Bismarck

Although, I guess there is no hope for the time being to send more aircraft to restore the establishment...

In this way, the German fleet, which was badly injured in the battle at the end of the year, lay dormant in various ports along the French coast with a trace of unwillingness, silently licking its bleeding wounds and entered an extremely depressing period of hospitalization and recuperation.

The only German naval force still active in the Atlantic is the Type XXI submarine, which relies on advanced concepts and performs powerful operations on the sea. Now the vicious reputation of "Sea Wolf King" Dönitz has replaced the defeated "Evil Spirit King" Lütjens and has become the new "cure for children's night crying" in Britain and the United States.

Even Hitler, who had been in a bad mood recently and was angry because of repeated defeats, felt better after hearing the rumors from Britain and the United States. Then, in the environment where others were defeated but the submarine force was still strong, and Raeder did not object for some reasons, Dönitz was promoted as expected - to the rank of marshal, the same level as Raeder!

Of course, the military ranks are the same, but their qualifications and positions are incomparable.

But, "What does this have to do with me, Lütjens?"

He put aside the internal report of the Navy Department and went back to work. After all, he was now the commander of the main fleet of the German Navy. Although the fleet was defeated, he had never been short of things to do.

Although the main fleet could not go out to sea for at least half a year, especially the Gneisenau, which was converted into an aircraft carrier. The entire Normandy dock was occupied by this ship! Including the Prinz Eugen, which was to be converted into an anti-aircraft missile ship, all the large warships were basically moved to the port of Bordeaux and began a long maintenance project.

Before the maintenance was completed, the only two serious tasks were repairs and modifications and coordination with the Air Force to strengthen air defense.

The problem of coordinating with the Air Force to strengthen air defense was not a big deal. In addition, Zeppelin was originally the commander of the Air Force's flight wing. The relevant issues were negotiated by Zeppelin and Bonte with the local Air Force garrison. As expected, the result was very smooth. After all, Zeppelin's main body was under overhaul in Bordeaux, and it was natural for the carrier-based aircraft wing to be stationed at a nearby airport.

In addition, Hindenburg and Ludendorff moved to Bordeaux to repair the superstructure, and Gneisenau entered the Saint-Nazaire dock for aircraft carrier modification. The remaining 380 main guns were removed and towed directly to the Atlantic Wall defense line. Although the modification of Gneisenau was expected to take at least half a year, the repair work of Hindenburg and Ludendorff could be completed within two or three months.

However, there are still many problems - at least one of the problems is that the original plan to modify Prince Eugen with anti-aircraft missiles has now encountered a big problem: the size of the missile is too large!

After all, when they were transferred from Kaiser Wilhelm, anti-aircraft missiles had not yet been developed, and when anti-aircraft missiles were successfully developed, the ship girls had already lost both sides with the British in the GIUK naval battle. In addition, the anti-aircraft missiles that had just been successfully tested were still a long way from mass production. As a result, when the anti-aircraft missiles were thrown, everyone was dumbfounded to find that this thing with a total length of ten meters, a diameter of 0.8 meters, and a "waist circumference" of one meter square after the wings were folded, could not be stuffed into the ammunition depot of the Prinz Eugen, which was only meters high! Even if in theory the turret ring could be used as part of the ammunition depot after the turret was removed, the turret diameter of only meters could only fit twelve Rhine Daughters!

Even if the two 203 main turrets are removed one after the other, what difference does twenty-four anti-aircraft missiles make?

After some calculations, Eugen and Top were very depressed to find that if they wanted to solve this problem, they had to remove all four 203 turrets in the front and rear, so that the two groups of ammunition depots below could each accommodate Rhine Daughters. If the opening of each group of rear turrets on the deck was enlarged to make a -meter-long and -meter-wide lifting shaft, an additional anti-aircraft missiles could be accommodated - at the same time, the top of the ammunition depot could also accommodate a group of anti-aircraft missile guidance radars. After the position of the front turret was sealed, the armor was used as a structural member to strengthen the surrounding structure, and only one pillar was needed to support the twin anti-aircraft missile launcher.

According to calculations, the weight of such an anti-aircraft missile ammunition depot is about 250 tons, while the weight of the original two 203 main turrets plus all ammunition is 480 tons. In addition, the original two turret seats have now become a missile lifting well, and the circumference of the armor has been reduced from meters to meters - under the premise of the same height, this saves more than tons of displacement.

