In his front-line headquarters, Liszt heard the tsunami-like cheers of the front-line soldiers. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

He frowned, then walked over to the observation window, trying to pick up his binoculars and see what was going on.

As a result, his assistant rushed into his headquarters, and then shouted in surprise: "Marshal! Marshal! The defenders of the city of Athens surrendered, and they were willing to surrender their weapons! ”

"Whew!" Liszt let out a sigh of relief, and a confident smile appeared on his face: "If that's the case, that's great." We can now tell the Führer that we have fulfilled the tasks he has assigned to us. ”

"The 12th Army is invincible!" The officer stood tall and puffed out his chest in a loud cheer.

Liszt also smiled and nodded: "Yes, the 12th Army is a very, very good army!" ”

After speaking, he looked at the staff officers and secretaries in the office, and instructed: "Gentlemen, prepare a telegram and send it to the General Headquarters of the Army, as well as the Supreme Command and the Führer...... Report to them the news of our victory. ”

Although he knew that it was too early to rejoice, and that the sharp national contradictions in the Balkans, and the remnants of the British and Greek forces still scattered throughout the mountainous region, had not yet been eliminated, Liszt could indeed hand in his answer.

The capture of Athens marked the collapse of organized resistance in the Balkans. All that's left is long-term policing, and how to manage local officials and use policies to reassure people.

"Long live the Führer! Marshal! General Student has just arrived, and he is in the next room, waiting to see you......" An officer walked into the command headquarters and saluted Marshal Liszt.

As soon as he entered, he heard cheers, and the headquarters of the 12th Army was full of joy, and everyone knew the news of the surrender of Greece.

In just 20 days, the German Army swept across the Balkans, a little faster than in history.

On the one hand, it was because of the German victory in the Mediterranean, which seriously weakened British support in the Balkans. On the other hand, the Führer's readjustment of the army did have a certain effect.

German units, equipped with more gasoline and more trucks and armored vehicles, used the entire Balkans as a testing ground to test their doctrine of mechanized propulsion.

What's even more satisfying is that the theory seems to be stronger than the standards on paper. Just a small test of the knife left Greece and the local British defenders exhausted, and there was not even the slightest room for parry.

"Oh? General Stud has arrived? "Liszt, as the commander of the 12th Army, which attacked Greece, certainly knew the Führer's plans.

Combat operations against Crete began in earnest a few days ago. With the German army besieging Athens and capturing it, the capture of Crete, and complete control of the Mediterranean became the next most important offensive plan of the German army.

Therefore, Liszt hurriedly arranged for people to send the news of the victory to the Berlin High Command, and then took his adjutant to meet with this important commander-in-chief of the German Airborne Forces next door.

The Stud was subordinate to the Luftwaffe, and in fact earlier, anything that had wings and could fly, was under the command of Goering.

But now, with the advent of naval aviation, the army has also formed a small air reconnaissance unit directly under it.

"Victory! Monarch! Seeing Liszt walk into the room, Stud quickly stood up, raised his arm and saluted Liszt: "It's a pleasure to see you, Marshal!" ”

"Good afternoon, Your Excellency!" Liszt casually returned a military salute, and then motioned to Stud to find a place to sit casually: "Don't be restrained, I heard that you came to personally command the battle for Crete, and the pressure on my side is much less." ”

"The Führer wants to seize Crete as soon as possible, but we only entered the site of the attack yesterday and are resting," Stud said to Liszt, reporting on the progress ......of the paratroopers' deployment.

He pointed to the front-line airfields assigned to the paratroopers on the map that had been laid out on the table, and continued: "We will use 10,000 paratroopers for this attack...... This scale we have never used before. ”

"My God, tens of thousands of paratroopers parachuted at once?" When Liszt heard the news, he couldn't help but smack his tongue.

When the paratroopers attacked Malta before, the scale was not so huge. This time the air raid on Crete actually had to dispatch 10,000 people in one go!

"Yes, but most of the paratroopers did not land in air, but landed on the island by glider and other means." Stud was a professional, so he gave Lister a detailed course of action.

"There were about 3,000 paratroopers and more than 300 planes at the same time. There were 300 people with new types of umbrellas, which landed at the same time as weapons. Student looked at the map and introduced Liszt.

