Iron Cross

The Führer came to the Eagle's Nest very seldom, and each time he did not stay for more than an hour. But this is by no means to say that the Eagle's Nest is backward and old. On the contrary, as a birthday gift from the Nazi Party to the Führer on his 50th birthday, the Eagle's Nest, supervised by Martin Bormann, was built after 13 months and more than 6,000 workers. It can be called "great and magnificent". The air is fresh and the scenery is beautiful. It is a mountain villa suitable for living, which is in sharp contrast to the darkness and dampness of the Wolf's Lair, not to mention the cramped Vinnitsa wartime base camp. The only disadvantage is that it is a little far from the Eastern Front - but if the focus of the battle is shifted to the Southern Front, this is the most suitable place for command.

The Eagle's Nest combat meeting room is more than 300 square meters. The junior staff officers of the General Staff have arranged everything. The surroundings are standard light green, which is exactly the same as the common color of the Army Command. The ground is covered with field gray artificial carpets. It is very quiet to walk on it, which fully meets the requirements of the meeting. On the top are crystal chandeliers arranged in a cross shape, illuminating the room with bright lights. The only thing that made people feel uncomfortable was the closed windows and curtained walls, but for the sake of safety and confidentiality, this practice was understandable. With a well-functioning ventilation system, it didn't seem stuffy. On one side of the longer wall was a huge swastika flag of the Third Reich, and on the other side were the flags of the Empire's Army, Navy and Air Force. On one side of the shorter wall was a huge full-body portrait of the Führer, and on the other side was a large map - the distribution of troops and enemy situation were secretly marked on it, allowing people to see the current battlefield dynamics at a glance.

With the shout of "The Führer is here!" from the guards of the Führer's Guard Flag, Hoffman walked into the meeting room with steady steps. The slightly noisy meeting room suddenly became quiet, and everyone stood up from their seats and shouted "Hi, Hitler".

Looking at the shining stars and neat salutes in the meeting room, Hoffman was very nervous, and his heart almost rose to his throat. Yesterday, when he was talking to Martin Baumann, Guderian, Zeitzler and others in a small group, he felt a little embarrassed. Later, he slowly overcame this emotion. He thought it would be better today, but he didn't expect that the deafening shout just now almost made him shiver and fall down. If he were a scholar, each of these generals with red stripes on their pants and cornflower patterns on their collar badges would be someone he should look up to - signing their names is a piece of cake, and he could write an academic masterpiece by just catching any of them. Unexpectedly, by some strange coincidence, these people all became his subordinates, and he had to command them to participate in the war, which made him feel that it was an almost unattainable goal. He waved his hand slightly, his joints and wrists were stiff, and if someone stood by and listened carefully, they could probably hear the sound of his teeth "clacking" when he clenched his teeth.

"Please take a seat, everyone." Hoffman, who had finally calmed down, finally walked to his seat. He spoke calmly, his voice was impeccable, and he had the style of a head of state. Only careful people could see that his expression was slightly distorted due to nervousness, or it could be called ferocious.

However, the focus of everyone's attention was soon shifted. Hoffman announced as the commander-in-chief of the army: "The main content of today is to discuss the war on the Eastern Front. First of all, there are several personnel appointments and adjustments... General Halder is relieved of his post as Chief of Staff and will go to the Berlin Military Academy as Director of Education, focusing on the training of staff officers at all levels of the army. The Chief of Staff will be replaced by General Zeitzler." Hearing this, Halder's face was very unfriendly. He personally had no ill feelings towards Zeitzler who replaced him. He just felt that it was a hard job to serve as the Chief of Staff for someone who didn't listen to his opinions, and it was even more embarrassing to return to Berlin in such a humiliating way. However, he still suppressed the urge to get angry, wiped his glasses, and turned around and left silently - anyway, the next meeting was meaningless to him. As Halder left, everyone was whispering, with different expressions on their faces. Long before the meeting, the news that Zeitzler replaced Halder as the new chief of the general staff had spread. Everyone even knew clearly that Zeitzler had skipped the rank of lieutenant general and was directly promoted to general of infantry last night. 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. Envy and jealousy were revealed in everyone's eyes. They also saw Guderian's figure, but there was no more expression besides surprise - anyway, Guderian and their relationship was very bad.

If this sentence was still within their acceptable range, Hoffman's subsequent speech shocked them, and the degree of shock was no less than a 500-pound aerial bomb dropped into the venue: "Remove General Paulus from the post of commander of the Sixth Army, go to the Western Front to serve as Chief of Staff of the Western Front General Headquarters and concurrently Chief of Staff of Army Group D."

Everyone whispered to each other, what did this appointment mean? The Sixth Army under Paulus' command was fighting on the Stalingrad front. This was the strategic direction personally set by the Führer. Why was he suddenly replaced? Moreover, Paulus was the Führer's favorite general and had been steadily promoted in the staff position. The Barbarossa Plan was his work. Logically, he should have been reused. Why was he moved to the Western Front? Although it seemed that he was promoted from the commander of the army group to the chief of the general staff on the Western Front, there was no war on the Western Front at the moment. What was the point of transferring Paulus there? Did Paulus make an unforgivable mistake that angered the Führer? But no one had heard of this.

Hoffman glanced at everyone with a stern look, and in an extremely 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 troops 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's better to use the method of promotion and covert promotion to transfer to the Western Front under the old Marshal Lundstedt to give full play to the specialty of Chief of Staff. 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 find an explanation from the head of state.

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, and opened his mouth so wide that he could stuff an apple in. What on earth is going on?

Kruger, who was dismissed from his post on the other side, also stood up, his old face turned red, and said angrily: "Führer, why are you removing me from my post? I need an explanation!"

"Explanation?" Hoffman glanced at him contemptuously, and suddenly shouted in a louder voice, "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.