On March 25, on the third day of the launch of the offensive on all fronts, Hoffmann, accompanied by Speer, Keitel, Blomburg, Zeitzler and others, arrived at Rostov-on-Don, the headquarters of Army Group South. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

This was Hoffmann's second visit to the Eastern Front in several months, and he spent very little time on the front, most of the time he spent in Berlin with the troops during the implementation of the Kungunir plan. He did not go to a series of front-line strongholds that Hitler liked to stay in, such as the Wolf's Den and Vinnitsa -- all the steel and cement wasted in these places became the air defense fortresses of the Western Front, and he did not like to issue very detailed and specific orders like Hitler, for fear that the people below would carry out another set of orders behind his back; after Zeitzler took office, the relevant orders were gradually changed to only the general direction and objectives, and the remaining specific details were all left to Zeitzler and several army group commanders to play and carry out -- this army commander-in-chief was not at all competent.

Many people were keenly aware of this discrepancy, but because of the "treasonous group", everyone gave their own "reasonable" explanation for this change in the Führer's style, and the most popular rumor was that the Führer had long known that Halder had violated the law, so he had to formulate a particularly detailed order to observe whether Halder had violated it; But Zeitzler was the Führer's most trusted chief of the General Staff, so there was no need for such an order.

These words sound very reasonable and logical, otherwise how could the Führer let so many generals in the army not use it, but promoted Zeitzler, who is a junior character? You know, he was only a major general before he became chief of the General Staff.

But in the eyes of the professional officer corps, especially the senior officers, the current management model is the best, and the Führer, who is strategizing and controlling everything, is back. Moreover, the Führer is now obviously much more cautious and pragmatic, and when he adopted a drastic offensive line in North Africa and the Middle East, he took a rare defensive position on the Eastern Front, demanding that the troops not make large-scale attacks unless necessary, and even clearly stipulating that if they could not fight a high-exchange ratio, they would rather not fight, so Qu Hillel and Moder were shocked to find that Army Group South had fought several major battles, and Army Group North and Army Group Center, which had a combined force of more than 1.5 million troops, had almost nothing to do for more than half a year. Except for a few small and small blitzkrieg battles with elite armor forces, the rest of the time he has been staring at the Russians on the opposite side.

However, the senior military officers are very aware of one point: after the outbreak of the "treasonous group", it is better not to play the trick of "one thing in front and one thing behind the scenes" as before, you can clearly express your disapproval, then the big deal is to go home to recuperate, maybe there is a chance to reactivate - Blomburg, Milch, Bock and others are now turning over? Once the Führer feels that you have two hearts, then the end is not good, now Hoffman kills without any mental burden, after Goering's "suicide", more than a dozen marshals and generals have been put on the gallows, among these senior generals, Baker may not have wronged him, but Halder's fate is the result of his repeated disobedience.

It is said that Hoffmann is now an unprecedented "tyrant" in German history, and the number of marshals and generals he has killed in the past six months is several times greater than the sum of the more than 100 years in Germany, and perhaps only the "Great Purge" of the Soviet Union can compare with it, but the fragmented Junkers are now unable to gather the courage to resist, on the one hand, because the SS and the Gestapo are very close and will attack the rebels when they show their heads, and on the other hand, Germany's strategic situation is very good -- not a small good, but a big good!

Africa and Malta were taken, and the Mediterranean Sea became an inland sea of the axis; The capture of the Middle East provided a guarantee for oil and other minerals in the war machine, and the problem of resources, which had always constrained Germany's industrial power, was alleviated. Having co-opted Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Spain, and Portugal, the Axis group has suddenly increased its population by hundreds of millions and millions of troops, and the scale is terrifying, whether it can be fought is another matter; The proclamation of a new Eastern Policy, the liberation and arming of non-Russian nationalities, and the establishment of a reliable guarantee on the Eastern Front.

And the Führer's next step seemed to them to be feasible: blockade Britain and use starvation tactics to force the other side out of the war; inflicted heavy losses on the Red Army and forced Stalin to sign an alliance under the city; As for the United States, when Britain and the Soviet Union are unable to fight again, everyone can sit down and have a good talk, Germany has never intended to eliminate the United States (at least not now), and can even recognize the absolute control of the United States over the American continent, and after the integration of Europe and control of North Africa and the Middle East, the strength of the Third Reich will expand rapidly, and it will be able to compete with the United States again in 20 or 30 years.

At this time, when victory seems to be in sight, and the Third Reich's dream of a "thousand-year empire" is about to be realized, why be hot-headed against the Führer? There are not many people in the Juncker group who are not accustomed to the Führer, such as Marshal Liszt, who hangs up his crown, but Hoffmann does not want to embarrass the other party for such a public expression, and he has to deal with hidden saboteurs -- and Bowman does this very well. After Hoffman's version of the Great Purge, there are now many good positions in the senior officer corps, and anyone who wants to make a difference will not miss this good opportunity.

