81_81266 Still, Accardo found an excuse, ended breakfast early, and rushed to the Army General Staff, where he personally presided over a solemn ceremony in the largest conference room. In the envious eyes of all the officers, the third German marshal was born, and this man was Rundstedt, who took over the marshal's scepter because of the occupation of London.

The award of him the rank of Field Marshal had long been affirmed by Accardo, and privately communicated with Rundstedt himself, but the stubborn old general believed that the most brilliant victory was necessary to obtain this glorious honor.

The German people attached great importance to the rank of marshal, and they insisted that those who obtained the rank of marshal must have merit worthy of this rank. This was the main reason why Hitler's mass promotion of field marshal after the invasion of France caused dissatisfaction in the army, and these generals criticized Hitler for insulting the rank of field marshal and satirized the field marshal.

Therefore, Accardo was very cautious in this life to give his generals the rank of marshal, and Marshal Brauchitsch's promotion was due to the expectations within the Wehrmacht, and it was also for Brauchitsch to succeed Accardo to complete the Wehrmacht's "Hades Plan" Raeder's promotion to field marshal was to defeat the British Navy and win the opportunity for the German Navy to go to the sea, of course, another reason is that he was Accardo's mouthpiece in the military; now Rundstedt was promoted to field marshal because of the victory in the British home war, no one disputes this matter, after all, the victory of the two wars between France and England, Rundstedt was involved, and the credit is not small.

Amid the music, Accardo himself stepped forward to the stage, patted the arm of the veteran general Rundstedt, who had rushed back to Berlin, Germany, from London, and smiled and wanted to shake hands with the general. However, Rundstedt did not stretch out his palm, but raised his right arm and gave the Führer a standard German salute: "Long live Führer Accardo Rudolf!"

Countless cameras recorded the moment, and the new Marshal Rundstedt stood up and saluted the Führer, his eyes full of admiration and joy.

"Welcome back to Berlin. Marshal Rundstedt. Accardo smiled and stretched out his hand again, and Rundstedt stretched out his palm in fear, and the two shook hands, and then stood together and posed for the photo in front of the reporter.

"Thank you, my Führer, for your trust and support, and I have lived up to expectations by planting the flag on the head of the city of London. "Rundstedt was a typical Prussian soldier, strict and unsmiling, but like all traditional Prussian soldiers, he was unrivalled in loyalty and reliability.

"Thank you for your hard work, but you still have to rush back to London to stabilize the situation there and start the follow-up reconstruction work. Under the agreement, we will build military airfields in Ireland and northern Britain, which will be under Catherine's command. You're in charge of the coastal defense of the British Isles, and I need a relatively stable western defence, which is up to you. After Accardo asked the reporter to take a picture, he said to Rundstedt.

Rundstedt nodded, and replied to Accardo: "My Führer, I will immediately begin to set up a defensive system, and as long as there are no problems on the part of the Imperial Navy, I want you to guarantee that the British Isles are impregnable." ”

"Cheers to the new marshal of the Third Reich!" Accardo said with a smile as he picked up the wine glasses on the table and raised his arms to his beloved general.

"Cheers to the Atlantic Barrier!" Lundstedt raised his glass, "I'll be back to London tomorrow, my Führer, take care." ”

......

"General Rommel has won a great victory in ******! Annihilated 20,000 British troops!" a newsboy shouted in the street, and the newspapers of the past year have been selling very well, so his life has been much easier.

After all, in 1938, the head of state appointed Speer to integrate imperial industries, reorganize the White Lanhua Group, land in the United Kingdom, occupy London, the capital of LinkedIn, followed by the full-scale outbreak of the Soviet-German war, Germany won a counterattack on the border, and now there is a victory in North Africa, which is simply dizzying.

The people were still jubilant, still discussing the war situation in North Africa and the strategic supplies that had been brought back from Italy, which were one of the costs of the German invasion of North Africa, including flour and butter, and Italian labor. Now the Germans found war not unacceptable, as long as they could continue to reap these benefits......

Rommel's victory cheered the people, but it threw the Wehrmacht Army General Staff into chaos. Brauchitsch was now overseeing the war on the Eastern Front, so it was veteran General Bock, who had just returned from the Eastern Front to Commander-in-Chief of Army Group N and Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Wehrmacht.

