"Father, Lampard still knows the importance!" Lin Wei said, "If I had to choose between the Junkers and the National Socialist Party, of course I would choose the Junkers, even though I have a very close relationship with Hitler. Okay, but now that we’re in this situation, we have no choice but to give up!”
"Well!" Gustav nodded appreciatively, "Lampard, I'm very happy that you have made such a decision. In order for us to control Germany for a long time, we must weaken the National Socialist Party!"
"Father, I understand!" Lin Wei nodded and said, "I will not delay the future of our Juncker landlord for the sake of my personal feelings!"
"That's good!" Gustav said, "You'd better not mess up your force field," Gustav said: "England and France are our external enemies after all!" We cannot have a choice against them, but we must be extremely careful when dealing with the National Socialist Party. Sometimes the enemy within is scarier than the enemy without. ! ~”
After finishing speaking, Gustave may have felt that what he said was a bit harsh, so he softened his expression and said with concern, "Your mother is cooking! I know you are back, but she is cooking herself! I don't know." I haven’t eaten her cooking for a long time! After dinner, come with me to the factory, I’ll show you our latest achievements at Krupp!”
"Well! I believe my father will not let me down!" Lin Wei said with a smile.
"Okay, okay, let's eat!" Gustave interrupted Lin Wei's compliment, but there was no hint of displeasure on his face.
Lin Wei is enjoying a short vacation at home! But now Berlin is conducting final studies of Exercise Wesser.
Berlin base camp Hit? Ler, Hess, Goering, Goebbels, all the senior generals of the Wehrmacht are here, Hitt? Le glanced at everyone and said calmly, "The British are already impatient to take action! Although I want to ensure the neutral status of Northern Europe, I cannot watch the British use Northern Europe as a stronghold to contain the empire. Otherwise, the last war Disaster will befall us again!"
"This is information collected by the Gestapo!" Hit? Le disclosed the developments in Britain during this period to the people at the meeting, and asked them to promise not to spread the news.
The leader of the Norwegian Nazi Party, President Quisling, visited Berlin and asked Hitler? Le reported that Britain was about to occupy Norway with the tacit agreement of the Norwegian government. Quisling and request Hit? Germany provided economic and military assistance to support a coup d'état to overthrow the Norwegian government, and then invited Germany to protect Norway from a British invasion. Hit? Le stated that he would rather see Norway remain completely neutral, as would the rest of Scandvia, as he did not want to expand the battlefield. But if the enemy is prepared to expand the war, he must take self-defense actions to deal with this threat. He promised to give Quisling a sum of money and to study the question of military aid.
However, Britain and France continued to threaten Norway's neutrality. As early as September 19, 1939, the British cabinet approved the plan proposed by Admiralty Churchill: to mine mines in Norwegian territorial waters to cut off Germany's sea transportation lines for importing Swedish iron ore. On January 6, 1940, the British government sent a note to the Norwegian government stating that the British fleet would not allow German merchant ships to use Norwegian waters. This adds to Hit? Le's concerns about the security and strategic resources of its northern flank. January 27, Hit? Le directed the German high command to draw up a comprehensive battle plan for the occupation of Norway if necessary. To this end, the German High Command set up a campaign preparation staff composed of one representative from each of the army, navy and air force, and formulated a Norwegian campaign plan code-named "Wesser Exercise".
On February 5, Britain and France held a supreme military conference in Paris and decided to form an expeditionary force with 2 British divisions and 1 French detachment, land at Narvik in Norway, and then occupy Gallivare in northern Sweden. iron ore. What followed on February 16th was an incident that finally convinced Hit? determination to occupy Norway. On that day, a German warship "Altmark" carrying British prisoners of war was chased by British warships and fled to Norwegian waters for refuge. Churchill ordered the British ship to break into Norwegian waters, boarded the "Altmark" and rescued the prisoners of war. . There were two Norwegian gunboats present at the time, and they did not respond to the British ship's invasion. The Norwegian government only protested to the British afterwards. But Hit? Le believed that the Norwegian government had become an accomplice of the British, and that this protest was nothing more than a posturing to deceive him. Then Quisling asked Hit? Le reported that the British ship's action was a plan drawn up in advance by Britain and Norway, so that Hit? Le is even more convinced.
Originally Hit? Hitler didn't want to fight on multiple fronts, but Britain's aggressiveness forced Hit? Le had to consider the security of the northern part of the empire. So Hit? Le finally decided to strike first and quickly occupy Norway. He told the German generals: "It is reported that the British are preparing to land in Norway, and I want to arrive before them. The British occupation of Norway will become a strategic turning point. They will take the opportunity to enter the Baltic Sea, and we have no troops there. , and there are no coastal defenses...the enemy will march towards Berlin and break the backbone of our two fronts."
