Chapter 155 Chapter 25 "The Underworld Follows Him" ​​(6)

For Germany, November was a disastrous month, as enemies from both the east and the west were victorious.The conquest of Egypt was low on Hitler's list of priorities, so Rommel was not sent enough supplies and reinforcements, which made the defeat in North Africa inevitable.Although the pyramids were in sight, the "Desert Fox" was forced to fight defensively. When his southern flank (held by the Italians) was breached by the British General Montgomery, Rommel telegraphed permission to retreat. On the evening of December 2, the head of state gave a reply: "Inch steps" are not allowed to retreat, and the troops "will be benevolent if they do not succeed."

Moments before receiving this telegram, Rommel sent another telegram saying that he had been forced to retreat; the retreat had actually been going on for five hours.The news reached the Supreme Command at 3 o'clock in the morning.Since the combat staff officer on duty did not know the content of Hitler's previous telegram, he felt that this telegram was not very important and did not hand it over to the Führer.Of course, Hitler was very angry at not waking him up.He was calling for Vallimont.When Vallimont walked towards the Führer's office, Keitel yelled at him from a distance, not like a soldier: "You, Vallimont, come here! Hitler never wants to see you again!" He He was informed that he had been relieved of his duties.

Rommel's retreat was a harbinger of total defeat in the desert.Immediately afterwards, on November 7, another disturbing report came: a large fleet of the Allies had sailed into the Mediterranean Sea and was approaching the coast of North Africa.The fleet had been spotted in Gibraltar a few days earlier, but Hitler and the Supreme Command thought they were heading for Sardinia or Sicily.The main reason for the German surprise, Jodl explained, "is probably that, after the fall of the Forest of Compiègne, France was treated rightly, or rather sublimely, from Germany. Thereafter we did not I didn't expect France to play a fake politics - because this landing can only be carried out with the consent of the French."

For the alarm of his military generals, Hitler neither bothered to find excuses nor to think about them.He interrupted the briefing held at noon and boarded his special train, accompanied by most of the "senior residents" of "Wolf's Lair".Their destination was Munich; there to celebrate the nineteenth anniversary of the Beer Hall Rebellion.While the Führer was sleeping peacefully, the vanguard of British and American troops landed on the beaches of Algeria and Morocco.Reports arrived early, and it indicated that the French were holding back the landing force.So Hitler reprimanded several of his advisers for panicking.then.He ordered reinforcements to Crete on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea, leaving everyone dumbfounded.Apparently, at least, he was more concerned with the speech he was to give at 6 p.m. to old comrades in the Rowan Bräu Tavern.This is a combat speech.He was attacked, and he defended himself by saying that his insistence on taking the city "which also happened to be called Stalin" was as expensive to the Germans as it had been at Verdun.But, he warned, he was no weakling, William II, who handed over vast swaths of the empire's conquests in the east just because a few traitors wanted to make peace with the West. "Reassure all our enemies that Germany at that time laid down its arms at 11:45, and I, as a matter of principle, never laid down before 12:05."

In the evening, the report sent back from Africa was too harsh for Hitler to ignore.He ordered Ribbentrop to call Mussolini to a meeting immediately.Ciano, who was roused from bed for the second time in 24 hours, was persuaded to wake Mussolini.But Mussolini refused to go to Bavaria.He didn't want to meet Hitler under the shadow of failure, not to mention his illness.By the time his replacement Ciano arrived in Munich, Hitler had accepted the reality of the African landings.He had already seen clearly, "The god of war has left Germany and ran into the opponent's camp." At the same time, Ribbentrop suggested that Stalin should be approached through Mrs. Kolontai, the Soviet ambassador to Stockholm.Hitler reacted strongly to this.He also suggested giving up lands conquered in the East "if necessary".The Führer jumped to his feet. "What I want to discuss," he said with such violence that Ribbentrop was frightened, "is Africa—nothing else!"

Japan also tried to get Germany to make peace with Russia, but the Führer refused.Another formal Japanese request, that Germany take a defensive position in the east and move most of its forces to the west, was also rejected by Hitler. "I understand what you Japanese are saying," Hitler said to Ambassador Oshima. "The idea is good, but it cannot be implemented." In such a cold country, digging fortifications is very difficult.But this is nothing more than high-profile sounding to make allies sound good.The success of Hitler's plan depended on the victory over Bolshevism.Compromise with Stalin was absolutely out of the question for such a man.Failing to achieve victory in the East, he was obliged to hold off the Red Army until the Jews had been purged from Europe.

In Berlin, rumors swirled that Hitler had gone mad.It is said that at a large gathering, Mrs. Funke said to Mrs. Frick, "The Führer is leading us into disaster." "Yes," said Mrs. Frick, "that man has gone mad." Famous Ferdinand Sauerbruch, a famous surgeon, had the same opinion. He told his friends that when he visited the Führer recently, he found that Hitler was old and depressed, and he was muttering to himself intermittently, saying "I must go to India", "One German was killed, ten enemies must perish" and so on.