On 12 March 1938, German troops crossed the German-Austrian border into Austria, marking the formal union of Germany and Austria. Historical issues and political factors aside, the merger of Germany and Austria at that time was welcomed by the peoples of the two countries, and there was a sense of "the general trend". But few people noticed that this so-called "peace march" was actually a "surprise examination" of the German armored forces, which had to travel 170 miles from Passau, Germany, to Vienna, Austria, under the influence of many unfavorable factors.
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was one of the few who noticed this— and probably knew about it after the war— and in his Memoirs of Churchill there was no good description of the German army that entered Austria at that time, especially the German armored forces, or that the German army in the German-Austrian merger behaved as bad in his eyes, like a bunch of miscellaneous soldiers who had never seen the world and had not received any training.
Entering Vienna triumphantly has always been the dream of the Austrian "little squad leader" (Hitler). On the night of Saturday, March 12, the Nazis in the Austrian capital had planned a torch parade to welcome the hero. But none of the invading German soldiers arrived, only three campers by train arrived first, so they were carried up by them and paraded in the streets...
The reason for this incident was revealed very late, and it turned out that the German "war machine" slowly moved after crossing the border, and came to a complete stop near Linz. Despite the good weather and smooth roads, most of the vehicles dropped anchor. The motorized heavy artillery showed its weakness even more, and the road from Linz to Vienna was completely crowded with heavy vehicles. The commander of the Fourth Army, Hitler's favorite, General Reichenau, was fully responsible for this incident in which the weakness of the German Army was exposed.
When Hitler's own car passed through Linz, he saw this traffic jam and couldn't help but be burned. Light chariots then struggled to advance in the confusion, reaching Vienna on Sunday mornings, while heavy chariots and motorized heavy artillery were loaded by train, waiting until the parade was about to begin. Hitler's entry into Vienna, amid overexcited popular support, is a well-known shot. But behind this mysterious glory, there is such an extraordinary inside story.
In fact, Hitler was so outraged by the humiliation of his army that he cursed his generals, but they also retorted to each other. They pointed out that Hitler did not heed Fritsch's advice, because Freuds had warned that Germany was not strong enough to risk a war. However, the appearance is still very good, and all the ceremonies and ceremonies are still carried out...
It is not difficult to see that Churchill's words are full of contempt and ridicule, as if the German army was humiliated in Austria, and the whole march against Austria was like a farce. We may understand that Churchill, in his memoirs, wanted to express germany's weakness and vulnerability in 1938 in this way, after all, an army in a non-combat state had traffic jams even on the march, so what was there to be afraid of this army? It was definitely the fault of the British appeasers to sit back and watch the Germans rise, and Churchill would never have let the Germans rise.
So, how did the Germans fare in Austria? Did the German armored forces behave in such a crotch-pulling manner? In this regard, we can see what Heinz Wilhelm Guderian, a witness to the German-Austrian merger and the father of the German panzer corps, said. After all, he had led the German 2nd Panzer Division and the Guard Flag Division in the direction of Vienna, and his words were believed to be the most convincing.
In Guderian's memoirs, Churchill's account of the german-Austrian merger is quoted, and Guderian rates Churchill's words as "hearsay" and almost points at Churchill's nose and calls him "nonsense" and "running trains with his mouth."
Guderian, a witness to the German-Austrian merger and leader of the German panzer corps, did encounter some trouble at the time, such as the fact that the German 2nd Panzer Division did not carry enough fuel when it arrived in Passau from its garrison of Würzburg, and there was no map of Austria available. These problems were quickly solved by Guderian, who had obtained the oil from a military oil depot in Passau, and the map used the Austrian tourist map, at least his troops marched into Austria on time.
Have there been any difficulties and problems along the way? Strictly speaking, churchill said that the mechanical failure of the tank is real. However, according to Guderian, the failure rate of these tanks did not exceed 30%, that is to say, Churchill said that the Collective Nest of German Armored Forces did not exist.
And Churchill's statement of going to Vienna by train is obviously unrealistic, because there was no train from Bavaria to Vienna that day, and unless the train could fly in the sky, Guderian could not understand how the three so-called "campers" had passed.
The fact that the troops stopped at Linz was not caused by the Germans, as Churchill said, because of traffic jams and tank failures, but actually guderian's own orders. They could have arrived in Viana on the afternoon of 12 March, but the weather that day was very bad, with heavy rains beginning in the afternoon and sudden heavy snow in the evening, and there was only one road from Linz to Vienna that was under renovation, and bad weather and bad road conditions forced Guderian to stop his troops in Linz. Guderian had never heard of what Churchill had said, or that there was something secret.
As for Churchill's statement that the German heavy artillery and heavy tanks were trapped in the road and could not move, Guderian was even more surprised, because as far as he knew, the German army did not carry any artillery units at that time, unless these heavy guns were made by Hitler or someone else, Guderian could not think of any heavy artillery.
In the same way, the German armored corps in 1938 only had light tanks, heavy tanks are things that have never been seen before, and God knows where Churchill heard that the German army had heavy tanks and heavy artillery at that time, and also needed to be transported by train.
At the same time, there was no traffic jam in the German troops at that time, and the advance of the troops was very orderly. Reichenau is responsible for the poor performance of the troops?. In addition, Churchill said that Hitler was furious because of the bad performance of the German army, and that the responsibility was all the fault of General Reichenau, which was really incredible in Guderian's ears.
Not to mention that the German army did not have any bad performance, Hitler himself did not get angry, even if Reichenau's troops really had some problems with the performance, considering that Reichenau had less than five weeks in office, Guderian really couldn't figure out why Reichenau was scolded, was it Churchill's imagination?
No general had been reprimanded, at least Guderian had not heard of anyone being reprimanded by Hitler. The only unlucky man who was reprimanded was Guderian himself, and it was von Bock, not Hitler, who was reprimanded for hanging bunting flags on his tanks, a move that did not conform to German Army code. But when Guderian informed von Bock that Hitler had allowed him to do so, von Bock immediately put away his reprimand, after all, it was Hitler's approval, and what reason did von Bock have to point fingers?
To sum up, Churchill's statement in his memoirs can be said to be completely unreliable, and it is true that the prime minister who led the LinkedIn country to win world war II has some shining points in some aspects, but this is a little wrong with the falsification and nonsense of historical events. Guderian said that Churchill's opinion was hearsay, and that the British "Prime Minister" was too eager to prove his foresight in his memoirs, but ignored the most basic facts, and naturally ended up being punched in the face by Guderian's memoirs, ending up laughing and generously.
References: Memoirs of Churchill, Memoirs of Guderian