The Third Reich: The Return of the King

Chapter 1139

Everyone argued back and forth, but in the end, there was still no accurate answer.

Foreign Minister Ribbentrop heard them arguing so much that he couldn’t help but ask Mainz:”Führer, don’t we have many famous generals in our army? Why can’t we find even a suitable candidate?” I

‘m afraid that this question of Ribbentrop is a puzzle in many people’s minds.

This question is not complicated, but it is actually quite troublesome to explain.

Mainz thought about it for a while, and then said to him:”There are many famous generals in our army, but there is a gap between famous generals. Like Paulus, this guy has now been promoted to the rank of lieutenant general, and his position in the army is not low, but he can serve as the commander of the army group, but he can never be the commander of the army group. Why?

Because he is not qualified enough, his qualifications are not old enough, and his past achievements are not impressive enough. Let him command an army group, this is no problem, the army commanders and division commanders under him have less qualifications than him, and their military exploits are not as good as his. So naturally they had to obey him.

However, if he was allowed to be the commander of the army group, he would have a large group of brave soldiers under his command. Who wouldn’t start with the rank of lieutenant general and have made great military achievements?

In this case, Paulus’s qualifications would be difficult to convince the public, and if he couldn’t establish his own prestige, the army group would become a mess, and it would be difficult to achieve the purpose of establishing the empire!”

Mainz’s simple and easy-to-understand explanation made Ribbentrop understand that seniority was also a rule in the army!

“I understand. The commanders of Army Group South and Army Group Center have already been appointed. Both candidates are well-known generals, so they have no opinions and dare not oppose. However, since Model and Rommel are not in Army Group North, everyone has the idea to compete for the position.

In the case that there is no way to quickly advance in military rank, competing for a higher position has become their pursuit. Do I understand it correctly?”

Ribbentrop’s summary hit the nail on the head. After all, this group of people actually saw this opportunity.

However, their strengths are very close, and their prestige and qualifications are not enough, so no one can stand out, and the result is a chaotic situation.

“All right, stop arguing, let the Führer decide, we will execute whatever the Führer arranges!”

Seeing that everyone was arguing more and more outrageous, and began to sabotage each other, or brag about their past achievements, the atmosphere on the scene began to become weird.

Chief of Staff Halder immediately stood up, stopped the chaos, and returned the decision-making power to Führer Mainz.

Mainz coughed lightly, stood up, glanced at everyone, and seeing that no one spoke, they were all staring at him, he slowly said:”Let General Bock be the commander of the Northern Army Group!”

When this order came out, everyone was in an uproar!

General Bock?

Why was it him?

Why did the Führer appoint him as the commander of the Northern Army Group?

Bock’s qualifications are old enough, but he is not the Führer’s direct line!

Almost all the generals present are following Mainz. They have been serving under him since he became the commander-in-chief of the German army. It can be said that they were trained by Mainz alone, so these people are loyal to Mainz, and Mainz is particularly relieved to use them, without worrying about them causing any trouble!

However, General Bock is obviously not in this situation!

His qualifications are too old, so he did not defect to Mainz at the beginning, but chose to stand on the side of President Hindenburg.

Although President Hindenburg is an old president that everyone respects very much, respect is one thing, and loyalty is another.

Everyone can respect President Hindenburg from the bottom of their hearts, but they will not be loyal to him because of this. After all, if you follow a person, you will have that on yourself. The stigma of the faction to which this person belongs will accompany them for the rest of their lives and will never go away!

After General Bock followed President Hindenburg, even if he wanted to switch to Mainz in the future, it would be difficult for Mainz to accept him without any grudges.

So over the years, Bock has never led the army alone to fight, but has held some idle positions in the military academy and the general staff.

Although in order to take care of the face of the veteran, every time the German army promoted generals on a large scale, his rank would also rise. At this time, General Bock’s rank has been promoted to the rank of general, temporarily at the same level as Manstein.

However, Manstein is about to be named a marshal, and there is still a big gap in status between the two.

Such a person with a long seniority and a high military rank, but who usually has no sense of existence, was suddenly named by the head of Mainz and appointed as the commander of the Northern Army Group. Everyone was shocked and speechless.

“General Reichenau, how about you serve as Chief of Staff to General Bock?”

Reichenau was another tactical genius of the German Army in the early days of World War II.

His tactical ability was as strong as Manstein, and even stronger than Manstein in some aspects.

In the early days of World War II, the German Army had several powerful figures at the army group level, such as List, Kuchler, and Reichenau.

And Reichenau was also a good hand in strategy. Someone once suggested to the little mustache that Reichenau be the Chief of Staff of the German Army, but the little mustache was more optimistic about Hader and did not accept this recommendation.

Letting Reichenau help Bock and form a veteran combination is a brand new experience for the German Army.

With the previous appointment of General Bock, people were not so surprised by Reichenau’s appointment.

It’s just that the more everyone I am increasingly confused about the Führer’s intentions.

What is Führer Mainz going to do?

Why let these two veterans partner up to go to the northern battlefield?

They haven’t commanded troops in combat for a long time. Can they really go to the northern battlefield?

Such concerns can be said to be the biggest worries of the German generals at present.

Seeing this, Mainz had to explain:”The northern battlefield is completely different from the other battlefields.

The climate here is cold, with a large number of glaciers and forests.

The armored forces may not be able to display their power here.

The infantry will become the main force here, and the enemy will definitely build a large number of fortifications to block our offensive.

Therefore, I want a commander with rich experience in trench warfare.

I would like to ask, are any of you good at this? As soon as this sentence came out, everyone was silent.