Section 09 The Emperor's Strategic Tent

  January 5, 1942, Monday, Stalin announced a general counterattack against the German army on the front line. Hitler ended his trip to the north and hastily rushed to the headquarters in East Prussia - Wolf's Lair, where an emergency meeting was held on the Eastern Front to formulate response measures. Soon after, the commanders of the Northern, Central and Southern Army Groups also arrived one after another.

  A tense-looking Halder, Chief of the General Staff, reports to the Fuehrer: On the 3,000-kilometer-long front line from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea, six Soviet fronts with a total of 3.7 million men are attacking along the entire front under the cover of 1,300 tanks and 6,000 guns; at the southernmost point of the front: landing craft have been spotted in the Sea of Azov, and troops are gathering near Taman, opposite Kerch Peninsula.

  "Wait a minute." The commander leaned over the map, pointing at a place: "Isn't the landing site in Feodosiya?"

  "So far there is no news at all. The army assumes that they will land in Kerch. Has the Führer received any intelligence?" asked General Halder, Chief of the Army High Command.

  The head of state retorted: "Have you received intelligence that Soviet troops have landed at Kerch? If not, then believe my prediction: the Russians will certainly land at Feodosiya."

  Haig was incredulous: "Impossible, the Russians would never have the guts to attempt an encircling maneuver; they will certainly attack as usual along the shortest route and on a broad front."

  Schmidt interjected: "Not only the Führer, but also Rennenkampf of the Operations Branch predicted that the enemy would land at Feodosiya."

  "Are you listening to the analysis of the Army General Staff or are you being swayed by that little Russian girl's words?"

  Schmidt gazed at Hald's back with a mixture of fortune and misfortune, while Renya, who was passing behind Hald, handed the file to Byron after hearing this, and couldn't help but take over: "My words were only for the leader, strictly speaking, it doesn't count as deceiving the masses."

  Hald turned and looked at her for a moment without answering, then resumed his argument with Manstein.

  Byron signed the document and handed it back to Rania, who was about to leave when Manshtein stopped her, asking her to add a codicil: "Chief of General Staff, sir, this young lady has been with the Russian General Staff, I think her analysis is worth considering."

  Harold held a small wooden stick in both hands and circled around Rania, deliberately trying to make her look foolish. He suddenly asked, "What is the responsibility of the General Staff?"

  Li Deben wanted to stop her, but thinking again, this kind of problem was not difficult for Ranyia at all. Letting her show off in front of the generals wasn't bad either, so he also became a listener.

  As expected, Rania smoothed her hair and with an air of composure that made high school students answer "one plus one equals" looked up at the ceiling and replied: "Collecting and organizing intelligence, judging the situation, drafting military orders, formulating national instructions, engaging in military exchanges with citizens, developing training plans for soldiers and evaluating them."

  She turned to Halder: "The late Chief of the German General Staff, Moltke, pointed out that an army commander needs advisors; it is very important for an army to set up a command and general staff."

  The aide-de-camp of the head of state unexpectedly spoke on his behalf, greatly surprising Halder, whose tense face relaxed a bit, and his expression underwent a subtle change, from being deliberately sarcastic to showing a certain degree of appreciation. Byron, the chief of the Eastern Military Affairs Section, played a role in stirring up the situation, holding the document he had just signed for and reading out: "An urgent telegram from the 3rd Motorized Infantry Corps: A large number of Soviet troops landed at Feodosiya at seven o'clock this morning."

  Like a stone thrown into the water, the conference room was in an uproar. The direction of the Soviet attack was indeed as expected by the Führer and Rania, but this time everyone felt unexpected. The old marshal Lundshtein, commander of the Southern Army Group, looked at Manstein with unease, who calmly said: "I told you earlier that this little girl has some skills."

  The Second Army's Chief of Staff, Generalleutnant Hans von Sodenstern, looked at Manstein in surprise and said: "Enemy forces have landed. Are you not surprised?"

  Manstein smiled meaningfully at the Führer, glanced at Renya, and had a confident look on his face. Halder recalled that the Führer had recently been to Crimea and guessed that he had already given Manstein a preventive shot, so he changed the subject.

  Rania was about to leave with the folder when Halder stopped her: "Captain, if the Führer agrees, you can stay in the conference room and help sort out the minutes."

  Regarding Harald's suggestion, the leader was overjoyed. Li De secretly admired Renya's flexibility and good interpersonal skills.

  Khald continued to raise the small wooden stick: "In the north, Meretskov's 7th Army has launched seven large-scale offensives against the German army occupying the eastern shore of Lake Ladoga in the past month, with more than half of its personnel casualties and is already exhausted. Therefore, the main defensive direction of the Northern Group of Forces is south of Tikhvin, responding to Vlasov's 20th Army."

  "I wish it were so." The commander of the Army Group North, Küchler, did not seem to dare to agree. Halder said bluntly that the usually cautious Chief of General Staff was too optimistic. Thus, Halder and Hapner quarreled again.

  "Stop arguing," Li De said. "Meaningless arguments are a waste of time, and wasting time is equivalent to taking the lives of our frontline soldiers."

  Halder was about to open his mouth when Brauchitsch, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, tugged at his coat and he swallowed his words.

  Li De asked: "How much do you know about the situation of the Soviet 39th Army?"

