Chapter 260: Waffen-SS Division 0

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A tall SS officer walked into the room, stood at attention at the door, and saluted. The heels of his leather boots clicked together with a sharp sound. “Heil Führer Akado Rudolph!” Behind this SS officer followed nearly twenty soldiers carrying MP-44 assault rifles.

These soldiers were different from the ordinary SS soldiers and also not quite the same as the Wehrmacht infantry. They wore SS uniforms, but the emblem on their chests was not an eagle clutching a swastika, but a strange design of an eagle clutching a skull. But the most prominent feature of these soldiers was not on their chests, because they all wore a swastika armband on their left arms.

Such attire was not a mystery to the German high command. They were the most elite force within the SS, directly under Akado’s personal command. Within the SS, they were known as the Gendarmerie Battalion. Those in the know in the Greater German Party called this unit the “Leibstandarte Akado.” In fact, the official designation of this unit was Waffen-SS Division 0—the only “non-existent” Waffen-SS unit that did not have to participate in combat.

Entry into this unit required a strict selection process. Only those young men who worshipped the name Akado Rudolph as if he were a god were qualified to join. The only creed of this unit was loyalty, an extreme loyalty to Akado personally. After a year of brutal training, these men would obey any order from the Führer completely. Even if they were ordered to commit suicide, the immediate execution rate was at least ninety percent.

The officer in the lead walked to Akado’s bedside with an expressionless face and handed him a file that had been tucked under his arm. He then stood by the bed, his chin held high, motionless, as if waiting for a command from the Führer, Akado.

Akado took the file and lowered his eyes to read it carefully. The entire room fell silent. Everything was frighteningly quiet. Akado’s eyes scanned down with the text, a cold smile on his lips.

Out of the corner of her eye, Mercedes saw a corner of this document, and its specific content made her hair stand on end. On it was a list of the German politicians who had been running around last night to support a new Führer. Even she was terrified by the source of this document—Akado actually had an independent intelligence network that monitored the whole of Germany, one that even she, who shared his bed, did not know about.

Some things could be handled on a case-by-case basis, while other things could not be solved with a muddle-headed approach. Akado’s collapse this time had brought many clowns to the surface and had also given him a chance to clean house.

After reading the last page of the file, Akado seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. The talents he had valued and the people with wisdom had not disappointed him this time. This news meant that Akado did not have to experience the pain of cutting off his own flesh and could eradicate those troublesome fools. To be able to maintain his grip on Germany without causing a deep and painful wound was clearly a very pleasant thing.

“Fanny, arrange for a speech. In two hours, I will address the nation. The content will be about the specific response to this assassination attempt,” Akado said, looking at Fanny.

He then extended his hand and grasped August’s. He said with a smile, “I am very happy that you could come so far to see me. It is truly a great pleasure for me to have your help.”

Everyone knew that this time, with Akado’s illness, the most likely person to succeed him as Führer of the Reich was Prime Minister August. Moreover, he was in Berlin, and his position was the most advantageous. But when he had heard the news of Akado’s illness, August had been able to rush to the Felsennest quickly. This was a very loyal performance. The “very happy” that Akado mentioned was also referring to this matter.

Akado had studied history in his past life, and he knew how important loyalty was for a subordinate. Countless kings had died at the hands of their subordinates, and many great policies had died with the person who created them.

And as for the history he knew best, the interior of Germany in World War II was by no means a monolith. The Wehrmacht had always been dissatisfied with Hitler and had often paid lip service to his orders while disobeying them in secret. Although this rebellious mentality had at times created astonishing combat results, the further along it went, the more it became the most direct cause of their landslide defeat.

In another timeline, because the disagreement over the plan to invade France was too great, the Wehrmacht had eventually planned an assassination attempt against Hitler. This assassination had directly led to Hitler’s distrust of the Wehrmacht, to the point where it later became an excuse for Hitler to interfere in military operations. This had also laid the groundwork for the later laughable situation of a corporal leading generals.

But in this timeline, it seemed that the Wehrmacht had an extremely high tolerance for Akado’s meddling. The farce of the assassination attempt against Hitler had not been staged against Akado. This had a lot to do with Akado’s origins in the Wehrmacht. He was different from the corporal Hitler. He had made his career within the Wehrmacht. He had worked his way up from the most basic level to a general before entering politics. His prestige within the Wehrmacht was countless times greater than Hitler’s.

