Chapter 723: A Forest of the Strong

“What are you looking at? There are no weaklings under the Führer’s command! Kluge acts like a good old man all the time, did you really think he was a sick cat? He’s a tiger! A tiger that can eat people anytime, anywhere!” von Rundstedt said to his confidant, sitting in his swaying car. “You see, this is the consequence of underestimating the talent under the Führer’s command!”

After speaking, he stuffed a newly received telegram into his deputy’s hand. The deputy opened the telegram and saw the short text on it. He read it out softly, a look of shock on his face, “Kluge’s Army Group F has broken through a Soviet defense line and advanced 20 kilometers…”

He looked up at his commander. “Marshal, this will surely shake Zhukov’s resolve for the campaign. If things go on like this, we might not get any of the glory when we get there.”

“There’s nothing to be done. We waited at the German border for a day for the new 100 King Tiger tanks to be equipped to my army group. This was the Führer’s order. After all, the situation had not yet deteriorated to this point back then,” von Rundstedt said with a sigh. “Zhukov and Rokossovsky, who is commanding the Soviet offensive, are quite capable after all. In the end, we still underestimated our opponent!”

“Didn’t they also underestimate Kluge!” the deputy said with a laugh, but then his smile faded as he remembered that many of Germany’s own generals had also underestimated Kluge.

“Yes! That general who usually looks so harmless is indeed easy to underestimate, but he has proven his worth!” von Rundstedt said, squinting his eyes. “The facts have also proven that under the Führer’s command, there are no mediocrities!”

He paused, then the corners of his mouth turned up. “Kluge, oh Kluge, you’ve made a stunning debut. But in the end, I am still a cut above. After all, as a Field Marshal of the Empire, I am the strongest general under the Führer’s command!”

The car was constantly shaking. On both sides of the road, infantrymen snaked forward, stretching for more than 5 kilometers. On the road further in the distance, trucks and tanks converged into a steel torrent. The entire Army Group A could be said to be a new main force army group. The scale of its armored forces even approached that of Army Group G, making it a massive modern cluster.

“A message from the meteorological department. They say that after a short period of 30 hours of clear weather, there will be another period of continuous snowfall. Although it will be possible to take off planes for reconnaissance in some local areas, they do not recommend the large-scale use of the air force,” the deputy said, clipping the telegram that had just arrived during their rest stop into his document bag. “A telegram from the Army General Staff says that your advance, Marshal, can be slowed down a little.”

von Rundstedt waved his hand, rejecting his deputy’s suggestion. “The speed of the march will not change from the original plan. The speed of the armored units will be slightly increased! Use the armored grenadiers to cover the flanks of the armored units! Even if we don’t appear on the battlefield, we must put enough pressure on the Soviets. I want to see just how bold Zhukov is, and what choice he will make!”

“What other choice do I have! We can only retreat!” In another sector of the battlefield, in a temporary command post on the outskirts of Minsk, Zhukov was furiously pounding on the map, roaring at a group of operations officers. “Can anyone tell me why, in just one day, the German army has gone from a disadvantage to an advantage!”

In fact, what worried Zhukov the most was not the ten or eight thousand German paratroopers who were blocking Rokossovsky’s offensive group. If calculated according to the original speed of the 2nd Guards Front’s offensive, after wiping out these German paratroopers, the Soviets would still have enough time to fight for the nearby Kiev.

But when he wanted to grit his teeth and have his troops attack Malyn, the name of a city called Damanhur kept lingering in his mind. According to intelligence sent by his American allies, in that place, Damanhur, the fierce general Patton and more than half of the 8th Army Group had stumbled. And the ones who had given the hundred thousand Anglo-American joint forces such a hard time were precisely these inconspicuous twenty thousand German paratroopers.

Of course, another piece of news made Zhukov wary. The “idiot” Kluge, who was originally on the northern flank, had suddenly turned into a fierce tiger descending from the mountain. In one go, he had pushed back the 1st Guards Front under the command of the famous Soviet general Konev, putting unprecedented pressure on the Soviet frontal defense line.

Zhukov had to re-evaluate the danger of his attack on Kiev. In the end, he felt that even if they captured Kiev, they would be completely unable to achieve the final plan of encircling the southern German army. The offensive group would not be able to stop a German counter-attack, and the subsequent hundreds of thousands of Soviet infantry would be no match for two German army groups.

“The 1st Romanian Army has entered Ukraine. They have been temporarily assigned to the command of the German General Staff. Intelligence shows that an Italian army group is also successively entering Romanian territory, and their final destination is also the Ukrainian region,” a Soviet staff officer reported on the changes and developments of the war situation as if he were delivering a death notice. The German army’s reserve forces were simply too numerous, and this was not a result the Soviets wanted to see.

