From the attachment of the old Ziano's letter, Fang Yan successfully obtained the information of the businessman named Franz. Having spent the last 20 years in the business www.biquge.info of importing high-quality logs from Finland and then processing them into furniture in Milan, he has not been successful in the industry, but he knows all the aspects of Finland as a country. If he had been allowed to come forward and approach the Finns, the suspicion of Germany would have been almost washed away; And Fang Yan will be able to retreat into the background and reap his own benefits in the struggle between the Soviet Union and Finland and Italy.

After rewarding Sylvia without reservation, the next morning, Fang Yan set out on the way back to the port of Kiel in high spirits. The work related to the transformation of the merchant ship still needs Fang Yan to lead the formulation of the engineering plan, which is expected to be completed by the end of November. However, what Fang Yan had to do in the domestic and military fields was completed, and he only needed to stay at the Kiel Military Port now and watch the butterfly effect he had caused.

The sky was covered with gray clouds, which obscured the heat and light of the rising sun, and even though it was 9 a.m., the sky over Berlin was still dull. After a night of snowfall, the city of Berlin has been reduced to a white album of white photographs. The bitter north wind let out a weeping whimper, with a freezing coldness; Pedestrians on the streets wore felt hats and scarves, wrapping themselves in clumsy barrels that moved.

In the grand and solemn Chancellery, Adolf? Hitler was standing in front of a glass window and staring out at the world of ice and snow. He was also wearing a thick cotton coat, and his thin body was able to look stronger. The fireplace in the corner of the wall burns brightly, releasing all the heat stored in the high-quality anthracite coal into the room, but even so, you can still feel the cold snap of midwinter near the window.

"My Führer, it's too cold by the window, so you might as well go to the stove and have a cup of hot coffee." Not far away, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Keitel, spoke with concern on his face. He carried a steaming coffee pot in his hand, and he actually made a cameo appearance as the Führer's guard attendant. In the face of Keitel's flattering persuasion, Hitler had no intention of doing good; He was silent for a moment, and then said: "I heard that the temperature on the Rhine River on the Western Front is colder than in Berlin, accompanied by strong winds and snowfall, and it is not easy for the army to attack?" ”

Keitel nodded and said, "This year's winter came more than a month earlier than usual, and the whole of Europe was affected by this abnormal weather. Now, not only the fighting environment of the front-line army, but also our rail transport is in great trouble due to the large snowfall that arrived in advance. With the time it takes to clean the tracks almost every day, we've seen a 30% reduction in the number of departures compared to last month; If the weather conditions do not improve, rail transport will not be able to return to the effects it had before the frost fell. ”

Hearing these words, the corners of Hitler's mouth hooked up with a complicated sneer; For a while, his heart seemed to have knocked over the five-flavor bottle, and he didn't know whether it was anger, happiness, sadness, unwillingness, or ridicule. At present, the top echelons of the army headed by Brauchitsch are all afraid of an all-out war with the British and French armies, and they are perfunctory and perfunctory about Hitler's offensive operations on the Western Front: The "yellow plan" for attacking the Western Front formulated by the Army General Staff in late October is a complete copy of the Schlieffen Plan during World War I. What was even more unacceptable to Hitler was that this newly released improved version of the battle plan was even more strategically unbearable than the original Schlieffen plan!

Although the Schlieffen Plan was a fragile pavilion built under ideal logistical conditions, the former master undoubtedly had clear strategic intentions. The left flank of the German army was responsible for attracting the main French attack in Alsace and Lorraine, while the right flank cluster, which had concentrated all the best troops, swept through the Low Countries to northern France; First capture Paris, then gather the main French forces in central and eastern France, and finally win the war. And now this "yellow plan" formulated by the General Staff of the German Army is completely a futile: the German army only takes the occupation of the Low Countries and a part of northern France as the goal of the campaign, and as for what will happen after that, it has not thought about it at all!

Rao Hitler himself never imagined that he could replicate the success of the Polish campaign in France, where the rivers were densely packed, but seeing the army's obviously unenterprising battle plan, he still almost blew up his lungs. Since then, the Army has come up with a variety of reasons to oppose the campaign on the Western Front, ranging from the need for repairs in mechanized units to the lack of ammunition stockpiles. And now, the weather has become a legitimate reason for the Army: how can the troops have the ideal combat effectiveness in this extremely cold weather with both lack of logistics and air support?

