Despite his surprise at Hitler's will, Dönitz accepted the appointment without hesitation. Dönitz despaired of the current situation in the German government.

But Hitler's secretary Martin. The day after Dönitz's arrival in Berlin, Baumann delivered a simple but shocking document to Dönitz, authorizing Dönitz to surrender to the Allies on behalf of the Third Reich.

According to Martin. Bowman said that Hitler was in a coma after being wounded and did not wake up until the evening of May 27, but because he said that his condition was very bad, and the probability of being cured was only about 5 percent.

At the same time, Hitler also knew that the Third Land was over, without the support of the Wehrmacht generals, the SS and the Gestapo alone could not withstand the Allied attack, and if he wanted to ensure that the Third Reich would not be dismembered after his death, then the only way was to surrender unconditionally.

As for who to choose as his heir, Hitler took great pains, but looking at the collapse of the Third Reich, Hitler could not pick any successor other than Dönitz. Goering and Himmler's private contact with the Allies was, in Hitler's view, a grave betrayal; Rommel wanted to put him to death, and was obviously not a good successor; Propaganda Minister Goebbels and Foreign Minister Ribbentrop were both civilian men of the same age and did not have the ability to command the army. The army generals were always at odds with Hitler and did not carry out Hitler's "scorched earth policy".

Dönitz, on the other hand, had prestige and ability, and did not participate in the previous political struggles. The most important thing is faithfulness. There are many examples of Dönitz's loyalty, as both of his sons were killed as naval officers in World War II. Although he never actually joined the Nazi Party, Hitler gave him a gold Nazi constitution on January 30, 1944, so he considered himself an honorary member of the Nazi Party. Because of this, Hitler chose Dönitz.

After returning to Berlin, Dönitz received worse news from one after another, and there seemed to be no good news except that the Allies had not yet reached Berlin. In this case, Dönitz felt that it was necessary to talk to Rommel and others.

He had his lieutenant call Rommel and ask him to come to Berlin. Discuss the future of the empire. Rommel turned down the adjutant's invitation on the phone. Dönitz personally called Rommel, and Rommel agreed.

As for what Dönitz and Rommel said, no one knows, only the day after they met. Dönitz convened a meeting of officers of the army, navy, air force, SS, and secret police in Berlin. It was decided to surrender unconditionally to the Allies. Hitler's will is also displayed.

On June 15, 1944, there was a complete armistice in the European theater and Nazi Germany surrendered unconditionally.

Unlike the historical capture of Berlin by the Allies. At this time, the Allies had not yet entered Germany proper, and with the assistance of Rommel and others, the Allies liberated most of Europe without firing a single shot, and Germany was hardly affected by the war.

The end of the war in Europe was good news for all countries in the world, although the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union argued endlessly about what to do with Germany, and the Soviet Union and France insisted on dismembering Germany, but the United States and Britain did not agree.

While they were arguing, Chen Feng demanded that the Allies immediately transfer their elite troops to Asia and prepare for the final landing operation on the Japanese mainland.

Compared with Germany, Japan also caused a lot of damage to the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union, so after receiving the request of the Chinese, the four countries of China, the United States, the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom held a meeting in Tehran to discuss the matter.

It is necessary to carry out a landing operation against Japan, and as long as the Japanese Government does not surrender for a day, then it will one day carry out a landing operation against the Japanese archipelago. But now the problem is that the main forces of the Allied forces are concentrated in Europe, and it is difficult to conduct a landing operation of the same scale in Asia in a short period of time.

At the beginning of the conference, Roosevelt proposed to land on Japan at the beginning or end of the 45th year, and wait for the Allies to completely settle the German problem before making a decision.

However, Roosevelt's opinion was strongly opposed by Chen Feng, who was well aware of the resilience of Japan, and once Japan was given enough time to prepare, it would not be easy to land and fight.

Chen Feng believes that the landing operation against Japan should not exceed July, and it is best to start in early June. In view of the fact that the main pathologies and warships of the Allied forces were in Europe, Chen Feng believed that the Allied forces could concentrate their air forces to carry out a carpet bombing of the entire territory of Japan, and at the same time mobilize warships and troops from the US mainland and Europe.

Churchill believed that it would be best if Japan could be forced to surrender now by external pressure, that a landing operation would inevitably cause huge human losses, and that it was obviously not a good idea to launch such a large-scale landing war near the end of the war.

Roosevelt thought about this, Japan only relied on a population of tens of millions and an army of five or six million, and if the United States could successfully develop that kind of powerful weapon, it would certainly be able to fundamentally destroy Japan and force it to surrender.

The Tehran Conference was very divided over the landing of the four countries in Japan, mainly because the huge losses in the European war made the United States, the Soviet Union, and Britain unwilling to bear such huge casualties, while China insisted on destroying Japan.

In the end, the four parties reached an agreement, and starting from June 20, 1944, China, the United States, and the Soviet Union simultaneously dispatched large bombers to carry out devastating bombing of all large and medium-sized cities in Japan, and at the same time arranged landing operations according to the scale of 2 million troops. and captured the Ryukyu Islands at the end of June.

