In the evening, while Wendell and Schultz were drinking in the club, a bunch of senior Air Force generals were already in the Air Force operations command room, anxiously awaiting the announcement of the appointments.

After Goering was liquidated and Milch stepped aside, in the face of the hot throne of Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, several generals who thought they were qualified set off a wave of contention, either trying to inquire about the Führer's tendencies, or begging powerful people to dredge up, and even a little absent-minded about their daily work. This made Hoffman very dissatisfied but helpless, and the only thing to be thankful for was that at this delicate moment, no one dared to strongly oppose Speer's charge of the Air Force's equipment manufacturing and adjustments, otherwise he would definitely be regarded by the Führer as a competitor who did not care about the overall situation.

"It is now announced that in view of the special status of the Air Force and the present situation, the Führer himself will be the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, with Field Marshal Albert Kesselring as First Deputy Commander and in charge of operations on the Southern Front; Field Marshal Hugo Sperler was deputy commander in charge of air operations on the Western Front; Robert Ritter von Graeme was promoted to general and deputy commander in charge of air operations on the Eastern Front; Lieutenant General Wolfram von Richdhoven was transferred to the Navy as Commander of Naval Aviation; Colonel Hans Jeshunek will continue to serve as Chief of the General Staff of the Air Force. ”

After Keitel announced his appointment, the faces of the people were full of gloom, surprise, amazement, and joy, and Hoffman was observing their expressions and guessing their inner world. The concurrent appointment of the commander of the Air Force was the result of his careful consideration, and the Air Force of the Third Reich as an independent force under the leadership of Goering had made too many mistakes that had to be fully corrected before there was any hope.

In a rare, almost roaring tone, he reprimanded: "Under the leadership of Goering, the pig, the Air Force has made so many mistakes that the organizational problems are even more outrageous if there are only some reasons to be found at the operational level." The command organs, the staff organs, the production and equipment apparatus, the personnel and administrative apparatus, the training and communications apparatus -- as long as the departments with a modicum of power try to do their own thing independently, the functions of the Air Force and the Ministry of Aviation are checked by each other, Milch and Goering are at odds with each other, and Milch and Udet are at odds with each other. The High Command told me that the Air Force has nearly 2 million troops, but now there are no more than 8,000 combat aircraft, even if you count backward equipment—the British use less than 800,000 for a fleet of the same size, the Americans only need 1 million, and the Russians are chaotic enough, but if they also have the same aircraft, they need a maximum of 1.2 million people. What does this mean? It shows that our human resources have been wasted like never before. Asked you to support the Army, but this bastard actually got the Air Force Field Division out - the Army told me that the Air Force Field Division must not be placed on the front line, because not only will it not serve the role of reinforcements, but the Army will need to draw additional troops to protect them. ”

"So." He knocked on the table vigorously, "I gave an order to the Supreme Command, the 4 field divisions that have been formed and the 6 field divisions that are about to be completed will all be transferred to the army as supplementary soldiers, and the 4 rack divisions that are not forming fast will be converted into guard battalions, and Milch will be responsible for the management of prisoner of war camps. In addition, the 'Hermann Goering' paratrooper armored brigade can no longer bear the name of this traitor, and I propose to change the name to 'Flying Fortress' as a direct force of the base camp and expand it into an armored division by the end of the year. ”

Seeing that the Führer had quietly taken away 200,000 men from the Air Force, Spaller was anxious and wanted to stand up to express his opposition, but was stopped by Kesselring with a look. Although he did not understand why Kesselring would not let him speak, none of the marshals were stupid, and he forced his anger to sit down again.

Hoffman saw their small movements, and said in an unquestioning tone: "Maybe you are not satisfied with these orders, but now is not the time for us to consider personal gains and losses, but we need to work together to tide over the difficulties." The Imperial Aviation Department will be abolished, and the downsizing personnel will be partly reinforced, and partly transferred to the combat department. The commander-in-chief and the three deputy commanders are in charge of the third-line operations, and the chief of the general staff of the Air Force is solely responsible for the rest of the day-to-day affairs and reports directly to the commander-in-chief. If someone continues to follow Goering's set, I don't mind continuing to adjust. Hearing the Führer's tone, everyone was shocked, and immediately let go of their little caution -- since the Führer can deal with the Imperial Marshal and the exile of the No. 2 person in the Air Force, he can also easily get rid of himself, and it can be seen from the conclusion of "suicide by poisoning" that the Führer will not be soft when he makes up his mind.

General Jeshunek was the youngest and happiest of these people: under the Führer's thunderous means, he not only got rid of two difficult mothers-in-law, but also actually gained the day-to-day management of the Air Force, not to mention being able to report directly to the Führer, he was simply overjoyed, stood up and said: "I resolutely support the Führer's transformation and adjustment of the Air Force, always loyal to the Führer's leadership, and willing to contribute all my strength to the Empire!" One by one, the rest of the crowd stood up and expressed their determination. Keitel's heart blossomed, the Supreme Command finally put its hand into the Air Force, and there would be no more monolithic independent kingdoms in the future, and for this point he had to praise the purge of the Imperial Marshal.

