Fateful Battlefield Conference

  On Sunday, November 9, 1941, an armored train from the German Empire entered the Belarusian Plain.

  The German leader, Li De, under the cheers and applause of the Third Reich's dignitaries, rushed to inspect the work of the Central Group Army, or rather, to find fault with the leaders of the army. Two days ago, he asserted that Stalin would hold a military parade on Red Square, but not one of the high-ranking officers believed him, taking his correct prophecy as nonsense. Yesterday, he had someone record the sound of Stalin's Red Square parade. Today, if he puts this thing in front of the big shots in the army, haha, I'm afraid you won't even be able to fart!

  Soldiers of the national defense army on duty at the station curiously gazed at the strange train emerging from the clouds and fog.

  This is the latest masterpiece of the Empire's most talented architect Speer - an armored train made for the Imperial Marshal, consisting of 8 cars: the frontmost one is a flatcar loaded with rails to quickly repair the railway in case it gets destroyed.

  The second section was equipped with the mighty 88mm anti-aircraft gun, which was also a formidable anti-tank gun when firing horizontally. After invading the Soviet Union, if it weren't for this gun, the Soviet T-34 tank and KV heavy tank might have rushed all the way to the Atlantic coast.

  The third car behind the armored locomotive is the logistics room, where logisticians, guards, secretaries and other personnel live. There is also a small bathroom here. This is also the kitchen, with caviar from the Black Sea, herring from Western Europe, famous paintings, jewels and so on. The fourth section is the heart of this train - the place of Field Marshal G?ring of the German Empire. Today, Li De has taken his place, and the armor of this car is the thickest on the whole train...

  The train slowly entered one of the sidings at Smolensk station. Guardsmen from the Leader Escort Battalion sealed off the area around the train, while soldiers from the Defense Army stood guard on the outside. The two army commanders-in-chief, Brauchitsch and Halder, had arrived by plane beforehand and were waiting at the station.

  Lei De made up his mind not to go to the headquarters, but to convene a military meeting on the train, so as to curb the arrogance of the generals. Just two days ago, Ha Er Te boasted that the Soviet army did not dare to hold a parade in Red Square. Lei De gloated over the thought of Ha Er Te's embarrassment after playing back the recording.

  Commander-in-Chief of the Central Group Army Pakok, Commander of the Second Group Army Wekes, Commander of the Ninth Group Army Shitelaosi, Commander of the Fourth Group Army Keluge and other generals stretched their necks waiting on the platform.

  Field Marshal von Bock waved his long arm, instructing his subordinates: "Everyone, I'll tell you again: when we meet the Führer later, don't mention difficulties, just say good things. The goal is to get Hitler's support for our next attack on Moscow. If anyone objects, I'll kick him out of Army Group Center like this stone."

  Baqi kicked the stone with his foot, who would have thought that the stone was frozen to the ground, and the toe was aching in pain. It was just because the head of the Army General Staff was present that he endured it without making a sound.

  The carriage was warm as spring, Hitler once said: on the one hand he had to fight against the enemy, and on the other hand he also had to fight against his own generals. Thinking of the impending battle of wits with the marshals, he seized the time to clarify his thoughts -

  On October 2, 1941, the "Typhoon" operation to attack Moscow finally began. A few days later, the Western Front of Soviet General Koniev, the Reserve Front of Budyonny and the Bryansk Front of Yeremenko were surrounded, capturing 665,000 Soviet Red Army soldiers. Bock firmly believed that he would go down in history as the conqueror of Moscow. However, man proposes but God disposes.

  October 18, 1941, just as Moscow was in a state of confusion, diplomatic missions and government agencies fled to Gorky, one thousand kilometers east of Moscow. The weather suddenly changed, and autumn rain poured down, turning the roads leading to Moscow into a muddy ocean. Not long ago, the Central Group Army, which had been so powerful, became so miserable: 1.5 million of the empire's best soldiers turned into 1.5 million loaches, crawling in the rain and mud, having to pull their boots out of the mud with every step.

