Chapter 189 Plan

Seven days passed in the blink of an eye.

One by one, people sent their answers to Wilhelm's question about how to defend against the enemy's deep operations. Various imaginative answers surprised Wilhelm, as he didn't expect even the serious and meticulous Germans to come up with such creative solutions.

After filtering out many absurd and impractical answers, only three remained. As Wilhelm expected, they were from Model, Kluge, and Manstein.

Although the answers from the three had some differences in detail, they were generally the same. In simple terms, to defend against the enemy's deep operations, one needed elastic defense and mobile counterattacks.

As for who to assign to what, Manstein needed to focus on his "Manstein Plan", and Model had his own specific duties, leaving only Kluge.

Wilhelm immediately summoned Kluge and listened carefully to his report. "Your Highness, may I ask which country is the hypothetical enemy?"

Wilhelm didn't conceal anything. "The Red Empire across from us. The estimated numerical ratio is about 1:5, and in terms of combat effectiveness, it's roughly 10:7."

"Understood." After some thought, Kluge walked to the small blackboard Wilhelm had prepared and began his report.

Large-scale deep operations are a strategy of the strong, employed when the opponent holds a significant advantage in forces and weaponry. However, extensive and massive deep operations, like those of the Soviet Union, have a fatal flaw—sustainability!

If the army is too large, logistical pressure becomes extremely severe. Even a powerful national strength would find it challenging to sustain such a massive army for an extended period and over long distances during intense deep operations.

Therefore, to restrain extensive deep operations, the first requirement is to have depth; otherwise, facing the opponent's overwhelming force and weaponry, there is no point in talking about defense—it would be pushed back in a single wave.

If there is a certain level of strategic depth, then flexible defense and mobile counterattacks are necessary. In fact, this is not a secret; the so-called "retreating to decide the battle" is a manifestation of deep defense. The powerful arrowhead of a deep strike is potent, and the Soviet deep operations might maintain multiple assault echelons, rushing toward the opponent like waves.

Therefore, it is necessary to continuously delay and deplete the enemy's assault forces within the depth through methods such as road destruction, landmine deployment, and mobile counterattacks. Simultaneously, as the enemy's intrusion distance increases and their forces diminish, both the logistical pressure and the ability for sustained combat decline rapidly. In such a situation, leveraging the advantages of our interior lines of operation, timely assembling strategic reserves, and launching a vigorous counterattack when the enemy's offensive approaches its limits become crucial. Prioritize striking their vulnerable supply lines, employing the pincer formula to cut off the retreat routes of the attacking echelons, with the primary objective of annihilating their combat forces. This approach effectively curtails extensive deep strikes.

After listening to Kluge's report, Wilhelm pondered for a moment before speaking. "If we firmly control air superiority, wouldn't defense be more efficient?"

Without hesitation, Kluge replied, "Yes, Your Highness. As long as we control air superiority, we can continuously bombard the enemy's frontline and deep regular airfields, disrupting their predetermined positions, supply points, artillery positions, assembly areas, and more through aerial attacks."

Wilhelm nodded; this made things easier. "You go guard the eastern front, where there are still hundreds of thousands of Polish prisoners. Build defensive lines with them."

"Yes."

"Go, and if the Soviets dare to invade, teach them a harsh lesson!"

Kluge saluted and left.

Wilhelm picked up the phone and connected to the Ministry of Defense. "Marshal, are the troops ready?"

"Yes, Your Highness. Our troops are fully prepared, awaiting the final report from the reconnaissance units sent to the Ardennes Forest and mountainous areas." The last sentence sounded somewhat lacking in confidence. Obviously, Rundstedt was not optimistic about armored units passing through the Ardennes Forest.

Of course, if Wilhelm didn't know that someone had already tried running tanks through that forest in the original timeline, not once but twice, he wouldn't have made this decision so easily. "Rest assured, Marshal. They will find a way. Who could have thought back then that Napoleon could cross the Alps?" When the British and Austrians heard about Napoleon's plan to cross the Alps, they disdainfully responded with silent sneers. "That's a place where no wheels have ever rolled and never could. Moreover, he leads a 70,000-strong army, dragging heavy cannons with tons of shells and equipment, along with a considerable amount of supplies and ammunition." However, just when besieged General Massena was in dire straits in Genoa, Napoleon's army appeared like celestial soldiers. The Austrians, who thought victory was imminent, were dumbfounded, and their military morale collapsed. They could hardly believe that the short-statured man before them had conquered the towering peaks. "We'll make those British jump again."

