Iron Cross

"Everyone weighs anchor and sets sail. Except for the escort fleet, the rest of the fleet will sail west after passing Malta..."

"West?" Several staff officers thought they had misheard and said, "Sir, we are returning home. Why do we go west? We should go east through the Suez Canal."

"We will not return home for the time being. We will go through the Strait of Gibraltar and go to the Atlantic Ocean."

"What?" Everyone in the command tower looked at each other, not understanding what Hori Teikichi wanted to do for a while.

Lieutenant General Kusaka Rento, Chief of Staff of the Combined Fleet, whispered: "Sir, I understand your wish, but we have promised to return to the country as soon as possible..."

"I know. When a general is away, he may not obey the orders of the king. What's more, the original scheduled return date is April 15. I have already advanced it by half a month, and I can fully explain the time to them."

"But...this..." Kusaka Rento found that he couldn't think of anything to refute.

"The Strait of Gibraltar is still controlled by the British. I'm afraid that the fleet will pass..." A staff officer hurriedly asked another question.

"Don't worry, the Battle of Gibraltar is coming to an end. Germany has promised to open the waterway within three days, so it's just right for us to go there."

"What if it doesn't work?"

"If the blockade is not strict, just break through. If the blockade is very strict, think of other ways. If it doesn't work, it doesn't matter if you retreat."

Seeing that Kusaka Renji was still trying to persuade him, Hori Teikichi waved his hand and said, "Issue the order first. If the fleet commanders can't figure it out, tell them not to send telegrams, but to take a transport boat to the Nagato to ask."

The Musashi was unable to enter the Suez Canal due to the limited width of the ship, and had been staying on Socotra Island. Some generals, including Kondo Nobutake, also stayed there, so Hori Teikichi's flagship was changed to the slightly smaller Nagato. As a result, as soon as this order was issued, except for the mobile fleet commander Tsukahara Jishisan and the escort fleet commander Kurita Takeo, all the other fleet commanders came in a hurry.

Tsukahara didn't come because he understood Hori Teikichi's ideas, and Kurita didn't come because the escort fleet he led was the only fleet that didn't need to sail west. When the Combined Fleet was reorganized and personnel were selected to serve as the commander of the escort fleet, Kusaka Rento recommended several candidates in succession, but in the end Hori Teikichi didn't use any of them and chose Kurita Takeo.

This puzzled the latter, because although Kurita had always been rooted in the sea (never worked in the military and political departments for a day) and had rich experience in commanding surface ships, from the previous operations, he had a vague reputation of being "conservative and timid" within the Combined Fleet. When he implicitly raised this concern, who would have thought that Hori Teikichi actually nodded repeatedly and said: "It's good to be timid, because timid people can control the transport ships and avoid rushing out to fight in a fit of heat - some admirals in the navy just don't know what they can do."

This reason was so strong that Kusaka Rento had nothing to say, so Kurita Takeo led a group of light cruisers and destroyers, and led more than 100 transport ships out to turn left and go directly to Alexandria - firstly, the transport ships were slow, and secondly, the Mediterranean was now full of Axis forces, and the Allied forces could not get in, let alone warships, even planes and submarines.

In the Nagato combat conference room, everyone sat upright, all looking at Hori Teikichi who was sitting in the center. No one understood why the commander was so obsessed with heading west. However, since Hori Teikichi had won victory after victory in the combined fleet for more than half a year and had gained a great reputation, and he was considerate of his subordinates and treated officers and soldiers well, and he was also able to skillfully deal with the German and Italian high-level officials to seek additional benefits and equipment - Oi and Kitakami followed the German fleet out for a while and got 5 million marks in pocket money for tens of thousands of officers and soldiers. In the minds of the entire army, there was only "prostrating" conviction.

"Such an important decision should have been discussed with everyone first, but I was afraid that the news would leak out and that the soldiers would have other ideas, so I delayed issuing the order until today." Hori Teikichi explained in detail to everyone why he did this:

First, I owe the German head of state a favor. He not only gave the fleet a lot of extra supplies, equipment, but also promised to provide 4 marine brigades and more than 20,000 people to cooperate with us to attack India. Due to the high pressure on the coastal defense in the Azores, he specifically begged us to stay for a few more days. This face must be given;

Second, the Battle of Gibraltar has lasted for a month, and the waterway is about to be opened. I want to take you to the Atlantic Ocean to see the world. Maybe there will be no such opportunity in the future. This experience can be boasted to our children and grandchildren when we die - when I served in the Combined Fleet, I traveled all over the world. Which of the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Atlantic Ocean have I not been to? Which one have I not fought in?

Third, the Americans are fighting very hard in the Aleutian Islands. The army defenders are at the last moment and are about to die. It is impolite not to return the favor. We will go to the East Coast to help the Americans improve and consolidate their coastal defense system.