In this way, both the front and rear ammunition depots can add an additional 80 tons of weight to increase defense. The armor protection level of the original 30mm armor plus 80mm dome armor with 140mm turret ring, which was already somewhat insufficient, can now be upgraded together - even if it is just a casual calculation, the armor defense of the ammunition depot compartment after the modification can basically be guaranteed not to be lower than the level of 100mm on the side, 152mm on the dome armor, and mm on the missile lifting shaft! And there is also a firepower reserve of anti-aircraft missiles!

The combat command computer had been installed during the maintenance after the GIUK naval battle, and the first generation three-coordinate long-range search and early warning radar had been equipped for a long time. In addition, after the main gun was cancelled, the original position of the main gun firing director can now be changed to the air defense missile fire control radar, plus the two newly installed fire control radars, there are four air defense fire channels! And under the control of the ship girl, it can be linked with the search data of the three-coordinate long-range search radar and the fire control computer!

Too many missiles is not a big deal, and too many fire channels is not a big deal, but if there is a C4ISR system, plus the command of the ship girl...

Well, such air defense capability is far from being described by a simple phrase "definitely not to be underestimated"!

The only problem is that it will take at least half a year to undergo a complete major surgery...

"Σ(っ°Д °;)っ...Ah, I still need to dismantle the cannon...ヾ(．￣□￣)ツヽ(≧□≦)ノヾ(×× ) ツー(￣～￣)ξ..."

Looking at Eugen in front of him with her twin ponytails hanging down and her head lowered, looking depressed and unhappy, Top scratched the back of his head and fell silent.

I don't know why, but I remembered the joke I made when Eugen took the initiative to learn anti-ship missile guidance technology:

"If you're studying missile tactics so hard, why don't you remove the main gun and convert it into a missile launcher?"

Top still remembers that when he made this joke, Eugen, whose boiler was overheated, felt cold all of a sudden. He was frightened and held onto his arm tightly with a look of Σ(°Д °;) on his face, like a little rabbit, refusing to let go.

It’s just… this is a wise saying!

Looking at the little rabbit opposite him who was looking downcast and sullen, occasionally raising his head slightly to glance at him secretly with a resentful look, Top, who was shot for no reason, felt like he had set a goal and then shot himself in the foot.

This modification plan... has really nothing to do with me!

The problem is that the girl in front of him looked at him with a scared and unhappy look, and looked at him as if he was a bad person. Topu, who felt speechless, wiped his forehead with a wry smile. God had pity on me, a straight man, because the thing I am worst at is coaxing girls. If it was an unreasonable woman, it would be fine, but Eugen was so good to me, and so cute and adorable, and this was the flag I set when I teased her in the first place...

This is a flag that I set on my own initiative. I will make my own bed and lie on it even if I cry!

It's just that the lying position is like this...

Looking at the little rabbit in front of him with drooping ears and a face full of unhappiness but well-behaved and not throwing tantrums, Top's mouth twitched awkwardly, and he couldn't utter a word to coax her. He even felt a bit caught in a dilemma.

However, just when Top was feeling extremely embarrassed, the depressed Eugen secretly glanced at his captain again and spoke softly:

"Top Top, let's... modify it? The 203 main gun is too weak. We need anti-aircraft missiles now..."

The voice became softer and softer, and Toph felt more and more pity for it.

Such a sweet and sensible girl...

He reached out and gently smoothed the bunny's twin ponytails, just like stroking its long ears. Eugen also shook his head gently and moved his braids. He was used to being stroked by his own captain.

However, Toph could see that she was still scared. He wondered if she was worried about something...

It is the captain's duty to care about the warship, so Top asked: "Eugen, what's wrong? Do you have any questions?"

"Hey... Top Top, you said, if we go to modify it, it will be a 'major surgery'. Will it be painful? I heard from Bismarck and Grapes that when they modified it, their arms were completely weak (Puff!) Ah——!"

Looking at little Eugen in front of him, who kept shrinking while talking and asking silly questions with a nervous look on his face, Top couldn't help but burst out.

Instantly, the sailors and staff on the dock heard a girl's scream. Then they all looked with contempt at a certain ferret who was frantically trying to coax the frightened warship, which was shaking and trembling with tears in its eyes.

