"Merry Christmas, everyone! Lately, everyone has been working hard for the 'Imperial Eagle' project! Everyone's efforts are visible to His Majesty the Emperor and I, and the Empire is proud of you! In three days we will attack the British mainland, a great dream of our Germans, and now we will lead our best soldiers to make it happen! I propose, for the sake of the Empire's victory, everyone to drink this cup! ”

Chen Tian raised the wine glass in his hand and took the lead in drinking the red wine inside.

Officers and pilots of the Army, Navy, and the newly formed Air Force who attended the "Christmas Reception for Senior Frontline Commanders" were also full of excitement and drank this glass of red wine to wish victory with excitement.

"Everyone, please feel free! Tonight, you can put the burden off your shoulders and enjoy the first Christmas since the start of the war! In Chentian's view, this should also be the only Christmas in the war, and it is completely impossible for the British to drag the war until next Christmas.

As Tatsu Tian said, the people here are enjoying a moment of relaxation before the fierce battle. Despite not being able to spend this Christmas with their families, no one here has any regrets. Rigorous and arduous training, careful and meticulous preparation, and the heavy snow outside will all become forgotten supporting characters on this night.

"Your Highness!" The British Sleepers' sent a secret telegram that they had successfully completed all the missions in the first phase, but one of the troops responsible for blocking the attack had lost contact and there was a high chance that they would be captured by the British! Hoffman came to Chentian with a wine glass and whispered a few words.

This news did not bring any fluctuations to Chentian's mood, the soldiers in that commando team had already put life and death aside when they set off, and they should be very satisfied if they were able to complete the task.

"Let's hope they can have a Christmas too! As for the poor troops, as long as we can win, sooner or later the British will have to obediently hand them over! ”

"Your Highness! I wish you a successful first battle in England and the world will remember you as the successor of Germany! Tirpitz, who wore the Grand Cross, looked very spirited, considering that in the First World War, no German admiral had won this honor. At one time, two admirals received such honors, and the German Navy was proud of it.

"Thank you! The victory of the army is inseparable from the support of the navy, and the same is true for the country! Chen Tian and Tirpitz clinked their glasses slightly, and then turned to the commander of the High Seas Fleet, Prince Heydrich of Prussia, next to the Minister of the Admiralty, who had been looking at him with a firm and supportive gaze as he spoke.

To tell the truth, what Chen Tian admired the most after coming to this world was this Prussian prince who was not outstanding in history, and Chen Tian learned a lot from him, many things that could not be learned in another world. In this world, Heydrich is one of the few people who has been silently supporting him.

"Fight bravely, I'll clear the way for you with a cannon in the back!" Prince Heydrich's plain words contain infinite meanings. Not to mention moved, Chen Tian has an inexplicable taste in his heart, he doesn't know how much better than Wilhelm II in terms of character, but character is not an important criterion for becoming an emperor.

After drinking all the wine in Heydrich's glass, Chen Tian did not forget to fulfill his duties as acting crown prince, "By the way, Your Excellency the Minister of the Navy, please pay my highest respect to all the officers and men of the Navy on my behalf, especially to the soldiers who are at the forefront of the guard!" ”

Tirpitz toasted his sailors in thanks.

After toasting with the head of the Admiralty, Chen Tian naturally could not snub the Minister of War and Chief of the General Staff, Falken Hain, the successor of Moltke Jr. was much more competent than Moltke Jr. in the position of Chief of the General Staff.

"Good luck! Our army will always be the strongest whole! ”

Today, it seems that everyone's words contain a lot of profound meanings, and Falkenhein is no exception. Wilhelm II's temper was well known, and in the event of an ugly defeat, it was not uncommon for the chief of the General Staff to be replaced, and as for Prince, he behaved worse than his father. For the 53-year-old and fit, the future of Germany has a lot to do with him.

After Falkenhein, the generals of the various army groups who participated in the landing battle sent their blessings one after another, and most of the blessings of these arrogant German generals were out of the trust and wishes of their comrades-in-arms. Of course, some of the generals with a slightly lower rank in the back are not entirely like this, Chen Tian silently remembered those guys who were full of compliments, and the people who were good at boasting about patting horses were the ones he despised the most, but this kind of contempt would never be written on his face.

When Hindenburg's vicissitudes of life appeared in front of him, many childhood scenes flashed in Chentian's mind, but it was Hindenburg who let him, a guy who "kicks wild ball", enter the regular military hall for the first time, and he deserved the title of enlightenment teacher.

"Teacher, I wish you a successful start!" Although Hindenburg and the 5th Army were the second landing force, they did not land in the same area as Chentian's 8th Army. To be exact, after the landing of the Chentian Division, the transport ships returned to their home port to send the second wave of landing troops to another beach. The subtle difference between the Emperor's two initial plans was whether the supplies of the Chentian Department were to be delivered before or after the landing of the Hindenburg Department. Due to the limited geographical width of the landing sites throughout the UK, it will

The fact that two armies were thrown into the same area one after another was not conducive to the disdeployment of the German army, but the British army could be surrounded from several sides. In addition, the German navy had limited transportation capacity, and could only transport all the soldiers of the Chentian Group Army plus tanks, armored vehicles and light artillery at a time, and ammunition, fuel, food and other supplies and heavy artillery had to be transported in the latter batch. To send the Chentian Army and the Hindenburg Army to Britain, the transport fleet needed to go back and forth by sea four times and load and unload at ports on both sides eight times.

