"Report!" the staff member knocked on the door, and said loudly at the door.

"Come in!" Guderian was staring at the huge map on his desk, carefully looking at the locations of the troops on both sides. His office was in shambles, the city hall building in Stone, and he had escaped with nothing and had made a mess of his own belongings like a thief.

"Just now, about 10 kilometers directly south of us, the French 10th Panzer Corps launched a fierce attack. The staff officer handed the text to Guderian, and then said: "I heard that the scale is very large, and hundreds of tanks have been dispatched. ”

"Don't take your men's complaints lightly, dear Bob. Guderian smiled and threw Wen Jiàn aside: "They always exaggerate all kinds of difficulties. For example, they will not say that they are tired and need to rest, but that their tanks are out of gas, and in the same case, they can heroically 'repel' the enemy ten times and a hundred times more, but they need to be given a month's vacation. ”

Lying about the achievements of mankind has been born since the beginning of human wars, sometimes because of statistical errors, sometimes because of requests for merit and rewards, and sometimes simply to cover up one's own mistakes and losses. This kind of thing cannot really be avoided, and it is sometimes exaggerated and encouraged because of the need for war propaganda.

Of course, there is a very famous adage that tells people that it is extremely irresponsible to themselves to constantly exaggerate their achievements - "Don't exaggerate your achievements too often, or your boss will send you on a more difficult task next time." "Because of this, everyone thinks carefully about the consequences before choosing to brag.

To be a qualified general, you need to have many necessary skills, and the boasting of coincidentally recognizing your subordinates is one of these necessary skills. Obviously, Guderian, who often fought on the front line and even went to the battlefield himself, saw these problems more thoroughly, so when he heard that there were hundreds of tanks attacking, his first instinctive reaction was not to believe it.

"General, our troops repelled this attack of the French by the side of the road in a small pass, destroying 29 of their tanks. The staff officer had to give a brief account of the results reported from the 9th Motorized Rifle Division.

"28 tanks, the 9th Motorized Rifle Division is a little reluctant, is it the 3rd SS Panzer Division that helps?" Guderian straightened up, took off the monocle from his eyes, and looked at his secretary: "Did the French really send out hundreds of tanks?

"General, we have lost 63 soldiers at the pass, and two more are seriously wounded and are being rescued. The staff officer introduced: "In addition, the French attacked very suddenly, and only one of our tanks was there at that time, and this tank was destroyed. ”

"A tank?" Guderian was stunned for a moment, then pressed down the vague uneasiness in his heart, and continued to ask: "How can you let a tank hold out for so long?

"According to several reports from the scene, this tank is our army's tank ace No. 113 car, one crew member was killed, one was wounded, and the others were fine. The staff officer recalled: "And a report from the technical appraisal department has just been delivered, and they are responsible for collecting the damage parameters of the destroyed Leopard tanks." The report needs to be sent back to the technical department in Berlin. ”

No. 113 Wren's tank, Gudeli, with an indescribable feeling of relief, asked: "Who is killed, who is wounded?"

Then he put aside the staff officer and walked out, walked to the office in charge of the classification of Wen Jiàn, grabbed all the reports on this defensive operation, and read them carefully. I don't know if I don't look at it, but when I saw the photos taken at the scene and the recorded texts, Guderian, who had been in battle for a long time, gasped.

The photo shows that the track on the right side of the Leopard tank was hit and broke off, and the guide wheels on the same side have also been broken into several pieces and scattered not far away. From here, the shell pierced through the side armor of the tank and hit the mechanics of this tank.

Of course, there are other photos to show that the tank is also covered with bullet marks in other places, and more than half of the board skirts hanging on the sides have been blown off, and only a few pieces are still hanging on it, which are covered with dense holes.

Moreover, the entire turret of this tank was hit several times, and the analysis showed that there were several times when it was completely avoided due to angle problems, and it is emphasized that the several adjustments to the position of this tank were very clever and correct.

Guderian was slightly relieved when he saw the casualty analysis that followed, which showed that Cannon Andrei was wounded, and an electromechanical officer named Clark was killed - he didn't know these two men, but mentioned them in some commendations, so this put him at ease, after all, he only cared about Rene Hard, who he knew.

"Let's just hand this report in as it is, don't make any exaggerations, and besides, excluding the Air Force, how many French tanks did Frederick's rocket launchers destroy?" Guderian asked, sorting out the report and putting it back on the table in the reference room.

