"General Rundstedt, this is an order I just received from the Führer's headquarters."

With an order in hand, Manstein walked into the makeshift office of Army Group South Commander Rundstedt, who was standing in front of a huge map of Poland, checking the movement of two large red arrows.

"Oh, what a damn thing." Lundes took the order, then smiled, waved his hand lightly, and said helplessly, "The British and French have declared war on us, and the Führer has ordered us to speed up the attack. ”

"General Lunders, you were right last time at the Führer's base camp that Britain and France would not intervene in the Polish campaign." Manstein also said happily, walking to the map and pointing to the French border, "The British do not have a single division of troops in Europe, and their declaration of war can only be verbal, of course, or maybe there is something to be done at sea." However, the French, their more than 30 divisions, are now not moving at all, and they are still counting stones in the trenches. ”

"They are waiting to see us fight the Soviets."

Rundes and Manstein looked at each other knowingly, and they both knew that the Soviet-German war that Britain and France wanted to see would not be staged as Britain and France expected.

Yes, on the other side of Poland is the USSR, and they are near the border, they also have hundreds of thousands of troops, thousands of aircraft, thousands of tanks, but so what?

"All thanks to the Führer, the signing of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact will be the biggest surprise for Britain and France. I'm even looking forward to what their superiors, and even the president and prime minister, will look like when their intelligence agents finally get the news. Startled? Or is it a surprise? Wishful thinking of the British and French. Lundes said with a smile as he took the papers of a staff officer who had come in from outside.

"General Rundes, General Manstein, one of our armored divisions was encircled by three Polish divisions during the previous assault, but as soon as the radio for help came back, the vanguard of this division escaped from the encirclement and, together with a mechanized infantry division following behind, launched a fierce attack on the positions of the three divisions."

"Very well, order the rest of the troops, perhaps, to move closer to these two divisions, break through, break through with absolute armor superiority, and then leave the encirclement to the mechanized infantry divisions and other infantry behind. Our goal, Warsaw!! ”

With a wave of his hand, the order was quickly conveyed, the Panzer Divisions of the Third Reich were advancing at a rapid pace, and the Blitzkrieg plan, which was highly praised by the Führer, was executed so perfectly. The Poles, who tried in vain to be Don Quixote, have already routed eight infantry divisions, and counting the next three, will be 11. In total, they had just over 30 infantry divisions.

This time, this weak Don Quixote, who lacked anti-tank weapons, could only brandish a knight's gun and attack the steel windmills of the Germans.

"Everything is as the Führer said, the Poles, will weep bitterly in front of our armored divisions. General Guderian is worthy of the hope for the future of our Third Reich. ”

Manstein said excitedly that although this blitzkrieg tactic was first proposed by the British, it was not taken seriously at all, but it was General Guderian who carried it forward. The Polish campaign will prove to the world that German armored forces will destroy everything.

Like Rundes, he was full of confidence in the army, and the German army, which had more than 120 divisions, invested more than 50 divisions, including 8 armored divisions and more mechanized infantry divisions, on the Polish battlefield, and the northern and southern armies were approaching in the direction of Warsaw.

And the Poles, who were still counting on the British and French, and even the Poles of the Soviets, with their more than thirty divisions, would cry under the iron hooves of the German army.

At this time, at the headquarters of Army Group South in Lundes, there were two groups of yellow-skinned black-headed soldiers who were also wearing the uniforms of the Third Emperor of the Germans, discussing the battle in front of them in private.

"The use of armored forces by the Germans was very concentrated and very bold."

An Asian general spoke in Chinese and expressed his feelings, and next to him were also several Chinese, discussing a schematic map of the German attack on Poland drafted with the help of summarized war information.

"Eight armored divisions, they alone will be enough to destroy the defense line that the Poles have built even with all their strength. Poland has neither danger to defend nor troops to use. Another Chinese [***] person shook his head and said that as a military observer group sent by China to the German front, although they were invited by Hitler to see the German army's show of force, they also found many interesting things.

"Xiaoshan, what do you think?" One of the oldest looking soldiers asked the young man next to him.

Hou Xiaoshan touched his head, imitated his cousin Wu Peiqiang's example, smiled innocently, and then said, "I also think that the German army is very strong, but the most important thing is that their opponents are too weak." I look at the planes flying overhead in the past few days, judging from the density, the only air force units that the Poles can threaten the German Panzer Division, I am afraid that all of them have been blown up on the ground, but unfortunately, hundreds of planes, selling scrap iron is better than burning like this.

