Chapter 144: William Loeb Returns
William Loeb, tall and heroic, and good-looking, was the right-hand man of Eric Adrian's army in the early days, and when he unified the armed and divided Germany, he was not afraid of danger, charged into battle, and made great achievements. Wilhelm Loeb, who was seriously wounded in the Battle of Brandenburg during the attack on Berlin and whose vital signs were weak, was almost recorded in the "Heroic Records of the National Army" by the Military Administration, but due to Eric's resolute intervention, the National Army quickly transferred him to the hospital affiliated with the Eric Group in Hannover for emergency treatment, which finally saved his life.
At the time of the "Paris operation", William Loeb, who had just come out of danger, actively supported Eric Adrian's adventurous ideas, and was one of the five people who knew the secrets of the "Paris operation" at that time, but unfortunately, due to his serious injuries and Eric's resolute opposition, he had to obediently accept hospital treatment instead of participating in that battle.
As Eric's regime took root in Berlin, Wilhelm Loeb, who nearly lost his life, was immediately transferred to Berlin's First Hospital, where he was better treated.
A whole year of meticulous medical care, for the vigorous William Loeb, is tantamount to the discomfort of being in prison, William Loeb, who has just picked up a life under Eric's intervention, has just improved, and then he began to be enthusiastic again, clamoring for the training of the troops, but the death order given to him by the president is to insist on treatment, work hard to recover, and return to the level of blood and vitality before the injury. In fact, Eric will never forget this powerful general who made great contributions to the German Federal State, and soon he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general of the Bundeswehr.
In the later stages of treatment, although the injury has not fully healed, in order to let William Loeb have a good mood and treatment environment, Eric agreed to let him go home to continue to recuperate, so William Loeb has been at home.
President Eric has a very busy job, and the Hansafield Palace receives state guests almost every day, and although Chancellor Stresemann can be in charge alone, sometimes the president of the country has to be present. However, no matter how busy they were, Eric and his wife Dinah occasionally found time to visit their founding heroes in the hospital. At this time, there were no high-end nutritional supplements in Germany, and there were no valuable things to give as gifts, so they could only communicate with each other through mutual understanding and support, and more importantly, the grace of knowledge.
Wilhelm Loeb is a notoriously idle general, when he was in Hanover, he couldn't get out of bed and let the lightly wounded help him back to the team, so Eric had to transfer him to the Berlin First Hospital, so that he could personally control it, but General William Loeb, who was accustomed to the life of the army's iron horse and steel horse, especially did not like the noise of the hospital, and deserted several times, especially in the later stage of the Berlin First Hospital, which made the medical staff very distressed, and he sneaked out of the hospital without paying attention, On several occasions, Eric personally sent people to "catch" him in the Berlin garrison and then sent him back to the hospital.
General William Loeb refused to recuperate with peace of mind, and repeatedly escaped and sneaked back to the Berlin garrison to watch the troops' drills, so that Eric had to make up his mind and ordered another tiger general, who had fought bravely on the battlefield with William Loeb in the war of national reunification, fought to the death, and also made repeated military exploits, to be transferred back to supervise his recuperation.
Erwin Witzleben was a little laughing and crying when he received this order, but Wilhelm Loeb, as his colleague and comrade-in-arms, was sometimes more like a brother, so after receiving the order, he did not raise any objections and hurried back to Berlin in time. With Erwin Witzleben's accompaniment, William Loeb's recuperation can really achieve obvious results, especially the later recovery back home, which played a key role, at least Witzleben was able to let William Loeb recuperate and basically obey the diagnosis and treatment of medical staff.
Accompanied and supervised by Witzleben, William Loeb quickly grasped the development of the Ministry of Defense and the border guards, and began to actively cooperate with the treatment and strive to return to the team as soon as possible.
At the end of August, when the temperature is at its most comfortable in Germany, Wilhelm Loeb takes a light run in the woods in front of his house every morning, and Witzleben actively accompanies him. One day at noon, the attending doctor found them in the grove and solemnly announced that William Loeb's physical indicators had basically recovered, and as long as he paid attention to maintenance, he could officially end the treatment. As soon as this statement was announced, William Loeb rushed to Witzleben and left his family to the Hansafelt Palace, where he demanded an immediate audience with President Eric.
Although it is not uncommon for generals wearing the uniform of a lieutenant general of the German Wehrmacht to be seen in China, especially in the capital Berlin, it is necessary to take a closer look at the attributes of the medals on people's chests, especially among general-level officers, if they are hung with high-level medals that have been wounded in major battles or due to meritorious service, they are undoubtedly the mainstay of the Wehrmacht, and their status and influence are very high. The guards of the presidential palace, who had been on errands in the upper class for a long time, knew these ways, so they very respectfully invited the two generals, Wilhelm Loeb and Witzleben, to wait in the reception hall, and passed the report of their request to see President Eric to the president's office, and Anata, as the chief of staff, was very unfamiliar with the name of William Loeb, so she immediately reported it to President Eric.
