Steel Soviet Union

The warm little stove was constantly licking the red flames outwards, exuding scorching heat, baking the office that could be called a large house as warm as spring. But even so, Guderian was in a terrible mood and could not feel even the slightest warmth in his heart, just like the bleak wind and snow outside the window.

His seemingly godless eyes swept across the heavy snow outside the window and were filled with sorrow. The cold wind that blew into the room through the cracks in the window and blew on Guderian's face was more hurtful than the sharpest blade in the world. , Guderian, who had not slept well for several days in a row, immediately retracted his sad and deep eyes after sighing, and continued to pick up his pen and start writing on the white letter paper placed on the desk in front of him.

"Alfred, maybe you made the right choice to stay at home and take care of yourself instead of fighting for the Führer. At least you don't have to suffer the pain of living like I do now."

"The enemy we faced on Soviet soil had bought time, while our troops and our plans were falling deeper and deeper into the harsh winter. This was a mental and physical toll on the troops. The dual torment of war, and the sadness and despair of combat, all of which made me extremely frustrated and exhausted.”

"The facts encountered on the Soviet Union have proven that no matter how good the wishes are, they are no match for the power of nature. The only opportunity to carry out a decisive blow has been missed with the passage of time. I don't know if it will come back again. , As for what will happen in the future, I think only God knows.”

"Now I just hope that the troops will not lose the courage to continue offensive operations. The war situation and the future of the entire country will not allow courage to be lost in vain. But there is only one thing that I have to say and must admit that the test before us is very important to us in Germany. It’s really too harsh for the soldiers.”

"I hope I can write something cheerful before long. You know, Alfred, I have never been a blaming guy, but I hope you can understand that the current situation and experience are really difficult to make people happy." Be happy, if you stand with me on the freezing Soviet land, I believe you will feel the same as me."

After taking a breath, he carefully packaged the letter addressed to his old comrades in Bavaria with an extremely heavy heart, and then closed the envelope. Knowing that the pen in his hand was far from ready to stop, Guderian immediately opened the drawer next to his desk, took out one of the thick telegraph newspapers and started writing again.

"Please understand that I really can't write down any greetings or honorifics to you at this special time. Halder, if you could go to the front line and see our soldiers in person, I believe you would feel the same as I do at this moment. ”

"This telegram is not sent to you in the name of any soldier or in the position held by the army. Halder, if possible, please treat this telegram as just an ordinary old friend. "As for whether you want to translate what I'm going to tell you into substantive actions, please make your own decision based on the situation in Berlin."

"The first heavy snowfall this year in the Soviet winter came very early. If I remember correctly, it should have fallen on the night of October 6th. That was the day when my armored group relaunched its attack on Moscow."

"It snowed continuously all night and didn't stop until the next morning. When I stepped out of the tent that morning, the snow had already fallen as high as my ankles. This is simply unimaginable in Germany. Likewise, I immediately sent a telegram asking the rear to step up and send all the cotton-padded clothes for the troops to the front. "

"But unfortunately, even today, almost a month later, I have not seen enough winter cotton-padded clothes being delivered to my armored group by the baggage troops. You can imagine that even the nose and tears are frozen to death on my face. What was it like? Halder, I can assure you that it was not a scene you would want to remember."

The pen in his hand turned here, and Guderian vaguely recalled what he had seen when he inspected the troops in the past few days. He could not help but pause for a moment. He once shouted that he would fight to the death for the head of state and beat the Soviets at the beginning of the war. The contrast between the defeated SS Imperial Division and the severe cold and snow was even worse than that of the beggars on the streets of Berlin after World War I. Even now, it is enough to make Guderian sigh sadly.

"Perhaps this is what happened to Napoleon back then, wasn't it?"

Guderian, who asked himself and then responded with a self-deprecating smile, ignored the cold wind that poured into his collar from the gap in the window sill beside him. He immediately picked up the pen in his hand and continued to splash ink on the unfinished telegraph newspaper.

"The heavy early winter snow that fell on October 6 continued to fall for nearly a week until October 12. I can no longer remember the exact date when the snow stopped falling. Frostbite and cold-related diseases in various units under my command reduced the number of soldiers. The reports, together with the telegrams requesting for the dispatch of cotton-padded clothes and winter supplies, piled up my desk as thick as the snow in the suburbs.”

"On November 3, my adjutant reported to me that the intelligence department had sent information that Stalin was preparing to parade in Red Square. Marshal Bock called me and asked me if I could open some favorable opportunities for the increasingly difficult war situation before that day came. "To be honest, I really want to say that I and my armored group can do it, but the reality, the responsibility on my shoulders, and the honor of being a soldier do not allow me to lie to my superiors."

"Also on the same day, the first cold wave in the Soviet Union swept across our troops. The temperature dropped below minus five degrees from the zero degree line that had just recovered. I thought this was bad enough, but it didn't I thought that on the 13th, yesterday, it was getting colder day by day. The temperature mentioned in yesterday’s report was minus 8 degrees. My personal experience outside the room told me that this temperature should be correct. "

"Because the anti-skid spikes for the tank tracks have not yet arrived, the heavily icy road ice and snow hard blocks have caused considerable difficulties for my armored cluster. The cold weather has made the matching sight on the tank's main gun useless, and there is a lack of antifreeze oil. The sight is no different than a frosted glass window in winter. I believe you will not think like those laymen that I am just alarmist just to complain. The reality will only be worse than you think when you read these words. 's even worse."