Chapter 264 Counterattack IX
"General Bock, I ordered the cancellation of the 19th Armored Corps' plan to attack Lviv. The Armored Corps immediately gathered up and prepared to be transferred to the western front."
September 10, 1939, Stettin Eastern Front Headquarters. General Ludwig von Heinsberg-Hersmann was on the phone with General Fedor von Bock, commander of Army Group North, and he was issuing the latest orders to Bock.
"General," von Bock's hoarse voice came from the phone receiver, "Is the situation on the Western Front very tight?"
The current situation on the Eastern Front can only be described as great! On the morning of September 8, the first part of the 16th Armored Corps of Army Group South (the main force was the 4th Armored Division) was at the intersection of the Buchula River and the Vistula River, and the "Manstein Tactical Group" (the main force) moving southward It is the 10th Armored Division) to join forces.
After completing the rendezvous, the Polish Army Group southwest of the Vistula River, west and north of the Butzula River (composed of the main force of the Poznań Army, the First Division of the Marina Group Army, and the First Division of the Lodz Army Group) was completely surrounded. According to air force reconnaissance, the number of Polish troops is likely to exceed 150,000.
In Radom, about 90 kilometers southeast of Warsaw, the remnants of the Prussian Army Group, the Polish Army's previous general reserve (they had been defeated on the east bank of the Pilica River), were also surrounded by the 15th Armored Corps.
On the southern front, the Carpathian Army's defense line had also collapsed. The Army was divided and surrounded by the infantry and Slovak troops of the German 14th Army. It was only a matter of time before the entire army was annihilated.
On the northern front, the Polish Modlin Group Army was also retreating steadily, and most of it was annihilated. A small number of troops retreated to the south bank of the Narew River in the northeast of Warsaw to join forces with the newly formed Weshkov Tactical Group, temporarily relying on Narew. A very thin line of defense was established at Leif River. However, such a defense line could not withstand the attacks of the German Third Army and the 19th Panzer Corps (controlled by Army Group North).
In addition, the Polish Narew Tactical Group originally deployed in the southeast of East Prussia has now begun to move south, and its destination is likely to be the Brest Fortress or Lublin. If the 19th Armored Corps is used to pursue now, the possibility of destroying the Narev Cluster is very high.
"The situation on the Western Front is not too tight," Hessmann said while holding the phone receiver. "The Dutch are still delaying, and the British and French forces also need some time to mobilize. The reason why the 19th Armored Corps is being moved westward now is because of the objectives of the Polish campaign. It has been basically achieved.”
"What? Basically achieved?" Admiral Bock seemed surprised, "But the Poles still have many troops, and the city of Warsaw has not been occupied."
“There is no need to occupy Warsaw for the time being,” Hessmann said. “The Third Army should withdraw from the current front and gradually return to East Prussia; the Fourth Army and the Manstein Group should fight east of the Vistula River. After annihilating or expelling the Polish Poznan Group and the Prussian Group, the Southern Army Group's front will also shrink to the west and south."
"General, I don't understand, why should we do this?" Admiral Bock asked, "Do we want to start negotiations with Poland?"
"Negotiations are already going on secretly," Hersmann told von Bock on the phone. "Our current position is to restore the Polish-German border in the '1918 Treaty' and to station troops in the former Austrian East Galicia. It does not consider the destruction and annexation of Poland..."
Of course Poland will be annexed! But there is no need to shout hysterically and make the Poles fight for your life. What's the need? Hessmann doesn't care how annexation happened in history. Anyway, in this time and space, there is absolutely no need for Germany to be so ugly.
What a wonderful thing happened in Lviv this time. The Ukrainian people are crying and shouting for Germany to annex. This is the spirit of tyranny!
Therefore, after the "Lvov Incident", Hessmann immediately had a phone call with Schleicher and Hitler and determined the latest plan to resolve the war on the Eastern Front:
1. Do not consider destroying Poland and occupying Warsaw at the moment - that will only make Stalin easier. If the German army captured Warsaw and at the same time captured Poland itself, it would mean the demise of the Polish Federation, and the Polish army on the eastern front would lose the fighting spirit to resist the Soviet Union. This time Stalin played a trick on Germany in declaring war on Poland and the United Kingdom and the United States. Naturally, Germany would not completely defeat Poland and let the Soviet Union eat meat comfortably.
2. Use the western border of Soviet Russia stipulated in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk as the military demarcation line for the occupation of Western Ukraine. The west was completely controlled by the Germans, while the east was controlled by the Ukrainian Defense Forces.
3. Germany will not participate in the resistance activities of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, but it can open Western Ukraine to accept right-bank Ukrainian refugees—they are refugees now, but in a few years they may be good National Socialist fighters full of hatred for the Soviet Union!
