The Rise of the Third Reich

In the early morning of April 12, 1940, at the German Airborne Chasseur headquarters in Saarbrücken, Airborne Corps General Kurt Student was anxiously waiting in the war room for news from the front.

In his view, the airborne operation in the Sedan-West Bank area of ​​the Maas River was a trial that was likely to pay a high price! Use an elite airborne chasseur division to test the strength of the French army on the Sedan-Mause River line.

If the French really transferred the main force of the Allied 1st Army Group to Belgium and Metz as the German General Staff and Western Front Headquarters expected, then the elite 1st Airborne Jaeger Division's assault operation would have achieved success. If the French army still deploys quite strong troops along the Sedan-Mause River line, then the 1st Airborne Chasseur Division will be in a hard fight and suffer heavy casualties.

However, the sacrifice of the airborne chasseurs will not be meaningless, because ascertaining the actual situation of the French army in the Sedan-Mause area can also be used to deduce the deployment of French troops in Metz, so as to adjust the offensive plan in a timely manner. ——Of course, "Operation Sickle" also has Plan A, Plan B and Plan C. If the French army deployed its main force at Sedan-Mause River, the German army could break through from Metz.

After all, the French only have such a small number of troops. It is impossible to deploy enough troops in all places. The empty gate must exist, either in Metz or on the Sedan-Mause River... The French would not dare to put the empty gate in all places. Belgium, because that would put the British Empire in dire straits.

Since Britain is an island country, it has always had a large navy and a small army. The size of the British army in peacetime is simply not comparable to that of traditional army powers like France. The size of the army in peacetime was too small, which caused the British Army to expand slowly during wartime. Moreover, the British army also likes to play the elite route, and will not expand a "miscellaneous army" with hundreds of divisions carelessly.

Therefore, the 10th Division of the British Expeditionary Force currently sent to the European continent is a seed force that has been trained with great difficulty, and there are a large number of professional officers and senior non-commissioned officers in it. If they were all left in Belgium, the new recruits being trained in the UK would not have qualified officers and non-commissioned officers to command them.

Considering that the closest distance between Belgium and the British mainland is less than 100 kilometers, and the strong strength of the German Air Force and Naval Aviation, once most of the army officers, non-commissioned officers and Belgium are lost, the British mainland will be in a position where it may be invaded and fell at any time. The terrible situation... This may very well force Britain to seek compromise from Germany!

So now the options for Gamelin and Joseph George are very limited.

"Your Excellency," Major General Bruno Breuer, Chief of Staff of the Airborne Forces, suddenly shouted in the war room, "Success! Success! Telegram from Major General Tretner (Commander of the 1st Airborne Jaeger Division): The operation was a success! And a huge success!”

"Great!" Stuart took the telegram copy, glanced at it twice, then walked to a red telephone, picked up the receiver and dialed the number of the Western Front Headquarters. News of the success of the airborne operation was reported to Infantry General Manstein, who served as Chief of Staff of the Western Front Headquarters.

"Marshal, the airborne troops have succeeded!" Manstein put down the phone. He could no longer suppress his excitement. "The first wave of raids was a complete success. Two regiments of the 1st Airborne Chasseur Division were in Sedan-Malaysia. They successfully airborne to the west of the Meuse River, and they encountered no resistance in most areas! This shows that the French forces in the Sedan-Mause River area are very empty...there will soon be broken through by the 1st Armored Group!"

The current Commander-in-Chief on the Western Front is Field Marshal Hamerstein, who is also the official Chief of the General Staff of the Grand General Staff. Today, the command system of the German Wehrmacht is World War I-style. The Grand General Staff can be divided into Berlin during the war. Headquarters and front headquarters, and the chief of general staff or the first and second quartermaster generals serve as important front commanders. If the Chief of General Staff himself serves as the commander-in-chief of the front, then the First Director of Munitions will act as Chief of General Staff.

Since Hessmann had already served as the commander-in-chief of the front in the Polish campaign, the commander-in-chief of the Western Front this time was Chief of Staff Hamerstein. However, Hammerstein did not propose his own battle plan. Instead, the headquarters meeting took the decision and chose the "Manstein Plan" as the model to formulate "Operation Sickle".

Different from another time and space where Manstein himself was suppressed by the army during the Battle of France, Manstein now serves as the powerful Chief of Staff on the Western Front with the support of Hessmann.

"Very good!" Marshal Hammerstein also breathed a sigh of relief, with a rare relief on his overly serious face. "Erich, what are your suggestions for next steps?"

