Snowflakes are falling, and in the fully Europeanized streets of Petrograd, Russia's premier metropolis, a depressed scene is still everywhere, with shops mostly closed and few vehicles, whether cars or horse-drawn carriages. The pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info even if there are a few cars running through the streets, they are often German-made vehicles belonging to the Russian Expeditionary Force.

Reinhardt was now sitting in a Volkswagen 82-barrel car with a canvas canopy, with a gleaming Order of Santa Astasiania on his chest - a medal of considerable rank, said to be of a rather high rank, named after the little sister of Empress Olga, the martyred saint Archduchess Anastasiania, and awarded to foreign nobles who had made outstanding contributions to the restoration of the Romanov dynasty.

Although Reinhardt really couldn't remember what contribution he had made to the restoration of the Romanov dynasty? However, the Russian Empress Olga personally awarded Reinhardt the Order of Merit half an hour earlier, and declared herself to be Reinhardt's godmother in the throne hall of the Winter Palace, and awarded Reinhardt the title of Count of the Russian Empire and the rank of major in the army...... In Reinhardt's own eyes, the honor and status granted to him by the Russian empress was complete nonsense, even if his father was a marshal of the Hesman Empire.

"Reinhardt, the rules here in Russia are different from those in Germany," said his superior, Rudolf, who accompanied Reinhardt to the meeting of the Empress. Feng. Major Ribbentrop (Colonel of the Imperial Russian Army), who told the somewhat ignorant Reinhardt, "Here Her Majesty is a man of her word, and the person she likes can flourish, and she and your father ...... Well, there are a lot of rumors. ”

"Rumors? What rumors? ”

Ribbentrop Jr. grinned and lowered his voice: "It is said that she and the Imperial Marshal are lovers. ”

"Lover? That's impossible. Reinhardt said earnestly, "My father and mother had a good relationship, and he was a model husband. ”

Ribbentrop Jr. shrugged, then looked at Reinhardt with a strange gaze: "I know this, but in Petrograd, everyone knows that their empress and the imperial marshal have an affair, and it is said that they have illegitimate children. ”

"Bastard?" Reinhardt's eyes widened, "How is this possible?" How can this be nonsense? ”

Little Ribbentrop nodded: "Yes, no one in Russia dares to slander Her Majesty the Empress...... And the Russians are very conscious in this regard, and there are no other negative rumors of Her Majesty the Empress apart from this rumor. ”

"This cannot be ......," reinhardt cried, "it must be clarified!" ”

Little Ribbentrop just smiled: "Reinhardt, do you think that neither the Marshal of the Reich nor Her Majesty the Empress know about this rumor?" Isn't there a way for them to clarify this? ”

“……”

"There must be a reason why they didn't come out to clarify and allowed this rumor to spread." Ribbentrop Jr. said, "I suppose you should assume that this rumor does not exist." ”

Of course, this rumor is not true, but it was made up by Olga at the time to make her backstage look harder, and no one in the German Junker circle believed it - even if someone believed it, it would not damage Hersmann's reputation, because having a "special friendship" with a Russian empress could not be treated with common sense, it was a diplomatic activity conducive to Russian-German friendship.

The roads in Petrograd were wide and empty, and the Volkswagen wagons they were riding in quickly drove out of the city to a large barracks on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea near Peter's Palace. The place was originally a garrison of the Soviet Red Army, with neatly housed barracks, a very large playground, rows of tall garages, oil-stained vehicle repair sheds, and a headquarters building with a red star on the roof. Occasionally, there are traces of slogans in Russian that have not been completely eradicated on the walls of some buildings, suggesting that this was originally a camp of the Soviet Red Army. Now there is a new owner.

"Reinhardt, you're a major now," said Ribbentrop Jr. as the car stopped in front of the headquarters building. "I can assign you a new position to be a staff officer at the division headquarters."

Ribbentrop Jr. was the chief of staff of the Russian Imperial Guards Tank Division "Olga", assisted by Mikhail Irga. Alexievich. Lieutenant General of Count Romanov.

This count, surnamed Romanov, was not a relative of Olga, at least not in the genealogy of the Romanov dynasty, he was not even an "old white man", but a major general of the former Soviet Red Army. At the outbreak of the Soviet-German war, he was loyal to the cause of GCISM and was ready to dedicate himself to his ideals.

But I didn't expect Empress Olga to suddenly jump out and restore the Romanov dynasty, and as a result, all the cadres surnamed Romanov in the Red Army were affected - we have to find out if they are not relatives of the Tsar! But the investigation was not finished, until the Germans captured the city where Major General Romanov was located...... Later, it was Empress Olga who dug out the ancient genealogy, confirmed that Major General Romanov belonged to a collateral branch of the Romanov family, and made him a count by the way.