  Almost 600,000 vehicles were stuck in the mud, and the glorious task of thousands of tanks was no longer to advance on Moscow, but to pull out these cars. 150,000 vehicles were pulled apart like this. People and guns were starving, and the soldiers of the Fifth Machine Gun Regiment were lucky enough to occupy a farmhouse and start a fire. When they took off their muddy clothes and warmed themselves by the fire, the lice that had been frozen to death fell down like rain, making a crackling sound like machine gun fire.

  The heavens are making trouble, and as they approached the gates of Moscow, the Russian resistance became even more stubborn, with counterattacks using rocket artillery and T-34 tanks, and even five-turreted T-35 tanks.

  The long whistle of the train brought him back from his memories, and the train stopped in Smolensk. The hastily assembled military band was about to play when Hitler's army adjutant Schmundt jumped off the car, hurriedly pressed the hands of the musicians, and the music came to an abrupt end. A daydreaming trombonist apparently hadn't seen the baton and continued playing for a long time before stopping.

  Schmundt conveys the Führer's new order: The conference will be held on the train.

  The emaciated Commander-in-Chief of the Central Group, Field Marshal von Bock, the powerless Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Field Marshal Brauchitsch, the Chief of the General Staff of the Army, Colonel-General Halder, who was always competing with the Fuehrer, the unassuming Commander of the Second Army, General von Weichs, the mediocre Commander of the Ninth Army, Strauss, the dejected Commander of the Fourth Panzer Group, Hoepner, the Commander of the Third Panzer Group, Reinhardt, whose eyes were darting back and forth, the Chief of Staff of the Fourth Army, Lieutenant-General Guenther von Blumentritt, who loved to write about war, and finally the casual Commander of the Second Air Fleet, Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, entered the Fuehrer's car one after another.

  In the carriage, a row of long tables were placed in the middle, apparently temporarily set up. The leaders stood opposite Li De, and Li De's entourage stood on their master's side, including Goebbels, Speer, Martin Bormann, the elegant and well-educated Air Force Lieutenant Colonel von Below, Navy Lieutenant Commander Brod Albrecht, as well as the press officer and the head of the mailroom.

  General Eduard Wagner, Quartermaster General of the German Army, was specially summoned by Hitler this time. He stood impartially on the left side of the table, opposite him was Christa Schroeder, Hitler's private secretary, who was also the only person besides Hitler to have a chair.

  Li's pale face was piled with smiles, and he raised his right hand to greet the generals, smiling maliciously at the crowd of generals: "Gentlemen, two days ago I predicted that Stalin would hold a military parade on Red Square, none of you believed my words. Now I ask you, have any of you heard Soviet radio?"

  For two days, the generals had been thinking about occupying Moscow all day long. The proud German army couldn't listen to the enemy's radio, and even if they did, they wouldn't understand it anyway. They didn't understand what the Führer meant by this remark, and one by one, they stared with wide eyes, Halder even suspected that the Führer had gone crazy: how could he ask such a question? He must have been scared by the Russian guerrillas last time.

  The head of state had a bottom line and continued to ask: "Do you still think the Soviet Union will not hold a military parade?"

  Like a stone thrown into a beehive, the generals' denials burst forth in one second: "Impossible." "Won't happen." "He's crazy." "Has no intention of doing so." "Lies." The last sentence was spoken by Halder, who cursed the Fuehrer for lying while looking at him with contempt.

  Lid was taken as a rumormonger, his comrades were indignant about this, and Bowman almost threw himself at Hard. However, Lid did not get angry, he smiled and asked Hard: "You must have evidence to speak. How do you know I'm spreading rumors?"

  Halder turned his head to look elsewhere, reluctantly explaining: "The German army has surrounded Moscow from the west, south and north sides. Stalin wants to hold a military parade, unless he sleeps without covering himself with a quilt, and the wind blows into his eyes." After finishing speaking, he looked at the Führer with deep meaning, secretly pleased in his heart: I openly scolded Stalin, but actually scolded you, my foolish Führer.

  Lee De nodded complacently and pointed to the deputy officer of the army, Schmont immediately turned on the recorder that had been prepared in advance, and a pleasant female voice came from the recorder: "This is Moscow Radio Station, now broadcasting the live broadcast of the Soviet Supreme Command's parade ceremony held in Moscow Red Square..."