  "39th Army Group?" Halder turned to Byron: "You tell me."

  Byron said to Rania: "You say."

  Everyone's eyes in the room shifted from Harald to Byron, and then from Byron to Rania. She introduced: The 39th Army of the Soviet Union was formed in Arkhangelsk Military District in November 1941. They received equipment transported across the ocean to Murmansk, including American tanks, jeeps, artillery, and even canned food from the US military. It can be said that it is an American-equipped force.

  To liven up the atmosphere, Li De joked: "The packaging paper with beautiful women printed on it became an object of contention among Soviet soldiers. Some soldiers used duck down sleeping bags as delicate hemp sacks to hold potatoes."

  "How did you know all that in such detail?" Harald was taken aback, looking back and forth between the Führer and Renya, finally settling on Renya's face as she continued:

  "Now, this unit, wearing top hats and felt boots, has been transferred to the east of Lake Ladoga, preparing for the difficult task of opening up the Lake Ladoga corridor and installing a breathing tube for suffocating Leningrad. The commander of this semi-foreign and semi-native unit is General Bogdanov."

  After Renya finished introducing in an orderly manner, she answered his question: "Respected Chief of Staff, I put the materials about this group army on your desk a week ago. You might be too busy and haven't had time to read them."

  Harold's face turned red like a cooked shrimp, and to cover up his embarrassment, he pretended to be casual and said to Byron: "Since you took over from Ginsel, the work of the Eastern Foreign Military Affairs Bureau has made great progress and should be commended."

  Byron smiled awkwardly, looking at Rania, thinking that these materials were obtained when she went to Volkhov to interrogate prisoners of war and tap phones, and had little to do with the Eastern Foreign Affairs Department, but in order to save face for her superior, she remained silent.

  In fact, this is also the habit of the Kalmyk raiders: every time they arrive at an unfamiliar place, they must explore and familiarize themselves with the surrounding environment, terrain, roads, directions, as well as gather intelligence on the enemy situation, including the enemy's unit number, branch of service, commander's name, and other basic information, so that they can impersonate them if necessary.

  After Halder finished introducing the military situation with a loud noise, Li De took over the small wooden stick from Halder's hand and walked towards the map that covered an entire wall. He swept his eyes across the crowd of generals, who all gathered around the Führer.

  The leader stood on tiptoe, straining to point the small wooden stick upwards as far as possible, and the large coat slipped off his body and fell to the ground, where Renia caught it at a speed of 100 meters.

  "Lapland in the north, facing Murmansk, due to the scarcity of roads and harsh weather conditions, logistics supplies are not available, only two divisions can be deployed, these two divisions must hold their current positions at all costs, ensuring the safety of the mining area," said the leader.

  "Ja!" General Sch?rner, who had just taken over from Dietl as commander of the 19th Mountain Army, clicked his spurs together.

  "General Küchler, the plan for a general assault on Leningrad has been temporarily postponed. Your current task is to defend the northern border of Army Group North with all your might, especially in the area recently occupied between Velikaya River and Malaya Vishera. Note: The Soviet 20th Army under Vlasov may attack Chudovo, while the remnants of the original 4th, 7th, and 54th Armies, as well as this 39th Army, will certainly launch a full-scale counterattack along the entire front. At the same time, the Leningrad Front will also make a desperate attempt to encircle us from within."

  The Commander's baton slid across the map, and the necks of the commanders also turned accordingly: "I order: Generaloberst von Küchler to be responsible for the positions before November 20th, and the area after November 20th, that is, the area occupied by the 4th Tank Army, will be defended by Hube, directly responsible to the Army High Command. Whoever has problems in his defensive zone shall take responsibility."

  "Yes!" Kühler and Heppner acknowledged simultaneously.

  Next should be the Central Group of Armies, the gaunt and bony von Manstein stepped forward, ready to bow his head in obedience. However, the Führer seemed not to notice him and continued to talk incessantly: "The main task of the Southern Group of Armies is still to hold on, to stubbornly defend the Donets Basin, where the high-quality coal mines are our war capital. If anyone loses the coal mines, I'll send them to the Ruhr to dig for coal. Did you hear that?"

  Marshal von der Goltz, Commander of the Southern Army Group, looked up at the ceiling with dignity, and several generals replied: "Heard!"

  "Speak louder!" The leader was dissatisfied.

  "I've heard!" This time the voice was like a loud bell, and Old Marshal's lips moved.

  The Supreme Commander to Manstein: "You are also under direct orders from the Army High Command. Take Sevastopol as quickly as possible."

  Bock kept his neck twisted, looking askance at the leader, making Li De very uncomfortable. "Don't stare at me, I don't have a map on my body. Your Central Group Army will bear most of the pressure of the attack. First, you must hold out and let the Russians crash their heads against the Winter Wall. But if the Soviet army breaks through the defense line, what do you plan to do?"

  "I accept any punishment, even resignation." Bao Ke replied without hesitation.

  The emperor stared at him for five minutes, and Bao Ke stood up straight with his chest out at first, but later he was stared at to the point where he couldn't bear it, and small beads of sweat appeared on the tip of his nose as he looked up gloomily at the inscrutable emperor.

  The head of state finally opened his golden mouth and spat out jade words: "You guys, although you've read a lot of military books, but all of you are wooden-headed. Did you only learn how to use knives and forks to eat in the military academy?"