Although, compared to Hitler, Akado’s control over the entire Wehrmacht had been strengthened, enough for him to command it as he wished and to prevent things like assassinations from happening, he still could not prevent some ambitious people from jumping out and using his collapse as an opportunity to make some small moves to usurp power.

So everyone in the room knew that Akado was now planning to settle the score. No ruler would sit idly by in the face of betrayal and sabotage, let alone the Führer of all of Germany, Akado Rudolph, whose word was law.

Akado smiled and nodded at August, then looked at his Field Marshal, von Brauchitsch, still with a smile on his face. “My Field Marshal, I am also very grateful that you could come to see me.”

“My Führer,” Brauchitsch stepped forward and said with his head bowed. “The army will always stand with you! Our loyalty is beyond doubt.”

“I sincerely thank the army for its support,” Akado replied with a smile. “To have friends like you by my side is truly a happy thing. You did a very good job last night! All your arrangements were very correct. I have no doubts about the loyalty of the Wehrmacht under your command!”

His words made Brauchitsch breathe a sigh of relief. He also secretly made up his mind to send those few old generals with ill intentions home to retire. To have stood on the right side this time had clearly earned him the Führer’s further trust. At the very least, he, the Field Marshal of the Reich, could continue to contribute to the expansion of the Reich’s territory. This news was more important than anything else. God bless.

Akado looked at the now-relaxed Field Marshal von Brauchitsch, smiled, and then continued to ask, “Is there any news from the navy?”

“A telegram was received seven hours ago. Admiral Raeder is already on his way back. General Lütjens’s troops have also returned to the naval port of Wilhelmshaven under the protection of land-based aircraft,” Brauchitsch replied hurriedly. “The commendation telegram has already been sent out according to your orders. Soon we will be able to celebrate this historic victory.”

“Send a telegram to Kesselring. Have him arrange for planes to protect and support the two fleets as much as possible,” Akado said after a moment’s thought. “Urge the Kiel naval port to prioritize the construction of the Admiral Hipper and the Prinz Eugen, to ensure the smooth formation of the High Seas Fleet’s 3rd Fleet.”

Akado seemed to be in a very good mood. With Mercedes’s support, he slowly stood up from the bed. “Issue this order in the name of the Supreme High Command.”

“In addition…” Akado said, taking Mercedes’s hand and walking toward the center of the room. Anna and the tall SS officer followed behind him. And Fanny, on the other side, walked back into the crowd of officials.

Akado walked up to the minister of the Greater German Party and, looking sideways at the fellow whose face was already covered in sweat, he asked, “Is it very hot in this room? Or is it that… you are also not feeling well?”

“I, I… my Führer, please… forgive… forgive my selfishness… I was just…” The minister’s words were incoherent, and he stammered, unable to complete a single sentence.

“Let me finish for you,” Akado said with a smile. “Last night, dozens of telegrams were sent from the Felsennest. Most of these were sent by Field Marshal von Brauchitsch, and the content was orders to maintain the stability of Germany. And you also sent a telegram, the content of which was to request that Mr. Krupp support you in becoming the new Prime Minister.”

Akado nodded as he spoke. “You have some self-awareness, knowing that you had no chance at the Führer’s position, so you wanted to try to replace Mr. August and become the Reich Prime Minister… Not bad. I still can’t even remember your full name, yet such an unknown person has such ambition.”

“My Führer!” After Akado said this, the man’s speech became fluent. He knelt on the ground, weeping, and cried out, “Give me a chance, my Führer! I was blinded by a demon! It was my wild fantasy! I am not human! Please let me go!”

“Take him out. Don’t dirty the carpet in the Führer’s bedroom,” August said, shaking his head as he looked at the man kneeling on the floor in agony. Akado waved his hand, and soon two guards came in and dragged the fellow who had taken advantage of Akado’s illness to stir up trouble away.

“Hang him. Send his entire family to a concentration camp in Poland… to perform the simplest labor,” Akado said with a sigh, a little helpless. “I won’t call out the others by name. For those with conclusive evidence, drag them all out!”

The tall officer behind him nodded, then waved his hand toward the door, signaling for his soldiers to come in. Then, these guards dragged the dejected officials and politicians out of Akado’s bedroom, one by one.

“Now, it’s much quieter,” Akado said, finding a seat and looking at the people who still filled half the room. “Since you are all here, let’s have a meeting to arrange things clearly before you go.”