During the time when Zhou Lin was busy, the international situation changed dramatically.

On April 25, 1945, General Courtmin Hozis's First American Army and Marshal Ivan Konev's First Ukrainian Army met today on the Elbe River in the heart of Germany. They cut the Germans in two and put them to death. The Allies have swept through the east and west with a devastating force, and now they will calmly advance to the north and south.

Mussolini was executed on 28 April

On April 30, 1945, the mad force of the European battlefield was now gone. Grief-stricken, desperate Adolf Hitler, seeing the end of Germany, committed suicide today in Berlin with his new wife, Eva Braun.

From a historical point of view, Hitler can be seen as a crazy and decisive autocratic ruler, and at the height of his political career, he seemed invincible. At one point, he annexed nine countries, thwarted the great powers of Europe, and envisioned a new socio-economic order based on the conquest of tens of millions of people, and then imposed his will on tens of millions of people like hypnotism. 65 million Germans hailed the demagogue as Germany's savior. But in the end, he led them into the terrible abyss of hell.

Hitler's military victories made him overconfident and carried away, and as a result, the Nazis went off the rails. The Allies broke through his defenses with devastating force. Now, with the end of Nazism approaching, Hitler, who was once invincible, finally ended his shameful life with defeat.

On the morning of May 7, 1945, the whole of Europe was liberated.

At 2:41 a.m., Germany announced its surrender at a ceremony at the request of the Allies. With the exception of the Czechoslovak battlefield, all the battlefields were quiet.

The surrender was signed in a very small red school building in Reims.

This nondescript building served as General Eisenhower's headquarters.

However, Eisenhower did not see the signing ceremony with his own eyes, and the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Walter Bader Smith, was present.

The signing ceremony was attended by the Soviet Union, France and Great Britain, and Germany was represented by General Jodel Gustaf and Admiral Hans-Friedburg.

On May 23, 1945, Himmler, the head of the Nazi SS who had made a bet with Zhou Lin and was not dead, committed suicide.

On June 3, 1945, the President of the United States announced an order: Zhou Lin was appointed vice chairman of the Military Operations Committee for the Liberation of Japan.

And the troops under Zhou Lin, the vice chairman, are the more than 50,000 mercenaries currently trained in the training camp on Kalimantan Island.

These people have all served as soldiers, and among them, a group of squad leaders, platoon commanders and above are all officers above the squad leader of Chang Liang and Cui Haitao's troops.

Everyone who was transferred was promoted to one level, originally a squad leader, but now he has been promoted to platoon commander, platoon commander to company commander, and company commander to battalion commander.

The officers at the division commander level were all selected by the regimental commander of Cui Haitao's troops.

Zhou Lin formed a mercenary corps, which consisted of three armies, each with 16,000 people, and 8,000 people under the headquarters of the mercenary corps.

Zhou Lin served as the commander of the mercenary corps, and the three army commanders were all old masters on Phoenix Mountain.

Because this is a mercenary nature, he is not under the leadership of the US military, and is a completely independent unit, and the plan is that after the liberation of Japan, the mercenary regiment will take care of itself, and the United States will no longer pay the ten dollars per person.

In fact, it is cannon fodder, cannon fodder rushing in front of the US army.

On the evening of 3 June, Zhou Lin convened a meeting of officers at and above the division level to talk about the Americans' use of Chinese as cannon fodder.

"Young Master, since you know, then you still agree?" Cui Haitao also attended the meeting, and he didn't understand why Zhou Lin did it.

Wu Yong said with a smile: "The young master has an idea in doing this. ”

"What thoughts?" Cui Haitao asked a few old brothers who had become military commanders.

"Borrow the hands of the Americans and increase your own strength. Didn't you see that the officers of the mercenary regiment are all our men? After the war against Japan, those soldiers will definitely not leave. After Wu Yong finished speaking, everyone understood.

Zhou Lin smiled: "You only know one thing, but you don't know the other, after the war, the Americans will definitely let us withdraw from Japan." People have withdrawn, but the organization is still there, these people, I will let them disperse to various parts of Asia, as well as Africa, Europe and Asia, they have become an independent mercenary group on the surface, but in fact, we are secretly supporting them, and Zhoujiadao is their base camp. ”

A military commander smiled and said, "Young Master, we can do the things of Phoenix Mountain again." ”

Zhou Lin shook his head: "It's not for you to rob, but to make money." ”

"How can you make money without robbery?" A division commander asked.

"As long as someone pays a lot of money, you can do things for them." Zhou Lin said.

"Murder and arson? Do everything? Cui Haitao asked.

"As long as you give money, you can do it, but it is your right to take orders, and you can consider whether to accept this order from your own conscience and morality." Zhou Lin said.

Everyone talked excitedly, and Zhou Lin said, "Don't talk about it for the time being." It is limited to the division level, so when we are in Japan, we have to show our prestige. If you make a reputation, then someone will look for you in the future, and the price will be high. ”

Everyone has pledged to keep it secret, and everyone knows that this plan of the young master will definitely make a lot of money.

On 4 June, the US military ship delivered a large amount of weapons and equipment.

Zhou Lin immediately asked the troops to receive the weapons and familiarize themselves with the weapons.

After three days of training, the soldiers became familiar with the weapons in their hands.

On 8 June, more than 50,000 mercenaries boarded the US troop carrier.

The reason for such a rush is that the US army and navy have been blocked from attacking Okinawa.

The Okinawa Islands belong to the Ryukyu Islands. Consisting of Okinawa, Kerama Islands, Ie Island and other islands, the main island of Okinawa is the largest island in the Ryukyu Islands, located between the Japanese mainland and Taiwan, 630 kilometers north of Kyushu. It is about 108 kilometers long from north to south, about 30 kilometers at the widest point from east to west, and only 4 kilometers at the narrowest point, with an area of about 1,220 square kilometers.

The northern part of Okinawa Island is mountainous, and the southern part is an open and flat hilly area, and there are two natural harbors on the east coast of the island, Kinmu Bay and Nakajo Bay, and the Japanese army has built the Naha military port, and there are four airports on the island: Naha, Kadena, Yomitan, and Yonawara, which are important naval and air bases in the southwest of Japan's mainland. There is a special kind of structure on the island of Okinawa, that is, the circular family tomb, which is made of solid stone, which can be found everywhere on the island, and the Japanese army has become a strong fortification with a little modification, which caused great difficulties for the American army in the later battles.

As far as Japan is concerned, once Okinawa is lost, the sea and air supremacy of the mainland, Korea, and China's coastal areas will all be lost, and the sea lines to Southeast Asia that Japan relies on for survival will be completely cut off. Since the loss of the Mariana Islands in July 1944, emphasis has been placed on strengthening the defensive forces and fortifications of Okinawa.

In order to ensure the defense of Okinawa Island, the Japanese army base camp formulated a decisive battle plan for the air force codenamed "Operation Sky" in March 1945, and concentrated a total of 2,990 combat planes of the army and navy, including 1,230 suicide planes, which were deployed in Taiwan, Ryukyu, Kyushu and other regions, preparing to carry out a fierce surprise attack on the US fleet and transport ships when the US troops landed on Okinawa Island, and cooperate with the 32nd Army on the island to crush the US landing.