"This Lieutenant General Falkenhausen has been too slow to react, and it is really disappointing that he has not made any useful decisions until the start of the war......"

In the temporary accommodation arranged by the general command of the exercises for Hersmann and Hitler, he complained about the imminent "defeat" of Falkenhausen.

"His reaction was normal," Hersmann explained to Hitler as he drank a beer from his hospitable hostess, a very beautiful Latvian woman. "The army that has been deployed to the defensive line is not something that can be adjusted just by saying that it can be adjusted...... Those were traditional infantry, with very weak mobility, and their baggage and artillery were mainly dragged by animal power. In order to withdraw the troops in an orderly manner, it takes a lot of time just to make a plan. ”

In this era, most of the infantry divisions of European countries followed the idea of "heavy firepower" and "light mobility". Equipped with a large number of artillery and machine guns, and relying on trains, foot and livestock for mobility, these units could not move at all once they left the railway line.

The "World War I infantry" style of operation also limited mobility, and the troops were not concentrated on the battlefield and ready to be dispatched at any time, but were scattered along the long defensive line, and it was very troublesome to concentrate them.

And, unlike during World War I, the aviation industry has come a long way in the last decade or so. The side that has air supremacy can completely use air strikes to delay the opponent's movements.

After observing for most of the day, Hitler also seemed to have some understanding of the "blitzkrieg", "Ludwig, what you said before makes some sense, in the face of a mechanized army, the traditional army based on infantry and horse-drawn artillery is simply vulnerable. ”

Hersman took a sip of his beer, nodded, and said, "Yes." They're just vulnerable! Moreover, this exercise has not yet fully demonstrated the power of the armored assault...... It is only necessary to verify some points of view, and at the same time, it is necessary to find some existing problems and shortcomings. ”

The problems and shortcomings are obvious. First of all, the quality of the No. 2 tank is worrying!

Hersmann actually wanted to give the German tank a golden thigh or something, and the small body of the "No. 2" and the 20mm caliber machine gun were worrying to watch. If you replace it with "tiger" and "leopard", it will be more eye-catching. But the very cruel reality is there, and the famous Made in Germany can't even handle the "No. 2" now!

At the time of the arrival of the 1st Panzer Division in Riga. Including the reserve tanks, a total of 425 "No. 2" were equipped. And the march from Riga to Lake Usma left 62 of them lying on their stomachs. There were a lot of problems of all kinds, either the engine was not working, or the suspension was faulty -- due to the backwardness of the tracked tractor industry and the restrictions of the treaty that lasted for more than ten years, Germany had a serious shortage of technology in tank manufacturing.

In contrast, wheeled armored vehicles, based on the automotive industry, turned out to be very good. The ADGZ-612M heavy wheeled armored vehicles assigned to the 1st and 3rd Armored Infantry Divisions had a very low failure rate, and only a few wheeled armored vehicles broke down on the way from Riga to Lake Usma. And all fixed very quickly.

In addition, the performance of the Hs-123 attack aircraft was satisfactory. During today's daytime exercise, the Hs-123 attack aircraft successfully flew 300 sorties without a single accident that damaged the aircraft.

The problem exposed after the poor quality of German tanks was that the infantry divisions of the German Army were not able to defend themselves against enemy armored forces, even with a large number of 37mm anti-tank guns, they were still vulnerable to the assault of armored groups.

"Armored forces are not invincible either!" Hitler said at the meal, "General Manstein's report illustrates this." ”

Since Manstein will von . The armored cluster commanded by Thoma blocked for several hours. His view of Manstein seems to have changed somewhat.

Hitler said: "Infantry divisions only need to be motorized and equipped with a large number of anti-tank weapons and a small number of self-propelled anti-tank guns. will be able to withstand the attacks of the Panzer Division. ”

"That's right," Hirschman nodded, "motorized infantry divisions, with a small number of tanks or self-propelled anti-tank guns, are indeed a way to counter the attacks of armored divisions. But this is a defensive mode of formation, which is very suitable for countries that do not want to start a war. ”

The debate over whether to use tanks centrally or decentrally. It began after military theorists like Fuller and De Gaulle put forward the theory of mechanized warfare. The faction that advocated the centralized use of tanks to form armored divisions used tanks as a weapon for attack, and wanted to use the mobility and firepower of tanks, plus the motorized infantry. Deliver a deadly assault on the enemy's defenses.

