Logan turned his attention to the deep night and said, "The attack will start in 20 hours, man. Maybe this is the last time we look forward to spending the long night before the war."
"Oh, if that’s the case, how interesting life will be in the future." guderian smiled indifferently. "For a man over 50 years old, he can still write after the war and take a vacation. How can a young strategist like you stand loneliness?"
Logan is very willing to accept the name "strategist", but he is not sure whether he will have a chance to return to the army, but he can be sure that even if there is no large-scale war in the future, local conflict military competitions will still give full play to the militarists.
"I’m going to the front early in the morning to inspect the deployment. Do you really decide to stay in Berlin?" Guderian turned to ask.
Logan replied solemnly, "I have to stay in Berlin at this juncture so that you can fight ahead with more peace of mind."
This sentence should easily remind guderian of an offensive setback, when he was still a member of the front line and the group commanders lost strategic materials in the rear area. It was like a spent force to watch the victory coming to hand drift away.
Early the next morning, guderian boarded a special plane to Poland. According to the plan, the Germans will invest 20 armored divisions and 20 7 infantry divisions in the eastern front with 110,000 fighter planes. Even if not counting as many as 29 divisions’ strategic reserves, it will be the largest offensive in the history of the Germans. In the front battlefield with a width of 1,100 kilometers, General Holt commanded A to live in groups, and 46 divisions left attacked the 2nd Air Force and the Baltic Fleet along the Baltic Sea to support fire. Reinhardt commanded 72 divisions in group B to support the 3rd Air Force in the hinterland of the Soviet Union through Belarus and northern Ukraine, and was equipped with two reorganized and demoted divisions. Manstein commanded the group to live in the right and was equipped with the cover of the 5 th Air Force to attack the Caucasus along the central Ukraine and the northern shore of the Black Sea.
In Kleist, Studente and other major generals, the German troops deployed on the eastern front are faithfully carrying out the "peaceful Europe" war order signed by the Ministry of National Defense. The first echelon attack troops have entered the offensive position and are responsible for fire support. The artillery troops and the second echelon combat troops will also be in place before evening. Fighters belonging to various air forces have strengthened their patrol and reconnaissance planes in the border areas. Cross-border aerial photography is still carried out at the usual frequency. The attack formation composed of more than 400 long-range bombers is directed at Moscow two hours earlier …
Military preparations are being carried out in an orderly way, but for Logan who stayed in Berlin, all kinds of expected or unexpected bad news came one after another as expected. The first difficulty was that schacht, the prime minister of the Portuguese government, was moored in Lisport, and the flagship Bismarck of the German navy was equipped with the latest Enigma iii "level puzzle" cipher machine. He immediately ordered the defense minister Lei Deer to report to the top secret through this new equipment. Although the Ministry of National Defense enjoys independent decision-making in military affairs, it is taking a "political" approach. However, according to naval sources, schacht people still showed up at a celebration held by Portuguese officials at noon on this day, and it seems that they did not immediately return to Germany. They planned to be notified of the war by the German General Staff 12 hours ago. The Italian General Staff suddenly informed German allies through diplomatic channels that the roads were blocked due to bad weather, and the Canadian people held a large-scale anti-war demonstration and strike action. Italy and Romania arrived at the scheduled position before the early morning of the 22nd according to the German requirements, and the Romanian high-level officials also requested to delay sending troops for the same reason less than 10 divisions in the original axis of the war. Even with the addition of independent troops composed of foreign volunteers from Britain, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium and Norway, it is less than 5% of the total size of the Eastern Front War troops.
At 7 o’clock on the evening of 21st, the Spanish ambassador paid a frantic visit to Moses Wright. During Von NiuWright’s visit with Chancellor schacht, German foreign affairs were temporarily taken care of by this respected retired soldier. At 7: 15, Logan received a message from Moses Wright and was told that the Spanish government would not send troops to participate in the German attack on the Soviet Union, but would not give special treatment to the export of goods.