Facing the sea chart, Hori Teikichi finally said lightly: "The East Coast of the United States is more than 2,000 nautical miles long, concentrating more than 50% of the industrial production capacity and more than 70% of the shipbuilding capacity of the United States. I don’t know how many planes, warships and soldiers the Americans can spare to defend this 2,000-mile coastline."

Although he said it lightly, the naval generals and junior staff officers who heard it were all excited and fluttering: Damn, we are going to attack the devilish East Coast of the United States. This is too exciting! It’s more exciting than fighting Pearl Harbor!

Everyone was still whispering before Horikichi spoke, but after he explained the three reasons, no one stood up to refute, and everyone looked deeply convinced. In the end, only Caolu Renyi bit the bullet and asked: "What if the military command department comes to ask?"

"They only see the palm-sized area of ​​Nanyang. What global pattern do they know?" Horikichi smiled slightly, "During the war, the radio is silent. I will tell them when the time is right..."

All the lieutenant generals stood up together and bowed slightly to Horikichi, and said in a loud voice: "I am willing to make great achievements with you!"

Horikichi nodded slightly: "Let me encourage you all."

Kusuka Renyi never dreamed that this was the strategy agreed upon by Cole during a secret visit to Horikichi half a month ago under the orders of Hoffman: Germany would support the 4 Marine Brigades of the Combined Fleet in exchange for the Combined Fleet doing two things. One was to seize Madagascar on the way back by sea and land, and the other was to march westward to cover the launch of the "Spring Awakening" campaign. After thinking about it for two days, Horikichi agreed.

At 0:00 on April 3, in the Stalingrad combat headquarters, Rokossovsky and Zhukov waited for Vasilevsky who came from the direction of Moscow, along with 200 T-34 tanks. .

"Comrade Stalin didn't accuse us, did he?" Rokossovsky asked without confidence, "Now the two armies have basically been lost, and I'm afraid the 63rd Army has also..."

"If I had known this, you shouldn't have sent that telegram to Moscow in the first place."

"Well, I..." Rokossovsky did not dare to face Vasilevsky's aggressive eyes, so he had to turn his head to Zhukov. Fortunately, the latter rescued him in time.

"When I came, Comrade Stalin was very angry about the Katyn incident and the Polish bourgeois government, and demanded that we launch a counterattack. No matter what the degree of counterattack, it must be able to hit the Germans."

When he heard the word "Poland", Rokossovsky's little heart "thumped", his face changed drastically, and he asked cautiously: "Comrade Stalin didn't criticize me for not being firm in my will to fight, right?"

"Comrade Rokossovsky!" Vasilevsky shouted angrily, "What nonsense are you thinking in your mind? Can you put away your clever little thoughts? You are now the commander of the front army. , not a Polish agent!”

Although it was embarrassing to be reprimanded on the spot by a junior (Vasilevsky’s qualifications were much younger than those of Rokossovsky and Zhukov), Rokossovsky was very happy - Comrade Stalin said: I still trust it. After the Katyn incident was exposed, if the first person who the Russian top brass feared most was Beria (who was the direct executor), the second one was Rokossovsky - because he has Polish ancestry, during the Great Purge era He almost died because of this bloodline. Now when I heard that Stalin was not angry at him at all, I couldn't help but nodded repeatedly: "Yes! Yes! I will resolutely obey Comrade Stalin's instructions! I will resolutely launch a strike against German fascism!"

Vasilevsky couldn't laugh or cry about this, but there was obviously no need to dwell on these details now. He turned to Zhukov and said: "To be honest, I still don't agree with the combat strategy you are considering, and I don't want to think about it." Comrade Konev’s Steppe Front troops entered the Don River battlefield.”

"What do you think?"

"I want to invest in the direction of Moscow. There are the Western Front and the Kalinin Front, with a total strength of 1.8 million. However, the Army Group Center of Model facing us has only about 1 million. If we add the strength of the Steppe Front, we will have An advantage of more than 2:1 can form an advantage of more than 3:1 in the main offensive area. Another favorable factor is the comparison of technical weapons. In this area, we have an absolute advantage in the number of artillery and tanks. The enemy's performance gap is also quite small - at least they have not reported that Army Group Center has Tiger tanks, and there are also a lot of our aircraft in the area, so we have not lost as much air supremacy as we did on the southern front."

Zhukov also fell silent. He admitted that what Vasilevsky said made sense: Theoretically speaking, rather than wishfully waiting for the German troops to come to Stalingrad and launch a counterattack, it would be better to launch an attack in the direction of Moscow, where at least there are still Have an advantage.

But Vasilevsky's next words made Zhukov feel much better: "However, the deployment of the attack in the direction of Moscow takes too long, and it does not meet Comrade Stalin's need to launch an attack on the enemy as soon as possible..."

In the middle of speaking, the phone rang rapidly. After listening to the report, Zhukov's face grew long and ugly...