But there is also the assumption that the Polish high command would be more realistic. In other words, when it goes to war, it does not disperse all its resources and tries to hold what it cannot hold, but on the contrary concentrates its forces on the main points and fights systematically in order to gain the necessary time, so that Germany can be confronted with the contradictory problem of fighting on two fronts. The Polish army fought valiantly and was able to hold out to the end, so that they might be able to hold out until their reinforcements were able to appear on the banks of the Rhine. This would also force the German High Command to seriously consider the question of a halt on the Polish side. ”

"As Count Schlieffen said, the weaker side has its own contribution to the victory of the stronger side. This is the case this time. But on the other hand, in addition to the fact that we were able to gain the benefits of numerical superiority and combat surname because we dared to take risks, we must also admit that the reason why we were able to succeed so quickly and completely in Poland was because the German fighting units had better leadership, command, and combat qualities. ”

"One of the main factors in the speed of our success is that we have a large self-sufficient tank force, and we have made an unorthodox use of this powerful force, and we have supported it with a vastly superior air force. But what really determines the surname is not only the bravery and responsibility of the German people, but also the spirit of the entire German army. It is true that much of the material success of German rearmament is due to Mr. Strassel's personal efforts, but numerical superiority alone does not necessarily guarantee such a quick and complete victory. The most important factor was that our small 'Wehrmacht', which at first was despised by many, was able to revive the great tradition of German training and leadership from the defeat of 1918. The greatest achievement of the existing 'new Wehrmacht', the son of the original Wehrmacht, was the discovery of a way to degenerate war from being a static one. With the help of new weapons, the Germans regained the true art of leadership in mobile warfare. Individual leadership has developed to the point where it is unique, and this is the real secret of our success. Germany's new Wehrmacht has already passed the first test with honor. Until this time, the General Staff of the Army could act freely, completely free from outside interference. The military commander retains full command. The troops fought a purely military battle, and for this reason, it was possible to maintain the chivalrous demeanor of the ancient knights in the battle. ”

At this point, Manstein let out a long breath and a look of satisfaction appeared on his face. At this moment, there was another muffled cannon fire in the distance, but it did not attract Manstein's attention.

Manstein wrote down the phrase "We are waiting for a new task", closed the notebook and lay down in his chair as if he had just finished a laborious task.

At this time, Yanjing, the capital of China far to the east, many people were also watching the war.

"On September 27, the Polish capital Warsaw had fallen, the Polish defenders had surrendered to Germany, and the Polish political axe had moved to Romania."

"Germans are so good! Poland, such a big country, was beaten down in less than a month! Cao Kun, the president of the Chinese Federal Federation, heard the officials' report and his face was full of shock.

"Poland perished so quickly, and it is not unrelated to the Soviet Union's Red Russia." Vice President Wu Peifu sneered and said.

"The Soviets attacked Poland on September 17, occupied Estonia on September 28, entered Latvia on October 5, and occupied Lithuania on October 11." An intelligence ministry official said, "At present, the Soviet and German armies have met in Poland and divided the territory. ”

"It is obvious that the Soviet and German armies should have communicated before the war." Cai Ye said.

"In this way, both Germany and the Soviet Union had a solid rear." Jiang Baili sighed.

"I don't know what Britain and France thought that they should sit back and watch Poland be destroyed and not save it!" Cao Kun looked at the map on the table and said, "Don't they understand the truth of cold lips and teeth? ”

"According to our intelligence, the British do not seem to have made any moves, and the French launched an attack on the German 'Siegfried Line', but were repulsed by the Germans." The official of the Ministry of Intelligence said, "The French army sent a lot of troops this time, a total of 41 divisions, 2,400 tanks, 4,700 artillery pieces, the German defense line was quite weak, only 22 divisions, less than 100 artillery pieces, but the German army actually held the defense line, the French army attacked for a long time, it was difficult to move forward, and later heard that Poland was defeated, so they withdrew." ”

Hearing such a report, Cao Kun and all the dignitaries in the room widened their eyes in surprise.

"How could this be?" Wu Peifu asked in surprise, "It's not that the French don't want to really help the Poles, right?" ”

"The French were not half-hearted in rescuing Poland." Cai Yi shook his head and said, "France has carried out a general mobilization, and this time it dispatched such a large number of troops to attack Germany, the purpose is to 'encircle Wei and save Zhao' and force the main force of the German army to return to defend their own country. ”

"Songpa said it was a technical reason?" Wu Peifu asked in surprise.

