The Third Reich in Desperation

Lyon didn't know why the Poles would take the initiative to attack Germany at this time. Aren't they afraid of fighting on two fronts?

However, the newspapers had published photographs of a group of Polish soldiers who had captured a German radio station on the Polish-German border and were shot dead.I heard that they also cursed the German government in Polish on the radio and announced the Polish invasion of Germany.

"These Polish idiots!" Leon cursed a few times in an unclean manner.Because of their resolute refusal to return the Danzig Corridor, they have been criticized in the country for a long time.Now dare to shamelessly invade Germany!Are Poland's leaders out of their minds?

At the same time, they were at war with two powerful countries, the Soviet Union and Germany. Even a small person like Lyon could guess the result, but the Polish government would not know it!

No one questioned whether this inexplicable "Polish invasion" was real, at least not in Germany.Reinhardt successfully used public opinion to incite the emotions of the people across the country, making the angry people focus on how to retaliate.In one day, the Social Worker Newspaper generated twice as many newspapers as normal, and published condemning articles full of righteous words.

Germany has been bullied for far too long.Britain bullied, France bullied, and now even Poland, which is in the middle of a war, has not forgotten to invade Germany, which is okay!

00:01

"Company commander, just after midnight, it is impossible to withdraw the order. In other words, there are still 9 minutes before we will participate in a real war!" The one who spoke was Bruce, a platoon leader under Lyon.Like Lyon, he is a young generation of officers who graduated from the local military academy.They, who have never seen a real war, are all in the same extreme tension at the moment.

Nodding his head, Leon took a deep breath and said, "Ten years ago, when I was a child, I was always envious of the predecessors who defeated the French invaders in the Ruhr. Unexpectedly, now I also have the opportunity to fight the enemy. "

After finishing speaking, Lyon glanced at his watch again - 00:05, Germany and Poland will go to war in 5 minutes!

The more nervous you are, the easier it is for people to think of some past events.In the first few minutes of this attack, an experience from his childhood suddenly appeared in Leon's mind.

It was the first day of the Franco-Belgian invasion of the German Ruhr area.Because it was the weekend, Leon, who was going to school, happened to be at home that day.

In my impression, my father kept smoking cigarettes that day, and after smoking one, he quickly lit another.Soon, the whole room was filled with a choking smell of smoke.

It is precisely for this reason that Leon has hated cigarettes extremely since that day, and believes that he will never smoke in his life.

But later, after the budding SS won the battle, the happy father started smoking one cigarette after another.Leon, who was still young, wondered about this for a while, his father smoked even when he was sad, and he smoked when he was happy.Wouldn't it be a problem with the brain pulling out?

Later, Leon also learned to smoke.On his first day in the army, Bruce, who was in the same dormitory with him, "forced him into prostitution" and kept urging himself to smoke.Originally, he didn't want to smoke, but I heard that now everyone in the army can receive a free "Flying Fish" cigarette produced by the Rhine Company every month.In line with the principle of not wasting, Leon simply chose to sell the monthly "Flying Fish" cigarettes by himself.

That's right, contrary to the fact that the German government did not encourage soldiers to smoke in history, Reinhardt not only did not object, but sold his own cigarettes.He imported tobacco leaves of good quality from Turkey, and then processed and produced "flying fish" cigarettes by himself.

The leftover tobacco leaves from the production of Feiyu cigarettes are used to add some fillers to produce low-quality "Qingyang" brand cigarettes, which are used as rewards for those prisoners of the Labor Construction Corps.

Regardless of the low quality of these cigarettes, for those reform-through-labour prisoners who can only get enough food all year round, this kind of cheap cigarettes can actually mobilize their high enthusiasm for production.After all, under the premise that the general environment is fixed, the pursuit of human beings will become how to make their lives as good as possible in the present.And this is especially true of shrewd Jews.