This time, his paratroopers were quite large, and according to the calculations of the Supreme High Command, the landing did not require the use of such a large number of paratroopers.

But the Führer hoped that through Crete, he would simulate a battle plan for landing in Britain. So the paratroopers dispatched 10,000 people, which was completely a knife to kill chickens.

Of the 10,000 paratroopers, 3,000 were airdropped by parachute, and the other 4,500 relied on gliders to land directly to carry out operations.

The remaining 2,500 soldiers were to follow the plane directly to the airfield after the paratroopers had seized it.

Although compared with the Allied forces that landed in Normandy, the German paratrooper units can still only be said to be small, but in 1940, this scale was indeed unprecedentedly strong.

In Normandy in 1944, the Allies dispatched a total of 3,000 transport planes and gliders, and the first batch of paratroopers numbered more than 17,000 people.

Germany's current paratrooper base is not so strong, and including gliders, Germany can dispatch less than 1,000 aircraft, which is still close to bankruptcy.

If it were not for the purpose of verifying the feasibility of large-scale airborne operations, and by the way, to conduct exercises for airborne landing in Britain, the normal scale of the German paratroopers would have used at most 700 aircraft of various kinds this time.

Also operating were Italian covering forces, including 3 cruisers of the Navy, as well as two old Cavour-class battleships.

The Italian warships were mainly used to provide long-range artillery support for the German paratroopers, and the Italian Navy was terrified against the British Navy, and they were used to carry out shore artillery missions, which was definitely a reliable help.

"What does the 12th Army need to do? I can transfer some troops here to participate in the landing operations. Liszt asked aloud.

"The Führer's meaning is that you need to organize a division of troops to land in a place of your choice under the cover of the Italian Navy...... It can be regarded as a real combat exercise. Stud took out a letter of order from the Führer that he had with him and handed it to Liszt.

Liszt opened the letter, nodded after reading it, and said, "I will send an infantry division to participate in the battle for the landing on Crete." ”

He looked at Student, thought for a moment and continued: "This force is to be replenished to the Western Front and used when it lands in Britain...... I'm really worried that they will lose a lot in the UK. ”

"I was training paratroopers in large numbers in Munich and Austria...... Marshal. Student looked at the other party and said comfortingly: "When I land in England, I will personally send 30,000 paratroopers behind enemy lines, and I am more worried about the outcome of that battle in the future than you." ”

Of course, the 30,000 paratroopers in Student could not be thrown to Britain together. It is estimated that it will still be in batches, but being able to transport 30,000 soldiers to the other side of the strait is already a remarkable achievement.

Hearing what Stuart said, Liszt nodded, wiped away the trace of unbearability in his heart, and promised: "I will choose the best soldiers to complete the Führer's plan." ”

You know, after this operation, these soldiers will be transferred to France to prepare for landing on British soil.

Most of them were likely to die on the bloody beaches of England, becoming the first test subjects of the war for a large-scale German landing.

"I belong to the aviation unit, and I will use it to support the landing force in combat...... Do you have any specific arrangements for your paratroopers? Liszt adjusted his mood and asked again.

Student immediately replied: "It is the air force unit allocated by Marshal Kesselring to cover the paratrooper operation, and there are 100 fighters and 200 bombers, which is very sufficient. ”

Because of its proximity to Romania, the German troops in the Balkans were well fueled. The air force units are huge, and the cover from the air is also in place in a very timely manner.

It seems that this airborne landing operation has been prepared very safely. The next step is for the German military to remove the last nail that can threaten the German oil field facilities.

"Then, presumably you also have your command mission, so I won't leave you here for dinner." Liszt stood up and said to Student.

The paratrooper commander Student nodded, also stood up and saluted: "Then, I won't bother you Marshal either." I have other things to arrange, so I'll take my leave! Long live the Führer! ”

"Victory! Monarch! Unlike when he entered the door, Liszt solemnly returned to Student with a military salute and put him in the car.

When Studenter's car was far away, Liszt turned back to his men and ordered: "Get all the division commanders to a meeting at once, I need to select a unit to practice a cross-sea landing operation!" ”

"Yes! Marshal! His men lost their victorious smiles on their faces, and hurriedly dispersed to arrange the various tasks that followed.

Find a force to land...... This is no joke......