Chapter 282: Appointing the Generals

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Akado stood up, walked to Field Marshal von Brauchitsch’s side, and placed a hand on the marshal’s shoulder, smiling at him. He turned his h

Akado stood up, walked to Field Marshal von Brauchitsch’s side, and placed a hand on the marshal’s shoulder, smiling at him. He turned his head, scanned his generals, and then said slowly, “You have all done very well. I am very satisfied with your preparations.”

This sentence made all the generals present breathe a sigh of relief. After all, in front of a powerful Führer who was well-versed in warfare, it was a very difficult thing to be foolproof. The Führer’s praise now was an affirmation of their conscientious work as soldiers.

But on the other hand, Akado himself knew his own limits. He had not been carried away by victory and dictatorship. On the contrary, in some small details, he maintained the caution and vigilance of a minor figure. He constantly reminded himself to avoid the situation from another timeline where Hitler had meddled in military affairs. He made himself respect the decisions of his generals as much as possible and only offered his own opinions when he was very dissatisfied.

In terms of his grasp of the details of the army, Führer Akado was clearly not as good as those German generals who had come from a professional background. When to resupply, when to rest and reorganize, what kind of troops could fight, what kind of troops should be reorganized, what kind of shells the 11th Infantry Corps needed, how many barrels of gasoline the 2nd Panzer Division required, which unit had advanced to where and had lost how many soldiers… he did not need to know these things, so Akado had piled all these problems onto Field Marshal von Brauchitsch.

His efforts had clearly paid off. The tense relationship between the Supreme High Command and the various generals in World War II had not yet appeared. The famous assassination attempt that had changed the attitude of both sides had also been eliminated. Now, the Wehrmacht followed the Führer’s lead, and the entire German military machine was running with astonishing speed and efficiency.

“Next, it will be a contest of real strength,” Akado said, pointing to the map near Sedan with a helpless expression. “There are no more opportunities for speculation. A real battle of cold steel, the time to test the combat capability of our troops has arrived. They must be faster than the French, fiercer than them, and stronger than them.”

“Heil Führer! We will prove to you that the German Army is invincible!” Brauchitsch said, standing at attention and raising his chin.

“The morale of our army is high. Although many of the newly formed units are still using old-fashioned equipment, such as the mothballed Mauser 98K rifle, and only half of the men are equipped with the semi-automatic G43 and the new MP-44 assault rifle, in the eyes of the world, we are still well-equipped,” Chief of the General Staff, General von Bock, said firmly.

He had every reason to say so, because up to now, the German army was the force with the largest total number of cars, armored vehicles, and tanks in Europe and even the world. And nearly half of its troops were using automatic weapons such as the MG42 machine gun, the G43 rifle, and the MP-44 assault rifle. If one also counted equipment such as mortars, howitzers, and rocket launchers, plus their understanding of the use of sniper teams, this force could be said to be the armed force that was closest to the standard of a later-era mechanized unit.

In addition, Germany had divided its infantry into elite special forces such as mountain troops and air-landed infantry. Most of the soldiers in these units had a special skill and could hold their own or even fight independently.

Of course, compared to the rest of the world, the most advanced aspect of the German armed forces came from von Seeckt and Akado’s “Project Pluto” from years ago. This project had allowed the German Wehrmacht to retain a cadre of nearly 500,000 qualified NCOs. Even though the army had now been expanded tenfold, these personnel still, as elites and leaders, became the backbone of the entire German army.

In contrast, the French army had long since lost the fighting spirit of World War I. The combat preparations of these troops were extremely inadequate, to the point where even their British counterparts could not bear to watch. In a report written to his home country, a British officer described the French soldiers as follows: “The soldiers are unshaven, the quality of the warhorses is extremely poor, and they are not at all prepared to fight. The soldiers are sloppily dressed, the vehicles are scarce and filthy. It can be seen that they lack confidence in themselves, in their entire unit, and even in the entire war situation.”

The planning of the French high command had also been completely disrupted. In the Sedan area, where the Germans were focusing their attack, they had only prepared a defensive force of 150,000 men, but they had to face a full four panzer divisions and 1,200 tanks under the command of Rommel and Guderian.

They were deployed scattered over an area of 95 square miles, crisscrossing with the German forces that had broken into Sedan. And to their southeast, on the Maginot Line, 40 French divisions were pinned down by the bluffing German Army Group C, unable to move an inch.

And in terms of the comparison of the main combat weapons of the two countries, the French fighters were far inferior to Germany’s Fw-190D. And France’s B1 tank and the Somua S35 were no match for the German Panther. In most cases, they could not even suppress the already obsolete German Panzer III.

