Chapter 36: (November 1941)
Chapter 36 (November 1941)
The Führer in the Wolf’s Lair seemed to really love General Model.
The new tanks, the Panzer V ‘Panther’, that were assigned to the 1st Armored Group, were nominally under the command of Kleist, but they were taken out as direct reserves of General Model.
The general called these new tanks the fire brigade of the front line and used them in contrast to the doctrine of concentrated tank operation that the German army learned after 1940.
He split them into company or even platoon units and deployed them to save the front line.
Of course, they were also used as vanguards or reserves in much larger offensives.
Also, General Model took some of the field artillery units from the army corps and division level and made them into a ‘concentrated operation artillery unit’ under the direct command of the army group.
The ground support request of the Stuka was also up to the general’s permission.
The generals of all ranks did not like these measures.
They lost their powerful firepower to the general, and their units were also split into various sizes of combat groups (Kampfsgruppe) and reorganized.
The generals lost a significant part of their discretion, and that discretion was all in the hands of either a lieutenant or General Model himself.
The defense army respected the judgment of the field tactical unit commander under the name of ‘mission-type command system’.
And the generals loved this principle.
Would proud and competent officers prefer their superiors to interfere with everything?
But Model preferred a command system where he had full authority rather than a mission-type command.
General Model inspected the front line frequently and took out or brought in combat groups from other places and deployed them on the front line, and the generals had no choice but to give up their units.
But such complaints could not last long. In just a few days, Model acquired various nicknames.
<Magician of the Battlefield>, <Apprentice of the Magician>, <Lion of Defense>, etc.
Of course, the Soviets called him a little more unpleasant word. Mostly related to slaughter or butchery.
“According to radio interception, enemy 9th Army units are retreating individually. Our leading units have succeeded in completing the encirclement of 37th, 28th, and 6th Divisions under 9th Army.”
“Hube’s combat group is requesting air support. Attack request for enemy heavy artillery battalion at position 37,108.”
“They are requesting armored reinforcements in Dobvici direction. The enemy’s battalion-level, no regiment-level armored unit has been attacking since 30 minutes ago. The main force is T-60 and T-34!”
Among the reports pouring into the headquarters, General Model fired back answers like a machine gun.
While the officers who reported to him were giving orders again, a few more orders were stuck in.
“Stop the offensive against 9th Army divisions and who is the cork of the encirclement? Mackensen? Exclude Mackensen’s combat group and pick out other units to retreat and deploy Slovakian mobile brigade. Do not allow artillery support for Soviet bastards inside the encirclement. We don’t need it right now.”
“Hube’s combat group’s air support? If it’s shelling instead of bombing, I’ll allow it. Use two batteries of 15cm field guns that are currently on reserve. Use Stuka to stop the enemy’s offensive in Dobvici direction.
Deploy all available air force squadrons and reinforce with two reorganized companies of 503rd Battalion as first priority. When is 502nd Battalion coming back!”
According to the situation, the Soviet army was trying to drag the German army into a war of attrition.
Model could sense that.
The reconnaissance flight squadron of the air force continued to scout at the command of the headquarters and abused their aircrafts, and they estimated how long the Soviet offensive would last.
They had everything more than us, so it was obvious that Germany would raise a white flag first if we fought a war of attrition.
‘Soldiers, tanks, guns, everything…’
But Germany’s goal was not to grind down all Soviet troops and add another pile of blood and bones to Ukraine’s land.
They didn’t have that ability in the first place, and if they tried, they would all become cold ghosts on the battlefield.
“If Germany’s sons have to shed blood, they have to pay as much as possible! Do you understand?”
“Yes! Your Majesty!”
What we needed was a very fine gap.
A gap that could literally pull out the 1st Armored Group that fell into a quagmire.
The enemy commander wisely worried about a large-scale counterattack and encirclement and held some reserves in his hand and carried out a meticulous operation.
But plans always go wrong from the moment they are made.
Enemy General Kirponos was probably worried.
Should he bet all in and catch all the enemy troops at the cost of this huge damage?
Or should he be satisfied with what he has gained so far to avoid more damage.
‘Anyway, it’s an impossible battlefield for us to win.’
It was a losing game for both land and heavy equipment.
And on top of that, facing the Soviets who wanted to devour all the soldiers, we had to retreat to a safe line without suffering too much damage.
That was Model’s goal.
As night fell, the fighting subsided.
Reports were still flying in from all over the front line, but they were able to respond to the Soviet offensive more comfortably.
The units that had annihilated the enemy and returned were split again and formed into mixed units with some of the other units and went out to support the offensive, and some of them rested and prepared for tomorrow’s battle.
“You guys… here, here, here. These people are reserves. Haha!”
As some of them began to doze off, General Model picked out a few of them and laughed and gave orders.
“Supporting the battle is no different from fighting. And if I don’t have any troops to deploy when I need them, it’s my defeat. Reserves, retreat to bed!”
General Model joked and opened a bottle of Fanta.
He gestured and the duty soldier at the headquarters ran over and handed out a bottle of soda to each of the remaining officers and soldiers.
A few Pervitins as well.
The officers looked at the commander at the unexpected snack, and Model smiled.
“For victory!”
He raised his bottle as if to toast and began to drink Fanta.
“Long live victory!”
Everyone cheered.
