Chapter 60: The Siege of Berlin
William? The 311th Armored Brigade led by Guderian moved southward in a lightning strike, attacking the city all the way, fighting continuously, and quickly pacified the large and small armed groups and scattered separatist forces in Nuremberg and the surrounding areas. According to Adrian's strategic thinking, Guderian always regarded the recreation and recuperation as an indispensable agenda, and copied them one by one, so that the local ecology and production environment were not greatly impacted. The fighters of the 311th Armored Brigade came from all over the country, and they were both combatants and propagandists, which helped Guderian to a considerable extent in his work and successfully achieved the goal of urgently raising troops to advance eastward.
The continuous fighting and long-distance travel have left the 311 Armored Brigade with little respite, and the combat and non-combat attrition is very serious, especially the loss of mechanical equipment such as armed transport vehicles and armored vehicles is very prominent. Fortunately, Guderian was very good at using his troops, not only in terms of propaganda and agitation, discipline and restraint, but also in strengthening the will to fight, which can be called a model, and his troops have always been full of spirit and fighting spirit. After October 26, the combatants of the army were exhausted through a series of sports battles and battles, and Guderian used Adrian's strategy to control the troops to find and solve problems immediately, especially to find out and pacify the soldiers' ideological situation very successfully, so that no one complained about it all the way to the east. Guderian himself knew very well in his heart that since the dispatch of troops on October 10, the troops have not had a real sense of rest and recuperation at all, especially such a long-distance attack, which is the limit of almost everyone's motivation, and is undoubtedly a severe test for the troops, but it is also a rare tempering, which will be of considerable help to the emergency handling that may occur in the future.
The team advanced all the way to the east, and because each mission was full of suddenness, the supply of the whole army was not very smooth, but fortunately, the Saxony garrison was alerted to this problem in time and replenished the troops with equipment and supplies in advance, Guderian was very excited and admired Adrian's foresight even more. The troops had a short rest and recuperation, and their appearance was completely new, and many combatants who had been wounded in battle and lagged behind them also caught up with the large units one after another. On the afternoon of October 29, the 311th Armoured Brigade of the National Army successfully arrived at the farm near the Eric Industrial Park on the outskirts of Dresden, and got a better rest.
Tim? Feng? In early October, Bodwin gladly accepted Adrian's task of expanding the Escort in order to consolidate the combat gains of the various units and to meet the needs of future national unification.
The total number of the original escort army is less than 10,000, the weaponry and personnel quality are not satisfactory, and more importantly, this army has not yet been baptized by war, from a strategic point of view, this is very unfavorable to the new regime change, the situation is forced, it is time to take action, for this reason, Adrian urgently summoned Tim? Feng? Bodwin, earnestly talked about the significance and importance of the expansion of the Guards, and put forward strict requirements.
Saxony is arguably Adrian's stronghold, with a high reputation and a broad mass base. Feng? As a result, the recruitment process for Bodwin went very smoothly. On the one hand, he adopted the Adriandon-style method of political propaganda, which deeply analyzed the monarchical Germany of the past, and on the other hand, he promised the desire of the masses to think about stability and desire for democratic happiness after the war. In a short period of time, young people in and around Saxony signed up for the army, setting off an unprecedented wave of enlistment, and the recruitment of the Guards was quite effective.
With a broad working mass base, the convoy increased rapidly from less than 10,000 to 42,000 in a very short period of time. Feng? According to the principle of using the old to lead the new, Bodwin supplemented the newly recruited recruits to various grass-roots units and organized them into three formed divisions, which were trained by commanders of units with combat experience, with a view to quickly becoming an army. The Eric Group is Adrian's strong backing, and many of its military enterprises have strong research and development capabilities. Feng? Bodwin's newly formed three divisions were also quickly armed and became a force to be reckoned with. Received William? Guderian and Tim? Feng? After the telegram sent by Bodwin and the two of them, Adrian was very happy, and immediately called back, and promoted Bodwin to lieutenant general, and he was transferred at any time, and the three divisions of the original Guards Army were reorganized into the 4th Army of the National Army, and the commander of the 3rd Army, Erwin, who arrived with him? Witzleben temporarily served as the commander of the Front, unified training, unified command of the Third and Fourth Armies of the Nationalist Army, and went north at a selected date to prepare for an all-out attack on Berlin at that time.
