Dark clouds were low and churning over Berlin, and the damp hot wind was blowing up the branches and leaves of the street trees, and it was already a picture of an impending shower. Fang Yan walked out of the Navy Headquarters building, silently looked up at the sky, and faced the upright salute of the guards at the main gate, Fang Yan just barely raised his hand for the first time, and walked towards the car with a lonely expression.

Ten minutes ago, Raeder appointed Fang Yan to be responsible for the mission of forming the Marine Corps, and when he saw the tough and firm eyes implied in Raeder's inquiry, Fang Yan, who knew the other party's character, realized that unless he and Raeder tore their faces, it would be impossible to get rid of this appointment at this stage. Fang Yan did not make a useless effort, and calmly accepted Raeder's "proposal" - at present, Fang Yan still needs time to keep his head in obscurity, if he can't help jumping out of his head during this time period, he will only end up being a pure vassal of Hitler because of his fledgling.

Although in Fang Yan's plan, he originally planned to lead the construction of the Marine Corps in order to hold a key force that could deal with the mutation in the capital Berlin, but seeing Raeder so mercilessly driving him to the corner where he thought he had the least prospects, Fang Yan's heart was still stagnant, as if he was being crushed by a boulder. In order to hold on to the bridgehead of the navy in the political wave of the National Socialist Party's erosion of the whole country, Raeder has already shown ruthlessness and decisiveness to strangle all unstable factors in infancy: even if Fang Yan has made outstanding contributions to the glory of the navy today and Raeder's success, he still swept into the cold palace without hesitation!

"Is this a politician......" Fang Yan whispered softly in the driver's seat of the car, his slightly dim eyes flashing a little color again. After all, he is not a White Lotus, and he has knowledge of all kinds of shady scenes at the top, and Raeder's methods are much softer than Hitler, who wiped out two close meritorious comrades-in-arms for power. Gradually, the corners of Fang Yan's mouth were hooked again, and he turned the key to start the car. For the formation of the Marine Corps, Fang Yan has been planning for half a year, and in the face of Raeder, who has only entered the pit today, Fang Yan has enough confidence to grasp the initiative.

Evening was approaching, and heavy rain was pouring down, but Fang Yan had no intention of staying at home. He flipped through his phone book and dialed the phone station number of his apartment in Berlin West. Colonel Zeitzler, chief of staff of the Army's 11th Army, lives in this area, and four months ago he had made some friendships with Fang Yan on a trip to Italy to inspect the combat readiness of the latter's army. There are many problems in the formation of the Marine Corps this time, and Fang Yan's army professional skills are obviously not enough, so he can only ask foreign aid to help solve it.

Fang Yan originally planned to find Rommel, but after thinking about it carefully, he dispelled this idea. Rommel is a fighter who is good at commanding on the battlefield, and it is difficult to say how strong he will be in the second-line work of army formation and training. What's more, this guy is now a lieutenant general, one level higher than Fang Yan, and it is obviously inappropriate to go back and engage in the preparation of such a regiment-level unit.

The phone was quickly connected, and a familiar and polite middle-aged male voice came from the other end of the receiver; Fang Yan was not wrong in the news, Zeitzler was no longer in the barracks at this time, but was on shift like most senior officers. Zeitzler couldn't help but be a little stunned when he learned that Fang Yan was going to visit today, but he gladly agreed and put the French wine he had just bought on the living room tea table.

After about half an hour, Fang Yan stepped into Zeitzler's door on time. As a Mesozoic civilian officer who has only been promoted in recent years, Zeitzler clearly doesn't have much savings to improve his life: not only is the apartment ordinary, but the overall area is not as spacious as it is the familiar face that opens the door, Fang Yan would have wondered if he had gone to the wrong floor. Several children in their early 10s poked their heads by the door of their bedrooms, as if curious about the visitors, Zeitzler glared back, and the children retracted into the room like gophers.

"General Brom, what is the matter with you coming to me today?" Zeitzler seemed to be extremely inexperienced in hospitality, although he painted a gourd and put the hospitality wine on the tea table, but when he was about to leave, he completely forgot about it, and directly asked Fang Yan about his intentions. Fang Yan sat on the sofa and replied with a smile: "The Navy is preparing to form one regiment of marine troops, and I will be responsible for the whole work, so I have come to ask you, an excellent staff officer, for help." I have almost no idea about the composition of this Marine Corps, including the subjects and content of its training. There's a bet on the timing of the campaign on the Western Front last time, and I'm sure you won't help me with that. ”

Zeitzler was stunned, and then remembered that he had made a half-jokingly bet with the young man in front of him on the transport plane to Rome four months ago. If the German army used troops on the Western Front for more than 3 months, Fang Yan would ask the Volkswagen factory to line up a number for him for free, otherwise he would have to do one thing for the other side. Although Zeitzler didn't want to make Fang Yan's thousands of marks cheaper at that time, the handicap of "sweeping away the Western Front in 3 months" really made him unbearable: What do you naval ducks know about land warfare? Is it funny that the four-nation coalition on the Western Front died in one season?

