Following the interlude regarding the Southern Front, Guderian bid farewell to the meeting. He was in a hurry to reach North Africa to take over command from Rommel. According to Rommel's plan, the Afrika Korps was to launch an offensive against the British forces at Alamein in five days. However, everyone in the Afrika Korps, including Rommel himself, was unaware that the opposing British forces had been replaced by the British 8th Army under Montgomery's command. Not only was the commander's tactical level significantly higher, but after receiving reinforcements and supplies, the British army exceeded the Afrika Korps by more than double in both manpower and equipment. Without a doubt, if Rommel's plan were allowed to proceed, the losses of the Afrika Korps would be devastating. Originally, Guderian wanted to wait for Zeitzler to confirm the unit designations of the reinforcements before acting, but after Hoffman told him the "latest" news, the latter broke into a cold sweat. He gathered his staff and set off overnight—first taking a train to Italy to meet Mussolini, and then flying from Sicily to the front lines.
Zeitzler's explanation of the Eastern Front strategy gradually reached its climax. "In the northern sector, our army intends to abandon the strategic intent of capturing Leningrad, but we must continue the siege of the city. We want this city to act like a magnet, using the policy of 'besieging a city to strike reinforcements' to firmly attract Stalin's reinforcement troops to come and die in a steady stream. After Field Marshal Manstein is reassigned to the Southern Front, the 11th Army, which has already been redeployed north, will abandon the task of storming Leningrad and focus entirely on dealing with the Russian offensive... At the same time, to shorten the front line and save defensive forces, we are considering straightening the front line at the Demyansk Salient."
Hearing that the 11th Army reinforcements would neither have to tackle the tough nut of Leningrad nor follow Manstein south, and could also choose an opportunity to abandon Demyansk—that "meat grinder" which had consumed the lives of countless Soviet and German soldiers—Field Marshal von Küchler, commander of Army Group North, showed a satisfied expression.
"In the middle of the front, our objective remains Moscow, but the goal isn't to actually capture Moscow. Instead, we aim to apply pressure toward Moscow to consume and divert Stalin's reserves, forcing him to split his forces from the southern sector, thereby creating opportunities for us to defeat them piece by piece."
"I have a question." Seeing that the new commander of Army Group Center, Colonel General Weichs, had no reaction, the commander of the 9th Army, General Model, stood up abruptly. "This strategic objective is a double-edged sword. While shortening the front line lightens our burden, it also liberates the enemy, allowing them to redeploy with ease. The density of combat forces against us in the next stage will increase significantly. Army Group Center's defensive line stretches from Velikiye Luki in the north to Oryol in the south, with a total defensive width of 1,500 kilometers. In the battles of the first few months of this year, we utilized the Rzhev Salient to inflict over 500,000 losses on the Russians, while our own losses reached 140,000 to 150,000. Especially during Operation Seydlitz, the 2nd Panzer Group and the 9th Army under my command suffered even greater losses. Many infantry regiments have cycled through their commanders; some have changed as many as eight times. Without new reinforcements, and considering we have to detach one panzer division and one motorized infantry division from Army Group Center to reinforce Africa, it will be very difficult to complete the task of offensive defense with our current strength."
Zeitzler explained, "The Luftwaffe has formed four fully-manned Luftwaffe Field Divisions. General Halder originally intended to deploy them all to Army Group Center, and I will not change this measure."
Model shrugged. "Four Luftwaffe Field Divisions—it sounds like a lot of people, and their equipment is decent, but... er... respected Chief of the General Staff, you know their combat effectiveness. If they are truly deployed to the front lines, I'm afraid I'll have to send troops to protect them." As soon as he finished speaking, the room erupted in laughter. Even General Weichs, who had been lost in thought, chuckled. The previously somewhat stiff atmosphere of the meeting suddenly became much more lively.
Hoffman smiled. Model was indeed a confidant of the Führer; he dared to make such a joke at such a serious moment. However, he still greatly appreciated this master of defense. More importantly, what Model said was the truth—under the leadership of Hermann Göring, the Third Reich's air force, with a fleet of only five or six thousand aircraft, actually had over 1.8 million personnel. The excess ground crew and miscellaneous personnel in the air force departments alone reached 200,000. The Army General Staff had strongly requested that these personnel be quickly used to replenish the heavily depleted army divisions, but the Reichsmarschall had flatly refused. To prevent personnel from being given to the army, he had specifically ordered the formation of the ridiculous Luftwaffe Field Divisions. Each division was basically fully manned and equipped with the latest weapons. However, these units severely lacked combat training and experience, as well as battle-tested NCOs and officers. Consequently, their combat effectiveness was extremely low; even a newly formed Red Army militia division could repulse a Luftwaffe division, let alone a Guards division! In later generations, they were generally considered even weaker than the Italian army, which was seen as the weakest of the Axis powers.
