V4CH21: The Ministry

　German Waffen SS Corporal Junge and Corporal Hagens had been walking around their patrol route for a full half-circle. Ever since they were transferred to guard the headquarters, they had been circling the headquarters' garden every day from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. But today's patrol made the two soldiers feel a little special, because they felt that from the moment they stepped onto the garden path they were constantly saluting the officers, and it felt as if the patrol path had been taken over by the officers.

　　"I say Junge, what's going on today, it seems like all the officers from all over Warsaw have come to the command's garden," Hagens said to Junge while scanning the nearby shrubs vigilantly.

　　"I don't know. But maybe it's because the deputy führer was promoted to marshal. I heard that the deputy führer seems to be having a celebration party in the evening, and these officers probably came to attend the party." Junge is trying hard to make the huge German shepherd he is holding a little more active the dog usually looks quite intimidating, but today it has a look of lethargy, making people feel like they are not out on patrol but rather walking the dog.

　　"I also thought about this, but they do not have to come so early. The party starts at seven o'clock in the evening, doesn't it? What are they doing here at five o'clock? They're not resting comfortably in the restroom, they're out in the garden. Attention, there are two more captains in front."

　　Hagens raised his chest and stood at attention and saluted the two army captains who were coming toward him, and Junge also stood and saluted the two officers.

　　The two captains casually returned the salute and continued to talk in low voices as they walked past the two soldiers. When the two officers were far away, Junge and Hagens resumed their patrol work.

　　"Hagens, those two officers seem to be from the 94th Infantry Regiment, they came at noon, so it seems they haven't gone back at all and are just waiting for the evening banquet."

　　"Then there is no need for them to all come to the garden, but Junge. Do you think there's not much going on the way things are going?" Hargens looked to his left and right, then asked his partner in a low voice.

　　"What are you talking about, I'm not sure what you mean, you mean..." Junge holstered the rifle he was carrying on his back and looked at Hagens suspiciously, he didn't understand his partner's question.

　　"I mean, Deputy Fuhrer and the Fuhrer thing. It seems that the Vice Führer should not be flipping off the Führer now. I listened to the Führer's broadcast yesterday, and didn't he give our Deputy Führer a big compliment on the radio. It was only after listening to the Führer's speech that I realized that our Deputy Führer is such a great man who has made great contributions to Germany. I was worried that these two great leaders would fall out over this purge, and that would be a disaster for us. But after listening to the Führer's speech I put my mind at ease. It seems that the Führer does not care about this action of our deputy head of state. He also promoted the deputy head of state to marshal. It seems that nothing should happen."

　　Hagens couldn't help but raise his voice slightly as he spoke, and Junge hastily covered his mouth.

　　"Keep your voice down, you fool. Are you crazy, is this a problem that we soldiers can talk about? We just have to obey the orders assigned from above, what do we care so much. No matter what the top is like, we just know to honestly carry out our orders. Thinking too much will often get you into trouble. Look at the officers everywhere now, how dare you say such things so loudly. If any officer hears us, according to the charge of freely talking about the supreme leader, we may be sent to a hard labor camp. We should do our jobs honestly.

Let the officers think about their own business." Junge has a lot of experience in keeping his head down.

　　"Oh, I know." Hagen was a little frightened by Junge's words, he looked around carefully, waiting to make sure that his words were not heard by anyone, and then let out a light breath.

　　The two staff sergeants continued their slow patrol, and when they passed two high oleander fences, an open meadow appeared before them. Here is the center of the entire garden, in the middle of the grass lawn there is a small artificial lake, now the scene on the edge of the lake, two staff sergeants were dumfounded. Three generals were squatting together by the lake talking. And at least a whole squad of Stormtroopers was scattered in all directions to defend them from afar.

　　The two closest Stormtroopers waved their hands at them, signaling for them to leave. The two staff sergeants were not stupid and gave a salute to the group of generals from a distance, and then, regardless of whether the other side returned the salute, they hurriedly dragged their not-so-happy shepherd dog along their patrol route and left the place at a fast pace.

