Reinhardt's interesting gift to Antonescu was Horia Simma, the leader of the Iron Guard, who had fled to Germany for refuge.

Horia Sima's escape was actually received by Rose.

The reason why Ross received the leader of the Romanian Iron Guard was largely because of the great resonance that formed between the other party and Ross.

First of all, the Iron Guard had a lot in common with the Gestapo ideologically, which gave Ross a natural affinity.

In a way, the Iron Guard is like a relative of the German Gestapo in Romania, both sides are the same form, the same faith model, and the same emphasis on ideology.

And the most interesting thing is that Horia Sima is actually a very mediocre leader, and he has little merit that can be praised. The only thing that is special is that Horia Sima's thinking is more extreme.

It was precisely because there were no outstanding figures in the entire Iron Guard that Reinhardt could only hope that Antonescu, the only outstanding commander, would become the future dictator of Romania.

But Ross did not give up, he always believed that Horia Sima was easier to control than Antonescu, and that it was more in the interests of Germany to support the Iron Guard.

However, Ross was unwilling to oppose Reinhardt's will, so he did not refute Reinhardt's decision to choose Antonescu, and on the other hand, he accepted Horia Sima's request to flee, using the power of the Gestapo in Romania to take Horia Sima to Germany.

"My Führer," Roth asked incredulously when he heard that Reinhardt had come to hand over Horia Sima to him, "perhaps we should not hand over Horia Sima to Antonescu. This is a card in our hand that can be used to threaten Antonescu at any time. ”

Although Ross leans towards the mediocre in terms of ability, his loyalty to Reinhardt is unquestionable.

The reason why he is proposing this way now is essentially for the benefit of Reinhardt, for the sake of the Führer's empire.

However, Reinhardt could not accept Rose's heartfelt suggestion.

He had a different opinion, another one that controlled Antonescu.

Reinhardt shook his head and sighed, "Threatening Antonescu through Horia Simma is not our best option. ”

He took a pen from his pocket and handed it to Rose, asking for example, "If this is a conscious pen, now I'm going to control him and let him use it for me when I write." ”

"Instead of competing with him with another pen, threaten him." Reinhardt paused at this point, and then continued: "It is better that we have the ink needed for the pen in our hands and lure him with benefits. ”

Ross was quick to understand the analogy of Antonescu and Horia Sima as two pens.

"My Führer, then. Do you mean that if we only have enough interests as 'ink' to lure Antonescu, the effect will be even better than threatening him? Rose asked, looking into Reinhardt's eyes.

"That's right. The 'ink' we are going to give to Antonescu is a large area of Soviet land. Reinhardt saw that his analogy was quickly understood, so he smiled and said, "What is given to Antonescu can include the two northern provinces of Romania that the Soviets have occupied." The reconquest is a great honor for any national leader. ”

"In addition, we can give the Romanians a large amount of Soviet land east of Transnistria as a war dividend. The premise is that they will help us to knock these lands out of the Soviets. ”

"If we talk about recovering lost ground, we can redeem Antonescu's previous regrets. Expanding the original territory and opening up more land for the country is an opportunity to win Antonescu great fame! ”

"Then Antonescu has no reason to refuse us?" Rose asked excitedly.

"That's right!" Reinhardt smiled conceitedly: "Not only will he not refuse, but he will also work harder to help us conquer the city on the southern front." In this way, the Luo army will bear more casualties for us and consume more Soviet troops. ”

I saw Reinhardt wrench his fingers, stretched out his index finger and middle finger, and made a two-to-two gesture: "There is another point, a large area east of the Dniester River, it still needs a large part of the troops to occupy it." Such a military expenditure is obviously not cost-effective for us. ”

"Giving Romania to occupy this land, but also letting them use a dozen third-rate divisions left in the country to help us occupy the Soviet occupation zone in the rear. Anyway, these Romanian third-rate divisions staying in the country will not play the slightest role, it is better to lure Antonescu to take out these troops with combat effectiveness and help us as an occupation army. ”

After a series of analyses, Ross has fully understood Reinhardt's control of Romania and the means of mobilizing Antonescu. The Führer was clearly more interested in inducement than coercion.

"In that case, what should we do, the Führer, the leader of the Iron Guard and the 14 senior leaders who fled to us, and return them to Antonescu?"

"The Iron Guards are not qualified politicians in the first place, they will only do whatever they want, loot, take revenge, and kill Jews." Reinhardt said with disgust: "It's useless for us to keep these people. Even if I assume that the empire needs a group of people to establish a Romanian puppet regime, it would be better to select a group of willing politicians from Romanian politics than to select these Iron Guards. ”

"Send it to Antonescu, just a personal gift from us to himself." Reinhardt waved his hand and instructed Rose: "It's not bad to let Antonescu, the Romanian 'chief', take a favor from us, after all, we will use him more in the future." ”

When Reinhardt addressed Antonescu, he deliberately emphasized the word "chief", which was actually a kind of interest resonance.

In today's Europe, Reinhardt, the German leader, calls himself "Führer" as he likes, while the former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini prefers to call himself "leader."

Now Mussolini's life hangs by a thread, and almost no one calls him "leader" anymore. But Franco, the dictator of Spain, still likes to be called "leader" as always.

And Antonescu, the new dictator of Romania, likes to be called "the chief".

As for Mannerheim, the military leader of Finland, he likes to hear people call himself "marshal".

From this point of view, every leader in the Allies has his own fetish for titles. When these leaders joined forces, they came up with a variety of titles and names, which made it easier for reporters to distinguish between reports.

For example, the latest report in the official Romanian newspaper is "A gift from the Führer to the chief-the Iron Guard fled to the top of the hierarchy"