old sweat instantly broke out on Kluge's forehead. He was unarmed now, as even his only sidearm had been confiscated before entering the conference room. With a mournful face and teeth audibly chattering, he said in a trembling voice, "Führer... Führer, I... but... but... I have always been loyal to you."
"Loyalty? Is this how you are loyal to me?" Hoffman ignored the pathetic-looking Kluge and instead pointed at Kluge's capable assistant, the Chief of Staff of Army Group Center, Major General Henning von Tresckow, saying, "Arrest this traitor."
Before anyone could react, three wolf-like guards swarmed in and pinned Tresckow's arms behind his back. Seeing him struggling, Major Günsche stepped forward and delivered a hard punch to his stomach. He curled up in pain like a shrimp, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth as he glared at Hoffman with hateful eyes.
"The famous core figure of the rebel organization—General Tresckow. I heard you organized more than three assassination plots against me. You didn't expect to be captured in such a situation, did you?" Hoffman smiled contemptuously. The advantage of being a transmigrator was truly great; under normal circumstances, these people wouldn't be exposed until the 7/20 plot, but he could root them out one by one right now. "Guards, go outside and carefully check his briefcase. Watch out for bombs."
Everyone looked at each other in dismay. The turn of events had exceeded their capacity to bear or imagine, but facing the muzzles of MP38s, no one dared to move.
A moment later, Major Günsche ran over and reported the fact that a time bomb had been found in Tresckow's briefcase. Although his voice was not loud, everyone heard it clearly. Hoffman felt the hairs on his back stand up. If he hadn't made up his mind to remove this tumor and made proper arrangements, he might have been finished off today, and he would have died an unjust death.
Upon hearing that there really was a bomb, the faces of the other attendees turned deathly pale—who knew how many casualties a bomb would have caused in such an enclosed space! Fortunately, the Führer had discovered their plot.
"Führer... Führer..." Kluge cried out as he lunged forward, "I didn't agree to participate in their conspiracy!"
"So, you admit that you knew about their conspiracy?" Hoffman smiled coldly. "Kluge, if you had truly dared to join the rebel organization, I would still respect you as a man. But you are vacillating; you dared not report their conspiracy to me, nor did you dare to participate in their plot. You are just a shameless, worthless wretch! Drag him away and lock him up tight, and let Himmler interrogate him!"
Kluge's face turned deathly pale. Major Günsche didn't stand on ceremony with him, stepping up and tearing off his collar tabs and shoulder boards. The pathetic Field Marshal trembled all over, tears and snot streaming down his face, filled with unspeakable regret.
"Is there anyone else among you who is their accomplice? Step forward voluntarily, and you might spare others from being implicated." Hoffman's cold gaze swept across the crowd. No one made a sound, no one moved, and of course, no one dared to meet his eyes. The air seemed to have frozen solid.
"Unwilling to step forward? Then I will name names: Friedrich Olbricht!" With Hoffman's shout, the guards swarmed in and arrested this General of Infantry serving at the OKW. This guy didn't sound very prominent, but Hoffman knew exactly how dangerous he was—he had used his position as Chief of the Army High Command Office and Chief of the Reserve Army Office within the OKW to plant large numbers of conspiracy members into various departments of the Army Headquarters, and had even formulated a plan to launch a military coup relying on the Reserve Army to occupy Berlin. However, he was straightforward enough; seeing the situation was wrong, he honestly surrendered without a struggle, not even uttering a word of defense.
Everyone gasped. They hadn't expected another one to be caught. Field Marshal Keitel, Chief of the OKW, turned pale and twitched all over. The Führer had actually caught such high-level rebels right under his nose; he felt as if the sky were about to collapse.
Amidst Tresckow's curses, Kluge's pleas, and Olbricht's silence, the guards quickly led the rebels away. Not until the conference room door slammed shut with a "bang" did the crowd finally let their suspended hearts settle.
"The meeting will now continue. General Weichs, do you have any different opinions regarding your new position?"
