The Third Reich in Desperation

Third Reich Episode 375

"Swipe, brush, brush!"

As soon as Stauffenberg finished speaking, three bullets from the British army hit him. Fortunately, these three bullets only hit the ground, splashing dust all over the sky, and did not cause casualties to the German army. .

"Lie down!" Bonas yelled, and then all the soldiers of the German army fell down on the ground in unison, but there were still a few German soldiers who reacted slowly and were unfortunately shot by the British army. The bullet hit, and he fell to the ground and rolled in pain.

After a few minutes, the British finally stopped firing.

These suppressed German soldiers had the opportunity to make symbolic counterattacks with various light and heavy machine guns, but the British army had a fortress defense position after all, and their counterattacks basically did not play any role. Hitting their sandbags and dirt walls.

"It's not an option to go on like this! Bonas, how many people do we have left?" Stauffenberg, who still had dirt on his hat, worried.

"Before we entered Tobruk, we were not at full strength. Because our marching speed was too fast, two platoons fell behind halfway, and the previous losses in Algeria were not replenished, plus our losses here. ...At present, our military strength is about 420 people." Bonas stated with heartache.

"I remember that there were 580 people before we attacked. In less than 12 hours, we lost 160 people?" Stauffenberg said in surprise.

"That's right, our position is really too passive. Coupled with the long-distance running of the troops and the fierce firepower of the British, the losses of each company and platoon are really terrible." Bonas shook helplessly. Shake your head.

This number is enough to shock Stauffenberg. You must know that their machine-strength battalion has always been regarded as the treasure of their division, and they have never suffered such a big loss since they entered Africa with General Rommel.

This simply made Stauffenberg heartbroken. These soldiers were all treasures he brought out one by one after graduating from the Dresden Infantry Academy.

Seeing such a huge loss, Stauffenberg finally made up his mind to start retreating. He said to Bonas: "We should immediately telegraph General Rommel and tell him that we have to stop attacking and start retreating. The machine gun battalion can no longer afford it." Such a big loss."

"Hey... well, our machine gun battalion really can't continue to fight like this!" Bonas said in approval: "But we can't just slip away from the British army in such a fair manner, so Otherwise, once the British army pursues us, they will be even more unable to withdraw.”

"I've already thought about it!" Stauffenberg smiled confidently: "Although our shovels can't shovel the ground under our feet, they can still stir up sand and dust. Lead people to stay and use the grenades and the booby traps, and you lead the large army to retreat quickly. After that, I will lead the rear to catch up with you. I estimate that at the current wind speed, it will take at least 10 minutes for the dust all over the sky to completely dissipate. By the time the British army reacts, the people you lead must have slipped far away, if the British react and want my rear troops to chase after them, then the booby traps of the subordinates can give them a big gift!"

"It's a good idea!" Bonas praised with a smile, and then reminded Stauffenberg: "After you send a booby trap, bring someone to join me as soon as possible, and pay attention to safety."

...The farewell between the two of them almost became a farewell forever.

When Bonas saw Stauffenberg again, he was lying on a stretcher, covered in blood, and was carried back with his last breath by the soldiers in the rear.

Bonas, who has always been strong, almost yelled when he saw the bloody Stauffenberg.

Stauffenberg, who was on a stretcher, lost two fingers on his left hand and the entire right arm. His left eye was bleeding and was obviously seriously injured, and a blood-stained fragment was stuck in his right eye.

The combat hero who saved the entire machine gun battalion had to put a question mark on whether he could survive.

"Save him! Find me the best doctor to save him!" Bonas roared like crazy: "Major Stauffenberg is a battle hero who saved the entire machine gun battalion, so the military doctors must find a way to make him alive Come down! Do everything possible!"

Chapter 574 The Third Reich in Desperation ([-])

Outside Reinhardt's Fuehrer's office in Berlin.

Paulus, who was at the front, almost ran into Reinhardt's office at a trot.Behind him, several staff officers who were also Reinhardt's confidantes in the high command also followed closely behind.

Considering Reinhardt's status and status, his office wasn't too big, it was just a rectangular room with an area of ​​less than [-] square meters.There are several large rows of full bookshelves inside, high-quality porcelain bought from the East, which is the height of a person, and several famous paintings from France.

Having gotten used to the decorations here, Paulus didn't turn his eyes to those decorations, but walked quickly to Reinhardt, who was sitting on a chair behind the desk, and put a document marked "Urgent" in red in his hand. on the table.

On the chair, Reinhardt, who had formed a long-term tacit understanding with Paulus, tacitly opened the document handed over by the other party without even speaking.

Sure enough, as soon as he turned the first page, Reinhard smiled wryly.

The first page is a dazzling operational diagram.On the map, the traffic arteries, towns, defense lines, fortifications, airports, and strategic locations of hundreds of square kilometers on the eastern line are all densely marked.

Countless red and blue arrows representing the Soviet Union and Germany interspersed back and forth on the map, but it is not difficult to see that the density of arrows on the Soviet side is far denser and larger than that of the German army.

As expected, another bad news.

