As the spring of 1928 drew to a close, the situation in Europe was once again in turmoil.

The words riots and the Red Revolution frequently appeared in conspicuous positions in major newspapers and magazines, and in the Ukrainian region, in the Caucasus, in the inaccessible Siberia, and in the distant Kamchatka Peninsula, the tide of the Russian revolution was once again surging.

On April 30, the German side announced that the paid reservists would cancel their weekend vacation and enter a state of second-level alert, and the number of border troops stationed in the border areas of East Prussia and German Poland would be increased from 24 to 37, and 600,000 soldiers would be used to resist the spread of the "red flood" to the west.

At the beginning of February, the "invitation" of the Kingdom of Bohemia, the Kingdom of Hungary and the Kingdom of Romania

In just two weeks, the German troops stationed in Bohemia increased to 7 infantry divisions, 1 armored division and logistics troops totaling 150,000 people, and the combined forces composed of German and Hungarian armies totaled 33 infantry divisions and 7 armored divisions of about 600,000 people, of which more than half of the troops were deployed in the border area, and in Romania, 17 Romanian divisions and 24 German divisions were stationed together at the border.

In the Caucasus, where the situation is most turbulent, the Turkish government has begun to increase the number of troops in the provinces of Tifris, Kutaisi, and Armenia on the Turkish-Russian border, and as of mid-May, there were more than 400,000 Turkish troops stationed in these border provinces, supplemented by a large number of aircraft and armored vehicles.

At the same time, the combined German-Turkish fleet was assembled in the Turkish military port on the southern shore of the Black Sea, and 4 Turkish battleships, 1 Turkish battlecruiser, 2 German battleships, 2 German battlecruisers, 1 German heavy aircraft carrier and 1 escort aircraft carrier had an overwhelming advantage over the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

February 15, German High Command, Joint Meeting of the Three Armed Forces.

"So far, the Russian Army has assembled 17 infantry divisions, 9 cavalry divisions and 1 quasi-armored division in Belarus, numbering about 520,000; 21 infantry divisions, 11 cavalry divisions and 1 quasi-armored division were assembled in Ukraine, numbering about 600,000; The Russian Caucasian Army Group was strengthened, 10 infantry divisions and some mountain troops totaled about 180,000 people! That is, the Russian Army has about 1.3 million regular troops deployed in the border areas. The strength is quite strong! ”

General Ludendorff, Chief of the General Staff of the Army, gave you a brief introduction to the current preparations of the Russian army on a large map prepared in advance, after two disarmaments, Russia announced that the total number of the army is 2 million, judging from the current situation, the actual number of the Russian army should exceed this number, in order to prevent Germany from attacking St. Petersburg from the direction of the Gulf of Finland, Russia has gathered at least 30 of the most elite Guards divisions around the capital, in addition to a large number of permanent troops in the Far East.

"It seems that the Russians are ready for war!" Chen Tian commented unhurriedly. It stands to reason that those who start a war want the other side to be unprepared, but when the Russians were ready, the German supreme commander of the three armies did not have the slightest expression of frustration on his face.

"It is estimated that once the war starts, they will reduce the garrison in the Far East to a minimum, and as long as there are hints and guarantees from the Japanese, the Russians will definitely take such a risk!" It was War Secretary Ollie who spoke. Kahn, the new "head" of the German Army after the veterans retired, and the commander-in-chief of the ground offensive in the Barbarossa Plan, his vast experience will lead the German Army towards great goals.

"Damn the Japanese!" Several generals cursed under their breath.

"Something to be expected, sooner or later we will have to make them pay for it!" Chen Tian comforted his generals with calm words. Then turned to the Chief of the General Staff of the Navy, Field Marshal Pol. "What is the situation with the Russian naval land?"

Bol then departed with his marshal, and the staff took a moment to replace the large map on the wall with another one, which marked the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland.

