"My Führer, did you give the order to halt the advance of the armored cluster?"

Ten minutes later, Brauchitsch and Halder, who received the news, rushed to the Führer's office in a hurry, and as soon as they entered the door, Halder questioned Hitler with hidden anger. Halder never expected that Hitler would bypass him and give orders directly to the commanders at the front, which was not only a contempt for the entire Army General Staff, but also the most intolerable act of a layman interfering in insider decision-making.

It is true that today's Hitler is no longer a pure military layman – with the dedication of General Keitel over the past two years, Hitler's military prowess has grown by leaps and bounds, but it is still far from that of truly remarkable commanders such as Frederick the Great and Ludendorff. Perhaps the only thing that is commendable is his insight into the macro battle situation, but this definitely does not include the ability to interpret the battle of how a specific division should be mobilized!

In the face of Halder's somewhat aggressive questioning, Hitler's attitude turned out to be even tougher, and he angrily rebuked with a cold face: "You are trying to ruin the whole operation!" The armored forces are advancing alone, far away from the support of large forces and even logistics, while the flanks of the long offensive spearhead are not covered by even a trace of strength, which contains a huge risk of defeat. What's more, the armored forces have been marching and fighting for 7 consecutive days with a total mileage of more than 350 kilometers; The personnel of the divisions were exhausted, and their combat effectiveness was greatly reduced. ”

As if thinking that his orders two days ago had been taken as deaf ears by the people in front of him, Hitler's expression became more and more fierce, and he roared: "How similar the current situation is to the eve of the Battle of the Marne 26 years ago!" The exposed flanks of the forwards, the lack of logistical supplies, and the fatigue of the soldiers have all made our army face a catastrophic crisis. So I ordered the armored cluster to stop advancing. If in 1914, Crook Group could have been turned to defense under the city of Paris, then Germany had already won the victory that year, where would it suffer the bloodshed and humiliation that followed? ”

Seeing that Halder's eyebrows were upside down, he was about to immediately open his mouth to stand up, but the commander-in-chief of the army, Brauchitsch, hurriedly grabbed his partner's shirt and signaled him not to be impulsive, and then said in relatively calm words: "I can understand your concern about the flank of the striker, Führer. This time, however, the situation was very different from that of 1914. ”

"At present, the French 9th Army has collapsed, and the French army on the central front has been broken up in the hundreds of thousands, and we are no longer unable to take prisoners as we were 26 years ago, but we do not need to take prisoners. The French army on the Central Front was now completely disorganized, a radical departure from the orderly retreat of 1914. As a result, the French army was bound to no longer have the determination and ability to carry out the counteroffensive as it had in the past. And there is only one thing we have to do, and that is to drive directly to the English Channel and encircle the forces of the Northern Alliance. Brauchitsch said.

"The resistance of the French 9th Army was crushed, but what about the rest of the troops? Paris has at least 20 divisions in reserve, and as soon as 5 divisions are thrown on the central front, the armored forces will immediately be in a desperate situation! Hitler was not in the slightest moved, and immediately retorted. He paused, then spoke in a resolute tone: "In any case, the armored forces must immediately stop advancing and wait for the follow-up infantry to follow." After 3-4 days of repairs, the combat effectiveness of the armored cluster will return to its peak, and the hastily constructed defensive line of the French army will not be able to stop the attack of our army at all. ”

Brauchitsch was anxious, how could he not take advantage of the victory to pursue and chase in a fight, but to stop and give the enemy a chance to breathe? Under the onslaught of a large number of refugees and routs, the probability that the French would still be able to carry out a fierce counterattack is almost zero. Taking a step back, even if the French did launch an unexpected counteroffensive, the French would not be able to swallow it in one gulp in the face of the German Panzer Division, which concentrated a large number of tanks.

What's more, the German tank units can also get strong support from the air, and their ability to resist pressure is definitely worth reassuring. As long as the armored forces can hold out for a few days, and wait until the infantry arrives, then the tide of battle will be reversed in an instant, and the battle will be changed from being trapped in the encirclement to blooming in the center!

However, despite Brauchitsch's statements and explanations to Hitler, Hitler today did not advance and said that he was not allowed to attack. At this time, Halder next to him couldn't stand it anymore and said loudly: "I don't think you know how to command a war at all." The specific combat operations of the army should be left to professional officers to complete, and do not point fingers at them. Hitler was embarrassed and angry. His position as supreme commander was originally obtained through political means, and he did not have the corresponding military experience, so he was secretly criticized by senior army generals. Now Halder is grasping this sore foot to attack, and it is simply a blatant embarrassment for him!