Is it actually like Hit? As expected, the British government believed that the purpose of the Germans to increase their troops in the ports of the Baltic Sea and the North Sea was just to lay mines in Norwegian territorial waters in order to cut off the channel for transporting iron ore from Narvik, and to occupy Narvik at the same time. Erwick and some other ports in the south, making Hit? Le facilitates counterattack.
In fact, the British government was indeed considering such an occupation at the time. After seven months of setbacks, the Admiralty finally obtained approval from the War Cabinet and the Allied Supreme Military Council to lay mines on the Norwegian waterway. This was a military operation code-named "Wilfred". Since it seemed that the Germans might take a powerful countermeasure against the fatal blockage of their Narvik iron ore transportation line, they decided to send a small group of British and French troops to Narvik and advance to the nearby Swedish border. In addition, some troops would be sent to land further south at Trondheim, Bergen and Stavager to prevent these bases from being occupied by the Germans.
"For this, the empire must be prepared!" Hit? Le said decisively, "Soldiers of the National Defense Forces! Now I order that the Weise exercise plan is to be launched!"
"Hi! Hit? Le!" in response to Hit? There was a unanimous cheer!
Hit? Le nodded with satisfaction and said confidently, "The development of the situation in Scandinavia requires all preparations to occupy Denmark and Norway. This combat operation can prevent Britain from attacking Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea." invasion. In addition, it would secure our iron ore base in Sweden and provide our navy and air force with a broader line of departure for the attack on Britain..., from our military, political power and Scandinavia Judging from the comparison of the military and political power of various countries, the fewer troops used in the "Wesser Exercise", the better. Weaknesses in numbers should be made up for by bold actions and surprise victories. In principle, we should try our best to make this action It is like a peaceful occupation. Its purpose is to maintain the neutrality of the Scandinavian countries by force. Corresponding demands will be submitted to the governments of these countries at the beginning of the occupation. If necessary, naval and air force demonstrations will be held to support these demands. Provide the necessary pressure. If the demonstration fails and encounters resistance, use all military means to defeat it... Crossing the Danish border and landing in Norway must be carried out at the same time... The most important thing is that for the Scandinavian countries and the West The enemy should be attacked with surprise troops... Only when setting off from the sea should the actual target be known to the troops."
"At the same time!" Hit? Le unfolded a map of Finland and said, "After the frontal combat troops, there is the surprise attack force of the SS Finnish Northern Combat Group! Now the Northern Combat Group is stationed in the Lapland area of northern Finland! After the Weise exercise combat operation was issued, , the Northern Combat Group will act simultaneously to occupy the northern part of Norway where military strength is weak, and wait for an opportunity to capture the Norwegian government!"
Seeing that everyone has no objections, Hit? Le said, "Since everyone has no objections, then I order! Within half a month, prepare all the things needed for the Wesser exercise and occupy Norway as soon as possible! The command of this operation will be by Nicholas von Falken General Horst will be in charge! Now it’s up to the commander, General von Brauchitsch, to explain the specific action plan!”
General von Brauchitsch cleared his throat and said, "It is a three-dimensional tactic of joint operations of the sea, land and air forces to carry out surprise attacks from south to north in Oslo, Christian and Stavanger in Norway. Landing at six major ports: Bergen, Trondheim, and Narvik. In the first stage, we will seize the ports and airports. In the second stage, we will attack inland and occupy all of Norway. In the second stage, we will prepare to attack those who may land. The British and French allied forces carried out anti-landing and counterattack operations. In order to quickly achieve the campaign objectives, the German high command mobilized all the power of the navy, 6 aviation divisions and 2 airborne divisions of the air force, and 5 infantry divisions of the 21st Army Group Army, led by Zeng General Falkenhorst, commander of the 21st Army who had fought in Northern Europe, served as the commander-in-chief of the campaign."
Considering that the British and French naval forces were almost nine times that of the German navy, General von Brauchitsch particularly emphasized the suddenness of the launch of the campaign, pointing out: "Although the enemy has control of the sea, if we can give full play to the suddenness, our army can enter Norway. , understand the importance of this battle, and we should not begrudge the loss of most of the surface troops in the future." In order to achieve a surprise attack, General von Brauchitsch also requested: deploy troops covertly, adopt camouflage measures, and spread false information to create preparations A false landing in England. Except for General Falkenhorst, the commander-in-chief of the campaign, commanders at all levels learned about their missions as late as possible to prevent leaks. "