He had informed Accardo of the North African front by telephone an hour earlier, and Accardo had just arrived in the office of the General Staff of the Wehrmacht. As soon as he saw Bock, Accardo couldn't wait to ask about the situation in North Africa.

"How bad is the situation, Bock?" asked Accardo as he frowned, reading a report.

"My Führer, the Italian side is able to provide very limited transport vessels, and with the recent rotation of soldiers, another infantry corps originally planned to be transported to North Africa is still in Italy. Bock pointed to the map and said, "They still have their ships waiting here and in the harbor here." ”

Accardo looked at the map and then at the report in his hand, and the situation seemed worse than he thought. Half of the Afrika Korps is now either regrouped or on the way, Rommel only has the 7th Panzer Corps and the 7th Infantry Corps, which have been fighting continuously for more than ten days, and the rest of the troops are second-rate Italian troops.

"Have you called Rommel, order him to stop!" Accardo asked General Bock, dropping the information in his hand, walking to the map of North Africa, tapping his finger on the blue arrow representing Rommel's main force.

Bock shook his head helplessly: "My Führer, the battle of ****** was fought under the condition that the General Staff of the Army strictly ordered General Rommel to defend, he ignored the order to attack, and killed all the way to Tobruk, do you think he will listen to the order to stop advancing at this time?"

"......" Accardor was silent, Rommel as his confidant and favorite general, he couldn't be more clear about what kind of temper he was, at this time only Accardo personally gave instructions to order him to stop the attack, otherwise even if it was Marshal Brauchitsch's warrant, the implementation after actually arriving in North Africa would be greatly reduced.

"I personally order! Telegraph officer! Record: I am Accardo Rudolph, and I order you to halt the offensive for the time being, and wait for the arrival of the new High Command. "Accardo called the telegraph officer and issued the supreme order of the German High Command.

Bock watched the telegraph officer hurrying away, got up and handed another report to Accardo, and then said helplessly: "Italy's logistics are in disarray, and General Rommel is probably running out of ammunition and food now, so let's be prepared for the defeat of the Afrika Korps." ”

"Is it really going to be defeated?" asked Accardo as he looked at his men suspiciously, and asked with some luck.

Bock smiled bitterly, then found another piece of information and put it in front of Accardo: "Because of the fiasco of the Battle of ******, the British Supreme Commander of North Africa died of a heart attack. In desperation, the British king had no choice but to let the deputy commander of North Africa take over. This commander is an old acquaintance of ours, so I think General Rommel is more than lucky this time. ”

"No...... It's Montgomery, isn't it?" Accardo was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly remembered that the intelligence showed that the deputy commander-in-chief of the British army in North Africa was indeed Montgomery, the famous general who almost drove the dominant Rundstedt into the sea on British soil.

"Indeed, it's Montgomery. On British soil, he was impressed by his composure, and the general appeared near Tobruk with a force he had never seen before, called the British 8th Army, the exact details of which we cannot yet confirm. ”

Accardo sighed when he heard that it was indeed Montgomery, and it seemed that he needed to restrain Rommel, after all, the duel between him and Montgomery in his previous life had ended in defeat by the Desert Fox. Although it is a pity to lose, it makes people feel infinite regret and melancholy.

Rommel, the tragic "Desert Fox", commanded a dizzying array of offensive operations in North Africa, but returned to Germany at the most important moment to recuperate from a stomach problem, and then he was appointed supreme commander of the German Atlantic barrier, but missed the Battle of Normandy for his wife's birthday. If a student only skips class twice a semester and is named by the teacher, this can only be said to be tragic, so Rommel, as a general, missed important battles twice, which is actually very tragic.

"Prepare supplies for Rommel on the way in advance, and arrange them wherever they can, and take him back to safety. He had the main forces of the Empire at his disposal, and he had to ensure the safety of the 7th Panzer Division and the 7th Infantry Corps. ”

"Safety, my Führer, after more than ten days of continuous fighting, half of the tanks of the 7th Panzer Division can be driven to the front line to participate in the battle, and this time it is considered Rommel lucky, he now has at most two armored battalions and about one division of infantry in his hands. Montgomery's counterattack will be successful, but our losses won't be too great. General Bock knew the battlefield better than Accado, and he broke Accardo's concerns in one sentence as superfluous: "If the 7th Panzer Division and the 7th Infantry Corps appear in Tobruk in their entirety, how dare Montgomery counterattack ......."