Hoffman nodded, and continued: "The situation facing the Air Force is very serious, and there are two operational priorities in the future: one is the home air defense, which must intercept the bombing of the British, and after the transition to the wartime system, I can no longer tolerate the slaughter of the people, the destruction of production, and the blow to morale; The second is to ensure air supremacy on the southern front, which will be our focus for the next six months to a year, and if we cannot suppress the Anglo-American offensive on the southern front, the flanks of the entire empire will be exposed. To this end, I have appointed Lieutenant General Joseph Kamhuber as the Director of Air Defense, to coordinate and command the air defense forces, including fighters, anti-aircraft guns, searchlights, radars, and other units, to fight air attacks around the clock instead of simply being responsible for night air defense; Rear Maj. Adolf Garland will continue to serve as Fighter Director, but the focus will gradually shift to the Southern Front, where we will form a new fighter wing and seize air supremacy in Italy, and you will be responsible for troop formation and reserve development. ”

"Yes!" The two replied loudly.

"Kesselring, you can deploy the Air Force's adjustments and combat missions." Hearing this, Spayler understood why Kesselring stopped him from speaking just now, the Führer must have communicated with Kesselring in advance, and his opposition was in vain.

"Based on the above objectives, the principles and guidelines are adjusted as follows: first, to increase the production and equipment of fighter aircraft, especially the Fw-190 model, we want to use the sea of fighters to drown the enemy's bombers; the second is to gradually reduce the general bombing of the British mainland except for special tasks, and concentrate on fighting for air supremacy on the southern front and suppressing the naval strength of the British; The third is to strengthen technological research, especially high-priority technical weapons such as radar, rockets, remote-controlled bombs, and solidification; Fourth, we will reorganize the forces ......"

According to Kesselring's deployment, the Air Force was divided into three theaters (Eastern Front, Western Front, and Southern Front), and the mainland was under the unified management of the Western Front as a second-level independent defense area, and the original establishment of 6 air groups was adjusted and expanded to 10 air groups: the 1st Air Force was responsible for the northern section of the Eastern Front (supporting Army Group North), the 6th Air Force was responsible for the middle section of the Eastern Front (supporting Army Group Center), and the 4th Air Force was responsible for the southern section of the Eastern Front (supporting Army Group South); The 3rd Air Force is responsible for the southern sector of the Western Front (France, the Netherlands, Belgium), and the 5th Air Force is responsible for the northern sector of the Western Front (Norway, North Sea, Denmark); The 2nd Air Force was responsible for the left flank of the Southern Front (Italy),

The 7th Air Force was responsible for the right flank of the Southern Front (Balkans), and the 8th Air Force was responsible for the North African region; The Imperial Air Force is responsible for the home defense zone; The Reserve Air Corps is the only air force under the direct supervision of the Chief of the General Staff of the Air Force, which is responsible for training and reserve tasks.

The air force is equivalent to the formation of an army group, because the number of air groups has increased and the coverage area has been reduced, and at the same time, because of the need to equip the air force with sufficient staff, command and logistics organs to enable it to uniformly dispatch aircraft, ground support, air defense, radar and early warning forces. In line with the requirements of streamlining the organization and improving the efficiency of command, Kesselring decided to abolish the structure of the air corps and aviation divisions and reorganize them by adopting the method of eight to 10 air wings under the direct jurisdiction of the air force. This adjustment showed Kesselring's skill, and without reducing a single aircraft, the Air Force was able to reduce the number of air personnel by nearly 100,000 - and the idle personnel in the huge and bloated organs and the guard force set up to protect them were immediately reduced. Some of the downsizing personnel were transferred to the naval aviation, some to the command of the air force, some to the army, and the last to be placed under Milch.

After two rounds of downsizing, the Air Force has reduced its number to less than 1.7 million, and Hoffman was not very satisfied with this, and he told Senior General Jeshunek: "I hope that by the end of this year, on the premise of completing all combat missions, the Air Force General Staff will be able to control the total number of personnel to less than 1.5 million, and at the same time have the combat capability of more than 10,000 aircraft." ”

Jeshunek hesitated: "Führer, I am responsible for the task of streamlining and reorganizing the personnel, but in 4 months, in addition to the loss supplement, an additional 2,000 aircraft will be added, this?" ”

Hoffman waved his hand disappreciatively: "As long as the battle loss rate is basically balanced, Speer will give you enough planes, all you have to do is train enough pilots." ”

"Now, I announce the official start of the combat mission on the southern front -- the 'Rolling Stones' program." After the general mission was deployed, all other unrelated personnel left the field, and Hoffman's air force adjutant, Major Lehmann, lifted the curtain of the large sand table in the combat conference room, and the complete military situation and troop deployment of the southern front theater were presented to everyone.

"Our focus is here!" Looking at the place where the Kessellin whip was pointing, everyone except the Führer himself was dumbfounded......