On October 30, the 3rd and 4th armies of the Nationalist Army set out from Saxony in full gear and marched with great triumph. The garrisons along the way saw it from a distance and were very surprised, in the face of such an elite division with excellent weapons and tenacious style, they felt that they could not bear it, and most of the defenders had to take the initiative to disarm and surrender, and even those who resisted were also crushed at the touch of a button, and they were invincible. The armies of all walks of life were bloodless, and they recovered and took over the towns along the way, and the progress was very smooth.
Bodwin's Fourth Army advanced northwards and encountered the rebel army led by the Soviet Workers' Party in the south, and a hasty encounter ensued. Erwin? After listening to Bodwin's secret telegram, Witzleben immediately ordered the Third Army to continue northward, and the 4th Army to deploy on the spot to stabilize its position, first suppress the offensive momentum of the Workers' Party insurgent army with firepower superiority, and then seize the enemy's weak points and break them individually. That night, the Fourth Army of the Nationalist Army quickly made adjustments, using the 1st Division to lure the enemy into depth, the 2nd Division to make a rapid detour, and the 3rd Division as the flank, forming a pocket formation to gather and annihilate the enemy.
The Soviet Workers' Party-led insurrectionary army was an armed force of 60,000 workers, mostly unemployed laborers along the eastern German routes, and the rest Poles.
In the dark of night, the rebel army led by the Workers' Party quietly lined up and rushed straight at the camp of the Fourth Army of the Nationalist Army, and its vanguard began to exchange fire with the First Division of the Nationalist Army in the early hours of the morning.
The fighting was unexpectedly fierce, and although the rebels did not have the support of heavy weapons, they were very stubborn in their fighting will, and the offensive and defensive battles outside Korbus were very close. The 1st Division of the Fourth Army counterattacked with excellent equipment and inflicted heavy casualties on the rebels, but in the face of the tide of rebel troops, even if all the killing machines were fully activated, they could not completely stop the almost crazy attack of the rebels in a short period of time.
The flanking battle of the Second Division of the Fourth Army of the Nationalist Army began as scheduled, but because the rebel army followed one after another and had a huge momentum, the flanking effect was not good, and the tactics of dividing and encircling the enemy could not be effective immediately. At the same time, the Third Division was counter-surrounded by the rest of the enemy in the course of a roundabout, and because the vast majority of the soldiers of the Fourth Army were on the battlefield for the first time, their ability to respond to emergencies was still lacking, and their advanced weapons were not brought into full play.
The fighting between the two sides was extremely difficult, but fortunately, the Fourth Army was still a well-trained regular army, and they seized on the weakness of the rebel army's lack of frontal combat, and constantly combined individual soldiers and small detachments, so that the rebel army gradually lost the advantage of occupying a large number of people.
Bodwin is only good at infantry combat in peacetime, and the combat function of the armed transporter is ignored in peacetime training, and at present, the armed transporter in his hand cannot play its due role, so that Bodwin has a profound lesson in this battle.
Received Tim? Feng? When Bodwin sent a telegram requesting reinforcements, Witzleben immediately understood that Bodwin, who had always refused to show weakness, must be in trouble. At the same time, Adrian, who was far away in Hanover, also received a telegram from Bodwin asking for help, and then Adrian called back to wait for help, and promoted Ferdinand? Schellner was a lieutenant colonel, taking over as commander of the former 311th Armored Brigade; Guderian was a major general, serving as the commander of the armored division of the 4th Army, and the fire rate division engaged the enemy.
Guderian was again ordered to do so, and on 31 October, the 4th Panzer Division quickly reached outside Cartbus and made contact with Bodwin. That night, the 1st Division of the 4th Army was still attacking on the front line, the 2nd Division was retracting and attacking the enemy's left flank, the 3rd Division expanded its gains on the spot, and the 4th Panzer Division was tactically maneuvering and launched a fierce counterattack against the Soviet Workers' Insurgent Army with absolute superiority. The battle lasted until dawn, and the 3rd Division of the 4th Army carried out the middle flowering, directly and heavily dealt a blow to the rear of the rebel army, and achieved brilliant results; The 2nd Division succeeded in squeezing the rebels on a small field outside Cottages; Gudrian's panzer division galloped across the country, crushing the rebel army into pieces. Just a few hours ago, the rebel army adopted the strategy of cone pillar blockade and ambush reinforcement to block the armored fourth division led by Guderian, but the speed of the armored vehicles was so fast, and the result not only did not succeed in blocking Guderian's breakthrough, but also directly led to the basic loss of the entire mobile force of the rebel army. At present, except for the front of the 1st Division of the Fourth Army, which is still attacking continuously, the rest of the troops are chasing down the remnants of the rebel army like a whirlwind. While the battle was still raging, Guderian received an order from Bodwin to withdraw from the battle ahead of schedule, and the 4th Panzer Division quickly moved north to take part in the capture of Berlin.
