American Comic Dimensional Trading Device

The other side they were referring to was undoubtedly the Russian bear.

“That’s not surprising. After all, if we’re talking about the countries that Russia hates the most in the world, besides Germany, it’s Austria. Relations between the two countries aren’t so easy to repair!” Josie rubbed her temples upon hearing this.

Despite Austria's annexation of Bavaria and its alliance with the United States, its situation was not actually that good.

Because Austria is bordered by Czechoslovakia to the north, Hungary to the east, and Yugoslavia to the south.

These countries have all been turned into Russian bears.

Most of the country is surrounded by Russian bears, which is quite frightening.

Furthermore, during the early stages of World War II, many Austrian troops joined the Germans in invading the Soviet Union.

Therefore, the Russians hate the Austrians very much.

This is why Austria is willing to cling to the United States.

One reason is to secure sufficient benefits, and the other is that there is no other country in the world that can stand up to the Russian bear at this stage, except for the United States.

Josie's reasons for having Ophelia establish contact with the Soviet Union were twofold: firstly, he did not want the United States to dominate the world, and secondly, he hoped to reduce the Soviet Union's hostility towards Austria.

However, it is clear that this matter is not as easy as imagined.

It seems we still need to urge the council to speed up the production of nuclear weapons and complete the bombing of Japan as soon as possible in order to deter Russia. Only then can Josie use the nuclear weapons formula to persuade Russia.

On the other hand, Austria's own industrial foundation is not weak, and it may be able to try to manufacture nuclear weapons. The only problem is that neither Austria nor Bavaria has high-quality uranium mines.

If Josie wants Austria to develop a nuclear bomb, she will probably have to pin her hopes on Yuri.

A chapter of four thousand words.

Many people have asked about the update, so I'll address it here.

Dust-covered office worker, nine to five.

So updates are usually done in the evening and early morning, 1-2 chapters, with a total word count of 4-6K, depending on how well I do. Except for the first few days after the book was released due to review issues, I haven't missed a single update. So far this month, I've reached 145,000 words, and there haven't been any days with less than 4,000 words.

This number is certainly not much compared to those tentacle monster masters, but for a clumsy office worker like me, it's already the best I can do.

People say I'm short, concise, and rambling (most of the time I just kept going off-topic while writing, and then I couldn't bear to delete it, so it's my fault), and I admit it.

But please don't make baseless accusations like "weekly updates" or "unfinished projects."

Additionally, if there are any missing parts of the plot, please let me know, as some of them may not have been missed by me, but rather deleted by the automatic review process.

Finally, I'm asking for monthly votes. I currently have a little over 1,700 votes, and there are only two days left in the month. This number is really painful. Please help me raise it to 2,000. Thank you everyone.

over!

Chapter 116 Anti-aircraft Fortress.

"Happy New Year, Josh!" Inside the military camp, Brigadier General William Ross, an old acquaintance, gave Josh a bear hug.

The man before me, formerly a colonel and commander of the 8th Regiment of the 4th Division, has been promoted to general as the war progressed and ended. He has become the brigade commander of the 3rd Mechanized Infantry Brigade of the 4th Division.

The US troops currently stationed in Hamburg are the 4th Division of the 3rd Army.

The Third Army was Patton's force, and in the original timeline, it should have been stationed in Bavaria.

However, since the American-occupied zone moved to the north-central region centered around Hamburg, the most valiant troops were naturally deployed to the north.

As for the one stationed in Bavaria, it became the Ninth Army, which had not been formed for very long.

“Happy New Year, William, and congratulations on your promotion!” Josie replied.

When Josie arrived in Paris, it was already 1945, so the New Year's greeting was quite appropriate.

The reason why Josh came to see Ross first was also very simple.

One reason is that he plans to stay here temporarily.

Although Hamburg is Germany's second-largest city, it was also one of Germany's heavy industrial centers, making it a key target of the Allies during the previous war.

Even before the US military entered the war, the British Royal Air Force had already included Hamburg in its first-tier bombing targets.

With the entry of the US military into the war and the decline of the German air force, Hamburg suffered even more.

During the years of war, Hamburg was subjected to 187 air raids, and the bombings were mainly incendiary bombs that caused great damage to the city.

So now, after the war ended, there are very few completed houses in all of Hamburg.

After Ophelia arrived, she also lived on a farm in the suburbs, but it was a relatively remote place, coupled with the turbulent social environment after the war.

Josie would have been safer and more comfortable living in the military camp.

Another reason is that in at most a week, the transport fleet jointly organized by the Chicago consortium and the council will arrive in Hamburg, and Josh needs to scout ahead for them.

This will definitely require the help of the military, since these stationed troops are the ones in charge in Germany now.

"How long are you planning to stay this time?" After exchanging pleasantries, the two sat down, and Brigadier General Ross asked.

