Chapter 3 Chapter One Before the Storm

Since Germany annexed Austria, I just watched the development of the political situation from a point far away from the military center. At the beginning of February 1938, after I had risen to the second highest post in the German Army General Staff as Under Chief of the Staff, my life as a General Staff officer came to an abrupt end.As a result of an insidious party conspiracy, Admiral Fritsch was dismissed as Commander-in-Chief of the Army, and some of his subordinates who were closely connected with him, including myself, were expelled from Army Headquarters with him.Since then, I have been changed to be the commander of the 18th Division. Of course, I have no right to intervene in any matter that falls under the jurisdiction of the Higher Command.

In fact, since April 1938, I have also had to concentrate on my job as a teacher.It was a very satisfying task, but at the same time it took all one's energy, because the Army's expansion work was far from complete at the time.As new units continued to be formed, those already in place had to be reorganized frequently.at a time when rearmament is accelerating and the number of officers and non-commissioned officers in particular has surged, it will be critical at all levels of command if we are to achieve our goal of internal security and a highly trained force to ensure the security of the nation If you are an official, you must make the most stringent requirements.For me personally, this job is especially satisfying, because after living in Berlin for several years, I rarely have the pleasure of having direct contact with combat units again.Therefore, I especially miss the peaceful life of the last year and a half, especially those Silesian children who formed the Eighteenth Division.Silesia has been a source of good soldiers throughout history, so it has been a joy to educate and train these new units.

There was a small episode in the middle of this era, which was the occupation of the Sutai area. This is the so-called Floral War (Translator's Note: It means that the local people presented flowers to welcome the German army.).At this time, I was transferred to the Chief of Staff of the Army of Col. Gen. Ritter V. Leeb.That's how I learned that the chief of the army's general staff, Gen. Beok, had a serious conflict with Hitler over the Czech issue.As a result, I deeply regret that my beloved Chief of the General Staff has finally resigned.After he resigned, he also cut off the line of communication between me and Army Headquarters.

So it wasn't until the summer of 1939 that I learned that according to Hitler's order, preparations were being made for the deployment of the first offensive against Poland, the so-called Operation White (Order White).Before the spring of 1939, nothing of the kind existed.On the contrary, all our military preparations on the eastern frontiers are based on defense. In the above-mentioned operational orders, I was defaulted to be the Chief of Staff of the Army Group South, and the Commander-in-Chief was defaulted to be General Lundster, who had long since retired.This army group is scheduled to be deployed in Silesia, eastern Moravia, and partly in Slovakia.According to this plan, we will now begin to draw up all the detailed arrangements.

Because the headquarters of the army group does not exist in normal times, it is only established during the general mobilization, so now a small working group is formed to start dealing with matters related to the new combat order.On August 12, 1939, the team started work in the Silesian training area in Neuhammer.This was directed by Colonel Blumentit, who was also a General Staff officer and was scheduled to be Chief of Operations (Ia) at Army Group Headquarters upon mobilization.For me personally, this is a very rare good fortune, because I have close confidence in this extremely capable person.During the crisis in the Soviet-Taiwan area, we served together in the Li Bu Group Army, and thus established our friendship. I think it is very valuable to have a reliable colleague at such a time.What makes us emotional may seem insignificant to others.I like the gesture of Blumentitte on the phone the most.He always worked at an astonishingly high rate, and when he had a microphone in his hand, he had a good sense of humor on the one hand and a good sense of humor on the other.

In mid-August, the future commander-in-chief of Army Group South, Admiral Rundster, also came to Newhammer.All of us know his name.As an interpreter of grand tactics, he is exceptional. He is a soldier of genius who can grasp the point of any problem in a split second.In fact, he is indeed able to ignore all the small details and only pay attention to the big problems.He was a gentleman of the old fashion, the type which had added so much splendor to life in the past, but which had gradually faded into oblivion.The general had a demeanor that even Hitler fell in love with.Hitler seemed to have taken a real liking for him, and even after deposing him twice, he still had a little lingering thought.Perhaps the main reason why Hitler took such a liking to this general was that he represented a bygone era, which he could not understand; and he had an atmosphere which he had never had.

It was also interesting that when our working group assembled at Newhammer, my own 18th Division was in the same training area, engaged in regular regimental and divisional annual exercises. Since 1933, our motherland has repeatedly passed through acute crises, and every one of us is disturbed by the situation.How it will develop in the future is even more unpredictable.Our thoughts and private conversations at this time are all about the storm to come, for the signs of it are already showing on the horizon.We all recognize that Hitler has already decided to fully recover all the territorial losses brought about by the Versailles Peace Treaty.We all know that since the autumn of 1938, he has started negotiations with the Polish authorities in an attempt to reach a general settlement of the entire Polish border issue, but we do not know whether this negotiation has progressed or not.At the same time, we all know that Britain has guaranteed promises to Poland.I may venture to say that there is not one man in the Army who would be so absurd, unthinking, or short-sighted, not to recognize the seriousness of the warning of this guarantee.This one factor alone (certainly not the only one) is enough to convince those of us in Newhammer that in the end there will be no war.From our point of view, even if the expansion plan we have drawn up is actually put into practice, its meaning is not necessarily equal to war.We have up to this time closely followed the dangerous line Germany is taking on the razor's edge, and are increasingly incredulous at Hitler's astonishing good fortune, which has so far achieved all of it without the use of force at all. political purpose.The man seemed to have an almost infallible instinct.One success after another, it seemed to be endless. At the beginning, it was hard for anyone to think that such a glorious achievement would finally make us a complete failure.Everything in the past did not require war.So we asked ourselves, is it different this time?See the past example of Czechoslovakia.Although Hitler also sent troops to the border in 1938, there was still no war.But this time the situation was more subtle, and Hitler's game was more dangerous.And there's the question of the UK guarantee.But we recall that Hitler himself once said that he would never be so crazy, like the German authorities in 1914, rashly launching a two-front war.From this at least it can be implied that he is still a rational person, although he has no human touch at all.He once used his hoarse throat to openly declare to his military advisers that he was not a fool to go into a world war over Danzig or the Polish Corridor.