"Have you fought with the French at the front? Have you ever felt the will of the French to fight, and have you experienced the hardship and fatigue of soldiers in long-term continuous and high-intensity battles? Hitler took off the Iron Cross of the First Class on his chest and slammed it on the table, "I've been dealing with them on the front for four years!" It was because you staff officers did not understand the actual situation on the front line that this led to the disaster on the Marne River and caused our army to fail! ”

Being robbed of white like this, Halder was so angry that his face turned pale. It is true that Halder did not go to the front, but that was because he was born in the top elite of the Army Military Academy, and immediately after graduation he entered the promising General Staff, and during the war, he showed his talents on the Eastern Front. But now, according to Hitler's logic, he, a gold medal student, is not as good as a mere corporal, his uncle can bear it, but his aunt can't bear it!

Without any hesitation, Halder immediately turned to leave, and as he walked out of the room, he angrily slammed the door behind him, slamming it against the door frame with a loud "bang". Brauchitsch, who was still standing there, felt that his heart had also been struck, and he turned his head in panic to see that Hitler's face had turned the color of pig's liver, and then gritted his teeth and walked to another small door leading to the outside. Brauchitsch stood alone for a long time, and then covered his face with the palm of his hand with bitterness: this is good, the order to stop advancing is even more unlikely to be recovered.

"What? The order to stop the offensive is coming again, what madness is this? In a makeshift station on the French front, Guderian threw the telegram to the ground in a fit of rage and cursed. Now the three armored divisions under his command are advancing to the west non-stop, and the resistance encountered along the way is extremely light, and it can be said that the situation is very good; If you stop at this moment, wouldn't you give up halfway and bury the once-in-a-lifetime fighter plane in vain?

The adjutant on the side bent down to pick up the telegram and said cautiously: "General, this is an order issued by the General Headquarters of the Army, not an order from Admiral Kleist, and we have no reason to disobey it again." What's more, this time it was not only us who was restricted, but the other two armored corps were also ordered to stop advancing, and if we were the only ones who disobeyed the order, then in any case, we would not be able to explain it to the army headquarters. ”

"Fuck the bullshit Army Command, it's definitely Kleist this old guy making trouble!" Guderian's eyes widened, and his furious roar was clearly discernible from dozens of meters away. He angrily paced around the headquarters a few times, and said flatly, "I will not allow this to be stopped. Even if both Hult and Reinhardt stop, I'm going to rush to Abbeville and complete the established strategy! Pick me up Army Group A Headquarters, I'm going to talk to Kleist right now. ”

Facing the lieutenant general's explosive mentality, the adjutant who didn't dare to touch the moldy head hurriedly grabbed the phone and began to dial the turntable. After a while, he timidly signaled that the phone had been answered. Guderian took a deep breath, wiped the anger from his face, and then took the earpiece from the adjutant's hand. Just when the latter breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the self-patriarch had finally returned to normal in front of his superiors, Guderian's first words made him almost squirt.

"One and a half hours later, you came to pick me up at the airport in the northern suburbs. I'm so busy here, I'll make it clear at the airport and I'll rush back to the front line right away. ......" Everyone next to him looked at each other, and a strange thought invariably appeared in their hearts: Is Admiral Kleist, the commander of the armored group, really his commander's direct boss? How do you listen to these words and tones, as if the relationship between the two superiors and subordinates is reversed?

Guderian did not have these superfluous ideas. After explaining a few words to his boss, he threw down the phone and hurriedly boarded a reconnaissance plane for communication. A little more than an hour later, the plane landed on the outskirts of Koblenz in Germany. At the end of the runway, Kleist stood on the barrel car and watched Guderian's plane land, his hands clenched into fists, a fire burning in his heart.

"Heinz (Guderian), you are simply more daring than a tank. I allowed you to conduct combat reconnaissance, and as a result you did reconnaissance with all 3 armored divisions, huh? Moreover, you are a liar who doesn't even feel the slightest guilt about lying. You promised me only 24 hours of combat reconnaissance, but as of today, two days have passed, and not even one of your troops has stopped! I kind of understand that the precious qualities of obedience and honesty of the German soldiers for hundreds of years are worthless in your heart......"

Facing Guderian who walked in front of him, Kleist immediately scolded him. In the past few days, Kleist has been holding back the fire in his belly against Guderian, who has repeatedly changed his tricks and disobedience, and this time he vented it without reservation, and it was out of control like a long river. It wasn't until he was panting that Kleist's resentment subsided slightly, and at this time, Guderian's face was already sinking like water, and his gloomy expression was prohibitive.