Chapter 64: The Civil War (4)

(64)

The weather became very bad, the wind gradually increased, the snowflakes fell in large flakes and quietly, and at twenty-one ten, the Second Army of the Nationalist Army had not arrived at the designated position. Generals Hoffmann and Rundstedt began to become worried, and at that moment the correspondent reported that the terrain of the swamps in the lower reaches of the Spree River was very complicated, and it was even more difficult to discern the effective path after the heavy snow, and many soldiers were trapped in the swamp, which caused serious non-combat attrition, and the march of the troops was temporarily blocked, and in a few hours, the swamps could be completely frozen, and asked for instructions to postpone the attack. Hoffmann and Rundstedt had an urgent discussion, decided to cancel the operation for the time being, and instructed the operators to quickly notify the participating units to rest and be on standby.

At 4:40 a.m. on November 3, the Second Army in the northwest reported that the swamps were completely frozen and that the troops had safely and smoothly reached their designated offensive positions.

Hoffmann and Rundstedt were so excited that they ordered their troops to quickly seize the advantageous terrain and launch a fierce attack on all fronts with the sound of gunfire.

At 5:20 a.m., the battle for an all-out general offensive began.

The Fourth Army, in accordance with the requirements of the commander-in-chief, marched to Berlin ahead of schedule and made great progress along the way.

Schleicher was taken aback, and thought to himself that this must be the Nationalist army knowing that the main force of the government army was all in Potsdam, so it adopted the strategy of avoiding the real and making a detour to attack Berlin. Once Berlin is captured, the fierce fighting in Potsdam these days will come to naught. General Grener's great cause of nation-building will be defeated in his own hands. Schleicher rubbed his hands, not knowing what to do, but thinking about it, he felt that there was a problem, if the Nationalist Army really wanted to attack Berlin, why should it be fanfare, wouldn't it be better to attack quietly at night. It is very clear that this may be Hoffman's ploy to move away. It's dangerous! Once Potsdam was divided into the north, the first line of defense in Berlin was ceded to the Nationalists.

Schleicher was not fooled, and remained firmly in the Potsdam forward without moving a single soldier. That's when Max? Hoffman gave the signal for a full-scale offensive, and the 2nd Army in the north-west direction took the lead. In the past, the southern position was the main direction of attack of the Nationalist Army, and the Second Route Army in the land of water and grass was at most a flag-waving cheerleader, however, this sudden attack disrupted all of Schleicher's deployments. The freezing of the swamp was tantamount to depriving the Potsdam forward position of a reliable natural barrier, and Schleicher could be said to have been a hundred secrets, but it was too late, and the mistake made by his own hands could only make him swallow the bitter fruit.

The position in the northwest was in a panic, the defenders hurriedly returned fire, and on the first line, the two armies repeatedly strangled and fought desperately, with heavy casualties on both sides, and blood flowed on the position. The inferiority of the defenders' weapons and equipment gradually became apparent, and they gradually lost their support, and had to retreat to the inner line.

The Second Army finally gained a firm foothold in the forward positions and took the opportunity to expand its gains.

On the Southeastern Front, Erwin? Rommel commanded the 501st Tank Battalion to launch the attack on time, and it went very well at first, but when he rushed to the forward position of the first line, he was blocked by the deep trenches of the Schleicher defenders and could not move forward. Seeing that the infantry of the Third Army had already launched a charge, Rommel had to quickly change his tactics, simply lined up all the tanks, and ordered all the shells to be dumped into the enemy's position to cover the infantry to continue to advance. Twenty-four tanks were the first samples sent to the front by the Eric group, although the obstacle crossing performance was not ideal, but the power of the artillery fire should not be underestimated, the Third Army received the fire support of the tanks, its confidence was greatly increased, and it soon organized several batches of effective attacks, although it paid great casualties, but also gradually killed to the front of the defenders' positions.

The commander of the 11th Panzer Division of the First Army, Ewald? Drawing on the previous lesson, Kleist did not swing his troops directly into the strategic depth, and according to the previous deployment, he placed all the combat vehicles of the 111th and 112th armored brigades in the forward positions in front of the enemy, and used firepower to hit the enemy's targets in depth to cover the charge of the 12th and 13th infantry divisions.

With strong fire support, the 12th and 13th Infantry Divisions of the First Army quickly stepped on the wreckage of armored vehicles in the first line trenches and the remains of their comrades-in-arms and advanced to attack the second line positions.

Schleicher kept receiving urgent calls for help at the front-line command post, and at this time, his guard regiment had already rushed to the front line, and when he looked around, there were only a few dozen staff officers left at the command post. The gunfire was getting closer and more intense, and it was the gunfire of the MP16M submachine gun produced by Eric's company, which Schleicher was familiar with, but unfortunately, he was now fighting with the troops with this advanced submachine gun.

