Chapter 598: The Armies of the Third Reich

“Alright! When can the German army be ready for battle?” Mussolini asked without a moment’s thought, agreeing in one breath. He would rather cede a portion of his interests and entrust the matter of war to the more professional German army than to ever again believe in his own generals. He had invaded France and had gotten a bloody nose for his troubles. He had invaded Africa and had almost been driven into the sea. Now he had invaded the Balkans and was slower than the Turks. Anyone in his position would not trust such a group of incompetent subordinates.

“Italy needs to provide 200,000 barrels of fuel, including aviation-grade fuel for the planes and regular fuel for the German panzer forces. As soon as this fuel is in place, the German army will attack immediately,” Akado replied to his ally with a smile.

Mussolini looked at Akado and finally asked with uncertainty, “My Führer, don’t your troops need time to mobilize? Are you saying you were already prepared to enter the Balkans and were just asking me for an exorbitant price?”

Akado burst into laughter. “Actually, it’s like this. In the northern region of the Balkans, there is a newly formed German army group in training. This army group was just formed 15 days ago. It was formed by detaching a part of von Kluge’s F Army Group and adding some new recruits. The army group commander is named Hermann Hoth. You will meet him soon.”

“New recruits?” Hearing this news, Mussolini really didn’t know how to express his feelings. Frustration? Or worry? He had originally thought that Akado was intentionally trying to trick him, to gain more benefits from Italy. But when he learned that this army group was a newly formed one, he began to worry again. Is this unit any good? He knew that the elite units of the German army could indeed be called a battle-hardened and invincible force, but new recruits were another matter. Every country’s new recruits were more or less the same. Italy was not short of new recruits, because most of the Italian army was composed of new recruits.

“My Führer, a new army group? Is this General Hoth any good? Is this army group any good?” Mussolini asked with a frown. This was the question that concerned him most. He had to ensure Italy’s interests in the Balkan region. Otherwise, to cede the colonies would be a complete loss.

Mussolini’s calculation was very clear: the North African interests he was giving up were actually just a pittance. A part of the region had originally been a French colony, and Italy had only taken advantage of the situation to seize a lot of it when France surrendered to Germany. These colonies were certainly not as good as a place that bordered Italy. The colonies would eventually become territories that did not belong to him, while the bordering Balkans would become an inseparable part of Italy in the future.

That was why Mussolini was willing to trade the African colonies he had in hand for a large piece of land in the Balkan region. This deal was absolutely a sure-win, but the premise was that they could actually conquer this territory.

“Rest assured!” Akado nodded and said, “If Italy cannot get the originally designated place, then the Third Reich can do without the North African colonies and those 400,000 troops. But it is best to get the fuel delivered as soon as possible. After all, we are not responsible for the consequences caused by any delays on the Italian side.”

General Hoth was no unknown figure as Mussolini had implied. This German expert in armored warfare had performed very well in the Battle of France. It was just that at that time, his unit was equipped with obsolete Panzer III tanks and was responsible for covering the flanks of Rommel and Guderian, so he had not become famous.

His armored unit had suffered the heaviest losses in the French campaign, and its results were the most mediocre. But it had received unanimous praise from everyone. Field Marshal von Brauchitsch had praised him for having “the demeanor of a Prussian officer,” and the then-Chief of the General Staff, General von Bock, had also called him “a rare expert in tank warfare.”

Because his unit had been responsible for dealing with the British and French tank forces at that time, and only had the slightly outdated Panzer III, the tank unit he led had suffered heavy losses. On the other hand, in the face of heavy losses, he had accompanied Guderian and Rommel all the way to Dunkirk without dragging them down in the slightest. This courage and perseverance were absolutely commendable.

So after the Battle of France, he had risen through the ranks, from major general to lieutenant general. And because he had encircled one of the largest pockets in the war on the Eastern Front, annihilating a total of 170,000 men from the three southernmost Soviet army groups, he had been promoted to full general and was finally transferred to command the German J Army Group, responsible for the overall command of the German army’s operations in the Balkan region.

Every word that Akado and Mussolini had said was true. J Army Group was indeed a newly formed army group, and most of its strength was composed of new recruits. However, these new recruits had undergone a full two months of training in France and had also conducted exercises all the way east. So their combat effectiveness was much stronger than the new recruits that Germany had directly supplemented to the frontline troops on the Eastern Front.

And the units detached from General von Kluge’s F Army Group were even more formidable. There was the famous 10th SS Panzer Division, as well as three relatively elite mechanized infantry divisions. These units formed the core of J Army Group: the 8th Panzer Corps and the 8th Mechanized Infantry Corps. So in terms of pure combat effectiveness, this German army that was about to attack the Balkan Peninsula had an absolutely high level of combat proficiency.

