Tomorrow is 515, the anniversary of the starting point, and the day with the most benefits. In addition to the gift bag and school bag, this time's "515 Red Envelope Flip" must be seen, how can there be a reason not to grab the red envelope, set the alarm clock high~

It was early in the morning of May 1, 1939, just after 5 o'clock. German Chancellor Adolf. Hitler sat in a half-track (a copycat, copied by BMW from the French Citroën P21 half-track) and felt the bumps in the body. He was supposed to listen to the briefing in the general headquarters of the exercise, judging the progress of the exercise by the changes on the sand table and the map.

Hitler, however, offered to witness the breakthrough of the 1st Panzer Division yesterday afternoon -- perhaps fearing that Hessmann was deceiving him -- and next to him, General Hessmann, who had accompanied him to the front line of the exercise, was looking down at a report on the progress of the exercise that he had just received.

On one side of the road, one wheeled armored car after another lined up as far as the eye could see. Every vehicle was filled with heavily armed soldiers, and from time to time someone spotted their beloved Chancellor passing by and saluted Hitler with a salute. Hitler, for his part, excitedly raised his hand in return, as if inspecting his army.

"Infantry general, why don't they advance?" Hitler suddenly became interested in the long queue of cars here, "All the people are sitting in the cars, what is going on?" ”

"Prime Minister, they are waiting for a breakthrough ahead." Hersman closed his report, "According to the plan submitted by the Blue Side, they will advance along the Baltic Highway 6, which is an important road through the Courland Peninsula, which is very suitable for the rapid advance of armored forces, so it is also the focus of the Red Side's defense." ”

He looked at his watch, "There will be shelling in a few minutes, and it won't be shelling for days and nights." After 45 minutes of artillery fire preparation, it was the assault of the tank cluster! It is estimated that the red team's defenses will collapse within two hours. When the time comes, the convoy here will be guided by tanks and will move at a speed of 10 to 15 kilometers per hour...... For the post-1914 Army, this was simply as fast as lightning! ”

Hitler turned his head and looked at the German convoy that seemed to have no head, and he estimated that at least 1,500 vehicles of all kinds were lined up, and that the entire motorized rifle division was on wheels - the tractor industry in Germany was now about the same as it was in history. But the auto industry is much stronger, so there are enough vehicles to raise for motorized troops - if they can really advance at 10 kilometers per hour, no, even 5 kilometers per hour, on the battlefield, they will catch the enemy by surprise.

Because since heavy artillery became a weapon in the army, the army has become very slow. Especially when leaving the railway, relying on animal strength and walking to advance under the heavy resistance of the enemy, it is almost like a turtle. It can advance 5 kilometers a day, and the rear headquarters will open champagne to celebrate.

So in the last world war. The enemy who has been breached always has enough time to mobilize his troops on the railways and roads under his control and rebuild a new line of defense behind the breached line.

If the attacking side can increase the speed of the advance to 5 kilometers per hour, then it will be 120 kilometers a day, which is simply impossible to defend!

"And how is the red side going to defend itself?" Hitler asked with a frown.

"On the section of Lake Usma, about 8 kilometers of frontage, the Red side placed an infantry division and built a line of defense consisting of an anti-tank trench, three defensive trenches, and four artillery positions. False minefields and a large number of barbed wire fences were also laid, and there was a reserve line behind the main line of defense. Other than that. At Fort William, 12 km northwest of Lake Usma, the Red side also placed two regiments and two anti-tank batteries. ”

The Red Side's disposition that Hersmann and Hitler talked about was naturally secret to the Blue Command. Similarly, the blue team is completely unaware of the attack plan.

However, even if Kenhausen had guessed the direction of Guderian's main attack, the exercise command would not allow him to concentrate all his forces around Lake Usma. Because what needs to be verified through this exercise is the ability of armored forces to break through traditional lines of defense.

"An 8-kilometer line of defense is placed as a division. There are two regiments at a distance of 12 km......" Hitler thought for a moment and asked: "What about the artillery?" How is the artillery deployed? ”

"There is a divisional artillery regiment, six infantry regiments (including two regiments at Fort William) each with an infantry artillery battery, and an additional five anti-tank artillery batteries (including two at Fort William)." Hersman replied, "At the moment deployed on the main positions of the Usma Lake front are two infantry artillery batteries and two anti-tank artillery batteries. There were two more companies of infantry artillery and two batteries of anti-tank guns on the reserve position. On artillery positions there were also eight artillery batteries. In addition, three batteries of anti-aircraft artillery were dispersed. ”

"How many cannons were placed on the Usma Lake front?" Hitler did not understand the current artillery establishment of the German army and the Baltic army, and simply asked about the exact number.

