In the city of Rhodes, Rundstedt and Lin Wei slowly experienced this ancient city with a history of more than 800 years in the streets. The war did not bring much damage to this ancient city, but the expressions of the Poles on the street were still a little frightened, and they looked at Lin Wei and the others with a hint of hostility in their eyes.
Lin Wei and Rundstedt could clearly feel the hostility of the Poles, but they did not worry about their safety at all. Now the city of Lodz has been occupied by the German army. If these Poles care about their own safety, they He would not be stupid enough to assassinate Lin Wei and the others, but this does not mean that the security protection of Lin Wei and the others has been relaxed. On the contrary, the movements on the entire street are under the surveillance of the direct guard.
They finally stopped at Piozygołaska Street, the most famous commercial street in Poland, with many beautiful buildings dating back to the 19th century. Rundstedt said tiredly, "This is a beautiful place. We also occupied this place during the last war. Several of my classmates from the military academy were also killed at that time." When he said this, Rundstedt was obviously a little sad.
Rundstedt was talking about the Battle of Lodz, an offensive campaign carried out by the German army in the direction of Lodz on the Russian-German battlefield during World War I. The Battle of Lodz was one of the largest and most complex battles in the mobile warfare phase of World War I. It was a battle of deep detours and encirclement. Fighting encounters are common. The battle area where both sides actively carry out combat operations is more than 200 kilometers wide in front and nearly 150 kilometers deep.
"General, Rhodes is at our feet now, isn't he?" Lin Wei saw that Lundstedt was so sad and had to change the subject.
"Haha, little Lampard, I made you laugh." Rundstedt quickly regained his composure and said, "It's been so many years, but it's just a little sad to be here again today."
"General, let's go to the headquarters!" Lin Wei looked at the sky that had begun to drizzle and suggested. Looking at the somewhat desolate Lundstedt, Lin Wei held up an umbrella for him. The whole process Very natural.
Rundstedt sighed, "Lampard, you know, sometimes when we in the Wehrmacht chat, we really envy that old guy Gustav for giving birth to such a good son like you."
The capture of Lodz meant that most of southern Poland fell into German hands. Lodz's geographical location is very important. It is not only the second largest city in Poland, but also because it is the transportation hub of southern Poland. In 1865, the first railway in Lodz was opened (from Lodz to Kolushki, a branch line of the Warsaw-Vienna railway), and soon after, railways connecting cities such as Warsaw and Białystok were also built. The Polish government built a new airport specifically in 1925 - Rozlaw Dislaw Reymont Airport.
This means that the German army can use Lodz's developed railway network to quickly mobilize troops and attack Warsaw. Of course, the premise of all this is that another large southern city, Krakow, must be captured within the next few days.
When General List led the Fourteenth Army to feel the city of Krakow, Paul Hauser was playing positional warfare with the Polish defenders. The SS Imperial Division dug trenches outside the city and put up barbed wire, but did not attack the city. , which made the Polish defenders in the city feel like they were punched in the cotton, because they were already in the city preparing to teach the Imperial Division a lesson.
Paul & Hausser's tactics were undoubtedly successful. Krakow had reasons why the Poles could not give up. Therefore, other units of the nearby Krakow Army Group continued to rush over from the surroundings in an effort to annihilate the Imperial Division.
Poor logistical supplies and poor road conditions caused the Polish army to move very slowly. Paul & Hausser took advantage of this to concentrate his forces and attack quickly, defeating two Polish divisions and a cavalry that came to support one after another. trip.
However, with the arrival of Polish reinforcements and the reorganization of the defeated Polish army, there were more and more Polish troops under the city of Krakow. Fortunately, with the support of the air force, the Imperial Division still managed to survive.
The first objective of the Fourteenth Army was to encircle the powerful enemy forces assumed to be concentrated in the Krakow area. The original deployment of the army from Silesia through Mora Fostrava to the Carpathians is sufficient evidence of the intention of such an encirclement. The Eighth Army, commanded by General Busch, has two infantry divisions, the Eighth and Twenty-eighth, and the Fifth Armored Division. It was ordered to break through the strong Polish border fortress in eastern Upper Silesia, and then move toward Krakow along the north bank of the Vistula River. Cove advances. The 17th Army, commanded by General Kilitz, commanded the 7th and 44th Infantry Divisions and attacked Krakow along the Vistula River from Moravia.
Two additional corps were assigned to carry out direct encirclement missions against supposed enemy forces near Krakow. The 22nd Armored Corps, commanded by General Kleist, is responsible for the 2nd Armored Division and the 4th Light Armored Division. It breaks out from the Alva Valley in the Western Carpathian Mountains and attacks Krakow from the south. . The 18th Mountain Army, commanded by General Beyer, is responsible for the 2nd and 3rd Mountain Divisions. It is scheduled to protrude from the Poprad Valley east of the Black Tatras, pass through Novi Sad, and end at Bos Aiming at Nea - which was west of Tarlow - and attacking the enemy at Kraków from the rear. Slovak troops further east were later ordered to attack through the Dukla Pass, a famous location in World War I. Later, a mountain division (a brave and capable Bavarian force) and two reserve divisions were also ordered to join this flank encirclement battle.
