The Third Reich in Desperation

When he heard the news that the German army appeared on all sides, Berente knew that the Polish army was over!

From the moment the German encirclement took shape, Rundstede, commander of the Army Group South, immediately ordered a general offensive.It doesn't matter if you don't fight, the whole 25 Polish troops will be beaten to the north.

The Luftwaffe, which had never appeared before, suddenly seemed to go crazy, and took turns bombing the artillery positions and troop assembly areas exposed by the Polish army in turn.Countless explosives poured into the camp of the Polish army like a torrential rain amidst the roar of the aircraft fleet, leaving behind wounded soldiers howling like ghosts and wolves and corpses everywhere.

The black German Wehrmacht soldiers, like a rolling torrent, emerged from every direction, impacting the positions of the Polish army and their fragile psychological defenses.

One after another, tanks and chariots rolled up dust in the sky, extending from the position where the Polish army should have retreated, until they blocked the avenues behind the Polish army.

The swaying artillery quickly deployed by the German army covered the Polish army positions without money, blasting out layers of black mushroom clouds.Even across the long distance, it seems that the strong smell of gunpowder can be smelled.

The Polish counter-offensive group first went south, then southeast, and finally east to break through three times, but they were all driven back by the German encircling troops who had been waiting for a long time.In the end, the chaotic Polish counter-offensive group could not even organize a new breakthrough.The Polish army, which has no intention of fighting, can only be surrounded by layers of continuous compression and encirclement by the German army, and at the same time it is heading towards extinction step by step.

How did this battle end like this?

Sitting in the corner of the conference room of the Polish Supreme Command, Berente leaned on the back of a wooden chair, as if all the strength in his body had been taken away.

In the brain, it is already a blank.Memory, also seems to have a fault.All the speculations made before, the scene of confidently pointing out the country in front of the Poles at the beginning, now in retrospect, it is as unreal as a dream.

How could I fall into the trap of the Germans so easily?

Because of his arrogance, he, the savior who was placed high hopes by the Polish Supreme Command, led the Allied forces into a trap step by step, a trap that did not exist before, but was temporarily set up by that hateful German commander!

Now, he is no longer the savior in the eyes of the Polish High Command, he is the sinner who caused Poland's defeat!

Ever since he arrived in Poland as the leader of the French officer corps, he always thought that he could take this opportunity to use his wisdom to lead this group of stupid Poles to fight a little better.In that way, he, too, could become an important figure in the writing of the course of history!

Although he is ranked as a major general, he has no chance to step up to the stage in the country where the stars are like clouds. Only here can he gain trust by relying on the sign of the French First Army in Europe behind him, so as to influence the strategy of the Polish army and add a new role to himself. Quite a feat.

Therefore, when he learned that he had the opportunity to join the officer corps and go to Poland for military guidance, Berente immediately found his old superior, Marshal Pétain, entrusted his relationship with the officer corps, and became the team leader.

It's a pity that although he became a member of the process of writing history, he was not the one who won...

Launching an assault on Ross originally seemed to him to be the only feasible plan at the moment.

It's not that this tactic is so powerful, but that it conforms to every military theory I have studied very standardly.

Using a large-scale counter-assault to force the Germans to stop their offensive, they had to turn around and start a decisive battle with the army that appeared behind them.But anyone who has been to a military school understands that this conforms to the most basic pattern of warfare.Whether it is the German army or the Polish army, according to common sense, they should choose to start a decisive battle with the enemy army behind them.

This was an overt conspiracy, and Berente never expected to go all the way through a counterattack from the very beginning.This counterattack is clearly intended to tie up the pace of the German offensive, leaving the German army to fight an offensive and defensive battle with the counterattack army first.

And once an offensive and defensive battle of this scale is fought, no matter how hard it is, it can win more than a week.At that time, the time for the Polish army to build a new line of defense outside Warsaw will be squeezed out.

Therefore, from the perspective of most effectively gaining time, Berente put the only solution on this counterattack from the very beginning.

For Berente, his purpose was not to lead the Polish army to defeat the German army.As long as he can hold down the German army for as long as possible and consume as much of the German army as possible, he will naturally be treated as a hero after returning to China.This is also the only way for him to prove himself and win enough merit for himself.

But Berente did not expect that the opponent he met was a commander who could not even be defeated by the French Republic, a commander of the German Southern Army Group named Fritz Erich von Manstein. staff.

This confrontation with Manstein, of course, is based on the premise that if it is a duel, Berente has not been able to take advantage of it from the beginning.Facing the situation where the Polish army on the border is about to collapse, he is powerless.

The counterattack he finally came up with was the answer sheet he carefully prepared to challenge Manstein.

But when he finally saw Manstein's tactics, the 25 Polish troops were all surrounded by the Southern Army Group where Manstein was.And they are now hopeless to break through, and they are beginning to show signs of collapse.

So far, the battle of the Bzura River, which was initiated by the Polish army and took a total of three days, ended in such an anticlimactic manner.

This battle can be called a classic case in the military world!

This first large-scale counterattack launched by the Polish High Command at the suggestion of Berente became an opportunity for Manstein's subordinates to take advantage of the situation to launch a huge encirclement battle.

He, Belante, will be described in the history books of later generations as being placed high hopes by the Polish Supreme Command, but in the end he became the key that directly led to the loss of the final main force of the Polish army.But the German commander who took a slanted sword and played cards unreasonably, counting a full 25 Polish troops, will become an idol worshiped by countless soldiers!

Maybe, I shouldn't have come here from the beginning......