  Lee gazed triumphantly at the army leaders, who had just been full of themselves. The leaders were first bewildered and then shocked. Halder's face turned beet red as he cursed Stalin under his breath, wishing he could hide under the carpet.

  The phonograph continued to broadcast Stalin's impassioned voice: “... The war you are waging is a liberation war, a just war. Let the heroic images of our ancestors - Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Kuzma Minin, Dmitry Pozharsky, Alexander Suvorov and Mikhail Kutuzov inspire you in this war! Let the victorious banner of great Lenin guide you!”

  The train was silent as a tomb, and then Stalin held a military review, and contemptuously ignored the generals who had brought their armies to the gates of Moscow, delivering an impassioned speech. This was totally unexpected; he treated the million-strong German army as if it were nothing, and these generals as if they were air - it was truly hateful and detestable.

  However, the German generals were all ducks - rotten meat and unrotten mouths. Li De stole a glance at Halder's expression, Halder's pair of small eyes hid behind the gleaming glasses, his face slightly flushed, Li De felt extremely comfortable in his heart, but it didn't last long, because Halder suddenly spoke up: "From this point of view, and thinking about the Fuehrer's definite statement that Stalin would hold a military parade yesterday, I can think that the Fuehrer must have received relevant intelligence beforehand."

  Li De didn't know it was a trap and smugly admitted: "Yes, but I didn't get any intelligence, I just drew the correct conclusion based on experience."

  Hald suddenly raised his voice and said to everyone: "Gentlemen, the Fuehrer has already admitted that he knew in advance about Stalin's parade."

  "Yes, we heard." The generals buzzed. Goebbels stepped forward and whispered in Liddell's ear: "Not good, these generals are going to play tricks."

  As expected, Halder said: "In that case, the Fuehrer should quickly organize the invincible German army, with dozens of times the advantage in ground and air forces, like a sharp sword breaking through the defense line on a narrow section and inserting it into the Red Square, rather than waiting to see my joke."

  Lǐ Dé's head was struck as if by a mallet, and this Hǎl dé was indeed cunning. No wonder he had always been feared by three points in the past. The room was so quiet that even a fart could be heard clearly, with dozens of cone-shaped eyes staring at him. He not only sweated profusely but also had cold sweat flowing down his buttocks to his heels. Fortunately, G?bbels, with his sharp teeth and tongue, came to his rescue: "Battle reconnaissance and organization are the responsibilities of the Army Commander-in-Chief and the General Staff. Do you want the Führer to take on the role of a battlefield commander? Would that be beneficial to you?"

  Haldar still didn't let up: "After all, we're only forty kilometers from Red Square. If the Fuehrer doesn't hold back and gives it his all-out effort, there's a complete possibility of opening up a gap."

  As the head of state, he couldn't always rely on his subordinates to bail him out. Li De immediately retorted: "What can be done about it? The Russians will quickly assemble their forces and seal off that narrow pass."

  "At least we can disrupt Stalin's Red Square parade and even capture him alive." Halder said forcefully. The generals nodded frequently, some remained silent, only the commander of the 4th Army turned his head away in disgust; Hitler's people were all indignant, Bormann was like a chicken waiting to be slaughtered, stretching his neck forward with all his might, glaring at Halder with anger, like a leopard waiting for its prey.

  "Ah—" Before the Führer could speak, Goebbels took over: "Such a good thing can be done today. Please give the order, Mr. President, and let Halder lead the troops to Moscow and capture Stalin alive."

  Halder was speechless, looking reproachfully at the silent Army Commander Brauchitsch, who deliberately avoided his gaze. Rundstedt also felt wet all over, with sweat on his forehead crawling like caterpillars across his cheeks, enduring it so as not to show his embarrassment.

  "But, everyone doesn't have to take it too seriously. Stalin uses the names of Russia's heroic ancestors to inspire soldiers to fight bravely, we can treat him like a scalded mouse squeaking."

  The newly appointed Reinhardt laughed and then quickly shut up when he saw everyone else's serious expression.