After Eugen agreed to enter the port for modification, the relevant procedures were completed quickly. As for the design work of modifying the battleship... if it was a designer from the Navy Department, it would take a long time, but for a ship girl with processing capabilities, the modification work was not difficult. Even considering the impact of air raids, Eugen's modification period would probably be within four to six months.

After the major things are decided, there are still many things left, but they are basically just trivial matters.

"Hey, it's really troublesome..."

Looking at the pile of miscellaneous little things and trivial matters on the table, the somewhat depressed Lütjens leaned back with his hands covering his forehead. After taking a sip of substitute coffee, he leaned back in the chair in a Ge You-like posture, looking like a salted fish admiral after a disastrous failure in an activity.

Next to him, on the table piled with documents, a golden-haired Persian cat wearing a military cap had tiptoed onto the table with its paws, blinked its big curious eyes, trembled its furry ears, coiled its tail, stretched out its paws, tilted its head, and quietly flipped through the internal reference and read the various news published on it - perhaps, she was looking for news from the Far East?

Looking at the golden Persian cat on the table beside him, curled up like a ball and wearing a military cap, flipping through the news to kill time as he did before, Lütjens couldn't help but shook his head. However, there was also some loneliness and desolation in his eyes.

After the defeat, the fleet had to heal its wounds, and now it could only leave the sea and become "unemployed" temporarily with reluctance and helplessness.

However, I wonder if the Allies have a new large-scale construction plan. What will happen next...?

Lütjens, looking up at the sky, was not wrong in his guess that a new round of emergency construction had already begun just across the strait.

"The Ark Royal II will not be available until next year, and there are only two armored aircraft carriers left... So, based on the Goliath-class aircraft carrier, we lengthened the hull, increased the power, changed the stern to four shafts, reached a speed of 30 knots, and increased the number of aircraft to 64. At the same time, we still use the civilian ship structure as the basis, and then set up light armor boxes in key compartments to create a 'low-cost wartime emergency aircraft carrier'. The wartime cabinet agreed - requiring the first batch of four ships to be launched before the end of the year, and asked us to quickly find a shipyard to arrange production..."

Another document was slapped over Cunningham's head by War-weary, making the busy First Sea Lord see stars.

Chapter 864

The meaning of "a hundred days to heal a broken bone" is that while everyone is in the hospital, it is enough time for a lot of things to happen.

In the distant Far East continent, as the snow in the frozen north gradually melts, the rays of sunlight shining through from behind the layers of dark clouds illuminate the vast and magnificent mountains and rivers between heaven and earth in this early February, on the eve of the beginning of spring when all things begin to sprout.

After surviving the bitter cold winter of 1942 when there was a great famine, encirclement and suppression, and mopping-up operations, one after another, the rabbits in earth-gray military uniforms began to poke their heads out from underground places, and then came out in groups, in this season when wildfires could not be extinguished and spring breezes brought new life. Even after a severe winter, they became more and more numerous, until they were all over the mountains and plains.

And in those blood-red eyes, he gradually pinned down the figure opposite him who had a deep hatred for him and was irreconcilable with him.

Opposite them were the Japanese puppet soldiers who were holding plaster flags, wearing yellow dog skins, and living in blockhouses and turrets. They seemed to be showing off their might and shouting "long-lasting military fortune", but in fact they had been tormented by the rabbits and were exhausted, but they had no choice but to hold on.

Looking at the gray rabbits that were flooding all over the mountains and fields outside, not only were the child soldiers trembling with pale faces, but even the old soldiers, who were bloody killers, had extremely bitter expressions.

"Amaterasu, please don't let our little turret be buried alive by the 'rabbit disaster' one night..."

Taking advantage of the absence of the officers, all the Japanese soldiers, young and old, took out the amulets that their families had given them at the shrine from their pockets and even from their helmets, and secretly prayed for the blessing of Amaterasu. Even those officers who seemed to be majestic and were suppressing the soldiers' emotions with their majesty, in places where the soldiers could not see, also held the amulets they carried with them in their hands, which were also full of cold sweat in their palms...

Although it was indeed a good time of the year with the sun shining directly overhead, everyone in the turret, surrounded by rabbits all over the mountain, was filled with panic, as if the sun was about to set.

Maybe, even I will, along with the sun "setting into the west", make a loud "BooM" noise for no reason, and perform a military operation to prove my truth and ascend to heaven in broad daylight... ?

