After nightfall, Berlin gradually quieted down, thanks to the strengthening of anti-air raids and the heroic guard of the night fighter unit, the people of Berlin have not heard the air defense siren sound for half a month, but no one dares to take it lightly, the light control order is strictly enforced, and the sparse light will make people feel like they are in the suburbs,

At the intersection of Voss Street and Wilhelm Street, the towering Imperial Chancellery's imposing guards and a large number of vehicles showed that a high-level meeting was being held, and under the marble relief of the Imperial Eagle holding a wreath of flowers, there were officers and soldiers of the Guard Flag Team who carried out security checks, and only with their approval could they enter smoothly.

Today there will be a grand ceremony of honour for the heroes of the war who have emerged in recent times by the Reich Führer, the most notable of which is the Knight's Cross of the Order of the Two Swords with Diamonds and Oak Leaves (theoretically the Grand Iron Cross is the highest rank, but it has been downplayed by the Ministry of Propaganda because it has only been awarded once and to the fallen Hermann Goering). Such medals have been awarded only three times since their inception, and coincidentally the first three were awarded to officers and men of the Air Force, and the two that will be awarded today also belong to the Air Force. Both winners were fighter pilots, with the same rank - both Air Force lieutenants, and thanks to the propaganda of the Propaganda Department, they had already become household names in the Empire.

One of them was Hans-Joachim Marseilleu, an Air Force Hero of the North African Theater, and the other was Hermann Graf, an Air Force Hero of the Eastern Front. These two are currently the only 200 downed record holders in the Imperial Air Force, and they are only separated by the slightest difference - one. In addition to these two highest-ranking winners, a number of Air Force fighter and bomber heroes were awarded the Iron Cross of the Knight's Iron Cross with Oak Leaf and the Knight's Iron Cross with Oak Leaf respectively.

The commanders of the wings where these Air Force heroes belong are very considerate. In view of the fact that they were to return home for decorations and vacations, they were simply assigned the task of returning home to serve as reserve pilot training instructors, so that they would have enough time to deal with various personal matters. A large number of ace pilots gathered together to exchange their experience and experience in air warfare, and at the same time rapidly improve the combat skills of the reserve pilots, which made the Air Force Chief of Staff General Yeshunek, who presided over the training work, smile with joy.

Since the recipients were mainly members of the Air Force and the Battle of El Alamein, the ceremony was presided over by Marshal Kesselring, First Deputy Commander of the Air Force and Commander-in-Chief of the Southern Front, who had just returned from Italy. Baumann, Goebbels, Keitel and other high-ranking members of the empire accompanied Hoffmann to participate.

Before the ceremony began, looking at so many Air Force heroes who participated in the ceremony, Field Marshal Kesselring could not help but sigh to Hoffmann: "The Air Force is truly a strong fortress of National Socialism. These achievements were achieved solely under the wise leadership of the Führer. ”

"Marshal Kesselring, don't keep saying insincere things, I know you envy this medal too." Hoffman looked at the Air Marshal who had been reluctant to play with the delicate medal in his hand and teased. "As long as you run the southern line for me. When the time comes, you and Guderian will have such a medal. ”

Marshal Kesselring, whose "......forehead" was seen through his thoughts, made a big face, his face turned red, and several people next to him were happy.

"How's it going on the southern route? Is there a problem there Guderian? How complete is Tobruk's defense system? ”

"With the concern of the head of state Lao, everything is normal in North Africa." Kesselring gave a casual account of the recent movements of the African Army.

After Guderian returned to Tobruk, he made drastic adjustments to his troops, first obtaining Hoffman's consent to dismantle the 90th Light Division, which Rommel had originally set up due to insufficient weapons and equipment, and assigned its armored units to the 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions, and the infantry units to the 164th Infantry Division, except that the division commander was transferred to the Italian Southern Front Command. The rest of the divisional personnel were successively transferred to the relevant departments of the African Army. After the replenishment of this group of new troops, Guderian's staff and logistics team were further improved. In addition, Marshal Kesselring continued to replenish troops and equipment for the front, and finally the various units were reorganized and replenished to a more ideal state.

The defeated Italian remnants who were rescued by Guderian on the coastal road have returned to the country, and only a complete Italian paratrooper brigade was left on the Tobruk front, which was completely trained by German instructors, and there are still some German instructors who act as officers in it, most of the soldiers are fascist members, with strong combat effectiveness and fighting spirit, plus the paratroopers have always belonged to the jurisdiction of the air force, which is much stronger than the general Italian army units, and Guderian regarded them as an important force and stayed. Then the 4th Panzer Division also received good news, the commander of Army Group South, Marshal Manstein, sent out all the captures of the Southern Front for more than a year, and after the improvement and refreshment of the Armaments Department, 78 T-34s were delivered to Tobruk in one go. So the intelligence of the Americans is accurate, the Afrika Army has 200 T-34s in their hands, a total of 221 to be exact.