The Fourteenth Army's outpost battles were quite difficult, especially the Eighth Army's attack on the Polish border fortress. But from a combat perspective, the roundabout actions from the Carpathian direction had actually already determined the fate of the Polish army in the border area. Obviously, the original plan to encircle and annihilate the enemy forces around Krakow did not work out as expected, because the enemy realized the danger and voluntarily withdrew from western Galicia, although most of its troops were destroyed in the initial battle. The attack was broken into pieces, and the pursuit was next. The 22nd Armored Corps finally caught up with its prey. The Mountain Army and the 16th Army on the right wing of the army captured the Rava and Przeshmir fortresses. Its left wing, including Panzer Corps, Eighth Army and the Seventh Army assigned to the Army Group, was able to cross the San River south of the confluence of the San River and the Vistula River. Although the Polish army still fought bravely in the future, and the fighting was fierce in some areas, they were still swept away. Some enemy troops were transferred from the front of Warsaw or Army Group North. At this time, the Fourteenth Army also made contact with the left wing of Army Group North.
On September 8, Küchler's 3rd Army and Kruger's 4th Army of the North Route Army Group launched an assault from the north and northwest toward the general direction of Warsaw. Guderian was still an important assault force and was the first to arrive in Warsaw. The Lev River and the Narew River are a tributary of the right bank of the Bug River in Europe and a tributary of the east bank of the Vistula River. After flowing into Poland, they turn north near Bialystok and then flow westward to join the Biebrza River and the Biebrza River. The confluence of the Pisa River. Then it turns south to receive its largest tributary, the Bug River, and then joins the Vistula River 32 kilometers northwest of Warsaw.
As the only way for Army Group North to pass, the Narew River was placed high hopes by the Polish army, hoping that it could block Guderian's attack and buy time for the Polish army to shrink its forces.
Guderian immediately decided to forcibly cross the Narew River. The German air force in East Prussia and Silesia took off non-stop throughout the night, constantly dropping bombs on the Narew River and various targets.
After many days of fighting, the Polish army was already very familiar with the monster-like cry of the Stuka dive bomber. Of course, they were just thinking about it in their hearts. The explosion of the bomb immediately brought them back to reality. Thinking about how to survive the bombing.
The constant attacks throughout the night made the Polish defenders on the other side of the Narew River almost collapse. They now hope that Guderian can rush over immediately. Even if they cannot stop the 19th Armored Corps, it is better than just being bombed. I can't help it.
Their wish came true immediately, and Guderian did not want to delay it any longer. On the 11th, under the cover of heavy artillery and air force, Guderian began to forcefully cross the Narew River. The Polish defenders could not resist and retreated towards Warsaw.
After General List's Fourteenth Army defeated the Polish Krakow Army in the city of Krakow, in accordance with Rundstedt's order, it began to pursue the defeated troops of Lodz Army and Kraków Army to the north, and waited for opportunities to fight with them. The Northern Front Army Group joins forces. Reichenau's 10th Army and Blaskowitz's 8th Army, which belonged to Army Group South, were moving at full speed, striving to encircle the remnants of Lodz Army and Krakow Army to the west of the Vistula River.
After Lin Wei arrived in the city of Lodz, he commanded the SS Gendarmerie Division and the Viking Division and marched towards Krakow. After joining the Imperial Division and the Police Division and Skeleton Division, which had made little achievements earlier, he began to move north like the Fourteenth Army. , but Lin Wei is not going to join Guderian's Northern Front Army, but to pursue the two Polish armies that have been defeated.
After discussing with Felix Steiner and Paul Hausser, Lin Wei believed that the defeated Polish Army had been gone for two days and there must be no further delay at this time, so he immediately decided to start the pursuit.
To this end, Lin Wei gathered 1,300 tanks and 3,350 vehicles from five divisions and pursued the remnants of the Polish Lodz Army and Krakow Army at full speed. However, due to the delay of two days, the remaining Polish troops had retreated to the west bank of the Buzura River.
"Leader, if they run away, the progress of the Polish campaign will be greatly delayed," Paul & Hauser said.
"General, I understand this," Lin Wei said helplessly, "but we are already marching with all our strength, and we still catch up with them."
Paul Hauser said nothing and pointed to the sky. Lin Wei's eyes lit up and he said, "You mean the Air Force can catch up with them, but I was confused." Lin Wei said embarrassedly.
"It doesn't matter. You are still very young. It is your first time to command a large corps in combat. It is inevitable that you will be a little confused," Paul & Hauser persuaded.
"I will ask the air force to support us immediately," Lin Wei said.
In order to cover the retreat of the Polish troops, the Poznan Army, which was stationed in the western part of Poznan Province and still retained most of its strength, was constantly threatening the flanks of the SS. Lin Wei had no choice but to leave the Police Division and the Skeleton Division on the flanks. He led the Military Police Division, the Imperial Division, and the Viking Division to continue the pursuit.