The first plan was for Chentian and the 8th Army to land at Landing Point 1, then the convoy would return to Hindenburg and the 5th Army to carry out, and then land at Landing Site 2, during which time Chentian's troops would encounter the most fierce counterattack by the British army. After the successful landing of the Hindenburg Division, the convoy sent the ammunition supplies of the Chentian Headquarters to the No. 1 landing site.

The second plan was to return the convoy after the landing of the Chentian Division, and then deliver the ammunition supplies directly to the No. 1 landing site, and then transport the Hindenburg headquarters to the No. 2 landing site.

As Prince Heydrich said, the two plans do not seem to be much different, but they are very fatal in detail. There is naturally no problem in transporting Chentian's troops to land, but in the time of the return, shipment, and transportation of the transport fleet, the first plan is to make Chentian and his 200,000 soldiers wait for two days, more than one million British troops are stationed on the small British Isles, and a large number of British troops will soon gather in front of Chentian. If someone delays the delivery of supplies from this, no matter how strong Chen Tian and his machine gun tank are, they will not be able to stop the flow of British troops without ammunition. If the ammunition is replenished first, the firepower advantage of the Chentian Army will be enough to support the landing of the Hindenburg Army from another direction, and no matter which plan it is, the pressure on the Hindenburg Army will be much less.

Presumably, Hindenburg also saw this, "Your Highness, you can attack with confidence this time!" By the time our army group landed, the British were gone. However, despite the vitality of your troops, it's better to be careful in battle! Especially when consolidating the beachhead and advancing inland, the British weather is a factor that has to be considered, which is likely to limit the use of armored forces! ”

"Taught!" Winter was not the best time to attack Britain, but from the perspective of "one uplift, then decline, and three exhaustion", Chen Tian felt that it was now possible to attack Britain with the prestige and high morale of defeating France. If this wait continues, the British will not only be able to make more preparations, but the international situation will also be unpredictable, and once Japan and the United States join forces to support Britain, even if Germany attacks Britain, the cost will inevitably increase a lot.

"Your Highness, the Air Force will be your strongest supporter!" Although his tenure as Chief of the General Staff of the Air Force was short, Zechter showed an extremely good sense of the overall situation and organizational skills, and the air units directly under the Air Force had clear responsibilities and clear tasks under his and Hoffman's supervision, and the transport planes and airships for the airborne mission had been deployed at the most verified locations from the drop point. It is no exaggeration to say that even if the attack on Britain begins now, the air force will be able to complete the scheduled mission very well.

"Oh, it turned out to be my chief of the general staff, what a hard work for you! Well, I'm still satisfied with my current job! Chentian raised his glass and clinked Zecht, after Hoffman landed with the 8th Army, it was the time to really test Zecht.

Zecht looked modest, "It was rusty at first, but now it's much better!" During this time, thanks to General Hoffman, he not only had to help with the affairs of the Air Force, but also from time to time he had to arrange the affairs of the 8th Army. ”

For Hoffman's performance, Chen Tian is in his heart, he has decided to fight for an oak leaf for Hoffman's medal no matter what after the end of the Battle of England. Watching the historical figures who originally rose in different periods glow together at this time, Chen Tian has a strong sense of satisfaction in his heart.

As for the other two "characters", Manstein and Rommel, they also celebrated this wonderful Christmas on their respective battlefields.

Manstein and his armoured forces had become an important arrow for the Allied forces on Italy's Eastern Front, and the Italians had few options against the hordes of tanks and armoured vehicles, and in many cases they had to rely on small numbers of anti-tank guns and bundles of grenades, intensive artillery fire, and traps to threaten Manstein's steel beasts. However, with the support of the allied infantry units, it was difficult for the Italians to make decent gains, and since the beginning of the Italian battlefield, the Italian army has only destroyed a total of 11 German tanks and armored vehicles and damaged 25, and most of the German armored forces still lost their combat effectiveness from their own failures.

In the face of the Italian army, which was not strong in combat, Manstein successfully implemented the breakthrough tactics of the armored troops for the trench positions and the tactics of splitting and attacking in the field, and combined the motorcycle troops with the tank armored vehicles well, as long as the fuel was not exhausted and the machinery did not break down, his troops would always be constantly attacking forward. Just as Chentian had planned, Manstein had gradually accumulated his exploits in Italy.

The allied forces on the Italian Eastern Front were advancing unstoppably, and since the beginning of the battle on the 22nd, they have successfully repelled the Italian army trying to hold the border in the Italian border campaign, and by the day before Christmas they have advanced nearly 50 kilometers into the interior of Italy. The German 3rd Army, which had entered Italy from the Franco-Italian border, had adopted a more prudent and slow advance, and the attack on this flank was mainly aimed at pinning down a certain number of Italian troops, and by Christmas the Germans had advanced less than 10 kilometers, and the Italian defenders retreated in an orderly and slow manner.

