Iron Cross

Gungnir: Forged by dwarves, the tip of the gun is engraved with Rune characters, and the handle is made from branches of the World Tree (Yggdrasil). When Odin throws it, it will emit a bright light that streaks across the sky. People on the ground call it "lightning", and it will definitely hit after throwing it. This spear is also sacred. Once you swear on this spear, you can never go back on it...

——The above comes from Nordic mythology passed down from generation to generation.

Wednesday, December 9, 1942 - this day is Odin's Sunday in Norse mythology, and it is also the first day that the Kungunir Plan (also known as the Grand Plan) was launched. For this plan to land in North Africa, Hoffman originally wanted to name it "Overlord" as a joke. Later, after soliciting a circle of opinions, someone proposed to call it Plan Kungunir - thinking that this was the key to piercing the British and American blockade system. gun. Hoffman expressed his approval. In order to maintain confidentiality, it was also called the Big Plan internally, and December 9 happened to be D-Day. This name was retained.

But unlike the Normandy landing in history, although the planned D-Day was also affected by tides, wind directions and weather, it was not an exact date at the beginning because it was subject to two factors - first, North Africa The stationing and defense situation of the British army; second, the dispatch situation of the Japanese combined fleet. Only when these two prerequisites are solved can the real D-Day come. So let alone Guderian who couldn't figure out when the order was issued and when the landing would take place, even Hoffman himself didn't know what day it would be.

Now, the real D-Day has arrived.

At noon, accompanied by Field Marshal Keitel, Chief of the General Staff of the Supreme Command, General Zeitzler, Chief of the Army General Staff, and General Jodel, Director of the Operations Bureau of the Supreme Command, and escorted by 48 fighter jets, took the The special plane flew secretly from Greece to the island of Crete. The island has now been turned into a large military camp. The Grossdeutschland Panzer Division and the 5th SS Viking Panzer Division (formerly Both divisions were originally armored grenadier divisions. They took this opportunity to upgrade to armored divisions, and all the tanks were replaced with the new No. 4G). The 20th Motorized Infantry Division and the Parachute Brigade were already gearing up and ready to go.

In three months, they not only fully replenished and improved their equipment, but also used Crete to conduct targeted actual amphibious landing training and exercises. Due to the need for high confidentiality, no one knew such a secret. Huge troops were hoarded on this island. Even the nearly 60,000 officers and soldiers did not know where their real target was. Except for a very few senior officers who knew they would land in North Africa, everyone thought they were landing to implement the "Sea Lion Project". Britain is preparing.

The selection of the supreme commander of the entire battle, the commander of the entire Kungunir Army, was also a huge surprise. He was the "Desert Fox" El, who had disappeared for a long time and was rumored to have been secretly imprisoned or even strangled because of his involvement in the treasonous group. Marshal Win Rommel, and standing next to Rommel at this moment is Major General Gauss, the former Chief of Staff of the African Army.

After getting off the plane, Hoffman held Rommel's hand tightly: "Erwin, you have been wronged."

"No! Führer! This incident has made me more mature." Rommel stood up straight, with perseverance in his eyes.

Hoffman shook hands with Gauss warmly again, and not only praised his work to Keitel and others, but also said to Rommel with a pun: "Congratulations on having a good chief of staff!"

"Yes, Führer, I have never been so lucky to have the help of General Gauss."

Gauss was originally an engineer general, born in East Prussia. He was younger than Rommel. He was not only meticulous in his work but also able to take charge of the overall situation. Before he came to Africa, General Streicher warned him: "You can endure Rommel?" "My time won't be long." But Gauss's adaptability exceeded anyone's estimate. He got along well with Rommel. He regarded Rommel as a naughty big boy and never angered him. He silently did all the basic work that Rommel ignored, filled in too many loopholes in the opponent's body, and formulated all plans that were both in line with Rommel's character and feasible in terms of tactics and logistics. Since Hoffman selected Rommel as commander, he had to pair him with Gauss.

The rumors about Rommel are actually not too far-fetched - after he was admitted to the Army Hospital in Berlin, he was closely guarded. Not to mention that no one could visit him without Hoffmann's permission. Even if someone wanted to visit, most of them would. Terrified. Because most of the time Rommel did not live in the ward, but in a room next to the underground morgue of the hospital, a dark and evil place that never saw the sun all year round - it became Rommel's temporary headquarters. , he and Gauss, plus a few school-level officers who knew the basics and voluntarily followed, formed an extremely refined staff team, and outside they were all labeled as a treasonous group.

