The Rise of the Third Reich

September 1, 1939, 2:15 pm.

Nine and a half hours after the start of the Second World War, the car of General Gudri, commander of the German 19th Armored Corps, drove across the Brasi River Bridge, which was completely controlled by the Germans half an hour ago.

This was the second major breakthrough achieved by the 19th Armored Corps in eight and a half hours - first the Tuhola Forest, and now the Brahi River!

Such a breakthrough was unimaginable during the last world war! Guderian looked around excitedly. Tanks, self-propelled artillery and armored vehicles lined up in long lines, heading east in a mighty manner. The speed of the convoy is not very fast. It stops and goes. On average, it is five to six kilometers per hour. However, it is still very impressive to be able to walk at this speed for more than ten hours a day. From a military perspective, it is a veritable "blitzkrieg".

There were many Polish prisoners walking westward. They all looked shocked. Some of them looked at the German tanks and armored vehicles with complicated eyes.

In the wheat fields on both sides of the road, Guderian also saw many horses. Some were lying on the ground, crushing a large field of wheat, and looked as if they were injured. Some were led towards the road by German soldiers - they now belong to the Wehrmacht! Although Guderian's armored forces did not need horses, the infantry divisions behind still needed horses.

"Long live Germany! Long live the Emperor!"

There were also people cheering on the roadside. They were ordinary people, mostly women and children. They should be Germans from this area. This was originally the land of the Second German Empire. Although many people left after 1918, some people still stayed. They suffered a lot during this period, were expelled, massacred, and women were raped. **, now we are looking forward to the "People's Liberation Army".

"Admiral, I just received a report that some German villages in this area were bloodbathed by Polish troops, and all adult men were killed..."

Guderian's adjutant held a stack of reports in his hand and frowned as he spoke. The Poles are not a waste of money. Since 1919, they have used all kinds of "elimination" methods, except for concentration camps and gas chambers.

After the tension between Poland and Germany, the "anti-German" activities became even more aggressive.

"Send these reports to the security police and they will deal with them." Guderian ordered. His troops are not responsible for controlling the occupied areas. There are specialized departments in this regard-the security police forces affiliated with the Central Security Bureau and part of the armed SS do this.

Behind the 19th Armored Corps, there were the security police division and the cavalry brigade of the Waffen SS following!

At this time, a motorcycle drove up in the direction of the convoy. The rider was a soldier from the Motorized Communications Platoon of the 3rd Armored Division. He saw the two general stars on the armored car Guderian was riding. General (two stars), he knew it was Guderian, so he parked his motorcycle next to Guderian's military car.

"Your Excellency, General Major-General Schweppenberg's briefing."

Guderian took a document bag, opened it and took out the draft of the briefing, read it and laughed.

"Admiral, why are you laughing?" asked the adjutant on the side.

"A Polish artillery regiment was captured. They ran into the armored training camp on their way from the north to the south," Guderian laughed. "They are the artillery regiment of the Polish 27th Infantry Division and are preparing to move to the southern front. Look. The Coastal Army of the incoming Polish army must prepare to break out and move south! "

At this point, Guderian smiled even more proudly. Breakout and escape? How could you run away? Except for the southernmost division (the 9th Division), which may be able to escape partially, the remaining two Polish divisions and about two Polish divisions on the eastern front (facing East Prussia) are waiting to be encircled and annihilated. !

"They can't escape!" the adjutant said, complimenting Guderian. "Your Excellency, the General, will definitely eliminate them all. This battle to encircle and annihilate the Polish Coastal Army is almost comparable to the Battle of Tannenberg."

"In the Battle of Tannenberg, we suffered 15,000 casualties, captured 90,000 prisoners, and killed 60,000 to 70,000 Russians." Guderian said with a smile, "And this time, how much loss did we pay?"

The adjutant pulled out a stack of documents and looked at them, then said in a surprised tone: "So far, the statistics are 42 killed, 223 wounded, and 17 missing... This is so surprising!"

Guderian laughed, "I think the losses of the 15th Armored Army, 16th Armored Army and 22nd Armored Army on the southern front must be similar to ours. This is the power of mechanized warfare! Traditional armies are simply unbearable in front of us. one strike!"

…

At the same moment, Captain Adolf Galland, the commander of the Fourth Group of the 1st Naval Combat Aviation Regiment where Hersmann's eldest son Rudolf belonged, was flying a Zero aircraft and three other Zeros to form a four-finger aircraft. The formation was wandering in the air east of the Warta River southwest of Lodz, looking for Polish aircraft that dared to take off.

