The Third Reich of Struggle

  Less than ten minutes after entering the command tower, the airport managed to borrow another bucket truck. Li De took Bowman's suggestion and wrapped himself tightly in a dark green windbreaker, hiding more than half of his face in the collar, sitting in the back seat of the car. However, he did not listen to Bowman's suggestion to notify the troops or local authorities to come and greet him, insisting on going undercover.

  Kaluga is just a few dozen minutes away, with ships plying the Oka River, and numerous wood processing and match factories. There are many 17th- to 19th-century buildings, museums, chemical plants, instrument manufacturing and food processing facilities.

  The motorcade drove into the headquarters of the 53rd Army, located in the Moscow region. It was a very inconspicuous two-story building. The gate creaked as it opened, and inside the courtyard was quiet. In the large hall, a communications major was dozing off next to the telephone.

  Something strange happened today: at the airport, facing the air force, it was dealt with by an army deputy officer; when arriving at the army's site, Air Force Deputy Officer Belo rushed forward and pushed awake Major Communications, who opened his eyes to see an air force officer, thinking he had walked into the wrong door, pointing casually: "The Air Force Command is next door." He muttered to himself and was about to fall asleep again.

  At this time, Bowman came in and saw the situation, furious, shouting: "Get up for me."

  The other side was startled, seeing the angry and official-looking fat man staring at him, seemingly familiar but unable to recall where they had met. He didn't dare to be slow, and saw the air force deputy officer's collar with a school badge exposed, and quickly replied that all the officers had gone out, leaving only him on duty.

  "Is it General Long's daughter's birthday again?" Bowman sneered.

  The signal officer looked at him strangely and reported: "According to what is known, the general has only two sons and no daughters."

  Braun got a big red face, wanted to make a scene but had no reason, and could only stomp his feet heavily before leaving. Bello was still negotiating with the communications major for a while before coming out, telling the head of state and Schmundt who were still waiting in the courtyard that the commander of the 63rd Army had gone to the 45th Infantry Division. When Lide complained angrily that such a large headquarters had only left one officer behind, Bello explained that from today on, this place had been handed over to the civil administration, and that officer was just waiting for the SS to take over.

  Outside the door, there was a loud noise, and then the door was kicked open. Several SS soldiers who were drunk stumbled in, ignoring the people in the courtyard, and rushed straight into the hall, shouting that they wanted to drink with the major.

  Li De walked quickly out of the gate, got on the car and spat out a few words: "To the 45th Division."

  The sun had already slanted to the west, they had been rushing about for almost a day, and hadn't even eaten lunch, but as soon as it suddenly quieted down, everyone could hear the rumbling of Bowman's stomach.

  Li De comforted: "Fifty kilometers south of here is Kozelsk, the headquarters of the 45th Division. We will go there to eat."

  Bao Man Gurru said that they should be informed of the arrival of the leader. Seeing the leader's iron face, he stopped complaining.

  A small square had a squad of SS soldiers gathering, a flag captain standing in front of the troops to give a speech. Li De passed by and heard him say something about closing schools immediately.

  In front of us, there was indeed a school. From far away, we could hear the warm applause. The carriage flashed past the school gate, and Li De took a casual glance, finding that the campus was packed with people, and it seemed like there were also German military officers.

  Lee De Forest had Bowman stop the car at a distance, and he got out with two lieutenants and walked into the school while Bowman led several soldiers dressed as patrolmen to follow at a distance.

  The campus was packed with students, and some teachers were scattered among them. They all focused on the person speaking on stage, and no one noticed Li De. There were three people on stage, a female teacher (later found out to be the Dean of Studies) on one side, and a white-haired old principal on the other, while in the middle was a German army colonel giving a speech.

  The German lieutenant colonel stood up again and said, "Let's practice one more time." Then the 12- or 13-year-old girl sitting in the front row stood up and recited with great emotion: "Ah, thank you, liberators from the SS..."

  Outside, a sharp screeching of brakes and the noise of people, a group of SS soldiers like wolves rushed in, quickly surrounding the CAO field. Several students had just stood up when they were knocked to the ground by an SS soldier's rifle butt.

  The girl sitting in the front row stood up, her voice trembling as she just read out a sentence: "Ah, thank you..." and was kicked to the ground by a soldier. The drunken flag captain walked towards the podium with big strides, grinning and pinching the female teacher's face. The female teacher's cheeks were pinched into a different shape, painful tears streaming down her face, finally bursting out in front of so many students, "Waa" crying out loud.

  "Enough! We'll wait here for the handover. For God's sake, can you control your subordinates?"

  The team leader pushed the female teacher away, she cried out in pain and jumped up from the ground, half of her face swelling like a steamed bun, her pink cheeks turning dark.

  The two deputy officers were furious, but looked expectantly at the leader. Li De signaled them to calm down, while pulling his collar up and hiding half of his face in his clothes.

