Chapter 207: The 4th SS Panzergrenadier Division

Compared with the fact that one or two generals jumped out to question Reinhardt's Wehrmacht, the Waffen-SS that he had built up was much more worry-free.

It is precisely because the Waffen-SS generals are more comfortable to use that this descendant army has always been regarded by Reinhardt as a treasure.

Unlike ordinary SS members, who demanded immediate loyalty, Waffen-SS soldiers for combat purposes were selected rigorously and trained to the same level as the most elite Wehrmacht.

In addition, in order to prevent the recurrence of the historical situation in which commanders had insufficient command ability, so that the troops would only attack simply, so that the casualties were as high as the results of the battle, Reinhardt specially approved a large number of armed SS officers to study at the Wehrmacht's military academies.

In a way, this is also a means of going through the back door. To send SS officers to the Wehrmacht, for example, is akin to sending a person who has not gone to university to a prestigious university.

The commander's military literacy has become better, and the soldier's fanatical belief in combat has made him brave, all of which have made this team in black uniform a fierce black storm on the battlefield!

For example, General Bock, who led Army Group North in the main attack on northern Poland, was particularly fond of assigning an Waffen-SS infantry division to his subordinates.

If nothing else, just because this army can fight and resist, it not only has high combat effectiveness, but also strong toughness!

No general would mind having too many elite troops on his hands. Although Bock had previously complained about Reinhardt's retention of an "SS" independent of the Wehrmacht, he used the SS the most diligent and reassuring to fight.

In Army Group South, the 1st SS Panzer Division was boldly thrown out by Rundstead and penetrated hundreds of miles into eastern Poland alone. On the contrary, he himself single-mindedly led the Wehrmacht Corps under his command to besiege Warsaw, without the slightest suppression of the SS's performance.

As for the Führer's statement that the SS was "equipped with second-rate equipment and used as an auxiliary to the Wehrmacht," it had long since been extinguished with the war.

After all, the top priority is to fight, if there is no SS supplement, not to mention the Eastern Front, just the little Wehrmacht troops in the Siegfried Line on the Western Front will definitely not be able to do without Steve's nearly 200,000 Waffen-SS to assist in the defense!

Moreover, the Führer did not interfere with the command of the Wehrmacht over the Waffen-SS, at least on the Eastern Front, and all the Waffen-SS troops were integrated into the command of the Wehrmacht.

In addition, the Führer now seems to have no intention of continuing to expand the size of the SS for the time being, and the generals and marshals have all selectively acquiesced for the time being. Although there will certainly be disputes over the "independence" of the SS in the future, at least for now, the Wehrmacht generals are not in a hurry to make a big deal about it.

However, the popularity of SS divisions was not only due to their outstanding combat effectiveness. Another important factor was that the SS always had a lot of reliable new toys in their hands.

By the time the Wehrmacht was complacent about getting the initial model of the Iron Fist anti-tank rocket launcher, the SS had already finished the improved Fist II and had also supplemented it with some Iron Fist III with an exponentially increased armor-piercing ability of the copper medicine shield in a certain proportion.

From a layman's point of view, the appearance of the Iron Fist Type 2 and Type 3 is almost identical except for the material of the medicine cover, except for the difference in the white paint of the warhead. If no one says about these twists and turns, how can the Wehrmacht know.

Just by looking at it, maybe they thought the SS was really using a "second-rate version of the iron fist".

Moreover, when the Wehrmacht, which was closely monitored by the League of Nations, was still simulating armored warfare with cars and wooden planks to simulate tanks, the first experimental panzer divisions of the SS secret training had already been formed.

When presiding over the internal army formation ceremony, Reinhardt said to a group of Wehrmacht veterans that we are exploring a bright way for the Wehrmacht to use the armored forces, and all future achievements are prepared for the Wehrmacht.

But the SS advisers were all Guderian who was robbed from the Wehrmacht, who deceived him by saying this?!

Of course, it is obvious that the Wehrmacht is jealous. After all, it was Guderian who heard that the SS had tanks and ran over on his own.

But fortunately, he still has some work ethic, and he still chooses to return to the Wehrmacht despite all the efforts of the Führer. Of course, he was also commanding the Wehrmacht's armored forces for the Führer.

Putting aside these old things, let's just say that most of the Wehrmacht soldiers in the troops under Poland City are still holding Mauser 98k, and the SS division, a ten-man squad of six riflemen, three of them are already equipped with the newly developed G43 semi-automatic rifles!

The reason why it is called the G43 semi-automatic rifle, the explanation given by the SS is that I heard that the Führer had to be named like this, and the designers did not bother to fight with the Führer over a name.

Of course, in the end, it is Reinhardt's emotional psychology that is at work.

In Reinhardt's words, "Whoever doesn't like the name, don't use it!" Leave the G43, which I personally named, for the troops who like the name. ”

After all, the G43 has just been mass-produced, and there is not enough equipment on the SS side, let alone the Wehrmacht. Reinhardt had no choice but to fool the Wehrmacht's army generals, using the excuse that the current G43 semi-automatic rifle still had various shortcomings, "its long-range accuracy is not comparable to that of the Mauser 98k", and then handed over the improved version to the Wehrmacht.

As for the heavy equipment that the SS brought today.......

Grizzly assault gun, let's talk about the 170 heavy assault gun, which is an assault gun made by Krupberry and the Henschel subsidiary of the Henscher consortium under the name of the Rhine consortium, using the chassis of a heavy self-propelled mortar that seems outdated because of the attack mode of dive bomber and armor-piercing shells.

Even anyone who has seen it knows that this decision is an excellent weapon against the fortress. But this thing is not active equipment, and if the Wehrmacht wants it, it will take a lot of time just to fight with the arms companies controlled by Reinhardt, not to mention the other processes that should be in place.

But the SS was different, the Führer waved his hand, and the chassis had just left the factory of the Henschel subsidiary, and before he had time to install the fighting compartment and artillery on the side of the Krupp Group, it had already been included in the newly established weapons testing regiment of the SS.

After installing the artillery and testing the power of the shooting range, it was hurriedly sent to the Polish front.

Those procurement officers of the arms companies and the Wehrmacht blew their beards and glared at the table, and they could still use it if they liked it, so they didn't have to roll. After all, they still have to wait to be used, and there is nothing the generals and marshals can do with them.

Try it with the Führer? First, they want to offend a head of state, and second, isn't their actual top superior also Reinhardt, how can they let this happen?

Even the chassis support team of the Rhino assault gun was brought out directly from the Henschel company, which had to be placed in the Wehrmacht, who had such a big face to make people serve so carefully.

Admiral Rundstead originally had a headache about how to take Warsaw City as quickly as possible with a low casualty rate.

But when he heard that the SS Weapons Test Corps had cooperated with the Wehrmacht attacking the Modlin Fortress and had taken the fortified fortress, which had historically held out until the day after the surrender of Warsaw, and had reached the city of Warsaw, he finally had no worries.

So, as soon as the front foot of the SS weapons experimental regiment arrived on the outskirts of Warsaw, the order of Rundstead came on the back foot.

The Weapons Test Regiment was ordered to take part in the siege of the city the next day, in order to achieve the strategic objective of the High Command to take the Polish capital as quickly as possible.

Early the next morning, after repairing overnight in an unknown village outside the city, the convoy of the Experimental Weapons Regiment arrived early in the offensive position of the 4th SS Panzergrenadier Division, which had been incorporated into Army Group South.