At this time, President Eric had just attended an important meeting chaired by Chancellor Stresemann and was signing reports with the Czech Republic, Austria and other countries on the establishment of embassies in Berlin. After that, he had to rush to several nearby industrial areas to inspect the work of environmental protection inspectors, and Eric didn't seem to stop except for eating and sleeping.
President Eric was taken aback by Aynata's report, who was able to recover his health and come back to help him pick up the lead. Eric happily asked Aynata to invite the two generals to his study, and he himself followed.
Witzleben hadn't seen President Eric Adrian for a long time, and he had been leading troops on the front line of the border since the awarding ceremony of the Federal Wehrmacht, and he might not have seen President Eric so soon if it weren't for Wilhelm Loeb's serious injuries, so he was also very excited.
Eric is naturally very familiar with the two generals William Loeb and Witzleben, and it is impossible for Eric to forget it as his subordinates in the early days of his army, especially the trusted generals. Throughout William Loeb's treatment in Berlin, Eric and his wife would be attentive to him, and sometimes he would take the time to visit the hospital in person. William Loeb is a hard-working soldier who can't stay idle, and likes to use his brain to think about general problems, and has a very unique set of leading troops to fight, as his injuries gradually stabilized, Eric also quietly planned a place for him to go.
Eric Adrian wanted to build a force that Germany had never had before, a force capable of reaching deep behind enemy lines. A force that terrifies the enemy, a force that can only be led by a brave and brave man like William Loeb, who dares to fight, although the size of this force is not too large for the time being, it is a key force that can make or break the war. Eric knew that Wilhelm Loeb would definitely be the soul of this unit, and the name of this unit had already been decided, that is, the Airborne Forces of the Bundeswehr.
The decision to set up such a special force was made after repeated consultations with such senior generals as Defense Minister Brauchitsch, Field Marshal Rundstein, and Chief of Staff Max Hofmant, and at a time when no other country had even the slightest experience in this field, and had never even thought about it. However, Eric was the first to dare to eat crabs, and he saw not only hope but also success.
After the ultra-large F-200C reconnaissance aircraft developed and produced by Fokker Aircraft Manufacturing Company rolled off the assembly line, its first flight was very successful, and the following long-term continuous test flights also performed excellently, and were recognized by the Air Force for quality, and have entered mass production and gradually installed in the Air Force. Eric flew from Berlin to Schwerin, and after taking a closer look, he was full of praise for the performance and usefulness of the aircraft. Inspired by the cliff jumping movement of many parachute enthusiasts in China, Eric had a bold idea to set a precedent in world history and establish a paratroop unit of the Wehrmacht, that is, the Airborne Forces.
Eric, who had an idea, began to actively consider the choice of general, and only by finding the soul of this army could this army play its unique role. Almost without thinking, Eric thought of William Loeb, and he felt that only William Loeb was the first choice. The second choice is his comrade-in-arms Erwin Witzleben, although Erwin Witzleben lacks the ruthlessness of Wilhelm Loeb, but has a strategy that Wilhelm Loeb does not have, and if the two can be combined, it will be the best match for the German Airborne Forces. Therefore, Eric thought of asking Witzleben to accompany William Loeb to heal his wounds, in fact, to reunite this pair of old comrades-in-arms who had been separated for more than a year, and to act as the soul of the miracle force he planned.
Led by Annata, William Loeb and Erwin Witzleben walked into President Erik's study.
Having heard of this secret place countless times, but it was also the first time in his life to enter this mysterious Hansafelt Palace, and it was the first time to enter such a sacred inner room, the battle-hardened general was a little cramped, after all, in this kind of place let the powerful German president meet, Wilhelm Loeb finally discovered his own smallness.
Eric Adrian is now the president of the Federal Republic of Germany, and is no longer the youngest marshal of the former Reich, so he has to be careful no matter how big he is, after all, this is not what it used to be. However, Eric does not think this way of William Loeb, in his eyes, William Loeb is still the brave man who dares to fight and move forward, and he is his right-hand man in the future.
Witzlerben, by contrast, was much more generous and professional in his salute to the president. William Loeb had not lived in the army for more than a year, and many of the troop rules, regulations, internal requirements, queues, and marching methods had been radically changed or more formalized, making William Loeb feel like he had to start from scratch.
Knowing that William Loeb was embarrassed, Eric hastened to let him relax and tell him that he was still free as before, and took the lead in singing the Hanover folk songs that were often sung by the Nationalist army when they were marching.
Witzleben and Wilhelm Loeb also hummed softly, and soon the three of them began singing at the Hansafelt Palace.