Chapter 706: Long Time No See

Flicking a snowflake from the brim of his cap, a general with a mustache stood by a farmhouse in a small village. The road at his feet had been turned to mud by the troops that had passed through earlier, but his high leather boots, though spattered with mud, did not detract from the general’s dignified aura.

“Heil Akado Rudolph, our Führer! General Guderian! Welcome to the temporary command post of Army Group G, established for you. This is the small village codenamed N182, only 5 kilometers from the front line. This farmhouse is large enough to accommodate the high-powered radio equipment required by the command headquarters,” a staff officer said, standing at attention and saluting General Guderian, who had just jumped out of his car.

“Good morning, Colonel.” Guderian tossed his leather gloves to the officer who had come to greet him, then, with a group of officers and staff from the army group headquarters, walked into the temporarily reinforced farmhouse. The inside was indeed a different world. The radio operators had already connected a lot of equipment to a diesel generator, and a dozen or so radio sets were already working normally.

Guderian walked behind a radio operator and watched as he sent a telegram to an advancing infantry corps to confirm their position. He did not continue forward but turned back and said to the officer in charge of the radio room, “Use the highest-level cipher to send a telegram to the High Command, reporting our army’s speed of advance. Also, within half an hour, I want the position of the 3rd SS Panzer Division confirmed. I need a firsthand battle report from the front.”

“Yes, General!” The officer in the radio room saluted and watched as his immediate superior left the farmhouse. Guderian, having left the farmhouse, walked around his car, avoided two swaying logistics trucks, and entered the temporary command post of Army Group G.

In the largest room in the village, a partial topographical map of Ukraine had already been hung, along with a contour map with clear elevation markings. The rest of the theater maps were scattered on a table, not yet unfolded and sorted. The entire Army Group G was now on the offensive. Some units were advancing so fast they hadn’t even had time to set up their artillery.

More than two hours ago, Model’s 10th Panzer Corps had cut through the front line of the Red Army. The Soviet Red Army, eager to attack, had mostly relied on defensive lines hastily constructed half a year ago. Because their forces had been gradually strengthened, the Soviets had not been in a hurry to build more solid fortifications.

This had created a strange phenomenon: the Germans had been desperately strengthening their defense lines, but at the start of the battle, they had switched to an offensive rhythm. The Soviets, on the other hand, had been preparing for an offensive but had been plunged into an endless defensive state as soon as the battle began. Neither side had used what they had prepared, but instead had started to fight with tactics that were the complete opposite of what they had planned before the war.

A grenadier division of the 10th Panzer Corps had launched an assault at the junction of two Soviet Red Army fronts and had finally broken through the first line of the Soviet defense system. The result was that they had encountered an unprecedented situation where two Soviet Red Army divisions had raised their hands in surrender without a fight. This had made the advance of the entire Army Group G a full 15 hours faster than originally expected.

The offensive seemed to be going quite smoothly. Even without effective air cover from the German Air Force, the German armored forces had actually advanced faster than planned. One can imagine how much strength the long wait had allowed the German armored forces to accumulate, and what terrifying offensive capability this force possessed at the moment of its eruption.

“Send a message to the air force liaison department. Ask the meteorologists when the weather will improve so that the air force can sortie to cover our continued advance,” Guderian said, looking at the map. He roughly sketched the current position of his army group on one of the maps with a pencil. The spearhead at the very front was already approaching the important transportation hub of Pavlohrad. It seemed it was only a matter of time before the German troops captured it.

However, as the army group commander, Guderian had just learned a shocking piece of news. The Soviet Red Army had broken through the outer defense line of List’s Army Group E near the town of Oktyabrsky, south of Minsk. An offensive group of about 1,000 tanks was very sharp. Under the cover of death-defying Soviet sailors and elite infantry, they were already closing in on the core of Army Group E’s defensive position, Mozyr.

Due to the lack of air cover, the German defense was very passive. In addition, the German reserves on the other flank had not yet reached their designated positions, so the Soviet offensive had put immense pressure on List.

The infantry on the periphery of the entire Army Group E was fighting a very hard battle. The German armored forces in the defense had also suffered large-scale losses for the first time. In one defensive battle, Germany had lost 27 Panther tanks, which could be said to be the most Panther tanks lost in a single battle on record. If one included the assault guns, the German army had already lost more than 200 tanks of various types in this direction, which also made Field Marshal von Brauchitsch, who had been overseeing the Eastern Front, feel deeply uneasy.