　　"Junge, good lord, three generals. What do you think they're talking about."

　　"What do you care, you can run over there and ask yourself if you want to know. But don't drag me down with you, I am not the least bit interested in knowing what they are talking about. Well, let's get on with our logical patrol. Ah, here come two more majors up ahead. Are you an officer phobic, you dead dog? Give me some spirit!"

　　"Hans, you look great in your general's uniform. It looks much better than this guy." Muller smiled at Hans and pointed his finger at Haroon, who was crouching on one side.

　　"Don't joke about it, General Muller," Hans replied with a smile as he straightened his grant belt.

　　"Still, I don't even know what those officers in the command think. I'm still an armored commander, right? To be promoted, you have to be a brigadier general of the armored army, but now to give me the rank of brigadier general of the army." Haroon was used to wearing his black armored soldier uniform, and now he was a little uncomfortable with the blue-gray army uniform.

　　"What's so great about your black uniform, it's not as beautiful as the current one. You're lucky to be promoted to general, and you're still picking and choosing here, you're really hard to please." Mueller shook his head and said to Haroon, then he turned to Hans and asked, "Do you know what His Excellency the Field Marshal is talking about with the Chief of Staff right now? I was just about to report the arrival of Chief of Staff Field Marshal Wehrle. But I didn't realize that the Chief of Staff was already waiting in the Field Marshal's office. They must be talking about something important."

　　"I don't know, it should be very important and confidential, otherwise the marshal wouldn't have told me to leave."

　　"Did the marshal just say to you to dismiss us to come and stroll in the garden?"

　　"Yes, after they talked for a while, the marshal ran out to me and said that the meeting was canceled. Told you to disband first and all of you to come for a walk in the garden, and nothing else was said."

　　"Oh, I really don't know what our Lord Marshal was thinking." Hans stretched and then patted Haroon's shoulder, "I say, Brigadier General Haroon, did you miss your troops, why have you been fuming since you arrived here?"

　　"Don't you miss your troops?" Haroon looked at Mueller and said.

　　"Of course, I really want to follow the marshal back to the battlefield quickly. That is the most suitable place for officers like us to stay. If I stay here any longer, I'm afraid my bones are going to rust." Mueller simply sat on his butt on the grass, he has been squatting and is getting really tired of it.

　　"I really miss the aromatic smell of lubricant in my command car now, and the smell of smoke from the artillery. I find that I am not really suitable for any vacation, staying in my tank to make me feel more comfortable." Haroon also followed Mueller's example and sat down on the grass.

　　"And you're the only one who thinks that lube is fragrant. I want to vomit every time I get irritated by that weird smell in the command vehicle. Aren't you afraid of getting your pants dirty like that? There's a party to attend later." Hans hesitated for a moment and also sat down.

　　"It's okay to get dirty, didn't they give out two sets up there?" Mueller smiled and said.

　　"Ah! Really depressing ah, no battle to fight is really too hard to bear. I don't even know what the front has been fighting like. Don't wait until we get on the field when those French have been divided up by other troops." Haroon looked at the lake in front of him with a bit of a sad frown.

　　"That's not certain. Maybe those French are not as good as we thought. Don't forget that we surrounded them last time, if it were you, you would have ended up the same way when you ran out of ammunition." Muller comforted Haroon.

　　"Do you want to know the real situation at the front?" Hans asked with a mysterious expression on his face.

　　"Do you know? That's great, tell us quickly!" The two guys immediately came to life.

　　"According to the latest intelligence, we can not worry that, the French will be swept away by other troops. Because all the German troops on the French front have now stopped their offensive operations."

　　"What, have they all gone mad? Don't they know that this war must be won by speed and that we must keep attacking? Wait until the French slow down then it will be a problem." Haroon shouted in excitement at the news.

　　"Don't be anxious Haroon, let Hans finish his words." Muller frowned and stopped Haroon who was trying to burst away.