And yet now...... Zeitzler didn't want to say anything more. The campaign on the Western Front, from the landing of gliders on the Eben-Emer fortress to the formal signing of the armistice agreement in Compiègne, took only 43 days, and it was not even half of the three months. In the midst of his bliss and ecstasy, Zeitzler felt that he was completely willing to swallow the consequences of losing the bet, and that his own contribution was nothing compared to the brilliant prospects for the German Motherland and the entire nation.

"Recently, there have been very few missions in the army, and I am more than happy to help you accomplish this mission." Zeitzler said with a relaxed expression and generosity. He paused, and his tone gradually became serious: "It's just that the formation of a new army is a systematic thing. Before I decided on the number, I had to know how much budget the Navy had prepared for this and what tactical expectations I had for this new Marine Corps. ”

"Uh, what's tactical expectation?" Fang Yan was stunned in place, and asked with a confused face. Zeitzler had just picked up the glass of water to moisten his throat when he heard this, and his hand shook and he almost spilled the water. He looked at the handsome face in front of him seriously, and his words were full of disbelief: "Aren't you, don't you even know this?" How do you build a troop like this? ”

Seeing that Fang Yan was still stammering, Zeitzler sighed in a low voice, and explained a little at the moment: "To put it simply, it is what kind of mission the Navy is going to carry out with this force. Whether the newly formed Marine Corps is to repel the enemy head-on and occupy the core points; Or is it only required to defend the port or beachhead, and hold out until the arrival of a large army force? If the Navy has enough ambitions, it can even follow the formation of armored divisions and play piercing and encirclement. Of course, I don't recommend this to the Navy, because it would be too demanding on both funding and personnel. ”

Fang Yan's expression was sluggish, and he suddenly realized that his poor knowledge of the army was still too shallow. According to his original idea, he used the 40 million marks extorted from Walter to violently open the way and smash out a super-first-class army with a configuration that surpassed that of American imperialism: the New Army's Reading Regiment Writing Brigade, armed with tanks, heavy artillery, and mechanized infantry to the teeth. But now it seems that what is the difference between this and the H-44 battleship of the German Navy in the historical plane? Without a clear positioning, it is undoubtedly stupid to blindly pursue high indicators!

So what exactly is the goal of the Forces nouvelles? Fang Yan quickly gave an answer in his heart. This force is the instrument of his internal violence and, if necessary, the trump card of the coup d'état. In this framework, armored divisions that are interspersed like rappiers, as well as fortress divisions that focus on defense, are excluded, and infantry divisions with ferocious firepower are the only template. Considering that this force also needs to have rapid reaction capabilities, mechanization is also a standard that must be met, otherwise relying on mule and horse manpower, 50 kilometers a day is the limit.

Hearing Fang Yan tell these requests, Zeitzler's strange expression finally returned to normal. The person in front of him is quite reliable, although the detailed knowledge is almost the same as the blank, but he is not confused in the general direction - the mechanized infantry regiment with strong firepower can be regarded as the upper limit bottleneck that the self-made navy can touch. Zeitzler pondered for a moment, and gradually had a plan in his heart, he got up and found a pen and paper from the bedroom, and then outlined the organizational chart in front of Fang Yan in an orderly manner.

"If the Navy is well funded, a high-end configuration of 2 infantry battalions + 1 artillery battalion can be considered. The infantry battalion consisted of a standard 3 companies, plus a heavy weapons platoon and an anti-aircraft platoon; The artillery battalion is also a three-company system, armed with a total of 12 105-mm howitzers, or 4 of them are replaced with 150-mm infantry guns. In addition to the communications, engineer, medical, air defense, anti-tank, baggage and other directly subordinate units, this regiment can already be regarded as a pocket version of a motorized division, and its firepower is far beyond that of an ordinary regiment, after all, this is equivalent to the existence of decentralizing the division's artillery to one level. ……”

Zeitzler said unhurriedly, but the pen in his hand was rapidly sketching one box after another on behalf of the troops. Although Fang Yan only knew the surface of the army organization, through the rapidly formed, neat and clear tree map in front of him, all the doubts in his heart suddenly became clear, and it was hearty and unspeakable. It's easy to talk to a master like Zeitzler, who can clearly present complex configurations in a simple and accurate way.

Fang Yan stared at the tree-like map in front of him, and a trace of doubt suddenly appeared in his heart. Doesn't the current regiment of the German Army contain three infantry battalions, and what are Zeitzler's reasons for reducing one battalion of his own troops?