"Crack!" Reinhard rubbed his temples, simply closed the document, threw it aside, and then said to Paulus with some trouble: "I don't want to read it, and you report the important content to me. Bar."

Knowing that the pressure on the head of state has increased sharply recently, Paulus didn't say much, and reported directly and respectfully.

"According to the battle situation on the front line, within less than a month after we started the war against Britain, the Soviet army mobilized more than 40 troops from the rear, and all of them were transported to the southern line of our eastern garrison." Paulus said here At that time, his face was a little embarrassed, and while talking, he glanced at Reinhardt who was leaning on the chair and listening.

In fact, the reason why the Soviet army was able to gather an army of more than 40 in such a short period of time after receiving news of the German army's attack on Britain.To a large extent, they still rely on the railway network that German engineers have rebuilt for them over the years.

In fact, although the world's first railway was invented and built by the British, the Germans were the first to keenly discover the strategic value behind the railway.At that time, the famous Prussian chief of the general staff Mao Qi even put forward a famous saying: "Don't build any more fortresses, give me more railways!"

As the predecessor of Germany, Prussia relied on the full use of railways to quickly defeat the mighty Second French Empire and establish the Second German Empire.At that time, the German army even called its own railway train the "Paris Express"!

In the last world war, the reason why the German army was able to defeat Russia, the predecessor of the Soviet Union, was also due to the use of the railway network.

In the early days of World War I, a military column crossed the Hohenzollern Bridge on the Rhine almost every 10 minutes in Germany.Most importantly, a total of 1 trains participated in the mobilization, but no train was delayed.

Here, there are Germans who are meticulous in their work and rigorous style of work, and Germany's complete railway transportation foundation is also playing a role.

Later, after Reinhardt came to power, the first major thing he did was to unify the loose domestic railway companies and establish the Deutsche Bahn Company under the control of the Rhine Consortium.

During the 39-year blitz on Poland and the 40-year war in France, the German railways successfully completed their tasks, including large-scale transportation tasks such as transporting soldiers and evacuating residents.

After that, Deutsche Bahn's acceptance and adaptation of the Polish and French railways did not take much effort, because the track width standards in European countries and the technical level are relatively modern.In Poland, the Germans established the Eastern Railway, which is at the same level as the German Railways. On the Western Line, in principle, the railway is still under the jurisdiction of the host country, but in Paris Germany established the Western Railway Transport Department ETRA to supervise the operation of the local railway.

None of the above points is a problem.But the problem is that in order to solve the future Soviet-German war, after the German army invades the Soviet Union, it will fall into a logistical crisis due to the poor railway and road system of the Soviet Union. Reinhardt also launched a railway and road reconstruction cooperation with the Soviet Union.

Before the cooperation between the two parties, the most dense railway network hubs in the Soviet Union were only branched in Moscow, Leningrad and Donets.On the Supo border, only four double-track railways could be used by the German army after the war.

That is, the Neman River to Leningrad, the Bug River to Moscow via Orsha, the Bug River to Donets via Klimenchoko, and the San River to Odessa.

To make matters worse, these four east-west railways are really sparse in the vast western territory of the Soviet Union.

From Reinhardt's point of view, Napoleon and Hitler both suffered from the road problems in Russia or the Soviet Union. As a traverser, he should start to change this known problem.

He arranged for German engineers to replace the 38 kilograms per meter soft pine wood used in the Soviet Union with the German standard railway sleepers with a bearing capacity of 49 kilograms per meter according to the German railway standard.

Moreover, according to the standard of 1600 sleepers per kilometer laid by German railways, the Soviet standard of 1440 was completely changed.

Finally, because the German railways used screws and washers to fix the rails, the German engineers also followed Reinhardt's request and reminded the Soviets not to fix them directly with long nails.

Basically, more than 80.00% of the railway network in the Soviet Union today has completely copied the German railway structure.

Now, if the German army enters the Soviet Union again, even if the Soviets destroy some railways, the German army can quickly restore high-quality railways that can be fully connected with the German railways on the basis of the original Soviet railways.

That is to say, the German army has the guarantee to attack the Soviet Union.

But unexpectedly, the Soviet Union will do it first!

"My head of state is on the southernmost line. Because of the disparity in strength, and the Soviet army concentrated in the south to use elite troops, it used a large amount of air force and armored forces. Commander Steve, who is the deputy commander of the SS, has already The guard ordered a strategic turn of 50 kilometers." Paulus continued to report to Reinhardt the consequences of the upgrade of the Soviet railway network to the German army.

"Steve retreated?!" Hearing this, Reinhardt, who had been silent all the time, said emotionally, "How could they retreat? Where is the Sixth Army of Reichenau? They will deploy On the northern flank of the SS, why not support in time!"

Reinhard trusted Admiral Reichenau very much. For the Wehrmacht general who was the first to join the National Socialist Party, the outside world has always called him "Reinhardt's most loyal lackey."

Deploying Reichenau's Sixth Army on the northern wing of the SS is to count on him, who is loyal, to be able to support the SS in time and cooperate perfectly with Steve.

Prior to this, Steve and the General of the National Defense Forces had indeed cooperated very well with each other, and there was no sign of Reinhardt worrying at all.