The Third Reich: The Return of the King

Chapter 1142

Manstein was really not joking. Although Mainz asked him to rest at home for a few more days and spend more time with his wife and children, he declined Mainz’s kindness. After returning to Berlin, he immediately ended his vacation and went straight back to the General Staff to start formulating a combat plan against the Russian bear.

“General Halder, how many armies did the Empire originally plan to mobilize?”

Manstein agreed very much with Mainz’s point of view, that is, the Russian Bear is completely different from the opponents they have encountered before. This is an opponent with strong industrial strength, a huge land area, extremely tenacious fighting will, and has already mobilized for war early!

They have never encountered such an opponent since the beginning of the war, so this battle will inevitably be different from previous battles. The high-latitude location of the Russian Bear makes the empire’s military operations face huge risks. The disastrous defeat of General Napoleon’s army in the expedition to Moscow has deeply affected the whole world to this day!

500,000 experienced and powerful French troops suffered a disastrous defeat in the Russian Bear, and Napoleon, the overlord of Europe, was driven off the throne.

Even though he had almost won everything before, he still won this time. After the disastrous defeat, he was exiled.

Right now, the situation of the Third Reich is very similar to that of the Napoleonic Empire. They have also conquered a large number of countries in Western Europe and Central Europe, and they also have a powerful army with rich combat experience.

The Russian Bear is their last challenger on land, and the leaders of both countries want to completely resolve this hidden danger!

The slightly different thing is that the head of Mainz insisted on attacking Western Europe first, and only after destroying the British Empire and even the more distant Eagle Sauce, did he turn around and attack the Russian Bear.

The advantage of doing this is that they have no worries in Europe, at least in Western Europe. The German army can transfer all its forces to the Eastern Front to fight. Compared with Napoleon back then, their situation is much better. However

, in view of the lesson of Napoleon’s disastrous defeat in the expedition to Moscow, the attack The whole empire is extremely cautious about fighting the Russian bear.

No one wants to repeat the same mistake and everyone wants to win this last battle beautifully.

Fuhrer Mainz has already announced that after the battle, Mainz will personally go to Moscow’s Red Square to hold a grand victory parade. The German generals who participated in this battle will be directly awarded and promoted in Moscow according to their military exploits. It is said that the first batch of marshals of the empire will be born on this day.

Because of the stimulation of this news, almost the entire army was like chicken blood, and each one was full of energy, fearing that they would fall behind and miss this opportunity to be awarded.

As the most capable and most outstanding general in the empire, Manstein himself did not care much about this matter.

Although many people are discussing privately that he may be the third The first person to be promoted to marshal in the empire, but Manstein knew better that if he could not win this war, then even if he got the title of marshal, it would only be a shame, not the medal of victory he wanted!

With this idea in mind, Manstein was more serious than others. He not only carefully checked and examined the battle plan previously formulated by the General Staff, but also learned in detail from Halder, Zeitzler and others about the empire’s combat readiness for this battle.

In modern warfare, although everyone’s attention is focused on the fierce battles on the front line, as a commander of millions of troops, Manstein is more aware that the performance of the front-line army is crucial, but the preparation of the logistics troops and the transportation and support of materials are also crucial. It can even be said that the latter is more important than the former!

The German army is a professional army, and the soldiers are all experienced in combat and have extremely advanced weapons and equipment.

Even if their generals are not the talented and capable generals now.

With the powerful strength of the empire and the combat literacy of the soldiers, they can win the war by drawing lines and pushing flat.

The existence of famous generals only greatly accelerated the speed of ending the war, reduced their own losses, and increased the success rate of operations.

Manstein knew very well that although many people boasted about himself, in his opinion, without the excellent foundation of the National Defense Army built by Mainz, his military talent would not be fully exerted.

This clear understanding made Manstein’s character more humble and stable.

Halder, Zeitzler and others had already heard of Manstein’s great name. When they really met Manstein in person, the two of them admired Manstein even more! He is worthy of being the first general of the empire!

This calm temperament and humble attitude are worthy of being the first general!

“General Manstein, we have prepared a total of nine army groups on the Eastern Front, organized into three major army groups: the North, the Center, and the South!”

Halder stood at attention as a reflex when he heard Manstein’s words, and answered loudly:

“Nine? Didn’t the Führer say that he would strengthen the Central Army Group and prepare a reserve force in the rear, ready to reinforce the front at any time?”

Although the nine armies have a lot of troops, more than 3 million, Manstein still feels that it is not enough.

He has carefully studied the terrain of the bear. The terrain of the bear in Eastern Europe is narrow in the front and wide in the back. The area close to Central Europe is relatively small, and the front line will be relatively narrow. In such places, the German forces will be relatively concentrated and the offensive power will be very strong.

However, as the German army advances into the heart of the bear, their front line will become longer and longer, and the supply lines will become longer and longer.

In this case, the German forces on the front battlefield will definitely be diluted, and the supply in the rear will become more and more difficult.

Once the forces are diluted to a certain extent and the supply lines are stretched to a certain extent, the offensive power of the German army will plummet.

If the enemy starts a counterattack at this position, the German army may suffer a major defeat!

After a detailed calculation of the German army’s strength and the length of its supply lines, as well as a comprehensive consideration of the technical facilities in the country, especially the roads and railways, Manstein believed that once the German army had passed Smolensk, its offensive power would decline.

Under the city of Moscow, the German army’s offensive power would be weakened to one-third of the initial level or even lower!

In this case, it would be extremely difficult to capture Moscow, and the risk of failure is very high!

Therefore, in order to ensure success, the safest way is to increase the number of troops!