Chapter 824: The Struggle for Status

What Guderian didn’t know was that the “God” he was praising for completing the victory in the bridge defense battle was at this very moment, fast asleep in a borrowed tent, without the slightest bit of a divine image. He was simply too tired. After a full day and night of continuous fighting, he really needed a rest.

A continuous stream of German armored forces was crossing the Soviet defense line. The majority of the surrounded Soviet troops behind them were being encircled by Manstein’s M Army Group, which was catching up. The annihilation battle in the rear was now proceeding in an orderly manner, and Guderian’s troops were able to continue their rapid advance towards Stalingrad.

None of this had anything to do with Rein. The 502nd Battalion had paid a heavy price in this offensive. The 2nd Company, in order to cover the 1st Company’s attack, had fought two brutal encounter battles on the road, losing three Tiger tanks. And the Rein Hardt crew, the spearhead of the 502nd, had also lost their tank, No. 113. The entire battalion, including the tanks under repair for mechanical failure, now had only half of its tanks left.

Therefore, in the current offensive operations, the 502nd Panzer Battalion was no longer undertaking assault missions. And because they were so far from the rear, they probably wouldn’t be able to get any new replacement personnel or new tanks in the short term. To continue to participate in the frontline combat, they would probably have to wait for a long, long time.

The Das Reich Division, as a new SS unit assigned to Guderian’s G Army Group, made its debut in this offensive. This unit, whose uniforms were somewhat out of place, showed an incredibly powerful combat effectiveness in battle. The entire division’s fighting style was brave to the point of recklessness. After suffering heavy casualties, they had completed the arduous task of advancing 30 kilometers, capturing and seizing a large number of Soviet heavy artillery pieces.

As a unit committed to battle for the first time, the division’s deputy commander had been wounded and killed while leading a charge. The commanders of the three infantry regiments had been wounded one after another in just over an hour, and two of the nine battalion commanders had been killed. But they had broken through four of the Soviet army’s positions, had captured 4,000 enemy troops, and had been the first to plant their divisional battle standard on a salient closest to Stalingrad.

Guderian had immediately allocated 3,000 sets of field camouflage smocks and 300 G43 semi-automatic rifles to this unit. Although he did not particularly like the SS’s practice of emphasizing its own existence, out of a traditional soldier’s fondness for a combat-effective unit, Guderian had decided to temporarily stop discriminating against this deformed unit that emphasized spiritual strength.

Beyond the glorious combat record was the fact that the Das Reich Division had added a large number of wounded to the field hospitals. The oaths of these fanatical members of the Greater German Party were all to give their all for the Führer’s orders. These men could be said to be the most loyal party members, and also the most fanatical followers of Akado. The movie scenes that were considered exaggerated were all reflected in these men. After being hit by a bullet, what they cried out was not “Help me,” but “Long live the Fatherland.”

Guderian was now very close to Stalingrad, so close that it even made Rokossovsky feel uncomfortable. The German bombers could easily bomb this city under the escort of fighter planes. Because the distance was so close, the German army could frequently sortie its planes, allowing a single plane to make several round trips in one day.

And so, in the next few days, the German air units flew more than 1,100 sorties over Stalingrad, carrying out an unprecedentedly large-scale bombing of this important Soviet transportation hub and industrial city.

In one day, Rokossovsky had received more than a dozen phone calls from Stalin and Zhukov. Every call urged him to hold Stalingrad. A few calls had even come from Moscow, stating that if anything unexpected happened in the defense of Stalingrad, then Rokossovsky had to fulfill his previous promise. The implication was that Rokossovsky was now bound to share the fate of this city, to either live forever together or to decay together.

Poland, the Wolf’s Lair.

In his office, Akado stood with his back to his trusted confidant, the leader of the SS, Reinhard Heydrich. He slowly turned around, looked at his subordinate, and then, with a scrutinizing gaze, observed this man who was so obedient to him.

After a long silence, he spoke in a somewhat casual tone, “Reinhard, at a time like this, we shouldn’t excessively challenge the dignity of those generals of the Wehrmacht. At least, when the war has entered such a critical juncture, we shouldn’t provoke those who are expanding our territory for us, right?”

“My Führer, the SS has a force of over 1 million men in the country. They are maintaining public order, exercising your power above the law, controlling and supervising the concentration camps, and stabilizing national production. They are all doing their duty,” Heydrich said, standing at attention. “They all hope to be able to serve you—my Führer—in a more dangerous place, a place where they can better show their loyalty.”