"It will take at least a few months!" Josie then mentioned that she was a representative of five conglomerates and expressed her hope that the military would send some people to help her.

Of course, it wasn't about having the soldiers do any work; they were just needed to act as supervisors and maintain order.

As for the labor force... well, there are millions of people lying in the Rhine camp.

Although the U.S. military did not treat the prisoners as cruelly as later marketing accounts portrayed, they were not spared either.

Although they weren't required to work, they were only provided with about 500 calories of food per person—a normal person needs at least 1200 calories of energy intake per day even without working.

In addition, there were extremely poor hygiene conditions, etc.

They live worse than pigs and dogs.

So, just like the prisoners who worked for Josie in Austria, as long as they were fed and allowed to live a somewhat human life, plenty of people would be willing to come and work.

There is absolutely no need to worry about labor issues.

“I see, but I can’t make that decision!” William Ross said upon hearing Josie’s words.

“Of course I understand. I came to see you just to catch up and stay here for a while. As for this matter, I will go to see General Eisenhower tomorrow to get his permission!” Josie said.

Because Hamburg suffered such severe damage, even though it is the second largest city in Germany, it is impossible for the U.S. military headquarters in Germany to be located here.

Therefore, the top U.S. military officials, led by Eisenhower, were mostly in Hanover, another major city near the center.

Because of its relatively low importance and the quick surrender of local German troops during the Allied offensive, the city did not suffer severe damage and became one of the best-preserved major cities in the hands of the American forces.

Upon hearing Josie's words, Brigadier General Ross nodded. That's more like it. Such an important matter should definitely be discussed directly with Eisenhower.

"That's simple. I'll have someone prepare a few officers' barracks for you to stay in first. As for your subsequent personnel, that's also easy to solve. There are two large and well-preserved anti-aircraft towers built by the Germans in the city center. As long as you get General Eisenhower's consent, I can arrange one of them for your personnel to live in. It can easily accommodate several thousand people," Brigadier General Ross said after thinking for a moment.

“Ah, I know those anti-aircraft towers. I’ve seen them in Vienna. They’re definitely a good choice.” Upon hearing Brigadier General Ross’s words, Josie immediately understood what he was referring to.

Those were the eight super air defense fortresses that Hitler ordered to be built in Hamburg, Vienna, and Berlin during World War II.

When the Soviet Union entered Berlin, it bombarded the three fortresses with 203mm heavy artillery for more than a week, but still failed to breach them. In the end, it had to take a detour and occupy the entire city of Berlin before the three fortresses surrendered under the orders of the surrendering German high command.

In the original timeline, after hearing about the suffering the Russians had endured at the three fortresses, the British army attempted to use the destruction of these fortresses as a pretext for their attack.

They then planted 25 tons of explosives in one of the bunkers and invited media from allied countries to watch.

The result was embarrassing: 25 tons of explosives only managed to blow off a single layer of the fortress's walls.

The British were humiliated on the spot and certainly wouldn't let it go, so four months later, they organized another bombing.

This time, a full 35 tons of explosives were used to barely destroy one of the air defense bunkers, but it only blew the bunker in half and did not completely destroy it.

Since then, no one has ever thought of touching these fortresses again.

By the 21st century, these seven and a half fortresses had become popular tourist attractions in the three cities.

And because the British weren't causing trouble, the eight fortresses were preserved intact.

These eight fortresses, if each could house thousands of people, that would be an exaggeration, emphasizing comfort and spaciousness.

If you really want to squeeze in, it can house tens of thousands of people—it was originally built to the standard of a 15,000-person garrison.

To be honest, if I could get my hands on a fortress like that and use it as the headquarters of my business in Hamburg, it would be pretty good.

So Josie immediately proposed the idea of ​​buying two fortresses.

“Purchase? Of course, they are now military property, but like everything else, it requires headquarters’ approval!” William Ross replied without hesitation upon hearing Josie’s idea.

These two fortresses were occupied by the army after the German surrender, so they naturally belong to the Army Ministry and there is nothing wrong with that.

As for the money? Heh, with Josh's connections, he can easily pay in installments, then rent it out to the council and the Chicago consortium in his name, collect the money, and then pay back the War Department—these consortia have prepared so much funding, might as well use it.

With one purchase and one sale, Josie made two super fortresses for free, she was raking in the profits.

Chapter 117 Rhine Camp

After spending the night in the military camp, Josie led his men to Hanover early the next morning to meet with Eisenhower.

The whole process went very smoothly.

If Josie was only representing himself, then Eisenhower would certainly not agree to the large-scale use of prisoners from the Rhine camp.

It was he who, after World War II, ordered the establishment of the Rhine Camp and prohibited all prisoners of war from having contact with the outside world.

Moreover, given Eisenhower's status, he doesn't need to give Josie any face at all.

But now, with the five largest financial groups in the United States behind Josie, the situation is completely different.