"There are 150 mm cannons, 8 are K16 and 8 are IG33 infantry guns; There were 36 105-mm cannons, all of which were Le.FH18 howitzers, 16 of which were IG18 infantry guns, 16 of which were IG18 infantry guns, 84 of which were 37-mm Pak35 anti-tank guns, and 36 anti-aircraft guns of the 20-mm Flak28 type. ”

"The number of cannons is not very large." Hitler's brows furrowed slightly, and he sounded a bit "ashamed" that he had only this bit of artillery on such a critical line of defense. This would not be the case with the German army in 1917 and 1918.

He reported about the artillery allocation of the 1932 infantry division of the Wehrmacht, which was slightly different from the historical 1935 division. However, as in history, the current artillery firepower of the German army is not very strong, and it is ranked behind France and the Soviet Union in Europe, and the performance of most artillery is not excellent.

The problem, of course, lies in the "Versailles Treaty", which has been a decade-long "no order" era, which has successfully dealt a heavy blow to Germany's artillery development and production -- military technological progress, like other technological progress, is inseparable from the support of orders. Without a large order from the military, Krupp and Rheinmetall would not have been able to spend a lot of money on the development of new artillery.

However, Hersmann did not care about the lack of German artillery, because he knew that the lack of mobility of artillery was of little use in the era of mechanized warfare - especially now that the Luftwaffe benefited from the technological leadership of air-cooled engines, and had a greater advantage than in history, and the enemy's towed artillery was just a living target for the air force.

"The firepower of the Czechoslovak army was no more than that, and the infantry divisions of the Poles were not yet up to such a level." Hersmann squinted his eyes and said to Hitler, "Moreover, the deployment of a division on an 8-kilometer front, with two regiments nearby that can be reinforced at any time, is a defensive deployment that cannot be done in most cases." ”

Hitler nodded silently, and a thunderous roar was heard in the distance.

"The shelling has begun?" Hitler asked.

"Yes, there begins," Hersman said, "and in 45 minutes, the tank assault will also begin." Prime Minister, the General Command of the exercise has prepared an forward observation post for us. Let's see a breakthrough in the era of mechanized warfare there! ”

……

Erich. Feng. Major General Manstein is now the commander of the 18th Division of the Wehrmacht, and his division took part in the Iron Fist-1935 exercise and was held on the defensive line east of the Usma River.

In the early morning of 1 May, when the shelling of the "Blues" began, he had just gotten up and was eating breakfast in his command post with a coffee cup and bread.

"No one is in position, right?" Manstein asked with some concern, listening to the sound of the shelling.

Now it's a live-fire exercise, not a real fight. So a quarter of an hour before the start of the shelling of the "Blue Army", the exercise command called to inform them. At short notice, the "Red Army" would leave the position with its equipment, leaving "dummies" and "dummy equipment" to be bombarded - the reason for this was to test how many 37-mm anti-tank guns placed on the front line could be destroyed in 45 minutes of shelling.

And the 37mm anti-tank gun is currently the most powerful anti-tank weapon in the hands of the German infantry. Theoretically, an infantry division should have 84-90 such cannons. But the vast majority of infantry divisions did not even have a third of the number. Manstein's 18th Division, which was to participate in the exercises, was temporarily strengthened so that the anti-tank guns could be fully strengthened.

When conducting defensive battles, most of these anti-tank guns will be attached to regiments. Typically, each infantry regiment was given between 18 and 20 (and some left for scouts) 37mm anti-tank guns.

Two regiments were placed on the main position on the Usma Lake front, and a total of 40 37-mm anti-tank guns were placed - 40 anti-tank guns guarded the 8-kilometer-wide frontage, an average of 5 anti-tank guns per kilometer. If all 5 guns are destroyed, then the infantry will have to rely on anti-tank guns to resist the tanks......

"The generals, personnel and equipment have all been withdrawn." A staff officer immediately replied. "We can be patient and wait for the shelling to end."

No one in the 18th Division knew how long the shelling would last, but everyone thought it wouldn't be too short. Because the positions they have built are quite strong for the infantry, if only dozens of artillery pieces participate in the shelling, then it is impossible to cause enough damage without more than 24 hours of repeated bombardment.

"Patience?" Manstein shook his head and walked to the map, "Our opponents are the 1st Panzer Division and the 3rd Motorized Rifle Division, they have 400 tanks and self-propelled guns...... he squinted. After listening for a while, "At least more than 80 artillery pieces are bombarding, and both artillery regiments are concentrated on opposite us. ”

"We're the main attack here?" A staff officer asked, "Do you want to report to the command?" ”

"Report," Manstein paused, "and ask for reinforcements!" ”

"Asking for help? Now? The staff officer said, "They haven't started attacking yet?" What if it's a trap? ”

Manstein raised his coffee cup, took a shallow sip, and then said with great certainty: "The decisive battle is east of Lake Usma, so ask for reinforcements now!" ”

PS.5.15 "Starting Point" is raining red envelopes! Starting at 12 noon, grab a round every hour, and a large wave of 515 red envelopes depends on luck. You all go and grab it, and the starting coins you grabbed continue to subscribe to my chapters! (To be continued.) )