In fact, just when Bock gave the order to attack, the leading troops of Guderian's 2nd Armored Army suddenly rushed to the front line of the Dnieper River.
Subsequently, Guderian also followed Model's original tactics and sent the "shadow troops" of the SS Fatherland Infantry Division. Qiao Zhuang dressed up as a Soviet soldier who had withdrawn from the front line and captured the Dnieper River Bridge east of Smolensk.
Immediately after the "Shadow Force" occupied the bridge, the 29th Motorized Infantry Division of the Second Armored Group quickly passed through the bridge and rushed all the way to a location about 20 kilometers away from Smolensk.
Since the siege of Minsk began, Guderian felt that everything was going smoothly. In less than half a month since the war began, his armored forces quickly captured Minsk and then rushed to Smolesk.
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Army Group Center, without relying on the Spanish and Italian Allied forces, relied only on its own strength to sweep through the entire Belarus within half a month. This speed was also in line with Guderian's vision of the "Barbarossa" plan.
Almost exactly the same.
As a German armored force expert, Guderian had imagined a lot of troubles, but when he actually participated in this battle, he was pleasantly surprised to find that since the difficulties he had expected were much greater, the actual battle situation was very smooth.
Guderian, who has repeatedly studied Barbarossa Plan, believes that as long as his Second Armored Army can take Smolensk, the next target is Moscow. If this situation can be maintained, go straight to the Soviet base camp and take
It seems that the Soviet Union will not even take 3 months!
At this time, Guderian remembered a saying that had been recently circulated among the senior generals of Germany's Army Group Center: "We only need to kick the Soviet Union, and the entire Soviet Union, like a decaying building, will collapse."
Perhaps the new style displayed on the battlefield was too one-sided. Even Guderian now feels that this statement makes sense.
If it were not for the internal decay of the Soviet Union, why would nearly 50 Soviet troops in Belarus choose to surrender so easily, and why would 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers defect to the Allied camp?
This probably also confirms the intelligence previously mentioned in China that the Moscow government of the Soviet Union is very unpopular in Belarus and Ukraine.
For Guderian, it doesn’t matter whether the Moscow government is popular in Belarus. Anyway, his troops will soon take Smolensk in Russia. When they take Moscow next, this unpopular
The government should disappear.
At this time, Guderian just wanted to leave the headquarters, which was very close to the front line, and go further to the front line troops. He hoped to enter this historic city immediately after the troops captured Smolensk.
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Coincidentally, the last person to do this was called "Dmitri Grigorievich Pavlov". He ran away to the front-line troops, causing a breakdown in command of the troops at all levels, and was eventually sentenced to
death penalty.
But now is different from then, and the German army is also different from the Soviet army.
After the Great Purge, commanders at all levels of the Soviet army basically did not dare to make independent decisions without orders from their superiors. They were timid and their command mode was extremely rigid.
But unlike the Soviet army's lifeless command model, the German army advocates "mission-based command."
Senior generals like Guderian only need to arrange a task, carry out the specific tasks, and leave it to the subordinate officers to make their own arrangements.
It is not difficult for commanders who came out of German ** schools to complete such mission-style orders.
Therefore, after giving an order to the commanders of each division, Guderian can safely and boldly follow the command vehicle to the front line. Even if there is really any need, Guderian can contact all levels at any time through the command vehicle
force.
Only Guderian's convoy drove on the road riddled with bomb craters left by the front line, accompanied by the armored vehicles of the headquarters' escort team, quickly approaching the forefront of the battle.
Along the way, Guderian could still see groups of Soviet prisoners of war on both sides of the road from time to time. Guderian, who had already pretended to be cool in France, finally stopped shouting "Get out of here" on the jeep this time.
I don’t have time to capture you” arrogant slogan.
In Guderian's heart, his next place to show off should be in Moscow's Red Square!
Suddenly, the jeep Guderian was riding in suddenly stopped. Guderian, who was sitting in the front seat, leaned over and almost hit the windshield.
Fortunately, he didn't stand up and pretend to shout, otherwise the brakes would have suddenly braked and he would have been thrown out of the car.
"What's going on?" Guderian shouted towards the front of his jeep.
An officer quickly got off the vanguard car of the convoy and jogged over to report to Guderian: "Commander, we found a Soviet aircraft ahead. This is very dangerous!"
"Oh?" After realizing that the convoy was indeed in danger under the threat of Soviet aircraft, Guderian quickly scanned the surrounding environment and ordered after a few seconds: "Send my order, and the entire convoy will immediately drive into the right front.
A forest!”
"Yes!" The officer stood at attention and saluted.
Subsequently, under the coordination of the officers, the convoy began to move quickly toward the woods.
And just after Guderian's car followed the vanguard vehicle into the woods, the bombs dropped by the Soviet aircraft fell on the road they just passed. Several vehicles from the rearguard had no time to evade.
The German soldiers had no choice but to abandon their vehicles and run toward the woods on foot.
Immediately afterwards, the Soviet aircraft also turned around and fired randomly at the dense woods. However, after seeing that such random shooting had no effect, they flew away.
In the woods, Guderian, who had escaped unscathed, looked at the convoys and personnel who had entered the woods, and thought that he might as well take advantage of the current situation caused by this emergency and let everyone rest against the trees in the woods.
Gu then counted the number of people and dealt with the wounded.
So, he got out of the car and sat down next to a lush tree. He spread out the military map and marked the positions where the divisions of the Second Armored Group Army had arrived after the communication had just been confirmed.
Just as Guderian was marking the positions of each division, his staff came to report another piece of good news: "Report to the commander, there are no casualties in our convoy."
Guderian smiled after hearing the good news, and was about to order the convoy to move forward in half an hour, when he suddenly saw another jeep that was not part of their convoy entering the woods.
A young staff officer ran out of the car. As soon as he got off the car, he asked loudly: "Is this the headquarters? Is General Guderian here?"
Guderian heard the words and greeted him: "I am Guderian"
When the officer saw it, he immediately stood at attention: "Hey, Reinhardt!"
"Which army are you from?
"Lieutenant Levshitz, the communications staff officer of the 29th Motorized Rifle Division, reports to you |" "Isn't the communications staff officer of your division Captain Gorniger?"
"Captain Gornigg has unfortunately died, General. I was his adjutant. The division headquarters was attacked by the Russians, many staff members were killed, and all the radio stations in the division headquarters were lost.
