Section 08 Hitler's Foreign SS Bodyguards

  Misha's confidence was shattered by the lieutenant's words, and what he should have said with conviction came out in a mumbled whisper: "That German sergeant is doomed, if that man doesn't die, we'll all be dead. Fighting behind enemy lines requires absolute loyalty, it's either you or me, he says he's an anti-war activist, the son of a Communist Party member, and he...". Misha wanted to say something else but couldn't remember, and slapped his forehead in frustration.

  "Step down, next one." The judge was impatient and issued the expulsion order with a light face. Misha stood still, still thinking hard and scratching his ears.

  "Don't just sit there like a rotten wooden stump, step down." The lieutenant's voice was thunderous, and some people covered their ears. The bailiff escorted Mishra from the witness stand, and as he was about to leave, he remembered something and shouted with his hand on the door: "He also cursed the Führer, saying Hitler is a bastard, many people heard it, the court can investigate..." The last two sentences were shouted in the corridor outside the door.

  The next rotten log was a German prisoner of war who survived the disaster: a young lieutenant colonel with half his head bald, he stared at the defendant with gratitude and said, "My brain tells me that being human requires conscience, this is part of the moral code of German soldiers. Because if it weren't for this Russian standing in the defendant's seat..."

  "Kalmyks." The judge corrected. Captain Tsubasa didn't care about the subtle difference between Russians and Kalmyks, continuing to speak emotionally: "If it weren't for this Russian, my head wouldn't be here. I've never spoken of this humiliating thing, but today I'll say it, no matter how others laugh at me: My head was forced to go under the crotch of countless Soviet female soldiers - under the coercion of a vengeful Jewish female soldier. If you didn't do so, she would kick you into an ice pit with one foot, and I saw at least four soldiers die under her feet."

  "Hang this Jewish pig." The crowd below was outraged, the judge raised his hammer, still unable to stop the audience's indignation.

  "Her whole family was dealt with by the German special task force." The captain's voice trembled slightly: "She should have been hanged, and in the end she was settled by us, but not because of this court, nor because of the righteous indignation of those present. It was only made possible by the Russian in front of you. Do you know what the prisoners of war call him? The German army's sheepdog, guardian angel."

  The Kalmyk looked at him with a grateful face.

  Rania inked in, came up to salute the portrait of the head of state, and only after saluting did she discover that it was a portrait of Lenin on the wall. Her stunned expression made Li De feel ticklish, despite the fact that they had shared a pillow the night before.

  The judge raised a sheet of paper, deliberately reading aloud: "Renyia - this is not a German name - junior officer of the Eastern Foreign Military Department of the Army General Staff, formerly an officer of the Soviet Union's Worker-Peasant Red Army GRU, and even earlier an intelligence officer of the Latvian General Staff, young in years but rich in experience." He put down the paper with exaggeration on the table, revealing for the first time since the trial began a smile - it turned out he could also smile.

  A voice from below shouted: "Who was it that transferred this female spy to the Army General Staff? This is a case for the Fuehrer, it's outrageous."

  Bormann and Heppner were giggling with their hands over their mouths, casting sidelong glances at the Fuehrer, while Liddell sat expressionless, bolt upright.

  The prosecutor's small eyes scanned her, and as soon as he opened his mouth, the meticulousness of his investigation was revealed: "As a former instructor of the assault team, how do you evaluate the 76% casualty rate in this operation? Those who died were your hard-trained men. What is your evaluation of this? Do you think there are any other criticisms of the Kalmyks' protection of prisoners of war? For example, using prisoners as human shields?" This was an obvious leading question, but the judge and the court-appointed lawyer neglected their duties at this time.

  Rania replied: "Yes, he has many things to be blamed for."

  Rania's appearance was like a spring breeze in the cold winter, and the sleepy court showed signs of life. As soon as she spoke, the courtroom became even more lively. The presiding judge no longer looked disdainful, but rather affectionate. He narrowed his eyes, raised his hand slightly, indicating that she should continue speaking. The clerk was ready to take notes quickly, the prosecutor sat up straight with anticipation, and the Kalmyk people waited thoughtfully.

  "His only mistake was his loyalty to Germany." She deliberately marched out with Soviet-style drill steps, head held high and chest out.

  Gou Dan nervously went on stage, muttering to himself as he walked: "Oh my god, I, Gou Dan, can actually go on stage, I must have accumulated virtue in my past life."

  The dog egg stood on the witness stand, comically bowing to everyone including the defendant, accidentally hitting his head against the railing, making a loud metallic ringing sound, causing the whole courtroom to burst into laughter. He cursed loudly: "What kind of stupid thing is this? Giving him a reputation as a turtle egg? I think that's ridiculous, there are more and more people who don't know how to behave in the world, what nonsense, little brat."

  He pointed at the Kalmyk and continued to scold: "He's got a head full of millet, leading us to put our heads in our pants and do something useless. In the end, he played with his cock and made a cuckold out of us - it was hard to please him."

  The court tolerated the blatant insults because no one could understand what he was saying, and were confused by the superficial phenomena that he pointed out. The court originally had translations in several languages, but the German from Nanjing Ximenzi Company could only guess a few sentences of Jiangsu-Zhejiang dialect, and thought Dog Egg was speaking Japanese.