4. Germany currently does not annex Western Ukraine, but actually controls Western Ukraine in the form of military occupation. It will wait for the winner of the war between the Soviet Union and Poland before holding a referendum - this is to give the Poles some illusions.
5. Start peace negotiations with Poland, first proposing to use the "1918 Polish-German Treaty" as the basis to accurately determine the western border and occupy all of Lithuania. At the same time, Germany proposed occupying Western Ukraine until the end of the Soviet-Polish War, and occupying all of Poland west of the Bug River when Poland was defeated by the Soviet Union, in order to prevent Poland from being completely occupied by the Soviet Union. Germany's occupation of Poland and Western Ukraine would last until the end of the world war.
6. Germany promised to remain neutral in the future Soviet-Polish war and would not support the Soviet Union, nor would it support Poland - because the Soviet Union did not fulfill its obligation to go to war with Poland, Germany would not eliminate all Polish troops for the Soviet Union. But the dividing lines that had divided Poland before remained in effect. Germany will not occupy lands belonging to the Soviet Union!
This is Hessman's way, and the occupation is dignified and upright, so that people can be convinced.
Of course, Hersman's approach was also based on the fact that the Polish army actually had some strength. On the Western Front alone, the Polish Army has at least four army-level tactical clusters: Army Group Poznan, Army Group Warsaw, Lublin Tactical Group, and Narew Tactical Group.
Moreover, three of the group armies (clusters) are composed of elite troops, and their combat effectiveness cannot be underestimated. Although it cannot deal with the German army, if it is used east of the Bug River, it may be a hard nut to crack for the Soviet Red Army. Let Stalin chew it slowly!
Germany happened to end the war on the Eastern Front early so that it could concentrate on preparing for the decisive battle on the Western Front. Although the Polish campaign lasted only 10 days, there were still a lot of problems exposed. There are problems caused by insufficient training of the troops (especially the armored troops), problems caused by insufficient command experience (no one has ever commanded armored troops in battle), and problems in tactical thinking-the German generals are using On the issue of armored forces, we are still too conservative.
Of course, the biggest problem still lies in the weapons and equipment! The most troublesome among them is the tank. Although the German army used tanks to crush the Polish defense lines, the German tanks were far from as powerful as they seemed.
The Panzer II tanks have insufficient armor and firepower and are easily damaged on the battlefield. The 37mm gun is enough to cause them heavy losses. The 38t tank performs well, but the number is not large enough. It should be allowed to completely replace the No. 2 tank. The Panzer III tank seems to have little chance of performance. Its 50mm L42 gun failed during the test, so it can only temporarily install a 37mm gun, which has the same power as the 38t tank gun (and the same model).
The 75mm L43 gun of the Panzer IV is also unqualified - it is actually not easy to develop a long-barreled tank gun, because it cannot be too big or heavy. You can only find a way in terms of materials and technology, which takes time and time. test. However, Hessmann did not study metallurgy in his previous life and had no knowledge in this area. Therefore, the military industry department was not given enough time. Although the cannon was barely developed, the quality was not up to standard and the service life was too short. And the commanders of the armored forces liked to use this "large-caliber" artillery too much (because they lacked self-propelled artillery). As a result, only 10 days after the war started, most of the artillery barrels of the Panzer IV tanks had been replaced once, and the gun barrels had already been replaced. As a result, the management's reserves were in short supply.
In short, there are a lot of various problems, and it does take a while to solve them before we can ensure that the French guy is knocked to the ground.
…
"Oh? So, the Germans are not planning to occupy Warsaw?" Rez Himigwi saw the "six-point peace conditions" given by Hessmann at the Brest Fortress. In the past few days, , he was deploying a counterattack while relocating the headquarters, which resulted in a series of command chaos, so that the counterattack that should have started long ago was not launched until the morning of September 11.
The Polish army's headquarters has now moved to the Brest Fortress east of the Bug River. So it took Natalie a whole day to take the Italian Embassy's car from Warsaw to arrive at the new headquarters of Rez-Chimig with the radio station and Hessmann's message.
"No, they will eventually occupy Warsaw," Natalie Lesinskaya seemed to smile bitterly. "When your hundreds of thousands of troops are completely defeated by the Soviet Red Army, the German army will be able to occupy Poland in an open and honest manner in accordance with the armistice agreement. ”
"The occupation must be just and aboveboard!" Rez Himigwe snorted, "When did these Germans become as hypocritical as the British?"
"Actually, most of them are quite honest," Natalie shrugged, "but the current commander-in-chief of the Eastern Front, General Hessmann, is quite hypocritical, and he strongly advocates an armistice with Poland. But you still have to accept the hypocrisy. Armistice, am I right?”
The Polish Marshal sighed. Natalie was right. Poland must accept it, because the Soviet Union will soon attack in the east. This is a war that truly cares about the survival of the Polish nation!