Imperial Overlord

Standing on the beach of Crete, the commander of the 112th Infantry Division of the German 12th Army looked at the Greek guard officers standing in front of him, not knowing what to say.

"Sir, our government surrendered to your country a week ago. So let's lay down our arms now and stop resisting." The Greek officer said these words with a reasonable expression on his face.

He paused, then continued to the stunned commander of the 112th Division, Hermann: "We retreated to Crete under the umbrella of British troops, but since Greece surrendered to Germany, we have refused to carry out any operations. mission."

Listening to the other party's introduction to Crete, the basic configuration of the more than 10,000 Greek defenders, the direction of control, and the number of the troops that surrendered to the Germans, etc., Herman felt like crying.

Just a few hours earlier, his troops had rallied and slaughtered the sands of Crete. In the chaotic landing, at least 100 Germans were killed.

As a result, their imaginary enemy had already surrendered... The reason why they didn't notify in advance was explained by the British army not allowing it.

Everything seemed so natural, and everything was so unbelievable. Herman didn't know whether what awaited him was an order of punishment or a certificate of honor for promotion.

Judging from the results of the battle, his troops captured the beaches of Crete and completed their scheduled tasks neatly and should be commended.

But what he was attacking was a line of defense that no one was garrisoned. In the absence of an enemy, it was rumored that he had lost a company of soldiers in vain, and he didn't need to be a human being.

After thinking about it, he decided to wait for the orders of the Supreme Command and the Army Headquarters. Before that, he had to take over the defense line on Crete and completely occupy the island in the hands of one-third of the soldiers who were still surrendering in Greece and the soldiers who surrendered in Britain.

"The Führer is still waiting for our combat report. Except for the sand in our shoes, we hardly encountered any difficulties when we landed... How do you write this?" The chief of staff looked at his boss and asked gloomily.

"How else can I write it? Write down all the problems we have encountered. We are already embarrassed. If we write two less sins, we can still get some face back?" said the chief of staff.

"General Student just arrived at the airport on a glider... The paratroopers found some great guys at the airport." The chief of staff looked at his division commander and started talking about something else.

"I heard from them that the plane at the airport seems to be a new American bomber, and nearly 600 American pilots have been captured." Seeing that the division commander was very interested, the chief of staff added another sentence.

Sure enough, the division commander was very interested, but it was not the kind of interest that the chief of staff understood: "Damn it! The paratroopers have taken everything good, and our 112th Division is about to become a joke of the entire 12th Army."

Meanwhile, the capital of the United States, the White House in Washington.

Roosevelt, who was in a wheelchair, looked at his staff in shock. Marshall stood there with an ugly face, not knowing how to comfort his president.

"Just repeat what you just said!" After a long while, Roosevelt came back to his senses and said angrily to Marshall.

Marshall had no other choice but to bite the bullet and say: "Mr. President, the news just came that the British defenders lost Crete two hours ago."

"Is it accurate to get the news so quickly?" With a little luck, Roosevelt pressed the armrest of the wheelchair with both hands and asked earnestly.

He hoped that the news was false and that others were spreading rumors. And he had other assumptions sketched in his head to convince that things on actual Crete weren't as bad as they thought.

However, Marshall's answer once again ruined Roosevelt's fluke: "Mr. President, the telegram is from our pilot commander... They have decided to surrender after this telegram."

"Our pilots? They didn't leave Crete before the enemy arrived?" Roosevelt's mood was even worse when he heard the news.

Even though he already knew that his plan to bomb Libyan oil fields had been completely destroyed, he was still not reconciled.

At that moment just now, Roosevelt was still imagining that the American pilot at the Crete airport could fly the plane and leave that dangerous place before the island fell.

But now, Marshall has confirmed the most tragic outcome of the American pilots captured by German paratroopers, and possibly even those American bombers.

"The runway was damaged in the previous day's bombing, and they couldn't take off and leave..." Marshall's face was also ugly, because he was in charge of this plan.