According to his strategic plan, he will sacrifice atomic bombs, a weapon of mass destruction, detonate them in Tokyo or other cities in Japan, and then Chen Feng will have troops on the coast of Japan, presumably Japan will surrender soon.

However, Chen Feng did not want to expose the secret of his possession of the atomic bomb, because the atomic bomb involved too much in the East, and it would also make China instantly listed as a potential competitor and imaginary enemy by the United States and the Soviet Union and other countries, which was in great conflict with Chen Feng's vision of ten years of life and ten years of recuperation.

And Chen Feng also does not want China to be the first country in the world to use nuclear weapons, which is not an honor and is not worth fighting for. Moreover, now that the United States has reached the final stage of developing the atomic bomb, it would be best if the United States could be allowed to play the role of the main culprit.

On 20 June, under Chen Feng's order, 2,400 fighters of the six strategic aviation divisions of the National Defense Air Force were transferred from various inland airfields to Beiping, Shenyang, and Pyongyang airfields, and a strategic command headed by Liu Nijia, deputy commander-in-chief of the Air Force, was set up to specifically direct the bombing of Japan.

Almost at the same time, the command of bomber groups in the United States and the Soviet Union was also established. The Soviet Union estimated that about 1,400 warplanes would be put into service to Japan, while the United States would have about 3,200 fighters, of which 960 would be carrier-based aircraft on aircraft carriers.

On 22 July, the air forces of the three countries bombed Tokyo, Nagoya, Yokohama, and other cities in Japan for the first time in eight hours, and more than 200,000 tons of bombs were dropped on the Japanese mainland within eight hours. When the Allied bombing ended, the Japanese government and people were stunned, if the previous bombing was an appetizer, today is called a luxurious feast, there is no intact place in the whole of Tokyo, there are ruins everywhere.

More importantly, out of their understanding of Japanese housing construction materials, the Allies mainly used incendiary bombs in the bombing, and once they exploded, the entire Tokyo suddenly turned into a sea of fire, and countless factories and houses were burned down.

However, to the horror of the Japanese Government, less than eight hours after the end of the bombing, and before the fire of the previous day had been completely extinguished, a new round of bombing began, also a lavish feast.

At the same time as the Allied forces bombed the Japanese mainland, the 150,000 Chinese Army and 130,000 U.S. Army completed the assembly in the Philippines, and then more than 1,300 transport ships and landing ships, with the cooperation of 15 aircraft carriers and 80 large warships, sailed to the Ryukyu Islands, and the Allies appointed Admiral MacArthur as the commander-in-chief of the campaign, and Lieutenant General Wang Hansheng as the deputy commander-in-chief.

The Ryukyu Islands are known as the Okinawa Islands in Japan, the island consists of Okinawa Islands, Kerama Islands, Ie Island and other islands, the main island of Okinawa is the largest island of the Ryukyu Islands, located between the Japanese mainland and the island of Chugoku Bay, 630 kilometers north of Kyushu. It is about 108 kilometers long from north to south, about 30 kilometers at the widest point from east to west, and only 4 kilometers at the narrowest point, with an area of about 1,220 square kilometers.

The Ryukyu Islands are an important strategic location in the defense of the Japanese mainland, the northern part of the island is mountainous, the south is an open and flat hilly area, there are two natural harbors on the east coast of the island, Kinmu Bay and Nakajo Bay, the Japanese army built the Naha military port, and there are four airports on the island, Naha, Kadena, Yomitan and Yonahara, which are important sea and air bases in the southwest of the Japanese mainland, and are known as Japan's "national gate".

Just as the army and navy of China and the United States were preparing to land on the Ryukyu Islands, the Japanese government and the base camp also knew the battle plan for the defense of Okinawa, and the Japanese army was determined to concentrate on using naval and air forces to destroy the main forces of the Chinese Navy and the US Pacific Fleet in the waters near Okinawa Island. Buy time and strengthen the defense of the homeland.

In order to defend the Ryukyu Islands, the Japanese army mobilized six divisions of infantry, plus the military and police units on the island, with a total strength of about 156,000 troops, and a special regiment composed of Japanese and naval base troops and the island's residents, a total of more than 100,000 people, commanded by Lieutenant General Ushijima Manchu.

The Japanese defense was focused on the southern part of the island, with two lines of defense in Makiko and Shuri with Shuri as the core, and a third line of defense in the area of Mount Yaege and Mount Zadake in the northwest. Each line of defense was based on the hilly terrain to form a multi-layered and solid defensive position. The 2nd Combined Fleet, consisting of 1 battleship, 1 cruiser, and 8 destroyers, as well as the submarine force and the air force stationed in Kyushu, were responsible for supporting and covering the anti-landing operations. In addition, the Japanese army had 1 squadron of torpedo boats and more than 600 suicide attack boats on Okinawa and its neighboring islands. (To be continued......)