As for anti-tank weapons, the Poles are even more rookies, I heard that some Polish soldiers were full of superstitions about machine guns from beginning to end, until they were crushed by tanks, they realized the horror of this war monster.

If we had changed our People's Army and dealt with the Germans, I think the situation might have just turned around. Colonel, what do you say? ”

"Haha, you kid, thanks to the chairman's personal instructions, the armored forces have developed rapidly over the years, and I think that if they encounter any possible enemies in the future, the armored forces of the People's Army will be able to defeat them." The colonel of the armored division from the People's Army said firmly. This kind of trust is the trust in the six elite armored divisions that have been formed in China, that is, the two elite armored armies.

"Britain and France have declared war, and we say that our empire should not be slower than them, and this will be an excellent opportunity. The British and French are pinned down in Europe, and we, we will have enough time to attack Southeast Asia. Only by obtaining enough resources and people will we be able to wage even larger wars in the future. The Germans are already reaping the harvest, but we are still waiting. ”

In another office, a group of bearded officers were also discussing the front-line war, and unlike the Chinese, they took the initiative to come and observe the war, and in order to let this ally see the true combat effectiveness of the German army, Hitler approved.

"yes, it's going to be an opportunity that won't happen in a thousand years. However, there are other things we should also see. Another officer, who looked older, said, "From this Polish campaign, we can see that the Germans, like the Chinese, relied on superior armored forces to gain a huge initiative on the battlefield. The blitzkrieg that the Germans are proud of, we have already suffered in the northeast of the Chinese. The whole of Poland is not half a northeast large, at the beginning, the imperial [***] team was pushed by the Chinese from the Jinzhou defense line to Shenyang overnight, and the other party was only a heavy mechanical brigade, and at that time, the imperial armored forces had been wiped out to the number of 0.

In 1933, although the empire was defeated, it understood one thing, the infantry could not stop the armored forces. And to achieve a quick offensive and a quick breakthrough, infantry is inferior to mechanized infantry, and mechanized infantry is inferior to armored corps. This time the Polish campaign will once again prove it, only this time the whole world will be stunned by the huge combat effectiveness of the armored forces.

I personally boarded the tanks of the Germans, and judging by the battle damage, failure rate, etc. of their tanks in recent days, the main tanks of the Germans, except for a few of the most elite tanks, are even inferior to the kind of tanks used by the Chinese in 1934, although they are not numerous, there is only one armored brigade.

However, in five years, the Germans had only the most elite tanks, which were comparable to the tanks of the Chinese a few years ago. So, I think, once China embarks on the path of full-scale war preparation, it will be even more terrible than the Germans. ”

"What Shanmu-kun said makes sense, so as soon as the war ended, the empire began to develop new tanks. However, it is very disturbing that China's economic development in recent years has been too rapid, and its industrial strength has far surpassed that of the empire. According to intelligence, the Chinese actually armed six elite armored divisions, while the empire only had five new tank divisions. After going back this time, we will propose to the military department that we need to expand the armored forces again, we need twenty armored divisions, or even fifty, since there is no need to build any more damned battleships, then, I think the armored forces should be greatly strengthened. At least, more than the Chinese. Although there is no war in China, it is always good to have more armored troops. ”

World War II officially broke out, and in Asia, the Chinese side was also discussing whether we were ready for this war.

"Chairman of the Committee, just last month, the third division of our last armored division, the Third Division of the Second Armored Group Army, was officially organized, and the main Tiger II tank and a small number of Type 3 tanks were uniformly deployed. In this way, the three armored units in the plan have all been organized. Including the Guards Panzer Corps, the 1st Panzer Army, the 2nd Panzer Army. "Defense Minister Cai Yi, after the official outbreak of World War II, has been in a very high working state, the whole person is like a clockwork machine, working in the Ministry of Defense for more than 12 hours a day, often the eldest lady and the second lady Xiao Fengxian to pick up home.

"The First Panzer Army under the command of Lieutenant General Tao Qian and the Second Panzer Army under the command of Lieutenant General Chen Jun are currently equipped with Tiger III tanks with a comprehensive increase of about 15% in speed, firepower and armor, and three-quarters of Tiger II tanks, and the overall configuration is relatively reasonable. Although the Guards had a somewhat smaller number of tanks, they were the most elite. The total number of tanks in the three armored armies reached 1500 units. And the total number of tanks with other infantry units is about 500 units, that is, the total number of our tanks is 2000 units. From a total of less than 500 tanks in 1933 to 2,000 tanks today, in 6 years and 72 months, our tank factory maintained a new level of 30 tanks a month, of which 10 were used for replacing old tanks and mothballing combat readiness, and the remaining 20 were issued to the troops as new equipment.

