"Divisional Commander!"

In the headquarters of the German 30th Division in the center of Lodz, a hurried staff officer rushed in front of Major General Hans.

"Defenders on several streets reported that the Polish army had stopped its offensive and was even showing signs of withdrawing from the city. In addition, Polish artillery fire has not fallen on our positions for a long time. The staff officer, who was still covered with dust, stood up and saluted with a happy expression.

Hans nodded, motioning for the staff officer to step aside. He turned around and saw that there was not a single person in the entire temporary division headquarters of the 30th Division who was not full of excitement.

The offensive of the Polish army has finally stopped!

Prior to this, the losses of the 30th Division had reached more than 85 percent, and even if the layout of the buildings in the city of Lodz offset some of the Polish artillery, the defenders on the streets were already exhausted.

Army Group South's plan was not to take a step back and to hold the Lodz position. But you have to have soldiers!

In this cross-level confrontation with one of the Polish army groups, several times, Hans had the idea of breaking through with his troops. Especially when the loss of troops had long exceeded the line of defeat and the outer defense line had been completely abandoned, Hans actually had the idea of retreating in disobedience.

However, several times, the order to break through came to his lips, but he swallowed it back. Not to mention the loss of positions, even if they took the risk of withdrawing troops from under the noses of the Poles, once they encountered the opportunity of the Polish army to pursue and kill, they could not escape the end of the total annihilation.

Although on the surface, Hans is still calmly arranging the firepower deployment for the next street battle, but in fact, in his heart, he has long been sitting on pins and needles for years!

Just when the remaining men and horses of the 30th Division stood up and stood in the city of Lodz, with the determination to die to usher in the street battle with the Polish army. The Poles, who had just entered the city, suddenly stopped the tidal attack of the iron gate as if they had been hooked.

Then, the long-lost roar of fighter planes sounded in the sky, and the friendly "screams" of German Stuka bombers appeared from time to time in the distant explosions. The fragile defensive line of the 30th Division in the city was so miraculously held!

"Ask the Army Group Command, what the hell is going on?" Hans's face blossomed with joy as he said this. Obviously, he reacted that there must have been a considerable connection between the retreat of the Polish army and the actions of the German army group.

"Yes!" At this time, there were only 8 officers left in the headquarters of the 30th Division, including Hans. One of the staff officers with the rank of major, when he received Hans's order, responded and ran to the headquarters of the army group to launch a telegram of inquiry.

Ten minutes later, the headquarters of the 30th Division received an explanation from Manstein himself.

"As the command of the army group found out, on the periphery of the 8th division of the 30th Army, more than 200,000 main forces of the Polish army were concentrated. Therefore, the command of the army group temporarily decided to change the original plan and take the opportunity to encircle the entire forces of the counterattacking Polish army. In order to ensure the suddenness and secrecy of the encirclement, the headquarters of the army group did not send a telegram to the 30th Division, which attracted the Polish army, with a specific plan of action. Now it seems that the implementation of the plan was quite successful. ”

"This Manstein is a little capable. Not only did he deceive more than 200,000 Poles, but even we were kept in the dark by him. Hans laughed and said, "When he returns, he must invite all the living brothers of our division to drink." ”

There's a reason why Hans would be so happy. Although in the defensive battle for two and a half days, the 30th Division suffered heavy losses. But now it seems that it was all worth it. The main force of more than 200,000 Polish troops was firmly tied around the 30th Division, becoming the turtle in the urn of Army Group South. Originally, it seemed that it was the German 30th Division that was heavily surrounded, but now it was discovered that it was the more than 200,000 Polish troops that were really surrounded.

"The Chief of the General Staff also instructed us to switch from defense to offensive as soon as we found that the Polish offensive had weakened. At present, the Polish troops around our unit have no intention of responding to the battle and are not the opponent of the 30th Division. The major staff officer then added.

"Understood. Reply to Chief of Staff Manstein and say that we will organize a tentative offensive in an hour. Once it is found that the Polish army has really lost its fighting spirit and its combat effectiveness has seriously declined, then I will immediately organize all the remaining officers and men of the 30th Division to attack! Hans clenched his fists and said word by word.

The current situation could not be better than it was a few hours ago when the Polish army was under heavy attack. If it weren't for the fact that the 30th Division had suffered heavy losses and had been dispersed to various areas of the city of Lodz, Hans would have taken everyone with him and gone over to clean up the group of Poles who had been crushing his neck for two days.

"The troops brought by Lieutenant Lyon were left around the headquarters by us, and the casualties were not large. This first round of tentative attacks will be handed over to them for the 7th Company. Hans slammed his fist on the conference table and decided: "Bring me Lieutenant Lyon now, and I will personally give him the task." ”

"Lieutenant Lyon took a platoon and set up a defense on the next street. The rest of the 7th Company is also around, so you can gather at any time! A staff officer looked at the urban defense map on the wall of the headquarters and reported.

A few minutes later, another staff officer brought Lieutenant Lyon. After all, they are all in the small city center, and if there is no obstruction, it can be passed from the next street in four or five minutes.

"The Poles have been surrounded from the outside by Army Group, and as you can see, the Polish troops on our periphery are now taking care of themselves and have stopped their assault on the city." As soon as they met, Hans gave Leon a brief briefing.

"General Hans!" Leon stood up and saluted: "The 7th Company is now fully organized and can accept any task, please give instructions!" ”

"Good!" Hans straightened Leon's collar and dusted it off: "Now the command has asked me to fight back, so I need a pathfinder force." This task is dangerous and arduous, and it will be hard for you. ”

Since joining the 30th Division in battle, Hans has not mobilized the friendly forces brought by Lyon, except in an emergency.

Lyon, they were originally a company belonging to the 8th Division of the 8th Army of the 14th Army, but they fell behind for special reasons, and then followed the logistics convoy of the Eighth Army, which by mistake became the only support army of the 30th Division.

After all, he was temporarily transferred by the army group headquarters, and Hans was embarrassed to throw other people's ones to the front line as soon as he came up. If it weren't for the precarious defense line, he would not have taken all of Lyon's troops to the front line with his own guns.

Even after retreating to the city of Lodz, Hans arranged the 7th Company in the area near the inner ring. In order to let this friendly army that originally arrived live a little longer, it can be regarded as repaying their help.

But now, Hans really didn't have any formed troops to transfer. The formation of the 30th Division was already in disarray, and some battalions now even had only one platoon in number, and they were simply unable to organize an attack. The only fully formed company was the 7th Company in Lyon.