During World War II, many famous generals had a nickname, such as Manstein called "Man Bu Qun", Guderian called "Gu Bu Shuai", Rommel called "Long Absent"; and the famous general to be talked about here is the famous Modell in the late World War II, the most famous strategic defense master in history. Although he joined the army very early, he became famous very late, mainly because there were too many famous players in the early stages of Germany, and the less sociable and stubborn Modell lacked room to play.
It was not until after the defeat of the Battle of Moscow that Modell stood out from his outstanding performance in the Battle of Lezhev-Serchovka and gained Adolf's trust, and he seemed to reflect on his past behavior and began to interact frequently with various core figures; and Adolf was very satisfied with Modell's "understanding" behavior, and began to gradually increase Modell's authority, and even If Moder refuted him head-on or made his own opinions, he chose to tolerate, which was rare.
But Modell had missed the peak of the German army, all he could do was to constantly organize defenses, and the battles he commanded were mostly defensive battles; after the Battle of Kursk, Manstein fell out of favor, and Modell took advantage of the situation to rise, becoming one of the most powerful people in the German army, and promoted to marshal. Since most of the battles commanded by Modell are defensive battles, many people think that Modell will only fight defensive battles, so they jokingly call Modell "Mo does not attack", which means that Modell will not fight active offensive battles.
In fact, as a military genius who has his own military ideas, how can he only fight defensive wars? Modell just didn't have the chance to fight an offensive battle. But heaven is fair, at least Modell's luck is much better than the luck of the southern Song Dynasty strategic defense master Meng Jue, with the progress of the war, in addition to the Soviet Union constantly using "human sea tactics" to compress the strategic space of the German army, the Anglo-American coalition army also landed in Italy and Normandy to launch an attack on the German army.
And because the main forces of the German army were concentrated on the eastern front to resist the Soviets, there were not many troops on the western front, and under the attack of the Anglo-American army, they were defeated step by step; Adolf dismissed Marshal Kluge in a rage, and Modell became the commander-in-chief of the western battlefield that was about to collapse, Adolf believed that relying on Modell's ruthless command, felt that Moder might once again get a turnaround here, defeat the Anglo-American coalition, and avoid the German army from being involved in the two-sided attack.
But due to the extreme scarcity of manpower and material resources in Germany at this time, Modell's defense was very difficult; Adolf could not bear it any longer, and he planned a crazy operation- the Ardenne Offensive, although Lundstedt and Modell were opposed, but there was no better way, so they had to launch an offensive according to the plan given by Adolf, and the Ardenne Campaign (Battle of Jardine, Battle of the Salient, Battle of the Rhine) began.
I have to admire Adolf's madness and boldness, because the German troops involved in this operation are about 600,000, and the number of British and American allies is more than 650,000, and the difference in equipment between the two sides is even more disparity; and Adolf once again habitually "bragged", before the official start of the war, Adolf said that there would be sufficient aircraft to support, and the result was that the war was launched in the worst weather, because at that time the British and American allied aircraft could not take off...
And although the German army has 600,000 troops, in fact, most of them are recruits recruited from the front, the oldest is more than 60 years old, the youngest is only 16 years old, the quality is uneven, and the original German combat effectiveness is completely incomparable; but Modell is with this group of soldiers, launched the Ardenne Offensive, and the plan is very thorough, the German special forces infiltrated the rear of the British and American allied defense lines to carry out sabotage and harassment tasks, causing great trouble to the Allies.
After the official launch of the Ardennes Offensive, the German army progressed very smoothly, the US army lost consecutive battles, heavy losses, the German army once tore open the US defense line, forming a protrusion about 100 kilometers wide and 30 kilometers to 50 kilometers deep. Unfortunately, due to the lack of german follow-up, it was eventually defeated, but it still proved Modell's command ability. The battle was the worst battle the U.S. army had experienced since entering the European theater, with about 100,000 casualties, but the Germans suffered even greater losses after the rout, reaching more than 120,000.
After the Ardennes Campaign, the US military is also worried, the German action is too bold, the commander of the US army and the British army did not expect at all, and the command ability of the German commander is indeed very strong, so that the US army suffered a big loss, if it is the German army in the early stage of World War II, I am afraid that these hundreds of thousands of US troops will be "sent in vain". Perhaps the "Battle of the Ardennes" exhausted the last vitality of the German army, and then the German army was defeated again and again, even Modell, facing the British and American coalition forces that were several times larger than himself and well-trained and strong, was helpless, and finally committed suicide.