The German combat forces now had a total of 12 army groups, of varying sizes, but all of the same organizational level, designated A through L. These army groups had different operational tasks and numbers depending on where they were stationed. In addition, the German army had three quasi-army groups under preparation, which only had the framework of an army group and currently numbered no more than 20,000 men each. They were the N Army Group, which General Küchler had been ordered to form, the O Army Group, formed by General von Reichenau, and the M Army Group, which Akado was preparing for Manstein to command.

Farthest to the west was C Army Group, which had been renamed from the main body of the former A Army Group plus new recruits. The commander was General von Leeb, responsible for the defense of the British Isles.

Following that was B Army Group, stationed in France. Its predecessor was the B Army Group that had occupied France, but it had replaced many of its troops with new recruits and had expanded its organization. The commander was General Keitel, responsible for the defense of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and other regions.

In the German homeland, the newest A Army Group was being reorganized. The commander was Field Marshal von Rundstedt, who had just returned to Germany from Britain. He was the second field marshal of the army, and it was the reward that Akado had promised to Rundstedt personally for capturing the British mainland. At present, this was also the only army group in the German army commanded by a field marshal.

I Army Group was the most dispersed, deployed in Denmark and Norway, with its headquarters at the southernmost tip of Norway. The commander was General von Kleist. This army group was responsible for ensuring the supply of high-quality iron ore from Norway to the German army.

In Poland and the rear of Ukraine, H Army Group was responsible for the security of the entire German army’s rear. The commander was the composed General von Weichs. This army group did not have many heavy weapons and was mainly responsible for suppressing the partisans in Poland and ensuring the absolute safety of the German rear transport lines.

On the Eastern Front were deployed, in order, General Model’s D Army Group, General List’s E Army Group, General von Kluge’s F Army Group, and General Guderian’s G Army Group. These army groups were the main combat formations of the German army at present, so their numbers were also relatively larger. These four army groups together accounted for almost half of the total strength of the German army, about 3 million men. Among them, Guderian’s G Army Group had the smallest number, with only 350,000 men; List’s E Army Group had the largest, with about 1.1 million infantry.

In North Africa, Rommel’s Afrika Korps had the organization of two army groups, but its numbers were not large. L Army Group had only about 130,000 men, and Schörner’s K Army Group had a larger establishment, with about 210,000. This was mainly because the operations in North Africa were too demanding on logistics, and the Axis could at most support that many German troops there.

The remaining J Army Group would attack the Balkans under Hoth’s command. Its numbers were also not large, only about 200,000. This unit, according to the plan, would be assigned to Rommel’s control and would become part of the German Mediterranean Corps.

According to the German army’s future plans, all of the German land forces would be divided into 5 army group clusters, as the highest unit for launching large-scale campaigns. This plan would begin after the conclusion of the winter campaign against the Soviet Union and would take one year to reorganize all of the German army’s units, ultimately improving the combat effectiveness of the frontline troops. The High Command’s plan was to stabilize the Eastern Front in the winter of 1938, using Ukraine as a shield to hold off the Soviet counter-offensive. In 1939, they would induce Ukraine and Belarus to side with Germany, weakening the Soviet Union’s strength, and then in 1940, they would launch a full-scale counter-attack, executing the new Barbarossa plan and fighting the final decisive battle of the German-Soviet War.

At that time, the number of allied troops cooperating with the German army would be as high as 2 million. Counting the German army’s own forces, the total number would exceed 7 million. This number was about the same as the total number of frontline combat troops that the Soviet Union could mobilize. According to the assessment of the German army’s weapons, equipment, and combat effectiveness, the chances of victory were close to 70%.

Akado’s own plan was that once the United States committed its forces to the Pacific theater and began its counter-offensive, Germany would at the same time commit its forces to the Eastern Front and begin its operations. This way, at about the same time that the United States was dealing with Japan, Germany could knock the Soviet Union out of the game. A bipolar world would begin again, only this time it would be Germany and the United States.

“In that case, I will return to Rome at once and get the fuel to General Hoth as soon as possible!” Mussolini, seeing Akado so certain, could only bite the bullet and continue to hypnotize himself, to convince himself of the myth of German invincibility. The combat effectiveness of the German army was now his spiritual drug. The moment he thought of it, he would feel incomparably powerful.

“Good. I won’t see you off. I have an important military conference to attend in a few minutes,” Akado said with a smile. “I hope that the next time we meet, it will be in an Italian Balkan.”

“Good! In an Italian Balkan!” Mussolini, as if injected with chicken blood, became excited and replied with a smile, “Goodbye, my Führer.”

“Goodbye, Mr. Duce,” Akado said, then began to chat with Manstein about the details of the bombing of the Crimea. It seemed that the Chief of the Imperial General Staff was not even willing to see this Italian leader out of the room.

Anna had no choice but to go through the motions, looking very aggrieved.

Mussolini, of course, was even more aggrieved, but he could not voice his bitterness. Who was to blame that his army was no longer the legions of the Roman era?

Published: 2025-09-09T03:33:53.000+00:00
Last Edited: 2026-01-13T16:21:25.000+00:00
URL: https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair/posts/mtr-c598-armies-138475679

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