Obviously, Manteuffel did not intend to withdraw just like that. He was stubborn and wanted to persist to the end. No matter what the final result was waiting for him not far ahead, it was acceptable.
After all, as far as Manteuffel himself is concerned, no matter how bad it is, it will never be worse than the memory that was evoked just now, which is not far away, and is also a very bad memory.
"That guy abandoned his troops and when the Grossdeutschland Division was completely wiped out, he actually celebrated his wife's birthday at home. Can you believe it? It's unbelievable!"
"Yes, I heard about it. How can such a person have the nerve to come back and continue to be a division commander? These guys in the National Defense Force are nothing more than that."
"That's it, haha..."
"Hey! Keep your voice down, be careful not to be heard by him."
"What are you afraid of? That's the truth. How can we not let others tell the truth? Anyway, we are not his subordinates. What will happen if we hear it?"
I haven't been home for a long time. Ever since I took over the responsibility of commander of the Grossdeutschland Division, I have been leading this elite ace unit of the Wehrmacht to fight in various battles on the Eastern Front and put out fires.
Not to mention taking the time to take a vacation and go home for a visit, it is difficult to get a complete sleep. The deteriorating frontline war situation does not give people a chance.
Taking advantage of the opportunity to recover and be discharged from the hospital, Manteuffel suddenly wanted to go home and take a look.
Go and see your wife and two lovely daughters, go back to your long-lost gentle hometown, have some quiet time, rest a little, even if it’s just for a day, and then return to the front line to continue commanding the troops.
What I never expected was that it was such a seemingly inconspicuous decision that saved Manteuffel's life. Colonel Otto Bose, who temporarily served as the acting commander of the Grossdeutschland Division, and his old subordinate, accidentally...
Became Manteuffel's scapegoat.
When Manteuffel received the "shocking news" that the Grossdeutschland Division had been completely wiped out in just one day, he was celebrating his wife's birthday at home. The family had not been like this for a long time.
They gathered together and had a good reunion dinner around the dining table. The two well-behaved daughters missed their father very much and were reluctant to leave.
"Is the news confirmed? I want you to answer me for sure that this is true! Don't let any "possibility" or "uncertainty" be included in it!"
What kind of army is the Grossdeutschland Division?
It is the top elite field force of the Wehrmacht. It is the Prussian spiritual force with the most heritage and the longest history.
Of course he knew the combat effectiveness of the troops he led.
Manteuffel could not imagine how the Grossdeutschland Division could be defeated so quickly and be completely annihilated in just one day by the enemy using such perverted methods and mobilizing such ferocious troops to besiege them like crazy.
Even if he is in the rear and not on the front line, he has no way to command the troops.
But Colonel Otto Baus is not an idiot. He is the acting division commander personally selected by himself and the official chief of staff of the Grossdeutschland Division. He knows the organization of the troops and the application of tactics and tactics. This is impossible at all.
What problems can a stupid pig-like command cause? What happened in the short period of more than half a month when I returned to China for treatment?!
"The information has been confirmed and confirmed repeatedly, my friend."
"The Grossdeutschland Division was ambushed, or fell into a trap designed and carefully prepared by the enemy in advance. The Russians knew that the Grossdeutschland Division would definitely come to support, so they set up a heavy group of troops in advance and waited for the moving giants.
The German division is coming."
"Before the Grossdeutschland Division had time to fully deploy its battle formation, it was immediately attacked from multiple directions. Countless Russian heavy tanks came from all directions like a tide. After the battle failed, the troops tried to break away from the enemy.
and withdraw."
"But it's useless. The degree of mechanization of the Russians is beyond imagination. After quickly eliminating the rear blocking force, they can catch up with the retreating troops at extremely fast speeds and bite again. The Russians have shown amazing
Due to the ability of force coordination, troops from multiple directions converged on one point, and this converging torrent eventually overwhelmed the Grossdeutschland Division."
"Except for an armored regiment that returned to the rear in advance to undergo reorganization and upgrades, only a small number of breakout troops were withdrawn. The situation they described is basically consistent with the intelligence we have. We can be sure that the Russians made careful plans to encircle and annihilate the Grossdeutschland Division.
Prepared in advance, and prepared more than one backup plan. This is a detailed summary of the battle situation, you can look through it."
Holding in his hand this summary of the battle situation handed over by an old friend from the General Staff Department, Manteuffel casually flipped through two pages but found that he was not in the mood to read anymore. He still cared about an extremely important thing.
"Where is the number? What is the number of the enemy's troops? What kind of huge force did the Russians mobilize to complete all this? And are our reinforcements all scattered on the way?!"
"...."
My old friend who also serves in the General Staff Department with the rank of lieutenant general doesn’t want to say it too harshly, but sometimes you can’t help but tell the truth, and this “truth” is the hardest to hear.
Not to mention the uncomfortable feeling of "No", and in the end, I still cannot escape the fate of "you have to say what you have to say".
"The coordinated Russian troops are still under investigation, but the existing intelligence has been able to confirm that the main enemy force responsible for encircling and annihilating the Grossdeutschland Division is the so-called Leader Division named after Stalin, that is,"
Steel Butcher "The troops led by Malashenko, you should know the existence of this person better than me."
"..."
This time, it was Manteuffel who was speechless.
"One division? You tell me, the Russians defeated Greater Germany with only one division?"
The old friend's face looked ugly, which was why he didn't want to mention it. It was really hard to save face, but he still had to continue talking.
"You know, the Stalin Division is not an ordinary Russian division. It is the most special of all Russian divisions. However, we have not yet been able to truly understand what its military composition is. The Russians put this
We are very careful about the confidential information related to this unit. Most of the time, we can only understand the situation of this unit that they have disclosed by listening to Russian radio stations and buying their newspapers. Everything is still very vague."
"...."
After hearing this, Manteuffel felt a little dizzy and dizzy. He didn't know whether it was due to high blood pressure or something else. The next words he spoke reluctantly while holding his hands on the wall were still unbelievable.
"That is to say...that is to say, all our most important and elite troops were wiped out. As a result, we still don't know what the opponent's force composition is, is that right?"