At 7: 4o, Logan appeared at William Frick’s residence, and the first thing he said when he saw the president was "It seems that overnight we became enemies of all European countries and were isolated before the situation".
Frick cut a cigar as usual and said, "I estimated that countries would resist the proposal of European economic integration, but I didn’t expect their attitude to be so tough and consistent. From a political point of view, we did become enemies of Europe overnight, but Hans could still defeat the Soviet Union as planned even without the support of Italy, Spain and Romania, right?"
Logan replied with great certainty, "Of course, the Italians will hold us back, and the Spanish army is barely more effective than the Italian army. They are very important."
Frick smoked a cigar and nodded, "In fact, we have nothing to worry about. Without these countries, no one will have to share the fruits of victory after defeating the Soviet Union. Besides, we can make good use of this opportunity to make a big fuss about politics."
"Do you mean to help countries fight against schacht together?" Logan was a little surprised to ask that too many news appeared on the same day. He was quite clear-headed on weekdays, but he was a little dizzy until now.
Frick was slowly pacing the room while smoking a cigar. It seems that his ideas are not yet mature. After a while, the president said, "We must fight this war and fight it beautifully. At the same time, we must let the military generals and officers and men know who led and supported them in this war and who got cold feet. We must also let the national assembly know who is pushing Germany to victory and who is inducing Germany to fall into the swamp of resistance among other countries."
After listening to this, Logan was like an awakening, and his eyes suddenly lit up. "You’re right, this is a good time for us to take down our competitors."
"Hum, although Premier schacht is a genius in economy and finance, he is still immature in politics." Franz laughed, but then he coughed violently again.
"For the sake of health, you’d better smoke less." Logan "paid" cigars from Frick and put them out in the ashtray, which is in common interest, but after all, there are in-laws and their real interests have become closer after the political stability-Frick’s political experience and Logan’s military foundation complement each other and gradually entered the "honeymoon period"
"Hey, Avril always takes cigarettes away from me like this." Frick smiled with some emotion and then taught, "We must seize the opportunity and not make the real motivation too obvious. To do this, we must fully benefit the arrogance and conceit of the Italian government."
Obviously, Logan is not a special way for politics. He thought about it with some confusion and asked, "What do we do?"
Frick smiled wryly. "Hans, you know Mussolini may be the most headstrong person in Europe. His self-esteem is inviolable, and he is very sensitive and irritable. He must try his best to provoke a war of words between the two prime ministers. Everyone will know where their contradiction lies, and then we will slow down the attack slightly …"
Logan immediately gave a thumbs-up sign "high is really high"
[]
Chapter 92 Attack frenzy
Chapter 92 Attack frenzy
On March 22, 1942, 640,000 artillery pieces roared in unison within ten seconds, and the attack rate of more than 10,000 artillery pieces per hour shook the mountains. They will come from the vast Xinghai meteorite shower, and they will fall into the eastern Soviet-controlled area on the 30-degree east longitude line with huge destructive energy. The flames and billowing smoke will turn the front line of thousands of square kilometers into a terrible purgatory "the surface of the moon", which will quickly replace the original ravines and fortresses all over the terrain. As the shelling continues, one ancient town after another will disappear, and one spring bud will just bloom.
It is said that war is a powerful catalyst for technology, and a strategic counterattack is less than half a year apart. This time, the Germans not only formed a large-scale artillery, but also the composition and power of their artillery groups increased greatly. With the complete end of the war on the western front, the Germans had to rest assured that they would dismantle large-caliber artillery from the British soil and the fortress positions on the west coast of France and organize the British, The French military factory worked overtime to produce matching ammunition. In addition, Krupp and other German local arms dealers developed and manufactured a number of new artillery pieces, which were also put into battle for several times. Among them, in addition to Dora, the oo-millimeter-caliber train gun, there were also the improved 2o-millimeter k5 Gustav train gun, the newly-invested 210-millimeter k41 train gun, the latest mass-produced 105mm fh4o howitzer and the latest 210-millimeter five-barrel rocket gun. All these new weapons were put into use for a short time, but one case in the field has been strictly tested.
