Imperial Overlord

In his frontline headquarters, Liszt heard cheers like a tsunami from the frontline soldiers.

He frowned, then walked to the observation window, just about to pick up the telescope to see what was going on.

As a result, his assistant rushed into his headquarters and shouted in surprise: "Marshal! Marshal! The defenders in Athens surrendered, and they are willing to surrender their weapons!"

"Huh!" Liszt let out a long sigh, and put on a confident smile on his face: "If that's the case, that would be great. We can now tell the Fuhrer that we have completed the task he has assigned us."

"The 12th Army is invincible!" The officer stood at attention, raised his chest and cheered loudly.

Liszt also smiled and nodded: "Yes, the 12th Army is a very, very good unit!"

After he finished speaking, he looked at the staff officers and the secretary in the office, and said, "Gentlemen, prepare a message and send it to the Army Headquarters, as well as the Supreme Commander and the Head of State... to them. Report our victory."

Although he knew that it was too early to be happy, the sharp ethnic conflicts in the Balkans, and the remnants of the British and Greek troops scattered throughout the mountains had not been wiped out, but Liszt could indeed hand in his answer.

The capture of Athens marked the breakdown of organized resistance in the Balkans. The remaining things are the long-term security work, as well as the management of local officials, how to use policies to appease people's hearts.

"Long live the Führer! Marshal! General Student has just arrived. He is in the next room, waiting to see you..." An officer walked into the headquarters, stood at attention and said to Marshal Liszt.

When he just came in, he heard cheers, and the headquarters of the 12th Army was full of joy, and everyone knew the news of Greece's surrender.

In just 20 days, the German Army swept across the Balkans, faster than ever.

On the one hand, the German victory in the Mediterranean severely weakened British support for the Balkans. On the other hand, the adjustment of the army by the head of state has indeed had a certain effect.

Armed with more gasoline and more trucks and armored vehicles, German troops used the entire Balkans as a proving ground to test their mechanized propulsion theory of operations.

Even more satisfying, the theory appears to be stronger than the norm on paper. Just a small test, the Greek and local British defenders were exhausted, and there was no room for parry.

"Oh? General Student is here?" Liszt, as the commander of the 12th Army attacking Greece, of course knew the Fuhrer's plan.

The combat operations against Crete began officially a few days ago. As the Germans surrounded Athens, captured here, occupied Crete, and completely controlled the Mediterranean became the next most important offensive plan for the Germans.

Therefore, Liszt quickly arranged to send a message of victory to the Berlin High Command, and then took his adjutant to the next door to meet the important commander of the German airborne troops.

Student was affiliated with the Luftwaffe, and in fact, in earlier times, anything that could fly with wings was under Goering's command.

But now, with the emergence of naval aviation, the army has also formed a small-scale direct air reconnaissance force.

"Victory! Führer!" Seeing Liszt walk into the room, Student quickly stood up, raised his arms and saluted Liszt: "Nice to meet you, Marshal!"

"Good afternoon, Your Excellency!" Liszt returned a military salute casually, and then motioned for Student to find a place to sit casually: "Don't be cautious, I heard that you are here to personally direct the battle for Crete, my side The pressure is also a lot less.”

"The head of state hopes to capture Crete as soon as possible, but we all entered the attack site yesterday and are resting..." Student reported the deployment progress of the paratroopers to Liszt.

He pointed to the front-line airfields assigned to paratroopers on the map that had been laid on the table, and continued: "We will use 10,000 paratroopers for this attack... We have never used this scale before."

"My God, tens of thousands of paratroopers were airborne at one time?" Liszt stammered when he heard the news.

When the paratroopers attacked Malta before, the scale was not so huge. This time the air raid on Crete actually required 10,000 people to be dispatched in one go!

"Yes, but most of the paratroopers are not airborne, but use gliders and other methods to land on the island." Student is a professional, so he gave Listerkop a specific action process.

"There are about 3,000 paratroopers, and more than 300 planes are used at the same time. There are 300 people who use new parachutes and land at the same time as the weapons." Student looked at the map and introduced Liszt.

