"Ladies and gentlemen. ”

Glancing condescendingly at the officers seated in front of him, Caspar, dressed in a black personal guard uniform, spoke:

"I love war. ”

His tone was cold, devoid of excitement or joy, as if he was telling something that had nothing to do with him, or a joke that was not funny. However, his attitude was very serious, and there was no hint of joking, and the officers present at the meeting had no intention of laughing.

Originally, the pro-guard had a special identity and a strong private military color. Caspar participated in and supervised the operation as the emperor's envoy, and to some extent could be regarded as an agent of the emperor. Even if he was mentally unhappy with this minister, even if this one was full of nonsense, he had to think that he was bowing to the emperor's shadow.

Fortunately, Caspar is not without words, and as a man of action, he quickly cut to the chase.

"War makes us rise, and it is in the roar of guns and cannons that empires are founded, and on the avenues forged by iron and blood, we embark on the path of great revival. It can be said that it is the war that makes the empire and us. From this point of view, we should love war and all forms of war that take place in this world. But—"

The sudden pauses and pitch shifts turned into dangerous tensions, and the officers subconsciously straightened their already straight backs.

"There is no point in a war that does not end in victory. ”

When quoting the emperor's famous words, Caspar subconsciously stood in place, and the officers were busy putting on a resolute and loyal face.

"The same is true of protracted wars with no end in sight, and if we do not get rid of the troubles before the empire is mired in guerrilla warfare, the war will inevitably be lost. As a defeated general, this officer and all of you here must also bear the corresponding responsibility, even if Your Majesty and the General Staff do not ask for the guilt, and the undefeated glory of the Empire is stigmatized...... I believe that after bearing such a great sin, no one is willing to continue to live. ”

The Wehrmacht did not have the culture of "death to apologize" of Charlemagne's army, and the Wehrmacht, which was forever understaffed, did not have that kind of surplus.

However, as Caspar said, given the importance of this battle and the current atmosphere in the empire, once defeated, the defeated army will inevitably suffer from life and death.

Instead of lying on the sickbed in cold eyes, contempt, ridicule, and curses and regretting why he didn't cut himself off as soon as possible, and his family couldn't raise his head for the rest of his life, it was better to simply give himself a shot at the moment of defeat. At least he can die in the war and leave a trace of face and compensation for his family.

It's not just Caspar who thinks so, everyone in the audience is determined.

Either unite to win or die on the battlefield with the flag on, and there is no other way.

"Now that you have come to your senses, I will not repeat it. Now let's get to the point, with regard to the 'vaulting' operation, the General Staff and His Majesty have approved it, and the soldiers of all units will immediately end all activities and enter a standby state, and they will not be allowed to leave the barracks until the X day (day of action), and those who violate the order will be dealt with by military law. ”

The "vaulting horse" operation was not a single arm of the armed forces, but involved several units that were not subordinate to each other, and it was a joint and coordinated operation across the armed services. Just gathering several troops, getting them used to each other's ways of fighting, learning to cooperate with each other, familiarizing themselves with the battlefield environment they are about to engage in, understanding their role in this battle, etc., has already made the relevant people involved in the production and execution of the plan so busy that they want to hit the wall, and if the news leaks for some inexplicable reason at this juncture, resulting in the defeat of the battle, no one can tolerate it. Therefore, some things must be clearly stated in advance, so as not to cause unnecessary trouble.

In this regard, the officers present have chosen to understand and accept.

Seeing that there was no opinion, Caspar began to report on the deployment of the operation.

In order to eradicate all kinds of guerrilla forces entrenched in the Alpine border area, the Imperial Defense Force has made a bloody investment this time.

Eight battle groups, with a total of 16,000 combat troops, are scattered in the vast mountains and cannot even turn up a wave, but they are a mobile strike force that cannot be underestimated for the defense forces, which are always plagued by insufficient troops. In addition, in the war to eliminate guerrillas, it is not necessary to invest a large number of troops to obtain the desired return, and the troops with small but precise investment can often achieve better results.

The "vaulting horse" operation was precisely an operation aimed at achieving the combat objectives with a small number of troops.

The general outline of the operation was as follows: With the strong cooperation of the air force, a surgical assault was carried out on the core target of the guerrillas, and at the same time, the Brandenburg troops, disguised as guerrillas, and several powerful mobile battle groups (camouflaged if possible) carried out centripetal advance along several roads and railways to the core target area, cleared the roads along the way, broke up resistance, destroyed the guerrillas' weapons and grain storage sites and supply depots, and finally joined forces in the core target area. After that, the participating units continued to carry out large-scale sweeping operations in the surrounding guerrilla-controlled areas.

Once the battle begins, 8 battle groups will advance from five directions at the same time towards the core target area.

