Iron Cross

On the afternoon of August 25, 1942, in Obersalzburg, an imperial strategy meeting was being held at the Eagle's Nest headquarters of the Third Reich.

This was an impromptu meeting proposed by Hoffman. There were not many people involved, so the large conference room where yesterday's military meeting was located was not used. Instead, a reception room with fresh air and a good view was used. However, the environment was obviously improved. It did not bring about a lift in the mood of the congregation. On the contrary, the atmosphere at the beginning of the meeting was very bad.

Everyone had just sat down, and before Hoffman could speak, the pot-bellied Nazi veteran, Air Force Commander, and Reich Marshal Hermann Göring had taken the lead and spoke in a very sinister tone: "I wonder if the Führer's Guard has sent all the troops today." Everyone's bags will be searched. If another bomb comes like yesterday, the party and the country will be completely destroyed. The head of state has saved the generals once, but he may not be able to save us again. "

Obviously, what happened last night has been spread among the top brass, and Goering's words were directed at Heinrich Himmler, the national leader of the SS, not only because the Guardsmen responsible for security work belong to the SS, but also because the SS Because the function of arresting conspirators belonged to the Gestapo. Himmler was unable to sabotage the rebel organization's actions beforehand and failed to deal with them in a timely manner during the meeting. This was a complete dereliction of duty from a legal perspective. But Hoffman knew that Göring was more of an excuse. Last night, he clearly ordered that the four air force field divisions be split into supplementary forces. Needless to say, the representative of the Imperial Air Force at the base camp must have passed the news back early this morning. This touched him. Goering's sensitive nerves were offended. He did not dare to get angry with the Führer openly, so he could only vent his anger by criticizing Huai.

The meeting suddenly fell into silence. Everyone looked at me and I looked at you, not knowing what to do: on one side was the grumbling Göring, and on the other was the sullen Himmler, who happened to be the leader of the Third Reich. No one dared to speak rashly among the No. 2 and No. 3 figures, as well as the calm head of state sitting in the middle.

After a while, Himmler spoke: "My Führer, I would like to solemnly apologize to you, because our work mistakes have allowed the traitor's conspiracy to develop to such a rampant level." This party member who was a chicken farm owner The national leader of the Guards had a low voice, full of remorse and uneasiness. His thin body stood upright, "But we have been operating all night, and we have made a breakthrough this morning..." He seemed quite confident as he said While distributing the dossier to the attendees.

Treskov failed to withstand the torture of the Gestapo and confessed the core figures of the conspiracy that night. In fact, even if he did not say a word, Hoffman knew the list of all important figures: the former General Staff Officer Of course, the names of Commander-in-Chief, Army General Ludwig Beck and former Commander-in-Chief of the Western Front Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben cannot escape. The Director of the Military Intelligence Service, Admiral Wilhelm Franz Canaris The generals also vaguely surfaced, and the commander of the reserve army, General Friedrich Fromm, and the army's munitions director and artillery general Edward Wagner were also famous figures. As for other miscellaneous fish, there are a lot of them.

The turmoil of the treasonous group is getting bigger and bigger. Looking at the long list of names in their hands, everyone feels numb.

"It can be seen that there are deep reasons for the unsatisfactory war this year." Hoffman held up the file and roared, "My munitions director is a traitor. No wonder the soldiers did not have enough food rations during the Battle of Moscow and could only wear thin clothing. Xia Yi fought with the Russians in a climate of minus 30 degrees; my reserve army commander is a traitor. No wonder the reserve army with more than 2 million people has been unable to replenish troops to the front line in time. Stalin was wiped out by us 500 divisions and 500 divisions , and we are dragging our feet in replenishing 50 divisions; the head of my Military Intelligence Bureau is also a traitor. No wonder we have invested a lot of manpower, material and financial resources but can only receive information full of loopholes and contradictions! The commander is involved with the treasonous group, and the chief of staff is simply a core member. How can such a unit still win the war? "

"Humph! There are traitors in the Army, there are traitors in the Navy, there are traitors in the General Staff, the Supreme Command and even the Reserve Army. Only our Air Force is the strong backing of National Socialism, and they are all loyal to the leader." Following Hoffman's words Goering suddenly slammed the file on the table viciously, stood up and pointed at Zeitzler's nose and cursed, "Say, why do you want to split up the field divisions of our air force and mix the loyal and reliable air force units into the unreliable ones?" Army, I think you are also a hidden traitor."

