On December 23, 1942, Christmas was the most important holiday in the Western world, and the Germans attached great importance to this holiday. However, as a German team, especially in the front line of wartime and theater of operations, the arrival of Christmas did not bring any major changes. Long supply lines, bad weather conditions, and inconsistent Soviet-German rail specifications have kept the German army's logistics on the verge of collapse at any time. If the arrival of Christmas can bring any comfort to the German front-line soldiers, then the letters from wives, children, parents and relatives who are far away at home are the warmest Christmas gifts. On Christmas Eve, the rigid Germans also relented, removing a few bags of flour sent to the front and loading several large bags of letters sent home to the troops at the front. Serious Germans were packed into sacks with Army Group North, Army Group Center and Army Group South printed on it, according to the theater of operations. In each sack, it is also packed into postal parcels according to the sequence of combat troops, so that the front-line post office personnel can sort the parcels and deliver the letters to their families as quickly as possible, so that the front-line troops who are hungry and cold on the front line can receive a warm letter from home on Christmas Day.

However, it should be noted that the term hunger and cold can be applied to Army Group A of Army Group North, Army Group Center and Army Group South. But it must not be used against the German 6th Army, Army Group B, and Manstein's newly formed "Iron Fist" blocking forces stationed at Stalingrad, Kursk, and Kharkov. The approximately 600,000 or so troops in these three regions are living a life of luxury, with wine to drink, meat to eat, kerosene stoves to heat up, and even turkeys to share. To paraphrase the language of the Internet in the 21st century, the whole is a rich and handsome, which arouses great envy and jealousy of other brother troops. In a memoir written by an officer of the German 6th Group after the end of World War II, he devotes a great deal of space to describing the scene at that time, and in the part about food, he wrote:

On December 23, 1942, we had cleared the Soviet troops surrounding us, and my 7th Company was filled with an atmosphere of joy, lightness, and joy. Of course, the most important thing is that from the 21st, the number and variety of supplies became more and more abundant, and every person in the entire company received enough for one person for every meal: a half-kilogram of bread, a ham about 10 cm long, a large portion of mashed potatoes and a vegetable soup with golden oil droplets floating and a few green vegetables (it's hard to imagine how the guys in the logistics got their hands on vegetables, this is Stalingrad, it's winter!). ）。 Think about a week ago. We were only able to receive 3 slices of bread per day, plus 2 people to share a potato, and now we really feel like life in heaven. The most exciting thing was that everyone in our company was given white cotton clothes to protect them from the cold, and it was very warm after wearing them. The cold and icy weather in Stalingrad was simply maddening. In addition to the cotton clothes, the company was also assigned several kerosene stoves, this little thing was very small and shiny, very beautiful, and the transparent glass cover revealed a small red flame. It smelled warm, and for the first time, I felt that night duty was no longer an irritating thing. Placing a dispensed coffee pot on a kerosene stove, topping it with fragrant ground coffee and white snow water, and the smell of coffee filling the trenches in a matter of moments is a wonderful scene in retrospect. It's Christmas and I got the news from my friend Hawke in Bread Company that turkey meat is said to be available, so I'm really looking forward to it!!

Due to the appearance of Comrade Wang Fan, the 6th Group Army not only successfully broke through the encirclement and counterattacked and regained the initiative on the battlefield, but also had abundant supplies, the soldiers basically recovered their combat effectiveness after two days of rest, and the wounded soldiers also received reasonable treatment. Paulus extended his sincere greetings and high respect to Wang Fan in the headquarters (sounds familiar, hehe!). As for his next steps, Paulus was on standby for the time being until he was ordered by the German High Command. At this time, Wang Fan submitted his resignation, that is, since the 6th Army was out of the danger of annihilation, he would also leave. Hearing this, Paulus was shocked, quickly retained Wang Fan, and raised the practical difficulties and problems of the follow-up ammunition supply of tanks and artillery. Since the weapons provided by Wang Fan originated from the military system of the Yanhuang Republic, and its artillery caliber of 155mm, tank guns and rifle bullets were different from Germany's own ammunition supply system, it was neither realistic nor economical for German factories to set up a special production line to produce ammunition for the 6th Army, so how to obtain reasonable material support and maintain and strengthen the combat effectiveness of the 6th Army was Paulus's top priority at present. Regarding Wang Fan's appearance and a series of actions, such as conjuring weapons, ammunition, supplies, gasoline, etc., out of thin air, the German high command did not dare to detain Wang Fan by force casually, after all, Wang Fan performed such a miraculous performance, no one knew what he relied on, and he was alone, which really annoyed him, patted his ass and left, then the 6th Army would be finished, and tanks and artillery without logistics supplies would not even be as good as a burning stick. Taking this into account, the German High Command deduced that Wang Fan was a friendly person who had a favorable impression of the German Empire, and that he would act as a logistics center for movable materials, and ordered Paulus to treat him with courtesy and at the same time to produce as much useful information as possible.

Now Paulus hasn't figured out how to set up the information, Wang Fan submitted his resignation, and of course he was caught off guard. After a series of friendly dialogues, Wang Fan expressed the following meaning:

1. The previous help to Germany was Wang Fan's own subjective will, and he used the company's material reserves, which is equivalent to paying off the debt out of his own pocket. Wang Fan's company is called Shanzhai Company (a tribute to the "Red Alert of the Anti-Japanese War" by Yuan Dada, the old sword), Paulus was happy in his heart, and finally learned a useful information, Bismarck's company is called Shanzhai Company.

