"So, my Führer...... Are we going to transfer back the three infantry divisions deployed in Turkey?" Ribbentrop heard this, and he knew Accardo's intentions, and the Führer hoped that Turkey would be able to withstand the Allied attack on its own, and at least until the end of the fighting on the Eastern Front, Germany would not draw excess forces to support Turkey.

Accardo did not seem to hear Ribbentrop's question, and remained silent for a long time. However, he did hear it, so after a while, he finally answered his subordinates' questions: "Sometimes, for the sake of the empire, it is worth sacrificing some people. ”

As if to convince himself, it also seemed to be an explanation, anyway, after Accardo finished speaking, he added: "I have ordered Schellner to transfer back all the commanders of the three infantry divisions above the company level, I hope this order is still in time." ”

After all, he is not one of those cold-blooded politicians, and he is not willing to throw so many young lives on the battlefield so casually. But he wasn't the fledgling college assistant anymore, so he chose to sacrifice in exchange for a bigger victory.

Unfortunately, his decision was too late, and the Allies broke through the Turkish lines on June 4, encircling three German infantry divisions from the flank, and the fighting was so fierce that the Americans were about to abandon the encirclement and let the Germans leave. The Germans did not really consider the option of surrender until they ran out of ammunition and food, and they tried to pin down the American armored forces and win a chance for the Turkish allies to win - unfortunately, their Turkish allies were crushed and had no intention of joining forces with the outside world.

Sierte was occupied by the Americans a few days later, and Turkey had no strength to fight back, so it lost a large area of its territory east of Lake Van to the American and British troops. By the way, along with the three German light infantry divisions, nearly 25,000 soldiers.

Eventually, more than 17,000 German soldiers surrendered to the U.S. troops, drained most of their ammunition, burned their flags, and then walked out of their dilapidated bunkers and handed over their weapons to the U.S. forces with dignity. And they were treated as they were, and the prisoners were held in solitary confinement by the Americans, separate from the nearly 100,000 Turkish prisoners of war in the area.

The Americans were immediately on the battlefield and showed the war photographers their captured German weapons, including a car in which the German division commander was riding, dozens of war horses, more than 100 MP-44 assault rifles, and the MG42 general-purpose machine gun known as the Accardo Saw.

This was the first time since the beginning of the war that the Allies annihilated a German unit in a structured manner, and it was also the first time that more than 10,000 German troops were unilaterally captured. Turkey's defeat revealed sharp contradictions within the Axis powers, and for a time there were voices of mutual accusations.

The German military betrayed the allies of the Turkish army, which led to the fiasco of Sierte; while Turkey scolded the Germans for not being interesting enough to make Turkey lose so much land if it did not reinforce Turkey; Italy was afraid that the world would not be chaotic and revisited the issue of the division of the Balkans, and Germany and Turkey were not good people.

The Turks then began to plan a new round of counterattacks on their own, and they invested almost all of their mobile forces, hoping to rely on quantity to make up for the lack of quality, and counterattack the United States and Britain on all fronts.

With this vague battle plan, none of the staff officers of the German High Command were optimistic about the attack. Field Marshal Brauchitsch, who hurried back to Berlin from the wolf's den, looked at it for a long time before he raised his head and said to Führer Accardo, who was waiting on the opposite side: "I have been your general for some years. From the very beginning of the war, we have used our superiority in command and technology to defeat an enemy who is superior to us in numbers...... So I personally don't really like this plan, and if I can, I will do everything I can to stop Turkey from killing itself. ”

"It's late! In this situation, Turkey will not listen to our advice. Their internal antipathy for us is rife, and the more we oppose the plan, the easier it is for them to put it into action. Accardo sighed helplessly and asked Brauchitsch, "If Turkey loses, or if they withdraw from the Axis bloc...... Is there any way we can expand our interests?"

"I will immediately order General **** to drive his tanks into Greece, at least occupy Istanbul and other areas along the line, and ensure that shipping in the Sea of Marmara can be unimpeded. Brauchitsch said coldly: "The plan has been drawn up a long time ago, but if it is implemented, it will involve the strength of Army J." ”

"If, I'm just making an assumption...... Italy and Turkey have problems at the same time, how likely are we to stabilize the situation?" asked Accardo, leaning back in his chair and speaking with a hint of weariness in his tone.

