Chapter 524: The Arrogant Hitler

This breakout was under centralized command, and the entire breakout force was under the command of Field Marshal Montgomery. For this purpose, the US First Army was subordinate to the British 21st Army Group. Leemer's anticipation of dissent among Allied military and political leaders was eliminated, although there were some differences of opinion between Eisenhower and his generals.

Commenting on this tension between Britain and the United States, Montgomery said:

"From then until the end of the war, there was always some emotion between the British and American forces. From time to time, Patton made some remarks that were not conducive to unity. When he was stopped by Bradley in Argent, he said: Let me drive to Falaise, and we will drive the English back to sea, and another Dunkirk. ”

Montgomery also understood the problems between Britain and the United States, and often said to his subordinates: "The trouble of infighting later turned into a storm, and sometimes it was almost like destroying the Allied ship." ”

The fact that Patton was placed in the besieged Ardennes and that Montgomery would only break through the troops shows that the Allies were careful about each other. Fortunately, both Patton and Montgomery were very good, Patton completed the purpose of delaying and attracting the German army, and Montgomery also used the corpses of countless Allied soldiers to open the door to escape.

Eisenhower's decision to concentrate Allied command in the hands of one man was timely, as the battle spiraled out of control. With the exception of the northern and southern flanks of the breach, there is hardly a single coherent line of defense in the area.

General Wilmot recalled:

"Soldiers of the 28th SA rushed back from the Orr River in an endless stream. They brought ...... Sad news that the regimental fortifications had collapsed. ”

Montgomery's contribution to the recovery of the situation lies in: He strung together a series of isolated actions into a cohesive battle with a clear plan. It was precisely because he did not agree to an immature piecemeal counterattack that the Allies were able to gather reserves and break through the German encirclement in one fell swoop.

However, just when the commander-in-chief needed reserves to strengthen his western flank breakthrough, the Allied forces on other sides were not taken into account, and there were many Allied troops who came scattered and did not have time to break through, and their end was to be prisoners of war, and in general, Montgomery's breakthrough was successful, although not perfect. But it's been done very well. After all, more than a million Allied troops escaped to Britain without any problems, and of course they also discarded all available weapons and equipment, and returned to Britain almost empty-handed.

As far as the development of the situation on the part of the Germans is concerned, what reversed the situation was that the encirclement was too large. The Germans could not annihilate the enemy in the Ardennes in an extremely short time. It was also unable to quickly assemble forces to prevent the Allied forces from breaking through.

When the weather turns clear. The British and American air forces fought desperately with the Luftwaffe. Despite the greatest self-sacrifice of the Luftwaffe pilots, who could only lighten the burden on the ground troops, these heavy attacks from the air often delayed the delivery of ammunition and supplies that were most urgently needed by the combat units.

For the sake of concealment. Supply depots were mostly located on the east bank of the Rhine. In this regard, refueling is particularly affected. Thus, from the very beginning, the fuel of the attacking forces was simply used today and there was no tomorrow, and this situation only improved when Limer pulled out the fighters of the German homeland:

Allied army aviation, which had a certain numerical advantage. They were often headed for hundreds of planes straight into the German supply lines. The Allied air forces flew 15,000 sorties in four days, attacking not only the Ardennes transportation lines, but also the roads, railways, and airfields throughout the Rhineland. More than 1,700 tons of bombs were dropped on St. Vitus...... In direct support of regional operations, the Tactical Air Force flew more than 30,000 sorties to harass the Germans, which further damaged the Germans. Of course, the losses of the Allied air force were also extremely serious, more than 2,000 planes were shot down in just four days, but the results of their air raids were also good, and they successfully delayed the German offensive and pursuit.

Looking back from the German point of view, the following conclusions can be drawn: both the area of deployment and the area of the offensive were correctly chosen. The timing of the attack and the manner in which the Fifth Panzer Army launched the offensive were both appropriate to the situation at the time and correct. Enemy intelligence and aerial reconnaissance did not perceive the readiness of the troops to deploy. The camouflage measures taken proved to be effective, although it was risky not to inform the troops concerned until the day before the attack, and suddenness was achieved, both strategically and tactically.

As soon as the Second French Battle was over, Hitler immediately summoned Hitler to Berlin, and Hitler held a grand welcome ceremony for Liemer, and all the citizens of Berlin poured into the streets, full of flowers, but Liemer did not have the heart to face all these honors now.

At the situation analysis meeting on January 9, 1942, when Limeer tried to draw Hitler's attention to the dangerous situation on the Eastern Front, and at the same time, there were more than one million fleeing Allied troops in Britain on the Western Front, and they were likely to launch a second landing operation, so Lymer suggested that Hitler negotiate peace with Britain and the United States, and Hitler was so angry that he was hysterical.

Hitler refused to face up to these facts, and in Guderian's words, "he had in his mind a peculiar blueprint of the world, and every fact had to conform to his whimsical blueprint." He believed that the world had to be like this, but in reality, it was a blueprint for another world. But reality soon proved to be better than fantasy.

Hitler said in a conversation with Limer: "You know, my marshal, I don't think the Russians will go into politics at all. This is nothing but a heinous form of intimidation. The figures cited by your Foreign Military Service on the Eastern Front are exaggerated. You are overly worried, and I am absolutely confident that the Eastern Front is safe.

Therefore, we must immediately organize our forces and prepare to launch the second Sea Lion Plan, the Allies can open up a second battlefield, and we will also launch the Second Sea Lion Plan, and our army will have very few British Isles. ”

At this time, the German army in France was repairing railways and bridges, and Li Mo was already preparing to drop these elite German troops to the Soviet battlefield, and the Soviet Union was still fighting with more than two million elite German troops, which greatly consumed Germany's national strength, and if Li Mo had not formed more than one million Russian Liberation Army, perhaps the German army in the Soviet Union would have completely collapsed.

Although these Russian Liberation Army used Soviet weapons, their will to fight was extremely tenacious, and the Soviet Red Army had always fought to the end, and they were never prisoners of the Red Army, and the Red Army captured them and shot them directly, basically both sides have become enemies of life and death, which is caused by Stalin's policy.

Another mistake of Hitler was not to replenish the forces to the fighting forces, and he did not restore the existing divisions to their normal strength or disband them, preferring to form new divisions and leave those battle-tested divisions with only half or even half of the troops. (To be continued......)

PS: Acknowledgements:

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