Chapter 688: The Great Encirclement - Germany's Tank Sea
The train moved forward with a "clang, clang, clang" and gradually moved away from Warsaw, a battlefield that swallowed the flesh and blood of countless Germans and Soviets. It first drove along the westbound railway, then turned back to the north, and then headed east.
The huge body of Major Gustav Schwarzenegger, with a Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross hanging on his collar, sat on a chair near the window, looking out at the midsummer scenery on the Polish plains. The fields were green and warm. The wind blows in my face, and everything I look at is green grass and red flowers. Polish villages are scattered scattered among this picturesque scenery, filled with smoke, making it look extremely peaceful and peaceful.
It’s not bad here either! Major Schwarzenegger thought to himself, why not wait until the war is over and move to Poland to be with the comrades who are buried here.
The just-concluded Battle of Warsaw was extremely cruel. In the two-month bloody battle, the German 6th Army paid a heavy price of nearly 120,000 casualties or missing persons - the number of casualties and missing persons of the Soviet Western Front on the Warsaw battlefield was Close to 500,000, almost an exchange rate of 1:4.
Major Schwarzenegger's tank company had been fighting hard on the front line and suffered particularly heavy casualties. The number of casualties and missing persons reached 60, which was more than half of the company's full strength.
The huge casualties were also rewarded with illustrious military exploits. Gustav Schwarzenegger was not only promoted to the rank of major, but also received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
The 5th SS "Viking" Division also gained a reputation in Warsaw and became the ace division in the Wehrmacht sequence (the SS in this time and space is just a title, has no independent system and is part of the Wehrmacht). As soon as the Battle of Warsaw ended, this ace division was upgraded from a panzergrenadier division to an armored division, becoming the first armored division under the name of the SS and the 22nd armored division of the German Army.
The upgrade of the Panzergrenadier Division to the Armored Division is of course not a matter of changing a brand, but a real effort to significantly expand the armored force of the army. Now that the output of large oil fields in the Middle East is rising, Germany has the confidence to significantly expand its armored forces.
Therefore, Schwarzenegger's 5th SS Armored Battalion was expanded into the 5th SS Armored Regiment. The number of armored battalions also increased from 1 to 2. At full strength, it has 176 Type 4 H vehicles. tank.
However, Major Schwarzenegger did not become one of the two tank battalion commanders of the 5th SS Armored Regiment. He became the battalion commander of the 5th SS Tank Destroyer Battalion.
The Tank Destroyer Battalion is a unit that has only recently begun to appear in Germany. It is a combat unit formed from a tank destroyer called the "Rhinoceros" developed based on the improved Panzer IV chassis.
In fact, the "Rhino" is not the first tank destroyer. There were also the "Weasel" and "Weasel" 2 tank destroyers before. However, these two "tank destroyers" were regarded as anti-tank guns and were given to some elites. Anti-tank battalion of the troops. According to Hessmann's plan, in the future, all anti-tank battalions of armored divisions, panzergrenadier divisions and infantry divisions will be equipped with the "Weasel" 2 tank destroyer developed based on the chassis of the No. 2 tank.
The "Rhinoceros", a big guy carrying an 88mm gun, was developed under the order of Hersman in June 1940. At the same time, a "Bumblebee" 150mm self-propelled gun based on the same chassis was also developed.
"Rhinoceros" and "Wild Bee" were finalized around June 1942 and began trial production. Only a small number of "Rhino" and "Wild Bee" have been produced. However, because the "Rhinoceros" anti-tank destroyer was developed and finalized earlier than in history, it did not wait for the 71 times the caliber 88mm gun. Instead, it chose the same 5-gun as the Tiger tank. Although the power was a little smaller, But when the tungsten steel bullet is used open, the power is enough for the time being.
In addition, the "Rhinoceros" designed according to Hirschman's requirements also has a 10mm thick top cover, which can be used to protect it from howitzers and rocket launchers, and its battlefield survivability is much stronger.
The 5th SS "Viking" Armored Division was the first batch of troops equipped with "Rhinoceros" anti-tank destroyers. A total of 42 vehicles were obtained (3 destroyer companies, each company had 14 destroyers), all of which were incorporated into the 5th SS Destroyer Tank Battalion.
However, Major Schwarzenegger himself has never seen a real "Rhinoceros" because the 5th SS Destroyer Tank Battalion is a new unit that has just completed training and is still waiting for Major Schwarzenegger to take over. Well - the troops will definitely be handed over to him before the next battle, but the current location of the 5th SS Tank Destroyer Battalion is a secret, and where the 5th SS "Viking" Armored Division is going is also a secret.
The train was refueled at an unknown small Polish train station and continued to move forward. At dawn on the second day, it suddenly stopped beside a forest in the middle of nowhere. When everyone was surprised, they heard a loud whistle, and then someone shouted: "Everyone, bring your backpacks and get out of the car!"