To the east: 70 km from the core target area, the troops along the route are the "Prince Eugen" mountain brigade and a battalion of panzergrenadiers temporarily under its command. The other force is the 202nd Light Armored Battalion. The task was to destroy the enemy in front of them, then advance inside the encirclement on the wide front, destroying the guerrilla supply depots along the way and preventing the enemy in the core from escaping to the east.

Southeast: 80 kilometers away from the core target area, the 13th Reconnaissance Battalion and auxiliary units of the Army are the troops on the first road, and the task is to quickly advance to the core area in two ways, destroy the guerrilla supply depots along the way and prevent the enemy in the core area from escaping in the southeast direction. The other force was the 369th Reconnaissance Battalion, whose mission was to prevent the enemy from escaping to the south.

To the south: 70 km from the core target area, the force includes the 1st Brandenburg Regiment and its reconnaissance detachment, and the task is to advance rapidly to the core target area.

West: 25 kilometers from the core target area, one is a battalion-level battle group of the 118th Infantry Division and the 1st Parachute Regiment, and the other is a battalion-level battle group consisting of the 2nd and 1st Battalions of the 15th Panzergrenadier Regiment, the 33rd Mountain Reconnaissance Battalion and the 2nd Paratrooper Battalion. The task of the 29th Combat Engineer Battalion and the Steiner Battle Group (regimental size), reinforced by artillery and engineers, was to quickly block traffic as soon as the battle began, to block road junctions and railway lines by conventional troops, and to parachute into partisan areas of activity to block mountain passes, while advancing as fast as possible to break through to the core target area at all costs.

To the north: 75 kilometers from the core target area, the 92nd Motorized Rifle Regiment is on the one hand, and the 54th Mountain Reconnaissance Battalion and the 10th Chasseur Regiment on the other. The two divisions advanced along the road, converging and taking a southeasterly direction to capture the known location of the main guerrilla supply and communication stations, after which the 92nd Motorized Infantry Regiment advanced 25 kilometers to join up with the Steiner battle group.

For this operation, the air force stationed around the Alps will send a large number of troops to participate in the "vault" operation. The specific participating units are the 1st Group of the 1st Attack Aircraft Wing, the 2nd Group of the 12th Attack Aircraft Wing, the 1st Group of the 7th Night Attack Aircraft Wing, the 2nd Group of the 52nd MDS Wing and the 4th Group of the 27th MDS Wing. According to the situation, the above-mentioned units have the right of priority to use the surrounding airfields and field airfields in this operation.

It is not difficult to see from the degree of detail of the above-mentioned operational arrangements that the defense forces have been plotting this combat operation for a long time, and have fully demonstrated their consistent rigorous and serious style, and anyone who looks at it will feel that this is an operation that is determined to be won, and it is enough to become a classic example of anti-guerrilla warfare and public order warfare.

It's just that with the announcement of the details of the plan, two problems also followed.

First, is the intelligence system of the Defence Forces reliable, and are the targets they are searching for day and night, the people in the High Castle, really in the core target area?

Second, and most critically, it can also be said that the success or failure of the entire operation is which force is responsible for assaulting the core target area?

For the first question, the answer is yes. From several partisan forces that had established cooperative relations, the Brandenburg troops had a full grasp of the rules of activity of the "Freikorps" and the methods of camouflage in the guerrilla-controlled areas, and through repeated infiltration reconnaissance and the efforts of the radiolocation units, it was already possible to determine that the target was indeed in the core area.

As for the second question......

Caspar, who had always been cold and unfrightening, was stuck for the first time, and after a full pause of more than ten seconds, he gave the answer in a tone that suppressed his emotions.

"The assault on the core target area is carried out by the 500th Special Technical Battalion. ”

Suddenly, the officers' expressions froze, and after a moment, the frozen faces twisted into bitter melon faces as they desperately endured the trembling and disgust that surged from the bottom of their hearts, and the sound of teeth clattering sounded in the dead room.

500th Special Technical Battalion.

This unit is also an outlier in the Defence Force, which is a disrespectful outlier for its comrades, partly because of the highly secretive style of the unit, and secondly, because officers who know the inside story cannot accept the existence of this unit.

This force is a mockery of the living, but also a blasphemy against the undead.

Those in the know were so disgusted with the force that they were given a very apt nickname.

- Harpy (Harpy)

With a woman's head, vulture's body, wings, and claws, and a cruel and vicious personality, the ancient myth is a messenger responsible for bringing the souls of sinful people to the bottomless abyss, building a nest in the Divine Comedy and tearing down the ominous demon bird of the dead.

Named the Demon Bird, the mysterious unit that will not be seen by the same associates will be responsible for delivering a deadly thunderbolt blow to the core target area during Operation "Vaulting Horse".