And the idea of dispersing tanks into infantry divisions to form mechanized infantry (armored infantry) is from a defensive standpoint. Officers who held this view were also aware of the difficulty of traditional infantry divisions in withstanding the assault of armored clusters. Therefore, it is advocated to assign weapons such as tanks or self-propelled anti-tank guns to infantry divisions in order to improve the anti-tank capabilities of infantry divisions.

Of course, the creation of an army with armored and armored infantry divisions (mechanized infantry divisions, panzergrenadier divisions) as the main force is certainly the dream of the military top of all countries. For their part, the French certainly also wanted a Maginot Line that stretched from the Alps to the sea.

But no one has an infinite amount of money to squander! Therefore, the choice can only be made between "offensive" armored divisions and "defensive" mechanized infantry divisions - for Germany and France before World War II, equipping an army with thousands of tanks and self-propelled guns was already the upper limit of national strength.

With these armored weapons, it is possible to form about 10 armored divisions, or dozens of mechanized infantry divisions.

"So what do we need in Germany are armored divisions or mechanized infantry divisions?" Adolph. Hitler asked with a deep groan.

"Panzer divisions, of course!" Hersman replied categorically. "In the future, we need more armored divisions and better tanks."

……

"Admiral, the Red Army has been deployed around Fort William." In today's go down to Manstein suffered a lot of von . Thoma, at this time, was in a warehouse that smelled of horse manure, reporting the "battle situation" to Guderian, who had just arrived.

The plan to end the exercises before dinner seemed impossible to complete, and now Guderian had already eaten dinner. Moreover, Manstein retreated with the remnants of his 18th Division to Wilhelmsburg, where he joined at least two infantry regiments.

"They have at least 7,000 people, and they also have about 50 37mm guns, four 150mm infantry guns, and eight 75mm infantry guns." Feng. "The tanks have no choice but to wait for the artillery to arrive," Thoma said. According to the rules of the exercise, if we can mobilize 100 artillery pieces and 10,000 men, we can take Fort William in 2 days. ”

The Blues now have a number of artillery pieces, some of which were assigned to them and some of which have been captured during the day's fighting. Two infantry divisions had been crushed by the Blue Panzer Cluster, capturing more than 10,000 prisoners, and had made a 15-kilometer-wide breach in the Red Army's line and advanced 12 kilometers to the northwest.

But the commander-in-chief of the Red Army, Falkenhausen, did not admit defeat, he still had 4 full-fledged divisions at his disposal. Moreover, Manstein succeeded in delaying the advance of the Blues' armoured clusters, buying time for the Reds to defend Fort Wilhelm, a small town and a crossroads, where two roads intersected. It is surrounded by farmland, pastures and woods.

In addition, there are warehouses of the Baltic Agricultural Cooperatives and a factory for the production of dairy products. The warehouses and buildings were newly built in the 30s and were very strong and needed to be destroyed with a 150mm cannon.

"2 days is not enough." Guderian immediately vetoed von. Thoma's suggestion, "2 days plus tonight is 2 and a half days...... It was enough for the 4 divisions in the hands of Falkenhausen to drive over. At that time, we will have to fight a hard-fought battle with 60,000 enemies at Fort William, and the referee will definitely judge us as a defeat. ”

"So what do we do?" Feng. Thoma asked.

"Is it okay to take a detour?"

"Bypass?" Feng. Thoma thought for a moment and nodded. "It can be circumnavigated, and if we go around and advance for another eight kilometres, we will win. But ......"

"But this is a loophole, and it can't be like this in actual combat situations," Guderian said to von Von. Thoma's words continued. "Now the four divisions in Falkenhausen must be ready to move on Route 8, and if we bypass Fort Wilhelm, they will arrive in two days, and then our rear road will be cut off."

"Yes." Feng. Thoma nodded.

"So how about we make a bend outside Fort William and head east on Route 8?" Guderian patted on a military map captured from the Red Army, "2 divisions against 2 divisions, encountered on the march. In this case, an unresponsive infantry division would not be able to defeat an armored and motorized infantry division. And we also have air superiority...... This kind of encounter can be decided in 24 hours. ”

Feng. Thoma nodded, "Then we will defeat 4 divisions of the Red Army, and there will be no need to worry about leaving 2 divisions." ”

"So how many vehicles are there to drive now?" Guderian asked again.

"Do you want to start right away?"

"Yes!" Guderian said, "Right now, there is no need to wait for the 2nd Panzer Regiment and the 3rd Motorized Rifle Division to all arrive. Now the key is to be fast, to fight slow with fast...... Let them advance along the improvised road (the liaison road built by the Red Army) and go hand in hand with us. (To be continued.) )