As the victor of the war, Germany was the number one military power in the world; As the loser of the war, France fell into a state of malaise and decadence. If someone had said at the end of 1915 that the French could come to Berlin, they would have clutched their stomachs and laughed, because it was well known that the French were not even capable of defending their homeland at this time.

However, a group of French soldiers, an elite unit for special missions, quietly infiltrated Berlin and carried out a series of organized and premeditated sabotage operations - the rescue of the Grand Duke of Württemberg, the kidnapping of Admiral Tirpitz, which were their "masterpieces". This news was undoubtedly a great consolation to the French people in the shadow of defeat, but the French government and military ministry classified it as a national secret, and the knowledge was limited to the highest levels of the government and the army.

Of course, these French people had come all the way to the heart of Germany for much more than what had already been done.

Among the more than 30,000 soldiers who surrounded the palace, there was a very inconspicuous force, numbering only about 1,200, but it was the most elite group of the coup d'étatists; They were called the "Free French Army", but in fact they were elite troops who were paid and equipped by the French government in the south and had received special training for many years. While the soldiers of the coup army surrounded the palace, they hid in inconspicuous places, prostrate on street corners, rooftops, or behind windows facing the street, and their weapons were basically Colonia rifles equipped with scopes, and their sniping effect was self-evident.

Of the more than 30,000 troops Friedrich had on the outskirts of the palace, a considerable part came from Prussia's 3rd Corps, in addition to the small group of French soldiers. Friedrich was the commander of the corps, and although he was later transferred from the corps, there were still many officers willing to heed his call. A day earlier, the corps, which normally was stationed in Ótbus, less than 100 kilometers from Berlin, had suddenly claimed to be conducting a week-long closed military exercise, but in fact it was a so-called "exercise" concocted by officers who supported Friedrich in order to transfer troops after receiving secret instructions. During the exercise. The Corps Headquarters lost contact with the 1st Infantry Division and the 2nd Infantry Division due to the failure of communication equipment, and when communications were restored a day later, it was found that the 5 light infantry regiments of the 1st Infantry Division, the 3 light infantry regiments of the 2nd Infantry Division, and 12 cavalry companies had disappeared! In fact, the more than 12,000 soldiers did not disappear, but marched on foot to Berlin under the leadership of Brigadier General Oliver, the deputy commander of the division, and arrived in the southern suburbs of Berlin in the evening of the same day.

Another force of just over 10,000 men came from the Kingdom of Saxony, more than a hundred kilometers from Berlin, which Friedrich had "borrowed" from King Frederick August III of Saxony, and set out from Dresden, the capital of the Kingdom of Saxony, at dusk, and entered Berlin on time before the coup d'état.

There are also some of them, the number of which is about 7,000. Field Marshal Golz's close generals were brought from West Prussia, and these people also arrived by train, while the War Office "turned a blind eye" to the two groups of troops that were bound for Berlin by rail, and the biggest "hero" was General Kleber, a protégé of Field Marshal Goltz and a key post in the army's logistics department. Of course, in addition to being promoted by Goltz, another very important reason why this high-ranking general dared to risk the world to help the coup d'état was that he was excluded from the inner circle of the army headed by Marshal Bilow.

Seeing that the 10-minute limit for the coup army was coming to an end, the Praetorian Guards in the palace showed no sign of laying down their arms, and his adjutant was constantly looking at his pocket watch compared to the confident Friedrich.

At this critical moment. An officer stepped from an armored communications vehicle next to him. It looks like some important information has been received. As a result, the surrounding officers secretly speculated, after all, so many coup troops gathered through the city of Berlin to the periphery of the Imperial Palace, and the 120,000 Janissaries in Berlin have not reacted so far. This was indeed confusing to the officers.