Although he was not directly responsible, he voted in favor of this action at the beginning. As a result, he has now sent more than 500 pilots to be prisoners, a responsibility he cannot afford.

Not caring about those brand-new B-17 bombers, or caring about those well-trained pilots, Roosevelt thought about how much impact this would have.

First of all, if the Germans are hyping this up, what exactly does he have to do to get rid of the scrutiny of him in Congress and other departments.

This is not a trivial matter of supporting a few planes or sending a few ships. 50 of America's latest bombers, plus more than 500 pilots... not a small number.

"Now... we have to think about it carefully, and we can't expand this matter indefinitely." Roosevelt looked at Marshall and said, "I don't know how much evidence Germany has found."

Hearing what Mr. President said, Marshall was also extremely depressed. He thought for a while and comforted the president: "Mr. President, I think they should have the opportunity to destroy their identification before surrendering."

"Well... if they really destroyed all the evidence, the pressure on our side would be much less." Roosevelt wiped his face with his hands to keep himself more awake.

Hearing the news of the fall of Crete just now, his whole person became nervous. After calming down now, I began to really think about countermeasures.

After adjusting his mentality, Roosevelt looked at Marshall: "Germany doesn't want to pull the United States into the water now. If they really force us to participate in the war, it won't do them any good."

After analyzing this, he calmed down completely: "Hurry up and send a message to the Congress and our people in the two chambers, so that they can get ready and push everything to the UK!"

"Obstained, and said that those American pilots of British descent were all willing to return to China to participate in the war!" Once Roosevelt regained his calm, his political judgment was still very accurate.

As long as these pilots are bitten and voluntarily returned to the country to participate in the war, then Germany will gain nothing if it wants to climb on the United States.

Sometimes countries are so shameless. As long as there is an explanation internally, it is nothing more than a war of words.

When this matter comes to a conclusion, the war may be over. At that time, no matter who wins or loses, there is no need to quarrel anymore.

In this kind of diplomacy, the United States is quite mature. So now it looks like the situation is in crisis, but in fact there is really nothing serious.

"The point is that those planes are now in the hands of the Germans, which is not good news for us!" Roosevelt said gloomily.

Originally, the Luftwaffe technical engineers had shortcomings in the design of the 4-round bomber. Now the United States has taken the initiative to send the most advanced and the best strategic bombers in the entire World War II, which is simply an enemy...

Of course, sending more than 500 pilots will make it even more sad that many well-trained pilots in the United States are now serving in the British Air Force on a "voluntary" basis.

At this time, the United States is not the previous year of peace. At this time, the United States has already drawn swords with Japan in the Pacific Ocean.

At such a critical moment, when hundreds of skilled pilots are deployed, the overall strength of the U.S. Army Air Forces will of course be damaged.

The American pilots who flew to Crete were all veteran bombers. Most of them must have the ability to fly and navigate at night, which can be said to be the elite of the elite.

Well now, the package was sent directly to the German prisoner-of-war camp... How could Roosevelt not be heartbroken, and how could Marshall not be so depressed?

"The first thing is to change the telegram password on the front line as soon as possible. There are so many planes, and there are several cipher machines on Crete. We can't take risks!" Roosevelt finally decided to deal with it after the pain The thorny problem at hand.

Marshall also nodded quickly: "Yes! We are already doing this. There are also technical issues related to the B-17, which I have ordered to deal with."

"Anyway, we lost the base in Crete... There is almost no way to target the oil fields in Libya." Thinking of the failure of this strategic plan, Roosevelt was entangled again.

Without the forward bases to attack the Third Reich, it is now impossible to prevent Germany from stockpiling its own resources, and the cage set up by the United States to trap Germany before the war seems to have been broken by Germany.

"Now we have no way to suppress Germany. We can only take a step back to save Britain and restore the decline bit by bit." Marshall suggested to Roosevelt bitterly.

Roosevelt nodded helplessly, temporarily agreeing with Marshall's statement: "It seems that this is the only way to go! Next step, do your best to support the British mainland!"

After all, he was still Hitler's transport captain... Roosevelt thought gloomily in his heart.