Looking at the anxious eyes of Marshal Smeigre, commander of the Polish Army, Berente wished he could find a crack in the ground right now.They trust themselves so much, and they could have suggested that the Polish army should resist steadily and withdraw their troops for defense... However, a misplaced judgment and excessive self-confidence made them blindly propose this This seemingly beautiful counterattack plan dragged the Polish army from a surviving state directly into an irreparable hell!

His plan helped the German army encircle the last 25 Polish troops, which not only harmed Poland, but also caused huge indirect losses to France, which was counting on the Polish army to consume the German army!

From today, Berente will be a sinner for the whole of Poland!

Text Chapter 177 Empowering Heavy Duties

"Master!"

In the headquarters of the German 30th Division in the center of Lodz, a hurried staff officer rushed to Major General Hans.

"The defenders on several streets have reported that the Polish army has stopped attacking and even showed signs of withdrawing from the city. In addition, the artillery fire from the Polish army has not fallen on our position for a long time." The dusty staff officer stood at attention with a joyful expression and saluted.

Hans nodded and motioned for the staff to back down.He turned around and saw that there was no one in the temporary division headquarters of the 30th Division who was not excited.

The offensive of the Polish army finally stopped!

Prior to this, the loss of the 30th Division had reached over 80.00%. Even if relying on the layout of the buildings in the city of Lodz to offset part of the artillery power of the Polish army, the defenders on the streets were already exhausted. .

The plan issued by the Southern Army Group is not to take a step back and stick to the Ross position.But this requires soldiers!

In this cross-level confrontation with a Polish army group, Hans had the idea of ​​leading his troops to break through several times.Especially when the loss of troop value has already exceeded the collapse line, and the outer defense line has been completely abandoned, Hans actually thought of retreating in disobedience.

However, several times, the order to break out came to his lips, but he swallowed it back abruptly.Not to mention the loss of positions, even if the troops were taken from under the noses of the Poles at risk, once the Polish army took the opportunity to chase and kill them, it would be impossible to escape the end of the entire army's destruction.

Although on the surface Hans is still calmly arranging the deployment of firepower for the next street battle, in fact, in his heart, he has already been sitting on pins and needles for a long time!

Just the remaining troops of the 30th Division cheered up and guarded the city of Lodz, facing the street battle with the Polish army with the determination to die.The Poles who had just entered the urban area suddenly stopped the tide-like attack of the iron gate, as if their souls had been hooked.

Then, the long-lost roar of warplanes sounded in the sky, and the friendly "screams" of German Stuka bombers appeared from time to time in the explosion god in the distance.The weak line of defense of the 30th Division in the urban area was miraculously defended!

"Ask the Army Group Command, what's going on here?" When Hans said this, his face was full of joy.Obviously, he realized that there must be a considerable connection between the retreat of the Polish army and the actions of the German Army Group.

"Yes!" At this time, there were only 30 officers left in the headquarters of the 8th Division, including Hans.When one of the staff officers with the rank of major received Hans' order, he responded and ran to send an inquiry telegram to the headquarters of the army group.

Ten minutes later, the headquarters of the 30th Division received an explanation from Manstein himself.

"Because the Army Group Command discovered that more than 8 main Polish troops were concentrated on the periphery of the 30th Division of the Eighth Army Group. Therefore, the Army Group Command temporarily decided to change the original plan and take the opportunity to encircle all the forces of the counterattacking Polish army. .In order to ensure the suddenness and secrecy of the encirclement, the Army Group Headquarters did not send a telegram to attract the 20th Division of the Polish Army to send a specific action plan. Now it seems that the implementation of the plan has been quite successful."

"Manstein is quite capable. Not only did he deceive more than 20 Poles, but he also kept us in the dark." Hans laughed loudly and said, "When we go back, we must let him Invite all living brothers of our division to drink."

There was a reason why Hans was so happy.Although the 30th Division suffered heavy losses in the defensive battle for two and a half days.But now it looks like it's all worth it.The main force of the Polish army of more than 20 was firmly tied around the 30th division, becoming the turtle in the urn of the Southern Army Group.It seemed that it was the 30th Division of the German Army that was heavily surrounded, but now it was discovered that it was the more than 20 Polish troops who were really surrounded.

"The chief of staff also instructed us to immediately switch from defense to offense once we find that the Polish army's offensive has weakened. At present, the Polish army around our department has no intention of fighting and has low fighting spirit. It is by no means an opponent of the 30th Division." The major's staff then added.

"Understood. Reply to Chief of Staff Manstein, saying that we will organize a tentative attack in an hour. Once I find that the Polish army has really lost its fighting spirit and its combat effectiveness has declined seriously, then I will immediately organize the 30th All the remaining officers and soldiers of the division attack!" Hans clenched his fists and said word by word.

The current situation is better than when it was violently attacked by the Polish army a few hours ago.If it weren't for the 30th Division's heavy losses now, and its troops have been dispersed to various areas in the city of Lodz, Hans would have liked to take everyone with him right away and clean up the group of Poles who had been riding on his neck for two days. .

"The troops brought by Lieutenant Lyon were left around the headquarters by us, and the casualties were not too great. Let them hand over the first round of tentative attack to the 7th company." Hans punched the conference table and decided. : "Bring me Lieutenant Lyon now, and I will personally give him the task."

"Lieutenant Lyon led a platoon and set up defense on the next street. Others from the 7th company are also around and can gather at any time!" A staff officer reported looking at the urban deployment map on the wall of the headquarters.