Chapter 483: 483
On April 16, the battlefield in London, which had been silent for almost three days, became lively again. More than 200 German bombers of various models appeared in London, where there was no bombing value. The Group A seemed to suddenly begin to ignore the casualties, and the attack became cruel and extremely destructive.
A four-unit self-propelled anti-aircraft gun appeared in central London under the protection of hundreds of German troops. The German army lost patience and raided several important buildings in the city center with a 30mm caliber cannon. After the German army attacked a ruin in the city center, a 10,000-word banner representing Germany was erected there.
The battle continued on this day. The German army tried its best to start clearing the British defenders inside one by one, and the British soldiers defending London only then realized that the German army's true combat power was not as gentle as they showed a few days ago.
Any suspected area will be greeted by napalm bombs, as the conflict has weakened and gradually subsided, the London fires are burning again, and are even more violent than they did a few days ago. German soldiers crossed the burning buildings from the side and rushed to another battlefield in groups.
Lundstedt looked at two documents in his command without saying a word, one was the head of state ordered him to capture London at all costs, and the other was the incomplete casualty statistics report he received after two hours of fighting.
He knew that if it were not for the difficult troubles, the Head of State Akado would not have signed or issued such orders. In his impression, the Head of State was more concerned about the casualties of soldiers than the generals on the front line. This high-ranking head of the empire was a bit inexplicably petty in terms of the losses of soldiers. Marshal Bolauxiche had explained the reason in private that the head of state attributed the habit of caring about casualties to the head of state being from a low-level soldier class, which was so because of his own personal experience.
Now that the head of state can issue orders at all costs, it means that some troubles have occurred in the country, and these troubles need to be quickly won the war to be resolved. As the commander of the army, Lundstedt is obviously not an idiot. He immediately understood that high-intensity war has raised the anti-war sentiment in the country.
Humans are really a complex creature. When the country is in crisis and the nation is not prosperous, a slogan often allows countless people to support it. At that time, it seems that everyone is obliged to sacrifice their lives and shed their blood. As the saying goes, every man is responsible for the rise and fall of a country. However, when the country becomes strong and gets rid of the crisis, the same people and the same things will never receive applause or encouragement. Everyone will long to live their own lives well and will not be interested in expanding their territory and dominating the world.
Acardo did not use national hatred excessively, nor did he promote radical racism. The benefits of this were naturally huge. This decision allowed Germany to maintain its due rationality and tolerance in the war, and removed the label of "unjust war" in advance. On the other hand, it also alleviated the sequelae caused by war inertia to Germany, avoiding the stagnation and collapse of Germany's domestic economy once the war stagnation occurs.
But doing so actually has its disadvantages. This disadvantage is that the incitement of national sentiment is not thorough enough. The reserved rationality and tolerance begin to reflect on their own gains and losses during the war. Therefore, Germany now lacks the desperate fighting mentality that was originally incited by Hitler, so this embarrassing situation has emerged.
In fact, under the rule of Acardo, the Germans have never relied on completely distorted emotions to launch a war of expansion against the outside world. In the early stage, Acardo mainly relied on inciting the people to overthrow the Treaty of Versailles to gain popularity, which means that Acardo relied on himself to break the reputation brought by the Versailles system. In the later stage, the fundamental driving force of Germany's expansion was that Acardo distributed interests to satisfy capitalists, and the support of these capitalists was the cornerstone of the rampage of German million troops.
Akado, who understands history, always wanders on the brink of nationalism, and uses the "Great Germans" who expand the concept to blur and exploit dangerous racism. He has successfully gained unprecedented status and recognition from the people, absorbing the dual support of fanatics and rationalists. This is also the fundamental reason why he was able to defeat the Nazi Party, which relied solely on fanatics: he did more and more radically for this country than the Nazi Party, so the fanatics turned to support him, but he also treated domestic conflicts moderately, so the rationalists were optimistic about him, so he could surpass the limelight Hitler and become the head of the country... Since he had already taken the benefits, he must now bear the trouble and consequences of the incomplete "fuzzy racism" he carried out.
