The large-scale surrender of Soviet troops is no longer enough to describe the situation on the southern front.
The organized Ukrainian troops, with the already scarce strategic reserve materials in the Soviet camp, uniformly surrendered to the German army. It is even unfair to describe these Ukrainian troops as surrender. Because, to put it bluntly, they were mutinies.
Soviet troops.
A total of seven Ukrainian divisions, under the planning of two Ukrainian army commanders, organized and coordinated a rebellion plan. Along with them, they entered the Allied camp, and there were a lot of supplies and ammunition they obtained from the Soviet army.
This large-scale mutiny was unexpected even by the German high command. It was already a major event that shocked the world.
After all, this was a choice and judgment made by the Ukrainians themselves from beginning to end. The series of rebellion processes were carried out in an orderly manner, but they were completely planned by the Ukrainian generals themselves.
This is the Ukrainian choice!
This explosive news soon became a hot topic. The German ambassador to the League of Nations quickly made a big fuss about the Ukrainian army's formalization and betrayal, repeatedly robbed the justice of the German counterattack, and used factual examples to state that the German army was going to liberate Ukraine.
.
Not only that, even Reinhardt, who had long wanted to liberate Ukraine, was delighted and surprised by what was happening now.
Although he had already recruited Ukrainian workers in the name of Germany and won over the hearts and minds of the Ukrainian people through large rewards and conditions far better than those offered by the Soviet government.
However, even though he was a time traveler and knew that the Ukrainian people had support, and he had been ready to win over Ukraine for a long time, Reinhardt did not expect that a full 7 divisions of Ukrainian troops would be able to carry out a large-scale encirclement and annihilation before the German army launched a large-scale siege.
At the moment of the battle, I couldn't help but surrendered.
The situation in Ukraine is developing much faster than Reinhardt expected!
According to Reinhardt's idea, Ukraine's manpower and material resources would be absorbed, and Ukraine would be turned into the export granary and Eastern military camp of the Allied Powers. All of this would have to be implemented after Ukraine is occupied.
In fact, with the assistance of German Defense Minister Keitel, Reinhard even made arrangements for the rapid establishment of the 1st Ukrainian Guards Grenadier Division after the occupation of Ukraine.
In the Führer's Residence in Berlin, Reinhard was holding the document report on the surrender of seven Ukrainian divisions and reading it over and over again.
Reinhardt could never tire of looking at this document that he had read many times. He said to Keitel who was in the office: "It seems that our plan to form a Ukrainian Guards Division is
, you have to move in advance.”
After Paulus' predecessor, Admiral Reichenau, died of a heart attack, the title "Reinhard's Eagle Dog" was gradually transferred from Reichenau to Keitel.
Compared to Reichenau, Keitel, the new "Eagle Dog" title holder, seems to be more able to understand Reinhardt's instructions and make appropriate and reasonable optimal plans.
Because Paulus, who had a background in the staff department, stayed in the headquarters to assist Reinhardt, Keitel's talents were not fully utilized for a while. But Reinhardt knew that Keitel, the previous Minister of Defense whom he appointed according to historical procedures,
General, as successfully as in history, arranged the battle plan to send troops to Norway and cross the English Channel.
However, both wars were fought under Reinhard's direct intervention and instructions, so Keitel's role in them was somewhat overshadowed by Reinhard's glory.
But since Paulus left the headquarters and went to the Sixth Army to command operations, the red man around Reinhard was formed by Paulus and became Keitel.
It’s no wonder that Keitel will become the new Eagle Dog representative.
First of all, he is not much worse than Reinhardt's three famous generals in understanding Reinhardt's intentions.
Secondly and most importantly, veterans like Sickert and Reichenau, who were closest to Reinhard, passed away one after another. Rommel went to Africa, Guderian and Manstein went to the Eastern Front, and Paulus temporarily
After being transferred from Berlin to the battlefield, among the many generals who stayed with Reinhard, Keitel, who was the most deferential and capable, became more and more valued.
This also confirms the saying that gold always shines.
During these days, Keitel also fully demonstrated to Reinhardt how outstanding his ability to understand his boss's intentions and arrange reasonable planning based on this was.
According to Reinhard's previous instructions to recruit a large number of Ukrainian workers and win over Ukrainians, Keitel very considerately submitted a plan to form a pro-German Ukrainian local force as soon as possible after occupying Ukraine to help maintain order and
Based on this, we will expand the scale and cooperate with the German army's combat plan in the future.
In Keitel's plan, once the German army occupied Ukraine, they would first recruit from young Ukrainian workers in the railway and road cooperatives, and quickly form a 17,200-man Ukrainian 1st Guards Grenadier Division, codenamed "Beloved", with an organization similar to
The German motorized infantry divisions remained consistent.
These officers and soldiers are composed of Ukrainian workers who have long been favored by Germany. The loyal and reliable Ukrainian Guards will soon serve as the cornerstone and be broken up. They will serve as the backbone for later recruiting Ukrainian troops and expanding the size of Ukrainian friendly forces.
Keitel is not a utopian. The plan he came up with is very detailed, so detailed that even the further arrangements for the massive expansion of Ukrainian troops have been made to an extremely detailed level.
According to Keitel's plan, in addition to the 1st Ukrainian Guards Division composed of young workers, the Ukrainian troops that were the first to rebel in the future could also form 7 Guards Divisions, because these troops are relatively the most loyal.
, and the most combative.
Historically, many of the Ukrainian troops recruited by the German army were local hooligans, so their combat effectiveness was not high. As for the well-trained and combat-experienced Ukrainian rebels, Germany has been very wasteful in history.
They began to be regarded as cheap labor and distributed as prisoners of war.
In this life, under Reinhardt's instructions, Keitel successfully completed this instruction and reasonably arranged a total of 8 divisions of Ukrainian Guards troops to serve as the main force of Ukrainian friendly forces in the future.
Formation.
Since then, the Ukrainian troops who have joined successively will not be able to obtain the title of Guards. This is also equivalent to an encouragement and praise for those loyal Ukrainian troops who joined first.
Of course, this meticulous arrangement doesn't stop there.