“This operation will be carried out by Rommel’s 7th Panzer Corps. They will break through the French defensive line here and here. At the village of Houx, General Rommel’s troops will cross the river in full force, defeat the French army, and then advance to the rear of the Anglo-French coalition forces to cut the enemy’s supply lines,” Brauchitsch said, pointing at the map.

After speaking, he glanced at Akado and saw that his Führer was staring at the map with his chin in his hand, not speaking. He tactfully continued to explain the entire operational plan. “Then General Guderian’s 1st Panzer Corps will reinforce this section of the defensive line to prevent a counter-attack by the French and British.”

“What about the specific plan for the river crossing? I can’t expect 1,000 tanks to swim across the river,” Akado suddenly asked.

“We have concentrated four combat engineer battalions to build pontoon bridges here and here at the same time. The air force will cover these troops. We have an overwhelming advantage in the number of planes and cannons. The French defensive forces on the other side will be forced to retreat,” a colonel responsible for frontline liaison replied, standing up at attention.

“Tell Kesselring that I need his air force to ensure the absolute security of these bridges,” Akado said after a moment’s thought. “In addition, order General von Rundstedt to deploy an anti-aircraft network near these bridges. I need to ensure the absolute security of my armored forces’ logistical support.”

“My Führer, this is no problem at all for the air force,” an air force liaison officer replied, standing up. “If necessary, we will deploy 100 fighters to ensure absolute local air superiority.”

He couldn’t be blamed for being so confident. A month ago, the new Fw-190D liquid-cooled model’s production line had been completed. The production speed of the German Fw-190 fighter had been fully ramped up. As of January 5, a full 150 brand-new fighters had been delivered from the rear and equipped to the air force, which had increased the number of Kesselring’s troops considerably.

The reinforced German Air Force had received double happiness. In several air encounters, they had found the weakness of the British Defiant fighter. The German Air Force had broken the brief “Defiant-phobia” that had lasted only a few days and, on January 6, had shot down 47 various aircraft of the British and French air forces in one go, dominating the skies of northern France.

Akado nodded, then looked at the operational map again. He suddenly said to Anna, who was standing to the side, “Take this down. In a moment, send a telegram to Rommel in my name. Tell him that I am waiting for news of his victory.”

“As you command, Führer,” Anna said. In front of the officers, she maintained the proper attitude and did not cause any trouble for Akado. This was also the reason why Akado admired this beautiful girl. She knew when to be enchanting and when to be prudent.

After this instruction, Akado asked about the logistical supply situation of the entire army. Thanks to the sub-plan of “Project Pluto,” “Project White Dove,” Germany’s transportation situation was the best in the world. Highways connected every important city, and countless roads crisscrossed like capillaries. Of course, the railway system, with its massive transport capacity, was operated by Akado’s German Railway Group with punctuality and power.

Therefore, up to now, the entire Western Front had sufficient material supplies. Countless shells and grain had been sent to every unit through efficient distribution. Although the quality of the food was still poor, and some materials were still in short supply, it was already a thousand times better than the chaotic French logistics on the other side.

After the Führer had finished asking about the logistical supplies, he took his secretary, Anna, and left the conference room, leaving behind a group of military leaders to whisper among themselves and discuss the specific actions to come. Von Bock hoped more that Brauchitsch would change the operational plan and have the German armored forces slow down slightly to wait for the infantry behind them to catch up and act together. But Brauchitsch, encouraged by the previous war’s victory, was more inclined to let Guderian and Rommel advance at full speed and achieve the perfect effect of a blitzkrieg.

And just a few hours after the 3rd German Panzer Division had built its bridge and crossed the river at Sedan, the slow-to-react French commanders had also finally begun to pay attention to the German offensive from the vicinity of the Ardennes forest. To be precise, originally, the German army was advancing on four sides, which had forced the British and French to defend on all fronts, so Gamelin really had no way to judge the main direction of the German attack.

But not long ago, the Anglo-French coalition forces had halted the German rapid assault in Belgium and had stabilized the battle situation. When the fighting in all regions had turned into a static defensive line, it was inevitable that someone would notice the only German forces that were still in motion. So Gamelin also decided to send some forces to deal with the still-advancing German forces in the Sedan area.

It could be said that the current situation on the German Western Front was excellent. All that everyone was waiting for was just a piece of news of victory from the front. But this battle had to be fought by someone, and this seamless plan had to be implemented by someone—to turn the content that was still on paper into a reality.

Thus, at almost the same time, the Allied commander Gamelin and the German commander Brauchitsch set up their platforms to appoint their generals. Germany had chosen the “Imperial Twins,” the godfather of armor Guderian and Rommel. And France, in the vast sea of people, had found their trump card, the most experienced commander of the French armored forces, de Gaulle.