Because he did not often use the Nazi Party to strictly control domestic public opinion and did not conceal the radical strategy of excluding dissidents, he did not arrest those who opposed him, nor did he make great efforts to block the mouths of these people. He has seen too many heroes who sacrificed their lives for this country. He admired people like Sickett and Karl Benz, so he was unwilling to kill those who also loved this country.
So these pressures are now passed by Akado's shoulders and pressed on General Lundstedt, the commander of the British local front line. The two-hour crazy attack has caused the German army to lose a total of 2,000 soldiers. If it continues at this rate, before today's attack stops, the German army will lose at least 15,000 troops.
Another question that made Lundstedt feel helpless was what is the use of London that was built with this method? It is already ruined, the factory was destroyed, the palace had collapsed, and millions of citizens were probably not even one tenth of them left. Such a London is probably more symbolic than its practical significance.
After looking at the documents in front of him, he stood up and shook his head and sighed. The combat staff came over to comfort the general who looked old after a few days: "General, this is what the Supreme Command means, we just need to execute it."
"Of course I know what to do. I just feel that there is no need to do this." Lundstedt looked very moved. While walking to the window, he continued to say: "I know that Berlin needs news to end the war. Even if London is just a symbol and a symbol, it must be fought as soon as possible. As long as the war here ends, the Berlin Head of State will be much better... But it is a pity to sacrifice soldiers in vain."
"General, we have vowed to be loyal to the Head of State." The staff officer thought about it and persuaded the old general: "Compared to being loyal to the German emperor, we are in many times better now - at least the head of state treats us as life, rather than consuming materials, which is enough."
How could Lundstedt, who had experienced the Battle of Verdun and the Battle of the Somme, not knowing how cruel the war was back then? Of course, he knew that compared to the kind of battle that was purely based on life and blood, the battle he commanded now could be regarded as a military exercise. Thinking of this, he felt a little better.
After coughing, he patted the staff's shoulder with gratitude, and then walked back to the front of the combat map. He seemed a little better as his troops gradually compressed the area in central London. He felt a little better. Let's finish it soon. As long as we occupy this place, we can declare the end of the battle against Britain. He thought silently in his heart.
In fact, the British had long since wanted to continue fighting like this, because the war was carried out at their homes, and no matter what was broken, it was their own. Someone had already compared Paris in France, which was also patronized by Germany, but the treatment was very different.
Paris is almost unscathed now, and the German army is also very restraining in Paris. Therefore, whether it is defeated or occupied, the pain brought to the civilians of Paris in France is not much. On the contrary, London in Britain is different, and it is almost razed to the ground! So many British people are reflecting on whether it is right or wrong to resist so desperately.
It is not impossible to give Germany now and let the people suffer less. Since we firmly believe that we can win, it is better to take it back in the future! This is what many people think. If they don’t say it, it doesn’t mean they don’t think so.
Just as Lundstedt was struggling with how to carry out the tragic street fighting to the end, the door of his office was knocked on.
"Come in!" The general and the staff officer turned around at the same time and looked at the young officer walking into the door.
"Long live Acardo Rudolph, Head of State!" The officer who came in stood attentively saluted, and then said: "General! The commander of the 29th British Garage Division stationed in southern London sent someone to send a letter of surrender, and he was willing to surrender to us."
"Oh? This is good news. Are you sure they really want to surrender?" Lundstedt was stunned at first, and then immediately ecstatic. In France, he had not seen an enemy division surrender, but this time it was obviously more significant: the surrender of the British army at this time means that the opponent's determination to fight to the death was shaken. Once one side wavered in will, it would be not far from collapse.
The news was soon confirmed. Germany made an exception and sent the commander of the 1st Infantry Army nearby to personally receive the commander of the British surrendered division and held a grand surrender ceremony. According to Acardo's instructions, the surrendered division commander was appointed honorary mayor of the city of London, Germany.
Chapter completed!