The Third Reich of Struggle

  The flag bearer stood upright, with a mixture of regret and confusion. Suddenly his eyes lit up: his superior, the SS district leader, was pushed onto the stage by a group of SS men, loudly greeting the Führer. Li De waved at him to signal that he was in the middle of a speech, so the district leader tactfully retreated to one side.

  Lee De's fists shook in front of his chest, spitting wildly at the dark crowd: "You are all Kaluga people, do you know the emblem of Kaluga?"

  "I know." Several voices shouted.

  "Speak louder." Li Degao shouted.

  "Know——" A sound like the roar of waves.

  Lee De thinks he's like a smooth-talking pyramid scheme salesman years later, and it's ruby-level. He exhorts: "The coat of arms of Kaluga was approved on March 10, 1777, with a blue background, the wavy stripe across the middle represents the Oka River flowing through the city, and the top of the shield is inlaid with a golden royal crown. You can tell all the people of Kaluga that I, the German leader, will personally hang this coat of arms on the city hall when necessary."

  There was no applause, not because they were disrespecting the leader, but because people were shoulder to shoulder, packed like sardines in a can, and it was really impossible to applaud. They transferred the work of their palms to their mouths, shouting in unison: "Thank you, great leader, long live the great leader, thank you, great leader, long live the great leader..."

  This is heartfelt, because for a long time the father of all Soviet peoples, Stalin, did not put the emblem of a small place 188 kilometers from Moscow on his mind. Even if he had put it on his mind, the only concern would have been how much timber and grain were produced, and how many steam engines were manufactured. A month ago, he suddenly became very concerned about the distance between Kaluga and Moscow, with the aim of calculating how many days it would take for the German army to reach Moscow after occupying Kaluga. Of course, he had no interest in learning about the origin of the Kaluga city emblem, let alone hanging it on the wall of the municipal committee to evoke memories of the old bourgeois era.

  With this one move, the German leader instantly won over the hearts of the people of Kaluga. This was immediately proven: several men and women lifted a stout middle-aged man above their heads, shouting that he was a KGB agent, who had already pulled out a gun; if there hadn't been so many people affecting his aim, or if Li De's bodyguards in front hadn't formed a wall of people, perhaps he wouldn't have been able to explain the origin of the city emblem.

  The middle-aged KGB was trampled by the angry crowd and was on his last breath. The common people are like this, they can either hold you up high or trample you under their feet. Li De didn't have time to feel scared because the white-haired old principal held the girl onto the table, with the female teacher supporting her as she loudly recited: "Ah, thank you, great leader, you are the liberator of all Europe, we wish you well..." The girl's expression was vivid, one hand stretched out towards the distance, and the female teacher's uninjured half-face wore a smile.

  Bormann went ahead and pulled the Fuehrer along, the soldiers of the flag group made themselves ready to force a way through by violence, but the Russians automatically cleared a path, the SS district leader followed closely behind the Fuehrer, the flag bearer again far behind the district leader's backside, the district leader discovered this and drove him away like a fly, and chased after the Fuehrer.

  When the sun sets in the west, Li De and his party returned to the 53rd Army Command which was not long ago, now the Party Guard District Team Headquarters and Kaluga City Management Committee. They had their first regular meal of the day here. Li De declined the district team leader's invitation to stay, took the minibus provided by the district team leader, and set off for Kozelsk overnight.

  Before boarding the train, Li De exhorted the district team leader: "The war against Russia has already shown signs of long-termization. We can no longer do stupid things like Commander Qi. We must try our best to turn enemies into friends and not the other way around. I often hear everyone's complaints: The German army has defeated the Russians, but the SS has revived the enemy. I think it's not just an empty rumor either. If we say that our eastern occupation policy was not unified before, then now we must give everyone this understanding: We absolutely cannot do whatever we want in the East."

  The squadron leader, although seemingly understanding the novel theory, was indignant at the accusations against the Party Guards. In front of the Supreme Leader, he still nodded repeatedly and asked: "Does the Supreme Leader have any instructions for handling the flag squadron leader?"

  Li De hesitated for a moment, then replied seriously: "He's a thorough rascal. The SS is not short of such thugs. He must be dealt with severely. There's a good place to send him and that Major what's-his-name to report to the Northern Group Army. There's a Kalmyk-led shock troop there."

  Squad leader Andrey was perplexed: "Andrei Mikhailovich is also going? Why?"

  Li De stared at him: "Why? Just to confront a Party Guard officer in public."

  Li De was pleased to see the district chief's joyful expression, thinking to himself: In order to let you SS troops vent your anger, I can sacrifice that unlucky German lieutenant colonel. Who made you openly confront the SS and favor the Russians?

  The squad leader couldn't wait for the commander to leave, so he could go explain to the flag captain: that Andrey was also assigned by the commander to the north, and his mind would be balanced.

  ……

  Arriving in Kozelsk was already at 10 o'clock in the evening, and soon after crossing the railway, the car lights shone on a small group of officers standing in the dark night for an hour. The lieutenant general stepped forward: "My Fuhrer, the 53rd Army's 45th Infantry Division Schlieper is here to greet you."

