Chapter 376 Persuasion
However, handsome is only three seconds.
Just when Hitler made a promise to Hoepner, a staff officer hurriedly pushed the door in and reported with a telegram: "Your Excellency, the Tver Bridge has fallen again!"
Hitler was taken aback for a moment, then waved his fist furiously and said: "Let those **** take it back immediately!"
"Actually, they have already done it!" The staff officer replied: "They took back the Tver bridge. But..."
"but what?"
"Actually, the Russians retreated by themselves!" The staff officer said: "They retreated after blowing up the railway!"
So Hitler understood that the Russians used this tactic to cut off the transportation of the German army, which means that they did not need to occupy the Tver Bridge at all.
"Then let them defend!" Hitler ordered without even thinking about it: "Seriously block the Russians in the residential area, just like surrounding a pack of wild wolves, so that they cannot break out and bite people!"
"Yes, Your Excellency the Führer!" The staff officer responded, turned around and issued the order.
"I think we have to face this reality, Your Excellency the Fuhrer!" Hopner said: "We can no longer hold the current line of defense because our army is short of troops and supplies. So, under this premise, why don't we Actively shrinking the defense line to keep it in a straight line will at least reduce our defense line by several hundred kilometers, thereby saving a large number of troops and seizing a more favorable position to seize the initiative?"
Hopner has a point.
What Hitler said was actually a false proposition, such as once the army retreats, it will collapse in an avalanche or abandon equipment, etc.
The key to the problem is that if you don't retreat actively, you will be repulsed by the enemy.
If you have to choose one of the two, of course, the active retreat is more orderly, so that you can retain more equipment and take the initiative in defense.
On the contrary, being repulsed by the enemy is more likely to show the picture Hitler painted.
So in the final analysis, Hitler was not trying to save his own troops, he was just unwilling to admit the defeat of the German army and was unwilling to face the reality. He still wishful thinking that the German army could still win or at least hold the current defense line until the weather warmed up... This is the real purpose of his order "no step back".
Historical facts also prove that Hitler's order is wrong.
Because of Hitler's order, the German army held on to the position and was surrounded by the Soviet army piece by piece. Many places collapsed and a large amount of equipment was discarded. If Luge hadn't recklessly defied Hitler's order and ordered the Fourth Army to break through, the German army would have collapsed across the board... This is also the reason why Marshal Luge was dismissed in history.
Of course, many of these German troops showed their courage and courage, even when they were surrounded by the Soviet army and did not give up fighting, such as Holm.
This made it impossible for the Soviet army to let go of their pursuit.
However, with the quality and discipline of the German army, if they voluntarily retreated as Hoepner said, and straightened the line of defense formed by the attack on Moscow that was bent like a long snake, perhaps Hitler's depiction would not appear at all. and the loss and loss of territory will be much less.
"Your Excellency the Führer!" Hoepner went on: "Positional warfare in this unsuitable climate and terrain will lead to a war of attrition like that during the First World War. We will lose a large number of officers and experienced Soldiers, we will suffer great losses for nothing, and these losses will be irreparable!"
This means that "keep the green hills without fear of being burned". The experienced German officers and soldiers are the greatest wealth of the army. As long as they are kept instead of letting them freeze to death needlessly in the ice and snow, the German army will still have the ability to attack Moscow. Chance.
But Hitler couldn't listen to Hoepner's words at all.
Hitler approached Hoepner and said coldly: "You have to understand, General! I am the Fuhrer, and I think I have a legitimate reason to ask every German soldier to sacrifice his life. Not for me, but for the great German And you, my general, I think you should go back to your post and fight with your soldiers!"
After hearing this, Hoepner knew that this "persuasion" had failed. After saluting, he reluctantly turned and left Hitler's office.
After Hoepner left, Hitler said to the staff: "I failed to convince this person!"
This is somewhat ironic. From Hoepner's point of view, he was trying to persuade Hitler to change his mind, but to Hitler, it was Hitler who was trying to persuade Hoepner to stick to it.
The thinking of the two people is completely on two different planes, which means that they are doomed to fail from the beginning.
But no matter how paranoid Hitler was, the battlefield would not change because of his wishful thinking.
The offense and defense of the Tver Bridge are indeed somewhat different.
Colonel Eber wanted to surround the 1st Guards Tank Brigade like a wolf circle, just as Hitler ordered.
So the German army laid mines, stretched barbed wire, and set up roadblocks from the Tver Bridge to the residential area.
If there is any better way, it is to build anti-tank trenches, but anti-tank trenches built of ice and snow are vulnerable to tanks, and the ground is too frozen to be dug, so they can only give up.
Then, the Germans deployed tanks behind these obstacles.
This defense seems difficult to break through, but it is not difficult for the Soviet army at all.
Several mine-sweeping tanks "rumbled" up, and rolled all the roadblocks and barbed wire into the snow in a few strokes... The triangular pillar-shaped roadblocks may be able to damage the tracks of the tanks, but they have no resistance to the giant rollers of the mine-sweeping tanks force.
There was only a "cracking" sound, and the roadblock was either broken or sank into the snow and disappeared.
As for the landmines, let alone say, one after another was detonated like a firecracker.
So once again, the Tver Bridge was occupied by the Soviet army, and the railway that had just been repaired was blown up again.
However, the German army's fighting will is indeed tenacious, and they are still insisting on fighting until now.
Among them was the 4th Tank Army, whose tank radiators had water freezing and engines bursting. Tanks, trucks, and radio communication vehicles could not move, and even telescopes, trench mirrors, and artillery sights could not be operated because of the rotation and freezing of components... Hitler was worried that soldiers would abandon heavy equipment. Unusable unless soldiers can carry them back.
But in this case, the German soldiers were still on the front line to block the attack of the Kalinin Front Army, and Hopner was also doing his best to command.
However, the order of the Supreme Command came down...the removal of Hopner as the commander of the 4th Tank Army.
(end of this chapter)
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