Chapter 765: Tell Me in Detail

“I am very pleased that you could come to the front to inspect the progress of the battle in my army, my Führer,” Field Marshal von Rundstedt said as he personally led the way, explaining the preparations for the troop’s offensive to Akado.

His forces had already advanced 40 kilometers on the front of Konev’s 1st Guards Front. It was clear that the troops under Konev’s command were no match for Rundstedt’s Army Group A, and the entire defense line was collapsing, bit by bit.

He was truly in his element now. Unlike the army’s first Field Marshal, von Brauchitsch, he and Rommel were true, powerful marshals forged on the front lines. On the Eastern Front, he, as a Field Marshal, had been ordered to command the Empire’s Army Group A, with more than 100,000 elite soldiers of astonishing combat effectiveness under his command.

Compared to Manstein’s newly formed and infantry-based Army Group M, the entire new Army Group A was more like a super-modernized armored corps. Its number of cars and armored vehicles was countless, and it was advancing closely along the railway line. Not only was it staffed by super-powerful figures like the army’s number one tank killer, Wittmann, but it was also the first to be deployed on the front lines with a new weapon: the King Tiger tank.

Of course, Rundstedt’s combat record was fully worthy of this army group’s overall strength. Within a few days of launching the offensive, the elite armored units of Army Group A had encircled Baranovichi from both flanks. And when Akado was in a rage in the Netherlands, as an act of support for the Führer, they had captured this important transportation hub controlled by the Soviet Red Army.

After occupying this place, Army Group A had advanced along the railway all the way to Stolbtsy, bringing the important military town of Minsk in Belarus into its attack range. His attack also caused a large-scale contraction of the Soviet forces on the front line. Zhukov had replaced the elite 1st Guards Front of Konev with miscellaneous units.

“With the mine-clearing vehicles, the speed of our army’s advance has increased considerably, and the casualties have also decreased. The air force, due to the improved weather, has begun to enter the battle. Our situation has never been better. The Soviets are in constant retreat,” von Rundstedt said as he walked forward. The soldiers opposite him all stood at attention, looking at their commander with admiration, and at the great Führer behind their commander.

“Heil Führer!” a soldier’s face flushed red with excitement. He stood at attention in front of Akado, then extended his arm, almost hitting the platoon leader next to him in the face. He then looked at his platoon leader with embarrassment, becoming even more nervous and at a loss.

Akado laughed. He walked around the two SS officers responsible for his safety and came to the side of this soldier. He waved his hand at Anna and his other entourage and said gently, “Rest assured, there’s no need to be so nervous. If I were to be killed by the enemy among my own soldiers, then this country would no longer need me forever.”

After speaking, he looked at the soldier, his platoon leader, and the rows of frontline officers and men behind them. “You tell me, is that right? When I am standing with you, could there possibly be any danger?”

“I… my Führer,” the platoon leader, whose face had almost been hit by his subordinate’s arm just now, was clearly also very excited. After coming to attention, he stammered in reply, “You… you are… right. We, we will forever swear to… to protect, to protect your safety.”

“Calm down, my brave soldiers. You dare to face the enemy’s bullets directly, but you don’t dare to stand with me and say a few words?” Akado’s words made von Rundstedt and everyone present laugh kindly, and the atmosphere immediately became much more lively.

Akado reached out with both hands, adjusted the Iron Cross, Second Class, pinned to the soldier’s chest, and then patted his shoulder. “Don’t be nervous, and don’t be too restrained. You must not only protect my safety, but also the safety of the entire Empire.”

Then he turned his head and said to Anna and Fanny, who were accompanying him, “I will stand right here. Take a picture of me and my soldiers. In 1919, I was one of them, just like them. At that time, my country was defeated, and I had to walk a path I had never walked before. Now, I stand here, with the world’s strongest army of millions. In another twenty years, perhaps someone among these soldiers will take up my burden and lead this country forward.”

A group of reporters swarmed forward, aiming their magnesium flashes at Akado and the soldiers behind him. The lights flickered, and everyone was surprised to find that every one of the soldiers behind Akado had puffed out their chests.

Napoleon said, “A soldier who doesn’t want to be a general is not a good soldier.” Akado, with his own practical actions, had awakened the desire of every soldier to become a general. These soldiers might eventually die on the battlefield, or they might just be a platoon leader or a battalion commander by the day they retired. But their blood was boiling at this moment. They would, in the future, firmly believe that they could do better, just like their Führer, do better.

