November 15, 1939
Northern Germany, Berlin, High Command of the Ard Forces
“Report from the 2nd Military District Garrison! Enemy armored units are entering in the direction of Stettin!”
“Manstein, does that damn bastard take
for a sucker!”
Franz Halder shouted nervously and sprang up from his seat.
“What is the tank composition?”
“According to the report, Panzer I, II, III, and IV were all included.
We haven't grasped the exact scale yet!”
Halder narrowed his glabella slightly at the staff officer's report.
“Is it a force scraped together from everything, or if not…”
Is it Manstein's deception to fool ? Disinformation has already been leaked.
Is this the main attack? If not, is it a double trap?
Halder felt a cold sweat running down his spine. This is a crucial phase.
Too crucial a phase.
Their armored units were in a state where resupply was difficult once they engaged in battle, so if they didn't achieve a decisive victory in a single fierce battle, there was no next ti.
The will to fight of the Wehrmacht had already lowered significantly. It was truly infuriating, but Halder had to admit that Dietrich Schacht's speech must have had a massive impact on the soldiers' morale.
“The only armored reserve capable of responding to the enemy armored unit is ultimately the LSSAH.”
Hearing Alfred Jodl's words, Franz Halder fell into deep thought.
Now that the morale of the entire Wehrmacht was hitting rock bottom, the LSSAH (Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler) was the Waffen-SS's super elite division that had scraped together all Czech-made tanks and every tank that could maneuver properly.
Since the Ruhr is on that side, they must have increased their number of tanks, but since there was a difference in military power from the start, victory would be certain if it's the LSSAH.
But what if that side is a bait?
That Manstein wouldn't be unaware of the difference in power, so would he be this lax? Halder clenched his fist with a sweaty hand.
“Chief of the General Staff.
You must make a decision.”
Hearing Alfred Jodl's words, Franz Halder let out a hollow laugh.
“I feel like I've lost before even fighting. I don't have a card I can trust.”
When he sends the LSSAH to rout the northern flanking force, he had no confidence that the 10th Army would hold out if an offensive stord in from another direction.
Brauchitsch and Reichenau wouldn't betray him.
But what about those below them? Dietrich Schacht's speech shook even himself, so who could he trust?
If he knew it would be like this, he shouldn't have done that during the Munich Agreent. Halder was now regretting that he had been excessively hostile to the Black Orchestra out of fear of being discovered by the Führer.
Surely the military power in numbers should be stronger on this side, but he has no confidence at all that he would fight and win.
The Führer ascended to the position of Commander-in-chief of the Army, but that very Führer stated he would delegate operational instructions to Halder because his seizures were too severe after the speech.
This ans he himself bears all responsibility for the instructions given here.
“Damn it…”
And to think the one who drove him to this point isn't even Manstein, but that character he ignored as a re Captain riff-raff—no, I cannot acknowledge it!
“Convey this to SS-Obergruppenführer Josef Dietrich! The LSSAH Division is to repel the northern flanking force!”
“Understood, Chief of the General Staff.”
Watching Alfred Jodl nod and pick up the telephone, Halder ground his teeth.
A sense of defeat before even fighting! He is the Army Chief of General Staff of the Greater German Reich.
Since he had completely turned against the figures on the New Governnt's side anyway, there was no place to retreat anymore.
“Convey this to Army Group South as well! The 10th Army is to prepare for a flanking attack coming from the direction of Dresden!”
“Yes, sir!”
There is no way Manstein would be satisfied with a single flanking attack—Halder was almost certain.
Even if he couldn't trust his subordinate units, he had no choice but to do it.
Since they would also want to avoid a situation where the civil war continues, they have no choice but to launch an offensive on Berlin.
Anyway, as long as they are the defenders, the advantage is on this side.
But even as he thought that, the words Dietrich Schacht had spouted remained endlessly in his mind, tornting him.