This time, his paratroopers are quite large, and according to the calculations of the High Command, the landing does not need to use so many paratroopers.

But the head of state hopes to simulate the battle plan of landing in the UK through Crete. So the paratroopers dispatched 10,000 people, completely killing chickens.

Of the 10,000 paratroopers, 3,000 were dropped by parachutes, and the other 4,500 were operated by direct landing by gliders.

The remaining 2,500 soldiers were to follow the plane directly to the airport after the paratroopers captured the airport.

Although compared with the Allied forces of the Normandy landings, the German paratroopers can still only be said to be small, but in 1940, this scale was indeed considered unprecedentedly powerful.

In the Normandy region in 1944, the Allies dispatched a total of 3,000 transport aircraft and gliders, and the first batch of paratroopers numbered more than 17,000.

Germany's current paratrooper family is not so strong. Including gliders, Germany can dispatch less than 1,000 aircraft. This is still an arrangement that is close to bankruptcy.

If it weren't for the feasibility of large-scale airborne combat, and by the way to conduct drills for the airborne British, the normal scale of the German paratroopers this time would have used at most 700 various aircraft.

Also in action were Italian cover forces, including three naval cruisers and two old Cavour-class battleships.

Italian warships are mainly used to provide long-range artillery support for German paratroopers. When the Italian Navy was frightened against the British Navy, it was used to carry out shelling tasks on the other side, which was definitely a reliable boost.

"What do I need the 12th Army to do? I can mobilize some troops here to participate in the landing operations." Liszt asked aloud.

"The meaning of the head of state, you need to organize a division of troops, and under the cover of the Italian navy, choose a place to land... It's an actual combat exercise." Liszt.

Liszt opened the letter, nodded after reading it, and said, "I will send an infantry division to participate in the battle to land on Crete."

He looked at Student, thought about it, and continued: "This unit will be supplemented to the Western Front and used when landing in the UK... I am really worried that they will suffer heavy losses in the UK."

"I'm training a lot of paratroopers in Munich and Austria... Marshal." Student looked at each other and comforted: "When I land in the UK, I will personally deliver 30,000 paratroopers behind the enemy. You are more worried about the outcome of that battle in the future."

Of course, the 30,000 paratroopers in Student cannot be thrown into the UK together. It is estimated that it will still be divided into batches, but it is already a very remarkable achievement to be able to transport 30,000 soldiers to the other side of the strait.

Hearing what Student said, Liszt nodded, erased the trace of unbearableness in his heart, and promised: "I will choose the best soldier and complete the Fuhrer's plan."

You know, after this operation, these soldiers will be transferred to France to prepare for landing on the British mainland.

Most of them are likely to die on the **** British beaches and become the first test samples of the large-scale German landing operations in this war.

"The aviation unit I belong to, I want to use it to support the landing force operations... Do you have any specific arrangements for your paratroopers?" Liszt adjusted his mood and asked again.

Student replied immediately: "The paratroopers are covered by the air force assigned by Marshal Kesselring. There are 100 fighters and 200 bombers, which are very sufficient."

Because of the proximity to Romania, the German troops in the Balkans were very well fueled. The air force was huge, and the cover from the air was very timely.

It seems that this airborne landing operation~www.wuxiaspot.com~ has been prepared very well. Next, the German military will remove the last nail that can threaten German oilfield facilities.

"Then, presumably you also have your command task, so I won't let you have dinner here." Liszt stood up and said to Student.

The paratrooper commander Studen nodded, also stood up and saluted: "Then, I will not disturb you, Marshal. I have other things to arrange, so let's say goodbye! Long live the head of state!"

"Victory! Führer!" Unlike when he entered the door, Liszt solemnly returned to Student for a military salute, and then put him in the car.

When Student's car was far away, Liszt turned his head and instructed his subordinates, "Get all the division commanders for a meeting immediately. I need to select a unit to practice cross-sea landing operations!"

"As ordered! Marshal!" His subordinates lost the triumphant smile on their faces, and hurriedly dispersed to arrange various tasks in the future.

Find a troop to land... this is no joke...