On the day of the battle, the Italian navy and the Allied fleet engaged in a fierce and modest naval battle, with shells coming and going, but the battle ended in a hasty manner at noon as the capital ships of both sides were wounded and pushed out of the battlefield. For the Allied fleet, it was the best policy to use the overwhelming superiority of the land forces in Zhan to achieve victory, and when Italy could not resist the powerful attack of the Allied forces and chose to surrender, the Italian fleet could not escape the fate of being divided by the Central Powers, and the Turkish and Russian navies had even reserved places in the harbor for the Italian warships they would be assigned after private discussions.

On Christmas Day, the Coalition forces on the offensive and the Italian army on the defensive chose to stop fighting, and the Apennine Peninsula was able to enjoy a day without war.

Another armor genius, Rommel, spent Christmas in southern Sudan with the German soldiers of his armoured unit and the Turkish allies. After the fall of Egypt and the German attack on Britain itself, Britain's power in Africa was already very weak, and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan became a "Anglo-Egyptian" zone. After rapidly occupying most of Sudan, Rommel's German-Turkish-African expeditionary force set its next targets on British Uganda and the Belgian Congo.

In addition to this, another task of the expeditionary force was to take over the French colonies with full authority. After the end of the British War, this expeditionary force composed of German and Turkish troops will also expand the power of the Allies into Asia through Afghanistan and Pakistan, and British India will be their biggest target.

On the "Mikasa," the flagship of the Japanese Combined Fleet, the Japanese side held a grand Christmas dinner for the special German delegation on Tahiti and the former French governor who had surrendered to Germany and had not yet returned to France.

"Let us welcome our most sincere German partners and respected French friends with the purest red wine!" The old but spirited Admiral Heihachiro Togo raised his glass, and the Japanese, Germans, and French all raised their glasses.

"Today, it's Christmas Eve in the West! It's a festival celebrated by most of the world! I propose that in order to be in tune with world cultures, we Japanese should also add this holiday to our calendars! While Europe is still under the flames of war, let us, international friends who are not separated from each other, toast together for a better tomorrow here! When Marshal Togo poured red wine down his throat, he knew very well what his fleet had brought to the Pacific region, especially the central and eastern Pacific Ocean. The shadow of war had crept over these peaceful islands with nightfall, and it would not be long before many of them would become the outposts of the Japanese Empire in the Pacific, and would be the front lines of the war in the event of a conflict between Japan and the United States.

"Thank you, our faithful Japanese partner, for being able to send such a large and mighty fleet here in a timely manner, as we agreed, and to relieve our Germany of its worries in the Pacific region. May the friendship between Germany and Japan last forever! "In front of the former French governor-general, the German envoy did not shy away from the topic of the secret German-Japanese alliance, after the war before Germany and France, it may take a long, long time for the French character to regain France's former strength, and perhaps the Gallic rooster will collapse from now on.

"Thank goodness the war is far away from us!" The former French governor had to say gloomily that in fact, for them the French, the foreign war was indeed over, but under the deliberate arrangement of some people, the French civil war may be inevitable in the near future. The fact that Germany pledged not to attack the south of France did not mean that they would not establish a puppet government in the north of France and take action in the south. This is something that most French people do not see.

Soon after, the flowers bloomed over the Japanese fleet, and in the flickering light, the German and Japanese flags flew everywhere on the island of Tahiti, and the Japanese sun flag looked much more numerous. According to the Japanese government's plan, tens of thousands of Japanese would move to the Polynesian islands one after another, essentially occupying the colony, which was nominally Germany's.

Compared to the European-style banquets, high-end wines and fireworks prepared by the Japanese, Christmas Eve in Churchill's special fleet was much more uneventful. The officers of the ships held a simple dinner, and the festive atmosphere was not strong, and the ordinary sailors in the fleet could not even enjoy the low-grade red wine, and everyone was only given an extra slice of ham when they ate.

As for the Hillier raid fleet, which was eagerly awaiting Churchill's fleet, it also spent a simple Christmas Eve in the wind and snow of the Atlantic. There was a striking resemblance to the celebrations of the two fleets, with the officers enjoying a not-so-sumptuous dinner and the sailors receiving extra food, as the German sailors thankfully received a limited supply of red wine from an American freighter in contrast to the mixed sailors of the British Special Fleet.

Compared with the sailors sailing on the sea, on both sides of the English Channel, the German and British officers and soldiers who were preparing to attack and prepare for defense lived more comfortably, most of the off-duty British soldiers were able to enjoy a moment of leisure, while the German troops on the other side did not have the trouble of being attacked, the heavy snow added a lot of festive atmosphere to their Christmas, many people seemed to see Santa Claus speeding by in the white night sky, and most of the soldiers did not forget to hang their stockings on the bed frame.

Whether people receive the gifts they want or not, once the Christmas lights go out, the grand battle of the century is about to begin.