"May the Three Treasures, Tathagata, and Amaterasu bless you..."

According to a great monk who had a daydream, the Buddha in the West was confused and received a bunch of inexplicable prayers.

And he actually came from the evil ghost clan.

........................

"Everyone, I'm really sorry. Even though we recruited 700,000 Imperial Army soldiers from Baldy, and the Northern China Front Army has now increased its troops to 400,000, our 'North China Security Rectification Operation' still failed... They broke up into small groups, organized the people, expanded their influence, and their numbers are increasing. Behind them, they launched the so-called mass production campaign, and even now the ammunition production line has been promoted. Training has also been improved due to more ammunition, which has further compressed our control over the occupied areas... It can be said that our opponent now is no longer just the Eighth Route Army, but the entire North China Plain! The Empire is now completely trapped here. Now, all I, Okamura Neiji, can do is to defend by attacking. To put it bluntly, it is to use mopping-up operations to hit their counterattack preparations as much as possible, and buy the Empire some time to respond to changes in the situation..."

At the high-level meeting, General Okamura Yasuji, commander of the Japanese Army's Northern China Front, bowed his old waist to 90 degrees, but his sincere apology and review did not help improve Japan's strategic situation in North China at all.

But no one is blaming anyone now - everyone knows that as an invader, Gangcun has done his best.

only……

"After all, we are the enemy to them. With the existing troops and materials, we can fight like this, and even plunder some resources. Okamura has done his best. But..." After listening to Okamura's report, Prime Minister and Army Minister Hideki Tojo, who was sitting at the top, also felt troubled: "Now the Empire's manpower is too concentrated on the South Pacific islands. Even the factories in the country are maintained by the elderly, the weak, women and children. There is no potential for further reinforcement. But now the armistice with the United States has not been negotiated, so the resources in the Pacific must be maintained. Even now, we must further control the size of the army and increase the number of workers - everyone knows about the news about the American ship mother force, right?"

"Oh, I know. On New Year's Day, during the Battle of Biscay Bay, three American shipgirls formed an aircraft carrier fleet and defeated the German shipgirls' fleet. Wait, it's been almost three months now, the American aircraft carriers should have returned to the Pacific! Maybe they've even finished their maintenance!"

A Japanese general suddenly reacted and punched his palm: "This is bad. With the Americans' war potential and their reluctance to cease fire with us, I'm afraid that most of the empire's resources will be wasted there!"

"That's right! In the Battle of Biscay, Germany severely damaged three of their aircraft carriers, and submarines sank another one. But even so, considering the Americans' shipbuilding capabilities, this loss is only a matter of time, right?" another general followed suit.

"Our pressure will only increase if this continues. If we want to break the impasse, we can only ask the navy to take advantage of the aircraft carriers we still have and fight the Americans as soon as possible." The Japanese general who spoke earlier looked up at Tojo and said, "Tojo, you are the prime minister and the minister of war. Go talk to the navy and ask them to fight the Americans as soon as possible. If we don't hurt the Americans, our empire's limited resources will be dragged down by the South Seas, and we won't be able to stabilize the mainland occupation area, which is our fundamental lifeline."

"This..." Tojo hesitated, even a little hesitant: "I have talked to the navy, but the navy said that the Americans are very slippery and have been hiding in the rear base. Therefore, the initiative of the battle is not in the hands of the navy but in the hands of the United States. They can't do anything about it. Moreover, the navy's shipbuilding cycle is measured in years, so they can't mobilize resources from the navy to our side for the time being..."

The more Tojo spoke, the worse the faces of the generals below him became. Apparently, the statement that "not only can we not get more resources to suppress the occupied areas, but we have to continue to bear the resources for building a large navy" did not satisfy the top brass of the Japanese army.

"So, Tojo, what did they say?"

"Well... they suggested that we follow Yamamoto Isoroku's previous strategy and abandon the unimportant islands in the Pacific Ocean, concentrate our forces to retreat to the absolute national defense circle, and wait for the Americans to come and 'gradually reduce' before engaging in a decisive battle. Before that, we can only endure it."

As soon as Tojo finished his words, the crowd below went into an uproar.

"What? These navy idiots are really going too far!"

