Just when Stalin reported that he was destroying the Great Wall, Reinhardt, who was far away in Berlin, had already started a new round of medal ceremony.
Through this ceremony, several armored generals such as Guderian who shined in the high-speed invasion of Austria and Czechoslovakia received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, a symbol of extremely high honor.
Guderian, who had long joined Reinhard's faction, was appointed by Reinhard as the director of the mobile forces of the Third Reich of Greater Germany, and concurrently as the commander of the 19th Armored Corps, with the rank promoted to lieutenant general.
Counting the newly promoted generals of the three major Wehrmacht armies under Reinhardt's command, Senior Staff Officer Manstein, who has been brought into major military conferences by Reinhardt in the past few years, and has gradually emerged, has been widely circulated.
On the Spanish battlefield, Rommel led 10,000 German troops to arbitrate the situation and decide the outcome of a million-man battle, which proved that his position was by no means obtained by flattery.
In recent years, Manstein's planning and analysis skills demonstrated at major military conferences, as well as his mature concepts on strategy and tactics, have been praised even by veteran generals such as Destader.
But compared to the above two, Guderian, who is more academically inclined, has never had a chance to prove himself. In the eyes of many senior generals, the success of Guderian's armor theory in war games is one thing.
, but actual combat is one thing. Therefore, they have always expressed their disapproval of Reinhardt's promotion intention to Guderian.
It's not that Reinhard was unwilling to fight for Guderian, who was the first to follow him more. It's just that Reinhard didn't want to use arrogant means to make these older generals that Sickert left to him surrender.
If nothing else, take Lundstedt, a master of infantry tactics whom even Manstein respected. In history, many times due to disagreements and tough tempers, many
Reject the appointment and submit your resignation.
Fortunately, Reinhard specially arranged for a secretary to record and send gifts and messages to these veteran generals during holidays. He used the way of doing things brought from the East to win over many generals who had never seen this kind of "Oriental enthusiasm".
It is precisely because of this that Reinhardt's SS was able to escape before the Wehrmacht intervened after a shootout with the Stormtroopers in downtown Berlin. Sickert's asylum was one of the reasons, and the then Berlin Third
The commander of the military region, Lundstedt, turned a blind eye and turned a blind eye.
Even before his death, Sickert took Reinhard to visit the old general many times. This fully illustrates Lundstedt's prestige in the German army.
If the current German Army Commander-in-Chief von Brauchitsch had not clearly written to Reinhardt to express his loyalty, he would have been the first senior general in the Wehrmacht to support Reinhardt's military operation to annex Austria and Czechoslovakia.
.Perhaps it will be the turn of Rundstadt, the most senior general, to be the current Commander-in-Chief of the German Army.
Of course, Reinhardt's choice of Brauchic was not entirely because of his position and clear alignment. Another reason was that he also liked Brauchic's steady and careful military thinking.
During the Weimar Republic, Brauchitsch relied on his down-to-earth but courageous style to achieve an unobtrusive but smooth promotion step by step.
Seventeen years ago, Brauchitsch first served as a staff officer in the 1st Military District in Berlin, and was later transferred to the 2nd Artillery Headquarters. Later, he served as the company commander of the 2nd Field Artillery Regiment from 1921 to 1922, and then was appointed as a staff officer for three years.
Year.
From 1925 to 1927, he served as battalion commander of the 6th Artillery Regiment. He later served as chief of staff of the 6th Military District of Münster.
After that, he successively served as the director of the German Army Training Bureau and the director of artillery.
This general, who had retained the rank of major after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, was promoted from major to lieutenant colonel, colonel, major general, and lieutenant general as Reinhardt broke through the Treaty of Versailles. By early 1936, he had become
Promoted to artillery general.
In the words that Sickert left for Reinhardt: "General Brauchitsch is prudent in using troops, good at fighting hard and hard battles, and engages in long-term and protracted battles with his opponents. In a purely military contest with the British and French coalition forces, he can make
Germany was invincible for ten years!"
The words Sickert left have certain historical limitations. After all, he did not know that Manstein later formulated a "Scythe Harvest Plan", nor did he know that this plan allowed the arrogant French Army to
With the support of reinforcements from the three countries of Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands, they were all defeated miserably. However, Brauchitsch's superb military attainments were affirmed from the perspective of trench warfare.
Although compared to generals like Rommel who were tactically agile, daring to invest troops, and daring to take risks, Brauchitsch might be a bit unsatisfactory.
However, the tactics of "junior" generals such as Rommel promoted by Reinhard were too radical, and victory or defeat was instantaneous.
With an understanding of the historical background, Reinhardt might be able to let them do whatever they want.
However, once history changes drastically, Reinhard hopes to have a stable general by his side who can provide different opinions.
In addition, Brauchitsch was the authority on organization and training matters of the German Army, and he was also a commander with proven ability. Compared with the new general Rommel, who only relied on new equipment and tactics to win on the Spanish battlefield, he only won in the Spanish battlefield.
The "staff faction" Manstein and the "academic faction" Guderian, who made suggestions at the military conference, appointed Brauchitsch, the "apolitical general", as the commander-in-chief of the army. This will obviously make it easier for those in the army who have not invested in the army.
The generals of the Socialist Workers Party were convinced.
In addition, Brauchitsch had accepted the new leadership structure of the Nazi army without objection, promised to align the army more closely with National Socialism, and agreed to a large number of personnel changes among the army's top generals.
Reinhardt didn't think there was anything wrong with such an appointment method that killed three birds with one stone.
Earnestly, Reinhard promoted more than 30 army generals and thousands of officers before 1937, completely filling the high-level job vacancies created by the Treaty of Versailles.
As for the emerging Air Force, Reinhard's close confidant, Albert Kesselring, who had been appointed as commander-in-chief naturally early on, served as the chief executive of the Aviation Ministry during the Weimar Republic and followed Reinhardt to the Air Force.
The Soviet Union single-handedly formed the famous World War II generals of the Luftwaffe. After Reinhard killed Göring, who was supposed to occupy this position, he became the first person to serve as commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe.
Only the Navy, because Reinhardt’s old superior Ludwig, who was originally preferred, declined the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Navy due to physical reasons, and only agreed to temporarily serve as commander of the battleship squadron. Due to considerations of qualifications and ability, this was finally
Raeder, who was not a close confidant, was selected as the commander-in-chief of the navy.
Oddly enough, Reinhardt, who made his fortune in the navy, ended up not completely mastering the only thing he could do: the navy.