Even when Heinrich inspected and was familiar with the line and his troops accompanied by Manstein, the armored troops who had been hiding behind the center could not hold back and wanted to attack, especially after hearing that General Holt commanded the left flank cluster to fight a beautiful armored raid on the Voronezh Front of the Red Army.

In a rest camp of the 16th Panzer Division, a crowd of people surrounded an officer in his 50s with the rank of lieutenant colonel and shouted:

"Earl, you can talk to Daddy Hube again, let us go out and fight again, we haven't fought a battle since September when we inexplicably began to retreat backwards, and the tank is still being maintained from time to time, and this man is about to rust if he doesn't move."

"Yes, it's a new tank, it's a new assault gun, I thought there would be a big battle, but the left one retreated, the right one was on standby, and all the patience that had been accumulated with great difficulty was worn out, and finally the Red Army tank brigade appeared today, and before we could get out of the army, the anti-tank guns were reimbursed so much, and if this continues, my younger brother who served in the 13th Panzer Division will surpass me - I can't afford to lose this person."

"Got it, got it, I'm going to say it's not okay? Am I not in a hurry if you are in a hurry? Known as "Count Tank", Lieutenant Colonel Hazin von Stravitz, who was the commander of the 1st Battalion of the 1st Panzer Regiment of the 16th Panzer Division, looked agitated. In fact, he especially understands the desire of these young men to fight, on the one hand, he received the retreat order when he was fighting successively, which made it difficult for people to turn around in their thoughts, not to mention that the ordinary soldiers below couldn't figure it out. Even a mid-level officer like him is difficult to get along; On the other hand, I haven't had a decent battle for nearly two months, and I used to look forward to resting when I was fighting, but if I was free, it would be 2 months. It's no wonder that the young men with strong blood can stand it.

However, although his words sounded very categorical in the crowd just now, behind those few words was completely prevarication and perfunctory, because he was a little afraid of seeing Daddy Hubei recently.

Father Hube is the affectionate name of the commander of the 16th Panzer Division, Lieutenant General Hans Valentin Hubey, the armored general who lost an arm in World War I has a very good character, has a very regular life (insists on eating a meal for 3 hours to maintain strength), is talented, clear-minded and strong to maintain the honor and image of the traditional soldier. Whether it is in command of operations or daily communication, he maintains a serious expression and meticulous style, no matter what hardships and hardships will not be difficult for him, he will always appear in front of his subordinates with a calm expression. Only in the most intense mood would he wave the black artificial prosthetic hand - the only memorial to the last war.

Stravitz is a Junker nobleman, the eldest son of the family with the title of count, and his age is actually not too young, nearly 50 years old. The temples have long begun to turn gray. As a cavalryman who participated in the war in the last war, he has a lot of experience - he has been wounded, he has been in a French prison, and he can be regarded as a character. Later, he changed his career to become an armored soldier, starting completely from the most basic commander, and it stands to reason that such a high-ranking and seniorized officer should soon be able to stand out, but unfortunately he has not been able to change his character: on the one hand, he unruly contempts for his superiors, and on the other hand, he spares no effort to care for his subordinates, so senior officers have a headache when they mention him. And his subordinates liked him very much, so the war was fought until now only a lieutenant colonel battalion commander - a very rare thing among the average young and light armored troops.

In the situation of two months of idleness, if he had a fiery temper before, he would have jumped out and scolded people a long time ago. Recently, however, his temper has been much more restrained, because not long ago, Lieutenant General Hu Bei went to him to give him a lecture, and under the fierce reprimand of the other party, this old troublemaker, who has always been not afraid of heaven and earth, was finally restrained.

That day, Hubey's father's face was ugly, and his anger was particularly great, and Stravitz bet that he had never seen his father so angry, only to see the other party knock on the table with his fake hand and scold: "I heard that you are dizzy, and you are actually planning such a rebellious thing as a coup d'état, and you dare to devise a plan to detain him while the Führer is here." ”

He was startled, and said weakly, "How can there be?" ”

"Don't quibble, do you think your fox friends can stand up and not tell the truth when they go to the secret prison of the Gestapo? If they could be as unyielding as they claimed, I would have admired them as heroes, but what have I seen? Everywhere there were begging for mercy, there were people who begged the big men to clear the way through various connections and hoped for the Führer's forgiveness, and there were people who pushed the blame on others, a bunch of wretched worms in their original form - there were only two hard bones in them, one Treskov and the other Stauffenberg...... As for Ludwig Beck, he was a complete fool. Daddy Hube looked serious, "You actually mess with them, I have to doubt your IQ." ”

"But this is a complete slander, I am a lieutenant colonel, although I have the name of an earl, but what? There are dozens of counts in Germany, if not hundreds. Stravetz shouted, "Besides, we are the supreme commander, I detain the Führer, you can let it go with a word......"

