Chapter 168 The Battle of Poland (31)

"Your Highness, General."

Rommel came up and saluted the two of them respectfully.

Wilhelm nodded and asked kindly. "General Rommel, I heard that you are not very particular about your diet?"

It is said that Rommel lived a very simple life, trying his best to share the joys and sorrows with the soldiers. His daily diet was only dry bread and some canned food, and the leftovers were often left for the next meal. The hard and rough diet caused Rommel to suffer from serious illness. Stomach problems. In the later stages, the German army's combat conditions had reached their limits and they could hardly eat.

"I personally hired a Chinese medicine doctor and health practitioner. From now on, he will be solely responsible for your diet. You can eat whatever he tells you to eat, and you can eat as much as he tells you. If you dare to disobey, I will transfer you back to China and arrange a job for you, so that you will never have to go to the battlefield in this life." Because there was a powerful Ming Dynasty at this time, traditional Chinese medicine was not looked down upon by Western medicine like it was in the original time and space.

And at this time, Rommel had not yet suffered from the stomach disease that would plague him later. But Wilhelm is not worried that this guy will abandon the army one day and go back to celebrate his wife's birthday. Every time, he sends a capable deputy to him, which is enough to stabilize the team when Rommel is away. Can he fight? We don't know whether we will win the battle, but at least we won't be defeated.

"..." Rommel was both moved and depressed. "Thank you, Your Highness." He then reported that their previous exploration attack was repelled by the Warsaw defenders.

As soon as the Soviet offensive began, Marshal Śmigły, who swore to live and die with Warsaw, fled Warsaw with President Mościcki and fled with the government agencies to Lublin, southeast of Warsaw.

The embassies of various countries that originally lived in Warsaw also received the notice from Germany and evacuated Warsaw in cooperation.

At this time, there were about 20,000 armed reserve soldiers in Warsaw. Counting the police and real defense forces, Warsaw garrison commander Carol Rommel assembled a total of 80,000 "soldiers" to defend against the German attack. The citizens who remained in Warsaw voluntarily took up arms to protect their homes. Under the leadership of the "Warsaw Defense Headquarters" these volunteers established numerous ambulance first aid stations and fire brigades.

And the workers spontaneously organized workers' camps. The total number is about 2,000.

Under the active organization of General Carol Rommel, every building in Warsaw was surrounded by sandbags, cement, and barbed wire. Spider-web-like underground passages connect and communicate various defense positions, and a large number of anti-tank trenches also appeared on the main streets of Warsaw. In addition, there are roadblocks made of various stones and bricks on the street.

For a time, the eyes of both Germany and Poland and the whole world were focused on Warsaw, a city with a history of 60 years.

When the Warsaw garrison commander Carol Rommel was introduced, Rommel looked a little embarrassed.

Wilhelm laughed. "Another Rommel? How interesting. I heard that you also captured a Rommel before?"

Rommel nodded. "Yes, he is the commander of the Lodz Army named Julius Rommel."

"You are still relatives, right? The Rommel family is really full of talents." After praising him, Wilhelm thought about it and said. "You can talk to that Julius Rommel or Carol Rommel. Well, Carol Rommel still refuses to surrender now. He can wait until he is captured before talking. Ask whether they are they willing to surrender to us. Anyway, we have to find an agent to manage this place. Since you are relatives, then the good news should not go to outsiders. "

Rommel was stunned for a moment, not expecting Wilhelm to have such a plan. "Thank you, Your Highness."

As for the resistance against Warsaw, Wilhelm was indifferent. "Actually, cut off all energy and food supplies in Warsaw. Just wait until they surrender and come out. I want to practice those street fighting troops. Practice with these weaklings first, so that I can have a foundation when encountering real hard battles in the future." Street fighting is the best choice for the weak to deal with strong soldiers. It is a real "meat grinder" and even a slaughterhouse. The winning side and the losing side suffer staggering losses.

