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"Sorry, General Ludendorff, my brother might need a little more time," Otto Strasser said somewhat apologetically, awkwardly scraping his foot on the ground. "What is he up to?"
Ludendorff was a little annoyed. From the moment he arrived at the National Socialist Party Berlin headquarters, this lieutenant had been causing a commotion upstairs for an hour. Ludendorff was too lazy to wait, so he strode directly from the lobby of the National Socialist Party Berlin headquarters to the meeting room upstairs.
Ludendorff walked quickly and soon reached the door of the meeting room. Before he could open the door, he heard intense discussion coming from inside, followed by the sound of wooden objects colliding.
"Are they fighting in there?"
Ludendorff pushed open the door with curiosity. "Listen, lieutenant, it seems you don't know that making a general wait for you is very disrespectful. It looks like I have to teach you how to respect your superiors." "Be careful! General Ludendorff!"
Before he could finish speaking, Ludendorff heard someone exclaim in surprise. He looked up to see a long black shadow flying towards him. Ludendorff wanted to dodge immediately, but the object was moving too fast, and by the time he reacted, it was already in front of his face.
"Scheiss," Ludendorff managed to utter a German curse before closing his eyes, bracing himself for the head-on strike.
He kept his eyes closed for a moment and realized he didn't feel any burning pain on his face. Slowly, he opened his eyes and looked around in confusion, discovering a short-statured army sergeant standing in front of him, holding a wooden model that was over twenty centimeters long.
"Thank you, Captain, you saved my life," Ludendorff said, still feeling shaken.
"You're welcome, General Ludendorff. Paratroopers are meant to be wherever they are needed," Kurt Student replied proudly.
Ludendorff paid no attention to what Student said about paratroopers, even though they seemed different from regular soldiers. He had come with important news to tell Strasser, but he was immediately captivated by the scene before him.
The entire large conference room was filled with a massive sandbox, covered with various game pieces, many of which General Ludendorff did not recognize.
A model of an infantry soldier was mounted on a motorcycle, which he could understand; he had seen motorcycles before, after all—they were just cavalry that moved faster. But what was that block-shaped model with a cannon barrel attached to the front? A tank? The formation seemed too dense; weren't tanks supposed to provide cover for infantry during attacks? Why were they organized separately?
"Sorry, General Ludendorff, we got a bit carried away in our discussion and forgot you were still downstairs," Strasser said, looking somewhat embarrassed.
Ludendorff just wanted to educate this lieutenant who lacks manners, but suddenly noticed Rommel and others in the room. These guys immediately took off their jackets, sweating profusely.
"Isn't it just a military simulation? Although it's important, we should also pay attention to the image of German soldiers," Ludendorff said seriously, always demanding that soldiers look like soldiers.
"Yes, General!" Rommel saluted in response, then continued to engage in lively discussion with Rundstedt and others.
"I made a more aggressive improvement based on the original Armored Troops encirclement tactic. The Armored Troops will not wait for the enemy forces within the encirclement to be eliminated by subsequent units; instead, they will continue to advance after creating an encirclement..."
"Your method of attack is too risky; we must consider the issue of logistical support..."
Ludendorff looked at the lively discussion in the conference room, where everyone seemed to disregard him, feeling a mix of amusement and frustration. He nodded toward Strasser.
"Come with me."
······
"So, you're saying that there are spies from Field Marshal Hindenburg at our National Socialist Party headquarters in Berlin."
Strasser's expression was grim. He truly did not expect that less than two years after his rebirth, the situation would deviate so greatly. Hitler had not yet regarded him as a threat; instead, Hindenburg seemed to be wary of him, a mere Member of Parliament.
"You don't need to be too nervous. Every faction in Congress has spies from other parties," he said.
"How do you know that?"
"Because we have also planted a spy in Hindenburg."
"······"
Ludendorff continued, "I'm just here to remind you to pay attention to future security work. Since Hindenburg sees you as a threat, Hitler will soon see you as a threat as well."
Strasser could not pay attention to Ludendorff's words. He was preoccupied with thoughts about who the internal traitor might be. Was it Goebbels? Strasser felt a bit worried, but so far, Goebbels had been acting normally. He also knew that the new Party Constitution included a significant number of delegates from the party congress, which eased Strasser's mind slightly. As long as it wasn't Goebbels, he could simply eliminate the others.
As Ludendorff walked alongside the distracted Strasser, he wisely chose to change the subject. "Is everything ready for tomorrow's Military Simulation Games? You can't afford to fail this time."
"Don't worry, I am ninety percent sure," Strasser said, coming back to his senses.
"No, that's not enough. A hundred percent certainty is the only way to be truly safe," Ludendorff shook his head.
"Are you saying...?" Strasser seemed to understand something.
"That's right, the exam questions for tomorrow's Military Simulation Games will be set by me and Seeckt, got it?" Strasser and Ludendorff both revealed knowing smiles, as if they had received a hint about the exam questions from a teacher. "There are two questions for tomorrow's exam, and you can choose either one; both are strategic-level Military Simulation Games. One is to lead Germany to defeat the Anglo-French Coalition, and the other is to use Germany to defeat Poland."
"No matter which one it is, I am confident I can complete it." Strasser was not at all flustered. It wasn't arrogance; after all, historically, France and Poland had both been defeated by Germany. Strasser could simply copy the cases from the textbook without thinking. Attacking the Soviet Union might pose a bit more of a challenge.
"Don't be too confident, Lieutenant. Tomorrow, your opponents will be General Siket's subordinates from the General Staff of the Army, and even Seeckt himself will be on the field. Those guys know that you didn't want their guidance and instead picked a few people from the National Defense Forces. They have made it clear that they want to show you a thing or two.
I suggest you choose to attack Poland; at least Germany won't be at too much of a disadvantage in terms of strength," Ludendorff said earnestly.
In 1925, the strength of the German Army was quite weak; it not only fell short compared to the First Army of Europe—France—but also lagged behind Poland and Czechoslovakia. Therefore, no matter which side Strasser chose in the military simulation games, he would be at a disadvantage, especially since he had to face off against the experienced staff of the General Staff of the Army. Even if he revealed the topic, Ludendorff still felt uneasy.
"Indeed, choosing to engage Poland in the military simulation games is very wise. Although the German Army is outnumbered, its weaponry is not significantly inferior. The improved Mauser 98K rifle from Germany even performs better than Poland's outdated Mosin-Nagant rifle. I can definitely compensate for the numerical disadvantage with a quality advantage," Strasser agreed.
"So I choose to play France."
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