The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Qinchuan knew that Marshal Kruger was talking about the "Tiger" heavy tank.

As expected, Marshal Kruger continued: "Marshal Manstein, I think the reason why you made the decision to defend is because you don't know the performance of our tank..."

As he spoke, Marshal Kruger glanced behind him, and the adjutant immediately took out a document from his briefcase and handed it to Marshal Manstein. After a pause, the adjutant cleverly handed Qin Chuan another copy.

"As you can see, Marshal Manstein!" Kruger continued: "Its front armor is 102MM thick, and the armor on the sides and sides is 82MM thick. Can you imagine such a tank? It The side armor is even much thicker than the front armor of enemy tanks, and its artillery is of 88MM caliber. I think you must have used the Flak41 88MM anti-aircraft gun. We all know that it is a powerful weapon for destroying enemy tanks... ...And the gun of the 'Tiger' tank was modified from this anti-aircraft gun! "

"But these are not reasons for us to attack, Marshal Kruger!" Manstein raised the document in his hand and said: "How many such tanks do we have?"

"One hundred, Marshal Manstein!" Kruger replied.

"Oh, great!" Manstein replied: "One hundred tanks, but the Soviets have four thousand or more tanks. You want to tell me... we will use these one hundred 'Tiger' tanks." Defeat these Soviet tanks?"

Marshal Kruger was stunned for a moment and then replied: "But we don't only have the Tiger. It will lead our tanks to move forward bravely and invincibly on the battlefield. No obstacle can stop it from moving forward!"

"But you haven't considered that the Soviets can produce a thousand T34 tanks every month, but the Tiger can only produce a measly 30 tanks a month!"

"It's 35 cars!"

"Oh, really? Congratulations, Marshal Kruger, you can get 5 more tanks than before!"

"But 35 of them are enough to defeat any Soviet tank. They can't do anything to us!"

…

Kruger and Manstein were at loggerheads.

In fact, this is not the first time that Kruger has argued with others on this issue. He has also argued with Gudry before, and the argument was so intense that the two even wanted to duel.

But of course, Hitler did not agree to a duel between them.

This is not actually Kruger's fault. The reason is that it is Hitler who wants to attack... But because the opponents are all famous generals with temporary fame, such as Guderian, Manstein, Model, etc., Hitler does not want to There was a direct conflict with these famous generals, so Kruger was used as his spokesperson.

The reason why Hitler was eager to attack was that, on the one hand, he was too superstitious about the paper performance of the "Tiger" and "Leopard" tanks without considering other aspects... At this point, the Soviet Union's approach was very smart. They care more about output, and sacrificing performance if necessary is an option.

Hitler believed that the Tiger tank could shock the Soviets on the battlefield and then they would collapse like they did in the early days of the war.

On the other hand, Hitler urgently needed a victory to show off to the world... In fact, the most important thing was to tell the US and British coalition forces that Germany was powerful, so that they would not dare to act rashly in France.

Hitler did not express any opinions. He just looked at the two of them expressionlessly, as if he was listening and thinking carefully about what they said.

But Qin Chuan knew that Hitler was indeed thinking, but not about the strategy itself, but about how to convince Guderian, Manstein and other veterans.

Because this is how history develops... Hitler hoped to launch an attack before the Soviets, but was delayed again and again for one reason or another: at first it was because of bad weather that he could not attack, and then Hitler was worried that Guderian and others said The right thing is that he was hesitant, that is, he was worried about the lack of enough "Tiger" and "Leopard" tanks when attacking. Then the Allied forces had already reached Tunisia in Africa, and Hitler had to deal with the problems in Africa first. .

Of course, Hitler did not need to worry about the Tunisia issue at this time, because this issue had been solved by Qin Chuan.

But in the end, Hitler ordered the attack in July amidst the opposition of veteran generals, which led to the disastrous defeat in the Battle of Kursk... The reason for the failure of the battle was precisely that he had always emphasized that he could rely on the indestructible Central Army Group of the "Tiger" type. of rout.

After a while, Hitler finally asked: "Lieutenant Colonel, what do you think of this?"

"Me?" This surprised Qin Chuan, because the people arguing were all marshal-level figures, and it seemed to have nothing to do with him.

"Yes!" Hitler said: "Sometimes, I want to hear the voice from the battlefield, Lieutenant Colonel! I know that you have been fighting on the front line, so you often grasp the situation on the battlefield better than others... "

At this point, Hitler turned to Manstein and Kruger and nodded slightly: "Sorry, my marshal, this is not aimed at you!"

Then, Hitler turned his attention to Qin Chuan, and everyone else also turned their attention to Qin Chuan.

"Uh..." Qin Chuan pondered for a while and then said: "Your Majesty the Head of State, this question is actually very simple. General Kruger thinks that our tanks can easily tear through the enemy's defense line and defeat the enemy tanks. Why don't we try try?"

"You mean...drills?" Hitler asked.

"Yes!" Qin Chuan nodded: "Let's see if this new tank really has this ability. If it does, it won't be too late for us to discuss whether to attack or defend!"

"We're going to use a lot of fuel!" Kruger seemed to disagree.

"It's much better to waste fuel than to attack blindly, isn't it, Marshal Kruger?" Manstein responded in time.

"We don't need to spend much fuel!" Qin Chuan said: "We only need to send ten 'Tiger' vehicles to simulate an attack, pass through the enemy's trenches, barbed wire fences, and some necessary terrain, and face some possible difficulties, such as Encountered a mine or an enemy ambush!"

Seeing Marshal Kruger's hesitation, Qin Chuan added: "Marshal, if you don't have confidence in this new tank during exercises, how can you expect it to win victory for us on the battlefield?"

With that said, Marshal Kruger has no way out.

"I have always had full confidence in it, Lieutenant Colonel!" Kruger replied: "I just don't want to waste it in this difficult time of supply! If you really want to do this, then as you wish! "