At this time, the Polish defeated troops had retreated between Lodz and Warsaw. As long as they crossed the Buzura River, they could safely retreat to Warsaw. Goering's air force continued to take off between Poland and Germany. During the battle, the Luftwaffe covered the advance of the high-speed advancing armored forces. On September 14th, they attacked Gautno, blew up the iron bridge over the Buzura River, and used hundreds of aircraft to carry out suppressive attacks on the Polish troops assembled in the Buzura River area for several days. They also disrupted the Polish army's attack on the German army. Flanking attack.
While the SS was chasing the defeated Polish troops, the Poles were also doing their best to rescue these troops that were at risk of being annihilated. These attempts were discovered by Rundstedt.
Everything is developing very smoothly, and it seems that it can be carried out completely in accordance with the combat plan, so people believe that there will be no obstacles now, and there will be no changes to the scheduled combat schedule. Nonetheless, Rundstedt had a strange feeling that something new was brewing on Army Group's northern flank.
In any case, everyone knows that the enemy has assembled a strong force in Poznań Province, but it has not yet been used. Therefore, on September 8 and 9, Rundstedt repeatedly instructed the Chief of Staff of the Eighth Army to pay special attention to the search to the north. We were also discussing the location of these Poznan troops with the Army Headquarters. As a result, a telegram came from the Army Headquarters on September 9 telling us that the enemy had collected all the transportation vehicles and began to move north, so The Eighth Army's deep flanks are no longer threatened.
Even so, Rundstedt estimated that there were still about ten enemy divisions south of the Vistula, between Lodz and Warsaw. As mentioned above, the intention of the Army Group is to use the Tenth Army to block the enemy forces (about five or six divisions) assumed to be gathered near Lodz to retreat to Warsaw, while the Eighth Army should attack this army from the west. enemy. The Eighth Army's original mission—to provide deep echelon protection for the entire Army Group's operations in the north—naturally remains unchanged.
Even so, the Eighth Army Headquarters seemed to pay more attention to the former task and thus ignored the situation in the north, because in the early morning of September 10, they reported that the subordinate 30th Division had suffered a surprise attack from the north, and the enemy The army's strength is quite strong. This situation seemed to be getting more and more serious. In order to stabilize the war situation, the army repeatedly launched counterattacks, but they all failed. However, the Army still tried to prevent the enemy's attack - the enemy's force was undoubtedly very strong, probably composed of the main force withdrawn from Poznań Province - so the Eighth Army rotated the fronts of its two armies, facing each other. Form a line of defense facing the north. At the same time, it requested reinforcements from the Army Group headquarters, requesting the rapid dispatch of an armored corps reinforcement to prevent any enemy attacking south from breaking through to Lodz. The city had been occupied by the Germans without resistance on September 9.
Got it.
Therefore, the Army Group headquarters was not busy reinforcing the Eighth Army, but began to prepare a big plan to encircle the enemy. The two divisions that serve as the general reserve of the Army Group continue to advance eastward, and can threaten the enemy's western flank when attacking the Eighth Army from the north. Because the fighting near Bin Laden was now almost over, another light armored division was transferred to the same task. The greatest wish of the Army Group headquarters is to force the enemy to accept the battle from the front. So it ordered the Sixteenth Armored Corps and the subsequent Tenth Army, which had now arrived south of Warsaw, to turn back and assist the Eighth Army from the east. The mission of the Eighth Army is to block the enemy as much as possible, and then switch to the attack when the enemy is attacked from both sides.
During this period, General Rundstedt and Manstein visited the Eighth Army Headquarters. Based on the impressions they received, the Army Group Headquarters decided to directly command this operation. The two corps of the Tenth Army attacked from the south and east, under the personal command of General Reichenau, while the Eighth Army headquarters directed its own two corps to attack the north and encircle the enemy from the west. Finally, according to the request of this Army Group, Army Group North also sent the Third Army to cross the Vistula River from the north and attack the enemy's rear, forming an encirclement.
Lin Wei was completely in the dark about the changes in the defense, and had no idea what big plans Rundstedt and Manstein were brewing. Now all Lin Wei could think about was how to kill this Polish army. , although the two Polish armies failed one after another in the Battle of Lodz and the Battle of Krakow, they can be said to have been defeated. Even in the Battle of Krakow, the Krakow Army was defeated by Paul Hauser. Apart from the individual divisions, there was no loss at all.
When General List's Fourteenth Army felt Krakow, the Polish Krakow Army saw that the situation was developing in an unfavorable direction and immediately withdrew from the city of Krakow. The main force suffered no major losses at all.
The air force's bombing destroyed the only chain bridge along the Buzura River, making it impossible for the remnants of the two armies to retreat to Warsaw. At this time, it aroused the bloody spirit of the Polish army. The Polish rout is now under the command of General Julius Romel, the commander of the Lodz Army. As for the headquarters of the Krakow Army, it is no longer known where it has gone.
After General Julius Rohmel learned that the bridge had been bombed by the Luftwaffe, he immediately began repairs and purchased a line of defense as quickly as possible to block the impact of Lin Wei's tank troops.