Didn’t it mean that Goering lost the favor of the Führer after the failure of the Dunkirk and Britain air battles? How dare this fat guy dare to use the topic so arrogantly! Hoffman couldn't stand it anymore. He knocked on the table in front of him and said loudly: "Watch your words and deeds, Marshal Goering. It is my order to split up the Air Force Field Division. We are now discussing the punishment of the treasonous group. Don't Point the fight against your colleagues."

Upon hearing this, Goering was immediately discouraged, "hum" twice and sat down again.

"I think some people are so ignorant that they even dare to oppose the orders of the head of state." Goering's consistent opponent, Martin Bormann, did not forget to add fuel to the fire. "Maybe the explosion did not happen, and some people's deputy heads of state could not help them." Yes, I can’t take over.”

There is a reason for Bowman's words. On June 29, 1941, the head of state issued an order that once he encountered something unexpected during the war, Goering would be his successor. Seeing that the furious Göring was about to attack Bauman again, Hoffman had no choice but to reprimand him: "Bowman, please stop saying a few words."

Seeing that the meeting reached a deadlock, Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels, the mouthpiece of the Third Reich and Minister of National Education and Propaganda, came forward to smooth things over: "Every comrade has heard about what happened yesterday, and we all rushed to the Führer anxiously. Around us - fortunately, everything is safe and sound. If the head of state had not dealt with it wisely and decisively, we don't know what kind of disaster it would have caused. It can be seen that the head of state has far more insight and decisiveness than us. As for how to investigate and deal with the treasonous group. , we had better obey the instructions of the head of state."

Goebbels was indeed a master of balance, but that was not the only thing that really impressed Hoffman. He knew that until the last moment when the Führer committed suicide, Goebbels and his wife still decided to follow him. Not only did they poison their six children with their own hands, but the couple also committed suicide - and they wanted to reuse him just for this loyalty. Of course, what is more important is to change the fate of himself and Goebbels' family.

He cast an admiring look at Goebbels and said slowly: "It turns out that there are flaws in our intelligence work. Of course, this is not Himmler's responsibility alone. The burden on him is too heavy. Canaris relied on The advantage of being in charge of the Military Intelligence Bureau has played a very important role in the treasonous group and has successfully concealed it from us. This shows the necessity of continuing to strengthen intelligence work. I have decided that the Military Intelligence Bureau will be directly responsible to me in the future and the Imperial Security Department. The external functions of the Imperial Guard were transferred together with the Eastern Front Foreign Military Office, and were fully responsible for collecting external information. Comrade Bowman assisted me in daily work; the domestic functions of the Imperial Security Department continued to increase in strength and were responsible for the surveillance of domestic enemies. "

After saying this, Hoffmann looked at Himmler. Unexpectedly, the other person's expression behind his glasses was unusually calm, and there was no trace of dissatisfaction. It seemed that the Führer's personal capture of the treasonous group had greatly touched him, so he reorganized the intelligence agency. The order can only be carried out with gritted teeth. Everyone was originally worried that the chicken farmer owners were too powerful. Seeing that the head of state personally came forward to reduce power, everyone agreed. Bowman didn't expect a large piece of pie to fall on his head. His face turned red and his whole body was filled with excitement.

Hoffman also knew how to find a balance. In order to appease Himmler, he said another sentence: "Over the past year, the Waffen SS has made outstanding contributions on the Eastern Front, both in terms of sacrifice spirit and combat performance. In addition, since Judging from the list of treasonous groups this time, the SS has not been infiltrated by the enemy and still maintains its consistent loyalty and reliability. This is the glory of National Socialism and the Party. I authorize you to form four more armed SS divisions and give priority to them. The Hitler, Reich, and Totenkopf divisions resting in France were reorganized into armored divisions."

"Yes, Führer." Himmler, who had always been gloomy, finally showed a smile after receiving the good news. Of course, Zeitzler was not satisfied with the expansion and priority recruitment of the Waffen-SS, but now that there were so many traitors in the Wehrmacht, it was reasonable for the Führer to be worried about the Wehrmacht and increase the number of Waffen-SS troops. Didn’t you see that the head of state even captured military intelligence? This is also a distrust of the Gestapo. The Wehrmacht may not be the only ones who are unlucky.