One Hundred and Ninety-Three Northbound

The thick fog filled the edge of the forest, and the low visibility made people panic. (starter)

A field command car with a radio station was driving slowly on the forest path. On these two command cars specially designed for armored troops, an electromechanical operator was sitting in the car, fiddling with his new radio station. And beside him, sitting two guards holding mp-44, as well as Guderian's adjutant.

Guderian sat in the co-pilot, rocking back and forth with the potholes on the ground. The driver of the car beside him hung a g43 rifle and drove the car intently. This six-wheeled vehicle has no doors, similar to a six-wheeled armored reconnaissance vehicle with no armor and no artillery on the top. Guderian's foot casually stepped on the edge of the door sill, humming the hometown tune softly in his mouth.

With the 10th day of the offensive against Poland, the Germans had already begun to improve their details in every aspect. For example, Guderian found that he often lost contact with his troops and could not effectively control the high-speed armored troops. So he thought of a very effective way, which is to sit in the command car and move forward with his armored troops.

His 1st Armored Division had just driven out the Polish defenders in the woods and captured several hundred prisoners, and he was going to catch up with the 1st Armored Regiment that had crossed the woods and captured a town beyond the woods. He needs to find a high-power station there to inform his troops to continue the mission below.

Suddenly with a shrill howl, a shell exploded not far behind their car. The car shook, and everyone was dazed by the sudden attack. Behind the car, two guards picked up their assault rifles and looked around vigilantly at their surroundings.

"It's the 75mm howitzer of the 9th Motorized Infantry Division." Guderian is obviously an expert in this kind of artillery: "Isn't there a clear rule that it is not allowed to fire casually in foggy weather?"

"These idiots! Didn't they read the prohibition manual?" The adjutant was frightened by the cannonball, and frowned and complained: "Damn! Go back and send them a protest document! Let them report to the Army Headquarters. Explain the attack."

"Brake!" Guderian loudly ordered the driver beside him, "Be careful!"

"Boom!" A shell exploded in front of the car, and the dust and gravel it carried hit the windshield of the car with a loud noise, and a stone even embedded in the right windshield at once, bringing out a piece of the windshield. Circular cracks like spider webs.

"My God!" The adjutant stared at the stone that would have pierced through the glass and hit Guderian's face if it had been stronger. It took a few seconds to react, and he murmured.

"Quick! Avoid the action!" Guderian turned sideways,

Reached out and grabbed the driver's steering wheel, and swerved in the foggy weather: "Step on the accelerator! The next shell will hit us!"

The car accelerated suddenly and went straight to the drainage ditch on the side of the road. Guderian hurriedly grabbed the handrail beside him. Just as he was getting ready, the car rushed into the ditch. The roar, coupled with the shouts of people, spread far and wide with the thick fog.

And just in the direction of the original car, an artillery shell hit the road, and the explosion brought a thick smoke, followed by the sound of an explosion in the distance. The motorized infantry divisions had not been notified that the 1st Panzer Corps had seized the forest, and they were extending their firepower in preparation for the attack on the woods.

"Is anyone injured?" Looking at the blue smoke from the engine, Guderian got out of the co-pilot's seat with a wry smile, stood on the mound next to the car, and looked helplessly at the car's unrecognizable engine compartment.

His aide-de-camp answered loudly in the car: "One of the guards was injured, his face hit the workbench and he was bleeding a lot... The others are okay."

"We have to hurry up! We need to walk at least 5 kilometers of forest trails." Guderian sighed and said: "Go to the 1st Regiment Headquarters in front to tell the idiots of the 9th Infantry Division, they almost helped The Poles killed a German general!"

They only walked for about 5 minutes when a truck stopped beside them. Looking at the capital letter g1 written on the front of the car, they knew that the truck belonged to the 1st Regiment of the 1st Armored Division. Because the Führer personally named the First Armored Division the Guderian Division, the representative letter of this division was g.

"Hey! Do you want to hitch a ride?" The German soldier who was driving asked loudly with his head out, but he deliberately drove the car in front of the crowd, letting Guderian and others who were standing on the side of the road eat a mouthful of dust. This is also to blame for the unfortunate incident the day before yesterday: a major general named Flitch died in the northern battle, so the Führer personally ordered all front-line officers to wear steel helmets - which directly led to many soldiers not recognizing the officers who originally wore big-brimmed hats them.

"Of course! Thank you for your kindness!" Guderian walked to the side of the car and said to his men with a smile: "I'm really lucky to meet you."