　　"Yes, can you take it easy? I haven't finished yet. There's no way the French offensive is going to slow down again. Their elite troops on the Maginot line have been surrounded by us, and their fighting forces are now all drawn to the Weigand line. And our troops that have stagnated are actually building up their strength and preparing to deal a fatal blow to the French at an appropriate time. Because our ammunition and supplies were very depleted in the last battle, we will probably suffer a big loss if we don't take a break."

　　"If that's the case, we have to get back to the front quickly and we have to get our corps ready for battle. It seems that this battle will definitely be more enjoyable than Dunkirk." Haroon said excitedly.

　　"Do you think the marshal can go back in this situation now?" Hans looked at Haroon coldly and said, "What's at stake now is more important than the war at the front, it's about the future of Germany. I do not know what you think, I personally think that as long as the marshal is there, even if the situation at the front is bad do not worry, he will have a way to solve any crisis. I don't dare to imagine what would happen if Germany lost such a great leader as the marshal. So, no matter what, I have to stay by the marshal's side and do everything in my power to help him through this difficult time." Hans' expression was very firm.

　　"Difficult hurdle? Didn't things work out? Didn't the Führer praise and promote the marshal? It seems that the Führer is not angry about this incident, so we don't have to worry about this matter anymore, right?" Muller looked at Hans suspiciously.

　　"It's not as simple as you think, General Muller. You've been at the front not knowing what's going on in the Commander-in-Chief's office. I've been around the Field Marshal for a long time. I know the Führer's temper better than any of you, and he is by no means such a magnanimous man. And the marshal's action this time has violated his taboo, I think things will definitely not end like this. The fight triggered by this incident can only be put to rest if one of the parties falls completely." Hans said seriously.

　　"Is it that serious? That means the marshal and the Führer must be eliminated between one person. My God, has this become a struggle for power? Isn't the marshal someone who doesn't value power? If the marshal admits his mistake to the Führer now, can't this storm be calmed down?" Haroon was shocked at Hans's words.

　　"It is impossible. There is only one way for the marshal to go now. If he really decides to challenge the Führer's power, there is no way this matter will end well. I didn't expect things to turn out this way. I'm sure the Field Marshal didn't expect it at that time either. Do you think it is possible to get the marshal to admit his fault to the Führer? Although the marshal's temper is very kind he will never compromise on what he has decided." Muller excitedly answered Haroon's question, he then went on to say, "I have long been mentally prepared, no matter what things develop into. I will always stand by my marshal. For him, even if it is the enemy of the whole world, so what?"

　　"I am not also like you. We both took an oath at that time. It's just that I originally thought that if this matter has turned around, then we can all be happy and have a perfect ending. I didn't realize there was something else going on inside. I don't know what that is, and I don't want to know. Anyway, I've taken an oath that I'm with the marshal for sure." Haroon finished and fell backward, simply lying on the grass.

　　"Let's not talk about that. Do you guys still want to know something else about the front line?" Hans found that the atmosphere was becoming a bit tiresome, so he wanted to change the subject.

　　"General Guderian is the only unit still charging forward now, but from the battle report, it says that because the supplies couldn't keep up with the result, he was driven back again by the French. I heard that he is retreating faster than he was attacking."

　　"Really, it seems he's pissed off General Rundstedt again. He's always the same, just a desperate assaulter without regard for orders." Mueller layed on the grass looking at the puffy clouds in the sky and said slowly.

　　"I think so, this time I think he may have eaten General Rundstedt's pain. Rundstedt must be in his command now laughing maniacally while screaming death to the guy who disobeys his orders." Haroon said breathlessly on the other side, and then he also stared dumbly at the floating clouds in the sky.

　　"You two guys, ah." Hans shook his head and fell backward also lying down comfortably on the grass.

　　In the garden of the German SS headquarters in Warsaw, the three German generals were lying on the grass like children looking at the puffy clouds in the sky, waiting for the night to come.