It seems that it is only a matter of time before the French defenses break through the Sedan-Mause River line, but what to do after the breakthrough is controversial within the German army. According to Manstein's original plan, after breaking through the Sedan-Maas River, the German Army Group A would have to undertake at least two tasks at the same time. The first was to go south to Metz to steal the retreat of the "Maginot" line of defense; The second is to form an armored group with the Lukan Armored Division (Manstein's plan is 3 armored divisions) and the Motorized Infantry Division to attack Dunkirk and Calais, cutting off the main coalition forces in Belgium and the mainland of France. Contact us.

Subsequently, the "Manstein Plan" underwent two further amendments - the "Hirschmann Amendment" and the "Lundstedt Amendment", thus becoming the "Operation Sickle" plan.

The "Hersman Amendment" gave top priority to outflanking the elite British and French forces in Belgium to the north (the main mechanized and motorized forces of Britain and France were all in this direction).

The "Lundstedt Amendment" significantly increased the strength of Army Group A to 64 divisions, and added a plan to attack Metz, France from southern Luxembourg - this plan not only serves as a front line between Sedan and the Meuse River The preparation when it is difficult to break through is also necessary to encircle the main force of the French army on the "Maginot" line of defense (the number is relatively large, but most of them are ordinary infantry divisions), and to open up the logistics line of Army Group A.

"Marshal, I suggest splitting up the First Armored Army," Manstein said. "The main force of the 19th Armored Army and the 15th Armored Army of the 1st Armored Army will continue to carry out the plan of going north to outflank Dunkirk and Calais. Task. The 41st Armored Corps and the 5th Armored Division (belonging to the 15th Armored Corps) of the 1st Armored Army were assigned to the 12th Army of Cavalry General Kleist. The 12th Army will first be responsible for encircling Metz southward. Cooperate with the large number of infantry of Army Group A to encircle and destroy the enemies of Metz, creating conditions for encircling the enemies of the 'Maginot' line of defense."

Encircling the dozens of French divisions stationed on the "Maginot" line of defense was actually the main purpose of the "Manstein Plan." Moreover, Marshal Hammerstein and General Lundstedt also agreed to regard the enemies of the "Maginot" line of defense as the main target!

Those who advocated breaking into the Belgian enemy as the main goal were Marshal Hessmann and General Guderian.

"Does Army Group A have the ability to carry out southward and northward missions at the same time?" Marshal Hamelstein seemed hesitant. His worries are justified. If the 41st Armored Corps and the 5th Armored Division are assigned to the 12th Army, then the 1st Armored Army going north will lose 3 armored divisions and only have 4 armored divisions left.

"Marshal, we have now completely obtained the Luxembourg railway system," Manstein said. "This will allow a large number of infantry of Army Group A to quickly move to the north of Metz, so that we can attack the enemy of Metz. Pincer attack. Once Metz is captured by our army, Army Group A can very easily cut off the retreat of the main French army stationed on the 'Maginot' line of defense... According to reliable intelligence, although the 50 French divisions there have a large number of artillery, They have very little mobility and don't have enough trucks to haul heavy artillery. As long as we can cut off the railway line, they can't move."

The defenders of the "Maginot" line of defense were not mobile troops in the first place. Their mission was to defend the line. Naturally, they did not need to equip a large number of trucks, and they did not even have enough large livestock. According to the plans of the French high command, if troops there needed to be mobilized, it should be done by rail rather than by road.

Therefore, as long as the railway line can be cut off, the dozens of divisions there will not be able to return to Paris, and then the defense of Paris will be out of the question - because Stalin's Red Army struggled in Kiev and Brest (they also struggled in Finland) ), made many German generals aware of the difficulty of attacking big cities. Therefore, the "Battle of Paris" that will never happen has become something that a group of German generals are very worried about... Under the control of this kind of thinking, the dozens of divisions behind the "Maginot" line of defense have become the focus of the German army Serious trouble.

Therefore, the plan advocated by Hessmann and Guderian to annihilate the enemies of Belgium and then attack the enemies of Maginot did not receive much support.

"As for the 1st Armored Group's mission to go north," Manstein said thoughtfully, "I think the main restriction on them is not their strength but fuel. Most of the infantry divisions of the 12th Army and Army Group A can be used in Metz. Reduce pressure on the logistics line.”

This view is actually reasonable. If the main force of Army Group A does not attack Metz (you can go by train), then they will have to pass through the Ardennes Forest. By then, dozens of infantry divisions will be on several narrow roads. Crawl slowly, and it will be difficult for trucks transporting fuel to pass.

"That's right. We can only truly defeat France by eating the defenders of the Maginot Line." Marshal Hamerstein thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Then submit this plan to the Berlin headquarters. Bar."