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Page 55
When the Soviet army intercepted the American train in Erfurt, one answer was already clear: the American military train would pass through Erfurt on its way to Frankfurt, and Geistungen was the last stop for the American military train in the Soviet-occupied zone. The train would travel less than two kilometers south to reach the border between the US and Soviet-occupied zones!
If something happened here, then it means that something very likely happened on the US-Soviet border!
Zhukov took the telegram from Zhukov and began to read it.
……
"General Eisenhower, may I ask if you may hold your position for a moment?"
"Please tell me, what exactly happened?"
"During the meeting that just ended, you kept emphasizing that the US military did not want to do anything to the Soviet army. But can you answer me why your US troops are suddenly starting to mass along the US-Soviet border?"
"This?" Eisenhower's eyes widened, and the expressions of the Soviet officers immediately changed from sunny to cloudy.
“I think you’d better wait here for a while before we finish discussing this matter, General.”
……
"Then, Marshal Zhukov, could you read this telegram to me?"
“Okay.” Zhukov handed the telegram to an officer beside him, preparing for him to begin translating it in front of Ike.
……
Just as one problem was about to be solved, another arose. Now, an American general rushed in from outside, clutching a telegram in his hand.
"Excuse me! I'm looking for General Eisenhower!"
"Ok?"
……
“Clay?!” Eisenhower easily recognized him as his second-in-command, Lieutenant General Lucius Clay, who had come with him to the Soviet-occupied zone.
"What happened?"
"General! An urgent telegram has arrived from the American forces stationed at Veldok! They have spotted Soviet warplanes flying into our airspace without our permission!"
Now it was Ike's turn to raise his head and glare at Zhukov.
A mysterious tension began to fill the entire conference room…
Chapter 40, Section 66: The Fall of the General, the Return of the Bloodthirsty Hero
Let's rewind to about four hours earlier, shortly after Eisenhower boarded his plane bound for Berlin.
At the U.S. military headquarters in Frankfurt, a jeep with four general stars on its hood was waiting at the bottom of the steps at the main entrance.
……
The person who had just been sitting in the passenger seat had now stepped onto the last step of the stairs to the floor he wanted to go to, and walked straight down the corridor to an office.
"Yes, I've come to the right place." The bright lighting made it easy for him to see the words on the sign at the door: General Dwight Eisenhower.
……
"Hey? Are you in there, old buddy?"
He knocked several times, but there was no response from the office, so he prepared to grab the handle and open the door to go in.
"Excuse me?" A voice suddenly asked from beside me. I turned around and saw a U.S. military officer holding a piece of paper.
But even with that simple glance back, the officer did see the guest's face clearly, and couldn't help but shudder.
Because the officer knew very well who was standing in front of him...
……
The ship's cap on his head was adorned with four stars arranged in a row, and even the collar of the khaki shirt underneath his military uniform was decorated with the same.
Below his forehead, his gray eyebrows stretched out firmly amidst the wrinkles between them.
Then there were his shoes; he wasn't wearing leather shoes, but low-top leather boots.
The most conspicuous thing was the pistol tucked in his belt. It wasn't the M1911 automatic pistol that most generals and soldiers carried, but a black and white ivory-handled revolver.
Indeed, standing before him was none other than the old man whom the soldiers both loved and hated—General George Patton.
"General?" The officer's voice trembled slightly. "Did you just get off the plane?"
The officer asked this because the general was not wearing a helmet.
During World War II, whenever Patton went to war, he would always wear a steel helmet and he would forcefully order his soldiers to use this iron thing to protect their heads. He even required doctors who used the excuse of not being able to wear stethoscopes to drill holes in their helmets and press them onto their bald heads in their white coats.
Clearly, the atmosphere along the US-Soviet border was becoming increasingly unusual. Even if Patton, with his keen sense of war, were just passing by his headquarters to use the restroom, he would definitely put his ship's cap back and let his helmet take over.
"Ah, right, and it's a damn late flight." The general nodded. "Do you think this damn bird flew too early or too fast?"
“Ah, no problem, sir.” The officer swallowed hard. “Excuse me, are you here to see General Eisenhower?”
“You have sharp eyes, buddy.” The general gestured with his eyes towards the sign. “Do you know where Ike is?”
"The general has already taken a plane to meet with Marshal Zhukov of the Soviet Army. He left here about an hour ago."
Did he say when he would be back?
"No, sir."
"Ah, well, what a lucky missed bus. So, are you going to put that on Ike's desk?"
"Yes, Sir."
"What content?"
"Ah, it's the list of casualties and equipment losses sent from the last batch of American troops evacuating Berlin, sent from the train."
"Let me see this first, damn it," Patton cursed as he took the telegram from the officer. "The damn Russians have killed so many of our good buddies again, damn it."
"Uh, excuse me," the officer asked, a hint of surprise in his eyes, "Why are you so sure he's Russian?"
"Huh? You think that in Berlin, besides the Russians, there are any other beasts that can eat up our five-figure number of brothers one bite at a time, like a horse grazing on grass?" The general didn't even look up. "You're a real genius."
"But, General, you may not know this. The Berlin garrison claims that the armed forces attacking them are all equipped with weapons we have never seen before, especially four- or five-meter-tall steel humanoid weapons. Moreover, all the writing we can find on these people is in English."
“I really don’t believe the Soviet Union could have made these things, and I’ve never seen them make anything like this before, General.” The officer paused. “General Eisenhower thinks there’s something fishy about this, so we can’t act rashly.”
"Hmph, do you know what those old Russians are up to? Enough talk, can you get me more telegrams from our buddies in Berlin?"
