated by the Blue Army armored group, and more than 10,000 prisoners have been captured. A 15-kilometer-wide breach has been created in the Red Army's defense line, and it has advanced 12 kilometers northwest.

But Falkenhausen, the commander-in-chief of the Red Army, did not admit defeat. He still had 4 complete divisions available. Moreover, Manstein successfully delayed the advancement of the Blue Army's armored group, buying time for the Red Army to deploy defenses in Fort William - Fort William was a small town and a crossroads, where two roads intersected. Surrounded by farmland, pastures and woods.

In addition, there is a warehouse of the Baltic Agricultural Cooperative in the town, as well as a factory that produces dairy products. The warehouses and factories were newly built in the 1930s and were so strong that they required a 150mm cannon to destroy them.

"Two days is not enough." Guderian immediately rejected von Thoma's suggestion, "Two days plus tonight is two and a half days... enough for Falkenhausen's four divisions to come over. At that time, we will have to fight a head-on battle with 60,000 enemies at Fort William, and the exercise referee will definitely judge us as a failure."

"Then what should we do?" Von Thoma asked.

"Can we take a roundabout way?"

"Go around?" Fon Thoma thought for a moment and nodded. "It is possible to go around. If we go around and advance eight kilometers, we will win. But..."

"But this is taking advantage of a loophole. This cannot be done in actual combat situations," Guderian continued following von Thoma's words. "Now Falkenhausen's four divisions must be preparing to advance along Route 8. If we bypass Fort William, they will arrive in two days, and by then our retreat will be cut off."

"Yes." Fon Thoma nodded.

"Then how about we make a turn outside Fort William and head east along Highway 8?" Guderian took a photo on a military map captured from the Red Army. "Two divisions versus two divisions, encounters during the march. . In this case, the unresponsive infantry division cannot defeat the armored division and the motorized infantry division. And we still have air superiority... The outcome of this kind of encounter can be determined in 24 hours."

Von Thoma nodded, "In this way, we have defeated the 4 divisions of the Red Army, and the remaining 2 divisions are not a worry."

"So how many vehicles can be driven now?" Guderian asked again.

"Start immediately?"

"Yes!" Guderian said, "Right now, there is no need to wait for the Second Armored Regiment and the Third Motorized Infantry Division to arrive. The key now is to be fast, to fight the slow with the fast... Let them go along the simple road (Red Army The construction of communication roads) is advancing, and we should keep pace with it.”