In Berlin, which is more than kilometers away from the front oo, when the bell rang, Rogan turned calmly and looked out of the window. Although the line of sight method got rid of the objective limitation and saw the smoke of the battlefield, his heart could hear the rumbling guns from the distant battlefield. A "prophet" with macro foresight for the future knew the trend of the weapons technology exhibition. This time, the German artillery preparation on the eastern front not only set a new historical record, but also probably became a Jutland historical swan song. You should know that with the technology exhibition, the range and accuracy will increase synchronously, and the number of powerful new weapons will no longer be tens of millions.
When the health passed quietly, the young man was determined to quit smoking. He gently rubbed the porcelain cup in his hand, and there was a faint scent of tea in the cold air. His eyes turned back to the tea table in front of him. There was a plate of chess with exquisite workmanship on the surface of the tea table. From the perspective of the disk battle, white chess occupied an absolute advantage, and black chess struggled to fight back.
"Well, it’s only been less than a year since I lost, and the vice premier’s chess skills have improved a lot."
The young man sitting opposite Logan is dressed in a neat and neat suit, and the official spike epaulettes are decorated with two diamond-shaped general stars. Do you say that you will make progress and stop playing chess for a year? You know, a whole year ago, this old aristocratic young man with great expectations just won the rank of brigadier general. The turbulent situation gave him an unprecedented opportunity to transfer the corps from Herman Goering to the Berlin regional defense headquarters. He made full use of his talents and made the right choice at the turning point of the political situation. Now he has become the third young lieutenant general in the history of the German national army and has taken on the defense of the whole eastern Germany-equivalent to the commander of the corps level.
Logan took a sip of tea. "I will learn a few tricks from my colleagues when I have nothing to do during the long journey, but in general, I still lose more than I win."
"The big things are fixed and the small things hinder". The young army will rearrange the chess with a calm look. "Rest or another game?"
Logan looked at the clock diagonally opposite. It’s only 3: 15. Combined with the scheduled attack plan and ammunition preparation, the artillery preparation in key areas will last for 4 hours, and even in ordinary areas, the heavy shelling will last until dawn. The possibility of accidents in the artillery preparation stage is very small.
"Let’s have another game, and go to rest after winning or losing," Logan said.
Von Derchester naturally had no objection and then laughed. "It is also a great honor to spend the night in the deputy prime minister’s residence."
"Same to you" Rogan indifferently made his first move, but he was able to win thousands of miles in strategizing.
Because of the sunny weather, it was already bright before 6 o’clock on the eastern front, and the rumbling guns were still heard. In the dull roar, more than 36oo fighters and the first wave attacked the echelon. In front of the "dark clouds of death" formed by man-made aircraft, the Soviet fighters temporarily rose to meet them. Soon, dozens of Soviet airports, 200 kilometers away from the front, were shrouded in flames and shrapnel interwoven with fire nets, and even in the dozens of kilometers away, smoke could be seen in the blue sky. Sprayed with the iron cross logo, the flying mechanism is easy to master, which makes people feel dazzling. However, this does not mean that the Soviet army has been defeated like a mountain. Although the large-scale mobilization before the German attack was announced in just two days, the Soviet high-level vigilance is obviously far better than that in peacetime, and the German army’s reconnaissance a day ago also confirmed that the Soviet army has adjusted the deployment of the front line. Many airports are reserved for reconnaissance and vigilance. A small number of aircraft are stationed in barracks, and vehicles almost disappear overnight. A large number of tactical camouflage nets have even caused changes in topography. These emergency preparations will largely offset the heavy shelling attack before the German army.
