The number of times the head of state came to the Eagle's Nest was rare, and he never stayed for more than an hour each time. But this does not mean that the Eagle's Nest is backward or obsolete. On the contrary, as a birthday gift from the Nazi Party to the Führer's 50th birthday, the Eagle's Nest supervised by Martin Bormann went through 13 months of intense construction and more than 6,000 workers. It can be called "great and magnificent", and the air is fresh and the scenery is beautiful. It is a livable mountain villa, which is in sharp contrast to the darkness and dampness of Wolf's Cave, not to mention the cramped wartime base camp of Vinnitsa. The only disadvantage is that it is a bit far away from the Eastern Front - but if the focus of operations is shifted to the Southern Front, this is the most suitable command location.
The Eagle's Nest combat conference room covers an area of more than 300 square meters. The junior staff officers of the General Staff have arranged everything. The surrounding area is standard light green, which is exactly the same color commonly used in the army headquarters. The floor is covered with field gray artificial The carpet is very quiet when walking on it, which fully meets the requirements of the meeting. On the top are crystal chandeliers arranged in a cross shape, illuminating the room brightly. The only thing that makes people feel uncomfortable may be the walls with closed windows and curtains, but for the sake of safety and confidentiality, this approach is understandable. Relying on the well-functioning ventilation system, it does not seem stuffy. On the longer walls on both sides hangs a huge swastika flag of the Third Reich, and on the other side the flags of the Imperial Army, Navy and Air Force. On the shorter wall hangs a huge full-length portrait of the Führer, and on the other side hangs an extra-large map - with secrets on it. The hemp marks mark the distribution of troops and the enemy situation, allowing people to understand the current battlefield dynamics at a glance.
As the guards of the Führer's Guard shouted "The Führer is here!", Hoffman walked into the venue with steady steps. The originally slightly noisy conference room suddenly became quiet, and everyone stood up from their seats. , making a neat "Hi, Hitler" sound.
Watching the generals in the conference room flashing and raising their hands neatly, Hoffman was very nervous, and his heart almost rose to his throat. Yesterday, when he was talking to Martin Bowman, Guderian, Zeitzler and others in a small group, he was a little embarrassed. Later, he gradually overcame this emotion. Today, he thought it would be better, but he didn't expect that the deafening cry just now almost disappeared. Let him tremble and fall down. If he were a scholar in his original capacity, each of these generals with red stripes on their trousers and shining cornflower patterns on their collar badges would be someone he should look up to - it would be trivial to sign someone's name, but just grab that one. He could write an academic masterpiece, but unexpectedly, by some strange combination of circumstances, these became his subordinates, and he also had to direct them to participate in the war. This made him feel that it was an almost unattainable goal. He waved his hand slightly, but his joints and wrists were stiff. If someone stood nearby and listened carefully, they would probably be able to hear the sound of his teeth "clacking" when he clenched his teeth.
"Everyone, please take a seat." Hoffman, who had finally calmed down, finally walked to his seat. His speech was very calm, his voice was impeccable, and he looked like a head of state. Only those who were careful could see that his face was filled with nervousness. The slightly deformed expression could be called ferocious.
However, the focus of everyone's attention was soon shifted. Hoffman announced as the commander-in-chief of the army: "Today's main content is to discuss the war on the Eastern Front. First of all, there are several personnel appointment adjustments...Removing Halder He took the post of General Chief of General Staff and went to Berlin Military Academy as Director of Education, focusing on the training of Army staff officers at all levels. General Zeitzler took over as Chief of General Staff." Hearing this, Halder looked very unkind, and he personally felt Zeitzler, who replaced him, had no bad feelings. He just felt that being the chief of staff to a person who couldn't listen to his opinions was really a hard job, and it was a huge loss of face to return to Berlin in such a dejected manner. However, he still restrained himself. Resisting the urge to get angry, he wiped his glasses and silently turned around and left - the next meeting was meaningless to him anyway. As Halder left, everyone was whispering with different expressions. Even before the meeting, the news that Zeitzler replaced Halder as the new chief of general staff had spread. Everyone even knew clearly about last night. Zeitzler passed the rank of lieutenant general and was directly promoted to infantry general. Many people were not surprised by Halder's departure, but they did not expect that this position would fall into the hands of the junior Zeitzler. Everyone's expectations were high. There was envy and jealousy in their eyes, and they also saw Guderian's figure. Apart from surprise, there were no other expressions - Guderian's relationship with them was bad anyway.