"The Russians are ready to use their Baltic Fleet Nicholas I, Nicholas II, Agripeni I with the old battleships St. Andrei, Pavol, Slava, Buroniko, Sweet, Leonid, Chesarevich and 30,000 mines to block our main fleet from advancing into the eastern Gulf of Finland!" Pol said, pointing to the dense black dots in the blue area on the map. "If you want to simply open a passage through this 120-kilometer-long thunderstorm, it will take at least 4 months! Again, this is an estimate made without taking into account the harassment of the Russian fleet and submarines! From this point of view, our landing force will be able to approach St. Petersburg only from Estonia and Finland, and such an operation will be very difficult, but it must be carried out! ”

With that, Pol nodded to his deputy, and he pulled down another large map that he had scrolled earlier, showing the Black Sea.

"In the area where there is not much trouble, the opponent is 2,000 mines and the 23,000-ton battleships Empress Maria, Alexander III, Catherine the Great, and the combined German and Turkish fleets will easily control this sea area. Then launch the Kerch landing campaign, which opens the entrance to the Sea of Azov, and perhaps the army will sweep the entire northern shore of the Black Sea before us! ”

Immediately afterwards, Bol's deputy switched to a map of Barents Haiti.

"Once the battle starts, our North Sea Fleet will blockade the entire Barents Sea, Murmansk is our key target there, the Finns have promised to attack that port from land, and our fleet and 12,000 marines will attack from the sea. Before that, the Air Force will first give the Russians a heavy blow to their will to resist! ”

Next, the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk, and the Bering Strait, which the generals were more concerned about. It would be the last way for Russia to get supplies from the sea, and the Japanese had a lot of food and munitions, and the Americans did not have much in stock, but they could not underestimate the strength of their military industry that remained after the war.

"The Russian Pacific Fleet has a dozen old battleships, many of which were captured by the Japanese in the Russo-Japanese War and returned, it is a miracle to be able to go to sea to fight, and the combat effectiveness is negligible, but the Russians are likely to use them as floating batteries to defend the port, and the new capital ships of the Russian Pacific Fleet in the last 10 years are only two self-built battleships, namely Peter the Great and Duke Pozharsky, with a displacement of 26,000 tons, equipped with 8 356 mm naval guns purchased from Japan! General Spee's Pacific Fleet mission is to blockade this sea area with light aircraft carriers, battle cruisers, heavy cruisers and submarines, and I believe that our carrier-based aircraft and submarines will send those old Russian warships to the end! The only variable comes from the Japanese, if the attitude of the Japanese government in the German-Russian war changes, our Pacific Fleet will mainly defend Jiaozhou Bay, and threaten Japan's sea transportation lines with submarines! It should be clarified. At present, we have 170 submarines deployed in Jiaozhou Bay. Quantitatively equal to the total number of submarines of the Japanese and Russian Navy, and qualitatively much exceeded! ”

Pol greeted Chentian after speaking, and then slowly walked back to his seat.

"The situation at sea is clear to everyone, and now no matter how the situation develops in the Far East, the actions of the army and air force are still decisive! Now, in my capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the three armies of the German Empire, I announce that the countdown to the Barbarossa Project has begun. Army, Navy, and Air Force units began to secretly assemble at the predetermined combat sites! ”

For the next three weeks, the riots in Russia intensified. The German Army's units began to assemble by train and night to a predetermined location near the German-Russian border, and the advantages of Germany's own dense railway network were brought into full play at this moment, and the German rigor allowed the whole of Germany to operate according to a strict planning schedule, with an infantry regiment having an accurate timetable from boarding, departure, marching to the destination, and all their equipment and combat materiel to arrive within two days of their arrival at their destination. By the end of May, the woods, meadows, and wilderness areas of East Prussia, Poland, Bohemia, Hungary, and Romania were everywhere covered with emerald green camouflage nets for German barracks, vehicles, warplanes, and supplies. The German front-line commands are also fine-tuning their own deployments according to the real-time state of the Russian army.

February 23rd. Guderian and his command of the Panzer Group arrived in East Prussia, and the 1st Panzer Corps, under his personal command, arrived at the intended assembly points in East Prussia and northern Poland within a week; General Fleming's 2nd Panzer Corps assembled in the eastern part of the Kingdom of Bohemia; General Beyer's 3rd Panzer Corps arrived in eastern Hungary; The Panzer Corps, which was part of the Royal Fighter Regiment, arrived in Romania under the command of Rommel.