Now Guderian's forces are finally more abundant, after a series of reorganizations and additions, the African Army currently includes 3 complete armored divisions (4th, 15th, 21st), a complete armored brigade (Flying Fortress armored brigade), an infantry division (164th infantry division) plus an Italian paratrooper brigade, plus part of the remaining troops and air force, the total strength has recovered to nearly 100,000, and has 800 tanks and 5 air wings of nearly 900 aircraft. Compared with the embarrassment when he first took over, the number of troops is still smaller, but the combat effectiveness and technical equipment are completely different -- it can be called the strongest moment in the history of the African Army.

"Montgomery is still fighting with Churchill?" Although the intelligence services did not know the exact content of the cables, they were aware of the extremely frequent telegraph exchanges between Egypt, North Africa, and the London Triangle, so Hoffman had this guess.

"I don't know how to coordinate between North Africa and London, now Montgomer led the main force of the 8th Army to move westward, but he was very cautious, the large forces were all grouped together, there were more than 50,000 troops in each direction, and he was not impatient to advance, and El Alamein to Cairo successively deployed a lot of troops to protect the logistics line. They also seem to be replenishing their forces and equipment, and there is no sign of an offensive against our troops at the moment. The Afrika Army itself was too busy with replenishment and adjustment to spare a hand in the short term, and Guderian was determined to wait a little longer to see if there was a chance to pounce on it and take a bite. ”

"You can't let Montgomery live too comfortably, you have to find an opportunity to beat him up." Hoffman said, "If he can find an opportunity to eat 1-2 more armored divisions, with his cautious mentality, he will be drawn up by the troops behind." ”

"He may also be frightened and retreat."

"No, this is absolutely impossible, how could Churchill, who bragged in the world media about winning the Battle of El Alamein, allow him to go back so easily?"

"I understand what you mean, I'll convey it to General Guderian when I get back."

"How was our old friend Mussolini in his mood? He called me three times in a row accusing Guderian of sacrificing his troops at will, and if he could give the order, it is estimated that Guderian's head would not be saved. After listening to the briefing on the Afrika Army, Hoffman changed the subject and asked about the situation on the Italian side.

"He complained to me too, but I ignored him." Kesselring raised his eyebrows, his eyes showing contempt, "I was about to report to you about the joke about Rome." ”

As soon as Kesselring was about to tell a joke, the attention of the others was drawn to him, and Goebbels, Baummann, and Keitel listened one by one, lest they miss the gossip of the Italian leader.

"Did you know that? Two days ago, a grand ceremony was held in Rome, and Prime Minister Mussolini made a public speech in which he declared that in this battle of El Alamein, the Italian army 'annihilated 3 British brigades, routed 2 British armored divisions, captured at least 5,000 people, hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles, and captured hundreds of artillery pieces...... The most recent attack was only 30 kilometers from Montgomery's headquarters, and if it were not for the great disparity in strength, the British general might have been captured alive', and of course finally admitted with shame that 'the sacrifices of Italy were also enormous, and we faithfully fulfilled the covenant with our blood and lives.'"

"What?" Hoffman was stunned and speechless, it was really embarrassing to be so thick-skinned that he was so thick-skinned, and the others were also dumbfounded, and they couldn't imagine that the battle report of the Battle of El Alamein could be written like this.

"He took all the obsolete munitions we gave him and put them on display, insisting that they were trophies captured by the Italian troops, and he also dragged the British prisoners out of the street for a parade." Kesselring added, "The equipment we sent him still has the Iron Cross logo on it, and when a Spanish reporter asked why, he said in a loud voice that it was captured by the British and then defeated by us Italians and then captured, otherwise how could the German equipment be with us?" The reporter checked with me, and I was really too lazy to poke at him, so I vaguely coped with it. ”

"Hah!" Everyone laughed, and Bowman gave a thumbs up and praised, "Clever! Brilliant! This explanation is fantastic, wittier than all the speakers. ”

Hoffman nodded and agreed to hand over all the British prisoners, some unused British equipment (such as British rifles, machine guns, those coffins of the 7 brothers) and the No. 2 tank that the African Army did not want to hand over to the Italian side, in order to save face for the Italians and at the same time give Mussolini a little comfort, lest he always grasp the Guderian problem, but he didn't expect the other party to be so "living and learning", he really never expected it.

"The funniest things are yet to come...... "Marshal Kesselring told the second story in a vivid voice, and it was all bursting with laughter, and Bowman, who laughed the most exaggeratedly, almost burst into tears. (To be continued.) )