General Jodl only came to such a ghost place once, and never dared to come again the second time. However, Rommel stayed there for a full two months, until the last month, when rumors and rumors about the treasonous group became After being indifferent, he secretly led his headquarters to the island of Crete.

Rommel wants to fight for his own destiny!

What hurt him most in this treasonous group incident was not the Fuehrer's reprimand and opinions on him, nor the misjudgment of Stauffenberg, an old subordinate, but the opinions of the bigwigs in the officer corps on him. As a senior officer like the Field Marshal, Rommel felt that he was usually respectful and polite to other old officers, but all the marshals and generals who were convicted in the treasonous group had people pleading for mercy, and even the mastermind like Ludwig Beck had people advising the Fuehrer to let him go, saying that he was just a fool and would never accomplish anything. Only he, the captain of the Fuehrer's guard and the armored hero of the French Campaign, who was suddenly promoted to a marshal in Africa, had no bigwig pleading for him - as if he deserved it!

The world is fickle and people are fickle. When you are in a high position, you often can't see it. Only when you are in trouble can you know who is a friend and who is a gentleman. When Rommel was satisfied, he had many friends in the political and military circles, but after he got into trouble, only Gauss, the chief of staff of the African Army who had worked with him before and later returned to his country for recuperation due to illness, firmly believed that he was wronged and kept running around to cry and plead for him, even facing the sarcasm of other old-school soldiers in the officer corps and speaking out. The matter was brought to Hoffman, who had been secretly observing Gauss's movements for a long time. Faced with this situation, it was just what he wanted. With a stroke of his pen, Gauss, who was suspected of being a "comrade", was also sent to the Army Hospital for "imprisonment" - now no one dared to plead for Rommel, even a straightforward person like Galland only dared to visit Rommel once and did not dare to say anything more.

Hoffman had no intention of punishing Rommel, but the latter had many problems and needed to use this incident to suppress them. Rommel and Guderian had similar personalities, with a straightforward temper and poor popularity, but Guderian had one advantage over him: he would not brag, but Rommel often stumbled over trivial matters because of this. Stubbornness, not listening to advice, and repeated risk-taking certainly made Rommel famous as the Desert Fox, but it was these factors in his personality that caused Rommel's failure. Hoffman knew clearly that Rommel had a very bad relationship with Field Marshal Kesselring, who was in charge of North African affairs. In particular, Rommel, relying on Hitler's favor and support, often did things behind Kesselring's back, and the consequences were often very serious. Once a problem arose, they would blame each other and argue. Such nonsensical lawsuits often went to Berlin. Most of the time, Field Marshal Kesselring's opinions were correct, but under Rommel's unreasonable nagging, Hitler usually gave both sides a slap on the wrist and let the matter go - Hoffman did not want to make such an unprincipled mistake.

In addition to Rommel's own problems, his wife also had problems. She was a typical example of women interfering in politics, and was even more annoying than Mrs. Goebbels, who often pointed fingers. In history, when Rommel was stationed at the Atlantic Wall and served as the commander of Army Group B, Mrs. Lucy Rommel had a fierce quarrel with Mrs. Gauss. For this matter, she kept whispering in Rommel's ear, causing the latter to remove Gauss from the position of Chief of Staff. Without Gauss's overall planning and coordination, Rommel could not do anything. However, such a person was driven away by Rommel because of a few words from his wife, and then the Chief of Staff was replaced by the German traitor Hans-Speidel - it was this person who ultimately ruined the hope of counterattacking the Normandy landing with his hesitation, wait-and-see, wavering, and refusal to reinforce, and became the Chief of Staff of the West German Bundeswehr after the war with such a pledge of allegiance. In this time and space, he did not have such an opportunity. As a member of the conspiracy group, although Rundstedt and Keitel pleaded for him, Hoffman still sent him to the gallows without hesitation.

There is no conclusive evidence or conclusion on whether Rommel really participated in the July 20 Incident in history, but Hoffman believes from his own standpoint that a person like Rommel, who has a flawed character and is particularly soft-hearted, must have known about the matter in the face of the persuasion of his trusted and respected subordinate (Stauffenberg), coupled with his pessimistic disappointment in the war situation and his pent-up dissatisfaction in his heart - murdering a leader is a serious crime, let alone participating in or expressing approval, even if he clearly expresses opposition but does not report it, so Hitler's "suicide" for him is not excessive strictly speaking. This "treason group" incident was exposed earlier, and Rommel was probably really wronged, but Hoffman still used the whole thing to teach Rommel a lesson he will never forget - and he also maximized the confidentiality of the plan.

Now, Rommel's fate has been saved, and he has also had a friendship with Gauss, which is also a profound lesson for his wife Lucy.