  A small stir, the court reporter said that there was an unsuitable witness who insisted on testifying. The judge slightly furrowed his brow and reluctantly nodded in agreement.

  Gleb stood next to the witness stand: "I'll say just one word, one word." Seeing that everyone's attention was drawn to him, with a face like he had just been in a fight, he spat out a single word: "Ball!" And before the bailiffs could take action, he walked away with his head held high.

  "Colonel Pangrelde is here." the bailiff shouted. A sturdy officer stepped up to the witness stand, none other than the head of intelligence for the 4th Tank Army, who had collaborated with the Kalmyks to test the shock troops and shot those who wavered. He was very rude to the judge, pointing at him and shouting loudly: "I am saddened by this court. Without sufficient evidence, he presided over this trial farce based on some prejudices and incomplete so-called evidence, from which one can see the achievements of the Imperial Military Tribunal - the organization of trials for punishing traitors."

  The audience was silent; in the box, Li De whispered to Hepner; in the dressing room, Grubbs and Misha were betting on a Kalmyk: Grubbs believed he would be sentenced, while Misha thought they could avoid this calamity. The two men argued endlessly until suddenly Rannya burst out excitedly: "Acquitted but demoted."

  After lengthy debate, the court ultimately ruled that the Zhdanovka action was equivalent to a battlefield, and the Kalmyks were acquitted of premeditated murder of German soldiers, but found guilty of unauthorized killing of a German non-commissioned officer, released on the spot, recommended for dismissal and dissolution.

  ……

  That night, Li De gathered the backbone of the Kalmuk assault team in his room, accompanied by Rania.

  The head of state scolded the Kalmyks for a whole half hour, and finally said to them: "The Northern Group Army wants you to disperse, what will you do?"

  A deathly silence, half a day later Dog Egg stood up: "I won't die begging and pestering to stay, can't even go home in the chaos of war, no one's at home anyway, my wife ran off with someone else long ago. Ha! The German Emperor granted me a permit, let me open a private clinic, that's it."

  Mi Sha was surprised: "Didn't you say yesterday when we got on the bus that you had an 80-year-old mother upstairs and a wife and children downstairs?"

  The dog egg smiled and said: "Yesterday I cheated on someone."

  Bao'er said listlessly: "The Commander-in-Chief has given an order, let's each return to our own troops."

  Grubbs and the thief both had reasons to keep quiet: Grubbs was from the Navy, which was downsizing, and he didn't want to go back and face a bad reassignment. The thief had a bad reputation and didn't want to return to his old unit and lose face.

  Li De said slowly: "I'll give you a plan, and you can choose for yourselves: the first plan is to rape, oh, what Bao'er said, but not each unit going its own way, rather it will be uniformly distributed."

  Everyone fell silent. "What about the second plan?" Rania asked with a sudden gleam in her eyes.

  Li De seemed to have made a very big decision: "I've thought about it again and again. If we can't make it work, I'll temporarily take you in."

  "Ah, really?" Everyone's emotions suddenly soared. The Kalmyks lifted their heads, which had been hanging down to their crotches, and stared at the mouth under the Führer's little mustache in surprise and delight.

  Xiao Huzi nodded: "Assign you to the Eastern Outer Army, under the direct command of Commander Byron."

  He raised his hand to signal everyone to be quiet, and with a solemn expression said: "You must think carefully, for any major action will mobilize you at any time, and the tasks you execute are often the most dangerous."

  Grubbs burst out: "Don't worry, my leader. I was a criminal to begin with. I'm giving you this 80 kilograms of myself without any reservations. If I don't complete the task, it means I'm not worthy of living."

  Everyone expressed their loyalty, and the Tartar pulled out his sword to cut off his fingers to write a blood letter. Li De looked at the excited special forces with satisfaction, secretly rejoicing that he had a private special forces team.

  The Kalmyk people stood up and formed a circle. One hand was raised and the other stretched towards the center of the circle, leading everyone in an oath:

  "I swear to the Almighty, unconditional obedience to the Führer of the German Reich and people, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Adolf Hitler. As a brave soldier I am willing at any time to risk my life for this oath."

  Li De frequently nodded, patted each person's shoulder one by one, and kept his hand on Dog Egg's shoulder for a long time: "Li Lian Sheng, now you can't open a clinic. Under the destroyed nest, there are no intact eggs left, let's just work well with everyone."

  Gou Dan's face was full of surprise: "You knew my official title yesterday? Just because of this, I Li Lian Sheng..." Li De thought he would say something like "fei jin ba la" or some other Northeastern dialect, but unexpectedly he cried: "In these two years, no one has called me by my official title, wu——"

  Everyone tried to dissuade him, but when Misha mentioned introducing a Russian girl to him, he burst into tears of laughter.

  The Kalmyk stepped forward: "I have an idea, mein Führer."

  Li De gave him a glance and turned around to sit on the sofa.

  "That Byron or whatever, we're not familiar with him, let's just have Rania command us instead, what do you all say?"

  Nature is a burst of applause. The commander turned to Rania and teased, "It seems that my small troops are going to be taken away by you."

  The Kalmyk didn't think twice: "Actually, you two are the same, right?" As soon as he said it, he broke out in a cold sweat and hastily added: "Both serving the Empire and the people!"

  Rania glared at him fiercely.