Chapter 539: The Meeting

The military conference was held as scheduled. The frontline generals who had rushed back, along with the generals of the Army General Staff, filled a small conference room. Akado knew how to make these generals submit. This time, he had no choice but to pull out Hitler’s old trick, lecturing a group of generals endlessly on economics and politics.

Historically, Hitler had many methods for rising to power, but he had only two ways of communicating with the military: supporting the generals he felt were right, and spouting nonsense at the generals who did not support him. Both methods had better-than-expected results: the former had unearthed command talents like Guderian and Rommel for Germany, while the latter had won over many generals.

Do you know how many people Hitler persuaded to join his group with this method? He had a long talk with Bosch of the IG Farben group about the role of synthetic rubber and synthetic gasoline in the German military. After the conversation, this titan of the German chemical industry described Hitler to his assistant as: “He is smarter than I imagined.”

He had long talks with his own generals about the importance of capturing the enemy’s economic and industrial centers and had hoped to change the mode of warfare with the Blitzkrieg. This had moved the military high command. More than half of the German generals felt that “this man understands the military.” If Zhao Benshan was a “great trickster” in his skits, then Hitler had successfully “tricked” an entire nation in reality.

To lecture a traditional Prussian officer on political science and economics, to make that general feel that you are extremely erudite—this was a trick Hitler had used countless times. Now, Akado was preparing to do the same, to show his generals just how profound and extensive his own Führer’s knowledge was.

Akado’s use of Hitler’s trick this time was intended to achieve a miraculous effect in the meeting. After all, he was not “that corporal,” but a former high-ranking general of the Wehrmacht who had once commanded the winds and clouds. Even Brauchitsch had privately told his secretary that if the Führer had not left the army, then the first Field Marshal of the Army would very likely have been named Akado.

The current German armed forces were all executing the basic tactics that Akado had drawn up 20 years ago. And the facts had proven that the military theories proposed by the Führer 20 years ago were still leading the German army to victory, step by step, 20 years later. The Führer’s talent in military affairs was beyond doubt… well, in fact, no one could doubt it.

In the air force, the Führer had personally participated in the finalization and production of the aircraft, and had done everything possible to train tens of thousands of pilots for the German Air Force. Kesselring and Dick, the two senior air force generals, had both been promoted to their current positions by the Führer. Who would question the Führer’s contribution to the building of the air force?

In the navy, the Führer had established the plan to strengthen the military with aircraft carriers as the core of the fleet. This plan had given the German High Seas Fleet a complete advantage in several engagements, and in one fell swoop, it had eliminated Germany’s number one enemy at sea, the British Royal Navy, accomplishing a dream that several generations of the German navy had failed to achieve. Now, when the heads of the navy like Raeder, Lütjens, and Dönitz mentioned the Führer, it was as if they had taken stimulants. If Akado were to fart, they would say it smelled fragrant.

The army, as the most solid fortress of the German aristocracy, had now completely knelt before Akado. These generals had never been so subservient, not even before the German Emperor. However, the great achievements of sweeping across France, crushing England, and driving away the Soviets had also given them a greater sense of accomplishment than their predecessors. Now, the new generals, represented by Guderian and Rommel, and Rundstedt, who represented the result of the division of the aristocracy, all stood on Akado’s side. As for the traditional military forces represented by Brauchitsch, they had no reason to oppose Akado either.

Now, at this meeting, Akado did not use his immense military contributions to pressure these generals into submission. Instead, he brought out military economics and politics to give these soldiers a lesson. At this moment, some of the generals were even more impressed by the Führer’s greatness. They believed that the Führer could lead them to victory—as long as they were obedient.

“To attack the heart of the Soviet Union at this time would mean running into the rainy season in August. The dirt roads of the Soviet Union would immediately turn into a sea of mud. The trucks and tanks our army relies on would get bogged down, causing the speed of our offensive to decrease,” Akado said, pointing with his pointer at a photograph of a Soviet highway that had been sent back by a spy.

The photograph showed several highways in the Soviet interior. These were indeed not highways in the traditional European sense; they were entirely of “Soviet standard.” Most of these roads were paved with dirt, pitted and full of ruts. After a large army passed through during the rainy season, the predicament faced by the follow-on forces could be imagined by anyone who was not a fool.

The director of armored vehicle production and other civilian military officers began to use simulated numbers to support the Führer’s argument. “Generals, based on the road conditions, we have conducted tests on the Panther tank in the laboratory. If we are forced to operate in this kind of road environment, the wear and tear on the tank’s running gear will increase, and the failure rate will increase by about 15%. Of course, this is a conservative estimate. If the frontline soldiers use some non-standard operating habits, the failure rate will be even higher.”