Of course, the popularization of cigarettes may be quite a black-hearted thing if it is placed in a peaceful age.But in the war years, if Hitler restricted the smoking of soldiers like Hitler did in history, it would be a more brain-dead thing.

Imagine that in the days of heavy artillery fire, soldiers were precarious. Today's living brothers may be left with corpses tomorrow.At this time, someone told them to be careful of lung cancer and cherish their health. Isn't it a joke?

Besides, the bullets flew all over the battlefield, the trenches were mixed with blood and mud, and the fighting was day and night.For many soldiers, the only thing that can soothe their nerves and make them temporarily forget the tragic reality is probably a cigarette in their hands.

It would be truly irresponsible if you didn't even leave this bit of consolation to the soldiers!

In the memory of Leon, he took out another Flying Fish cigarette and prepared to light it.The moment he raised his hand to light a cigarette, the number on his watch was clearly in front of his eyes - 00:09:30, half a minute left, and the war began!

Text Chapter 163 The Forgotten Seventh Company

The infantry company where Lyon is located belongs to the 14th Division of the 8th Army of the 8th Army Group of the German Army Group South.As an infantry division, the 8th Division's own task was to clear some small villages around the marching route of the armored troops.Their task was to ensure the safety of the mobile force's logistics route, so they did not rush forward at full speed at the beginning.

An hour ago, Lyon's 7th company had just cooperated with several sentries originally deployed on the border to break the fence on the German-Polish border.A well-dressed reporter took a photo of them and rushed back immediately afterwards to prepare for the publication of this major landmark news-Germany and Poland are officially at war!

Then, what awaited Leon and his company was a restless and tense march.As Lyon's old partner, the platoon leader Bruce bravely led the elite platoon of officers and soldiers to the front of the team.

In the 7th company, the equipment level of the entire platoon is the best.This is not because Bruce, the leader of the platoon, is Lyon's good friend, but because the results of the platoon's training subjects have always been the best.

Now in the platoon responsible for opening the way for the whole company, all the soldiers have a few Type 39 handle grenades stuck in their belts, ready to throw them in a dangerous direction at any time.

At 2 o'clock in the morning, the night still shrouded the road ahead of Leon and others, and it was pitch black all around.Although so far, the soldiers of the 7th company have not fired a single shot, but the sound of artillery fire from time to time in the distance reminds them that the war has come around them.

"Bruce!" Leon yelled at a high decibel, causing Bruce, who was leading the team in front, to make a stop gesture immediately.Immediately, within one to two seconds, the soldiers in the front row all raised their guns and squatted down in one step.

For a time, the first row showed a very good combat quality.It only took a few seconds from when Bruce made a gesture to when the whole row lowered their bodies and began to guard their surroundings.Being able to respond quickly in such a short period of time is inseparable from their daily rigorous training.

However, when Bruce realized that there was no hostile situation ahead, he immediately turned his head and yelled at Leon, "Leon, what the hell are you yelling for? I thought there was a situation, and I was ready to shoot."

"There will be no more situations!" Leon did not show weakness, and shouted from Bruce in front of him with a drawn voice: "Let your people stay alert! Come here, I have something to tell you."

Puzzled Bruce waved his hands after listening.Following this gesture, a row of soldiers spread out to the left and right, extending the warning range by more than 1000 meters.

After the soldiers had dispersed their vigilance, Bruce felt relieved and walked back.He didn't understand why Leon was so sure that nothing unexpected would happen. Did he find something he didn't notice?

"Hey, your people look really good, a bit super elite." Leon joked with Bruce with a smile.

"Don't talk nonsense, talk about business!" Impatient Bruce said impatiently: "Why did you stop the team, don't you know that we are in a war now? Our task is to clear the remaining Polish resistance troops as soon as possible to ensure the safety of the logistics line , but I don’t have time to spend here.”