"Even if there are naval personnel for transportation, those islands were conquered by our army! If we give them to the Americans now, they will definitely build bases on them. Didn't the navy say that they would 'gradually reduce' them? If we give those islands to the Americans to build airports, who is 'gradually reducing' whom?"

"The resources in the areas occupied by the Army on the mainland are the lifeline of the Empire! Those Navy guys are just taking money to fight the Americans! There are rabbits everywhere on the mainland now. The Navy is useless enough for not being able to deal with the United States, so why do they want us to take the blame for them?!"

"No! We absolutely won't do this!"

"Tojo! Give me an explanation! As Prime Minister, are you speaking from the perspective of the Army or the Navy?!"

"This...you...I..."

The high-ranking officers of the army were all furious, and some even began to criticize the Army Minister and Prime Minister Tojo Hideki. After all, in order to gain power, he continued to monopolize the position of Army Minister (Army Minister) in an arbitrary manner after becoming Prime Minister, and prevented opponents in the army from threatening his position. This violated the political conventions established within the high-ranking officers of the Japanese army. In addition, his "razor-like" simple and rough behavior style, being a military police commander to fight guerrillas is not a big deal, but being a prime minister, many people are dissatisfied with it.

Tojo Shaver was originally arrogant and domineering, but he was powerless to change the situation. There are too many people who are dissatisfied with this! In addition, in the eyes of most of the army's senior officials, even if they are now in a wartime cooperation relationship with the navy, giving up the islands is tantamount to giving up the results of the occupation and ruining their own military achievements!

Amid the noisy condemnation of the army's top brass, the overwhelmed Hideki Tojo felt like crying but had no tears.

........................

In late winter, the northern scenery of the Soviet Union was still full of bullet holes and artillery fire.

But for Hitler and the General Staff, who were originally in a state of panic, their mood at this moment was unexpectedly like a storm turning into sunshine.

After Rommel and Guderian were captured alive in Moscow, Marshal Bock was killed by Litvyak and Budanova of the 586th Women's Fighter Regiment of the Soviet Air Force. In addition, Paulus was forced to defend the Don River bend southwest of Stalingrad under the strict order of his superiors in order to cover the evacuation of the Southern Group from the North Caucasus, and was eventually surrounded and surrendered. The German army lost four marshals in the Soviet Red Army's overwhelming Moscow counterattack! It can be said that the vitality was seriously damaged.

Even after the withdrawal of Army Group South, and the rapid recruitment of a number of garrison troops and SS troops to maintain law and order and transportation in shallow depth, the total strength of the German army on the entire front only amounted to 113 million men and 1100 tanks.

The Soviet Red Army, which was continuing its frantic attack, had lost some troops on the three or four temporary defense lines that the German engineers had repaired in the month before the counterattack, but it still had a huge strength of three theater headquarters, six fronts, seven air armies, 2.8 million people and more than 5,000 tanks! Moreover, with the accumulated strength of the previous six months, the offensive potential of the remaining Soviet troops chasing the enemy was far from exhausted!

Even the consequence of the 17th Army, which was composed of a mixed force of German and Romanian troops, being transferred from the entrance to the Crimean Peninsula in order to defend Rostov, is that the more than eight-kilometer-wide entrance and exit of the Crimean Peninsula is now only guarded by a group of vassal state troops.

Although the Crimean Peninsula is close to the Black Sea, the weather at the northern entrance and exit is affected by the strong cold air from the Soviet Union! And this place happens to be a large lake and swamp terrain. In front of the Soviet cold current that seemed to be dyed red by blood and fire, it quickly froze from the original stinking puddles and muddy ponds into "real cement!" As a result, when the battle on the front line was in full swing, the Crimean Front's 200,000 troops stepped on the lake surface that had been frozen into "cement", holding red flags, shouting "Ura", and rushed across this swamp lake surface that was only a natural barrier in summer, and defeated the under-strength and half-hearted Hungarian and Romanian garrison troops with PPS and engineer shovels.

After breaking through the German blockade, the Soviet army did not hesitate to advance all the way north to the large bend of the lower reaches of the Dnieper River. It was about to cooperate with the main force of the German army in front of the battlefield to attack the entire German Southern Army Group from the front and back!