"Yes." Cai Yi turned his head and glanced at Yang Shuoming meaningfully, smiled, and said, "According to what we know, since the end of the last European war, the French army has been advocating 'strategic defense', that is, delaying the German attack with Maginot and other defensive lines, and covering France to complete mobilization and launch a counterattack. But the command and control procedures of the French army inevitably slowed down the entire French army, making it extremely difficult to organize any decent battles and counter-offensives, which is why this scene took place this time. ”

"Yes! As soon as the French army was mobilized, it turned out to be the army into the Maginot Line, which was completely defensive, and it was difficult to defeat the enemy. Wu Peifu said.

"So we can't learn from the French." Cai Yi looked at Yang Shuoming again, and asked with a smile, "Isn't it?" Hanzhi? ”

"That's right." Yang Shuoming, who had not spoken, smiled and nodded.

"This time, the Soviet Union has no worries and will go all out to plot against our country." Cao Kun thought of the possible Soviet attack on China, and he couldn't help but worry for a while.

"We've been preparing for so many years, isn't it just for this day?" Cai Yi looked at Cao Kun and said, "If they don't beat us, we will beat them too." ”

"Yes! If we do not solve the great problem of the Soviet Union, we in China will not be able to sleep well after all. Jiang Baili looked at everyone and said, "Of course, there is also the book." ”

After listening to Jiang Baili's words, everyone was silent for a while.

"The Soviet Union still has a battle to fight before it plots against us." Yang Shuoming said, "So, let's hurry up." ”

December 20, 1939, Finland, Snow Field, Railway Station.

A group of Soviet soldiers was standing next to a long line of military columns. They had just received an order to stack their guns and backpacks next to the railroad tracks. It was around 12 or 1 noon. An officer was munching on a bit of food he had taken out of his backpack. As if his movements were some kind of signal, the soldiers all took out the dry rations they had brought with them, and some even devoured the rations of the two meals they had eaten. Someone noticed all this, and said in a mocking tone: "Okay, eat all your stuff, for you will not receive your next ration in a week." ”

Hearing his words, a look of hesitation appeared on the faces of several recruits, and they thought for a moment and put away their rations.

At this time, these Soviet soldiers had been waiting in the cold wind for more than two hours, and the bitter cold had already made them begin to feel its power. They were running and jumping along the tracks, joking with each other and stomping their feet in place, and some of them took out paper and began to write letters, even though his fingers were frozen and he couldn't hold a pen. Others began to observe the scene on the station to pass the time.

Trains laden with war materiel pass through the station incessantly, turning the station into a congested place with various carriages stretching for almost a kilometer. Everything is disorganized, and the management of the station looks like an equally mess. When the train was about to go out, it had to turn to another section of railroad tracks, and beside those tracks stood some other companies from nowhere. When the train came, the soldiers always stood up and made way out, only to turn around a few minutes later.

The train next to it seems to have stopped here forever. Because the train did not leave, the Soviet soldiers standing next to it looked better at the station. Because they could use the cover of the train to move their frozen legs and feet, one soldier climbed to the window of the car parked next to him and looked inside. There were no animals in the carriages, and the entire train was full of weapons and ammunition.

The sky was getting darker, and the temperature dropped suddenly. To pass the time, the soldiers once again began to eat their own dry rations. The night became darker, but the station was not deserted at all, and the night was still full of military trains. Some people seem to be a little unbearable. They pulled their hats down to cover their ears, cocked their collars, and walked around to keep themselves warm.

One of the officers looked at the watch on his wrist with a luminescent display, and the time on the watch told him it was half past eight. However, the time to board the train was approaching, and he knew that they would not be allowed to spend the night on the platform. After another hour or so, several people took out their sleeping bags, which they kept out of the damp area as much as possible and placed them on the protruding ground; A few others even slept in the middle of the tracks where the train was docked.

The exhausted soldiers now had to find a place for themselves to rest. They were asked not to go too far from their weapons, so they left their rifles where they had been concentrated. Now that the best camping spots at the station have been taken, the only place they can go is to sleep in the tracks under the train cars next to them. The soldiers had wanted to sleep in the wagons, but all the wagons were locked with thick wires. They could only grumble and crawl to the rails under the carriage and lie down.

The soldiers did their best to find some kind of "campsite" for themselves. It was the first time in many people's lives that they slept in the open air. No one can close their eyelids for more than 15 minutes. Because in their exhaustion, they always feel that the horizontal axis above their heads is turning, as if the train is about to start. All of a sudden, they wake up completely and find that nothing has happened, and then I go back to sleeping, and then I wake up subconsciously.