Although they only knew a very small part of the front line, they all knew that it was a different situation from the inferiority they had been in.
Under the command of the old Prussian general, it was a succession of defeats and retreats, but under the young and energetic commander, they tasted victory and seemed to be addicted to it.
“Long live victory! Long live General Model!”
General Model looked at them with satisfaction and put a Pervitin in his mouth and quietly left the barracks.
His face as he left the barracks was hard to find the smile he had before.
As the young adjutant followed him limping and stuck to his side, he gave a low command.
“Bring me the military police. One company is enough.”
“Yes? Yes, Your Excellency!”
The adjutant ran somewhere, and Model walked with an icy face.
From General Rundstedt and General Jodl of the Southern Army Group headquarters to General Reichenau or General Kleist of the field army.
“What on earth were they all doing?”
I would rather deal with the SS who bragged about being the Führer’s personal guard and the people’s army than these people who always claimed to be honorable soldiers!
It all started when I met General Giovanni Messe, the commander of the Italian expeditionary force, after I became the new commander of the army group.
He told me something shocking.
“Your Excellency, can you either separate us from the prostitutes run by the German army or let our soldiers use them too?”
General Messe understood the need to relieve the sexual urges of his men, but he said it often led to trouble and accidents.
I was dumbfounded.
“Did our army run prostitutes?”
I later learned from the staff that General Rundstedt and the Southern Army Group headquarters had secretly operated ‘prostitutes’ under military auspices.
The Führer and the Nazi high command wanted to wipe out the Jews-Bolsheviks and the Unter-men (subhumans) Slavs.
They conveyed this intention to each army group and field army through various channels.
They wanted us to kill all civilians, especially Bolsheviks.
But among the three army group commanders, General Leeb and General Bock refused and did not pass it on to their troops, while General Rundstedt embraced it eagerly.
Some of the field army commanders under General Rundstedt’s Southern Army Group, like General Reichenau, went beyond accepting it and insisted that we must, must kill and eradicate them.
And someone, I don’t know who, came up with this diabolical idea. To use them for the ‘mental comfort’ of the German army.
The Jews who had been subjected to forced labor were sent to the front line.
They were all sterilized by force so they couldn’t spread their filthy Jewish blood anymore.
“Why Jews, not Slavs?”
The staff officer answered my question like this.
“Because they know this area well and could escape.”
I still clenched my teeth.
I couldn’t agree with the Führer’s goal of getting Lebensraum for the Germans to live a glorious life through war.
I supported his rearmament plan for Germany’s self-defense, but did we have to get rid of other races, ‘inferior’ ones?
We had been living well in Germany for hundreds of years.
I always thought that when I saw the Nazis.
Is this what the Nazis meant by extermination? Killing unarmed civilians and kidnapping women to make them prostitutes?
The likes of Goebbels often compared the threat of the Soviet Union in the east to the invasion of Mongolia.
They would burn the villages, slaughter the men, and rape the women to impregnate them with their children! Goebbels always shouted that with his metallic voice.
That’s why we had to crush them.
‘How are we any different?’
The captain of the military police seemed curious about what was going on this night. But Model kept his mouth shut and headed to where ‘they’ were.
The facilities in the camp were gathered in one place. Field bakeries, hospitals, barber shops, post offices, and the like.
And in one corner, there were a few containers without any signs.
‘Why didn’t I see this before?’
Model couldn’t answer that even if he asked himself.
He saw some soldiers giving greasy bundles of bills to a fat man who was standing in front of the containers with a lewd smile.
Someone else was coming out of the container, adjusting his pants.
“Attention! Stand up!”
Model shouted angrily from his chest.
The military police thought it was an order and drew their guns, ready to follow the commander’s orders.
“You, who are you?”
The fat man who looked like a pimp was bewildered by the situation and started to grovel when he saw Model’s shoulder and collar badges.
His face was dripping with grease and he laughed nervously while rubbing his palms.
“No, aren’t you the new commander? What are you doing in this shabby place… ugh!”
He couldn’t finish his sentence.
Model walked over and kicked the pimp’s shin, then pulled out his gun and aimed at him.
The lieutenant, the military police chief, and the military police saw him pull out his gun and rushed to surround the pimp.
“Shut up and answer my questions. Who are you?”
“Yes! Yes! I’m… Hans Thomassen, a contractor for the Defense Force. What’s going on… ack!”
As he tried to talk back while trembling and holding his shin, Model kicked him again.
The pimp, who was kicked twice by the hard military boots, fell to the ground and writhed.
“I told you to answer only what I ask. What’s happening here?”
“They… provide Jewish women transported from the mainland for the soldiers’ comfort…”
“Take them all away!”
Model clenched his teeth.
“Mr. President, what is this madness…”
He didn’t want to believe it.
How far was this involved?
To what extent were they participating in this crazy act?
The Defense Force Headquarters?
The Army High Command?
Or the SS or the Group Army Commander?
Except for some who were still surrounding the pimp with their guns pointed, the military police began to drag out the soldiers who were standing in line and the people in the container.
He spat out his words and ordered the lieutenant.
“Go to the headquarters immediately and find out all the units under the Group Army that are doing this… thing. Summon the commanders and chiefs of staff of those units to the headquarters… No, call the high-ranking commanders of the Group Army. I have no intention of overlooking and passing over war crimes. Right now!”
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om