The Rise of Australia - Chapter 997

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Then the question is, why did Rommel, who was in a high position, agree to participate in the rebellion against the German Chancellor?

Although the rebels had General Ludwig Beck and Major General Hans in charge, they were fighting against the famous German Chancellor and the current German government.

Even Rommel himself knew that even if the rebellion could gain the support of most soldiers in Army Group B, the hope of victory was slim.

In fact, Rommel was unwilling to participate in such an event at the beginning.

The matter of rebelling against the German Chancellor seemed thankless, and even if he could achieve the final victory, Rommel would not get much benefit.

However, after the former Chief of Staff General Ludwig Beck took out a transfer order from the German Supreme Command about Rommel that was about to be issued, Rommel resolutely participated in this action.

Because this transfer order showed that the German Supreme Command was going to transfer Rommel to the Hamburg-Kiel Canal line to serve as the commander-in-chief of the German Northern Army Group.

Although the transfer of Army Group B to Army Group North is a level transfer, the difference in strength and importance between the two sides is completely disproportionate.

The entire Army Group B currently has nearly one million troops, and it is also the largest organization in Germany so far, except for the Southern Army Group that fought against Russia.

The Northern Army Group, which is responsible for defending the British army in Denmark, is a reserve army that was hastily formed this year, with a total of only 11 infantry divisions, 3 artillery divisions, 1 mechanized division and 2 firepower reinforcement regiments.

Even if all those who are engaged in logistics work, including the organization similar to the kitchen team that is nicknamed bakers by the German army, are counted, the entire Northern Army Group has only about 200,000 troops.

It is an insult to Rommel to go directly from the glorious commander of Army Group B to the commander of Army Group North, which also means that the German Prime Minister is no longer so optimistic about Rommel’s ability.

The fundamental reason for this situation is that the entire Army Group B did not perform well in the battles against France, Britain and Australasia.

However, Rommel also had his own grievances. After all, the situation on the entire Western European battlefield was very bad for Germany. Germany was at a comprehensive disadvantage in the number of tanks, artillery and aircraft, and even the number of the most basic soldiers was only about one-third of the British, French and Australian armies.

In addition, the British and French armies also had naval assistance, and it was already very good that Army Group B could fight hard and defend the Belgium-Luxembourg defense line.

But the German Supreme Command didn’t care so much. What the German Prime Minister couldn’t stand the most was that the full 1 million German troops had no chance to resist when facing the attack of the British and French armies. Not only did they quickly lose important areas such as Brittany, Normandy, and Paris, but they also caused the German army itself to bear too many unnecessary casualties.

At present, the strength of the two sides in the entire Western European battlefield is about 4 to 1. The German army retreating to the line from Belgium to Luxembourg could only resist stubbornly, and the British and French armies had even begun to attack cities such as Kortrijk and Charleroi.

Seeing that the enemy was about to attack Germany and the Ruhr area, the German High Command was very worried about this and had the idea of ​​changing the commander.

Although Rommel’s military ability was recognized by the Prime Minister many times. But because there was no outstanding record in North Africa in history, the Prime Minister’s trust in Rommel was limited after all.

After considering for a long time, the German Prime Minister finally nodded and agreed to the transfer order of Rommel, and transferred him to northern Germany to resist the British attack.

But the German Prime Minister, who was too arrogant, did not consider Rommel’s opinion. For Rommel, whose military career has been smooth so far, the behavior of demoting himself drastically without any mistakes was a serious distrust.

However, although he agreed to join the organization to resist the Prime Minister, Rommel still opposed the plan to kill the German Prime Minister directly.

With Rommel’s joining, the resistance led by General Ludwig achieved great success and advancement.

Within a few days, German Army General Friedrich Fromm, instigated by his chief of staff Claus von Stauffenberg, also decided to join the action against the German Chancellor.

Speaking of which, these two guys are also famous in history. Friedrich Fromm showed a fence-sitting spirit comparable to Italy throughout the operation, with an erratic and indecisive attitude.

And his chief of staff Colonel Claus was the main executor of the assassination of the German Chancellor.

It is worth mentioning that in history, Claus was only one step away from a successful assassination.

Claus put the bomb under the table not far from the prime minister, but because the German prime minister was lying on the table to read the map at the time, the heavy oak table blocked the main damage of the bomb explosion and escaped.

If Claus had succeeded in the assassination at that time, perhaps European history would have ushered in a huge change.

But for the world now, everything is different, including the result of the assassination.