If war breaks out immediately, we will be able to use nearly 3,000 tanks, and all but a few of the older Tiger I and early II models will be the main Tiger II tanks. This tank is comparable to the current advanced German Tiger 1 tank, and the number of equipment they have is about 1,500 units. But the total number of tanks in service is more than ours, about 5,400 units. In the USSR, there were more than 14,000 of them, of course, most of them needed to be repaired, and there were more old tanks. ”

Zhang Shusheng nodded, the construction of the armored army is what he strongly demands, although it is very necessary to keep the renminbi to build New China, but if the army is not strong enough, then no matter how beautiful New China is, it will only be the fruit of the enemy's victory. Therefore, he strongly advocated the establishment of three tank corps, including the Guards Army, and invested huge military funds to build these three advanced tank corps.

It can be said that, at least in the early days of the war, whoever attacked China would be destroyed and retaliated, and of course, this enemy could only be himself or the Soviets. And at this time, the Soviets, most of their forces were in Europe, and if it was the Far Eastern Military District alone, as long as China did not take the initiative to fight over, they would be happy.

And in the face of a powerful air force, even the mainland is seriously threatened, so on land, even if they have eight tank divisions, including five new tank divisions, what can they do? A certain model of aircraft is known as a tank killer, but it has been in research for a long time.

Although during World War II, tank technology was changing with each passing day and developing very rapidly, Zhang Shusheng was confident that even if the Germans, Soviets, and even Americans innovated tank technology faster, even if a new model was released in three months, equipped with a new tank gun, new armor, and new fire control devices, he still had the confidence to keep China's tanks above the world's advanced level.

Perhaps, next year the Tiger II will face losing the title of one of the world's most advanced tanks, but so what? In the face of strong industrial strength, in Zhang Shusheng's mind, these tanks are not so much used to guard against the enemy, or maybe used in World War II, but rather used for military training and improvisation.

The real World War II ace tank models belonging to the Chinese are far from the No. 2 and No. 3 Tigers.

In the previous life, the tanks of the Germans were invincible in the early days of the war, but this time, Zhang Shusheng needed tanks from the Chinese, and they have always been invincible.

Hitler was able to do it only by relying on the industrial base of the Germans, and he was able to do it on the basis of decades of construction, taking precautions, and with advanced science and technology in hand, economic development and state reform from top to bottom were also carried out very smoothly.

Although the number of tanks is still very small compared with the Soviets in the north, Zhang Shusheng believes that at least in the early stage, it is most cost-effective to maintain the superior tanks in service, train enough tank crews, and when the war breaks out, go all out to start the production line to produce more and more advanced tanks. Just like the Americans, even now, they don't have as many tanks as KPA an armored corps, but what about them in a few years?

At that time, a real tank battle will be staged, in the original history, the Americans relied on the strong air force, and the tanks did not have many opportunities to 'pick up the fruits of victory', but this time, Zhang Shusheng will use the powerful air force to tell them that that set will not work.

"In terms of infantry, we have not made a major expansion after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and we have basically maintained the size of the original standing army of 1.8 million people. Half of these officers and men are veterans of the Sino-Chinese War and the War of Liberation, and we did not simply let them retire. A small number of those who have retired from the military have also been transferred to the reserve and can be returned to active duty at any time during wartime.

In the Air Force, we currently have a total of more than 7,000 pilots and 3,000 aircraft of various types, and although the main fighter models are still the Jian-2 fighter and the H-2 bomber, they have all been modified and are sufficient for use. We may not be as good as the Soviets in terms of numbers alone, but once the Soviets show signs of aggression, we will be able to produce 5,000 of these relatively simple fighters within two months, and we will be able to urgently recruit 4,000 pilot cadets and 3,000 club pilots into the army within three months.

In terms of the navy, we have two large aircraft carriers, including the newly built Yellow Emperor and Yandi, and two medium-sized aircraft carriers, including the Jiangsu and Guangdong, starting from 1932, a total of four newly-built aircraft carriers in seven years, and the Horseshoe Bay Naval Base is responsible for the construction of the Yellow Emperor and the Yandi with a displacement of more than 40,000 tons, two absolutely domineering ace aircraft carriers before World War II. The Jiangnan Shipyard is responsible for the construction of medium-sized aircraft carriers with a displacement of nearly 20,000 tons, Jiangsu and Guangdong (actual displacement of 17,000 tons, full load of 20,000 tons). In this way, including the original three aircraft carriers Chengdu, Zhonghua (formerly Kunming), and Hanjing, in the course of 15 years of naval development, China has a total of seven aircraft carriers, and the early development is very slow, and the later development is very fast, and all four aircraft carriers are built within six years.