When the soldier who was driving came back to his senses from the shock, Guderian with the general's epaulettes had already climbed into the cargo compartment of the truck. There were thousands of liters of gasoline inside, and the smell was terrible, but Guderian was glad he didn't have to walk after his tank troops.

Ten minutes later, Guderian finally found his 1st regiment. At the regimental headquarters, a series of orders were issued to the military headquarters, one of which was to inform the 9th Infantry Division to catch up and stop wasting shells on non-existent enemies.

Then he thought about it, and in a bizarre statement style, sent a memorandum to the General Command of the Wehrmacht, which was very humorous: "In southern Poland, the heavy fog caused a lot of trouble for the German team, although Artillery units had been strictly ordered not to fire at targets in foggy weather, but the artillery units still stubbornly did so. The consequence of this was that the German artillery units almost sent their tank warfare command experts into the coffin. "

The reason why I want to take this out and talk about it separately is because this little "episode" of the war has a very interesting ending-a few hours later, the 9th Motorized Infantry Division replied to Guderian's telegram: " You should be glad we used 75 guns instead of Friedrich Bazooka..." A few hours after this telegram reached Guderian, the 9th Infantry Division was temporarily assigned to the command of the 1st Panzer Corps by Army Group d. I almost cried when I heard that the commander of the 9th Infantry Division got the order.

Soon, Guderian found the SS 3rd Panzer Division, which he had already attacked more than ten kilometers to the east, and ordered them to temporarily stop the attack, so the madly attacking German 1st Panzer Army temporarily stopped because the ancient In his temporary command, Drian received a telegram from General Model of Army Group d, as well as reports and photos of the direction of the Polish army from Air Force reconnaissance planes.

"This time the Poles really did a smart thing." Guderian looked at the instructions on the document, handed the intelligence analysis document to his adjutant, and said to his staff with a smile: "They I found that my northern defenses had completely collapsed, so the concentrated troops wanted to make a decisive battle with our army in the south."

The adjutant of the rest of his life was by Guderian's side, looked at the intelligence analysis that Guderian handed him, nodded in agreement and said, "This time they made the right choice and found an option that is very beneficial to them. "

The staff officer looked at the military map in his hand and pointed to the point on it for advice: "If we win here, here, and here in advance, we can shorten the front that needs to be defended and concentrate our forces to face the Polish troops heading south."

Guderian nodded: "Let the 3rd SS Panzer Division turn back and search northward! Find the main Polish force for a decisive battle. Let the Friedrich Rocket Artillery Unit of the 9th Infantry Division follow and give the Poles some color. "have a look."

An officer walked into the temporary command headquarters, handed a document to Guderian, and then stood at attention and saluted: "Long live the Führer!"

"What's the matter?" Guderian glanced at the document suspiciously. The Imperial Eagle pattern at the beginning of the paper proved that this was a shared intelligence of the Air Force.

"The Air Force encountered a frantic counterattack by Polish aircraft in central Poland. Our army is temporarily unable to gain local air superiority. All troops are requested to advance carefully." The officer reported the content of the intelligence: "In addition, the reconnaissance plane found that the speed of the Polish troops going south was very high. Come on, there are a lot of tanks in the army."

"Arrange a signal trooper to send this information to General Frick. Tell him to be careful." Guderian thought for a while and said, "In addition, apply for air support from the army, and exclude the nearby Polish fighter and bomber units."

...

In the wilderness, as the armored unit of the SS 3rd Armored Division rushing in the forefront, the commander of the No. 112 tank, Markus, was complaining to the company commander Carter in the intercom: "I have an order above, and the people below will catch up with dozens of people. Kilometers of road, tired like a dog."

"Stop complaining! Look at Ren... This is a great warrior loyal to the Führer!" Carter responded boredly as the tank swayed. A few days ago, they had just replaced new tracks, deployed and repaired the engine gearbox, and then were ordered to turn around and push northwards. As a result, they have not met a single Polish soldier along the way.

"Company commander! It's 1 o'clock. Do you see the smoke?" Ren's voice sounded in the earphones: "I think the mission assigned by the regiment headquarters is to let us who have experience in fighting tanks deal with us. The team is here!"

"All tanks! Prepare the artillery!" Carter's voice changed a little because of excitement: "1 o'clock direction! Large-scale Polish troops! Adjust the car body, and test the throat communicator in a minute..."

On September 25, 1937, the 3rd SS Panzer Division of the German SS was ordered to go north to attack the Polish army in Lodz. The two sides met near an unnamed hill.

...