Not to mention, in such an environment, the Soviet guerrillas in the German-occupied areas, at the call of Soviet head of state Mikhail Kalinin, turned on the radio stations that had been secretly airdropped by the Soviet Internal Affairs Department in the most critical moment, and then treasured and sealed by the guerrillas as treasures, which would not be easily used unless absolutely necessary. They took out the radio frequency bands and communication codes that directly called the "Guerrilla Republic", actively informed the headquarters and main forces in the rear, and at the same time began to carry out large-scale raids under the unified plan and deployment of the superior command organization.

For a while, the situation on the Eastern Front looked as precarious as a mountain crushing an egg! Even in the Wolf's Lair, there was a sense of Russian cold wave about to sweep through, and the Red Army was in a state of panic from the French coast to Siberia. The overwhelmed Hitler even called the Polish Governor-General Hans Frank himself, and ordered him to recruit soldiers in the whole of Poland, and at the same time to recruit a large number of Polish people who were also anti-Soviet and anti-communist, and strictly ordered that all the old, weak, sick and disabled people should go to the Soviet-Polish border and the Vistula-Oder River line outside Warsaw to build fortresses to resist the seemingly unstoppable continuous assault of the Soviet army.

Even so, the situation on the front line would not improve in a short time. Even if Hitler ordered the emergency establishment of 40 infantry divisions and 6 tank divisions to assemble 500,000 to 600,000 people, the logistics line on the Eastern Front was repeatedly destroyed by the guerrillas in an organized, large-scale, planned and coordinated manner. These reinforcements would definitely not reach the front line for a while - not to mention that the supply of the million-strong army itself was now a problem.

After hanging up the phone angrily again, Hitler, who felt the situation was unsafe no matter how he thought about it, stood up angrily, took down a thick military windbreaker from the hanger, and said, "Prepare a plane for me immediately, I want to inspect the Eastern Front in person." Then, in front of the confused but equally helpless officers of the General Staff, he walked directly to the airport.

only……

"What? The battle plan that just came out? Are we planning to lure the enemy deep into our territory and retreat while fighting? Are we planning to consume their strength first, and then concentrate our reserves to deal with the enemies in front of the Central Army Group and the enemies in Crimea? Finally, are we planning to concentrate the forces on the southern and northern wings to the center, and together with the reinforcements that continue to be dispatched from the rear, we will besiege the Russian troops on the southern front from three sides?"

Hitler, who had rushed to the Eastern Front in a dusty state, had just stepped off the plane and hadn't even sat down when he saw Field Marshal Rundstedt handing him a so-called freshly-made battle plan with both hands.

According to this battle plan, the Eastern Front troops were fully confident that they could defeat the Soviet Union's three million troops one by one within two months.

Flipping through the plan, the mustache guy's interest was piqued: "Oh? Written by Manstein? No wonder. I was wondering who wrote this. It turns out it was Manstein who went against all odds and formulated Operation Sickle during the Battle of France."

"Yes," the experienced Rundstedt still praised his favorite student: "Then, Führer, you see..."

"Okay! Anyway, it's already like this now, I'll just go for it!" After reading the battle plan, Hitler made the final decision on the spot: "I will assign the newly produced E50 tanks to him, and let him implement this battle plan for me!"

Chapter 865

"Is everyone here? The meeting is starting now..."

The Eastern Front Field Command was still covered with thick snow and the wind was howling in the tent. Even with four stoves for boiling water, it couldn't resist the pervasive cold of the Siberian cold current. Although the dozens of generals in the conference room were role models of military behavior, they were like the SS soldiers who had just joined the army and didn't know what the rules were. They all tucked their heads into their necks.

With trembling hands holding pens, dozens of generals looked at the center of the meeting hall with incomprehensible eyes. Next to the map there, Manstein was waving his pointer with a confident look, pointing out the situation and talking freely.

It is said that at this meeting, he submitted a draft battle plan to the Führer and Field Marshal Rundstedt of the Central Army Group, which was said to be able to stabilize the war situation, and he also got the support of the Führer. Even now, most of the generals on the entire Eastern Front, including the Central Group and the Southern Group, were called here to hold such a meeting to deploy (prepare for) war (do) work (matters).

Now even the Führer Adolf Hitler, the respected military veteran Field Marshal Rundstedt, and even the Chief of the General Staff General Admiral Zeitzler and the Chief of the Supreme Command Field Marshal Keitel, who were urgently called from the Wolf's Lair in the headquarters, were sitting in the back, looking at Manstein who was talking nonsense beside the map.