The tenacity of the Polish army was once again perfectly demonstrated. Under difficult conditions, they simply explored the last bit of potential in their bodies. When Lin Wei led three divisions to chase the Buzula River, the Polish army not only did not panic as Lin Wei imagined, but when Lin Wei asked them to surrender, they directly drove away the representatives sent by Lin Wei. return.
After a brief trial, Lin Wei discovered that although the defense line deployed by General Julius Romel was good in the short term. However, due to the defeat in the earlier battle, these Polish troops now definitely do not have enough weapons and ammunition.
Furthermore, based on Lin Wei's analysis of prisoners' confessions and some battle reports, the Polish defeated troops on the opposite side only numbered between 80,000 and 90,000, while the SS, Wehrmacht, and even the general European armies had very different organizations. The military police division has a huge establishment of 33,000 people. Even the imperial division and the police division have a scale of 20,000. Now, in addition to the police division and the skeleton division that are blocking the flanks, Lin Wei has three divisions of about 70,000. An army of ten thousand people.
In the headquarters, Lin Wei carefully looked at the map of the Buzura River Basin. After a long time, Lin Wei said, "General Paul Hauser, I need to remain small in scale, but my morale and equipment are the best." Selected troops as commandos."
Paul Hausser nodded for the unknown, "Leader, it seems you are going to teach the Poles a lesson at night?"
"Not bad!" Lin Wei snapped his fingers and said, "What the Poles did is a bit like a battle in ancient times in the East. In that battle, a general also had his back to the river and fought against the enemy. This situation If this happens, it will easily make the enemy have the courage to share the same hatred. Therefore, in order to break up this situation, of course we cannot confront the enemy head-on."
"So what are you going to do?" Paul & Howser asked.
"Humans have a natural fear of the night at any time!" Lin Wei didn't know the so-called opening remarks at first, which made Paul and Hauser stunned, but Lin Wei immediately explained, "So we should take the offensive at night , Of course, this is not conducive to the cooperation between the Air Force and us."
Paul Houser lowered his head, as if considering the pros and cons of this plan, but after a while he said, "If the commandos can really cause chaos to the opponent, I think it will be okay not to rely on the air force."
"Okay, that's settled," Lin Wei said happily, "I wonder what the general has to say about the selection of the commando team?"
"Of course they are selected from the Imperial Division," Paul & Howser said without hesitation.
"No, no, no..." Felix Steiner jumped out and said at this time, "I think it is better to choose from the Viking Division. Everyone has seen that two-thirds of the members of the Viking Division are foreign soldiers. People. Such a force from all over the world, with different languages and customs, can unite together to form a strong fighting force. Their tacit understanding does not require the imperial division that was established long ago. What is most needed to fight in the dark is tacit understanding, so It is better for the Viking division to conduct an assault."
Looking at Paul Hauser and Felix Steiner, who seemed to be at odds with each other, Lin Wei felt extremely headache. Paul Hauser was a relatively conservative conservative in the Wehrmacht, and Felix Steiner There are often some unexpected actions, which makes their relationship not optimistic.
"Okay... there are two main offensive and defensive lines. Don't copy them." Lin Wei reluctantly persuaded, "You two go back and select a battalion each, and start attacking from the left and right at the same time."
"Okay! Leader" Felix Steiner and Paul Hausser replied at the same time. After replying, the two of them went out to select their own troops without taking care of them.
Huh... Lin Wei slumped in his chair, thinking that he couldn't let two people be together at the same time in the future.
Shaking his confused head, Lin Wei started to look at the map again. At the bend of the Buzula River Iron Bridge, the troops commanded by General Julius Romel were next to the V-shaped river bank. If At first glance, this is definitely a perfect location for defense, but unfortunately, it is on the other side, so the Polish army commanded by General Julius Romel had to face German troops that might be coming from all directions. .
Sven Bayer, who received the order from Paul Hausser, did not dare to neglect. Although the sky was gradually getting dark, he still formed a vanguard detachment before dusk. This team was led by the head of the SS Imperial Armored Division. The soldiers selected by the regiment are all troops who have served as sharp swords in the past few days.
During this period, Rundstedt and Manstein ordered the two armies of the Tenth Army to attack from the south and east, under the personal command of General Reichenau, while the Eighth Army headquarters commanded its own two armies. The army attacked north and surrounded the enemy from the west. Finally, according to the request of Army Group South, 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.
The Polish Poznan Army Group, which posed a threat to the SS flank, was fighting with the Police Division and the Skeleton Division when it was attacked from behind by the Tenth Army coming from behind.
Night gradually began to fall, and although the Moon Goddess still did not hesitate to shine, it was not enough for the Polish army. The Polish army was devastated by the sudden appearance of the German army near Nimni on the left. Obviously, they had no prediction of the speed of the German army, so they hurriedly formed a force composed of about 3,000 remaining members of the 13th Division to counterattack.
