Chapter 553: The Remaining Power of the Castle (Part 1)

"German people, all German patriots, now broadcasting the latest news..." The loudspeakers in the streets of Berlin sounded excitedly, and everyone stopped to listen.

"Under the personal command of the great Führer, from May 25 to June 16, the Reichswehr and the Waffen-SS, in close cooperation with the Axis Allied Forces, launched an unprecedentedly powerful offensive on the Russian front, winning consecutive battles and annihilating The enemy's army exceeded 1.3 million, and more than 2,000 enemy tanks and more than 3,000 aircraft of various types were destroyed or captured. Our army's losses were slight, less than one-ninth of the enemy's, and the entire eastern front was pushed forward by 300 to 450 kilometers. .

Under the strong pressure of our army and the inspiration of justice, Commander of the Enemy Bryansk Front Army Lietel and Political Commissar Susaikov suddenly woke up and resolutely revolted in front of the battle line. They led all the officers and soldiers of their units to change their banners and join the Russian People's Liberation Army to jointly overthrow the Russian People's Liberation Army. The brutal rule of Stalin and the Bolsheviks and the fight to build a new Russia.

This not only marks the beginning of the enemy's internal disintegration, but also means that the German Third Reich and the justice-loving people across Europe are not far away from the final victory... Let us further unite to overthrow the international Jewish monopoly oligarchy and defeat the United States and the Soviet Union. , the reactionary ruling classes of the three countries of Great Britain and England make unremitting efforts!

Long live our leader, the great, glorious, and correct Fuhrer Adolf Hitler! Long live the invincible and invincible German people! "

On June 18, as soon as Hoffman returned to Berlin, the High Command immediately issued a communiqué on the victory of the Battle of the Castle. On the same day, it also announced the promotion and decoration orders of a large number of officers. Generals Hoth and Kleist were promoted to field marshals by Hoffman due to their long-term military exploits. Except for Model, all the commanders of the army groups on the Eastern Front held the title of field marshal.

Keitel also mentioned the names of Zeitzler and Model in the promotion list. In view of the short time they had been promoted to their current military ranks, Hoffmann did not agree for the time being for the sake of internal balance. However, based on their outstanding contributions, he generously awarded them Knight's Cross with two swords and silver oak leaves.

While the streets of Berlin were feverishly discussing a major victory, Hoffmann had quietly rushed to the Eagle's Nest villa. When he arrived in Berlin and reported the good news to Eva on the phone, the other party suddenly gave him a big surprise: "Dear... I have some good news for you, I... am pregnant!"

"Really?" Hoffman was stunned at first, then overjoyed, "My child? No, no, no, I mean, I have a child?"

Eva didn't hear any difference between the two sentences and said to herself: "The doctor said it has been more than 2 months. I was afraid of disturbing you, so I didn't dare to say anything."

"Okay, wait for me, I'll be back right away, right away!"

Hoffman rushed back to the Eagle's Nest in a hurry. Eva rushed towards her as soon as they met. After the two hugged tightly, Hoffman squatted down and attached his ear to Eva's belly: "Let me listen." Listen to the child’s voice…”

"Look how impatient you are!" Eva giggled, "You're only as big as a potato now, where's the heartbeat coming from?"

"Oh, what should I call them..." Hoffman walked around in circles several times and finally said, "If he is born a boy, he will be called Ludwig; if he is born a girl, he will be called Rita... "

"Okay!" Eva had no idea that these two names were the names of Hoffman's children before he traveled through time.

"Dear, you gave me such a big surprise, I want to give you a surprise too..." Hoffman said with a smile on his face, "A grand awarding, commendation and promotion ceremony will be held next week. Senior Generals, important officials and heads of state will come to Berlin. I would like to hold a ceremony after the meeting to announce our engagement. Will you marry me?"

"Yes!" Eva screamed in response before hearing all the words. She was going crazy!

"Get ready, I will announce it to the world..." At the level of the head of state, the conventional routines such as houses, cars, diamond rings, and marriage proposals are no longer needed. As long as Hoffman opens his mouth, countless people will be ready. What's more, the head of state is not a pauper. He earns more than 10 million marks in royalties every year, and he also has a considerable share in the prepared oil fund - that is a development fund covering all the oil producing areas in the Middle East!

On the same day as the victory communique was released, a brief message was inserted - Our Marine Corps recently occupied the Seychelles Islands! This news caused even greater shock in Washington, because they had just received news that a huge Japanese fleet suddenly occupied the Maldives and the British Indian Ocean Territory.

"The good news is that the Axis attack on South Africa may temporarily come to an end; the bad news is that Japan may attack India..." At the Joint Chiefs of Staff meeting, Admiral Kim reported intelligence in the direction of the Indian Ocean in an anxious tone.

Marshall reported the situation on the Eastern Front without expression: "The Soviet army suffered a disastrous defeat, losing more than 1 million people, and a front commander surrendered to the enemy..."