In a makeshift hospital converted from a secondary school, the wounded are already overcrowded and the outside is still being transported here, and the medical staff are no longer able to carry out their work, but their protests have had no effect. In the muddy room, there was water made of snowflakes, blood from the wounded, and tears of medical staff. The comings and goings, the noise, and the moaning and howling of the sick and wounded made it a mess.

Suddenly, gunfire rang out all around, stray bullets often hit the windowsills, the crowded makeshift hospital was no longer safe, the doctors and the sick were shocked, many doctors and nurses left their jobs to look outside, and some disappeared with the scattered defeated soldiers on the congested road to Potsdam before they even had time to take off their white coats.

The "hospital" had fallen, and the position had long since been abandoned by the doctors and nurses who were able to run, leaving only the seriously wounded who could not move.

The command post had already issued a notice to shrink into the city, but many combat collectives did not receive the order normally, and it was not until the Nationalist army rushed in front of them that they realized that the general trend had gone and had to lay down their weapons and surrender.

On the main road to the city, all the people were very sad, those soldiers who usually liked to say witty words, there was no longer the humor of the past, and those who were usually gentle and elegant became rude at this moment, they scolded their mothers loudly, and crowded unbridledly, as if they had suddenly found the true principle of being a man in this life, and also understood a profound truth, that is, whoever is still pretending to be gentle and elegant is a dead end. Those in the back stand on tiptoe and look forward, then curse and curse those who are too slow. The gunfire was still far away from them, and there were many soldiers desperately resisting, and they occasionally felt lucky, but no matter what, it would be good to enter the city, which was the idea of the vast majority of the rout.

The speed of the attack increased as Albert's defenders fled, and as long as the troops were careful not to be killed by the cold guns of the other side, they could rush forward with impunity, and the whole charge seemed to become a race, and the soldiers of the Nationalist Army no longer seemed to be assaulting soldiers, but more like marathon runners, all wanting to win the championship. On the other hand, the Albert government army is like a group of innocent children, who run if they can, and those who can't just sit in place and rest, and then wait for the national army to come and surrender their guns. These soldiers who surrendered took the apostasy very lightly, and gave their lives to whoever they ate and took their guns, and they had no other faith than to eat food and take the sound, and it was none of their business who was in power.

Schleicher's strategic contraction could not withstand the thousands of troops of the Nationalist Army, because of the disparity in weapons and equipment between the two armies, coupled with bad weather, the fighting spirit of the soldiers began to change. Half a year, half a year! Sling the bull! William? Grener, this guy is like a liar! He cursed inwardly. Now, he had to retreat into the city on all fronts, hoping to take the initiative in the street fighting.

The Nationalists soon occupied all the forward positions outside Potsdam, and the units took advantage of the victory to expand their gains, reduce the encirclement, and advance on the outskirts of Potsdam. However, the troops were also in great trouble. The government forces left behind thousands of seriously wounded in their hasty retreat, and the wounded of the Nationalist Army, which had already stretched their own hospitals, suddenly increased the burden.

Most felt that the wounded should be handed over to Schleicher as normal prisoners, but Hoffmann did not agree. If these wounded are turned around, the result is likely to cause a large number of wounded deaths, especially since the current Albert government is simply unable to treat so many wounded, not to mention the imminent collapse of the regime headed by Albert, these wounded will eventually become a burden on the new government. His suggestion was echoed by all.

The city of Potsdam was in sight, and the officers and men of the National Army were excited.

Max? General Hoffmann and the commander-in-chief of the First Army, Rundstedt, visited the city for a week, and then notified the commanders of the various units to rush to the front headquarters to discuss the siege strategy. At this time, the Fourth Army of the Nationalist Army had been inserted between Berlin and Potsdam, on the one hand, to block reinforcements, and on the other hand, to deter the north of Potsdam.

Schleicher was furious, he never imagined that the defense line he had worked so hard to manage would collapse in this way, and the people seemed to be much older all of a sudden. The backwardness of weapons and equipment is certainly a factor, but the incompetence of the defenders is also the key, he scolded several division commanders and theater commanders, and then scolded William? Grener and Albert's think tank was a liar, and it was because of these people's arrogant belief that "there was no war in the short term" that led to his serious misjudgment of the big picture, which caused such a defeat.

Outside Potsdam, there were the Third Army of the Nationalist Army and Rommel's tank battalion in the east, the First Army and armored units of the Nationalist Army in the south, the Second Army of the Nationalist Army and a regiment of the Nationalist Army in the west, and the integrated Fourth Army of the Nationalist Army in the north.

It was the evening of November 3, but there was not a single light in the city, and the heavy snow did not give people infinite reverie and praise, but only added to the difficulty of calming the rest.

Friends, the entire Wehrmacht is crying out for the readers' great companions!! I beg you big brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts to collect it, recommend it, and promote it! Come and join us!

"Nationalists, what is our group number?"

“323279889”

"Okay, it's up to you uncles next!"