Where are we going?

On the night of January 1, 1915, this question was on the minds of many people.

In fact, these people all have a common destination, Berlin.

Konitz station, Germany.

This was the first station that Matthew's corps had to pass through after leaving East Prussia, and it was a small station, and due to the long period of calm on the Eastern Front, only a garrison of about 50 men was stationed here.

Despite the coldest season of the year, the soldiers guarding the station were still dutifully standing guard and patrolling, but everyone was tightly wrapped. As night falls, there are far fewer trains passing through this station than during the day, and most of the trains that go east through here are now loaded with supplies for Russia, as well as civilian and military goods between East Prussia and the rest of Germany, and the railway lines here are far less busy than they were at the beginning of the war.

Near 9 o'clock, an armored train appeared in the sight of the sentinels, which had not been in an unusual condition for the last two or three months, and the train was not fast and sent a signal of identification from the German Army unit, the sentries only reported the situation to the station commander and signaled to the other side to stop for inspection.

Under the watchful eye of the sentry on duty, the armored train stopped on the east side of the station as promised, and the German military train, the flag, and the army soldiers, in the face of all this, the sentries did not load their bullets, but waited for their commanders to confirm their identities to the other party. At this time, no one noticed that at the end of the train, a group of dark shadows quietly slipped off the train and felt for the platform and sentry post of the station.

The officer on duty at the station came to the locomotive with two soldiers, the officer looked a little thin, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, and his collar badge and epaulettes indicated that his rank was second lieutenant. Next to the armored car at the back of the locomotive, 2 officers and 4 soldiers had already gotten off the train and waited, led by a young officer in a gray military coat, who did not look more than 30 years old, but his face and eyes looked very mature and sophisticated, and his hooked nose and broad shoulders looked very aristocratic.

"Hello, your military rank and number?" The second lieutenant on duty at the station asked cautiously and politely, and the one in front of him knew at a glance that this was not a small character.

"Wolfgang. Feng. Wagner, a lieutenant colonel in the army, is part of the Special Operations Force directly under the War Department! Here's my ID! "When the officer who got off the train stretched out his hand to hand over his ID, he showed the collar badge on his military uniform by the way, and becoming a lieutenant colonel at such a young age is indeed a thing that most people envy.

The lieutenant said as he opened the card and examined it carefully by the light next to him, and it didn't seem to be any problem.

"Where are you going? We were not notified by our superiors that there was such a train passing through our station! ”

"Ensign, this is our destination!" The lieutenant colonel lowered his voice and said, "We're here on a secret mission, to capture a spy lurking here!" If you don't want to be a traitor to the spies, you'd better do nothing now and let us take care of it! ”

The second lieutenant looked at the young lieutenant colonel in front of him in surprise, his serious eyes did not look like he was joking at all, and the sharp gaze seemed to peek into everything inside him, which made him shiver in his heart.

"Spies? My God! Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, are you sure about this? I think I'd better report it to my superiors! The second lieutenant was about to turn around, but heard the sound of the lieutenant colonel adding ice:

"You'd better do nothing now, or we'll treat you like a spy! When it's over, we'll report it to your superiors! ”

The lieutenant stared back into the lieutenant colonel's eyes for a few seconds, and he tried to confront that look, but was quickly defeated. When the lieutenant colonel nodded slightly, he actually felt a sense of relief.

"Get all your soldiers to gather on the platform, immediately!" The lieutenant colonel's voice was still as cold as he said this.

After being stunned for two seconds, the second lieutenant walked briskly to a booth next to the platform, then picked up the phone and said something.

The man named Wagner still held his head high and stood proudly ahead, while the soldiers behind him silently watched the second lieutenant's every move. At this time, the black shadows that sneaked out of the rear of the train had actually taken control of the entire station, and they deliberately avoided all casualties, unless the other party was a group of unknown people.

The second lieutenant walked straight to the lieutenant colonel after making the call, and about a minute and a half later, all the soldiers guarding the station lined up on the platform.

"Lieutenant Colonel, all 56 soldiers of the Konitz station garrison are here!"

"All here?" The lieutenant colonel confirmed it again.