---
November 16, 1939
Northern Germany, 2nd Military District Stettin – Western outskirts of Porania With the roar of a Panzer IV's turret spewing fire, the enemy's Panzer I, which had virtually no protection against tank guns, was silenced just like that.
“Proud SS gentlen! Sweep away all the traitors who dared to raise a flag of rebellion against the Führer of Greater Germany!”
[Yes, sir! Heil Hitler!]
SS Armor General (Obergruppenführer) Josef “Sepp” Dietrich was encouraging his unit enthusiastically over the radio while aboard his command vehicle during the advance.
The wreckage of enemy tanks seen occasionally along the passing road made his mood pleasant.
“Good, very good!”
The sight of his unit, which was nothing more than an armored regint when preparing for the invasion of Poland in August, becoming a division-level force chasing the enemy with Panzer IIIs, IVs, and Czech-made tanks, was satisfactory beyond asure.
The LSSAH Division, which gave the best equipnt to those most fanatically loyal to Hitler even within the Waffen-SS, was unilaterally pushing the flanking unit of the New Governnt's National Defense Force.
No, the expression 'chasing' was more correct than 'pushing'.
The SS Armored Division was unilaterally chasing the enemies, and the destroyed enemy tanks were not as many as expected.
[General, the enemies are only continuing to retreat!]
“Good! Chase them to the end and annihilate them! For the Führer!”
General Sepp shouted in excitent at the subordinate's report that flew in over the radio, but the adjutant next to him spoke cautiously.
“General, the loss of enemy tanks is strangely low compared to the distance we are advancing.”
“It must be proof that those despicable traitors are cowards! Superiors ordered to completely annihilate them, and I intend to gladly do so!”
Josef Dietrich, who was popular enough to be called ‘Papa Sepp’ in the Waffen-SS, was a brave soldier, but his military career ended as a non-commissioned officer and he had not received education as an officer.
“I apologize, General. Isn't it that they are avoiding engagent and luring us in…”
The adjutant spoke with an anxious face, but General Sepp answered with a face asking what the big deal was.
“What kind of talk is that? We are chasing them and they are running away, so of course they are avoiding engagent!”
There was no figure like General Sepp to rally the shocked SS troops and boost morale again after Paul Hausser, who possessed both ability and public trust, surrendered, but his thinking was too simple to entrust him with the armored unit, the core military power, in this important phase.
“No, sir.
I apologize.”
“Don't worry too much, haha! Anyway, our division is much stronger than them!”
When it ca to this, his adjutant also shut his mouth.
General Sepp was certainly a charismatic general, but he was reckless and simple-minded like the Prussian hero ‘Marshal Forward’ Blücher who faced that Napoleon.
But since Blücher eventually finished off Napoleon and remained a hero, one could only hope he would do the sa.
If there was a problem, it was the reality that the enemy's operation planner was also a cunning and crafty figure like Napoleon, who had fed Blücher defeat several tis.
---
November 17, 1939
Northern Germany, 11th Military District Hanover, New Governnt National Defense Force Northern Army Headquarters Erich von Manstein was sitting cross-legged obliquely on a chair in the smoke-filled command room, sucking on a cigar.
He stared intently at the pieces placed on the operation map, then moved the yellow flag and red flag that were on Stettin a little toward the direction of Hamburg.
“It's a bit unrefined but…”
General Hamrstein was from the infantry, so the operation of the armored branch was practically a first for him, and as a result, it was difficult to see him as skilled even as empty words.
It was the limit of the National Defense Force which still had few generals, but General Hamrstein, inexperienced in armored unit operation, was running away with almost full power, contrary to the operation to lure them in by engaging appropriately.
“Well, anyway, the enemy took the bait, so it's according to plan.”
Nevertheless, the enemy armored unit took the bait properly and was chasing excitedly, so it didn't matter. I don't know who it is, but they are stupid beyond asure.
