A thick fog filled the edge of the forest, and the low visibility was frightening, and the rumbling of cannon fire in the distance gave the lingering fog a hint of blood.

A field command car with a radio station drove slowly on a forest path, and in the two command cars specially designed for armored units, an electromechanical officer was sitting in the car, fiddling with his new radio station, while beside him, two guards holding MP-44s, and Guderian's adjutant.

Guderian sat in the co-pilot, swaying back and forth with the potholes in the ground. The driver of the car next to him hung a G43 rifle and drove the car intently. This six-wheeled vehicle has no doors, similar to a six-wheeled armored reconnaissance vehicle with no armor on all sides and no artillery on top. Guderian's feet casually stepped on the edge of the threshold at the door, and he hummed softly to the tune of his hometown.

As the war against Poland entered its 10th day, the Germans had begun to work on improving the details of all aspects of their work. Guderian, for example, found that he was often out of touch with his own troops, unable to effectively control the high-speed advancing armored forces. So he came up with a very effective solution, which was to sit in the command car and move forward with his armored forces.

His 1st Panzer Division had just driven out the Polish defenders in the woods, captured a few hundred prisoners, and he was about to catch up with the 1st Panzer Regiment that had crossed the woods and captured a small town on the other side of the woods. He needs to find a high-power radio station there to inform his troops to continue with the mission below.

Suddenly, with a terrible howl, a shell exploded not far behind their car. The car shook, and everyone was dazed by the sudden attack. Behind the car, two guards picked up assault rifles and vigilantly checked their surroundings.

"It's a 9 mm howitzer of the 75th Motorized Rifle Division. Guderian was clearly a connoisseur of this artillery: "Isn't there a clear rule that it is not allowed to fire at will in foggy weather?"

"Didn't they read the ban booklet?" The adjutant was frightened by the shell, and frowned and complained: "Damn! go back and send a protest to their division! Let them explain the attack to the army group command." ”

"Brake!" Guderian shouted to his driver as he howled as an object cut through the airflow, "Be careful!"

"Boom!" a shell exploded in front of the car, and the dust and debris it brought up hit the windshield of the car with a loud sound, and one stone was even embedded in the windshield on the right side at once, bringing out a round crack like a spider's web.

"Oh my God!" the adjutant muttered as he watched the stone that had pierced through the glass and hit Guderian's face with a little more force, and it took a few seconds for him to react.

"Quick! evade the action!" Guderian turned to the side, reached out and grabbed the driver's steering wheel, and swerved in the foggy weather: "Step on the accelerator! The next shell will hit us!"

The car suddenly accelerated and rushed straight to the drainage ditch on the side of the road, Guderian hurriedly grabbed the handrail beside him, and as soon as he was ready, the car rushed into the ditch, and everyone rolled in the car, and the roar of the engine and the shouts of people carried out with the thick fog for a long distance.

And in the direction of the original car, a shell hit the road, the explosion brought a thick smoke, followed by the sound of explosions in the distance, it seemed that the 9th Motorized Rifle Division, which had been left behind by the 1st Panzer Army, had not received a notification that the 1st Panzer Army had taken the forest, and they were extending their fire to prepare for the attack on the woods.

"Is anyone hurt?" Looking at the green smoke from the engine, Guderian got out of the co-pilot's seat with a wry smile, stood on the mound next to the car, and looked helplessly at the unrecognizable engine compartment of the car.

His adjutant replied loudly in the car: "One of the guards was injured, his face hit the workbench and he was bleeding a lot...... Others are fine. ”

"We've got to hurry up! We've got to walk at least five kilometers of forest trails. Guderian sighed and said: "Go to the headquarters of the 1st Regiment in front to tell the group of fools of the 9th Infantry Division, they almost helped the Poles kill a German general!"

They had only been walking for about 5 minutes when a truck stopped beside them, and looking at the capital letter G1 written on the front of the vehicle, they knew that the truck belonged to the 1st Regiment of the 1st Armored Division. Because the Führer personally named the 1st Panzer Division Guderian, the representative letter of this division was G.

"Hey, do you want a ride?" the German soldier who was driving the car poked his head out and asked loudly, but deliberately drove the car in front of everyone, causing Guderian and the others standing on the side of the road to eat a mouthful of dust. This is also to blame for the unfortunate incident the day before yesterday: a major general named Flitsch was killed in the north, so the Führer personally ordered that all front-line officers must wear steel helmets - which directly led many soldiers to recognise the officers with large-brimmed hats.