Saturday, June 2nd. Without warning. Germany's Berlin Zeitung, Hamburg News, and Pan-German Zeitung, three mainstream German newspapers and periodicals, published a shocking report on the front page of the headline, "Who is the murderer?" The article used a large number of witness confessions, government and top-secret information to expose the real culprit of the Washington bombing 13 years ago, and the spies and high-ranking officials who defected from Russia also described the entire bombing site with personal experience and shocking content, and all the fingers were unanimously pointed at the current ruler of Russia, Empress Diana I.

All morning. Tens of millions of people in Germany have forgotten almost everything around them, and the three newspapers, which have been printed twice as many times as usual, have since become hard to find, and everyone in Berlin, Hamburg, and the German towns is perusing the report. It took only half an hour for the expressions on people's faces to go from surprise and astonishment to anger. The indignant people immediately spontaneously took to the streets, shouting "punish the murderer" and "avenge Queen Lisa", and thousands of Berliners gathered in front of the palace to petition, and by the afternoon, the number of petitioners in front of the palace quickly increased to nearly 100,000!

In the afternoon of the same day, the German government issued an official announcement in the name of Chancellor Gustav Nosk.

It was declared true that the articles published in the Berlin Zeitung, Hamburg Press, and Pan-German Zeitung were true, and that the German government had demanded that the Russian Empress abdicate and come to Germany for a public trial.

Only an hour after the ultimatum was delivered, the Russians gave a negative reply. They declared that even the war would not give the Empress to Germany, not to mention that the so-called "who is the murderer" by the Germans is purely a fabricated article.

On June 3, the German government sent a 24-hour ultimatum to the Russian government, demanding that the Empress abdicate and be tried by Germany, but the Russian government once again refused without hesitation.

At 12 noon on June 4, tens of millions of Germans waited quietly by the radio to read the edict of Germany's declaration of war on Russia by the ruler of the German Empire, Gianlugi Wilhelm III.

Meanwhile. At the two front-line airfields in Koravo and Karhula, three squadrons of 78 Junkers-Heinkel I fighters, four squadrons of 108 Messerschmitt I, and five squadrons of 122 Junkers Vulture II attack planes were ready to make final preparations for the sortie, and the pilots were all sitting in the cockpit waiting for the order to leave, and they were only 200 kilometers away from St. Petersburg, the capital of Russia.

At the four second-tier airfields of Pukira, Volsa, Richmeki, and Lovisa, 736 Dornier 101 medium bombers, 327 Dornier II long-range bombers, and 82 Dornier III ultra-long-range bombers are also ready to go, and as long as Germany officially declares war on Russia, they will fly to the Russian capital area more than 300 kilometers away, and at least several hundred bombshells are prepared for the Russian empress and her Winter Palace.

Belarus, Shara River.

"Forward, speed up!" A general standing on the side of the road anxiously looked at the team in front of him who was marching westward, although the soldiers were exhausted after a long journey, but still surprisingly maintained a high marching speed, and the general could only sigh that his soldiers only had two legs, and they were not cavalry troops, and it was not easy to march 200 kilometers in three days!

Looking at the procession on another road at the end of the field, which was also heading west, the general had to put away his emotion and whip his horse to run.

As early as June 2, the Russian War Department issued a secret mobilization order, and when Germany declared war on June 4, a large number of Russian regular troops stationed in Belarus and Ukraine in the name of "suppressing bandits" were rushing to the Riga-Vilnius-Brest-Lviv-Kibnavu-line, this line of defense called Sokolov is the largest defense project in Russia since Diana I ascended the throne, the entire defense line is more than 1,400 kilometers long, composed of semi-permanent and permanent fortifications, which took 11 years and invested huge manpower. Material resources and funds, the Russian army hopes to gather as many forces as possible on this line before the Germans attack. As long as this line of defense remained, the Russians did not intend to resort to the tactics of 1812 against Napoleon, which could slow down the enemy's footsteps and inflict no less damage on themselves, so to speak, a war of attrition that would be forced to be used in desperation.