Hitler, however, also understood that these problems were real in the Army. From the battle plan of the commander-in-chief to the logistical support of the grass-roots troops, the entire German Army was not at all ready to fight to the death with Britain and France. From the day he learned of this situation, Hitler painfully dismissed the idea of sending troops to the Western Front in the autumn and winter of this year. And the reason why he ordered the war on the 12th at the meeting on November 4 was purely to put pressure on the army top brass to make the latter quickly improve the shortcomings that had not yet been implemented.

In Hitler's original plan, he also needed to find a suitable reason to postpone the start of the war as the offensive date approached; Now, the weather on the Western Front was very bad, which gave Hitler an ideal excuse to go down the slope. After all, only when the army was ready will Germany have the confidence to break the current sit-in stalemate on the Western Front. Although Hitler was a super adventurer who dared to take 3 battalions to recover the Rhine demilitarized zone, it was based on the accurate judgment that France would not use force; Now that it is a real war, making a similar move is no longer a gamble to look forward to winning, but a complete suicide death!

"Keitel, go and draw up an order that, for meteorological and rail reasons, the date of the attack on the Western Front will be postponed from November 12 to 25. The next decision will be made on the 22nd. Hitler spoke slowly. Keitel was stunned for a moment, then a look of surprise appeared on his face; He hurriedly put down the coffee pot and saluted Hitler, and said in a trembling voice: "My Führer, your wisdom is the greatest miracle I have ever encountered in this life!" I can assure you that the entire Army will be deeply praised for your foresight and wisdom. ”

Seeing Keitel's true state of mind, Hitler couldn't help but feel disappointed and tired. Although the man in front of him had never disobeyed his will in major decisions, in his heart he still stood on the side of Brauchitsch's gang and opposed the use of troops on the Western Front. Although the timid and weak temperament of these high-ranking members of the army has greatly promoted their efforts to eliminate the intervention of the army and monopolize the power of the commander-in-chief, it is absolutely difficult to entrust the country and the nation with the heavy responsibility of entrusting the country and the nation in the current struggle that has a bearing on the life and death of the country!

"It seems that it is necessary to build up an army under our control as soon as possible." Hitler thought with a determined gaze. In addition to the weakness of the will of the army leadership, the political feud between the traditional forces controlled by the old Prussian officer corps and the National Socialist Party also prompted Hitler to vigorously strengthen his cards and completely overwhelm his opponents. To this day, the Army remains a large and hard-standing outlaw group that broke away from the control of the National Socialist Party and was the greatest obstacle to Hitler's Nazification of the country. Although the two sides were united by a common enemy, this did not prevent Hitler from digging into each other's corners and using them to strengthen his own power.

Now, the three regimental Waffen-SS units, including the "Adolf-Hitler Banner Guard" commanded by Himmler, were Hitler's first steps in his struggle for power from the army. All three nascent units took part in the Polish campaign in September, and although they still had a clear gap in fighting qualities with their army counterparts, all the rank-and-file officers and men, armed with Nazi ideology, showed insane bravery and were not afraid to sacrifice their lives. If there is enough time to train them, then this group of Waffen-SS troops can become a solid and thick iron mountain, and at the same time sweep away the foreign enemy, it can also achieve a strong counterbalance to the army group at home!

"Let Himmler come to my office in half an hour." Hitler spoke to Keitel again. He is definitely not an indecisive person, as long as he is determined to do something, he will immediately and vigorously carry it out. Hitler's idea was clear: since he would not use troops on the Western Front for the next few months, this time would be the right time to train the army and raise the lineup and combat quality of the Waffen-SS to a new level.

As for the resulting gap in armament, Hitler was confident that his Minister of Economy would solve this trifle without difficulty. At present, Germany has promulgated a war decree to extend working hours, and under the unified planning of the Ministry of Economy, the total amount of equipment production in Germany is expected to increase by leaps and bounds on the current basis.

Although the navy led by Raeder was an independent kingdom under Nazi Germany, Hitler had no intention of dividing the navy for the time being. In addition to the relatively limited size of the navy's personnel, which played a far less important role in the domestic political situation than the army, the strong professionalism of this branch of the military was also a key factor limiting Hitler's intervention in it. After all, it takes two or three years for the army to pull up a combat-ready army, while the navy is obviously not good. If this organization is dismantled for the sake of power, it will be tantamount to self-destruction of the Great Wall in the current war environment. (To be continued.) )