In one of the few rooms with windows in the Wolf's Lair, Accardo sat on the couch and watched as the dust came to meet him. This man had just finished a tough battle, and with a group army under his command, he resisted the attack of the two main Soviet fronts, and he could be said to be a well-deserved general.

"General Liszt, hard work, please take a seat!" Accardo smiled and pointed to the sofa opposite the coffee table, Anna had already poured a glass of red wine for the general who had rushed back to the wolf's den from the front, Liszt walked to the sofa, just sat down, and looked at Accardo respectfully without speaking.

He knew that Accardo had a lot to say, and he had a lot to say to Accardo, but everything had to wait for Accardo to speak first, this is order, there can be no chaos, in Germany, everything must be ordered, and only what works in accordance with order can last - this is a people with paranoia and fanaticism about machinery, a habit that goes deep into the bone marrow.

"I know that Army Group E is fighting very hard, and the entire Army Group has lost nearly one-fifth of its strength, so I ordered Army Group F to move south and take over your defensive line, do you have any opinions?"

"My Führer! Army Group E can continue to fight! I don't want to leave the entire army group in a situation where there is nothing to do after a difficult battle. Liszt tried to get up and speak, but was stopped by Accardo's outstretched hand, he pouted and hesitated for a second, then sat back in his seat and continued: "You know, Army Group E has always fought to be the best unit. We are not afraid of losses and are willing to fight to the end for the motherland!"

Accardo nodded, of course he knew how much Army Group E had paid for the Army of the Third Reich, so much so that Field Marshal Brauchitcherundstedt and Rommel and others praised the commander of Army Group E, General Liszt. It can be said that within the army, the commander of Army Group E is definitely the most well-connected general with real power -- there is no one.

If you ask why so many generals have a good working relationship with this Liszt, we must start with the expansion of the German Army. As a matter of fact, in order to train professional command personnel, the Wehrmacht has long incorporated infantry into Army E and Army F on the Eastern Front for similar "practical training."

In this way, Army Group E and Army Group F were seriously overstaffed, and at their peak, the total number of these two armies exceeded 1 million, and if we look at it purely according to the establishment, the forces commanded by Liszt have reached or even exceeded the total strength of an army group.

But over time, after the Germans had developed command talents of all ranks at the front, they split Army Group E. It's a bit like the 26th Hussar Division, which was split up in the early years of the Wehrmacht. If the 26th Hussar Division, formed by Rommel that year, was the cradle of the Wehrmacht's armored forces, then Army Group E was the cradle of the German Army Group.

At the earliest time, due to the need to expand the local Army Group A, 100,000 soldiers were transferred from Army Group E to form the main force of this new army group, and the commander of this army group was Rundstedt. The J Army under the command of Hult, which invaded the Balkans, was also drawn from Army E and Army F with 100,000 troops each, ensuring that the German army could wipe out the Balkan resistance in one fell swoop.

Then in order to support Rommel's North African operations, the Supreme High Command decided to form a new army group, Army K, whose commander-in-chief was Schellner. This army group drew 70,000 veterans from Army E as a skeleton, which is almost another 100,000 level of weakening.

Immediately after that, Manstein was ordered to form Army Group M, and also transferred 200,000 troops from Army Group E nearby, so Manstein led his troops to kill in the Crimea, fighting beautiful battles again and again.

Over and over again, Army Group E was almost a full 500,000 troops drawn without much reinforcement - most of these recruits were added to these newly formed army groups, and not many were assigned to Army Group E, which was not short of personnel.

Looking at the connection between Army E and these newly formed troops, you can know why Liszt was remembered by so many military bigwigs, and because of this, at the beginning of this battle, Liszt's E Army, which originally had 1.1 million troops, only had 510,000 combat troops at the beginning of this battle (some soldiers were resting in the rear).

As a result, in this battle that was related to the life and death of the Empire, Liszt's Army E still insisted on fighting despite losing one-fifth of its troops, which was unanimously praised by all the senior generals of the Empire. Nominated by Marshal Brauchitsch and agreed by Accardo, he awarded Liszt's Sword the Knight's Iron Cross with Oak Leaves in recognition of his tenacity in the battle.