The key was that Zhukov was not afraid of those fragile Romanian troops or the distant Italians. He was more worried about Army Group A, which was gradually approaching the German-Soviet front. Once this army group was fully deployed on the front, the pressure on Konev’s 1st Guards Front would be even greater. Only Comrade Lenin in heaven would know if they could hold the defense line.

If Zhukov insisted on attacking Kiev, it was very likely that Army Group A would break through the Soviet defense line and then encircle the entire Rokossovsky offensive group, and the Soviet Union would lose all its main forces. This result was not what Stalin wanted to see. In that case, the Soviet Union would be quickly defeated, and Stalin’s personal rule in the Soviet Union would also be in crisis.

“Order Rokossovsky to immediately halt his advance! Retreat!” For so many reasons, Zhukov gave this order to retreat. Heaven only knew how many Soviet soldiers he had just betrayed. In Donetsk, hundreds of thousands of men were being surrounded by Guderian, while on the main front, the Red Army had given up its attack and was retreating into a defensive posture.

This was tantamount to a blatant announcement of defeat on the southern front, and at the cost of the lives of hundreds of thousands of Soviet soldiers, they had completed a gamble in which they had lost a portion of their assets. Although it was not a complete loss, it was definitely a crippling blow. This decision clearly made Zhukov feel ashamed. His face was flushed red, an expression of shame and anger.

In order to save the Soviet Red Army in the south, Zhukov had no choice but to have Timoshenko, who was in charge of the southern front, organize a counter-attack to the south, attempting to retake the important southern town of Shebelynka and threaten the flank and rear of Guderian’s defense. However, this southward-advancing Soviet Red Army infantry happened to run into the D Army Group, commanded by Model, which was following behind Guderian’s Army Group G. So the plan to retake Shebelynka came to nothing, and the Soviet Red Army near Donetsk could only rely on themselves.

Model, this general who was famed throughout the Third Reich for his defensive skills, stood like a bulwark, covering Guderian’s flank and rear. His troops held firm at Shebelynka, giving Timoshenko not the slightest desire to even try.

At the same moment, on the German-Soviet front near Malyn, a Soviet officer handed a telegram from Minsk to his commander.

“Retreat!” Rokossovsky was indeed a famous general of his time. After receiving Zhukov’s telegram, he did not even hesitate and directly gave the order to retreat. From the announcement to stop the offensive to the withdrawal, the Red Army did not delay for even two hours. Countless Red Army soldiers trudged along the road they had just come down, their faces expressionless. They had defeated their opponents and had won one siege battle after another, but unfortunately, in the end, they still had to retreat, retreat from their own territory.

A day of bombing had cost these Soviet soldiers a lot of equipment, but now tiny snowflakes began to fall from the sky again. The German air force, which had been shadowing them, finally disappeared, making this retreat a little easier.

When the Soviets halted their advance in front of the German paratroopers’ defense line, a cheer erupted from the German paratrooper positions on the outskirts of Malyn! A paratrooper division of 11,000 men had scared off a 200,000-strong elite army commanded by the famous Soviet general Rokossovsky. What a glory, what a might!

“Damanhur!” All the paratroopers raised their guns and let out a thunderous shout. This was their well-deserved pride, and also the pride they should have as the fastest and hardest fist of the Empire. They had fought to the death at Damanhur, and there they had made a name for the German paratroopers for all time. Now, they were a terrifying army that all commanders had to take into account!

The news that twenty thousand German paratroopers had scared off more than 400,000 Soviet soldiers on the outskirts of Kiev spread like wildfire, becoming a miracle in world military history. Although this miracle was not accomplished by the paratroopers alone, this honor still belonged to the paratroopers of the Third Reich, to every soldier who shouted the word “Damanhur” as he jumped out of the hatch.

The entire Eastern Front campaign was like a feast of generals, making the whole world applaud the frontline commanders of both countries.

On the German southern front, Guderian’s fierce attack and sudden turn; Model’s steady defensive follow-up; the tragic tenacity of List’s desperate defense in the north; Kluge’s stunning debut…

Similarly, the performance of the Soviet generals was also commendable. Zhukov’s swift and decisive attack, and his equally unhesitating retreat…

Even Akado had to admit that this was an era of brilliant stars, a true and genuine forest of the strong.

Published: 2025-09-22T03:32:03.000+00:00
Last Edited: 2026-03-11T16:19:47.000+00:00
URL: https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair/posts/mtr-c723-forest-139443744

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