"Thank you for your kindness!" Guderian said to his men as he walked to the side of the car and smiled, "I am so lucky to have met you." ”

By the time the soldier in the car had recovered from the shock, Guderian, who was wearing the general's epaulettes, had already climbed into the cargo compartment of the truck. It was thousands of liters of gasoline, and it smelled terrible, but Guderian was glad that he didn't have to walk to chase his tank troops.

Ten minutes later, Guderian finally found his 1 regiment. A series of orders were issued to the military headquarters at the regimental headquarters, one of which was to tell the 9th Infantry Division to catch up and stop wasting shells on the enemy who did not have zài.

Then he thought about it, and in a strange style of statement, sent a memorandum to the General Headquarters of the Wehrmacht, which was written in a very humorous way: "In southern Poland, the fog caused great trouble to the German troops, and although the artillery units had been strictly ordered to prohibit firing at targets in dense fog, the artillery units still stubbornly did so. And as a consequence of this, the German artillery units almost sent their tank warfare command specialists into coffins. ”

The reason why I want to talk about this incident separately is because this war episode has a very interesting ending at the end - a few hours later, the 9th Motorized Rifle Division replied to Guderian's telegram: "You should be glad that we used 75 guns, not Frederick rocket launchers...... A few hours after this reply telegram was sent to Guderian, the 9th Infantry Division was temporarily assigned to the command of the 1st Panzer Army by Army Group D, and the commander of the 9th Infantry Division almost cried when he heard that he received this order.

Soon, Guderian found the 3rd SS Panzer Division, which he had attacked more than ten kilometers to the east, and ordered them to temporarily stop the attack, so the German 1st Panzer Army, which was frantically attacking, temporarily stopped, because Guderian received a telegram from General Moder of Army Group D in his temporary headquarters, as well as reports and photographs of the direction of movement of the Polish troops provided by air force reconnaissance planes.

"This time the Poles really did a clever thing. Guderian looked at the instructions on the text, handed the intelligence analysis text to his adjutant, and said to his staff officer with a smile: "They found that their northern defenses had completely collapsed, so they concentrated their forces and wanted to have a decisive battle with our army in the south." ”

The adjutant who survived the catastrophe was by Guderian's side, looked at the intelligence analysis handed to him by Guderian, nodded in agreement: "This time they chose the right one and found an option that was very beneficial to them." ”

The staff officer looked at the military map in his hand and pointed to the dots on it: "If we take here, here and here in advance, we can shorten the front that needs to be defended and concentrate our forces to meet the Polish troops moving south." ”

Guderian nodded: "Let the 3rd SS Panzer Division turn back and search and advance to the north! Let the Frederick rocket artillery units of the 9th Infantry Division follow and give the Poles some color. ”

An officer walked into the temporary headquarters, handed a copy to Guderian, and then stood up and saluted: "Long live the Führer!"

"What's the matter?" Guderian glanced at Wen Jiàn suspiciously, the image of the Imperial Eagle at the beginning of the paper proved that this was a shared intelligence of the Air Force.

"The Air Force has been frantically counterattacked by Polish aircraft in the central region of Poland, and our army is temporarily unable to gain local air supremacy, so all troops are requested to advance carefully. The officer reported the contents of the intelligence: "In addition, the reconnaissance aircraft found that the Polish troops were moving south very quickly, and the troops were mixed with a large number of tanks. ”

"Arrange for the signal corps to send this information to General Frick. Tell him to be careful. Guderian thought for a moment and said: "In addition, apply to the army group for air force support, excluding the nearby Polish fighter and bomber units. ”

......

In the wilderness, as the 3rd SS Panzer Division rushed to the front, Captain Marcus of Tank 112 was complaining to the company commander Carter on the intercom: "An order from above, the people below have rushed dozens of kilometers of road, and they are as tired as a dog." ”

"Don't complain! Look at Rennes...... This is a great warrior loyal to the Führer!" Carter replied boredly as the tank shook. The other day, they had just replaced the tracks with new tracks, deployed and repaired the engine gearbox, and then they were ordered to turn around and advance northward, but so far they had not met a single Polish soldier along the way.

"Company Commander!1 o'clock. Do you see the smoke and dust?" Wren's voice sounded in the earphones: "I think that when the regiment headquarters assigned the task of putting us in front, it was to let us, who have experience in tank combat, deal with this unit!"

"All tanks!Prepare the artillery!" Carter's voice was a little out of tune due to excitement: "1 o'clock direction! Massive Polish troops! Adjust the hull, and test the throat intercom in a minute......"

On September 25, 1937, the 3rd SS Panzer Division was ordered to move north to attack the Polish army in Lodz, where the two sides met near an unnamed hill.