"Lieutenant Waterman!" Major Frank looked at the map in his hand and waved to an officer next to him. Lieutenant Waterman was the commander of the powerful search company. He was responsible for commanding his search force to lead the charge and listened to his commander's instructions. After the summons, he quickly walked up to him and gave a military salute: "Major, what do you want from me?"
"Night battles use a combination of sneak attacks and strong attacks to annihilate the enemy in close combat. Therefore, we must make the Poles think that we are the main force and disrupt the Polish defense line. Therefore, once the Polish army is discovered, we must fully expose our Firepower, you understand?" Major Frank asked.
"No problem, Major," Lieutenant Waterman replied, standing at attention.
An hour later the assault force arrived at the designated area. The Poles responsible for defending here quickly discovered this lone army. Mortar shells and bullets from the deep German squadron rushed towards this unit crazily. In addition, there was a strange whistling sound, which Waterman knew was Polish anti-aircraft artillery shells. Although the Poles established a seemingly solid defense line in front of them.
But this does not stump them. With the help of darkness, Waterman makes full use of the Polish people's psychology. He hit all the firepower of his tank and began to deal with the opponent crazily. While he was facing him, he used a loudspeaker to shout to the Poles. Since it was the middle of the night and Waterman's firepower was very fierce, facing such powerful firepower The Poles panicked for a moment. They thought they had encountered a German armored division. So the frightened Poles chose to surrender under the fierce fire of Waterman's tweeters and tanks. The Germans easily won this battle. The victory of the battle.
The Viking Division commandos on the right wing also launched an assault on the Polish army they faced. Like the left wing, under the cover of darkness, the assault process was difficult, but fortunately there was no danger. They continued to work hard in the direction agreed with the Imperial Division.
Seeing the flames soaring ahead and the sound of explosions coming from afar, Lin Wei decisively ordered the Military Police Division in the middle, the Imperial Division on the left, and the Viking Division on the right to attack the Lodz and Krakow groups in Poland.
Hugely destructive artillery shells were continuously fired from the tanks, and the battlefield was filled with the roar of machine guns. The Poles were overwhelmed by the sudden chaos. It was at this time that the SS launched a general attack. The Poles didn't know where the enemy was. It seemed that there were enemies on all sides. The Poles fired guns randomly. In this case, the blow to the Polish army was huge. The defense lines carefully deployed by General Julius Romel were easily penetrated by Lin Wei.
Just after Major Frank arrived at the predetermined location, he found that an elite unit was also heading here from the opposite side. "Major! ~This?" Lieutenant Waterman asked in confusion.
Major Frank waved his hand and said, "Let's observe first before talking."
"The glory of the empire is with God!" A coded voice with a Nordic accent came from the other side.
Major Frank secretly breathed a sigh of relief and shouted: "People from the fjord, enjoy the glory of the empire with me."
"Great!" A tall figure came out of the opposite army. The military rank on his shoulders indicated that he was also a major. He said, "I am Major Ignatius Jepson of the 17th Tank Battalion, 3rd Regiment of the Viking Division."
Waterman did not answer the other party immediately. Instead, he raised his wrist and looked at his watch: "It is exactly 23:00 on September 9, 1939. We succeeded!" After saying that, he opened his arms and hugged the other party tightly. They hugged each other. This hug meant that the first large-scale encirclement circle of World War II, the "Buzura River Encirclement Circle", had been closed!
Like madmen, the Poles crazily pressed towards the German position, and the German aircraft and mortars began to roar in the hope of resisting the opponent's offensive. However, a group of enemies fell in front of the position, and more Poles rushed forward. Come up. From infantry squads at the beginning, to infantry companies, infantry battalions, large-scale cavalry artillery, light tanks and even armored trains. They shouted over the bodies of their fallen comrades with red eyes and continued to attack. This suicidal attack lasted for a whole day, causing the spirit of the German troops responsible for the defense to collapse. Not because their defense was breached. It was because this kind of mechanical, large-scale brutal massacre made everyone feel very uncomfortable. The smell of gunpowder smoke and corpse stench was everywhere on the battlefield.
According to the request of Army Group South, Army Group North also sent the Third Army across the Vistula River from the north to attack the enemy's rear and form an encirclement. During the battle, it was discovered that a large number of enemy troops were trying to escape along the Vistula River to the Modlin Fortress, so the Army Group headquarters detached the 15th Motorized Corps from the Laden area to block this last escape route. The enemy first tried to break through to the south, then to the southeast, and finally to the west. After fierce fighting, their resistance finally collapsed completely on September 18.
By September 20, the Tenth Army reported that it had captured 90,000 prisoners, 320 artillery pieces, 130 aircraft and 40 tanks. The Eighth Army reported that it had captured 90,000 people, and the amount of equipment has yet to be calculated. The enemy had lost nine infantry divisions, three cavalry brigades, and parts of ten other divisions. In fact, there were far more enemy troops than he could have imagined.