At 7 o’clock in the morning, in some sections of the front line, the Germans stopped shelling tanks on a large scale, while armored vehicles and infantry moved to the target area. At this time, more than 24oo Stukas were divided into hundreds of attack teams and appeared on the battlefield. They were afraid of the weak fire resistance of the Soviet ground forces and screamed at the target from a high dive. The bombs ranging from 25 kilograms to 1ooo kilograms exploded with unusual violence, echoing the rising flames and smoke. The earth was strongly shocked one after another, as if the world were facing landslides and cracks, and people could escape and be in a desperate situation.
At noon, after lavishly consuming more than 300 thousand shells, the German army stopped shelling and turned to the ground attack stage. On the front of the battlefield with a width of more than 11oo kilometers, ju7, ju and he111 hanged bombs to attack bf1o9 and f]
Chapter 93 Someone has to take the blame
Chapter 93 Someone has to take the blame
On March 22nd, the German attack on the Eastern Front was "hearty". According to President William Frick’s instructions, the main battle situation of the day was announced to China at 9: 00 that night, and the number of soldiers killed and captured by the German army in destroying enemy fighters, tanks and artillery was preliminarily estimated. After broadcasting these encouraging messages, the National Radio announced Italy, Spain without comment. Romanian and other countries delayed or canceled the news of sending troops, but on that night, some comments on schacht’s "economic integration" policy boycotted by European countries were still circulating in the society. According to the law of information broadcasting, these high-level informal views will soon be broadcast among the people
The situation in China and the world changed suddenly. German Chancellor Angela schacht had planned to pay a friendly visit along the route of "Portugal, Spain, France and Italy". At last, she couldn’t sit still. She ended her trip to Portugal that night and left Reese on the battleship Bismarck-only six escort ships were left behind, and they sailed for Turkey in 26 knots. If this voyage remains unchanged, they will arrive at the port in northwest Germany in about 35 hours.
"Mr. Prime Minister is not worried about the recent activities of Soviet submarines in the North Sea and the East Atlantic." When he learned this news, Logan was in the office of the Secretary of Defense and Lei Deer was also a chess player. In the face of Admiral of the fleet’s exquisite chess skills, Logan could not escape the fate of repeated battles and defeats.
On this issue, the senior naval leader seems to have answers. "Even if the Bismarck defense is attacked by two Soviet submarines at the same time, it is enough to ensure the safety of Premier schacht. Most of the Soviet military ports in the Gulf of Finland in the north have just been unfrozen. I estimate that the total number of Soviet submarines currently operating in the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean is only 10."
Logan smiled funny. The world knows that the navy is the weakest link in red empire. Although the British Churchill administration delivered a batch of important weapons, equipment and technology to its temporary allies before its failure, including attacking submarines, but limited by the strategic position of the shipbuilding industry, the Soviet navy was able to swing very little in the German war. Since April 1, 1941, its submarine forces have sunk 27 German ships with a total tonnage of less than 50,000 tons, and none of them were warships with a tonnage of more than 2000 tons. Even so, if you have the heart, you can still direct a disaster blockbuster under the guise of Soviet Union or just a title ―― it’s a pity that Lei Deer is a cautious centrist, and he doesn’t want to be all over the place, even Adolf Hitler was no exception.
Lei Deer quietly put Logan’s black chess to death and then said quietly, "If anything happens to Premier schacht’s trip, the German navy will take this back forever to erase the humiliation, so the naval officers and men will not sit by and watch the accident happen. As far as I know, the naval command has issued escort and alert orders to the troops stationed in western Europe and Turkey along the way, and the naval air force will also go."
This made Logan feel a little uncomfortable. Although he had some plans in his heart, his eyes were still sitting on the chess game. Just after losing another game, Lei Deer’s adjutant knocked at the door and reported that "Sir, the K formation has successfully crossed the Da Daniil Strait and entered the Black Sea, and the Q formation shelling fleet of Crimea will arrive in Tallinn from the early morning of the day after tomorrow."
The adjutant and staff officer to the Ministry of National Defense are officers of the 6 th Army. With Lei Deer’s entry into the Ministry of National Defense, more and more "navy blue" can be seen here, and this adjutant is no exception.