"Specdar has done everything, believe it or not, the Gestapo will be able to show you his autographed confession now?" Hans-Specdar, then chief of staff of the Fifth Army, was a close friend of Beck's and was deeply involved in the conspiracy, while Stravitz was his favorite figure who could be used for "special missions".

Hearing the name Stepal, Stravitz's heart sank suddenly, and he hung his head like a defeated rooster, and finally under Hubey's repeated questioning, he said a secret conversation between him and Speedel...... If the situation is unfavourable and requires decisive action, consideration may be given to detention on the occasion of the Führer's front-line visits......

"But it was all a joke...... You also know that there are a lot of people in our division who talk about the Führer, and there are many occasions for joking, which is completely unfeasible, at most it is a joke that goes too far. "Does Stravitz still know that it was Stepal who confessed to him? He hated the other party for being so undignified, but he still had to hold on to it and not admit it—otherwise it would be over.

This excuse is very good: the 16th Panzer Division is an army with a strong Prussian tradition, there are too many members of the nobility who serve as officers in it, and only a few people of civilian origin join the team by virtue of their ranks and military exploits, and it is joked internally that the junior officers are not Mr. Captain or Mr. Ensign, but should be called Mr. Marquis, Mr. Count Fire, and the title of "Count of Tanks" of course comes from this. In such a team, officers of all ranks were very active and willing to devote themselves to political discussions, and at the same time as there was complete freedom of speech, all kinds of ideas were growing and spreading, and the officers of the divisional staff themselves commented: "...... No division can make such a joke about Hitler as we do, and we can even discuss his dismissal......"

Hube was obviously troubled by this, but now it was different, he stared at Stravitz's face, gritted his teeth and said: "The Führer has organized a military tribunal to fully try them, Marshal Rundstead has presided over the overall work, the verdict will come out soon, and most people will inevitably be hanged in the end, do you want to go in and stand with them?" ”

Stravitz was startled and hurriedly said, "Of course not! ”

"I don't care if you're joking or negotiating, I won't allow this to happen - it's a betrayal!" Hube slammed the table and raised his voice and said, "The Führer led the German people to put an end to the fragmentation, to save the country and nation from the economic crisis, and to win space for the future development of the Reich, no matter what mistakes and wrongs he had, it is not something you and I can discuss casually - besides, I don't think the Führer's mistakes are so great, and many times the so-called morality, faith, and honor that we abide by are not worth mentioning in the face of the ultimate interests of the German people!" No one, whatever your reasons and motives, can violate the military oath you have made before the Führer! Besides, aren't the policies you're busy attacking slowly adjusting? The Jews' treatment methods are less drastic, and the management of the Eastern peoples is also being adjusted, including military strategy, internal management, economic system and other policies. As politicians and strategists, the Führer usually stands taller than us, sees farther than us, and leads us from victory to victory, what else do you want to do? Just because you are a small armored battalion commander, you are also worthy of criticizing the Führer's governing philosophy? ”

Hubey's words are certainly not unforgiving, let alone deliberately taking them out to make things difficult for Stravitz, there are many problems with the 16th Panzer Division, and there are similar problems with the Potsdam Infantry Regiment (if the reader has an impression, they will remember the Ninth Earl), after the Ninth Earl was liquidated, of course, the situation was inevitably transmitted to the 16th Panzer Division, because there were many relatives and friends who were related to each other, and Stravitz now finally understood why the other party's face was so bad, and he could only stand up respectfully and respectfully, and did not dare to say more than half a word.

"The Führer himself is aware of this matter, and he also understands your thoughts, he is generous and ignorant of your past, and at the same time he has also noticed the abnormal political atmosphere in our division, so after the end of this battle, you will be transferred with part of the troops to form an independent heavy armored battalion, with you as the commander of the battalion, this is the army group commander personally controlled, equipped with the latest development of the empire, powerful tanks, I hope you can seize the opportunity." (To be continued.) )