The Rise of the Third Reich

Major General Paul von Retoven Vorbeck and his 150 men probably had the highest morale among all the German troops returning from the front line, because they were the real victors. Major General Vorbeck only relied on about 300 white people (including officers, doctors and administrative staff) and several thousand black soldiers, and had no reliable logistical supplies - the British played the role of transport captain in Africa - and Enemy troops numbering in the tens of thousands fought for four years and three months.

Fighting until Germany unconditionally surrendered, his army was still fighting in Africa. On November 23, this force also achieved Germany's last victory in World War I, capturing Kasama in British East Africa. fortress.

On February 23, Major General Vorbeck and his most capable officer, Captain Theodor von Hipple, were invited to the General Staff Headquarters at Koenig Square. The person who invited the two of them was a young lieutenant colonel with the Blue Max Medal (Vorbeck also received one), Hessmann.

To the surprise of these two heroes who had returned triumphantly, they did not receive a grand reception at the General Staff Headquarters. They just entered the building through an unobtrusive side door.

"Mr. Major General, Theodore, no one knows you are coming," Hessmann whispered to the two heroes. "So please take off your East African military caps."

The hat of the German army in East Africa is different from that of the German army in other places. It is a large-brimmed hat with the right side folded upward, which will be very eye-catching in the General Staff.

"Ludwig, what's going on?" Major General Vorbeck was an ordinary-looking old man, a little thin, and his skin was tanned by the hot East African sun. He and Hersman's father, Hersman Sr., were classmates at school, and they spent several years together in China (first in the Eight-Nation Allied Forces, and then in Qingdao), and they were very familiar comrades-in-arms.

He had known Hersmann for a long time and was very surprised by Hersmann's current military rank and the blue Max Medal hanging on his collar. I made some inquiries on the way here and found out that Hersman was the head of the now-shrunken German intelligence department.

"Your Excellency, Marshal, has an important task for you." Hessman replied in a low voice.

"What important mission?" Captain Hipple asked, "Ludwig, is it related to the intelligence team?"

Captain Hipple, who was almost as thin and dark as Major General Vorbeck, had a hooked nose, slender eyes, and very sharp eyesight, was also an acquaintance of Hessmann. He was Herschman's classmate in military school and went to Africa before the start of the world war.

"Let's go, you'll know when you see the Marshal." Hessman smiled at the two of them, and then led the way.

The inside of the General Staff Headquarters seemed a bit depressed, and it was no longer a lively scene with people coming and going. These days, every agency under the General Staff is slimming down, and many officers who once worked here have retired from active duty. The soldiers who were still at the General Staff looked depressed.

They know Germany's plight better than those "returning victoriously" soldiers outside, and naturally they will not think that the war has not been defeated. Germany actually surrendered unconditionally without receiving any guarantees from the Allies, and the Allies still have not lifted their blockade against Germany. This is definitely not a good sign...

Marshal Hindenburg stood at the door of the office and shook hands with the visitor. When his hands were clasped with Major General Vorbeck's, he then smiled bitterly: "Paul, compared with you, we Germans in Europe are They should all be extremely ashamed.”

"I think so too... The war can obviously continue, so why surrender? More than 100 of us plus more than 2,000 black people can persist in Africa without logistics, leaving tens of thousands of British troops helpless. Why can't we here in Germany? Fight?"

Facing Major General Vorbeck's questioning, Marshal Hindenburg showed a resentful expression, "We were defeated by bullets fired from behind. The front line can still be maintained, but the revolution disrupted the rear..."

"It's so abominable!" Major General Vorbeck looked at the marshal and asked in a deep voice, "Your Excellency, is the task I am about to accept to deal with the revolution?"

Of course the returning heroes from East Africa hated the revolution. Compared with the difficulties he encountered in East Africa, the difficulties in Germany were nothing at all! But he actually surrendered... This person in history joined the Freikorps and led a brigade to suppress the "Spartacist League" in Hamburg. In 1920, he supported the Kapp coup and lost his military commission.

"No, I'm not asking you to deal with the revolution. There are many people who can do this." Hindenburg invited Major General Vorbeck and Captain Hipple into his office, and Hersman also followed him in. He closed the office door smoothly.

"Then what do you want me to do?"

"Help our allies continue the war," Hindenburg said.

Major General Vorbeck asked: "Continue the war? What war?"

"War of the Worlds, of course!"

"World War? Isn't it over?"

Hersmann interjected: "Actually not yet! Major General, haven't you noticed that Hungary, an integral part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, has not yet surrendered!"

"Hungary?" Major General Vorbeck thought for a moment, "There seems to be a revolution there too."

"Yes," said Hersman, "but the Hungarians did not revolutionize to surrender, they revolutionized to resist!"

"Revolution for the sake of resistance?" Major General Vorbeck had heard something about Hungary. He frowned and asked, "Who are they? Who are we going to help?"

Hindenburg glanced at Hessmann, who said: "They are Bolsheviks! Hungarian Bolsheviks!"

"What? Are we going to cooperate with the Bolsheviks?" The major general looked at Hersman in surprise, "Lieutenant Colonel, do you know who they are?"

Hindenburg said with no doubt: "He knew that the Russian Bolsheviks actually seized power with his help... Of course, he did so under the orders of the General Staff! And now, Major General , I order you and Lieutenant Colonel Hessmann to help the Bolsheviks in Hungary resist the Allied attack. Hungary will be the place where the German Empire launches a counterattack! "

…

"Mikhail, Vasily, welcome to Berlin."

Oskar von Ertl greets guests at the train station in Berlin today. After Hessmann took over the Military Intelligence Group of the General Staff, he became the general manager of the Russian-German Economic Promotion Company, and returned to Berlin after the January Revolution - the Economic Promotion Company is headquartered in Riga, but the company now has no As for the business, he, the general manager, has nothing to do.

Today, he went to the train station to meet Borodin and Vasily Huang on Hessman's order.

Borodin's current identity is a professor at the University of Tartu - the United Baltic Principality has a small population, but it has several good universities. The University of Tartu, located in the Autonomous State of Estonia, was founded in 1632 during the Swedish rule.

Vasily Huang claimed to be a descendant of a Chinese official who came to Russia to study and was also a student of Professor Borodin.

Borodin and Vasily Huang came to Berlin, of course, to continue Russian-German cooperation. Although the current cooperation is not going smoothly and the scale is much smaller than before the November Revolution in Germany, neither party wants to completely close the door to cooperation. Especially on the issue of the Hungarian revolution, the two sides still have common interests.

Because Hungary was not only the battlefield for the German Empire to launch counterattacks, but also the main battlefield for Soviet Russia to attack the Allies abroad!