“But you cannot, regardless of the army’s feelings, unilaterally expand the SS. I have promised the main generals of the army that during my rule of Germany, the Wehrmacht will be the only legal armed force in the entire country!” Akado said, looking at Heydrich and emphasizing the word “only.”

“My Führer! The SS is your most loyal guard. To have a force that is absolutely loyal to you gradually replace the less-obedient Wehrmacht, isn’t that an inevitable trend?” Heydrich’s emotions were a little stirred. The SS was his entire life. His dream was to make the SS the largest group within Germany.

“The army is an irreplaceable national defense force of the Empire! This has been the established policy since I came to power! It cannot be shaken!” Akado said, staring at Heydrich with a frown. “The role of the Wehrmacht cannot be replaced by the SS. To have your men be assigned to the Wehrmacht is understandable, but to have them start their own thing is a provocation to the entire Wehrmacht! I think you should know what that means!”

Heydrich looked at the somewhat angry Akado without the slightest bit of flinching. He was not just representing one person now, but tens of millions of SS men, representing their interests. He walked up to Akado and said slowly, “Those Wehrmacht, composed of old soldiers and aristocrats, can no longer keep up with the times! The SS will definitely replace them.”

Akado suddenly reached out and slammed his hand on his desk. “Enough! I am also from the Wehrmacht! I was once a member of the Wehrmacht, and so were you! Your foolishness this time has already made the high command of the Wehrmacht very dissatisfied. They have reported this matter to me more than once in meetings.”

During the Republic period, the main reason Akado had been able to defeat Hitler and ultimately stand at the highest position of leadership in Germany was because he had come from the Wehrmacht and had won the trust of both the old warlords and the new soldiers. He could use the Wehrmacht as if it were his own arm, which was why Hitler, with his stormtroopers, had been utterly defeated.

And as one of the prices, as one of the most important bargaining chips for the Wehrmacht’s loyalty to the Führer, was that Akado had promised all the high-ranking generals of the army that he would not let the SS under his command grow too strong. The Wehrmacht was the only German defense force stipulated by German law.

It was also for this reason that all of the expanded armed forces of the SS had been assigned by Akado to the Wehrmacht and were supplied by the Wehrmacht units. Only then had the Wehrmacht acquiesced to the existence of these SS units. Of course, on the other hand, because these SS units were brave in combat and had an impressive combat record, and had won the respect of their Wehrmacht counterparts through their own efforts, this was also an important reason.

But acquiescence, or acceptance, these were not reasons for the Wehrmacht to tolerate the SS continuing to expand its influence. The Wehrmacht, after all, was a group that had developed from the old army. They were proud and even somewhat exclusive. The high-ranking generals of the army had always taken it as their own duty to ensure the transcendent status of the Wehrmacht in Germany, so they were particularly resentful of the SS, a quasi-military organization of the same nature.

“Whether you can understand it or not, whether you are willing to understand it or not, I can only tell you that apart from my personal guard, the 0th Division, and the few special operations units under its command, any frontline SS unit can only fight under the unified command of the Wehrmacht and can only develop within the scope tolerated by the Wehrmacht!” Akado warned Heydrich in a cold tone. “I know what you and the people behind you are thinking, but I want to tell you, or rather, tell all of you, that it is best not to engage in this kind of internal struggle at a time like this. Otherwise, I will drag out those bastards who claim to be loyal to me but are in the end only loyal to themselves, one by one, and hang them!”

He looked at Heydrich and said through clenched teeth, word by word, “The SS is not just yours; it is also my life’s work! If you, because of a hot head or not thinking clearly about who you should be loyal to, I will be very disappointed.”

Only then did Heydrich remember who the person in front of him was. He was different from the newly risen powerful figures behind the SS. He was the Führer. He was the heaviest weight on the balance of power. And in this country, those who were not loyal to the Führer no longer existed. Heydrich himself had eliminated quite a few, but definitely not all.

In terms of being unreasonable, the Wehrmacht was the largest and most unreasonable organization in Germany. They dealt with their opponents in a more direct and bloody way: tying them to the tracks of a tank, hanging them from the bombs of a plane, stuffing them into the torpedo tubes of a naval submarine. Even a monarch of a country had to be careful with his words and actions when facing the German Wehrmacht.

“I will do my best to persuade them. The SS is still loyal to you, my Führer,” Heydrich said after a moment of silence.

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