As one of the most authoritative experts on the use of tank and armored forces in the German army, Guderian was well aware of the breakthrough capability of a large, concentrated armored force. The fact that he had hardly encountered any Soviet Red Army tank units on his own defensive front was enough for him to imagine just how many tanks the Soviet General Zhukov opposite him had concentrated on General List’s position.

He had no better way to solve the crisis List was facing now. After all, to have his troops stop and then take a detour to support List’s Army Group E was simply impossible. All he could do now was to pray that List could hold his position on his own. Once the reinforcements on the flank arrived, the situation for the German army could be immediately reversed.

As for whether those reinforcements on the flank were that effective, Guderian only knew that the commander-in-chief of this force was the second Field Marshal of the army, named von Rundstedt, and that this army group, which had come from within Germany, was called Army Group A. To be called Army Group A among the dozen or so German army groups, there seemed to be no need to say much about its strength.

So, all Guderian could do was to attack as quickly as possible, to go as far as he could. As long as he threatened the Soviet heartland, threatened the distant Moscow, then naturally, the Soviet Red Army would not make a fuss over the small matter of Kiev. For Army Group G, it was as simple as attacking.

“Is General List’s situation still very tight?” Not being able to take care of it did not mean not being worried about problems. If the Soviet Red Army were to cut into the vicinity of Kiev in Ukraine, then the logistical supply for Army Group G and Army Group D would have problems. So Guderian was still quite concerned about the outcome of the defensive battle north of Kiev.

“A telegram from half an hour ago. General List was shelled by Soviet heavy artillery while inspecting the front line. Fortunately, only one guard was slightly injured. But the intensity of the Soviet offensive is evident. I hear the front line of Army Group E is fighting very hard,” a staff officer following Guderian immediately answered his question. There was a special group here that was paying close attention to the battle of Army Group E, to avoid a lack of understanding of other units in an emergency.

Guderian was silent for about two seconds, then he gave the order to continue the attack: “Have the 3rd SS Panzer Division and the 1st Panzer Corps take over the position of the 10th Panzer Corps and continue to attack eastward with force! After capturing Pavlohrad, turn north, target Lozova.”

The chief of staff of Army Group G stood by the map, picked up the pointer that was leaning in the corner, and made a slight stroke on the map, then said, “General, you mean, we are giving up the plan to cut in between the two Soviet fronts and will instead launch a frontal assault on the Soviet forces near Kharkov first?”

Guderian nodded. He wanted to use this attack to confuse Zhukov, to make him think that he wanted to capture Kharkov first. This way, if his will to attack Kiev was not very firm, then it was very likely that he would detach troops to defend this important city, thereby reducing the frontal pressure on General List.

“This method of attack is worth a try,” the chief of staff, who had been Guderian’s partner for nearly a year, said after a moment’s thought, nodding his head in agreement with the commander’s view. He looked at his own adjutant and ordered, “Draw up a detailed written report of the plan just now. You will personally deliver it to Field Marshal von Brauchitsch.”

Seeing that his chief of staff had already begun to make arrangements, Guderian did not continue to inquire about the specific implementation of this attack plan. In his view, in at most one day, the German armored forces would meet the attack requirements he had set, and would only do it better.

He stared blankly at the map in front of him. An even bolder plan began to take shape in his mind, and then his trademark faint smile appeared on his face. He knew that if this plan of his could be successfully completed, then the resistance of the Soviet Red Army on the southern front would completely collapse, and Stalingrad would be almost within his grasp.

“Send a telegram to General Manstein. After you get in touch, I want to speak to him personally! Arrange this matter immediately! Do not delay!” Guderian said to his adjutant behind him, thinking of this. “Also, do not disturb me this afternoon. I want to personally write an operational plan and submit it to the High Command!”

As he spoke, Guderian’s mood lightened. After a long period of silence, he finally rediscovered that feeling of a frontline general, the aura of sweeping across the six directions with a casual wave of his hand, the sense of power that could extinguish thousands of lives in the flames of war. He enjoyed this thrill of commanding a war, which allowed him to judge the situation he faced more keenly. This feeling was very wonderful. He just wanted to say to this beautiful feeling, “Long time no see!”

Published: 2025-09-20T03:10:06.000+00:00
Last Edited: 2026-03-03T16:47:04.000+00:00
URL: https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair/posts/mtr-c706-long-no-139307937

Advance chapters at Nightjar Reads · nightjarreads.com