If this sentence was still within the acceptable range for them, then Hoffman's speech shocked them, as much as a 500-pound aerial bomb dropped into the venue: "Save General Paulus." As commander of the Sixth Army, he went to the Western Front to serve as the chief of staff of the Western Front General Headquarters and concurrently as the chief of staff of Army Group D."
Everyone whispered to each other, what does this appointment mean? The Sixth Army under the command of Paulus was fighting on the front line of Stalingrad. This was the strategic direction set by the head of state himself. Why was it suddenly replaced? What's more, Paulus was the favorite general of the Führer and had been steadily promoted in the staff position. The Barbarossa Plan was his handiwork. It stands to reason that he should continue to be reused, but he actually moved to the Western Front? Although it seems that he has been promoted from Army Commander to Chief of General Staff on the Western Front, there is currently no war on the Western Front. What is the use of transferring Paulus to the past? Did Paulus make an unforgivable mistake and offend the Führer? But no one has any rumors about this.
Hoffman glanced at everyone with a stern look, and in a rare move, he tapped the table with his fingers. Everyone immediately stopped talking and returned to silence. Capturing Paulus was the result of Hoffman's careful consideration yesterday: Paulus was an excellent staff officer, but he was obviously not a qualified general who led troops. It was he who destroyed the hundreds of thousands of soldiers of the 6th Army in Stalingrad, and even more so. What's terrible is that after being urgently awarded the marshal's scepter by the head of state, he neither fought to the end nor committed suicide but surrendered to the Russians in the end. Not to mention, in 1944 he called for an uprising in the troops, and finally became a tainted witness at Nuremberg—— This made Hoffman despise him. It is better to use the method of promotion and covert promotion to transfer to the Western Front under the old coach Lundstaeder to give full play to the expertise of the chief of staff, UU Reading www. uukanshu.com This guy will be like this for the rest of his life. Stop dreaming about the marshal's scepter.
General Weikes, commander of Army Group B, decided to stand up and say a word for Paulus. Although the Führer directly retained command of the 6th Army after the launch of the Southern Front Campaign, and Paulus did not have much personal friendship with him, At least the 6th Army was still a subordinate unit of Army Group B. While Paulus was still fighting on the front line, his transfer order came inexplicably from the rear, which he couldn't accept no matter what. He decided to ask the head of state for an explanation.
He had just stood up, and before he could question the Führer's decision, Hoffman's order came down: "General Weikes, your position has also been adjusted. You will go to Army Group Center to take over Kruger's position. Commander of Army Group B." The official position was taken over by Marshal Manstein."
"Me?" Weikes was obviously unprepared. His mouth was so wide that he could stuff an apple into it. What was going on?
On the other side, Kruger, who was dismissed from his post, also stood up. His old face turned red and he said angrily: "Führer, why are you removing me from my post? I need an explanation!"
"Explanation?" Hoffman glanced at him contemptuously, then suddenly raised his voice and shouted, "Guards!"
"Hulala!" A whole squad of SS Führer Guardsmen rushed in from outside, holding MP38s in their hands. The leader was the tall, blond and blue-eyed Major Otto Genscher, the commander of the Führer's personal guard. The black muzzles of a dozen submachine guns were pointed at Kruger. As long as Hoffman gave an order, the custody could be sieved immediately.
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