This is his third mission today. In the first two missions, he achieved a result and shot down the OnePlus PZL.11 fighter jet - in his opinion, that was too easy. The PZL.11 is an aircraft that relies on its flexibility at mid- and low-altitudes to dominate the world. If it encounters the BF-109, it may be able to deal with it. But when encountering the Fokker Zero, which is more flexible and faster than it, it really can't run or dodge, and can only wait for death.

Therefore, he very much hoped to encounter another PZL.11 or other type of Polish aircraft during this sortie.

"Captain, look down!"

The voice of wingman pilot Cole came from the earphones.

under?

Garland immediately squinted his eyes and looked under the wing, but found no enemy aircraft.

"Where? Where is the enemy plane?"

"No, it's not an enemy plane," Cole's voice was very excited, "On the ground! Look at the ground...it's our tanks! Many, many!"

"What? Our tanks are all here? This is behind the enemy's front! This is the east bank of the Warta River..." Adolf Galland was also surprised, and quickly searched carefully, and sure enough he saw the vast The tank convoy was wandering as far as the eye could see.

Many of the tanks and vehicles had eye-catching swastika flags tied on top, apparently to prevent accidental bombing by the air force.

"Oh my god, they broke through on the first day!" Garland was not a rookie who had never fought in a war. He had participated in the Spanish War and knew what it was like to break through the enemy's defense line. "This place is thirty or forty kilometers away from the border, and our tanks actually rushed here... This is a huge victory! The Poles didn't even have time to retreat, and the Polish army near Krakow was going to be completely wiped out! "

"Really? Today is the first day!"

Garland laughed loudly: "It seems that this war will not last long. Brothers, let's go to the east and search again to see if we can get any merit."

What Adolf Galland and the others saw was the 16th Panzer Corps commanded by General Erich Hoeppner. This army is one of the three armored corps under Army Group South and is affiliated with the 10th Army. Like Guderian's 19th Armored Corps, the 16th Armored Corps was also the first major German force to suddenly enter Poland.

The 16th Armored Corps consists of the powerful 1st Armored Division and 4th Armored Division, as well as the 14th and 31st Infantry Divisions. The army's attack route was the junction of the southern flank of the Polish Army Group Lodz and Army Group Krakow.

After breaking through the Polish defense, the commander of the 16th Armored Corps Erich Hoppner immediately decided to leave one infantry division to consolidate the position and wait for the follow-up of the 14th Motorized Corps, while he personally led two An armored division went straight to the northeast. According to the plan, the main force of the 16th Armored Corps would later be divided into two by the Pilica River (a tributary of the Vistula River).

A part of the Prussian Army Group crossed the river west to attack Radom, and cooperated with the 15th Armored Corps, which was also affiliated with the 10th Army, to encircle and destroy the Army Group.

The other one will be directed by Honap personally to attack Warsaw, the capital of Poland! If all goes well, the 16th Armored Corps will be the first of all German troops to advance to the gates of Warsaw. Although it was impossible to capture Warsaw, a surprise attack on the outskirts of Warsaw was enough to throw the entire Polish army into chaos.

If all goes well, the 16th Armored Corps will launch a surprise attack near Warsaw around September 8, the eighth day after the war began!

Maybe the panicked Poles will declare Warsaw an "undefended city", so that the 16th Armored Army can capture Warsaw on September 9 or 10! Sitting in a Volkswagen military car, Erich Hoppner, like Guderian, could not conceal his excitement.

"Your Excellency, General," Hoppner's adjutant was opening a telegram he had just received, "This is an order from the Army Group Headquarters."

"Army Group Headquarters?" General Hoeppner asked, "What is it?"

"The Army Group Headquarters ordered us to make a turn southwest of Warsaw, attack north to the east or south bank of the Buchula River, and wait for the leading troops of the 8th Army to arrive."

"why is that?"

"General, the telegram says that the purpose is to encircle and annihilate the main force of the Poznan Army and the remnants of the Marina Army and the Lodz Army... The Eastern Front General Command estimates that the main force of the Polish Army will make a last-ditch effort to rescue Warsaw."

"Oh," Admiral Hoppner took out his reading glasses and put them on, "Show me the telegram."

What the telegram said was similar to what the adjutant said, which was to abandon Warsaw and not "fight" (actually a bluff), and to concentrate troops on the Buchula River (a tributary of the Vistula River) to the west of Warsaw, in cooperation with the 8th Army and A tactical group drawn from the Northern Army Group to encircle and annihilate the main force of the Polish Army. It seems that the Eastern Front General Command has prioritized annihilating the effective forces of the Polish army before occupying Warsaw!