The enemy has more armored units and better quality. Since the advanced armored warfare doctrine that Oswald Lutz and Heinz Guderian diligently introduced is common to the German military anyway, a head-on confrontation would be certain defeat.
However, the item called a tank is not sothing with such a long driving range without fuel supply. On this side, trucks brought in from Arica are waiting at every enemy pursuit limit line thoroughly calculated by Manstein, supplying fuel, while they have to rely on horse-drawn supply units when their fuel runs out.
The more they follow, the more separated they will be from the main force, and fuel supply will beco increasingly slower.
“Now, then the next move…”
Manstein moved the flag that had been placed behind Dresden to the right, between Reichenau's 10th Army stationed in front of Berlin and List's 14th Army stationed in the Sudetenland.
“The real battle is this way.”
Manstein picked up the phone with a grin.
[This is Lutz.]
“General, the ti has co to step forward.”
[Haha! I'll show them real armored warfare this ti!]
It is different from General Hamrstein's unit, which mixed in a few Panzer III and IV tanks and deliberately put them in front to blur the enemy's judgnt.
Unlike the Berlin Race at the beginning of the civil war waged with old-fashioned light tanks like the Panzer I and II, General Oswald Lutz's armored division, composed properly of main battle tanks, comnced an offensive from Dresden.
“Now, Halder. Is your prepared reserve force sufficient?”
Manstein giggled as if he had sat Halder down in front of his chessboard—operation map.
---
November 18, 1939
Northern Germany, Berlin, High Command of the Ard Forces Receiving the report that enemy armored units were rushing in the direction of Dresden, Halder urgently ordered Josef Dietrich's LSSAH Division to return, but whatever the hell they had been doing for 3 days, they were already far away from Berlin.
“Damn it, damn it all!”
To go that distance in 3 days, they would have to drive flat out, so what on earth was the guy called a Division Commander thinking!
Halder felt his breath choking and picked up the phone with trembling hands.
The ti requesting a connection from the telephone operator felt like an eternity.
[This is Brauchitsch.
]
“General! Armored units are detouring in the direction of Dresden and advancing! To what extent are you prepared?”
Halder almost shouted as soon as it connected, but only silence flowed from Brauchitsch's side.
“General?”
[We are preparing, but progress is slow because the soldiers' morale is too low.
Like this, it's absolutely…]
“3 days, I gave you 3 days! What does that guy Walther Model say he's doing?”
[…Model can't be reached. He's not in his seat.
]
“What did you say?”
Halder felt like the sky was turning yellow. For the Chief of Staff of the Army Group South, the core of the core, to desert his post at a ti like this, what on earth is happening?
“General.
As you already know, if the damn New Governnt wins anyway, we are finished.”
[I know too…]
“If you know, block them! I will buy you ti, so you must block them sohow!”
Halder hung up the phone imdiately and requested a connection to another place from the operator right away.
Now that it has co to this, there was only one unit that could buy ti.
---
November 18, 1939
Northern Germany, 2nd Military District Stettin – Eastern outskirts of Porania, Army Group North Headquarters The 19th Corps Commander, Armor General Heinz Guderian, received a summons from his direct superior, 4th Army Commander Günther von Kluge, and was heading to the command room.
Until now, as the German Civil War escalated in earnest, Army Group North had virtually taken a bystander's attitude.
General Küchler's 3rd Army stationed in East Prussia was blocked by the sea and Poland regardless of their intent and couldn't cross over, and Kluge's 4th Army, to which Guderian belonged, was holding its position under the order of Army Group Commander Fedor von Bock, under the pretext of guarding against potential agitation from the Polish Army.
In fact, Guderian himself felt at ease with that. After General Oswald Lutz, who had made Guderian, a communications officer, reborn as an armored officer, fell into political strife within the military and was forced into retirent, he had been ostracized in the military as an excessively radical chanization theorist.
