novelden Chapter 333 The Last Madness (2)
Chapter 333 The Last Madness (2)
Meanwhile, on the Western Front, following Rommel's suicide, Field Marshal Hermann Hoth assumed command of Army Group B. By this time, the Western Front's forces had been consolidated into Army Group B. Their opponents were the US and British, numbering over 400 million men, rivaling the Soviets in the East. Field Marshal Albert Kesselring was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Western Front, but his command consisted of only a few local garrisons, the Luftwaffe, the Air Defense Force, and missile units, besides Army Group B. Although the Germans inflicted heavy casualties on the Allies through Operation Garden, they also depleted their most effective Western units. The Germans, facing a shortage of fuel and heavy defensive weapons, were facing a surge of Allied armored forces, advancing like a torrent. The Netherlands and Luxembourg had already been liberated, and the main British forces began their offensive against Norway and Sweden. The so-called Army Group North was reorganized by German High Command into Army Group C, with only to men, making it completely incapable of withstanding the British offensive.
Field Marshal Hermann Hoth was forced to withdraw his main forces, leveraging his homeland's advantages for defensive maneuvering and organizing resistance. However, the Führer issued a new counterattack order. The last remaining mobile forces were mobilized from the homeland, and two armies were drawn from Army Group G in the south to join the Western Front. The German army massively expanded its forces at home, organizing local defense divisions with men in their 2s and children aged 50 or . These divisions, armed with a limited supply of self-defense weapons, were heavily equipped with Panzerfaust anti-tank weapons, some even possessing only an anti-tank mine or hand grenade. They were expected to risk their lives against the Allied onslaught if necessary!
The Allied bombing campaign dealt a devastating blow to the Third Reich. Major factories were destroyed, leaving Germany with little capacity to manufacture large weapons such as aircraft and tanks. Workers and women were organized, hiding underground and in their homes, reloading bullets, artillery shells, and improvised anti-tank weapons like the Panzerfaust. The massive Allied bombing campaign unleashed a horrific massacre, which the German people resented deeply. Downed American pilots had no chance of survival, and many elderly people and children volunteered to join the Self-Defense Division, determined to fight the Allies to the death.
A division of the U.S. 8th Army was the first to break through the Franco-German border and enter the German mainland. In an unknown town, they were ambushed by an unknown German army. They did not have many weapons, and even the MG42 series machine guns, the main firepower of the German land warfare, were very few. The U.S. armored forces easily broke into their positions. However, they were counterattacked with human shields. Countless German soldiers bravely rushed towards the U.S. armored forces, who used their few weapons and even primitive homemade Molotov cocktails to attack the U.S. armored cluster.
This battle was clearly a one-sided massacre. With only a few tanks and armored vehicles lost, the US troops annihilated this German force of approximately 3000 men. However, when the American soldiers saw the faces of the fallen Germans, they were immediately shocked! Most of these 3000 Germans were elderly, children aged 12 or 3, and many women. They fought back against the US with such reckless abandon. Even the most elite German troops did not do so. The American officers and soldiers were bewildered, and began to question the justice of this war.
The news quickly spread among the US military, and subsequent US troops also encountered the same resistance. Faced with the resistance force composed of the elderly, children, women and children, many US soldiers could no longer pick up their weapons.
Eisenhower and Weymade sat together, discussing the current state of the war. The Air Force had sent a fax stating that the Strategic Air Force had run out of bombing and should cease operations. They had already received numerous reports of the tragic deaths of downed pilots, and these American pilots were deeply resentful. Many preferred court-martial rather than continue flying and participating in such indiscriminate bombing. This, coupled with reports from the Army of frantic resistance by elderly, women, and children, dealt a heavy blow to American morale.
The British Army, an ally of the US Army, especially Montgomery, who was appointed commander of the British First Army Group, was the main force of the British Army's attack on the German mainland. He cooperated with the US Army in the battle and, in order to regain the prestige lost in the failure of the battle in North Africa, he was ordering the British Army to march into the German mainland with all his strength. He kept clamoring to teach the Germans a very profound lesson and clamoring that the Air Force should bomb continuously and indiscriminately, trying to grind down everything visible on the ground in Germany.
Eisenhower and Weimed shook their heads. At this point in the war, they no longer had any meaning, save for occupying the German mainland and prosecuting the fascists. However, as gentlemen, they had no habit of massacring civilians, nor did they feel ashamed to do so. The genial participation of German civilians in the resistance on the German mainland was so brutal that they had never imagined it.
"Mr. Weimade, I think we should end the pointless strategic bombing?" Eisenhower asked softly.
Weimad nodded, thinking carefully, and after a while, he came to his senses and said to Eisenhower: "General, the Air Force has proposed to end the bombing many times. I think it is necessary to stop the indiscriminate bombing."
Weimade continued, "However, how do we explain this to our allies? You know, the British are retaliating against the Germans' previous large-scale bombing of the British mainland, and the Russians won't give up on retaliation either. If we unilaterally end the bombing, we'll have some trouble."
Eisenhower understood the old man's point. While this was indeed a difficult matter to resolve, it was a conflict between the British, Russians, and Germans, and America could not and should not become involved. The US military had an obligation to combat fascism and eliminate it and its forces. However, Eisenhower believed the US military should treat civilians differently.
He stood up, took a few steps, and turned back to ask, "Why haven't those militants from the Flower Planting Family on the southern front made any moves these days?"
Weimade smiled and said, "These little guys probably think the same as us. Fighting against the fascist invaders is their duty. But they've obviously anticipated the resistance of the civilian population when attacking Germany."
Eisenhower nodded and said, "Yes, the US military should not participate in the massacre of civilians." He immediately made a decision. "Chief of Staff, please issue an order. If the US military encounters civilian self-defense forces during an offensive, they should first explain their purpose to them and try to persuade them to surrender!"