2. His Excellency Bismarck was a poor man, and he had no money after making up for the first shortfall, so he could not help, that is, he could no longer give supplies in vain.

3. If Germany wants to continue to receive supplies, it needs to spend money on them, and only accepts hard currencies such as gold.

4. Wang Fan also has a large number of materials such as 550 Lion tanks and 700,000 semi-automatic rifles on hand, which can maintain Germany's material consumption for about 6 months.

5. If Germany is willing, Wang Fan can provide an endless supply of materials from tanks and artillery to bullets and shells, from canned food to medical supplies.

6. If you can, it's best to be able to pay for the first time, so that you will get the friendship of His Excellency Bismarck, and you can get a discount on the order later, dear!!

After Paulus found out Wang Fan's idea, he immediately sent a long telegram to the German High Command and Manstein, emphasizing the necessity of obtaining follow-up materials, and the follow-up 550 tanks, rocket artillery, armored vehicles and other weapons can completely organize a new tank army on the spot, which not only saves the burden of logistics and transportation, but also changes the combat form of this Soviet-German southern battlefield as a surprise soldier, whether the new tank army group enters the Caucasus south or breaks through the Soviet defense line in front of Stalingrad. Even changing the shape of the entire Soviet-German battlefield was of great strategic importance. At the same time, Paulus, in order to convince Führer Hitler, also used the example of the combat performance ratio of rifles and tanks. Compared with the original 98K rifle, the semi-automatic rifle provided by the pseudo-Bismarck continues to improve its combat effectiveness because it does not need to pull the bolt. 2 soldiers equipped with new semi-automatic rifles can compete with and suppress 5 soldiers equipped with 98k; In addition, the most critical Lion tank, with its 200mm frontal homogeneous armor and 100mm new tank gun, surpassed the best existing tank of the German army, the Tiger tank, in terms of protection and firepower. According to the assessment of the operational staff, a Lion tank (the German army followed Wang Fan's name: Lion Tank) can replace about 1.85 to 2.35 Tiger tanks on the battlefield, once the scale is formed, 100 Lion tanks can compete with about 300 Tiger tanks, if 1,000 Lion tanks are completely purchased by the German side, it is equivalent to the combat effectiveness of 3,000 Tiger tanks, and the total number of Tiger tanks in the entire front line of the German army is only a few hundred. With these Lion tanks, it was possible to compete with about 7,000 Soviet T34 tanks. This kind of attack and deterrence was exactly what the German forces in the front that had exhausted their offensive potential were urgently needed.

After receiving the telegram, Manstein and Hitler carefully studied the contents of the telegram, and at the same time looked at the samples of semi-automatic rifles brought back from the front separately (the Lion tank was too heavy for the plane to bring back, but in order to analyze this weapon, two Lion tanks were being transported by rail to the German tank factory for disassembly, and Germany was very interested in 100mm artillery technology and diesel engine technology), and Marshal Manstein also sent a telegram to Hitler in order to urge Hitler to make up his mind, It was emphasized that by acquiring such a large number of tank maneuvers at once, the Germans could quickly regain their strength and achieve their strategic goal of capturing the Caucasus (the goal of capturing Stalingrad had already been achieved, so that half of the two goals set at the time had been achieved). Hitler was also well aware of the importance of gaining this kind of strength to change the battlefield situation, but what made him not immediately make up his mind was the unease that the logistics were pinched in Wang Fan's hands, if once the attack was halfway through, the supplies were gone and the Germans did not have suitable bullets and shells, then the troops would fall into disaster. However, what prompted Hitler to make up his mind was that the three large-scale attacks of German Army Group A in the Caucasus were blocked, and they were counterattacked by the Soviet army (the top decision-makers of the Soviet Union launched an offensive in the Caucasus in order to share the pressure of the Soviet defense at Stalingrad, attracting the attention of the German army, and at the same time in order to effectively kill and injure German Army Group A), resulting in heavy losses of German Army Group A (nearly 80,000 casualties, accounting for one-fifth of the total 400,000 people), and urgently needed the support of reserves and living forces. Coupled with Paulus's call, Wang Fan could provide 200 million rounds of ammunition and hundreds of thousands of artillery shells, which was enough for Germany to squander for half a year, so Hitler waved his pen and made more than 350 tons of gold through the plane, which quickly arrived at the 6th Army Headquarters in Stalingrad, and at the same time ordered the next batch of weapons from Wang Fan (about 30 tons of 350 tons of gold were deposits), so after handing over the materials in the ring, Germany quickly transferred tank troops from various units to assemble in the Stalingrad theater, A tank corps of about 500 Lion tanks, escorting 2,000 military supply vehicles (loaded with much-needed food, fodder, winter clothing, weapons, ammunition, etc.) of German Army Group A, rushed towards the Caucasus like a whirlwind. After Wang Fan said goodbye to everyone, under the attention of Paulus and his staff, his body became transparent and disappeared (also to increase the sense of mystery and suppress bad attempts), and returned to the main plane.

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