“My Führer! To be able to work under your command is the thing I am most fortunate for,” von Rundstedt said, striking a pose for the photo with his hands behind his back and offering a soft compliment.

“Don’t be too modest. In fact, I have always been fortunate, fortunate to be able to work with such outstanding commanders as you, and with these brave warriors,” Akado said, also raising his chin a little as required by the head of the propaganda department’s image team. He then said to von Rundstedt, “My actions in the Netherlands were a bit rash. I hope it didn’t affect the front line?”

“My Führer, rest assured. Every soldier of the Empire is on your side,” von Rundstedt said firmly.

Akado looked back at von Rundstedt and then said, “Don’t be so confident, my general. In fact, Dek was also an army general, and he was not on my side.”

“From the moment he forgot his loyalty to the Führer, he could no longer be considered a member of the Imperial Army,” von Rundstedt replied. “Anyone who is not loyal to the Führer is an enemy of the army, an enemy of mine personally.”

Akado and Hitler had one fundamental difference, which was that he almost never bossed his generals around. He knew that in fact, the frontline commanders of the German army all possessed considerable talent, and to interfere with them would only have the opposite effect.

But he himself came from a military background. In the old Wehrmacht, or rather, in the new Imperial Army, he had his own foundation, which was an advantage that the corporal-born Hitler could not compare to. When the German aristocracy talked about Hitler, they were accustomed to using the term “that corporal.” But when they mentioned Akado, they had no choice but to call him “that general” with a sense of resignation.

What made the grassroots soldiers feel even more親切 (close/intimate) was that Akado had come from the most basic level of the soldiery. He had rendered meritorious service in the First World War and had even received awards like the Iron Cross. This made him even more supported by the broad masses of grassroots soldiers. If the military were to take any action against Akado, the grassroots soldiers would probably be the first to become restless.

It was precisely because he had good habits that Hitler lacked within the military, as well as an incomparable foundation, that Akado trusted his army and did not interfere with it. The benefit of doing so was that he was immediately rewarded. Almost every one of the high-ranking army generals was grateful to Akado and maintained a good relationship with the Führer.

von Rundstedt, Keitel, Model, Rommel, Manstein, Kluge, Guderian. Almost all the generals trusted and admired Akado, regarding him as their god. They fought with the weapons that Akado had developed and produced, and the facts proved that these weapons were the best in the world. They arranged their tactics according to the overall strategy drawn up by Akado, and they were always able to achieve victory afterward. So they stood firmly by Akado’s side, supporting this Führer as if they were supporting God.

The photo session was over. Akado smiled and waved to the soldiers, and in return, he received a dense forest of German salutes. The soldiers shouted Akado’s name. From their eyes, one could see that they were willing to shed their blood for the Führer of the Empire, they were willing to sacrifice for the Führer of the Empire, they were willing to fight for the Führer of the Empire until the very last moment.

“Akado, my Führer. I’m liking you more and more now. What do you think I should do?” Fanny, wearing a fashionable sweater and coat, her face flushed from being busy, walked to Akado’s side and said in a charming, soft voice, “How did you think of that when you were in the Netherlands? To manipulate public opinion with such a simple method?”

Akado really wanted to tell this woman, who was as alluring as a ripe forbidden fruit, that in the world he had originally come from, the manipulation of public opinion was much more professional, and also much crazier. There were ugly women who would jump out to disgust people just to get a chance at fame, and there were cases of fanning the flames and blowing a small matter out of proportion to attract eyeballs. In short, the tricks he was pulling now were all too childish for someone from the age of media explosion.

However, the Führer was still very much enjoying the feeling of being admired by a beautiful woman. He smiled and boasted to his Minister of Propaganda, his face not changing color, his heart not accelerating, “In fact, I have many other propaganda methods. I’ll tell you all about them when we have dinner together tonight.”

“I’ll be very busy at dinner. I probably won’t have time to listen to your high-minded theories on media development,” Fanny said with some regret, glancing at Anna. She then suddenly leaned closer to Akado and added in a very low voice, “But I’m free after 8 o’clock tonight. Why don’t I come to your room, and you can tell me in detail about the development of the media?”

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