However, handsome is only three seconds.

Just as Hitler was making a promise to Hopner, a staff officer hurriedly pushed the door in and reported with a telegram: "Your Excellency the Führer, the Tver Bridge has been lost again!" ”

Hitler was stunned for a moment, then waved his fist in anger and said, "Let those bastards take it back at once!" ”

"In fact, they've already done it!" The staff officer replied: "They recaptured the Tver bridge." But ......"

"But what?"

"In fact, it was the Russians themselves who went back!" The staff officer said: "They blew up the railroad and retreated!" ”

So Hitler understood that the Russians used this tactic to cut off the German transport, that is, they did not need to occupy the Tver bridge at all.

"Then let them hold on!" Hitler didn't think about it, so he ordered: "Firmly block the Russians in residential areas, like encircling a pack of wild wolves, so that they can't break out and bite people!" ”

"Yes, Your Excellency!" The staff officer responded, turned around and issued the order.

"I think we have to face this reality, Your Excellency!" "We can't hold our current line of defense anymore because our army is under-manned and undersupplied," Hoppner said. So, under this premise, why don't we take the initiative to shrink the line of defense so that it remains in a straight line, so that at least our line of defense will be reduced by a few hundred kilometers, so that we can save a lot of troops and seize the initiative in a more advantageous position? ”

What Hopner said makes sense.

What Hitler said was a false proposition, such as an avalanche of collapse of the army or the abandonment of equipment once the army retreated.

The crux of the matter is that if you don't retreat on your own initiative, you will be repulsed by the enemy.

If you have to choose one of the two, of course, it is to take the initiative to retreat in a more orderly manner, to retain more equipment and to occupy the initiative of defense.

Instead, being repulsed by the enemy is more likely to be the picture that Hitler painted.

So in the final analysis, Hitler was not trying to save his troops, he just didn't want to admit the defeat of the German army and didn't want to face the reality, he still thought that the German army could still win or at least hold the current line of defense until the weather warmed up...... This was the real purpose of his order, "not to take a step back".

Historical facts have also proved Hitler's orders wrong.

Because of Hitler's orders, the German army held its position and was surrounded by the Soviet army divided into pieces, and many places collapsed and a large amount of equipment was discarded. Had it not been for Lugar's desperate disobedience to Hitler's orders to order the Fourth Army to break through, the Germans would have collapsed on all fronts...... This is also the reason why Marshal Lugar was dismissed from office in history.

Of course, many of these Germans showed their courage and courage, even when surrounded by Soviet troops, such as Kholm.

This made it impossible for the Soviets to let go of their hands and feet in pursuit.

But with the quality and discipline of the Germans, if they had retreated, as Hopner had said, and straightened the line of defense now formed by the attack on Moscow, which was bent like a long snake, perhaps it would not have been as Hitler had described, and there would have been far fewer losses and losses.

"Your Excellency!" Hopner went on to say: "Positional warfare in such unsuitable climates and terrain would lead to the kind of war of attrition that occurred during the First World War." We will lose a large number of officers and experienced soldiers, we will suffer huge losses without any benefit, and these losses will be irreparable! ”

Germany's experienced officers and soldiers are the greatest wealth of the army, as long as they are kept and not let them freeze to death in the ice and snow, the German army still has a chance to attack Moscow.

But Hitler did not listen to Hopner at all.

Hitler approached Hopner and said coldly: "You have to understand, General! I am the Führer, and I think I have a legitimate reason to demand that every German soldier sacrifice his life. Not for me, but for the great Germany! And you, my general, I think you should go back to your post and fight with your soldiers! ”

Hearing this, Hopner knew that this "persuasion" had failed, and after he saluted, he reluctantly turned around and left Hitler's office.

After Hopner left, Hitler said to his staff officer: "I failed to convince this man!" ”

It's ironic, for Hopner it was Hopner trying to persuade Hitler to change his mind, but for Hitler, it was Hitler who was persuading Hopner to hold on.

The minds of the two were completely on two different planes, which meant that they were doomed to fail from the beginning.

But no matter how paranoid Hitler was, the battlefield would not change because of his wishful thinking.

The attack and defense of the Tver Bridge are indeed somewhat different.

Colonel Ebel, as Hitler ordered, wanted to surround the 1st Guards Tank Brigade like a wolf.

So the Germans laid mines, pulled barbed wire, and set up barricades in the area from the Tver Bridge to residential areas.

If there was a better way, it was to build anti-tank trenches, but the anti-tank trenches made of ice and snow were vulnerable to the tanks, and the ground was so cold that it was impossible to dig them, so they had to give up.

The Germans then deployed tanks behind these obstacles.

This defense looked difficult to break through, but it was not difficult for the Soviet army at all.

Several mine-sweeping tanks "rumbled" up, and in a few clicks they threw all the roadblocks and barbed wire into the snow...... The triangular pillar barricade may be able to break the tank's tracks, but it is not resistant to the minesweeper's giant drums.

There was only a "rattling" sound, and the barricades were either broken or sunk into the snow and disappeared.

As for the mines, not to mention, they were detonated one by one as if they were being fired.

So again, the Tver Bridge was occupied by Soviet troops, and the railway, which had just been repaired, was blown up again.

However, the German army's will to fight was indeed tenacious, and they are still holding on to the battle.

This was especially the 4th Tank Army, where the water in the radiators of their tanks was frozen and the engines burst. Tanks, trucks, and radio communication vehicles could not move, and even telescopes, trench scopes, and artillery sights were unable to operate due to twisting and freezing of the devices...... Hitler feared that the soldiers would abandon the heavy equipment, which could not be used unless the soldiers could carry them back.

But even in this situation, the German soldiers were still on the front line to block the attack of the Kalinin Front, and Hopner was also trying his best to command.

However, the order of the Supreme High Command came down...... Removal of Hopner from the post of commander of the 4th Tank Army.