Friedrich was not obliged to explain this confusion of his subordinates, in fact, this was his "masterpiece" with Field Marshal Golz - cutting the telephone lines from the Praetorian Guard barracks to the outside world, placing snipers around the barracks, and the commander of the Praetorian Guard could be enveloped and stabilized, although so far no Janissary troops joined the ranks of the putschists, but the commanders of 7 or 8 regiments promised to remain silent in the coup. As for the rest of the troops, in Friedrich's view, they were still affected by the interruption of communications, and their response was delayed.

"Your Highness, we have just received news that your four younger brothers have all been safely transferred!"

This report of the communications officer convinces people that at this time everything is moving in favor of the putschists. Friedrich's four younger brothers. Adalbert, who served in the African Expeditionary Force, Augustus in Brussels, Belgium, who served with his troops, Oscar who served in the 9th Light Infantry Regiment in Hanover, and Joachim, who served in the famous "Iron 24th Regiment", have all left the army for safety by various means.

For reasons of secrecy, they did not know about this beforehand, and Friedrich put a lot of effort into it.

In the eyes of others, it was not politically wise to try to rescue his brothers, who were also the widows of the emperor, after all, they were likely to become his own competitors in the future, but Friedrich had his own considerations.

Friedrich glanced at the adjutant who was looking at his watch, and without waiting for the adjutant to report the time, he ordered:

"Alright. The time has come, and I will finally ask the stupid General Vogue whether to enjoy glory and wealth on earth or go to hell! ”

"Yes!" The adjutant put away his pocket watch, barely a second before the deadline.

Time passed in this almost frozen atmosphere for another 40 seconds, and finally from the palace came the news that the defenders would rather die than give in, Friedrich sighed, his eyes showed a little cruelty, and waved his big hand:

"Attack!"

In an instant, the palace was enveloped in fierce gunfire, and the attackers, who had already been eager to try, and the defenders who had been put to death to survive, were tilting their bullets at each other at the same moment. At the main entrance of the palace, where the fire was most concentrated, the reliefs depicting the battle scenes of kings and heroes were quickly mutilated by bullets, and the delicate marble floor was soon dripping with a layer of bright red blood. The corpses of the attackers were quickly stacked on top of each other. However, the crowd continued to pour into the palace, and the defenders soon abandoned the outer line and retreated into the palace, and the attackers became more and more aggressive!

However, at this time, those who decided that the attacking side had the chance to win probably underestimated the strength of the Praetorian Guard! After entering the palace gate, there is a huge central square with a large meadow and a circular flower bed in the center, and about 500 meters behind the square is the main building of the palace, a huge palace with a length of 712 meters, a width of 381 meters, and a height of 21-39 meters. At the top is a parapet wall of arrowheads, with towering arrow towers at each corner, and hundreds of black, white, and red flags of all sizes fluttering in the wind. As the Janissaries defending the outlying positions retreated into the palace, it suddenly became a large fortress with strong defenses and fierce firepower.

Soon, the attackers were surprised to find a dozen or so black objects in front of the main gate of the fortress, and they suddenly sprayed cannonballs and bullets in a dense manner!

"That's a tank!" Experienced soldiers exclaimed, these things were not unusual to them, but it was not a good thing to be here! Despite the fact that the coup army numbered ten times the defenders of the palace, there was no artillery or tank support – it was difficult to get troops into Berlin, and it was almost impossible to get heavy weapons in the first place.

The soldiers did not stop as they ran forward. But almost everyone knows how tough the steel beasts are. Moreover, many people have witnessed their heroism in battle, but at this time, when they have to fight face to face, people will inevitably have a trace of concern and even fear in their hearts.

A major officer in the offensive ranks. Probably worried that his soldiers were afraid or even retreated, he raised the command knife in his right hand and shouted loudly with all his might:

"Brave warriors, don't be afraid, there are only a few of them, for the sake of victory, for the sake of honor, rush with me!"

"Wow......" The surrounding soldiers let out an exhilarating roar, but every second in the darkness someone was swept down, and every few seconds a cannonball fell into the advancing crowd. When the blazing flames burst out, countless young lives vanished. After a few minutes of slaughter, the once-beautiful meadows and flower beds were turned beyond recognition by bullet holes, craters, corpses and blood.