"Letting your army group withdraw is not a distrust of Army E's combat effectiveness, it's just that on the one hand, we have to move a frontal for Army A to attack, and your army group also needs time to replenish and recuperate. Accardo smiled and said to Liszt: "The Novobarbarossa plan has begun, and when you attack Minsk, your army group will fill the frontal battlefield, as a main group to attack Leningrad, and then assist Finland in attacking Kurmansk." ”

"My Führer, if you believe in my ability, let me command Army Group E as the main force to attack Moscow, and I promise to take this city!" Liszt assured Accardo: "I would rather attack Moscow than Leningrad!"

For the generals of the German Eastern Front, the capture of Moscow could be an obsession and something akin to a spiritual totem. The long wait of eight months, the endless eight months of skirmishes that tore at people's willpower, the daily shelling, the trenches dug every day, the number of ammunition reserves checked every day, the constant repetition of life on the front line every day, all make people despair.

So when a large-scale battle broke out and hundreds of thousands of troops were strangled together, all the commanders of the German Eastern Front heard about the start of Novobarbarossa, and there was a place in their hearts that had to be erased, and that place was Moscow.

The capture of the enemy's capital will undoubtedly be an affirmation of the combat ability of the commanders of the Eastern Front, and it will also be the best praise for the soldiers. There was no suspense, and Liszt also put this glory in his heart, and when he heard that the Führer had transferred him to attack Leningrad, he seemed not very comfortable.

"First of all, as the north of the entire defensive line, I need a trustworthy veteran and serious general to sit in charge. Even if it's a decent one, it won't mess up our plans for the next attack. I thought about it for a long, long time, and I felt that it would be better for me to let you go. Accardo restrained his smile and said solemnly to Liszt: "And I personally will compensate for your loss with other honors." ”

He stood up: "I will make Weix and Moder marshals of the Third Reich after the Battle of Moscow, this idea is the first time I have brought it up, so you are the first to hear these words." ”

When Liszt stood up with him in fear, Accardo continued: "Since I have left Moscow to Weix and Moder, I intend to give him Guderian's marshal's scepter in Kursk or Smolensk. ”

"After Manstein conquers the whole Caucasus, I will also give him an explanation, I have never been stingy with the scepter of the Imperial Marshal, as long as you can follow me and complete the rise of the German nation in Europe!" As if afraid that Liszt would not be frightened enough, Accardo mentioned Manstein after talking about Wilks and Modell.

Liszt followed behind Accardo, and the more he listened, the more frightened he became, he knew what Accardo meant now, which meant that the current commander of the army, Accardo would arrange his fate within two years. These generals followed the Führer to fame and became a legendary story in the imperial military circles.

"And you, General Liszt. Accardo turned his head, glanced at his generals, and then pointed to Kurmansk and Leningrad on the map beside him: "When you have completed your offensive plan, I will promote you to the rank of Marshal of the Reich, this is my promise, I hope you can understand my painstaking efforts." ”

"My Führer, as your most loyal general, I assure you that Army Group E will take Leningrad and bury this city ruled by evil!" Liszt saluted and assured Accardo: "Tomorrow I will return to my headquarters, mobilize my troops to rest and recuperate, and then march north." ”

"We are all working towards a common goal, my general. Accardo looked out of the snowy window, and finally said to Liszt: "Go, for the sake of the future of the Third Reich, go and bring me victory!"

"Yes! Führer!" Liszt turned, straightened his rocker, and walked resolutely towards the door of his office.

......

At the same time that Accardo sent Liszt out of the wolf's den, a new round of bombing began in the sky in front of the Soviet Union, because the weather improved. More than 100 butcher bombers, escorted by 40 fighters, flew over Smolensk, where they dropped bombs weighing about 500 tons, and the whole city was in flames, and fear haunted the people.

"Why are there such a rush to send planes to attack the enemy's depths? This will alert the Soviets and will not be conducive to our further actions. An Air Force fighter commander frowned and whispered to his colleagues.

"No way, General Catherine is in a hurry. An informed air force general squeezed out a smile: "The army and navy have a lot of marshals, if it is you, you are also in a hurry, right?"