"Ah..." Reinhardt, who had just sent Mussolini away and sat back on his desk, sneezed inadvertently.
He still didn't know that in the distant Mediterranean, a group of British officials were preparing to imitate him.
He didn't know how much influence Reinhardt had on the British.
However, Reinhard's influence on the Third Reich is obvious to all.
Late at night, in the logistics management office behind Germany, an officer in charge of logistics management in the French theater reluctantly handed a thick stack of documents to his boss.
Because the thickness of the document was a bit exaggerated, the moment the document was placed on the seat, it made a muffled sound.
Then the officer stood at attention and gave his superior a German salute in front of his desk: "Long live Reinhardt!"
His commander was an older officer wearing glasses. When the commander saw these thick documents, he frowned, raised his head and asked, "Why are there so many?"
"This has been carefully selected. It is just a week's supply of supplies for the troops stationed in France. From now on, there will be so many documents every week, which will keep us busy for a long time."
The young officer sighed and said: "Although the head of state has already made a request to simplify supplies, in fact, the work of our logistics department has only been slightly reduced."
In fact, Reinhardt did develop too many new equipment prematurely, including new transport vehicles, Iron Fist rocket launchers, Panther tanks, Stalker destroyers, Rhino self-propelled artillery...
This not only increased the number of things in the hands of the frontline troops, but also brought a catastrophic nightmare to the Third Reich's military supplies transportation. Distributing and dispatching various types of complex equipment was not a simple task.
"Of course I know that the allocation of various types of equipment has a great impact on our work efficiency, but what can we do? We still have to follow the regulations and do it step by step." The old officer pushed the file to the office
to the right side of the table, and then began to count the documents one by one.
"If you want to stay in the logistics department, you have to endure the hardships. Besides, the hardships we endure are nothing compared to the combat troops who are killing the enemy on the front line. They are going to fight a war.
, that is the continuous struggle to the death." The old officer encouraged the junior.
The young officer, after listening to the old officer's words, had nothing to say.
So, he pointed to the numbers on the document and said with a worried face: "Colonel, look at it. This is the total number of 7.92 mm caliber bullets shipped to France. There are 2 billion rounds in total. These bullets will be transported by rail.
Arriving in France. In the later stage, it will be supplemented by factory production in northern France. It is expected that the total reserve will be increased to 5 billion rounds within a year, which will greatly support our troops in attacking the United Kingdom."
"How many trains will it take to transport 2 billion rounds of ammunition? I guess the railway department will have a headache for a while." The old officer shrugged and said with a wry smile.
"This is not over yet," the young officer continued helplessly: "Then there are 13 mm caliber machine gun bullets required for Air Force fighter jets. The total number is 100 million rounds. This batch of bullets is scheduled to be transported within 3 months.
The young officer paused, and then continued: "But General Catherine seems to be holding her breath and preparing to make a contribution to the UK, so she added a batch of bullets not long ago. The number of this batch of bullets is still being calculated.
It is estimated that it will not be less than 100 million rounds. Of course, this batch of bullets will also be handed over to the railway department for transportation. I guess the current head of the railway transportation department must be very annoyed."
"Haha, it's natural for General Catherine to be impatient. After the Battle of France, the navy and army have marshals, but there is no marshal of the air force. How can he not be anxious?" The old general shook his head with a smile and continued.
Look at those documents:
"But General Catherine didn't consider our logistics supply capabilities. Transporting so many bullets and supplies in a short period of time will make it even more difficult for us, right?"
A few minutes later, when he saw the document about the S35 tank, the old officer pointed to the document and asked: "What's going on? Why were all the 500 S35 tanks sold to other countries?"
"
"Oh, yes. 300 vehicles were sold to Romania and 200 vehicles were sold to Finland. This is what the head of state meant." the young officer replied.
"The foreign affairs department is trying to win over these two countries to get them on our side. It is said that Finland and Romania will become important forces to contain the Soviet Union. The head of state said that these two countries have extremely strong combat effectiveness and exploitable value. They are even
No less valuable than the Kingdom of Italy!" the young officer continued to explain.
"That's good. It saves us the cost of maintaining and supporting these tanks as well as the transportation of parts and oil." The old general sighed and said, "One less tank will also help us reduce the pressure on logistics."
In fact, the weapons originally used by the German Army were not too complicated compared to other countries.
The German Army only has 10 calibers from small to large: 7.92 mm, 13 mm, 20 mm, 40 mm, 60 mm, 75 mm, 80 mm, 88 mm, 105 mm, 120 mm and 150 mm.
However, over the years, including the weapons and ammunition used by other annexed countries and regions, the total number of calibers of weapons in the German army has reached as many as 25 types!
This is certainly a huge challenge for Germany's logistical supplies. The weapons and ammunition they produce and the parts needed to maintain weapons and ammunition are becoming more and more numerous and complex.
This situation was especially obvious after the defeat of France.
Of course, the German army tanks have also changed from a few types at the beginning to a hodgepodge of international brands.
Counting the 400 British tanks seized at Dunkirk, the nearly 1,000 various tanks and armored vehicles of the French Army after France's surrender, and the various transport vehicles seized in Denmark and Belgium, Germany's logistics department has simply
On the verge of collapse.
And Brauchitsch decided to keep them all with one stroke of his pen and very greedily.
Like Catherine, he did not consider how much pressure this would put on the German logistics.
When equipment and weapons are in disarray and war consumes huge amounts of money, hundreds of parts need to be stockpiled, transported, and distributed.
Thousands of types of artillery shells and bullets also need to be arranged for rationing.
The current situation faced by the German logistics department is that the army has a wide variety of weapons and equipment, ranging from 7.92 mm caliber rifles to more than 150 mm caliber howitzers.
The logistics department can be said to have more than enough ambition but not enough power.
Some of the weapons and equipment seized in France could only be purchased from Vichy France through special supplies from French factories.
For example, take the 380 mm caliber coastal defense guns deployed near French ports.
After the German army occupied the port, they did not have time to install or replace this weapon, or they did not want to waste time replacing this weapon.
Therefore, these cannons could only be left and continued to be used to deal with Britain, the last enemy in Western Europe.
There are not many shell reserves for these cannons, and the German factories do not have the molds to produce such shells, so they can only buy them from France.