Rundstead, who was far away in Poland, did not know that Reinhardt had set a route for himself in Poland, and now he was still immersed in the victory of the Battle of the Buzula River.

Echoing Rundstead's Army Group South, Army Group North under the command of General Bock also made extensive use of armored forces and launched a decent encirclement battle.

If it is said that in Army Group South, the representative of the Führer faction next to the veteran Rundstead is Manstein. In the Northern Army, Bock, who was also a traditional Prussian general, was sent by Reinhardt to another Führer general, Heinz Wilhelm Guderian.

Unlike Manstein, who took up the post of chief of staff of Army Group South, Guderian chose to go to the front line to command the operation.

After all, he was Reinhardt's cronies and a well-known German armor master (Reinhardt gave him all the tasks related to the armored forces, and he was not famous or famous), and Guderian got the opportunity to command an armored corps quite smoothly.

Thus, the well-equipped 19th Panzer Corps of the Wehrmacht in Bock's Army Group North was assigned to the Academy General Guderian, who had the most experience in armored forces.

In fact, Guderian's ability to secure the command of armored forces in the Wehrmacht had a lot to do with his preparations for more than a decade or so.

Under Reinhardt's packing arrangement, Guderian, who had returned home after training armored troops from the Soviet Union, often published articles on contemporary military issues in the famous German magazine "Military Weekly."

And Reinhardt gave a special greeting to Artok, the editor-in-chief of this weekly, and put every article of Guderian in the top position of "Military Weekly". So Guderian took advantage of the opportunity of tactical exercises and war games to easily express his new idea that tanks would become the dominant force on the ground battlefield again and again. Within a few years, the fame of Gudrie's armor installation experts had spread throughout the German military circles.

In 1931, he became Chief of Staff of the German Motorized Infantry Command. In 1935, he was single-handedly arranged by Reinhardt to be one of the commanders of the first three armored divisions in Germany. When Austria was merged, he was even ordered to lead the armored troops to march all the way, creating a modern march speed of more than 100 miles a day!

For this attack on Poland, Guderian served as the commander of the 19th Panzer Army of Army Group North. Bock had no opinion at all, after all, he couldn't find anyone more professional than Guderian.

Under Guderian's leadership, the 19th Panzer Corps, which consisted of 1 Panzer Division, 2 Motorized Divisions and 1 Infantry Division, was both the center of the 4th Army and the attacking vanguard of Army Group North.

After the start of the war, he led his troops to quickly break through the Polish border defense line, and within two days completely completed the encirclement of the Polish army "Pomerania" in the "Danzig Corridor" area. Although the encirclement was a little smaller than that of the Southern Army, this encirclement battle also reduced the Polish army's main force of nearly 100,000 on the border, which was also a brilliant victory.

Compared to the huge siege of the Buzura River, which Manstein won strategically, Guderian's brilliance lies in the ultra-low casualty rate he achieved by relying on tactical weapons.

The Battle of the Buzula River ended with the loss of the 8th Division of the 30th Army of Army Group South, with more than 11,000 casualties. However, after Bock relied on Guderian's armored forces to annihilate all the 3 infantry divisions and 1 cavalry brigade of the Polish "Pomerania" army, the total casualties of Army Group North were less than 2,000. Among them, the four front-line combat divisions commanded by Guderian suffered a total of only 150 dead and 700 wounded.

However, Guderian, who was still in good shape, now also encountered a big problem - the 19th Division advanced too smoothly, and almost easily captured more than 20,000 Polish soldiers along the way, and if he dragged these prisoners forward, it would inevitably seriously affect the speed of his advance behind him.

"General! Commander Bock sent a telegram asking us to go ahead and break through the Polish fortified area at Brest-Rytovsk, and then join up with the vanguard of Army Group South at Vvodava on the Bug River as soon as possible. A Guderian staff officer was on the side.

"This has just swallowed a Polish army group, and it is immediately urging us to rush to Vvodava, and Admiral Bock's appetite is really not small." Guderian looked at the map hanging on the wall, and after a long time he continued: "No! With such a large group of captives, it will definitely not be able to make it. Even if you get to Vvodava, it will take at least a week or more. By that time, the vanguard of Army Group South was estimated to have arrived long ago. ”

After hearing this, the staff officer said helplessly: "We rushed too fast, and there were no other friendly troops around us who could get better." Even if you want to hand over the captives, you can't find a friendly force to accept them. ”

Guderian looked melancholy, dragging his chin and thinking: "I also want to increase the speed, so as not to waste the mobility of our armored forces." But the 20,000 captives only had legs, and no matter how fast they were, they couldn't catch up with the speed of our tanks. ”

Just when Guderian proposed the idea of leaving the prisoners behind and hurrying at full speed, a staff officer came up with a compromise plan for him.

"Commander, we can let the slower 14th Infantry Division stay behind and escort the prisoners to advance slowly, anyway, the 14th Infantry Division is always dragging the whole army to march. In this way, we will also be able to concentrate the 3rd, 2nd and 20th Motorized Divisions, which are the fastest, and advance all the way. ”

After the staff officer finished speaking, he glanced at Guderian's eyes, and what he found in the eyes of the commander was a satisfied approval.

"Yes, your suggestion is very creative!" Guderian nodded, patted the staff officer on the shoulder and commended: "When I go back, I will personally give you a promotion report and apply for a medal for you." I can tell you very responsibly that with my relationship with the Führer, whether it is a promotion or a medal, you have to decide! ”

"General Xie promoted!" The staff officer immediately stood up and saluted. He had been in the position of lieutenant colonel for several years, but he still had no chance to move up the ladder. Although he has always served as a staff officer for Guderian, the Führer's celebrity, Guderian has nothing to do on weekdays, so why should he promote him as an inconspicuous little staff officer.

He had long decided in his heart that without an aristocratic background and unwilling to flatter, it was rare to be promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel.

"Don't think too much, you deserve it." As if seeing through the psychological activities of the staff officers, Guderian said lightly: "Since the Führer came to power, the promotion criteria of officers have no relationship with whether they have an aristocratic background or not. People who are talented and have made meritorious contributions can be promoted. Even those children of aristocratic families who are incapable can only roll to the grassroots level and slowly climb up step by step. ”