Immediately after the military meeting of the Supreme Command, the generals and staff officers of the top echelons of the German army began to form the "Black Corps" proposed by the Kaiser. At present, more than 400,000 of the 1.6 million regular troops of the German Army are soldiers selected from various German colonies, who have overseas citizens of the German Empire or belong to this Empire, can speak the most basic German, have received at least two years of rigorous military training, are sturdy, physically strong, disciplined, and tenacious, and can skillfully operate various weapons and complete various tactical instructions from their superiors.

In addition, about 300,000 foreign soldiers served in the German army's logistics units, including cooking squads, transport companies, maintenance squads, and ground support units, and a staggering 2 million if the black soldiers included in the reserve units and the local troops in the colonies were included!

Of the more than 400,000 black soldiers included in the active duty of the German Army, about one-third have obtained the status of equal to German citizens by completing the required number of years in the German army, and they are allowed to enter the general German native army and mix with the German native soldiers; The other two-thirds, some have just obtained native citizenship, and some are still working towards this goal, they are usually organized into separate divisions, that is, the famous African colonial divisions in the German ** team, although the number of these African colonial divisions is slightly smaller than that of ordinary German army divisions, but they are known for their strong combat effectiveness and hard-working, and they have performed well in all the wars in which Germany has participated in the past 20 years.

Among these African colonial divisions, the highest quality, the best equipment, the strongest combat effectiveness is Rommel's Afrika Korps, the corps has 10 infantry divisions and 4 mechanized infantry divisions, and another 6 independent armored regiments and an army aviation wing, the size of the peacetime is maintained at about 200,000 people, once the war breaks out and after full mobilization, the size of this corps can be expanded at least three times, so it is called the largest German overseas corps.

The task of "selecting" people in the German Army naturally fell on the First Quartermaster General. After the retirement of Erich Ludendorff and Max Hoffmann, the position was appointed by Colonel Wilhelm Glener, who had long been in charge of the logistics of the German Army. During the German-Japanese War, Glenner and his department did a good job of allocating supplies and supplying the entire German Army, so he also became one of the few generals in the German army's logistics department to be awarded the Blue Max Medal.

After extensive consultation with the staff generals, Glener easily delineated a scope: the 120th Infantry Division in France, the 171st Hussar Division in East Prussia, the 233rd Mechanized Infantry Division in Egypt, the 235th Infantry Division in East Africa, the 24th Enemy Infantry Division in Tunisia, and the 246th Infantry Division in South Africa, and the next thing to do was to select 50,000 soldiers from these units.

The mission seemed so simple that it was carried out, but what happened next was much more than Greiner had anticipated. The first nail he encountered was the commander of the African Corps, Erwin Rommel, a rebellious general who immediately refused Glenner's order to transfer his three elite 1st Divisions, on the grounds that he needed them to defend Germany's vast colonies in Africa, but that he could allocate 30,000 men from his reserve forces to join the newly formed "Black Corps".

Rommel was notoriously proud and devoted to his soldiers, but William Glener never imagined that he would use this as a means of refusing his order to send troops, and he immediately reported the situation to Field Secretary of War, Field Marshal Olivon Kahn. But to Glenner's frustration, Ollie is also the kind of general who is completely focused on the battlefield rather than on relationships, and he is unwilling to use rank and power to "force a general to abandon his beloved troops".

"You can completely draw from other troops, and reserve troops can also be considered!" Ollie finally added.

There is no way. Wilhelm Glener had no choice but to take advantage of the dinner to report the situation to the Kaiser – this Gianruj Wilhelm III had a habit. Dinner with his subordinates at least three times a week is not required by military rank, and the selection of people is usually not fixed. Sometimes the people sitting at the table were officers from a certain department of the Supreme High Command. Sometimes it may be a high-ranking commander from various units or a number of combat heroes, but more often than not, a few major generals plus a few high-ranking officers who are returning to Berlin for business or vacation.

This time, only Ollie, Guderian and Glener were familiar faces at the Kaiser's table, and the other ten were divisional generals who had just returned to Berlin for leave.

Listening to Glenner's explanation of this matter, Chen Tian couldn't help but laugh dumbly. He had to admit that the German way of thinking was sometimes so rigid, and to form a new regiment, did it have to draw the best troops? And that Rommel, could it be that he was missing arms and legs by transferring his own troops?

"We don't have to draw troops from the whole division, my general! You see. 6 African infantry regiments from the troops in France and 4 indigenous infantry regiments to replace them; 4 African infantry regiments were drawn from the troops stationed in Poland and Britain, and 6 native infantry regiments were used to replace them; Finally, I would like to ask Rommel again, do you exchange the equipment of two armored divisions for 1 infantry division and 3 armored regiments? ”

Chentian whispered these uncomplicated suggestions to William Glimmer as he brought tender asparagus to his mouth. Poor Greiner has never met a general like Rommel who does not cooperate with the arrangements of his superiors in his more than 30 years of military service, let alone heard of such a practice of exchanging equipment for troops, and he didn't know how to answer for a while.

Chen Tian saw Glenner's doubts, he put down the knife and fork in his hand, picked up a napkin and wiped his mouth.

"You run to General Rommel. Just ask him if he's willing! ”

That's often the way things are, and only people with personalities can understand the thoughts of people with personalities.

Looking at William Greiner, who continued to be silent, Chen Tian asked again:

"What about the commander of the corps?"

"Back to Your Majesty, since there are only 4 to 50,000 people in this corps, then we are ready to arrange a commander at the level of a major general. As for this specific candidate...... Is there a suitable candidate for your majesty? ”

On this question, Glenner's answer seemed very well-behaved, but it could be seen that he was still full of thoughts about how to better form this black army, and as for the final commander, it was probably not something he could determine.