Hearing that the Red Army had lost more than 1 million, Roosevelt's breathing quickened. Although more than 1 million was nothing to Stalin, the news that important commanders had defected to the enemy after consecutive losses was a huge blow. He asked: "Will the Russians always collapse? ?”

"Not yet, but it is already on the verge of collapse. Russia's grain output is only one-third of what it was before the war, and its oil production is less than 40%. After the German army established and continued to expand its puppet regime, a large number of Russians fled to the German-occupied areas."

Everyone was stunned, why is this style of painting so weird? Shouldn't it be the other way around and running away?

Hull responded with a wry smile: "For ordinary Russians, the German-occupied areas are probably better at the moment: on the one hand, they can make a living and get the food necessary to support their families; on the other hand, the puppet regime distributes distribution to those who are loyal to them. Land, the Germans used to massacre and kill guerrillas in the German-occupied areas, but now they have changed their style of governance. These tasks have been replaced by a puppet regime. The Germans are only responsible for issuing instructions and hiding behind the scenes.”

Everyone's hearts were heavy, and the prospect looked really bad.

"How is the situation in India? Have you communicated well with Chiang? When will the additional troops he sent arrive in India?"

"In the early stage, we sent additional planes to India and strengthened the transportation capabilities of the Hump Route. However, it was obvious that Chiang was only interested in our supplies. He and his senior generals had no enthusiasm for defending India. General Stilwell said this Only less than 4,000 people arrived in India by plane in more than a month. Except for a very small number of officers, the others were obviously ordinary people who had not received any training, and their physical fitness was not satisfactory. He could only cultivate them with great effort, according to intelligence sources. According to the news observed in Chongqing, they are even more eager to go to war with the Communist Party." Marshall said with a wry smile, "Even these officers are a marginalized and frustrated minority in the Chiang regime. I am very worried about these US aid supplies. If he uses it to fight the Japanese, it will give him the confidence to fight the civil war."

"Is he crazy?" Roosevelt asked angrily.

"He is not crazy, on the contrary, he is very calm. Due to the early robbery by the Russians in northwest China, the national sentiments of Chinese intellectuals were greatly stung. Those democrats who were dissatisfied with Chiang are now even more dissatisfied with Stalin. Chongqing He has great public opinion and military advantages, and he wants to take advantage of this favorable situation to eliminate the Communist Party. In his words, it is called..." When he said this, Marshall got stuck.

Hull, who understands China's issues better than he does, added: "The Chinese saying is, 'To fight against foreign aggression, you must first pacify yourself at home!'"

Marshall nodded: "That's pretty much what it means. The withdrawal of the Japanese army created conditions for the struggle between the two groups - the place where the two factions did not originally come into contact became the territory that the two sides competed for due to the retreat of the Japanese army. Small frictions became more and more serious. The situation became more and more violent, and the Communist Party complained to us through the Chongqing liaison officer, but it was of no use. A large-scale civil war was about to break out. "

"He found reasons for the military solution to the Communist regime and the army - Japan was sparing no effort to support the Communist Party, selling everything from rifles to bullets, tanks to aircraft to them. He suspected that the Communist Party had colluded with Japan."

"Is this true? What do the Japanese think?" Roosevelt was anxious. He knew clearly that there was peace and neutrality between Japan and the Soviet Union.

"This is true, but it is not the whole truth. It is too early to talk about collusion between the Communist Party and Japan. The two parties are just business at best. Chiang himself is also doing business with Japan - he buys arms, troops, and land from Japan... …”

"Wait, did I hear you correctly?" Shi Tingsheng asked in astonishment, "Buying an army and territory? Are the Japanese going to be mercenaries?"

"What we bought was the Chinese army, to be precise, the Chinese puppet army. They were originally affiliated with the Wang regime in Nanjing, but were organized by the Japanese and sold to Chiang Kai-shek. The irony is that these troops were actually part of the Chiang regime's army a long time ago. "Hull shrugged, "They surrendered to the Japanese in the name of 'saving the country', and now the Japanese returned it to Chiang, oh, maybe in exchange for a large sum of money."

"What nonsense are these!" Admiral Jin frowned and became angry!

"As for land sales, that's more interesting. Chiang's generals used money or other materials to bribe the Japanese army to withdraw from the Chinese territory they occupied."

The whole audience was stunned. Roosevelt couldn't laugh or cry: "Can the Japanese agree?"

"Japan gradually withdrew from several provinces. Except for transportation arteries and major cities, many counties and cities were sold to the Chiang regime. The so-called recovery of lost territory we saw was actually a process of constantly bribing the Japanese army to withdraw, and the actual seizure through fighting was minimal." Hull shrugged, "There were a few particularly 'smart' or 'proud' generals who paid half of the money and didn't want to fulfill their obligations or didn't want to pay at all. The Japanese army made them suffer and launched special attacks. Usually there were not many Chinese troops. Can block this sharp attack. What's even more tragic is that their friendly forces often do nothing to save them. So I think it is not so much that the Japanese troops were driven out by the Chinese, but that they retreated on their own initiative - shrinking the front and raising the bar. It improves the military’s mobility and response speed.”