Compared with one or two generals who would jump out to question Reinhardt's Wehrmacht every now and then, the Waffen SS established by him was much less troublesome.
Precisely because the generals of the Waffen SS are more comfortable and practical to use, this direct legion has always been regarded as a treasure by Reinhardt.
Unlike ordinary SS members who only require immediate loyalty, the selection of armed SS soldiers purely for combat is quite strict, and their training level is on par with the most elite units of the Wehrmacht.
In addition, in order to prevent the historical situation where the commander's command ability was insufficient, causing the troops to simply attack, resulting in as many casualties as the results, Reinhardt specially approved a large number of armed SS officers.
Go to the military academy of the National Defense Forces to study.
To a certain extent, this can be regarded as a backdoor method. For example, sending SS officers to the military academy of the Wehrmacht is similar to sending someone who has not attended college to a prestigious university.
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The commander's military quality has become better, and the soldiers' fanatical beliefs make them brave when fighting. All these changes are making this team in black uniforms become a fierce black storm on the battlefield!
For example, General Bock, who led Army Group North to attack northern Poland, especially liked having an armed SS infantry division assigned to his subordinates.
For no other reason than because this unit is capable of fighting and resisting. Not only does it have high combat effectiveness, it also has strong toughness!
No general would mind having too many elite troops on his hands. Although Bock had previously criticized Reinhardt for retaining an "SS" independent of the Wehrmacht, but in the fight, he used the party
The Guardsmen are the most diligent and reliable ones to use.
In Army Group South, the 1st SS Armored Division was boldly sent out by Lundstedt and went hundreds of miles deep into eastern Poland alone. But he himself led the Wehrmacht regiment under his command to besiege Warsaw wholeheartedly.
Do not restrict the performance of the SS.
As for the original statement by the Führer that the SS was "equipped with second-rate equipment and used as an auxiliary to the Wehrmacht," it had long since ceased to exist with the war.
After all, the top priority is to fight. Without the supplement of the SS, leaving aside the Eastern Front, the Wehrmacht troops in the Siegfried Line on the Western Front would definitely not be able to do without the nearly 200,000 in Steve's hands.
Waffen SS to assist in defense!
Moreover, the head of state who still has integrity did not intervene in the Wehrmacht's command of the Waffen-SS. At least on the Eastern Front, all Waffen-SS were integrated into the command sequence of the Wehrmacht.
In addition, the Führer seems to have no intention of continuing to expand the size of the SS, so the generals and marshals have chosen to acquiesce temporarily. Although there will definitely be disputes over the "independence" of the SS in the future, at least for now
, the generals of the National Defense Force are not in a hurry to make this matter a big deal.
However, the reason why SS divisions are so popular is not just because of their outstanding combat effectiveness. Another important factor is that the SS always has a lot of reliable new toys on hand.
When the Wehrmacht was complacent about getting the early model of the Panzerfaust anti-tank rocket launcher, the SS had already installed the improved Panzer II model, and had also added some copper caps at a certain proportion to double the armor-breaking ability.
Tekken III.
To a layman, the Iron Fist Type 2 and Type 3 are almost identical in appearance except for the different materials of the medicine masks. They are only distinguished by a circle of white paint on the warhead. How could the National Defense Forces know about these twists and turns if no one told them.
Just by looking at it, they might have thought that the SS was really using a "second-rate version of the Iron Fist."
Furthermore, when the Wehrmacht, which was closely monitored by the League of Nations, was still using cars and wooden planks to simulate tanks, the first experimental armored division secretly trained by the SS had already been established.
When presiding over the internal formation ceremony, Reinhard plausibly told a group of Wehrmacht veterans that we are exploring a bright road for the Wehrmacht to use armored forces, and all future results are prepared for the Wehrmacht.
However, the advisors of the SS are all Guderian who was snatched from the Wehrmacht. Who did you fool?
Of course, those who claimed to have snatched it were obviously jealous of the Wehrmacht. After all, it was Guderian who heard that the SS had a tank and ran over by himself.
Fortunately, he still had some professional ethics and chose to return to the Wehrmacht despite the Führer's various attempts to persuade him. Of course, he was also commanding the armored forces of the Wehrmacht for the Führer.
Putting aside these old stories, let’s just say that among the troops under the Polish city, most of the Wehrmacht soldiers are still armed with Mauser 98k, and in the SS division, there are six riflemen in a ten-man squad, and three of them are already equipped with Mauser 98k.
The newly developed G43 semi-automatic rifle!
The explanation given by the SS for the name of the G43 semi-automatic rifle is that the designer was too lazy to fight with the head of state over a name after hearing that the head of state insisted on naming it that way.
Of course, in the final analysis, this is still Reinhardt's emotions and psychology.
In Reinhardt's original words: "Whoever doesn't like this name, don't use it! Leave the G43 I named myself to the troops who like this name."
After all, the G43 had just been mass-produced, and the SS did not have enough equipment, let alone the Wehrmacht. Reinhardt had no choice but to fool the Wehrmacht generals, using the excuse that the current G43 semi-automatic rifle still had various shortcomings."
Its long-range accuracy cannot match the Mauser 98k. Once it is improved, the perfect version will be handed over to the Wehrmacht.
As for the heavy equipment brought by the SS today...
Let’s not talk about the Grizzly assault gun, let’s talk about the 170 heavy assault gun. This is a cooperation between Kruppley and the Henschel subsidiary under the name of the Rhine consortium. It uses the attack mode of dive bombers and armor-piercing bombs to make it look more powerful.
An assault gun made from the chassis of an outdated heavy self-propelled mortar.
Everyone who has seen this thing understands that this is an excellent weapon against the fortress. But this thing is not in active service. If the Wehrmacht wants it, it will cost a lot of money just to argue with the arms companies controlled by Reinhardt.
Not much time, not to mention other necessary processes.
But the SS was different. The Führer waved his hand. As soon as the chassis left the factory of the Henschel subsidiary, and before it had time to go to the Krupp Group to install the fighting room and artillery, it was already assigned to the newly established SS.
Weapons Test Group.
After installing the artillery and testing its power at the shooting range, it was hurriedly sent to the Polish front line.
The procurement officers from the arms companies and the National Defense Force boasted, stared, and slapped the table, and they could say that they would like to use it and don't need to get out. After all, they had to wait for it to be used, and the generals and marshals had nothing to do with them.
Try this with the head of state? Firstly, it is to offend the head of state, and secondly, isn’t their actual highest superior also Reinhardt? How could such a thing be allowed to happen?
Even the chassis support team of the Rhino assault gun was brought directly from the Henschel company. If it is left to the National Defense Forces, who would have such a big reputation to be served with such care?
Admiral Rundstadter originally had a headache as to how to capture the city of Warsaw as quickly as possible with a low casualty rate.
But when he heard that the SS weapons test regiment had cooperated with the Wehrmacht in attacking the Modlin Fortress, they had taken over this solid fortress that historically would have persisted until the day after Warsaw surrendered before giving up resistance, and had already arrived in Warsaw.
After entering the city, he finally didn't have to worry.
As a result, as soon as the SS weapons experimental group arrived on the outskirts of Warsaw, Lundstedt's order came.
The weapons test regiment was ordered to participate in the siege the next day to achieve the strategic goal of capturing the Polish capital as quickly as possible as required by the high command.
Early the next morning, after spending the night repairing in an unknown small village outside the city, the convoy of the Weapons Experimentation Regiment arrived at the offensive position of the 4th SS Panzergrenadier Division organized into Army Group South.