The Rise of the Third Reich

In the German Wehrmacht at the end of August 1939, there was no such thing as an 8-hour working day, and military discipline was very strict. Even the son of the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Wehrmacht was not allowed to violate it. Sons and grandsons of marshals, but all are equal before military discipline.

After Rudolf von Heinsberg-Hersmann received a call from his boss, Major Werner Moulders, commander of the 1st Naval Combat Aviation Regiment, he immediately said goodbye to his father and mother without saying a word. , got on his bicycle and reported to the airport where the 1st Navy Combat Aviation Regiment was stationed.

There he would experience the atmosphere of war firsthand as a cadet officer—he was a graduate of the Junior Cadet Academy and the Air Force Academy and would receive the rank of second lieutenant after completing supplementary training—and supplementary pilot, while also being prepared to fly at any time. The Zero fighter took off to meet the enemy... If the battle on the front line did not go smoothly and the combat aviation regiment suffered heavy losses, he would go to the battlefield.

"Honey, I'm leaving too," Hessman looked at the back of his son riding away. He didn't say to his wife beside him until he disappeared at the end of the horizon. "There is an important meeting tonight, which may last all night, so I won't be back."

He could not return home for the time being, because he was the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Front and all the troops that invaded Poland were under his command. He would not return to Zossen again until the end of the Polish campaign. However, the invasion of Poland is a military secret and cannot be told to Chloe.

"You want to leave too?" Chloe bit her lower lip gently, she already understood, "I know! Don't worry, my dear, I will take good care of you at home, no matter what happens!"

Hessmann looked at his wife - if the world war in history was defeated, the men would either die in battle or enter prisoner of war camps, and the burden of Germany's revival would fall on women like Chloe.

"We will win this time!" Hersman said with certainty. At least he won't be defeated! Because the phenomenon of nuclear fission has still not been announced, and Hitler also signed an order to fund uranium projects up to 10 billion marks (this is a top-secret project and will not be discussed in Congress)...

"We will win!" Chloe nodded, "My dear, I'm waiting for your good news."

Half an hour later, General Hessmann appeared in the General Staff again. Defense Minister Field Marshal Schleicher and Chief of General Staff General Hamerstein had already arrived. They were waiting for Hersmann in the No. 1 war room, standing in front of a huge sand table displaying the overall situation. Hersmann's deputy, 1st Operations Officer Infantry General Halder, was also there - he would take over as deputy chief of staff when Hersmann assumed command of the Eastern Front.

"Your Excellency, Marshal, Your Excellency, General," Hessman raised his hands in salute to the two of them, "General Hessman is waiting for your orders!"

"Okay," Marshal Schleicher glanced at Hammerstein, "You do it."

Hammerstein nodded and took out the order jointly signed by him and Schleicher. "General Hersman, in view of the current situation on the Eastern Front and the aggressive intentions of the Polish Federation, the Ministry of National Defense and the General Staff have decided to establish a wartime Eastern Front General Command, and you will serve as the wartime Eastern Front General Command!"

Including Army Group South, Army Group North, Army Group Baltic, Eastern Air Force Command, and the Baltic Fleet of the Navy, all troops participating in the Eastern Front's battle against Poland belonged to the Eastern Front Commander-in-Chief led by Hersmann. Partial moderation.

"Thank you for your trust, I will not let you down." Hessman took the order and raised his hand again.

The Eastern Front General Headquarters was secretly established in Stettin on the Oder River in early August. It is currently in charge of the Eastern Front Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Manstein and the Chief of Operations Colonel Model. Communications with all army groups, armies, Eastern Air Force Command and the Baltic Fleet have been established. As long as Hessmann is in place, he can take over all command of the Eastern Front!

All 50 active divisions deployed on the Eastern Front battlefield (because there is an additional Baltic Army Group, the number of troops invested is also 8 more divisions), including 30 infantry divisions, 3 mountain divisions, 7 armored divisions, Ground forces, including 4 light armored divisions, 6 motorized infantry divisions and 1 cavalry brigade (semi-mechanized), were all mobilized in the name of military exercises.

In addition, there are a large number of reserve troops, including 16 divisions that have just been mobilized and 2 divisions of the Waffen SS, which are also ready for deployment at any time.

At the same time, the Western Front headquarters with Field Marshal Blomberg as commander-in-chief was also established in Cologne. Commanding 26 active infantry divisions and more than a dozen fortress garrisons, they were stationed at the Siegfried Line, waiting for the French troops to come and die - unless the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg were willing to break neutrality immediately after the war broke out, or France and Britain were prepared to invade. They, otherwise the Western Front was very safe. Because a large section of the French-German border is bounded by the Rhine River, and the German side is the famous "Black Forest Area", which is not suitable for large armies to enter and exit.