Brauchitsch began to whisper with a general beside him. This general was the commander of the 4th Panzer Corps. Although not as famous as Guderian, he was one of the few talented armored commanders in Germany. He told Brauchitsch that to forcibly launch an attack with armored forces under these conditions would lead to about half of the tank units being paralyzed on the road.

Seeing that the generals had no objections to his words, Akado continued to state his reasons for ordering a halt to the advance. “The troops will encounter cold weather in October. At that time, the temperature in the entire Russian heartland will drop. The soldiers’ winter clothing is not yet ready. That will be a disaster.”

There was nothing more to be said about this. Without enough winter clothing, who would be willing to spend a long winter in Russia? In another timeline, that had been a disaster caused by the Führer and his generals miscalculating the strength of the Soviet Union and launching a hasty offensive. Now that the Führer was not advocating an immediate attack, which general would be foolish enough to insist on his own opinion?

Moreover, the German intelligence services were no longer ignorant of the Soviet Union. On the contrary, they had a complete spy network inside the Soviet Union. This network had allowed the Germans to understand the Soviet Union, which they had always looked down on, and also to know the true comparison of strength between the two sides. The Soviet Union was not as weak as it appeared, and Germany was really not as strong as it felt itself to be.

The Soviet Union’s deceptive method of conscription through shadow divisions had been seen through by the German military. Brauchitsch knew that he was not facing 5 million Red Army soldiers, but almost a full 12 million. If anyone at this time still felt that Germany could achieve victory with 4 million men, then he must not be fully awake.

The soldiers at the front had the deepest experience of this. The Soviet tanks had caused unprecedented trouble for the German panzer forces. Their tanks had become the first “opponent” capable of penetrating the frontal armor of German tanks. This had brought immense pressure to the German armored commanders. They had to commit their tanks with great caution to avoid the possibility of large-scale losses.

Since the beginning of the war, the German army had lost 270 tanks of various types, including even 2 Tiger tanks. Although this number did not seem particularly exaggerated, it had left a deep impression on the Germans. For the first time, a Tiger tank had been destroyed by an opponent. For the first time, a breakthrough by the German panzer forces had been stopped by the opponent’s armored forces. These tactical-level problems made the German army look at their collapsing Soviet counterparts with new eyes.

The air force was also facing various problems. After the war began, the Soviet Air Force had already put two new types of fighters into service. One was the American P-40, and the other was a fighter called the Yak.

Although neither of these two aircraft was as excellent as the German’s absolute mainline fighter, the Fw-190D, they proved that the German army’s opponents were trying to catch up to the German Air Force’s footsteps. And the pace of their catching up was not slow. Just a year ago, these opponents were still using pitiful biplanes, but now they were all equipped with monoplanes with enclosed cockpits.

The speed of these aircraft was also getting faster and faster, approaching that of the German Air Force’s most numerous fighter, the Fw-190D. The improved Fw-190D had a top speed of 630 km/h, while the top speed of these enemy aircraft was generally close to 550 km/h. It was clear that the terrible technological gap of the past had been narrowed.

Britain and the United States, these traditionally technologically strong countries, were not without their resources. On the contrary, compared to Germany, they also had a deep technological foundation. Especially Britain, the former number one capitalist power, its secret technological reserves were even deeper than Germany’s.

The engines produced by Britain’s Rolls-Royce company were even more advanced in technology than German engines. It was just that while the advanced Spitfire fighter was still on the drawing board, the Germans had already landed on the British mainland on a large scale. Now, the Spitfire’s production line was in trial production, and soon the German Air Force would have to face an even more advanced enemy fighter.

The joint Anglo-American P-51 Mustang fighter was also in full swing. The engine was developed by a British company, and the airframe was the responsibility of an American company. The purpose of this new aircraft, jointly produced by the two technological powers, was very simple: to surpass the German Air Force and retake air superiority over the battlefield.

A spy in Canada had even discovered an astonishing piece of news: the British were now developing a new type of aircraft with a top speed of over 750 km/h, with performance exceeding all known aircraft. This new type of aircraft was called the “Meteor,” meaning it was as fast as a falling star.

After hearing this name, Akado knew that Britain was already rushing to put its new jet fighter into production. It was just that the material technology of this era was not yet mature, and it would take at least two more years for the British jet fighter to fly.

Published: 2025-09-03T02:47:05.000+00:00
Last Edited: 2025-12-17T17:47:31.000+00:00
URL: https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair/posts/mtr-c539-meeting-137999988

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