As for the ordinary middle and lower-ranking officers, their eyes are now full of fanaticism - is there a faster way to get promoted than to fight? During the period of 100,000 Wehrmacht, it was difficult to be promoted from second lieutenant to major, but now it is different, as long as a second lieutenant who participated in the war from the Polish campaign is not particularly unlucky, now he has basically become a captain, and if he is lucky, he has even become a major, as long as he does not die, he is afraid that he will not be able to go further by the end of the war? Anyone who wants to oppose the Führer by force must first ask these ordinary middle and lower-ranking officers if they can agree.

When Hoffmann arrived in Rostov-on-Don, Manstein stayed at the headquarters for a long time, and did not look busy at all, and even held a small welcome ceremony for the arrival of the Führer and his entourage. Keitel frowned, as if fearing that the Führer would be unhappy with it.

However, Hoffman did not show any displeasure, in his opinion, a commander who is calm and calm is a wise commander, and the tense atmosphere and the big change in face are most likely due to the bad situation, if these staff officers in the headquarters are busy running around sweating profusely, and there are hoarse roars everywhere, it is estimated that defeat or heavy setbacks are not far away.

He looked at the distribution of the situation of the enemy and the enemy in the sand table, and asked, "How is the situation at the front?" ”

"Very well, we are advancing smoothly, and the enemy is retreating......" Manstein first described the general situation of the engagement, and then followed by a quip, "but the advance seems to be a bit fast, exceeding the expectations of the plan, and not meeting your requirements, and I am trying to figure out how to slow down, but not so as not to show the flaws so as not to make the Russians see the flaws—this is very nerve-wracking." ”

Everyone was stunned for a moment, and then burst into laughter, and even Hoffmann was amused, he did not know that Manstein had such a humorous side.

"Are the Russians very unbeaten?" Keitel asked, confused.

"No, it's mainly because our troops are more powerful." Manstein thought for a moment and explained, "After nearly three months of replenishment and adjustment of personnel and equipment, the combat effectiveness of the troops has been rapidly improved, don't look at just minor changes such as replacing new rifles (G43 semi-automatic rifles and STG43 assault rifles), adding self-propelled guns, half-track armored vehicles, etc., superimposed together to make the appearance of the troops have been completely improved, plus the increase in the number of tanks, now 1 armored division is more powerful than the previous 2 armored divisions, 2 infantry divisions are equivalent to the past 3 divisions." ”

"All this is entirely due to the adjustment and persistence of the Führer." He paused, then summed it up again. Everyone laughed knowingly: everyone understood that this was not cheap flattery. When Hoffman first vigorously promoted the "expansion of the army and disarmament" and the establishment of the 1943 type of troops, he was met with all kinds of resistance, and some senior generals who had been dismissed from the post of army commanders had nowhere to go, and personnel arrangements became a difficult problem -- it was not until the Great Purge that this problem was solved, and the adjustment of the 1943 type of troops and the replacement of new equipment brought about all kinds of troubles and problems, and the adjustment of the establishment in the fierce battle was itself an adventure, and it also brought great pressure and challenges to industrial production and supply.

When Hoffman and Speer resolutely decided to stop all the No. 3 production line and switch to the No. 4 tank in the tank armament rearmament case, they encountered great resistance, because everyone expected a short-term reduction in equipment, but Hoffman solved this difficulty with general mobilization, and after persevering, all equipment replenishment and renewal were finally completed as scheduled, and the effect was very good, and even the most critical people could no longer say anything about the work of the Ministry of Armaments.

"You have to thank Minister Speer for the equipment and supplies, he is crazy busy at home." After publicly affirming Speer's achievements, Hoffman said, "I came to see the fighting of the Type 1943 Panzer Division and the Infantry Division, and I am glad to hear you say that." ”

Keitel was very interested in this, and it was one of the most important tasks of the Supreme High Command in 1943 to promote the transformation of the standardized divisions and increase the combat effectiveness of the troops, and the commander-in-chief of the reserve army, Field Marshal Blomburg, also pricked up his ears and listened carefully to Manstein's words, and all the supplementary troops that Army Group South had received in recent months had been trained under his auspices.

According to the core principle of "4 regiments, 6 battalions, and 8 companies", the armored regiment that constitutes the operational core of the 16th Armored Division consists of 4 armored battalions, and the overall scale has reached 4 battalions and 16 companies. Among them, 3 tank battalions are uniformly equipped with No. 4H tanks, and the total number of tanks after full strength reaches 284 (276 tanks in 3 tank battalions + 8 regimental headquarters), in addition to 92 No. 3 assault guns in tank destroyer battalions. After the reorganization, the total number of people is as high as 20,000 -- it is indeed no exaggeration for Manstein to evaluate such an armored division. (To be continued.) )