At dawn, they finally left the makeshift camp, and all of them were sore and numb, looking like a bunch of freshly dug zombies.

At 8 o'clock in the morning, the soldiers gathered to board the train. As soon as the train leaves the station, it passes through a low pine forest covered with snow. Most of Finland looks very sparsely populated, with soldiers taking turns standing guard, two at a time and one under the canvas to take shelter from the wind.

Time flew by, and the soldiers were a little apprehensive about the arrival of the evening, for all of them could not control their fighting because of the cold. As night approached, the train was moving on a one-way track, with dense dark forests on either side of the tracks. As the train accelerated, the deadly cold wind became even more violent. Many people have already eaten more than half of their dry food by this time to maintain their body temperature.

Suddenly, the train began to slow down, the brake brakes made a sharp grinding sound against the wheels, and the body shook violently. The train slows down like a bicycle. The front of the train began to turn to the right, branching off into another route. The train continued for about 5 minutes before coming to a complete stop. Two officers jumped out of the front of the train, and several non-command personnel also got out of the train to talk to the two officers for a while, but they did not tell the soldiers what the reason for the stop was. The whole train looked out curiously. The forests lining the railway looked like an ideal hiding place for the Finnish partisans. It had been a few minutes since the train stopped, and at that moment, the sound of a train moving could be heard in the distance. Some soldiers were walking back and forth to warm themselves up. Suddenly, a shrill whistle sounded, and someone gestured to them to return to their posts immediately. A locomotive appears in the distance of the tracks they have just left. The train didn't look like it had any lights on.

What happened next completely frightened the recruits. At first, they saw a carriage carrying railway equipment, which was very dimly lit. The front of the train is immediately behind, followed by the coal car, which is followed by a completely enclosed carriage with only a low chimney that looks like a kitchen. Behind the carriage was a high-fenced carriage on which heavily armed Soviet soldiers were seated, and a double-barreled anti-aircraft machine gun was also mounted. The rest of the train consisted of open-top flatbed cars like those of the soldiers, but those were loaded with very different cargo. Passing by the soldiers, the first open-top flatbed compartment appeared to contain vague and indistinguishable objects, which were slowly recognized as human corpses. Behind the pile of corpses were a number of people standing or crouching in a tight crowd. Each open-top car was packed with people, and it had reached its maximum capacity.

Those were the wounded who were withdrawn from the front line, and they piled up the dead against the cold wind.

This is how corpses are piled up in every flat car. One of the recruits watched in amazement as the carriages slowly passed them, allowing the soldiers to see the pale faces of many corpses and limbs already stiffened in the cold wind. When the tenth carriage passed by them, something even more terrible happened. About four or five bodies fell off the pile of bodies and landed on the side of the tracks. And the train showed no signs of stopping. Several officers on the troop train where the soldiers were staying got off the train to investigate. Driven by curiosity, several recruits also jumped out of their carriages and ran to the officers. The officer saluted them and asked the men in a trembling voice if they were dead. An officer looked at them in surprise and replied with some melancholy: "Yes, I think they are all dead." Now you and your comrades can go and bury the bodies. Then he turned and walked away.

Several recruits returned to their compartments, retrieved trench shovels and began digging a trench next to the roadbed. An officer and several others searched the bodies for anything like their identity documents in their clothes. Later I learned that these poor guys didn't have any ID. The recruits summoned all their courage and dragged several corpses to the edge of the dug ditch, and they tried not to look at them. After the departure whistle blew, they buried the bodies.

Although the weather is getting colder and colder, these people who are about to go to the battlefield now only feel an uncontrollable and intense nausea.

An hour later, their train passed two wooden houses surrounded by a fence, and although there was no light and the surroundings were dark, they could see that they had been somewhat destroyed. The troop train then intersected with another train, but this one was much better than the previous one. The carriages were marked with red crosses. Through the windows of the carriages, the soldiers could see stretchers - indicating that there were seriously wounded there. At other windows, some soldiers wrapped in gauze waved at them.

Finally arrived at the next station. The troop train slowly stopped on a large and long platform. The entire platform was filled with a busy crowd: heavily armed soldiers, as well as civilians and Finnish prisoners of war. A large group of people then boarded the troop train and began to unload their luggage with the help of the truck's lights on the platform. The soldiers also joined in the porterage, which lasted about two hours. They felt some warmth from this, and then took out their dry food and nibbled on it. After all this work, they settled in a building where they could finally get a good night's sleep.

(To be continued)