For this reason, Wilhelm specifically created a unit that can assist regular troops in street fighting.

This street fighting force is equipped with powerful automatic firepower. The infantry is equipped with G43, MP44, MP40, shotguns, flamethrowers, grenade guns, Panzerfausts, etc.

The assault gun, which is based on the body of the Jackal tank, has a thick layer of armor all over its body. Due to the increase in weight, the speed of this street fighting tank is only about ten kilometers per hour, making it a veritable infantry tank.

The self-propelled anti-aircraft gun modified on the chassis of the Jackal tank is based on the design of the famous ZSU-23-4 Shilka self-propelled anti-aircraft gun in later generations. Although it does not have advanced equipment such as radar and on-board computers, it has four 20mm anti-aircraft guns, which is quite powerful. Moreover, because the self-propelled anti-aircraft gun has a high enough elevation angle and relatively comprehensive armor protection, it is like an artifact in this kind of street fighting. Because it has to deal with targets such as aircraft, this weapon can adjust the turret angle very quickly, and the relative reaction time is shorter, so it can deal with threats from all directions more quickly.

There are also fire-breathing tanks, six-barreled small rocket launchers, mortars, etc.

Among them, what he values most is the snipers he has carefully trained over the years. They are equipped with the "super large" walkie-talkies that the US military will equip in a few years, that is, super phones that weigh nearly 5 pounds. Produced by Siemens, it is a tunable high-frequency FM communication that can be used for voice calls or Morse code. The effective communication distance is about 16 kilometers. With this thing, the sniper team can not only snipe and kill the enemy, but also conveniently call for artillery fire to cover the enemy's large targets.

Arriving at the headquarters, Rommel pointed to the huge map of Warsaw on the wall and continued to report. "Army bombers have destroyed water plants, water stations, and power stations in Warsaw. Currently, most areas in Warsaw are without water and power."

"Not bad." Wilhelm nodded with satisfaction and asked after listening to all the reports. "Is the K5 ready? I want to see the power of those big guys." He didn't want to stay here for a long time, but before leaving, he wanted to see the power of the K5 train gun.

The concept of train guns originated in the 1850s and was proposed in the work "Defense" by the British Anderson. After the 1860s, Russia also had the same concept. The first country to use train guns was the United States. During the Civil War, in order to besiege the Confederate Army (Southern Army) in Petersburg, the Union Army (Northern Army) first used a 13-inch mortar equipped with an uncovered train for bombardment. This was the first such weapon in the world. train gun.

During World War I and World War II, Germany also began to use train guns as weapons to bombard fortresses and trenches, pushing the use of train guns to a new peak. During World War I, Germany used the "Paris-Geschütz" with a range of 130 kilometers to bombard Paris, France. It has a total weight of 256 tons, a length of 34 meters, a caliber of 211 mm, an effective range of 130 kilometers, and a flight height of 40 kilometers from the ground. It is also the first man-made object in human history to enter the stratosphere.

Unlike the famous "Gustav" train gun, the 218-ton K5 train gun does not need to be disassembled and assembled. It can stop and fire at any time, and hit and run at any time. During the Battle of Anzio, Italy in 1944, two K5 artillery pieces escaped bombing in the railway tunnel of Anzio. After the bombing, they came out to attack the landing Allied soldiers and equipment. Every time K5 fires, it will cause a large number of casualties, and some landing troops will even be wiped out by the formation. This caused huge panic among the Allied forces and severely damaged the morale of the officers and soldiers participating in the war, so K5 got another nickname "Anzio Express".

"Wait a moment." Rommel picked up the phone and ordered.

A few minutes later, an extremely sharp sound broke through the sky above them, and then a deafening explosion came from the distant Warsaw city, and the ground trembled slightly.

Looking at the huge cloud of smoke rising in Warsaw, Wilhelm couldn't help but click his tongue. "Haha, you are indeed a big guy, this power is really powerful!"