The reason why the German Army Group South has not sent reinforcements to the 30th Division is not because it failed to see the Polish army's tactical objectives in time, nor because it has no troops to mobilize. The real reason is that the German whom Berlant laughed at
Chief of General Staff Manstein, from beginning to end, had no intention of acting in accordance with the Polish army's combat intentions.
Manstein, who likes to take the wrong approach, grasped the crux of this encounter as early as the very beginning!
Both warring parties know that the Polish army has used the utmost force in an attempt to regain the initiative through this desperate large-scale counterattack before they are completely defeated. According to normal military thinking, when the Polish army is at a disadvantage
When concentrating its forces and trying to attack the weak links of the German army locally, the safest way for the German army, which has an advantage in overall strength, is to also gather forces around the Polish army and suppress the opponent again. Although this will delay the progress of the frontline offensive, it will also be very effective.
**Guaranteed victory.
But the German army just couldn’t do that!
Because Manstein knew that once the German army engaged the Polish army in accordance with conventional procedures, the time spent in the Polish battle would be greatly increased. This was not in line with the strategic purpose of a quick victory in the "White Plan"!
The reason why the Polish army withdrew some defensive forces in other areas and concentrated on launching this kind of desperate counterattack was to delay the German army's attack on their capital, and to tightly contain the German army's strength like a nail.
in the direction of their counterattack.
The strength of a group army, plus ten newly formed "cannon fodder divisions", totaled more than 250,000 troops. Although it is very unlikely to completely defeat the German army and reverse the situation with this, the German army could not
Concentrating on taking Warsaw is more than enough!
Manstein, a participant in the formulation of the "White Plan", knew very well that once the war developed into that situation, the German army's plan to blitz Poland would be completely in vain. Even if the German army turned around and ate up the Polish counterattack force in front of them,
It is no longer possible to achieve the original strategic goal of a quick victory.
So, Manstein boldly chose another option, an option to march on a dangerous path!
Even if there is a local crisis in the defense line where the 30th Division of the Eighth Army is located, or even a very serious crisis, it will not cause a big obstacle to the overall operation. The city of Lodz was originally won by the German army without a fight, and it was easy for the Germans to gain control of the city.
An empty city "picked up" has no strategic significance in the overall strategic direction of the German army. Now even if the Polish army takes it back, it will not affect the next move of the German army.
On the contrary, the Polish army's all-out counterattack provided Army Group South with an opportunity to achieve a major victory.
After spending so many years in the General Staff, which gathered all the wisdom of the German army since the Prussian period, how could Manstein fail to see that the route of the Polish army's tactical counterattack was nothing more than moving all the way towards the Vistula River?
, fortunately, we will just follow the Vistula River to meet the reinforcements that the German army may send.
However, what the Polish High Command did not expect was that after discussing with Rundstedt, the commander of Army Group South, Manstein directly proposed a plan that was regarded at the time as the largest encirclement ever launched by the German army.
Combat.
Manstein believed that since the Polish army was trying to infiltrate into the hinterland of Army Group South, Army Group South could just in turn set up a pocket to surround the huge force that the Polish Supreme Command had finally assembled.
Entering the German encirclement.
Although this plan seems risky, Manstein believes that there are three benefits to its specific implementation:
First, in order to break through the city of Lodz as soon as possible, the Polish army has concentrated all their counterattack forces into a small area. This is a disguised form of narrowing the encirclement area that needs to be spread out for the German army.
Second, the Polish army penetrated deeply into the hinterland of Army Group South and brought the main force and artillery to the front. Therefore, the rearguard force deployed at the end will not be too strong. Army Group South can help the 30th Division to stabilize the situation.
The armored troops on the defensive line defeated the weak Polish rearguard in one fell swoop, thereby sealing the encirclement.
Third, the Polish army counterattacked all the way. The deeper they fought, the deeper they fell into the encirclement of Army Group South. Army Group South did not even need to launch assaults on its flanks in order to encircle the Polish army, because they had already broken through.
After entering the German hinterland, there were German troops slightly farther away on both wings. In this way, there was almost no pressure to encircle them.
After the Army Group South headquarters carefully analyzed Manstein's plan, the experienced Commander Lundstedt only issued a brief order: "Fight like this!".
At this moment, Manstein, who proposed this opportunistic encirclement plan, had already received heartfelt praise from a group of senior generals, including Lundstedt, at the headquarters of Army Group South.
Looking at the battle map, the red arrows representing the various German military units had surrounded the huge blue arrow representing the Polish counterattack forces from all directions. Lundstedt suddenly laughed: "Now the Poles are considered
What a bad luck. An elite army group plus ten garrison divisions that should have been deployed in Warsaw have now all been delivered to our Army Group South because of a clever counterattack plan. This is simply because God insists on letting us make meritorious deeds.
A gift sent on purpose!”
Hearing Lundstedt's laughter, Manstein also led several staff members around the battle diagram on the wall, and said with a confident smile: "Yes, Poland's main force of hundreds of thousands will intervene this time."
They can't fly out of our encirclement with their wings. Speaking of which, they are trying their best to get in."
The idiom "You can't escape with wings" was originally mentioned by Reinhardt often. However, after Manstein heard it, he also thought that this metaphor was very interesting when used in war, so he copied it and learned it.
"You can't fly even if you put on wings? This metaphor is quite interesting." Because this was the first time he came to this Eastern metaphor for siege warfare, Lundstedt, who had been fighting all his life, also found it a bit novel. But when he thought about it carefully,
Later, he also felt that this metaphor was very suitable for the current situation.
Looking at the combat diagram on the wall, Lundstedt counted each red arrow representing the German army and concluded: "The two divisions as the reserve force of the group army have set off from the west to cooperate with the Eighth Army to threaten the north of the Polish Army Group.
Wing. Another light division also withdrew from the just-concluded Battle of Radom and moved to the front of the Polish Army Group. The 16th Armored Corps and the 11th Army of the Tenth Army had already cut off the front of the Polish Army Group."
Nodding with a satisfied smile, Lundstedt turned to Manstein and smiled: "It seems that the Polish army group is really under attack from everywhere, and it is impossible to escape."
"Not bad!" Manstein took a step forward, picked up a telescopic pole placed against the wall, pointed at the map and said: "Because the Polish army has transferred many troops from the north to participate in this counterattack, I also sent a message to the head of state through the head of state.
The Northern Army Group, which had surplus troops, borrowed the 15th Motorized Corps to further strengthen the defensive strength of the encirclement on the east."
After all, Lundstedt is also an experienced and excellent commander. After Manstein said this, he immediately thought that this was sending more manpower to the most likely main breakout direction of the Polish army in the future. Because once the Polish army discovered
If they want to break out after being surrounded, their only way out is the Modlin Fortress in the east. The arrival of a German motorized army will completely cut off the possibility of a successful breakout of this Polish army group!