Gustav Schwarzenegger, who was awakened by the whistle, knew that his destination had arrived! He immediately picked up his backpack and got off the train behind a group of grenadiers from the 5th SS "Wiking" Division. The grenadiers lined up in a forest next to the railway, waiting for the staff of the division headquarters to take them to a camp located somewhere unknown.
Gustav Schwarzenegger walked alone along the railway carrying a backpack to the train where the division headquarters was located. In order for a large establishment like the "Viking" division to move, of course it would require many trains to pull it, so Gustav walked for a long time without even reaching the train where the division headquarters was located, but things suddenly became brighter on both sides of the railway.
The dense woods suddenly disappeared, replaced by a vast flat land that was so huge that the edges could not be seen, and the flat land was filled with countless No. 4 tanks covered with camouflage tarpaulins!
…
"Marshal, the 5th SS 'Viking' Armored Division has arrived at the Nemenchine assembly point."
Lieutenant General Tipelskich, chief of staff of the German Army Group North, quickly walked into the war room and reported the arrival of the 5th SS Armored Division to General Manstein, the commander of the Army Group who was milling around the sand table. information.
The Nemenczny assembly area is located near Vilnius, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, surrounded by a large forest. When the Polish Federation ruled Lithuania, it was the training ground for the Polish army and has always been a military restricted area. After the arrival of the Germans, the Nemenchine training ground was expanded repeatedly, a large number of well-camouflaged military camps, warehouses and roads were built, and a military railway was also laid. It is now a staging area for the 4th Armored Group Army. The 1st Armored Division, 2nd Armored Division, and 11th Armored Division are all concentrated there. Now another 5th SS Armored Division will be added.
"Got it." Manstein just responded in a low voice. After a while, he asked again, "Have the five heavy armored battalions moved out?"
He was asking about the 501-505 Heavy Armored Battalions. These five battalions withdrew from Warsaw earlier than the 5th SS Armored Division, and then withdrew to Danzi for rest and expansion, replacing all "Panther" tanks with "Tiger" tank. At the same time, each battalion also strengthened a medium tank company (equipped with 22 short-barreled Type 4 F tanks) and an assault gun company (equipped with 6 Type 3 assault guns) to strengthen the heavy armor company against Soviet infantry and Soviet infantry. capabilities of military anti-tank guns.
"We set off in one hour, and we will definitely arrive at Nemenczny tonight." Tippelskich said, "With the addition of the 5th SS Armored Division and 5 heavy armored battalions, we can offset the The adverse effects of the transfer of the 56th Armored Corps.”
The 56th Armored Corps was transferred from Army Group North together with the 18th Army, and they now belong to the newly established Petrograd Army Group. The Petrograd Army Group now includes the 18th Army, the Russian 1st White Guard Army, the Southeastern Finnish Army, the Finnish Karelia Army, and the French 1st Artillery Group, which are specifically responsible for the siege of Leningrad - of course, not the siege. Fight, wait for the Soviet relief troops to come up and die!
After the 56th Panzer Corps was transferred, the armored assault force of Army Group North was weakened. Under this situation, Manstein asked Guderian to withdraw the 5th SS Army from the Warsaw battlefield. The armored division and 5 heavy armored battalions were placed under his command.
Manstein smiled, crossed his arms and said: "Actually, looking at the performance of the Soviet Red Army in Poland, we now have the 1st, 2nd, 6th, 7th, 10th, 11th, 12th, The 13th, 14th, 15th and other 10 armored divisions, plus the 5th SS Armored Division and 5 heavy armored battalions, should have enough strength to fight against the Soviet tank sea."
"That's enough!" Tippelskich laughed, "It's enough even without the 5th SS Panzer Division and 5 heavy armored battalions. Because the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th The expansion of the five armored divisions was completed in July and August, and the number of armored regiments increased from 1 to 2. In this way, our original 10 armored divisions have a total of 20 armored regiments. There are 3,520 No. 4 tanks!”
Because the two major bottlenecks of oil and non-ferrous metals have been solved, and the integration of industrial capabilities in European countries has been relatively successful. Therefore, the German armored forces are now taking a quantitative approach, choosing the No. 4 tank and the No. 3 assault gun as the main models. It also includes Daimler-Benz, Krupp, Rheinmetall, MAN, Porsche, Volkswagen, Henschel, Skoda, and Polish State Industries (this was the original Polish arsenal, and now Still operated by the Royal Government of Poland), Renault, Soma, Hotchkiss, AMX (the above four are French companies) and other tank manufacturers in the European Community are all under the command of the German Arms Directorate. Their tank production capabilities are concentrated on the No. 4 series, No. 3 assault gun series and No. 2 self-propelled gun series. Therefore, the production capacity of German (European Community) tanks and assault artillery is now much stronger than in history. After the Soviet-German war broke out, all factories were operating at full capacity. By July, the European Community (not including the weak industrial base , Hungary, which was temporarily unable to produce No. 4 and No. 3), the total output of tanks and assault artillery in various countries exceeded 1,500 units.
Now the German Army finally has the conditions to play with the sea of tanks!