In the Polish campaign, the Battle of the Buzura River was regarded as the largest independent combat operation. Although it may not be decisive, it was the pinnacle of the campaign. From a combat point of view, the so-called decisive refers to a larger-scale encirclement operation. The Northern Army Group came from the north and the Fourteenth Army Group came from the south to wipe out the entire Polish army. As for the motive of this large-scale counterattack, it is difficult to determine. Perhaps the Polish high command still hopes to carry out a last-ditch battle in the Vistula Bend, perhaps just to help the troops south of the Vistula open a retreat. Warsaw roads. But it no longer had any effect on the fate of the Polish Army.
Lin Wei's defeat of the Lodz and Krakow armies can only be regarded as a small episode in the entire Buzura River battle. However, compared with the results of the entire Southern Group Army, the SS has achieved everything Lin Wei wanted. Two of the seven Polish armies have been ruined in their own hands.
The soldiers were very excited after the encirclement. For them, this was their first victory. Many soldiers gathered at the round point, and a group of people talked there like family members. They summarized the situation they encountered. Some people began to exchange trophies or share the spirits distributed by the troops. In short, everything seemed very lively, but the officers, especially the generals, were not that excited. In their view, the success of the encirclement is only the first step. To eliminate the enemies in the encirclement, many things need to be done. For example, first of all, how to ensure the material supplies of the encircling troops, and secondly, to strengthen the defense of some key areas or weak areas to prevent the opponent from breaking through. . There is also how to further compress the opponent's defense line to collapse it. In short, there are still a lot of things, but for the Polish army in the Buzula River encirclement, their doom is just around the corner.
When the German team was attacking Poland, Hitler did not give up the idea of letting the Soviet Union get a share of the pie. For this reason, Hitler specifically found Lin Wei to discuss this issue. However, since Lin Wei was on his way to the Polish battlefield, he did not give up the idea after learning the news. Later, Lin Wei recommended a person to Hitler, that is, the head of the Sixth Intelligence Division of the SS-Schulenburg. Hitler ordered Schulenburg to go to Moscow to negotiate with the Soviet government.
The following is not the text.
After the meeting between Schulenburg and Molotov on September 5, there was a rapid exchange between Berlin and Moscow. Schulenburg visited Molotov again and again, and telegrams were exchanged very frequently. The central content was to negotiate the Soviet Union's dispatch of troops. At the same time, the Soviet government issued an order: conduct intensive training for reservists of the six military districts; the troops of the Kiev and Belarusian Special Military Districts entered a state of combat readiness and established the Ukrainian and Belarusian Fronts, that is, the Kiev Military District was reorganized into the Ukrainian Front Army, consisting of three group armies. Timoshenko became the commander; the Belarusian Military District was reorganized into the Belarusian Front, consisting of 4 group armies, 1 cavalry mechanized rapid group and 1 independent infantry corps, with Kovalev as commander. A total of about 1 million troops gathered towards the western border.
On September 9, the Japanese Ambassador to Moscow paid a visit to the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union and stated that the Japanese government was willing to sign an armistice agreement. The British and French governments continued to declare no war against Germany.
Therefore, on September 10, Molotov told Schulenburg that the Soviet government "intended to take advantage of Germany's continued advance to announce that Poland was falling apart, so the Soviet Union must rescue Ukrainians and Belarusians who were 'threatened' by Germany. This kind of The argument can also make the Soviet intervention visible to the masses."
On September 14, Molotov summoned Schulenburg and made it clear that the Soviet Union's preparations were progressing smoothly, but for political reasons, the Soviet government wanted to discuss the matter of entering Poland after the fall of Warsaw.
On September 14 and 15, the Soviet Union's main propaganda media "Pravda" and "Izvestia" published articles one after another, accusing the Poles of oppressing Ukrainians and Belarusians, and began to create reasons for occupying the territory of eastern Poland.
On September 15, when Ribbentrop learned that the Soviet army's preparations had been completed and were about to be dispatched, he once again ordered Schulenburg to visit and inform Molotov: the German army would capture Warsaw within a few days, and the Soviet Union was now taking measures against Poland. "This is something we welcome. In this way, the Soviet government eliminates the need for us to pursue the Russian border in order to eliminate the remnants of the Polish army." He hoped to know in advance the "date and time when the Soviet advance would begin" so that the German side could "make corresponding arrangements."
At this moment, the Soviet leaders were worried and surprised by the rapid advance of the German army. If the German troops crossed the demarcation line drawn on August 23, German military leaders would likely be unwilling to retreat from the newly occupied territory, thus posing a direct threat to the Soviet border. Therefore, the Soviet government decided to send troops to occupy the territory of eastern Poland before the German army reached the eastern provinces of Poland.
On September 16, Schulenburg once again asked the Soviet government to "set a date and time to start sending troops now." Molotov said: Intervention is imminent. On the same day, the Soviet Union and Japan signed an armistice agreement. The agreement stipulated that the armies of both sides would cease military operations on September 16.