  Li De turned around and glanced at Bao Man. Bao Man hastily waved his hand: "It has nothing to do with me, it was the Party Guard District Commander who made the call."

  Li De sat in the Mercedes-Benz specially prepared for him by General, accompanied by the sound of car doors closing, more than a dozen bright headlights cut through the night sky, and snowflakes could be seen fluttering in the beam of light.

  The next morning, Li De got out of bed early and couldn't sleep: the sound of airplane engines was constant. He excitedly climbed onto the rooftop and saw a Hentel bomber flying towards the east in the distance, its glass cockpit shining brightly in the morning sun.

  Baurmann came in with a spring in his step and told him that Speer was on his way here from Smolensk.

  Li De said gloomily: "Who else did you tell about my whereabouts?"

  Bormann's face darkened, and he complained: "My Fuehrer, you can't say that about me. Yesterday Speer came to Obersalzberg looking for you, and after finding out where you were going, followed you here."

  Li De turned his scowl into a smile: "What? Have you angered our great leader again?"

  "Bowman glared and said: 'You are the leader, how can I be angry? It's just that I couldn't bear the consequences of leaking the leader's itinerary.'"

  "Alright, alright, I didn't say anything about you. My whereabouts are all in that red leather wallet of yours, you've even put the leader's picture in your purse."

  Bao Man burst out laughing with his mouth wide open.

  After breakfast, Li De had nothing to do, and Schlieper had left the Führer for a meeting at the Ministry of War early in the morning. In ancient times, when the emperor went on an expedition, he sat in a dragon carriage, with personal guards in front, cavalry escorts behind, and generals standing around the dragon carriage with their swords drawn. The sound of drums opening the way, flags fluttering, horse hooves clattering, it was quite majestic. That's right, not only generals, sometimes concubines followed too. There, like the Führer of the Third Reich, sat alone in a guest room, occasionally climbing to the rooftop to look at planes and listen to distant artillery fire.

  Bormann arrived, saw the Fuehrer idle, and suggested a game of military chess, which was angrily rejected by the Fuehrer. He chatted with the Fuehrer, and soon they were talking about the army: "This Schleicher, he left us early in the morning, and for breakfast there's only milk and bread. Look at the SS, they have ham, canned fish, and vodka."

  "Yes, after drinking vodka, you're comfortable, but I didn't sleep all night. You were snoring and farting and talking in your sleep, it was so clear that even the neighbors could hear it." Li De lay down on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

  As soon as he heard that Bao Man was talking in his sleep, he tensed up and sat still for half a day before carefully asking what he had said. Half a day passed without getting any response, and when he turned around, the leader was lying on the blanket fast asleep.

  "Hastily rushing to the front line, it turns out I came to sleep at the front line." He muttered to himself.

  ……

  Schleicher arrived shortly before noon, followed by General of the Infantry Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord and a large entourage. The general apologized first: "Please excuse me, my Führer, today General Guderian launched an attack, our army was in charge of the rear guard, so we came late."

  Bao Man sneered: "The Yuan Shou slept for three hours this morning because he had nothing to do."

  "Rear guard?" Li De asked, "Didn't you say we couldn't move infantry?"

  The commander said: "Our army was reorganized into Guderian's Second Armored Army a few days ago, that is to say, it is no longer infantry."

  Li De looked at the officers in surprise and then glanced at Bao Man, asking: "And what about that soldier who suddenly transformed into an armored soldier?"

  "The 78th Infantry Division of the 13th Army. The 26th Mechanized Division was also temporarily assigned to Guderian's troops."

  Lee De understood that this was a trick played by Harde. Among the three people who advocated for an attack, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Brauchitsch, was too weak and didn't dare to do it even if he borrowed courage; The Commander-in-Chief of the Central Group of Armies, Field Marshal Bock, was brave but not cunning and did not want to do things that were against his conscience. Only the Chief of Staff, who always had a sly glint in his eyes behind his glasses, would think of this method and have the guts to implement it.

  At that railway conference, the German army was put on the defensive, and armored units were allowed to make limited counterattacks. Thus, the cunning Halder took advantage of this loophole and temporarily assigned some infantry units to the armored units, which then naturally turned from defense to offense.

  Li De was furious, but he didn't dare to make a scene. The organization of troops was within the authority of the Army General Staff, and the Supreme Command only cared about the overall number. If he were to bother Halder with this matter, he could come up with examples from other sectors where armored troops had been converted into infantry, and then scold the Führer for interfering in military affairs like a scalded cat.

  "General of Infantry Hans Felber, Commander of the 13th Army, reporting to the Führer." A stout general emerged at once.

  "General der Infanterie Berthold von Stauffenberg, commander of the 26th Infantry Division, reports to the Führer." The thin man behind the fat one salutes him: first raising his arm in a Nazi salute, then quickly converting it into a military salute.

  A fat and a thin person stand together in front of me, the contrast is striking, making the fat one look like a water barrel and the thin one like a wheat straw.