Lei Deer calmly replied "Got it" while cleaning up the chessboard.
In Logan’s view, the calm state of mind stems from personal confidence and deep understanding of things. Going to the Black Sea K formation all the way is a "strange move" for the German navy. Although this fleet has no battleships, cruisers or aircraft carriers, it has little support from inch naval guns. However, the conventional strategy of the German army has made the Soviet army devote most of its energy to consolidating the six defenses, especially after the German autumn offensive in 41. Except for Sevastopol, the southern coast of the peninsula relies on ancient fortifications and shore guns to cope with the simple sea offensive, but its ability to resist the German army’s blockbuster attack is poor.
Germany’s "Q Fleet" is considered as the essence of the German soil fleet, which is more advanced than Bismarck. The "Erpitz" is the flagship of the two modified former British naval battleships. Although their navigation is slow, their firepower and defense are very strong, and they are also called "class gunboats" by German officers and soldiers. Their coastal attack and suppression ability can be seen. In addition to the activities of "Graf Zeppelin" and "Peter Strasse" in the Atlantic Ocean, The remaining battle carriers and escort carriers of the German Navy "Herman Goering" operating in the Mediterranean are all here, and they will also receive German troops stationed in southern Finland. According to the plan, the naval 6-base aircraft supported the formation of K-type naval guns, and the Soviet defenders retaken Tallinn a few months ago and rebuilt the coastal defense works. After dawn, the superior air force bombed violently. The next appearance will be the German navy’s introduction to the 11th Air Force, and two paratroopers will also participate in the war. In terms of troops, this will be the largest battle led by the German navy in history. Considering that the navy has put into actual combat, there are more than 20 kinds of new equipment and test equipment, this battle is far from the ultimate goal of the German navy.
When there were two people left in the room again, Logan took the opportunity to explain that "actually … it is the historical trend for Premier schacht to go out of European economic integration, but it is still too early to come out and it is not surprising that it was resisted by allies and neutral countries. In my opinion, this idea will not be realized until ten to twenty years after the end of the European war … After all, we have shown too much aggression in this war."
"Aggressive?" Lei Deer’s tone is a little contemptuous. It seems that he is not disgusted with this word, and perhaps he is a little proud. As usual, he offered a routine of striving for stability and carefully looking for each other’s flaws in the confrontation. He has firmly grasped the initiative to form a step-by-step approach to Logan on the chessboard for more than a dozen steps.
"Except for the self-defense counterattack against the Soviet Union, the rest of the wars are our active attacks, which is naturally easy to understand aggression, isn’t it?" The attention is not on the chessboard. A light questioning by Rogan provoked the topic. Lei Deer retorted that "every nation has its own characteristics, which is an objective law based on life. If we don’t attack first, we will avoid being attacked ―― maybe Poland will attack us across the border in 194o, and so will France and Britain. Finally, we defeated them and avoided suffering heavy losses like being attacked by the Soviet Union. Besides, we will also bring long-term peace to Europe in the process of expanding national life."
This seemingly well-founded argument not only refutes Logan, but the young deputy prime minister smiled. "The cabinet words remind me of the Imperial Yuan and his grand vision of the Millennium Empire. I think if Germany becomes the whole of Europe and is the public enemy of the world, how many years will it last and how many generations will it last?"
Lei Deer’s right hand and the chess in his hand suddenly stopped in the middle democratic era, and there was no imprisonment of speech. In the * * era, the mindset still had a great influence on the people of this country. The throwing of * * brought a white atmosphere. Germany has risen rapidly since 1933 and won a series of beautiful victories on the international stage. All this is what people relish. It doesn’t sound awkward in Lei Deer, and there is even some irony. His eyes are off the chessboard and Logan’s face looks strangely. The young man who is half a level higher than himself stares coldly and says, "The Millennium Empire". I think our soldiers would rather fight a strong enemy than aim their guns at their own people again. "