With regard to the navy, I must mention that although we have made every effort to build two ace-class aircraft carriers with a displacement of 40,000 tons, due to our repeated and extremely excellent performances in naval aviation, the number, quality, and tonnage of aircraft carriers of Britain, Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States have increased rapidly and are developing in the direction of large-scale. With displacement alone, the London built by the British has already reached a displacement of 55000 tons, and the Tokyo by the Germans has reached a displacement of 58000 tons. In particular, he had a total of twelve aircraft carriers, including several battleships that had been remodeled. Among them, they built six new aircraft carriers with a displacement of between 15,000 and 60,000 tons in six years, which can be described as extremely crazy. (Because of the aircraft carrier revolution triggered in the southwest period, those with a displacement of less than 20,000 tons will become small escort aircraft carriers, and 20,000-40,000 tons will belong to medium-sized and large aircraft carriers.) Of course, in the original history, without the stimulation of China, the Yamato, the largest battleship in China, also reached a displacement of more than 70,000 tons. And now, more perverts will emerge in the countries of the world. However, our reserve force is growing rapidly, and the militia with semi-military training, the flying clubs with national surnames, and the large number of civilian sailors who can be called up on an emergency basis are all being trained regularly in a planned manner. Jiang Baili added.

"The development of the Navy is very important, and at the launching ceremony of the Yandi, I made a request, that is, in the near future, I hope that the Pacific Ocean can become a pond in front of our house. This requirement is not something that the army or air force can do, only the navy can do. ”

Zhang Shusheng didn't pay much attention to these seven aircraft carriers, or thought it was too crazy, compared to the military industries of other countries that have completely entered a high arms race, China is still in the process of accumulating strength.

Throughout World War II, the Americans had a total of more than 100 large, medium, and small aircraft carriers, and although they lost 11 of them, by the end of the war, naval aviation alone would be able to take off and land thousands of planes to bomb the war. I was forced to feel safe only when I was cowering under the crotch of my mother, the United States.

At this time, although the United States had many more aircraft carriers than the three aircraft carriers in its original history, reaching the standard of eight aircraft carriers, there were plans to show that the Americans felt that it was enough to protect the United States and suspended the approval of more construction plans. Zhang Shusheng didn't know when their shipyard would start building aircraft carriers again, but he knew that China would never stop on the road like a rabbit and wait for the United States to wake up completely.

Cai Yi: "In terms of war preparations, all radar bases are already in a 24-hour state of second-level high-frequency combat readiness. The frequency of reconnaissance by submarine forces, air forces has increased. The border garrison units have also entered the second-level combat state and can be upgraded to the first-level war state at any time.

In terms of logistics, thanks to the large quantities of oil that have been shipped back from the Middle East and Africa to Indonesia, the oil reserves are enough to fight a large-scale war between the two countries for a year. In terms of military supplies, the country's major war readiness warehouses have undergone a general pre-war inspection to ensure that they can be opened at any time and armed with at least one million-level army.

With regard to education on the basics of national defense, air defense drills are being conducted intensively in cities across the country, air defense warning devices and air defense facilities are being inspected before the war, and air defense drills are being held in various localities. Even ordinary housewives are being treated with how to deal with emergency wounds. ”

Jiang Baili: "According to the instructions of the chairman of the committee, the first-line and second-line armies in the northeast have increased to nearly 500,000 people, concentrating one-third of the country's army. A quarter of the Air Force. This will be used to focus on alerting the movements of the Soviets' Far Eastern Corps and themselves. On the Sino-Vietnamese and Sino-Burmese borders, the total number of troops on all fronts has reached more than 300,000, which is the number of troops that can be put into battle within a week in an emergency.

"Now, we have counted our belongings, so let's prepare for war before the start of World War II, and then ......," Zhang Shusheng stood up, waved his hand, and said to the senior generals of the People's Army who stood up and saluted in the room, "Then, let's start to be spectators and prepare to make money at the same time." Thank you in advance for your generosity to the participating countries. Hey, poor China, if it doesn't make money, how can it expand its army! ”

(To be continued)