The second lieutenant nodded affirmatively, "Yes, all!" ”

With a wave of his right hand, the lieutenant colonel rushed out of the back carriages with two companies of soldiers, and they quickly surrounded the soldiers on the platform.

Seeing the muzzles of their own people, the soldiers guarding the station were obviously very surprised.

"Ensign, thank you for your cooperation!" A strange smile suddenly appeared on Wagner's lips, an expression that made the poor lieutenant feel faintly uncomfortable, but it was too late.

About five minutes later, Wagner reboarded the armored train with most of his soldiers, while others took the sentry's place. At this time, about 6 or 7 kilometers east of the Konitz train length, the remaining thirty or so trains of Matthew's regiment were moving eastward in an orderly manner.

"General, the vanguard has signaled that they have captured Konitz station."

After hearing the staff officer's report, Matthew's face did not show the joy of victory, or rather, it was not a pleasant operation.

"Inform all cars to move on, no one is allowed to get off without permission, and keep the lights under control throughout the process!"

After giving the order, Matthew turned his gaze back to the map on the table in front of him, they were still halfway to Berlin, and Konitz station was just one of more than a dozen stations they would have to pass through next, including the Stein and Schwedt stations, before they could reach Berlin. If you want to pass through these two large stations, I'm afraid it will not be as simple as controlling Konitz station. These are also the problems that Chen Tian is worried about. With the support of the War Department, all this would not have been so troublesome, which is why Tatsuten felt so disappointed when he knew that Falkenhain did not support him.

As the train passed through the Konitz station, the officer on duty and his companions, who had been locked up, exclaimed: "Oh my God! Where do these trains come from? Where are they going? ”

The answers to these questions will be known after dawn.

Matthew's Corps was not the only one who intended to go to Berlin by rail, and after receiving an urgent order from the War Office, the troops stationed in Frankfurt were assembled at the Frankfurt station under the leadership of the commander, General Borg. However, it was clear that they were not well prepared, and even General Borg did not know what his troops were going to be involved in at this time.

The railway station in the western suburbs of Frankfurt, a place that was originally silent, began to become lively at some point, the black night was almost dispelled by the high-powered lights around it, and a group of soldiers carrying marching baggage, armed belts around their waists, slender Mauser rifles on their shoulders, and peaked helmets were assembling in the direction of the platform, some trains had stopped on the platform, and some were still slowly entering the station.

Corporal Vic was a reserve soldier who had only been conscripted into the army after the outbreak of war, and he was still worried that he was about to undergo a baptism of war, but he did not expect that his unit had been stationed in Frankfurt all the time, and their task was to monitor the Eastern Front and respond to unexpected situations. When the Russians attacked East Prussia, they were on guard for a few days, and with the defeat of the Russians, they became inactive again; At the height of the French war, they were once assembled at this station to reinforce the front line, but the French were soon defeated, and after that, apart from the rotation of troops, the German Army did not send a single additional soldier abroad, and Corporal Vick became a German soldier who did not even have a chance to meet the enemy. However, Vic was not discouraged by this, after all, his companions were like him, and war was a distant thing for them.

From the time he heard the order to assemble, to the time he set out from the barracks, to the time he walked to the train station, it took Vic and his companions less than two hours, and although they had not been in battle, the infantry appeared to be quite well trained. After the emergency assembly and march, they were still neat and full of morale, each carrying a square backpack, in addition to the army's standard equipment of rifle bayonets, Maxim machine guns, and hand grenades, although according to orders from the War Department, they did not carry artillery with them.

It was nearly midnight when Vic and his companions boarded a train, which should have been a good time to sleep, but there was no sleepiness on the faces of the soldiers, and most of them had anticipation written on their faces, including Vic.

"Are we going to war?"

"Have we found the murderer of His Majesty the Emperor, and we are going to punish the enemy now?"

"Is it the UK? Or the French? Or is it a Serb? ”

"Is this our battle for revenge?"

The soldiers whispered, and this was limited to conversations between soldiers, and no one would question their superiors, knowing that German soldiers had always carried out orders without compromise.

As the soldiers boarded the train, the first train full of soldiers started and the other trains left the platform, nearly four hours after Matthew's regiment left Königsberg.

The church bells struck 12 times and the first day of the new year officially ended, but the night was still a long time for Germany.