"I hope so. May God bless Germany."

After hanging up the phone, Wilhelm couldn't help but smirk. Everyone hopes for God's blessings, but who should God protect? It puts God in a difficult position.

At that moment, the red phone on his desk suddenly rang. This phone was a direct line to the Intelligence Bureau, and without answering it, Wilhelm knew it was a call from Reinhard. "Your Highness, our 'Bait Plan' was successful."

A smug smile appeared on Wilhelm's lips. "That's excellent."

In the original timeline, the plan to attack France was not the "Manstein Plan" but another "Yellow Plan." Although Manstein believed that the "Yellow Plan" seemed to imitate the "Schlieffen Plan" and was difficult to achieve surprise victories, the Ministry of Defense and the Little Mustache did not heed his advice, intending to continue with the "Yellow Plan."

However, a few days later, a German light aircraft flying along the Belgian border made an emergency landing in Belgian territory due to engine failure. The wings of the aircraft had already been torn off by large tree branches. Several Belgian soldiers rushed from a nearby border post for the rescue operation.

The two people on the plane fortunately survived. They were dressed in civilian clothes, but they were actually German officers—one was the pilot, and the other was 32-year-old Lieutenant Helms Rheinberg. Both were unharmed. Later, they were taken to the nearby Belgian army headquarters. There, they requested to make a phone call to the German military attaché in the Belgian embassy.

Captain Roche of the outpost walked into the room with a roaring fire in a small stove. Lieutenant Rheinberg soon seemed to doze off, and the two Belgian soldiers in the room also began to relax. Suddenly, Lieutenant Rheinberg jumped up, quickly ran to the stove, and used his hand to open the glowing lid. He threw a bundle of paper hidden in his coat pocket into it.

At that moment, Belgian Lieutenant Roche happened to enter the room, intending to inquire about the two Germans. Witnessing this scene, he rushed to the stove, extended his hand, and pulled out the already burning paper roll. His hand suffered severe burns.

Although the paper was burnt by the fire, the Belgian intelligence agency pieced together the fragments. The beginning of the paper was written "German Military Operations Order", followed by "German troops on the western front will launch an attack between the North Sea and the Moselle River…" and some phrases like Dutch fortifications, 7th Airborne Corps, tank corps, and so on. The Belgian generals could hardly believe their eyes: the "Yellow Plan" for the German attack on France and the Low Countries (referring to the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg) was unfolding before them.

Could it be that Rheinberg's paper was a conspiracy that baffled the Allies? The Belgian intelligence agency decided to reveal the truth. When German military attaché Major General Wenck finally got permission to talk to Rheinberg alone, the Belgians eavesdropped in the next room. The Belgians heard Rheinberg report to Wenck that he had successfully burned the "Yellow Plan", relieving General Wenck.

All of this made the Belgians believe that this plan was real and not a trap.

The German General Staff speculated that the "Yellow Plan" had been revealed to the high-ranking Allied commanders. Executing this plan would no longer achieve the effect of a "blitz." They had to change their initial attempts in the early stages of the Western Front campaign.

It was at this moment that the Little Mustache remembered Manstein, who had always proposed changes to the operational plans. The original "Yellow Plan" passed through the central part of Belgium on the right wing of the front line and then turned southwest, directly aimed at Paris for the main assault. Manstein changed it to pass through the Ardennes region, move through Luxembourg towards Sedan in the northwest, then turn towards Calais for a deep, dividing attack, cutting off the northern group of the Anglo-French coalition and forcing them to the coast.

As everyone knows, the "Manstein Plan" achieved unprecedented success, trapping hundreds of thousands of Allied forces in Dunkirk.

Wilhelm didn't know if the leakage of the "Yellow Plan" was a deliberate intelligence trap set by the German army, but he still followed suit and let Reinhard set a trap for the British and French.

Now, the British and French have really fallen into the trap.