Major General Romanov, who knew that he had a criminal family background, gave up his original ideals, no longer expected to be accepted by the revolutionary ranks, and bowed at the feet of the empress, becoming a "royal general" in the White Russian army. Now he has climbed to the position of the commander of the Guards Tank Division, and is considered one of the favored retainers of Empress Olga.

"Reinhardt, you might as well come to the division headquarters as a staff officer, or be my adjutant." Lieutenant General Romanov, who was dressed in a straight military uniform, had a handsome appearance and a very neatly trimmed beard, made a similar suggestion.

As early as when Reinhardt reported to the army, he wanted the son of the German reich marshal to be his adjutant, but Reinhardt insisted on leaving the army - this idea is understandable, and the lack of experience in leading troops will suffer in the process of promotion in the future. So Lieutenant General Romanov did not insist at that time, but now the situation is different.

"Our division is going to battle," Lieutenant General Romanov said without concealment, "at the end of March-early April. ”

"To the battlefield?" Ribbentrop Jr., who had not been transferred from the Guyana front to Petrograd for a long time, suddenly became excited when he heard that he was going to the front, "The whole tank division is going?" ”

"That's right! The whole tank division goes! "So in order to facilitate communication with friendly forces, the division headquarters needs to add a few staff officers who are fluent in Russian and German." Reinhardt, you must work at the division headquarters this time, this is an order! ”

"Understood, Lieutenant General." Reinhardt couldn't shirk it this time, so he could only give up the idea of going to the front line to kill the enemy in person and become a staff officer of the division.

The Royal "Olga" Guards Tank Division is the elite of the White Russian Army, a fairly well-equipped armored division, formed on the basis of the German armored division, and most of its weapons and equipment are German-style equipment -- it is not that Russia's military industry is so dismal that it cannot provide any equipment, but that Germany is currently promoting the process of standardization and integration of European Community weapons and equipment.

Germany, as the core and leader of the European Community, naturally wants to promote its own equipment as the standard of the entire European Community. Therefore, most of the arsenals that are still in operation in Russia have upgraded their equipment with the help of Germany and have begun to produce according to the drawings and samples provided by Germany. Therefore, the weapons and ammunition produced are also German-style equipment. Many of the weapons and ammunition that are now equipped with the Royal Guards Tank Division are German-style equipment of Russian production.

In addition, not all weapons used to equip the EC armies were designed and developed by the Germans, and the French, British, and Soviet bloodlines were also included in the standard equipment of the EC.

For example, the Olga tank destroyer, nicknamed the "Olga Little Hammer", defeated the German "Stalker" tank destroyer and became the standard equipment of the European Community infantry divisions.

There is also the B4 203mm howitzer, known as the "Stalin's hammer", which has also become the standard for the 203mm heavy artillery of the European Community Army.

The ZIS-3 76.2mm cannon in the Soviet Red Army has also become the standard artillery weapon of the European Community - mainly because the stock of this cannon is too large, and the production capacity of the Russian military industry is too large, and it would be too wasteful not to make full use of it. However, German and British technicians helped the Russians redesign the ammunition, which greatly enhanced the anti-tank capabilities of the ZIS-3 gun.

Among the various types of aircraft inherited from the Soviet Union, one of the planes inherited by Russia has also entered the eyes of Marshal Kesselring, that is, the famous "Black Reaper" Il-2 attack aircraft. This aircraft became the successor of the Hs123 attack aircraft after certain improvements, and formed a high-low combination with the Hs129 and Br.800 (shore-based version of the Br.810), which greatly strengthened the ground attack capability of the European Community Air Force - a large number of former Soviet pilots who defected to the revolution also became part of the European Community's air power together with the Il-8 (improved name of the Il-2) attack aircraft.

By the same time that the most powerful tank division of the Russian Empire had received the order to prepare for the move, the Il-8 attack aircraft, which had been modified from the Il-2 strike, had already appeared on the Guyana-Trinidad front in South America.

Due to the low requirements for airport and maintenance of the IL-8, and the safe take-off and landing of temporary airfields on the Guiana front in harsh conditions, more than 20 squadrons of IL-8 arrived at the Guyana-Trinidad front, not to attack Trinidad, but to support the European coalition jungle warfare forces to attack the Amakuro Delta - from the end of 1944, the European Community coalition forces launched an offensive in this rainforest area bordering Venezuela and Guyana, with the support of the Il-8, By mid-February 1945, most of the valuable strongholds in the Amakuro Delta had fallen into the hands of the coalition forces.