Faced with Bruce's doubts, Leon thought for a while and said, "Don't you think it's strange? Why didn't we even see the slightest sign of the Polish army along the way? Do you think that none of the vanguard troops we rushed over were left behind?" Wipe out all the Polish troops along the way?"

"What do you mean?" Bruce was attracted by what Leon threw out.

Looking at his watch, Leon raised his head and analyzed: "It's already 2:15, and more than 2 hours have passed since the large forces launched their attack. And our company, because we were delayed by about half an hour because we cooperated with the border to take pictures, When I was young, I was always thrown behind the big troops.”

After a pause, Leon continued, "Listen, is the sound of gunfire in front of us getting farther and farther away from us? What do you think this means?"

Bruce was not in the mood to play around with Leon, and immediately asked eagerly, "Don't play tricks on me, just tell me!"

Leon laughed loudly and said: "Doesn't this mean that the frontline troops are advancing faster than our marching speed? For every kilometer we walk, the frontline may have advanced 2 kilometers. Such a fast advancing speed shows that the frontline troops are advancing faster than our marching speed. The fight was very smooth. Then, we can probably figure out that it was not the vanguard that stopped and wiped out all the Polish troops along the way, but that the Polish troops along the way fled or retreated under our powerful offensive."

Hearing this, Bruce also reacted, nodded and said: "In this way, we don't need to be so cautious at all, and we can speed up the march to catch up."

"That's right, we can speed up our march." Leon patted Bruce on the shoulder and said with a smile: "That is, our company was dropped by the army because it was arranged to cooperate with the people from the Propaganda Department to take pictures. I guess other companies must have already According to the order, rushed to the front position."

"It was just a photo shoot, and Commander Busch forgot about us. I think there are too many troops on the front line, and we won't be needed." Bruce, who wanted to make contributions in this war, said indignantly.

Knowing Bruce for so long, Leon certainly knows how eager his good brother is to make achievements.Otherwise, he wouldn't have to increase the amount of time for his soldiers every time he trained.The purpose of this picture is to make more contributions after going to the battlefield.

"Okay, I think Commander Busch must not be taking care of our troops at this level. He is probably going crazy. Let me tell you, why don't we stop and ask the division headquarters for directions. It looks like that place needs us. In this way, it is definitely better than wandering around like a headless chicken." Leon comforted Bruce while thinking about the next march plan.

Bruce nodded, "That's how it is, it's good to ask for a direction, don't really be forgotten by the division headquarters, and we won't remember our company until the end of the battle."

In fact, Bruce's worries are completely unnecessary.Not to mention their company, the entire 8th Division is still in a state of rapid march, and there is basically no exchange of fire with the Polish army.It's not that the division headquarters forgot the 7th company, but that no matter which direction the 7th company is coming now, it is unlikely that the [-]th company will be able to catch up with the battle.

Under the command of General Busch, the 5th Armored Division under the Eighth Army easily broke through the Polish fortress group in the Eastern Lysia area that the Southern Army Group Command originally thought was extremely difficult to conquer. The Polish army on the border surrendered.

The remaining small part of the retreating Polish army was either overtaken by German armored forces on the way to flee and surrendered, or was annihilated.

Text Chapter 164 The Collaboration between Rundstede and Manstein

Manstein took out the battle plan and checked the details again.

Although this plan was made by him, and although everything has been developing according to the plan so far, this is after all only the first time he has planned such a large-scale operation, and it is inevitable that there will be tension.

From troop strength, firepower, terrain, logistics, combat units to local intelligence, every point has been repeatedly confirmed by him and his staff team.Even today, he is still a little worried, and can't help but compare it over and over again.

The war has already begun, and the situation on the front line is even smoother than expected.The battle report shows that the Polish army on the border did not play a retarding role at all. They were beaten and panicked when they faced the first wave of the German charge.

Just like the situation when the Soviet Union launched a sudden attack, the poor reaction speed of the Polish army on the border could not adapt to the local surprise attack at all, and could only passively let the enemy be divided and eliminated.