"About 5 tanks were destroyed, and this was the result of the enemy tanks being too dense. The staff officer replied from behind Guderian's flank.

Guderian nodded, and then ordered the civilian officer who stood up at a loss: "Help me draft a commendation and send it to the whole army...... In addition, an application was submitted in the name of the 1st Panzer Corps for the Knight of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves for Lieutenant Wren Hard. ”

"Lieutenant?" the chief of staff glanced at Guderian, then nodded, "I see, General." I will sign an order for Wren to be promoted to lieutenant commander. ”

"Just give him a vacation and let them go with the battalion headquarters, and don't assign them any other tasks. When the replenished tank arrives, give him a new tank. Guderian thought for a moment and said.

Then he walked outside, stopped halfway through, and then turned around and added, "Pick him the best mechanic and match their crew." Remember, you have to be smart when doing this, and you have to be skilled to have someone who can quickly fit into their crew. Got it?"

Guderian thought for a moment, and then went on to explain to his staff officers: "In addition, choose something good from the supplies and replenish them, saying that I will reward and comfort their battalion." ”

"Yes! I see. The staff officer nodded.

"What else?" Guderian asked, looking at his familiar staff officer, knowing that there must be something unsaid about his constipated expression.

"General Rundstedt sent a telegram saying that for some reason the oil shipment had to be delayed by two days before it could reach us. The staff officer said, "He told us to stay where we were, and wait for the infantry to come up before continuing westward." ”

"Oh?" Guderian was stunned for a moment, and then his eyes turned to understand the twists and turns, Rundstedt must have been under pressure from the Army General Headquarters to make the armored forces stop attacking, the army has always been very worried about the radical scythe operation, this time it is to stabilize the front line, bypass the Führer to restrain the armored forces as radical as the Führer.

"The military department still has enough oil for a few days?" Guderian asked with a frown at the thought of this joint.

The staff officer was naturally well aware of this kind of thing, and immediately replied: "We have captured a part of the reserve gasoline of the French army at Stone, which is of quite high quality. Plus our own, mixed with at least 5 days, but this part of the gasoline has been reported in the seized materials, so it is not easy for us to take it and use it directly......"

"Immediately send a telegram to the military headquarters of the army group, informing them that because of the destruction of the French army, the gasoline we have captured has been detonated. With a stroke of the pen, Guderian wiped dozens of tons of supplies off the books.

He was not satisfied enough, and said to his chief of staff, who was already quite embarrassed: "Show me the original of the other telegram." ”

A few minutes later, the message was sent to Guderian, only to see that it was written. Because the troops advanced too quickly and there was confusion in the transportation of oil, the group army postponed the supply of oil to the front-line troops. In addition to strengthening the defense, the various departments can discharge reconnaissance troops to confirm the further movements of the French army and prepare for the subsequent operation.

After reading it, Guderian threw the telegram on his desk, and then put a confident smile on his face, nodded to his chief of staff and said: "Order the 1st Regiment of the 1st Panzer Division to continue westward, and the task is to reconnoiter the movements of the French army." But you can talk to their commander in private, and tell him that the farthest distance I have set for him is in Laon. ”

"Laon, is that too far?" The chief of staff felt that this kind of behavior was no different from disobedience on the battlefield, so he had to bite the bullet and ask: "If it is investigated, this kind of thing ......"

"No one will be held accountable. Guderian waved his hand to cheer up his own chief of staff: "Since the order given by General Rundstedt does not prohibit the troops from scouting, it leaves us an excuse. I say that, you get it?"

For the front-line generals who command the troops, the orders of the commander-in-chief of the army are of course difficult to disobey. But who is an idiot with insufficient intelligence who can mix into an army of hundreds of thousands? They naturally know that the orders of the Army General Headquarters are contrary to the will of the Führer, so they must choose the fundamental question of "to whom to obey orders."

Rundstedt, of course, was a clever man among the wise, and he ordered the troops to be restrained, which was in line with the will of the Army Headquarters, and to give his men unlimited reconnaissance power, in disguised support for Guderian and Rommel to continue the offensive. And as long as the army headquarters and division headquarters of the front line do not continue to advance, they can infinitely shirk their responsibilities downward.

And once it is investigated, it is a fairy fight between the Supreme Command of the Reich and the Army General Headquarters, and it has nothing to do with them, the front-line officers and soldiers.

The chief of staff was naturally not a stupid person, and when he heard Guderian say this, he understood the reason for the matter, and immediately nodded and gave the order to order the various troops to continue to "reconnoitre" forward.