Now, Weichs didn't dare say another word. He shook his head mechanically and sat down obediently. However, he had little interest in listening to what Hoffman would say next; his mind was entirely on the rebel group. The arrest of Tresckow was definitely a bombshell. He had served under two commanders of Army Group Center, Bock and Kluge, and Field Marshal Bock was even his uncle. He might have already organized a conspiracy network. If nothing unexpected happened, Army Group Center would soon see a wave of purges against the conspirators. Just thinking about taking over such a mess of an Army Group Center, plus the fact that Himmler and the SS were going to get involved, made his head ache.
Since even Weichs had no objections, naturally no one else would stand up to plead for Paulus. Furthermore, everyone's mind was on the conspiracy group, and they dared not question the Führer's decision at all. Subsequent personnel appointments were adjusted logically. Manstein not only took over as commander of Army Group B but also concurrently served as commander of the 6th Army. Ferdinand Schörner, the conqueror of Greece and commander of the XIX Mountain Corps, unexpectedly became the commander of the 2nd Army—although this was a purely infantry army, it had a formation of up to 9 divisions and 1 brigade. Apparently, even though he was not present, he had received a good post, and according to custom, his rank would also be promoted one level. Hoffman had an understanding of Schörner's ability and loyalty that far exceeded everyone else's. This seemingly bland personnel appointment marked the prelude to his series of adjustments for core frontline commanders.
Now, through the personnel and deployment adjustments, everyone understood the overall situation. Among the 180 divisions on the Eastern Front (including over 20 Axis minor ally divisions), the southern wing held the majority, with 96 divisions. Within the two Army Groups, A and B, that formed the southern wing, Manstein's Army Group B accounted for 60% of the strength and even directly commanded the 6th Army, which possessed the strongest assault power and a formation of 14 elite German divisions. The gazes cast toward Manstein were full of envy, but they also felt that this conqueror of Crimea deserved this position.
After other scattered personnel appointments were announced, Chief of the General Staff, General Zeitzler, began explaining the strategic guidelines for the next phase on the Eastern Front. Zeitzler's level was certainly not just for show. In just one night, he had turned the strategic intent that Hoffman had described in a few words yesterday evening into a meticulous and reliable military deployment adjustment. He picked up a pointer and explained section by section on the map: "According to the Führer's instructions, over the next six months, the units under the Eastern Front command will remain stable at the current level. Unless there are special circumstances, there will be no new Army divisions formed. However, the personnel, materials, and technical weapons lost by the units will be resupplied according to emergency status. Overall, over the next few months, we will adopt an offensive-defensive approach, focusing on eliminating the Russians' effective strength rather than capturing strategic points. We hope that through a year of adjustments and replenishment, we can open up the situation on the Southern Front while gaining an overwhelming advantage over Stalin next year."
"Southern Front strategy?" Everyone was confused. Apart from the Eastern Front and Western Front, now there was a Southern Front?
"The Commander-in-Chief of the Western Front will be Field Marshal Rundstedt; the Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Front will be the Führer himself; the Commander-in-Chief of the Southern Front will be Field Marshal Kesselring, and General Guderian will replace Field Marshal Rommel as Commander of the Africa Army Group." At Zeitzler's signal, Guderian stood up to brief everyone on the general situation of the Southern Front strategy. People were not surprised by Guderian's reappointment; so many things had happened today that even the most unexpected orders would not surprise them. Many were even relieved that this guy Guderian wasn't coming to the Eastern Front to cause trouble. However, upon hearing the Führer's order to transfer 2 armored divisions and 3 motorized infantry divisions from the Eastern Front to reinforce the Africa Corps, the crowd, especially the commanders of the several Army Groups, felt another spasm of toothache. No one wanted such a thing to fall on themselves. But now it seemed that this cut was unavoidable—who told the Southern Front to have oil resources? Zeitzler's attitude was clear: Army Group Center and Army Group South would each transfer one armored division and one motorized infantry division, and Army Group North would contribute one motorized infantry division. The specific designations would be implemented by the OKW after the meeting.
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