"The strength of the Luftwaffe Field Divisions is indeed problematic, but we cannot let the units our Reichsmarschall worked so hard to organize go to waste like this." Hoffman stepped in to resolve Zeitzler's predicament. "I authorize you to break up the personnel and equipment of these four field divisions and use them to replenish the army as needed. However, the reorganization plan must be executed under the unified coordination of Chief Zeitzler. I will explain it to Hermann myself."
"The Führer is wise!" Zeitzler was very grateful to Hoffman for establishing his authority; the power to allocate four fully manned replenishment divisions was no small matter. Weichs and Model looked at each other and smiled, praising Hoffman from the bottom of their hearts. Now, the Führer had not only liberated Army Group Center from the stance of 'not one step back' but had also sent four fully manned replenishment divisions, which made them very happy.
Zeitzler thought of Guderian's instructions before he left and struck while the iron was hot to finalize the units to be detached from Army Group Center—the 4th Panzer Division and the 25th Motorized Infantry Division. These were all old subordinates of Guderian from when he commanded the Second Panzer Group. Colonel General Weichs was currently preoccupied with investigating the treasonous group, and the commander of the 2nd Panzer Army, Colonel General Rudolf Schmidt, was not present because he was commanding a battle. Model had already spoken up for reinforcements, and since his own troops were not being detached now, he naturally had no objection. Thus, the reinforcement forces sent by Army Group Center to the Afrika Korps were settled.
"The southern sector of the Eastern Front is the strategic focus of this year. Our army has not only concentrated more than half of its forces in this direction but has also been maintaining an offensive posture so far. The Führer believes that based on the results of the previous stage of operations, we overestimated ourselves. Attacking both the Caucasus and Stalingrad simultaneously greatly exceeded our strength. But this does not mean our original plan was entirely wrong, because these two directions are mutually supporting flanks. If we were to favor only one direction for an attack, it would easily expose our flank. Therefore, a strategic adjustment in the southern sector is necessary. The General Staff is determined to use this unfavorable situation to create an illusion, luring the enemy to attack our flank before surrounding and destroying them—besides that, both Stalingrad and the Caucasus oil fields are secondary objectives. Our true goal is to destroy the Russian mobile forces... To this end, we prepare to restore the organization of Army Group South at an appropriate time, unifying the adjustment of Army Groups A and B. The specific operational plan will be designed by Field Marshal Manstein, and Army Group A will accept the command of Army Group B."
After listening to Zeitzler's explanation, Field Marshal Wilhelm List, commander of Army Group A, breathed a long sigh of relief. He had always been dissatisfied with the original strategic goal of capturing both Stalingrad and launching an offensive toward the Caucasus. He had repeatedly stated his reasons for not dispersing forces to the Stavka. Although it didn't match the intensity of the arguments between Halder and the Führer, the disagreement had reached a very serious level. He had heard that Jodl was supposed to represent the Supreme Command to supervise and hold him accountable, and even a proposal to dismiss him from his post had been placed on Keitel's desk. Now that the Führer had adjusted the goals in time, it was clear his opinion had been adopted deep down, which set his mind at ease. As for whether he would be under Manstein's command in the future, he personally didn't have much of an objection, nor was he envious of Manstein obtaining the position of commander of the future Army Group South.
"Based on the Führer's proposal, the 20th Motorized Infantry Division will be detached from the Northern Combat Group, and the SS 5th Viking Panzergrenadier Division and the 'Grossdeutschland' Motorized Infantry Division will be detached from the Southern Combat Group to the North African theater," Zeitzler concluded. "The instructions regarding the adjustment of operational orders will be issued by the Army General Staff after the meeting. I hope everyone will immediately complete the adjustments according to the instruction requirements."
Hearing that the highly capable Wiking Division and the Grossdeutschland Division were to be detached from the southern flank, Manstein was somewhat reluctant. However, considering the Führer's favor and expectations in this change of duties, he sighed softly and decided to accept it. What he didn't know was that, according to the original requirements of the General Staff, the Grossdeutschland Division was intended to head north to reinforce Model's 9th Army. Now that the instructions for Army Group Center had changed, the Grossdeutschland Division, which was already ready to go, could naturally be adjusted for other uses. Manstein wasn't aware of this, but Model knew it well. He mischievously winked at Manstein, reminding him not to look a gift horse in the mouth.
However, Zeitzler's task wasn't over yet. Tomorrow afternoon, a higher-level strategic meeting would be held at the Eagles Nest, where party and state leaders would all be in attendance. He and Field Marshal Keitel, as the Chief of Staff, would attend along with Grand Admiral Raeder of the Navy. The Führer had issued a clear order that from now on, the Eagles Nest and the Wolf's Lair would serve as the locations for the Supreme Command and the Army High Command, with full authority over the conduct of the war. From the current situation, it seemed he would have to stay at the Eagles Nest for quite a while.