It was Hitler who recognized him then, appointed him to a heavy responsibility, and helped his armored warfare doctrine be adopted. Although Guderian did not stay close with Nazi Party mbers or other high-ranking figures, he felt deep gratitude to Hitler who actively pushed for him and maintained a personal acquaintance.
Even he lost a significant amount of loyalty to the Nazi regi while listening to the broadcast of the New Governnt led by Dietrich Schacht, an officer who used to listen to his armored warfare lectures at the War Academy. He wasn't a particularly noticeable cadet, so Guderian didn't know that friend would go around doing that either.
Nevertheless, he was reluctant to weigh between the New Governnt, to which his ntor Oswald Lutz belonged, and the favorable impression he held for Hitler individually.
So when he entered the command room and saw the face of the figure there, Guderian closed his eyes tight.
The ti for a choice had co for him too.
“Welco, General Guderian.”
At the greeting of General of the Artillery Günther von Kluge, Guderian slowly opened his eyes and saluted.
“Commander.”
All the high-ranking commanders of Army Group North, and among them the 4th Army, were gathered in the seat. Army Group North Commander Fedor von Bock, 4th Army Commander Günther von Kluge, 2nd Corps Commander Adolf Strau??, and even 3rd Corps Commander Kurt Haase.
The reason why he was the last to be called could be known imdiately thanks to the only young man here standing next to Fedor von Bock.
The main culprit of the Führer's Residence raid incident, the man who put a bullet in Hitler and was wanted, Count Blunthal was in this place.
I wondered how he disappeared so elusively after shooting the Führer in the middle of Berlin, but they had been protecting him here from the start.
Count Blunthal is a close friend of the Emperor's eldest son, and General Fedor von Bock had an acquaintance with Wilhelm III.
Guderian smiled bitterly.
“Guderian, we decided to be loyal to the Kaiser and the New Governnt instead of Hitler.
What is your determination?”
At Fedor von Bock's question, Guderian was silent for a mont. Excluding Roml who gained favor after the residence incident, he would be counted on one hand for being close to Hitler within the Wehrmacht.
That must be why the Corps Commander called last to this seat was him. If he says no here, he will be detained, and perhaps his military career will end too.
Although Hitler was a cruel and ruthless dictator, to Guderian himself, he could be called a ntor in his own way.
But the hesitation wasn't long, enough to make Guderian himself feel despondent.
Perhaps he had inwardly decided already while the civil war was progressing.
“I cannot aim a gun at my teacher, so I will join you too.”
His determination must be an unmistakable betrayal to Hitler.
But he also understood that while that Führer was a good person beyond asure to him, at the sa ti, he was an atrocious dictator to soone else.
Although he felt a sense of sha himself, while still harboring pity for Hitler, he didn't want to give up the military career he had built up with such hardship like this.
“Ohh…”
“With this, the 4th Army is unanimous.”
While Guderian chewed on bitterness and the generals rejoiced, the telephone rang just in ti.
The Army Group North Commander, Fedor von Bock, picked up the phone.
“This is Bock.”
While everyone looked at Bock, Bock made a uniquely stiff expression, listened to the sound coming from the phone, and opened his mouth.
“Ah, Halder. Block the offensive coming in from Dresden? Right, there was General Guderian's armored unit just in ti.”
Even if they couldn't hear well what Halder was saying, the generals here could roughly understand that he was chattering diligently.
“But I'm sorry.
There are no spare units right now. There is soone who wants to convey so words to the Führer, so I'll put him on.”
Bock scoffed before Halder could say anything and passed the phone to Count Blunthal, and Count Blunthal smiled amiably with his handso face and spoke into the phone.
“Greetings, Chief of the General Staff Franz Halder.
This is First Lieutenant Hans-Jürgen von Blunthal. I don't know if Hitler, who was shot, is physically okay.
I would appreciate it if you could pass on my regards that I was worried.”
The shout of Halder heard last from the phone was sothing indistinguishable between a scream, a cry, or rage.
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