Through a counteroffensive throughout the night, the remnants of the rebel army were largely gone, but they still resisted stubbornly.
Bodwin immediately made a new adjustment: the 1st Division took the initiative to attack the charging rebels, the 2nd Division intercepted the remnants of the army that might flee on the periphery, the 1st Division cooperated with the 1st Division to flank the main defensive positions of the rebels after retreating, and the rest of the troops continued to clear the fleeing enemy.
Guderian was puzzled after receiving the order, he was about to continue to make contributions, but he didn't expect that the meat in his mouth could not be eaten, and he muttered in his heart, but he thought about it, since this order was issued by Adrian himself from Hanover, then there must be his deeper truth, so, without saying a word, he commanded all the armored divisions that were on attack to quickly withdraw from the battle, assemble on the spot, and after a simple breakfast, the troops immediately moved to Berlin.
The soldiers who can hold out to the end are the elite of this army, and the Soviet Workers' Party insurrectionary troops did not have the slightest sense of retreat in the face of the powerful lineup and advanced weapons and equipment of the 4th Army of the Nationalist Army, an important reason is that they did not have a large rear after the collapse, and they were also unable to survive after running out of ammunition and food, and another important reason was that the Nationalist Army adhered to the principle of eliminating evil everywhere it went, and even if they broke through the encirclement, they would be ruthlessly pursued and annihilated, so they chose to fight to the end until one person and one shot.
In the end, the battle became more brutal, the Fourth Army contracted its forces and began to attack on its own, while the rebels retreated while fighting, relying on the temporary trenches outside the city of Optbus West, and launched a positional defensive battle.
Tim? Feng? Seeing that the rebel army was at the end of its strength, Bodewen ordered the whole regiment to surround it, and temporarily convened a meeting of officers above the group level, and decided to besiege the 1st and 3rd Infantry Divisions while resting, and one regiment of the 2nd Division attacked frontally, and the other two regiments attacked from the left and right.
By noon, the rebels were exhausted, and after several days and nights of continuous high-intensity fighting, everyone's mental will was much worse than before. Nowadays, hunger has become a big problem, and for them who can fall asleep while standing, they also face the threat of death at any time. Tim? Feng? Bodwin was no fool, he found a dry place to sit down, and organized a small "charge" every twenty minutes, and such a charge was nothing more than a momentum, and did not really approach.
The rebels are like frightened birds, they must be careful to deal with every indisputable charge of the national army, even if they have just closed their tired eyes, they must instantly open their eyes and enter the battle.
Evening, Tim? Feng? Bodwin ordered the 1st Regiment of the 1st Division to replace the 2nd Division to carry out the attack, and the 2nd Division rested in place and was in a state of encirclement against the enemy. And so it was not until dawn the next day that a small white flag was raised over the rebel position. Fearing fraud, Bodwin ordered the surrendered soldiers to slowly and orderly come out of the tunnel, disarming one after another on the front side.
While cleaning up the battlefield, the Nationalist Army found the body of the commander of a branch of the Rebel Army who had committed suicide, and before committing suicide he gave a very correct order for all the rebels to surrender to the Fourth Army of the Nationalist Army. Tim? Feng? Bodwin sighed with emotion and ordered the rebel commander to be buried and erected a tall stone monument in front of the commander's grave to commemorate his bravery and loyalty. The remaining 3,000 people of the rebel army were very surprised, and they did not understand why the Nationalist Army had such respect for the enemy, and when they heard the preaching of the Fourth Army before its formation, they had a high degree of recognition of the purpose and mission of the Nationalist Army, and they were unwilling to be dismissed on the spot, and collectively asked to join the Nationalist Army. Tim? Feng? Bodwin was very pleased, and after sending a direct report to Adrian by telegram, the whole army rested for a day, and then marched to Berlin as well.