What is really convenient for France to attack, that is, what requires heavy German defense, is only the section from the Luxembourg border to the Rhine River Karl Rushe, which is less than 150 kilometers. And that was the strongest section of the entire Siegfried Line. If the French really want to attack by force, the number of casualties will probably be unbearable!

Therefore, the sit-down war on the Western Front was almost inevitable.

…

"Comrade Captain! You, you... do you know how to command a tank brigade to fight?"

In a huge military camp near Minsk, the capital of the Belarusian Soviet Union, Pavlov, who will bear the heavy responsibility of commanding 8 tank brigades and 3 cavalry divisions to form a flag mechanized cavalry group to raid White Poland in a few days, looked at a young captain in front of him and asked worriedly.

This captain is Mikhail Yefimovich Popov, the commander of the 8th Independent Tank Brigade!

A captain actually became the commander of an independent tank brigade that should have been a colonel. This kind of thing probably only happened in the Soviet Red Army - the commanders of the armored brigades in Germany are all major generals in their forties and have served in the army for 20 to 30 years (including in the Junior Military Academy)!

But in the Soviet Union, there are many people like this "child" captain with a baby face who looks at most 24 or 25 years old (actually 27 years old) serving as brigade commanders and regiment commanders.

Because most of the officers above the rank of major in the Soviet Red Army have either been shot or are undergoing labor reform. In many divisions and brigades, the highest officers in the military academy are captains. Among the eight brigade commanders and three division commanders under Pavlov, five were captains, five were majors, and only one was a colonel.

"Report to the commander, I will definitely study hard how to be a brigade commander." Captain Popov answered loudly.

He graduated from the Frunze Military Academy. In June 1937, before the Great Purge swept the Red Army, he was still a lieutenant deputy company commander of a tank company. Serving in the First Mechanized Army established in 1932, his career was only mediocre. After all, he was just an ordinary officer with no background.

His father was an illiterate fitter and his mother was a housewife. They both lived in the Lenin Revolution. Although it was the cradle of the revolution, Popov's father and mother were honest people. They did not dare to lead a strike or join a revolutionary organization. They only knew how to live a law-abiding life and did not even join the Red Army and the Red Guards.

In a place like the Frunze Military Academy where revolutionary successors gathered, Popov could only be regarded as the most inconspicuous character. Moreover, his personality was a bit dull, his academic performance was not very good, he always gave people a silly feeling, and he was not very interested in participating in political activities.

Such a person, he got to the rank of lieutenant and company deputy, and joined the Bolshevik Party. He was a cadre of all sizes, and he was actually satisfied.

But what shocked him began in the second half of 1937! The Red Army of Workers and Peasants was full of enemies, and followers of Her Majesty Empress Olga were everywhere!

Marshal Tukhachevsky was the Empress's man, and General Belov, the commander of the Belarusian Special Military District, was also the Empress's man. Then there was the commander of the First Mechanized Army where Popov was located - that was a hero who had made great achievements in the civil war, and the idol worshipped by the entire mechanized army... He was also a loyal servant of Her Majesty Olga Nikolayevna!

Then a counter-revolutionary group that conspired to restore Tsarist Russia was dug out, and the brigade commander, regiment commander, battalion commander, and chief of staff of the First Mechanized Army were all found to be the Empress's men.

One by one, they were arrested from the garrison by the "blue hats" (internal affairs personnel)! During that period, people were in a state of panic. Even Comrade Popov, a small deputy company commander, was worried all day long, fearing that he was also a member of Her Majesty the Queen.

Fortunately, the terrible days finally ended at the end of 1938. Then the First Mechanized Army was disbanded. Captain Popov (he was promoted to the next level in 1938) and several other captains suddenly found that they were the highest-ranking officers in the entire tank brigade...

So the captains who survived the disaster welcomed their own blessings one by one.

Captain Popov became the commander of a tank brigade that made Pavlov very worried!

Pavlov sighed softly. Now he only had majors or captains to use. He said: "Comrade Popov, your willingness to learn is very good, which is very good... But now you may have to learn in the war, just like us in the past!"

As he said, he took out a red envelope and handed it to Captain Popov, saying: "Open it on time at 12 noon on September 2! This is an order, and it cannot be opened in advance!"

Needless to say, the envelope contains the order to launch an attack! The commanders of the eight tank brigades and three cavalry divisions of the Red Banner Mechanized Cavalry Group will receive the same envelope from Pavlov today.