He suddenly remembered the old man who had left him not long ago, and the old Chancellor Augustus, who had put the whole of Germany in order. If this wise old man were still around, presumably Germany would be in a much better position than it is now, right? If that old man were still around, perhaps Turkey and Italy would not have dared to give birth to even a hint of luck, right?

"My Führer!" Brauchitsch stood up from his chair, stood in front of Accardo, and said solemnly: "I have followed you all the way, and I may have some disagreements with you on the autonomy of the army, but I have always regarded you as the one to whom I am loyal and follow. ”

He stood straight, and his slender body had the temperament and demeanor of a Prussian aristocratic soldier. The marshal looked at Accardo and continued without hurrying: "March into the Rhineland, occupy Czechoslovakia, capture Poland, defeat France, land on Britain, and counterattack the Soviet Union. Which war did we start with absolute certainty?"

"You have led us from one victory to another, and this is the pride of our soldiers of the Third Reich who have piled up countless victories! I just want to say this to you: Thankfully, we have not lost yet!" said Field Marshal Brauchitsch, saluting and ending his speech.

Yes, this is the pride of the German army. They followed their Führer, all the way from Poland, and purely from the height of the war, it seems that they really did not lose. Although there were setbacks in Kursk, in Norway, in Turkey, these defeats were on enemy territory.

Accardo nodded and whispered thanks to his marshal, "I see, thank you, my marshal." ”

He said no more, for Brauchitsch had already told him the answer he wanted. The Germans had more than 600,000 troops in the entire Balkans, and with only 100,000 of these troops, they could fight all the way to Istanbul like the United States and the United Kingdom. And Accardo is full of confidence in ****, at least the ****'s J Army is much stronger than the 100,000 rabble in the United States and Britain.

After Brauchitsch had gone out, Accardo seemed to close his eyes and rest, when he suddenly instructed Anna, who was pinching his shoulder, "Anna, draw up a telegram in my name and send it to the High Command to Marshal Rommel." It reads as follows: Immediately find a way to launch an attack, sweep some of the more important cities, and then hold the line and rush back to Alexandria to receive the Jews whom I have sent over. ”

Since the Germans entered the Middle East, the Jewish merchants of the country have been a little unable to sit still, desperate for the Germans to immediately fulfill their promise to find a place for them to build a nation in their original homeland.

Accardo had no intention of repaying his debts, and he was more than willing to help the Jews build a Middle Eastern state. It was not the Führer's philanthropy, but that it was in the fundamental interests of the entire Third Reich.

Once the Jews had really gained a foothold in the Middle East, then at least Accardo would have received two deposits at once as a benefit: the first deposit would be a disagreement with the Jews on the American side, leading to a decline in the approval rating of the American president, which would obviously be good news for the Germans, and the second deposit would be a large number of Jewish industrial products in Germany, as well as previous loans, which would disappear without plugging up.

As mentioned earlier, a large part of the source of funds for Germany's war expansion was to borrow money or share the spoils in advance, as well as Mifu coupons. Now some of the borrowed money and the stolen money that have been distributed do not have to be repaid, which is undoubtedly good news for the German economy in a vicious circle.

So Accardo agreed to the request of the Jewish mission to Egypt and then to the front to investigate. This matter was to be entrusted to Rommel, the field marshal, and it also seemed more formal on the German side.

The reason for ordering Rommel to find a way to attack locally was to try to share some of the pressure on Turkey, after all, Turkey was an important Axis ally, and it was obviously an extremely unwise choice to push it directly to the side of the Allies. Accardo hopes to stabilize Turkey a little bit to delay its search for another way out as much as possible.

As for Accardo's question about whether Germany could cope with Brauchitsch's problems at the same time as Turkey and Italy, that would simply mean to prepare for the worst. As a last resort, Germany did not want to lose both of its two Axis allies at the same time.

"I see! I'm going to prepare this document. Anna stopped pressing Accardo's shoulder, which wasn't something she needed to do as a secretary - of course, her relationship with Accardo wasn't just secretary and boss.