"Major General Rank...... Chen Tian shook his head very simply, there are not three thousand generals in the German Army who have the rank of major general, but two thousand and five. And the outstanding people he knows are at least lieutenant generals. It's a little uncomfortable to be stumped because of this simpler question, so Chen Tian decided to find a cushion for the time being.

"Is there anything you can recommend for our Earl?"

Everyone at the table Shunjiang focused their eyes on the Minister of War who was enjoying the lamb chops cooked by the royal chef, facing Chentian's question and everyone's eyes, he was not panicked at all, although the fork in his hand stopped immediately, his mouth was still chewing slowly, and after half a minute, he swallowed the food in his mouth very refreshingly. Then unhurriedly picked up a napkin and wiped his mouth.

"Back to Your Majesty, no!"

If it were a normal time, such an answer would be enough to make the whole table squirt, but after all, this is the emperor's table, and although the generals couldn't help laughing, they would never dare to laugh out loud.

After finishing speaking, Ollie tilted his head and upper body slightly towards Chentian, telling the other party that he had finished answering. Seeing that Chentian didn't speak, Ollie swaggered to deal with the little lamb chops on the plate again.

"Laugh if you want, it's nothing!"

Chen Tian said very generously. Since I was in junior military school. He and his good companions played this game with pleasure, and now they can still play this game with themselves, looking at the whole of Germany, Ollie and Matthew.

But Matthew has always been very serious. Therefore, such a situation usually only occurs between Chentian and Ollie, and for these, the senior generals have long been surprised.

The generals finally laughed, but no one laughed unbridledly, but more subtly and gently. For this relationship between the emperor and the minister of war, others can only envy it.

"We don't have black generals in our army yet!" Chen Tian asked suddenly.

The generals looked at each other for a moment, and since Germany acquired its first colony in Southwest Africa in 1875, there were black hired hands, black policemen, black soldiers, black sailors, black officers, black citizens, and later black tank crews, black pilots, and black officers. But so far I have never heard of a black man in general.

It was a long time before William Greiner said:

"There are still very few blacks in our army who are above the rank of major, and the highest rank should be a lieutenant colonel!"

"Oh......" Chen Tian thought for a moment, "I think if it's possible, we can let the black officers into the command of this corps!" ”

Before Chen Tian said this, the highest-ranking black officer in the entire German Army was only a regiment commander, but his words quickly changed this history.

Only a day later, Glener reported with joy that the issue of troop transfer had been resolved, and Rommel had agreed to cede the 235th Infantry Division of the African Corps in East Africa and the three separate armoured regiments directly under the Corps. Of course, the High Command needed to allocate two fully armoured divisions to his African Corps and allow him to organize them with his own personnel. As for the transfer of troops from France, Poland, and Britain, Glener made little effort, and the German commanders there apparently preferred the native forces to the black colonial forces.

※※※※※※※※

Spain, southern suburbs of Madrid.

The gunfire faded, and through the binoculars, Conrad saw the so-called "Spanish rebels" soldiers, who were running away from here. Conrad, however, felt that they were not fleeing, but that they were fleeing in an orderly manner for reasons that he did not yet understand.

It was an extremely strange battle.

Just half an hour earlier, Conrad's Tiger 1 and another 4-C tank had been ordered to attack the position, which seriously threatened the Coalition retreat, and before he could get closer, the Spaniards defending the position were "greeted" with heavy gunfire, but when they stopped and fired, they did not continue to hold their positions. When Conrad's Tiger-1 climbed the hill, which was not tall but large enough to overlook a radius of ten miles, he found that there were neither Spaniards nor Spaniards' corpses, and he was even more surprised that the "rebels" had already run out of the range of their artillery!

After making sure that there was no ambush around, Conrad had his tank parked on a mound large enough to overlook a radius of ten miles, and after reporting the situation to the battalion command, he carefully examined the surrounding area. The fortifications built by the rebels here looked rudimentary, but the trenches nearly fifty meters long were a man deep and would not normally be dug in a day's work, as well as machine-gun bunkers made of sandbags and a series of foxholes. In a foxhole more than twenty meters before the trench, Conrad found a large wine bottle with a cotton cloth tucked in the mouth, which he knew was filled with gasoline when he smelled it, and in another similar foxhole, Conrad found several round lids, which looked like the pull caps of a grenade with wooden handles.

All this made Conrad's brain even more confused - if these Spaniards were ready to confront the enemy's tanks, why did they suddenly leave without a fight after a burst of empty guns? In the previous few days of offensive battles, those Spaniards looked at death as if they were at home, why didn't they even have the slightest mood to fight today?

Conrad looked at the Type 4-C tank parked not far away, and the young ensign sitting on the turret was also at a loss.

The battalion command soon sent a telegram back, ordering Conrad to temporarily garrison the hill in case anything happened. Soon the infantry of the combined forces appeared on the road below the hill, but until the rearguard troops left, the Spanish rebels did not reappear.

Conrad again began to fear that the Spaniards would gather a main force somewhere in front to deal a greater blow to the combined forces, but this did not happen until they reached Arganda, where thousands of Turkish troops were stationed. A few days later, they retreated smoothly to Valencia, which was still under the control of the Spanish government forces, under the guidance of the Italian Air Force, and at this time a large number of Italian army soldiers had arrived at the battlefield through Valencia and other ports on the eastern coast of Spain, and they would take over the joint forces to take on the important task of maintaining the regime of Alfonso XIII and fighting against the Spanish armed forces.

As for the battered Multinational Coalition Force, which was soon evacuated by sea to southern Spain to recuperate, Conrad and his companions did not know that their war in Spain was over. Three months later, they were transferred back to Germany and joined the German garrison.