Chapter 34:

Chapter 34:

Chapter 34

I felt like my stomach was turning upside down again.

I heard the shocking news that Rundstedt, the oldest and highest-ranking officer in the defense army and my superior, had been arrested on the absurd charge of plotting to assassinate the Führer.

As a result, the vacant position of the commander of the Southern Army Group was filled by some young colonel who had been promoted two ranks to a general.

“Walter Model? Who is that... who are you?”

“Are you... Walter Model, the one who was a division commander in the Central Army Group until recently?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

One of the division commanders under my command raised his hand hesitantly.

What was his name?

As I was trying to remember, the general spoke with a sincere look of curiosity.

“Then I think he’s my friend. He’s an old friend of mine...”

“...What?”N0v3lRealm was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B1n.

The guy who should be a division commander under me is now my boss?

I could understand how Manstein, who had been pushed aside by some incompetent senior, had become the commander of the Northern Army Group.

I could also accept that Guderian, who was seven years younger than me, had been promoted because he had advanced the farthest.

But as I heard those shocking words, I felt like punching him in the face.

‘What did I do wrong?’

Who is that Model guy and what did he do so well that he became an army group commander?

The situation of the Southern Army Group was not good. But that was because the Soviet resistance was strongest in the south, and we had to face their elite forces with pathetic Romanian and Hungarian soldiers.

Did the Führer think this was my fault?

But the current situation was not something that could be explained by the difference in command ability of the generals.

Would Rundstedt, who had grown old and senile, have done well in Poland and France?

At that moment, the door of the conference room opened wide and someone came in swiftly.

The general who grabbed the empty chair at the head of the table greeted everyone with a look of surprise.

“Nice to meet you!”

His steps were light, and his speech was cheerful and clear.

He looked inappropriate for a commander of a defeated army that was cornered.

“I’m Model, the new commander of the Southern Army Group. I won’t say much, so let’s get to the briefing quickly.”

Would a rising general who had been victorious at the forefront act like this?

He showed no hesitation in front of those who had much longer military careers than him.

After the initial victory at the beginning of the war, the German army had not tasted a real victory.

And yet he had such confidence?

I was speechless.

Model even waved his hand and smiled brightly at the division commander who said he was an old friend.

The other generals did not seem very convinced either.

Anyone could see that the situation of the Southern Army Group was grim.

The 6th Army’s defense line had more holes than troops in front of the surprise offensive of the Soviet 1st and 2nd Shock Armies.

The Soviet mobile units penetrated through the gaps in the defense line, and we barely repelled them, but not without casualties.

As a result, the units under the 6th Army were isolated and reduced to small and exhausted subunits.

It was not a matter of retreating and reorganizing.

I’m the leader here! Was that what he thought?

Anyway, with no other alternatives, they gathered around to see his tactics.

“First of all, we will close this gap and secure the connection between the 6th Army and the 1st Panzer Group.”

Most of the equipment of the 1st Panzer Group was stuck in mud and could not move properly.

The railway network behind them had been cut off long ago by partisan attacks and cavalry forces led by Budenny.

Even if they combined the 6th Army and the 1st Panzer Group, they had 380,000 soldiers who were exhausted and wounded without replenishing their losses. But Model was confident.

He ran his hand over the key points on the tactical map.

Novogorod-Volynskyi, Dubovitsy, Shepetovka, Zdolbunov.

He tapped and brushed away the waves of Soviet troops heading for the unfamiliar Russian-named cities.

“Here, here, and here.”

The areas where railroads passed that could support the 1st Panzer Group.

His hand drew a long line from Lutsk where the Southern Army Group headquarters was located.

His ‘counterattack’ had two spearheads.

It was obvious that he intended to annihilate the Soviet vanguard ‘field armies’ starting from Lutsk and Chernobyl.

“And from here we will launch a counteroffensive. The Soviet army... The 9th Army and the 26th Army? Those bastards are too cocky. Hahaha.”

Kleist and all the other generals were stunned by his absurd optimism.

No matter how huge the German field army units were compared to those of the Soviet army, they faced several armies that they did not know how many.

It was not a matter of simply annihilating two field armies.

They needed something more to avoid drowning in the waves of troops that would follow.

Model’s old friend, Hans-Valentin Hube, raised his hand hesitantly.

Model smiled brightly and answered his old friend’s question.

“Ah! Hans. Yes, what are you curious about?”

“Sir... Do we have reinforcements for this operation? Will our strength be enough for this operation?”

Model looked at the audience with playful eyes.

Reinforcements?

Did they have reinforcements?

Everyone’s eyes were filled with anticipation and focused on the new commander-in-chief.

Well, if the Führer loved him so much that he put him in that position... Wouldn’t they have reinforcements?

Hahaha, he answered loudly with a hearty laugh.

“Me! Don’t you have your new commander-in-chief here?”

“Yes? Hehehe...”

Hube laughed as if he was speechless.

Some people joined his laughter and soon the conference room was filled with laughter.

Kleist snorted in disbelief.

‘No, have you ever seen such a madman?’

But he didn’t feel bitter at the moment.

He had seen many madmen in his forty years of military service.

Madmen either did reckless things and suffered a defeat, then got their heads chopped off after shifting all the blame, or... they won.

And this madman seemed to be the latter.

Hahaha, he started to like the young commander-in-chief who laughed heartily.