The division commander of the SS Imperial Division, Major General Paul Hausser, suddenly received Guderian's request that the Imperial Division immediately end its repairs in advance and rush to the Yelnia salient area near Smolensk as quickly as possible.
After taking over the defense order from the 17th Motorized Infantry Division, execution began gradually.
Although the main force of the SS followed Model in Army Group South, the SS troops who remained in Army Group Center and Army Group North also accepted the command of the headquarters of each army group and faithfully executed the orders.
Yes, they were loyal to the Führer, and their greatest service to the Führer at this time was to defeat the Soviet Union for the Führer and capture the villain Stalin alive.
As expected of the SS ace unit known for its excellent quality in Army Group Center, the Imperial Division made all combat preparations just 12 hours after receiving the order, and rushed to the front line overnight under the order of Major General Paul.
Regarding the efficiency and willpower of the SS Imperial Division, even the Wehrmacht Army Headquarters (the function was downgraded to the General Staff Department, but the name ultimately retained the name of the Army Command) also had high hopes for the SS Imperial Division.
A special plane was dispatched to drop leaflets at the front of the position, encouraging the officers and soldiers of the Imperial Division to carry forward the glorious tradition and defeat the Soviet army with the heroic spirit unique to the SS.
The leaflet, printed from Army Headquarters, ended with a favorite phrase among the SS: "The Führer is waiting for news of your victory!"
It is undeniable that both the Army General Headquarters, Bock's Army Group Center Headquarters, and Guderian's Second Army Headquarters all firmly believed in the combat effectiveness of the Imperial Division.
As a motorized infantry division in the SS, the Imperial Division received a lot of care in terms of equipment distribution, both in terms of combat effectiveness and maneuverability, because of its title of "forces of the direct line of the Führer", which was greatly guaranteed. In addition, its belief
The bonus makes him extremely brave in combat.
When it first participated in the war in Poland, it had not yet reached the division level. The regiments under the name of the Imperial Division now participated in the war as regiment-level troops.
Among them, the German regiment joined Bock, who commanded Army Group North in the Polish campaign, and operated within the formation of the 3rd Army to attack Mlawa and Modlin. It can be said that this time they returned to fight under Bock's command.
At that time, the German regiment under the Imperial Division joined Lundstedt's Army Group South, advanced towards Warsaw at the decisive moment, and captured Warsaw ahead of Timoshenko. It can be said that this time with the West
Fighting under the new commander of the front army, Timoshenko, they encountered an old opponent again.
Therefore, after the Battle of Poland, the three regiments of the German regiment, the German regiment and another Führer regiment formed the current SS Motorized Infantry Division, which is the Imperial Division.
After Paul Hausser became the first division commander, he has continued to do so until now. The Imperial Division participated in the French Campaign. At that time, they were still part of Army Group B commanded by Bock, fighting from the Netherlands and Belgium to France.
It is precisely because after experiencing the Polish Campaign and the French Campaign, Bock, who served as the commander of the Army Group twice, felt the combat effectiveness of the SS Imperial Division, and he was familiar with this SS combat unit, so in the Soviet Campaign, the third
When he first served as the commander of the Army Group, Bock did not hesitate to ask the SS commander-in-chief, General Steve, for the SS Motorized Infantry Division.
Because Reinhard deliberately avoided a war with Yugoslavia, the Imperial Division did not achieve the feat of attacking Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia, as it had historically.
However, when the Imperial Division participated in the war against the Soviet Union and was incorporated into the 46th Armored Corps under the command of Guderian. The Imperial Division, which had sworn allegiance to the Führer, was in a good mood under the command of Guderian, the Führer's confidant.
Joy, penetrated all the way to the Yerniya area, cut off the connection between the Roslavl Soviet army and the main force of the Western Front in the east, and suddenly placed the troops of 4 Soviet divisions into an encirclement.
All this is inseparable from their trust in Guderian, the head of state's favorite general.
Guderian liked to command mobile troops to risk inserting themselves into enemy positions. From the perspective of other generals, the risk of doing so would be too high, and they would be more or less worried. However, the Imperial Division, from the division commander Paul, down to everyone.
All soldiers believed in the Führer, and also believed in Guderian's command, which the Führer himself trusted.
Facts have proved that the Imperial Division, under the command of Guderian, indeed achieved impressive results.
After a month of repeated battles and victories, the officers and soldiers of the Imperial Division were at the peak of their morale.
Due to the identity of the SS, the soldiers of the Imperial Division, which had been briefly repaired, were also prioritized and replenished through the SS's "Special Replenishment Channel" at the first time, and the damaged equipment was basically stored in the SS's exclusive transport team.
It was fully replenished with supplies. This gave Major General Paul more confidence to defeat all Soviet attacks.
But when Paul led his troops to the designated salient defensive position, he still couldn't help being surprised.
It has only been more than ten days since he last came to this area, but this place has already undergone earth-shaking changes!
There are no trees still standing near the position, and the few hills that were once seen now seem to have been lowered by about 1 meter on average by artillery fire. Most of the bunkers in the fortifications they built a month ago have been demolished.
Many trenches had been cut down, and the position was littered with damaged equipment and scattered ammunition boxes.
Paul grabbed a handful of soil from the soil camp and found 4 or 5 pieces of shrapnel in it!
It can be seen that there have been fierce battles on a large scale here.
The 17th Motorized Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht has now all withdrawn from its positions, leaving only a lieutenant colonel as a staff officer to exchange defense with Hausser.
The staff officer looked at the SS division commander in front of him with a dismayed look and said: "The Soviets are simply crazy. I heard that they replaced a general named Timoshenko. This general just seemed to take everything he could
All the artillery shells collected were thrown here. We suffered too many casualties, most of the heavy weapons were destroyed, and several main commanders were injured."
After swallowing, the lieutenant colonel staff member continued: "By the way, the Soviet army has also dispatched a lot of tanks. You should pay special attention to it. I wish you good luck, general!"
I glanced at the staff officer, shook my head, and told him to evacuate the position.
He did not want this panicked Wehrmacht staff officer to affect the morale of their SS troops.
He knew about Timoshenko. The two sides had fought against each other in the Polish campaign. But at that time, Paul was a regiment commander, and Timoshenko was already the commander of the front army at that time.
In Jean's view, Timoshenko, a so-called famous Soviet general, had no skills at all except for his human wave tactics of mobilizing troops on a large scale to attack and maintaining the offensive regardless of casualties.
Glancing at the direction of the Soviet army in the distance, he showed a faint smile: "Let us teach the new commander of the Western Front how to fight war..."
