Chapter 729 Will Practitioner

Major General Osheim, who was anxious on the phone, did not wait too long. The answer given by Paulus immediately afterwards was unexpected.

"If you don't understand what I meant just now, Osheim, I can repeat it to you again."

"Your order is to obtain some actual results that can be put on the table for discussion before tonight. Anything else can be regarded as a secondary goal."

"If there are any other questions, it is best to raise them now. I don't want to wait until the evening and be used as an excuse for failure by you because of this kind of thing. This is absolutely not allowed!"

When Chinese people speak, especially when dealing with people in the workplace, they always pay attention to a roundabout meaning. They don't like to put something directly on the table and say it clearly. "It can only be understood but not expressed in words" is the most appropriate description of this way of speaking.

Major General Osheim didn't know whether Commander Paulus was afraid of taking responsibility or simply wanted the result without asking about the process.

But in short, such an order that can be said to have directly determined the fate of many German soldiers did make Major General Osheim feel a little creepy.

"Okay, I understand, Commander Paulus. I will faithfully carry out your order and implement it truthfully to bring the news of victory to our entire Sixth Army."

Looking at his immediate superior finally put down the phone in his hand, Colonel Adam, the chief adjutant who was allowed to stand aside and listen, finally couldn't help but speak.

"This order is too risky, General Paulus. Just imagine what Major General Osheim will do because of this order? How many German soldiers' families will lose their husbands, sons, fathers, and brothers because of this."

"I know you are under a lot of pressure, but this is still a bit too radical."

As the chief adjutant beside Paulus, Colonel Adam has a close personal relationship with Paulus and has always maintained a good relationship.

At work, the two are superiors and subordinates, but in the absence of outsiders, Paulus is more willing to put down his posture and talk to Colonel Adam about some sincere and practical issues. This is why Colonel Adam dared to question Paulus's order as a subordinate. After all, there are no outsiders in the command room except him and Paulus.

After hearing Colonel Adam's words, Paulus seemed noncommittal and silent. He held his forehead with both hands and closed his eyes in deep thought. For a moment, even Paulus himself was confused about whether the order just now was correct.

This morning, Hitler, the head of the Empire, who was far away in Berlin, sent a telegram to the Sixth Army, which was fighting bloody battles, asking about the latest situation of the entire battle and when the city named after the evil Bolshevik bandit Stalin could be captured.

Paulus was silent for a long time behind his desk, holding the telegram symbolizing the head of state's will in his hand. Although he knew very well how the battle situation on the front line was progressing, he didn't know where to start and how to give a perfect answer to the head of state.

Paulus was very afraid of being reprimanded by the head of state because of the unfavorable progress of the war. He knew very well that his promotion speed was too fast because he was favored by the head of state, which had caused the people in Berlin to be dissatisfied and even jealous. At least Paulus himself thought so.

General Guderian, who always set up his command post in a position where he could clearly hear the sound of artillery fire, was completely dismissed by the Führer, while a senior advisor from the General Staff who had only led soldiers for one year was entrusted with an important task.

The people in Berlin who were just sitting around doing nothing were just talking and laughing about this matter after dinner, but Paulus, who was on the front line, heard that many people who had a good relationship with General Guderian were quite contemptuous of this matter.

Even those veteran front-line generals who had a general relationship with Guderian had some complaints about this, and privately called themselves "Chief of Staff of the Infantry Company" to mock themselves.

Company commander, this was the first officer position Paulus got after the end of World War I.

Paulus did not think that the officer position and honor he had won through bloody battles were shameful, but he could not withstand the rumors flying around. This made Paulus even feel that if he fell out of favor with the Führer, it might be a luxury for him to go home and eat himself like Guderian did.

A "three-nothing" person like himself who has no name, no status, and no background is definitely the best person to be sent to a military court to take the blame for the failure of the war. There is no other.

The Junker noble officers' group warmed up and helped each other, which was the beauty and dream that Paulus could never envy.

Paulus, whose head was almost confused, finally listed the real situation in a book and sent a telegram to Berlin to reply to the head of state. As expected, he was scolded by a telegram that came back in less than an hour.

In the telegram, Hitler strictly ordered Paulus to speed up the attack, saying that the current progress of the battle was "intolerable and close to a crime against the German people."

In the telegram, Hitler repeated the old tune and listed several time points again. The tight ring was put on Paulus' head. It was Hitler's clear requirement to take over the core industrial area of ​​Stalingrad before the end of the month.

Paulus, with a pale face, held the Führer's telegram of reprimand in his hand, his expression several times uglier than if he had eaten a live fly.

The prerequisite for taking over the core industrial area of ​​Stalingrad is to stabilize Mamayev Kurgan, occupy Stalingrad No. 1 Railway Station, and use the railway station as a forward offensive base to further seize the trestle connecting the south and north of the city, thereby cutting off the ground connection between the Soviet troops defending the north and south of the city, making it impossible for them to flexibly mobilize troops to reinforce the breached gap.

Only in this way can the Sixth Army mobilize its main force to attack the core industrial area of ​​Stalingrad with all its strength without threatening its flanks, and thus complete the primary strategic goal personally issued by the Führer.

But now, the battle of Mamayev Kurgan is still going on fiercely.

The mountains of corpses and the sea of ​​blood almost completely dyed the highland that was flattened by artillery shells and bombings red. The land is saturated with blood because it sucks too much blood. The river of blood is not a boast in literary and artistic works, but the most real scene on this hill where the air is filled with the smell of death.

The uncertainty of Mamayev Kurgan corresponds to the stalemate at Stalingrad Railway Station No. 1. Paulus is almost suffocating under the huge pressure from the Führer. The marshal rank that seemed to be within his reach before seems to be rapidly moving away from him.

Paulus, with bloodshot eyes, finally stopped his one-minute silence and wild thoughts and raised his head, speaking viciously in a tone that Colonel Adam described as "surprising" in his diary that day.

"The Führer once said that he has the power to make German soldiers sacrifice for him! I recognize the Führer's order and regard myself as the practitioner of the Führer's will. Now is the time for our soldiers to fulfill their promise!"