Finally, the tide of attack slowed down in the face of this fierce barrage, and although the distance in front of the line from the main entrance of the palace was getting closer and closer, from 100 meters to 80 meters, from 80 meters to 50 meters to 30 meters, the soldiers who rushed to the front could even see the appearance of those chariots, and at this moment, the chariots rumbled. After a puff of green smoke rose from their tails, they actually advanced towards the attacking team!

The distance of thirty meters shrank to zero in only ten seconds, and in an instant, in addition to hearing the sound of gunfire, the metal objects crushing human bodies and the heart-rending screams of the crushed people were chilling, those hideous-looking, cruel and even bloodthirsty chariots were advancing and turning in the crowd, the engines roared heavily, the green smoke came one after another, and the bloody scene on the ground was shocking!

Faced with this situation, Friedrich's face was gloomy and terrifying, he clenched his fists but was unable to vent, his team was about to rush into the palace but was blocked by the dozen or so iron guys! Before this, Friedrich was not unaware of the existence of such things in the palace, but he did despise the great lethality and deterrence that these few chariots could bring, and even cursed the owner of the palace viciously!

As the attackers shifted from fierce attacks to deploying troops, the central square of the palace finally became less crowded, and with the chilling sound of bones cracking, the dozen or so blood-stained chariots slowly retreated to the palace gate, and the bullets fired from the palace gradually decreased.

"4,000 people!"

When the adjutant reported such a casualty figure, even Friedrich, who was accustomed to seeing big scenes, was speechless, and several generals next to him closed their eyes deeply. They were not only mourning for the dead, but also worried about the strength they had lost in less than ten minutes, and the impact of this setback on the morale of the troops was incalculable!

After a moment of silence, Friedrich turned to his staff officers, "Is there any way?" ”

Everyone looked at each other, and once only the enemy was worried about their chariots, but they never thought that now it was their turn to have a headache.

"Your Highness, we originally planned to sacrifice some soldiers to rush over, but now it seems that they are not decorations of the palace, and they are ...... And it seems that our opponents used them in very critical places! A colonel, who looked to be forty-four or five years old and had a rather thick beard, was the first to speak, and although his tone was calm, there was a hint of accusation behind it. It was Friedrich who said that the tanks in the palace were only "the emperor's ornaments", "used to frighten the envoys and monarchs of small countries", and that they could be killed at the cost of a few hundred soldiers at most, but now it seems that it is indeed too underestimated!

Friedrich's face became even more ugly, and he glared at the colonel, thinking that if this guy hadn't followed him for many years and did have some talent, he could have shot him at any time. What's more, there are many people who have a beard in Germany, and there are more unruly people!

The colonel did not pay attention to the archduke's gaze, and he continued: "Now the only way is to use bundles of grenades and let the bravest soldiers do this task!" In this case, it will not take more than 5 minutes, and the cost will be one or two hundred people at most! ”

The surrounding generals nodded, dared to point out the mistakes of their superiors, dared to act and dare to sacrifice, this colonel is indeed quite a general, no wonder he often speaks disrespectfully, but the Grand Duke still values him well.

"Very well, you can arrange this matter, I will give you ten minutes, and in ten minutes I will see my soldiers enter that palace!" Friedrich coldly ordered.

The colonel did not shirk either, and after saluting, he walked away quickly.

When his palace was attacked by coup d'étatists, the German ruler Chen Tian was leisurely sipping a bottle of the finest French wine in a room made of Lu skeletons, tempered glass and aluminum plates. This space of less than 10 square meters contains a comfortable chair, a small wooden round table and a camp bed, which may seem very simple, but it is 5,000 meters in the air! Chentian's feet are not the imperial capital, nor is it the capital of the United States, Washington, D.C., but the rough North Sea!