……
……
After a short wait, Patton finally emerged from the building with what he wanted and boarded a car bound for the north of Frankfurt.
As for why his headquarters were there, and why it took him three days to return to Germany, the country he once hated so much, after the events in Berlin?
It's a long story...
"All good things are over. The best thing that has ever happened to me is commanding the Third Army, which is the honor I am most proud of."
On October 7, 1945, after bidding farewell to the officers at the Third Army headquarters, Patton left behind these words and reluctantly departed from this paradise that haunted his dreams.
Nine days earlier, after a heated debate with him, Iker stripped the veteran of his right to continue commanding his subordinates—the reason being simple: he had compared the Nazis to the Democratic and Republican parties, creating a huge uproar in the domestic media in front of reporters.
Ike didn't dislike him, but letting him indulge his tongue like that wouldn't do anyone any good.
Then he took on his last post before returning to China this year: serving as the commander-in-chief of the 15th Army Group, responsible for some work on compiling the history of the European war.
……
Sounds really cool, doesn't it?
But have you ever seen an army group whose total strength is less than two divisions? And it wasn't even a defeated army that had been decimated! Apart from two anti-aircraft artillery brigades, it was all engineers and military police!
Think of the Third Army Group, it's an elite force with two corps and two divisions!
No one knows if General Patton ever secretly shed tears on the night he left the Third Army, but now everyone can guess that Patton's military career is likely coming to an end.
The general thought so too. He didn't wear the hat for long before leaving Germany to begin his travels around Europe—which is why he was wearing a hat when he got off the plane. Would you travel the world wearing a steel helmet? Luckily it was green; if it had been painted red or yellow, people might have thought he was a construction worker.
Should we worry about the military? What's there to worry about with just a shell?
Patton's first stop on his trip was Paris, and he planned to visit the Eiffel Tower on the 28th.
However, shortly after he left, a message about "US troops in Berlin being attacked" was handed to him.
Patton was both surprised and delighted—surprised because he hadn't expected this day to come so abruptly; delighted because there was finally something that could interest this old man who only knew how to fight, and would always be interested in.
So now, the belated special plane arrived, and the general immediately returned to Bad Nauheim, more than 20 kilometers north of Frankfurt, to his headquarters.
He removed his ship's cap and placed his helmet, adorned with four general's stars, on his desk. The large pile of items spread out on the desk contained everything he could obtain about Berlin.
……
"'A steel giant' that's four or five meters tall, 'wielding weapons such as machine guns, rocket launchers, and spears,' and 'extremely agile'? Ha!" Patton looked at the documents on the table, his expression becoming quite subtle. "Son of a bitch, even a puppet show for little kids isn't as interesting as this."
"Ah, an armored vehicle, equipped with twin autocannons, and can also carry infantry? Tsk, when did the Russians get this damn capability?"
I lit a cigar and continued reading.
"Everyone's equipped with fully automatic weapons? Does this fulfill the Nazi traitors' daydreams?"
"Huh? They're all using English, you bastards? And there are even some female soldiers? Ugh, this is much more appealing than those nude posters of those disgusting bastards in the military!"
A whole host of interesting things came into the general's view, stirring up quite a few waves in his mind.
At that moment, an officer entered.
"General? Is there something urgent that requires your return?"
That was one of Patton's most special subordinates, named John Eisenhower—yes, the son of Patton's superior, Dwight Eisenhower.
"Ah, little Ike," the general called out affectionately by his nickname, "your old man's been working himself to the bone these past three days, hasn't he?"
"Of course, so you came back for?"
“I just got back from your old man’s place, and now I have some things to arrange.” Patton took the cigar out of his mouth. “Order the 54th and 55th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Brigades to proceed to Butterworth Field immediately and set up anti-aircraft positions.”
"No, General, what is this?" Little Ike was stunned by the order. Butt Hassfield was less than 18 kilometers from the US-Soviet border and was also a place that US military trains returning from the Soviet-occupied zone had to pass through.
"Without orders from headquarters, you're maliciously provoking conflict, do you understand?!"
"You know those damned Russians probably just killed our last buddy in Berlin and are planning to shell their way here, you know that!" Patton's face turned quite serious. "I knew before I came back that your old man had issued a full-scale war alert order on the 28th. Is there any problem with following orders?!"
"You'd better get to work and help draft the telegram, kid!" The general put his cigar back to his lips. "Those Soviet idiots will definitely react soon, I'll bet you the stars on my helmet!"
Little Ike pursed his lips, saluted, and left.
……
The general returned to his desk, picked up the telephone receiver, and dialed the numbers while looking at the contact list.
……
"Hello, General Brooks? This is George. I'd like to know which of your units are closest to Wildek?"
……
"No, no, no, if you keep waiting for Ike to give the orders, everything will be over. Listen to me..."
……
"General Hayslip? Ah, I'm back. Are all your troops on standby?"
……
“Listen to me clearly, I didn’t instigate you to call, understand? What I mean is…”
……
Patton sat in his office and got busy, busier than he had been since the Germans surrendered.
Eisenhower had temporarily gone to the Soviet-occupied zone, and Bradley was on the mainland. At this point, only he knew the US military inside and out and was qualified and capable of contacting them.
He had to do some things he needed to do while Ike was away.
This is a general's duty, even though his orders may no longer be obeyed by anyone...
……
Before we knew it, it was noon.
General Patton had long since finished dealing with what he considered his business, and now he returned to Ike's office—the difference from his first visit being that he had replaced his ship's hat with a helmet and put his leather jacket back on.