As the British-French coalition forces and the German-Norwegian coalition forces finally launched increasingly fierce battles in western Scandinavia, the main forces deployed by both sides on the European continent began to prepare for action.
Berlin, Residence of the Führer.
In Noda's conference room, Reinhard dragged his exhausted body into a two-hour meeting with a group of generals, and now, the meeting is still continuing.
"I still can't agree with Chief of Staff Manstein's plan. It's too risky!" Brauchitsch represented the opinions of the majority of people in the Army Headquarters and once again tried to make the head of state change his mind and change his favorite risky battle plan.
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Yes, that plan was the "Sickle Harvest Plan" that Manstein and his Army Group A staff were responsible for perfecting under Reinhard's instructions.
The cautious Brauchitsch did not directly refute the Führer's point of view, but brought up Manstein, who formulated the specific combat plan for Reinhardt. However, he accused Manstein of being too risky. In fact, it was
Oppose Reinhardt's idea.
"With our current strength, we can completely mobilize the N Army-level detachment and the B Army Group to form a powerful right-wing force, launch a concentric assault from the north and south sides of Lüttig, and advance through northern Belgium. Utilize our powerful armored forces.
, defeating in one fell swoop the British and French armies that may be located in Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as the troops of these two small countries." Brauchitsch once again repeated the point of view he had mentioned many times in the past few months.
According to the vision of veteran generals such as Brauchitsch, the German army should use its superior armored forces to forcefully attack France from the north via the two neutral countries of the Netherlands and Belgium while bypassing the French Maginot Line as much as possible.
In accordance with this policy, Brachych led the Army General Staff to make corresponding deployment arrangements early in the morning.
They assigned a total of 9 armored divisions and 3 motorized infantry divisions to 30 first-level infantry divisions for General Bock's Army Group B. They also expected Bock's troops to make full use of these mobile troops to break through the entire territory of Belgium and serve as the main force of the battle from Belgium.
A breakthrough was opened in the north, bypassing the French Maginot Line and entering northern French territory.
Army Group A, where Manstein was located, was led by General Lundstedt and was equipped with only 1 armored division, 15 first-level infantry divisions, and 10 second-level infantry divisions.
Of course, the tasks assigned to Army Group A by Brauchitsch and others are not as important as Army Group B. Army Group A only needs to launch in the southern Eifel and Hunsrück, with an armored division as the leading force, through southern Belgium and
Luxembourg moves forward.
After passing Luxembourg, Army Group A only needs to turn south and build a defensive position between the Saar River and the Maas River east of Sedan, close to the northern edge of the Maginot Line to ensure the security of Army Group B's deep flanks.
After the blocking French army discovered the German army's intentions, they mobilized reinforcements from the Maginot Line to go north to threaten Army Group B.
Finally, Brauchitsch organized the remaining 15 first-level infantry divisions and 23 second-level infantry divisions into Army Group C, which was composed of pure infantry divisions. After the war began, Army Group C will be stationed on the Siegfried Line.
Confronted with the French army in the Maginot Line, and continuously dispatched division-level troops to feint to attack the Maginot Line, trying to hold back the French army in the Maginot Line as much as possible, and cooperated with the breakthrough operation of Army Group B to the north.
It can be said that the fact that Brauchi and the others were able to implement the combat plan to this extent is enough for him to leave his name on the list of contemporary famous generals.
Not to mention his avant-garde combat thinking of fully concentrating on using armored forces as spearheads, just because he did not stick to frontal confrontation and cleverly used neutral countries as a breakthrough to bypass the Maginot Line, he easily defeated the French for many years.
The fact that the Maginot Line, which consumes a lot of national power, has been turned into a display is enough to show how valuable Brauchic's military rank is!
In addition to using the armored forces to quickly bypass the Maginot Line, Brauchitsch also showed his cautious side. In order to ensure the smoothness of the entire combat operation, he also carefully and meticulously installed three additional insurances.
The first line of insurance is to advance simultaneously with Army Group A and Army Group B, both of which are equally powerful, and build defensive positions southward along the advance route. Stations will be stationed along the way to cover the flanks of Army Group A and prevent the main force of the French army stationed at the Maginot Line.
Go north to stir up trouble.
In order to achieve the same goal as the second insurance, Brauchitsch also used the huge Army Group C to feint in front of the Maginot Line to further contain the French army within the defense line.
The final third line of insurance was an armored division and two motorized infantry divisions left by Brauchitsch as a reserve in the northern section of the Siegfried Line.
This highly mobile reserve force can move south to consolidate the front when the French army desperately attacks the Siegfried Line. Of course, this situation is unlikely. At the same time, the reserve force can also strengthen the division in the north as quickly as possible.
into the battle line at a rapid pace.
It can be said that the shadow of German Field Marshal Alfred von Schlieffen during World War I can even be seen in Brauchitsch today.
It's a pity that Brauchitsch worked so hard to come up with this comprehensive strategy that was both safe and ingenious, but when Reinhard came to him, he only got one sentence in return: "Is it enough to just bypass the Maginot Line? Let me tell you,
Our pattern needs to be bigger, and we must move towards the goal of annihilating the main force of the British and French coalition forces."
Sure enough, Reinhard once again overruled Brauchitsch: "I have said it many times, we cannot fall into a positional battle with the British and French coalition forces like the last world war. Even if we bypass the Maginot Line,
They can always build a new line of defense. If they want to win quickly, they must use blitzkrieg to quickly annihilate the enemy's effective forces and achieve the greatest results in the shortest time."
"But..." Although Brachych was not willing to go against the head of state, his strong sense of responsibility forced him to stand up and implement his views.
Unlike Reinhardt, Brauchitsch did not know whether the plan Reinhardt asked Manstein to make would allow the Third Reich to succeed. But he believed that his plan would not make the Third Reich succeed.
Germany failed!
In his eyes, Germany could no longer afford to lose the Second World War. If it failed again this time, Germany would be left with nothing but ruins.
No country would be stupid enough to leave Germany to rise again after this world war, just as no one would be stupid enough to make the same huge mistake a second time.
"Stop talking, the plan has been finalized a long time ago, and it's too late to make temporary changes now." Reinhard raised his hand and stopped Brauchich, who always wanted to dissuade him from executing a winning plan: "Besides, I won't use your
The plan was also forced out of necessity and was driven by deep difficulties.”
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