The mass surrender of Soviet troops is no longer enough to describe the situation on the southern front.

The formed Ukrainian units, with the already scarce strategic reserves in the Soviet camp, surrendered to the German army in a unified manner. It is even biased to describe these Ukrainian units as capitulated. Because, to put it bluntly, they were the troops who betrayed the Soviet Union.

A whole 7 Ukrainian divisions, under the planning of the two Ukrainian army commanders, organized and unanimously launched a mutiny plan. They joined the Allies in the camp of the Allies, as well as the large quantities of supplies and ammunition they had obtained from the Soviet army.

This kind of large-scale mutiny, which was unexpected by the German high command, was already a major event that shook the world enough.

After all, this is the choice and judgment of the Ukrainians themselves, as they are, from beginning to end. A series of mutinies, carried out in an orderly manner, were also entirely planned by the Ukrainian generals themselves.

This is the choice of the Ukrainians!

This explosive news soon became a hot topic. The German ambassador to the League of Nations quickly made a big fuss about the formation of the Ukrainian troops and abandoned the secret and turned to the light, repeatedly robbed the justice of the German counterattack, and used facts as an example to state that the German army went to liberate Ukraine.

Not only that, but even Reinhardt, who had long had the intention of liberating Ukraine, was delighted and surprised by what is happening now.

Although he had long since won over the hearts and minds of the Ukrainian people by recruiting Ukrainian workers in the name of Germany, by paying heavily and on terms far superior to those offered by the Soviet government.

However, even as a traverser, and knowing that the Ukrainian people are ready to win over Ukraine long ago, Reinhardt did not expect that the Ukrainian troops of the entire 7 divisions could not bear to surrender at a time when the German army had not launched a large-scale encirclement and annihilation war.

The situation in Ukraine is a lot faster than Reinhardt's expected pace of development!

According to Reinhardt's concept, absorbing Ukraine's manpower and material resources and turning Ukraine into an export granary and an eastern barracks for the Allied camp will have to wait for the occupation of Ukraine before it can be implemented.

Even, Reinhardt, with the assistance of German Defense Minister Keitel, even arranged matters related to the rapid formation of the 1st Ukrainian Guards Grenadier Division after the occupation of Ukraine.

In the Führer's residence in Berlin, Reinhardt was holding the document report of the defection of seven Ukrainian divisions and reading it repeatedly.

Looking at this document, which he had read many times, Reinhardt could simply say that he never got tired of reading it. He looked to Keitel in the office and said: "It seems that our plan to form a Ukrainian Guards Division has to be advanced." ”

Since Paulus's predecessor, Admiral Reichenau, died suddenly of a heart attack, the title of "Reinhardt's Eagle Dog" has gradually been transferred from Reichenau to Keitel.

Compared to Reichenau, Keitel, the winner of the new "Eagle Dog" title, seems to be more aware of Reinhardt's instructions and makes a suitable and reasonable optimal plan.

Previously, because Paulus, who was born in the General Staff, stayed in the command to assist Reinhardt, Keitel's talent was not fully displayed for a while. It's just that Reinhardt knew that the former Minister of Defense, Admiral Keitel, whom he had appointed in accordance with the historical process, had been as successful as in arranging the war plan for sending troops to Norway across the English Channel.

However, both wars were fought under the direct intervention and direction of Reinhardt, so Keitel's role in them was somewhat overshadowed by Reinhardt's brilliance.

But since Paulus left the headquarters to command the Sixth Army, the reds around Reinhardt have been formed by Paulus to become Keitel.

It's no wonder that Keitel will be the new Eagle Dog representative.

First of all, he is not much worse than Reinhardt's three great generals in understanding Reinhardt's intentions.

The second and most important point is that veterans like Sickert and Reichenau, who were closest to Reinhardt, have passed away, Rommel went to Africa, Guderian and Manstein went to the Eastern Front, Paulus was temporarily transferred from Berlin to the battlefield, and among the many generals who stayed by Reinhardt's side, Keitel, who was the most obedient and capable, was more and more valued.

This also confirms the saying that gold always shines.

During this time, Keitel also fully showed Reinhardt how outstanding his ability to understand his boss's intentions and arrange reasonable planning based on this is outstanding.

According to Reinhardt's instructions to recruit a large number of Ukrainian workers and win over Ukrainians, Keitel very thoughtfully submitted a plan for forming a pro-German local Ukrainian unit as soon as possible after the occupation of Ukraine to help maintain order, and on this basis, expand the scale and cooperate with the German army in the future.

In Keitel's plan, once the Germans occupied Ukraine, they would first recruit from the young Ukrainian workers of the railway and road cooperatives, and quickly form a 17,200-strong Ukrainian Guards Grenadier Division, codenamed "The Darling", to be the same as the German motorized infantry division.

And this army is composed of Ukrainian workers who have long been favored by Germany, and the loyal and reliable Ukrainian Guards will soon be broken up and split as the cornerstone, as the backbone of the later conscription of Ukrainian troops and the expansion of the size of the friendly Ukrainian army.

Keitel is not a utopian, and the plan he came up with is very detailed, so detailed that even the further arrangements after the massive expansion of these Ukrainian units have been extremely detailed.

According to Keitel's plan, in addition to the 1st Ukrainian Guards Division, which is composed of young workers, the Ukrainian units that are the first to voluntarily defect in the follow-up can also form 7 Guards Divisions, because these units are relatively the most loyal and combative.

Historically, many of the Ukrainian units recruited by the Germans were local ruffians and hooligans, so their combat effectiveness was not high. And for the kind of well-trained and experienced Ukrainian rebels, it is very wasteful in German history to use them as cheap labor at the beginning and assign them to prisoners of war.

In this life, under Reinhardt's instructions, Keitel successfully completed this instruction in place, and quite reasonably arranged a total of 8 divisions of Ukrainian Guards as the main force of the future Ukrainian friendly forces.

From then on, the Ukrainian units that have joined one after another will not be able to receive the title of Guard. This is also equivalent to an encouragement and praise for those loyal Ukrainian troops who joined first.

Of course, this meticulous arrangement doesn't stop there.