After winning over several senior military officials, General Ludwig Beck, after complex and careful thinking and planning, finally resolutely launched the assassination of the German Chancellor.

The assassination took place in an inconspicuous meeting place in Berlin. The reason for choosing this place was that in two days, the German Chancellor would come in person and have a meeting with several senior military officials.

Many German soldiers who retired due to injuries, including Colonel Klaus, were also invited. This gathering was organized by the order of the German Prime Minister, and the purpose was to increase the support of German senior officers for the war.

Two days before the gathering, Klaus arrived at the venue in advance and explored the terrain for various reasons.

Because Klaus himself was a hero who was seriously injured and disabled because of fighting for his country, and he lost two fingers on his left hand and his entire right hand, and his right eye was completely blind, no one suspected him.

This is also normal. After all, under normal circumstances, who would doubt a warrior like Colonel Klaus who almost died for his country?

But it was precisely because Colonel Klaus almost died for his country and witnessed too many ordinary Germans losing their lives because of this war that he made up his mind to end the war.

Two days passed quietly, and soon it was time for the gathering.

Colonel Klaus wore his military uniform before retirement, and specially asked his servants to wear several medals he had won for his merits.

Walking slowly but firmly towards the venue, no one knew what Colonel Klaus was thinking.

“Hey! Klaus!” At the door of the venue, Major General Hans shouted in surprise to Colonel Klaus who was walking slowly step by step.

“General Hans.” Colonel Klaus walked forward slowly and then saluted Major General Hans.

“Oh, man, stop now. Only you are a hero, and I should salute you.” Major General Hans quickly stopped Colonel Klaus’s left hand that was about to salute, and responded to Colonel Klaus with meaningful words that only two people could understand.

“Are you ready? This party may take a long time.” Major General Hans looked at Colonel Klaus’s right hand and eyes, as if asking Colonel Klaus if his body could hold on.

“Everything is ready, everything.” Colonel Klaus nodded, as if answering that his body could still hold on.

Thanks to Klaus’s status as a hero, and the fact that only senior German military officials were invited to today’s party, the inspection of these generals was relatively casual. Only the guns carried by the generals were collected, and the items carried by the generals were not carefully checked.

This also facilitated Klaus’s actions. Although he could only carry some relatively small bombs with him, the power was enough to cause huge casualties to people within a few meters around him.

He walked into the venue smoothly. The senior military officials had gathered in groups of three or two to talk. The generals were together, and the officers were another group.

After waiting for a while, the German Prime Minister, as the most valuable person, finally arrived.

Everyone stood up together to welcome the Prime Minister’s arrival, and then raised their glasses together to celebrate this hard-won relaxing moment.

Colonel Klaus used his remaining three fingers to hold the red wine glass tightly, but his mood was getting more and more nervous at this time.

However, although he was nervous, Colonel Klaus did not regret it at all. Looking at his left hand with only three fingers, and then looking at his empty right arm, Klaus understood that what he did was right.

After a simple celebration, the German Prime Minister and several senior military officials sat around a table and started talking.

The conversation between the several people was quite focused, after all, those present were basically trustworthy people, and there were not even a few colonels.

Those with lower ranks were almost all like Klaus, who made great sacrifices for the country and won various merits and medals before they got the opportunity to participate in the party.

The lowest rank of the remaining people was major general, and there were countless lieutenant generals and generals, so there was no need to worry about confidentiality.

After all, what the Prime Minister and others talked about was not a major military secret, but just the current situation of the German army and how to deal with it.

Even if it was just a major general-level officer, these intelligence could basically be asked in various ways, so there was no need to keep it too secret.

In a corner where no one noticed, Klaus pretended to chat with Major General Hans and slowly approached the table next to the palmistry.

Then, Klaus seemed to be unable to support himself and collapsed on the table next to him.

Although this behavior attracted the attention of some generals, they just thought that Klaus’ body could not support the party.

But seeing Major General Hans pretending to help Klaus up, the generals didn’t care.

With Major General Hans’s cover, Colonel Klaus stuck the two small bombs he carried with him tightly on the table, and then pretended to be exhausted and was helped away by Major General Hans.

About two minutes later, Colonel Klaus found a marshal of the Supreme Command and proposed the idea of ​​leaving early.

The marshal saw Klaus sweating profusely and thought he couldn’t stand it because of the pain in his body, so he nodded and agreed to Klaus’s departure.

Major General Hans temporarily left the venue by helping Colonel Klaus.