  The team leader had a sly look on his face, pointing at the middle school and scolding: "I'm telling you, Andrei, the Führer has long taught us that for Eastern nations, as long as they can learn 500 words and understand road signs, it's enough not to let cars run them over. You want schools to resume classes? I'll turn schools into stables, haha!"

  The girl who was knocked down got up again, her voice continuing to loudly recite: "Thank... the liberators from the SS..." The nearby SS soldier raised his boot-clad foot once more, and the lieutenant colonel slammed his hand on the table, shouting "Halt!" The SS soldier froze, his foot hovering in mid-air, his eyes darting back and forth between the flag bearer and the lieutenant colonel.

  The commander of the flag team said viciously to Major Andre: "Andre, how dare you think of obstructing the SS from performing their duties?"

  "Your actions are not those of a military officer, but rather those of a thug."

  "What?" The captain of the flag team suddenly pulled out his gun, and Lieutenant Colonel instinctively took a step back. However, the opponent did not point the gun at him, but instead aimed the muzzle at the female teacher and the white-haired old principal, shouting to his subordinates: "Come on, take these two guerrillas away."

  The white-haired old principal scolded loudly: "Originally, we treated you with courtesy, but you actually treated us like this. You are not human, beasts, *** bandits. It's strange that you didn't join the guerrilla team." A gunshot rang out, and the old principal was still standing, while the guy who had been drinking couldn't even stand upright, and his gun lost its accuracy.

  The crowd erupted in a commotion, a boy ran towards the back classroom, a gunshot rang out, and the boy fell to the ground. The female teacher clutched tightly onto the desk, refusing to let the stormtroopers drag her away. The squad leader struck her hand with his gun, accompanied by a blood-curdling scream, the female teacher's fingers were fractured, she gazed pleadingly at Andriy: "Are you just going to stand there and watch your compatriots torture me to death?"

  The middle school was furious and uncontrollable, with a dark face, he pulled out his gun and aimed at the flag team leader. Some SS soldiers jumped behind him, several guns aimed at the middle school. The air was filled with the smell of gunpowder, and a small spark could ignite it.

  A stout, brown-clad official with a swastika armband stepped between them: "I am Reich Office Director and Chief of the Führer's Chancellery, Bormann. I order you to drop your guns."

  The middle-aged military officer, though his face was twisted in anger, obediently put down his gun. The team leader only lowered the muzzle of his gun and said reluctantly, with a mouthful of alcohol: "We only listen to the national leader."

  Bormann was shocked: "Only listen to the national leaders, and now you don't even listen to the Führer's words?"

  The team leader apparently still had a good head on his shoulders: "Of course, except for the Führer."

  As they spoke, Li De had already walked onto the stage, lifted up the female teacher and pulled out his face from his collar. The squad leader was stunned, rubbed his eyes hard, quickly put away his gun and stretched out his right arm: "Heil Hitler!"

  Li De said calmly: "Don't salute me, you should salute Stalin. He will be grateful for what you have done."

  The team leader was startled awake by the wine, his face turned pale, and he stuttered: "My... my leader, I don't understand your... meaning."

  Comrade, fellow citizens, I am Adolf Hitler, Chancellor of Germany, and I have come to speak to you.

  The crowd grew larger and larger, with some Wehrmacht soldiers, SS men, German civil servants, and local people also rushing in. The German troops were excited to see their leader, while the locals were happy that someone was giving the SS trouble. The soldiers of the Führer's escort felt a great sense of responsibility, with even Bormann taking on guard duty, holding onto the belts of two soldiers on either side of him as a human wall.

  Li De looked at the growing crowd, and couldn't help but regret his impulsive decision. There might be KGB or GRU agents among them, he thought of the scene from the movie "Lenin in 1918" where a Russian Socialist Party woman assassin shoots Lenin, and felt that all the women around him looked like Kapralova. He had originally wanted to deliver a passionate speech, but now only wanted to say a few words: "Comrades, fellow citizens, I am Adolf Hitler, Chancellor of Germany, and I have two things to tell you."

  Sparse applause broke out from under the stage, many people wanted to applaud but their arms were squeezed and couldn't move.

  "The first thing I want to say is: thank you to our German Wehrmacht, SS officers and soldiers as well as comrades from the various departments. You have come here not for your own sake, but for the benefit of the German people, in order to liberate the Russian people from the Bolshevik yoke."

  "In the humming noise from below, he continued to say: 'Secondly, I want to tell the Russians that you have been liberated, the Germans are not here to enslave you but to help you gain liberation and a new life.'"

  Like a stone thrown into a beehive, the crowd was in an uproar. The white-haired old principal raised his right hand: "Excuse me, German leader, how do you explain what you just witnessed with your own eyes? And is the school closed?"

  Li De slightly raised his voice: "The behavior of this banner captain's drunken arrogance, we will definitely deal with it, and he personally will be responsible for it. Only Stalin is happy that he does so, because the result of doing so is to continuously transport guerrilla troops to Stalin, allowing the German army to create new enemies in the rear, which is a stupid pig-like behavior."