Germany does not seek survival

"Commander-in-Chief! Secret message from Berlin!"

A large number of Ludendorff's generals were taken away by Hindenburg. Among the remaining generals, the most important were Wilhelm Groener, Oswald von Hutier, Heinrich von Brühl, and Max von Botha.

The first is his right-hand man, William Groener.

Wilhelm Groener handed Ludendorff a telegram and whispered, "This is an urgent secret message from the Chancellery in Berlin. Please review it, Marshal. The situation is urgent."

Ludendorff shook the telegram and immediately smiled. "Excellent! President Ebert has granted me full authority and officially appointed me Chief of the General Staff of the Republic's Army, concurrently serving as Supreme Commander of the All-German Martial Law Command!"

Like Ludendorff, Wilhelm Groener came from a middle-class family and was not a descendant of a Junker family. He was not even a Prussian, but a military railway administrator in Württemberg and a military technical bureaucrat of Württemberg.

It was all thanks to Ludendorff's promotion that Groener achieved his current status. After Ludendorff was promoted to Quartermaster General in 1916, he promoted Groener as the director of the Army Railway Transportation Bureau, responsible for the logistics dispatch of the entire German army. Groener's greatest achievement was that after the victory of the war against Russia, during the "Operation Alberich" in which the German army transferred millions of people and massive equipment and supplies from the Western Front to the Eastern Front, he miraculously completed the troop deployment through railway dispatch.

Apart from Groener, the other three generals under Ludendorff were all Junkers.

Hutier was the best army commander on the German Eastern Front;

After Ludendorff was promoted to commander-in-chief, Brühl helped Ludendorff take charge of the specific affairs of the General Staff Operations Department left behind by him;

Botha was also a general promoted by Ludendorff himself. His main achievement was that during the occupation of Poland, he was ordered to implement food plundering and forced labor policies, helping Ludendorff do a lot of dirty work.

"The only thing to do now is to speed up! Lead the troops straight to Berlin."

Ludendorff then bluntly asked Hutier, "You are the best field commander in the German Army. Has the advance detachment been assembled?"

Hutier snapped to attention. "Reporting to the Commander-in-Chief, the advance detachment, composed of veterans drawn from the Nationalist Army's First Division, has assembled 5,000 soldiers. All cars and carriages have been arranged, and all ammunition and supplies have been loaded. Please give the order to attack."

Ludendorff snorted. "Martial Law Order No. 12 from the All-German Martial Law Command of the Republic. The advance detachment will begin its march towards Berlin in one hour. Everyone, check your watches. The current time is 16:30 PM, December 24, 1918."

The Kuomintang generals followed Ludendorff and checked their watches. Groener and Hutier said in unison:

"Captain, who are we going to arrest after we arrive in the imperial capital?"

The National Army generals are all ambitious and they will not be willing to be Ebert's guns. When the National Army controls Berlin, the Left-wing Alliance will naturally be destroyed, but the Ebert government should not take itself too seriously.

Ludendorff said with a cold face, "Your mission is to arrest all the Central Committee members of the three parties: the Independent Party, the German Republican Socialist Party, and others."

"Capture them alive? If they resist, can we shoot them on the spot?" Groener asked.

Ludendorff still did not want to break up with Ebert too quickly. After taking Berlin, the military needed to use the name of Ebert's government to unify the country.

As for whether to kill the revolutionaries of the Left-Wing Alliance, Ludendorff could not make the decision himself. Killing these people might cause too much public outrage, which would be detrimental to the military's future control of the country. He planned to pass the buck to Albert.

"Only after receiving President Albert's order can the National Army execute politicians from the three left-wing coalition parties. Do you understand? We must follow orders. If we want to kill someone, we must have a written order from President Albert. Ask him to leave a written document before we kill for him!"

Ludendorff's face was as cold as frost. The six divisions under his command were ready to go. Generals and officers at all levels also returned to their respective units to take control of the army. A large number of heavy weapons were also loaded onto trucks and headed eastward.

Ludendorff would not show mercy. He did not take the People's Navy Division and the Red Guards in Berlin seriously, but he was very clear that Faust's "Red Army" - the Red Wehrmacht - was definitely a formidable enemy of the National Army.

The cold December wind, carrying fine snow, whistled as it blew across the iron roof of the Krupp factory. The advance detachment of 12 people had been assembled. The engines of hundreds of military trucks roared, and the white mist from the exhaust pipes condensed into ice in the cold air. The iron wheels on the carriages were wrapped with anti-skid chains, making a harsh friction sound as they rolled over the snow.

The Nationalist soldiers all wore matte steel helmets and heavy gray woolen coats over their field uniforms. Their rifle bayonets gleamed a cold, bluish light in the twilight. Very few people spoke in the ranks, except for the occasional snort of a horse or the hushed command of an officer, "Mark yourselves!"

Hutier was sitting on the front of the leading truck. The tube of his telescope was wrapped in burlap to block the metal reflection. The dim street lights stretched the shadow of the truck long and cast it on the closed factory gate.

On both sides of the factory gate, there were red slogans painted by revolutionary workers, "All power to the Soviets", the paint of which had not yet dried.

A full-scale civil war broke out in Germany.

Chapter 200 The Christmas Eve battle begins!

The iron bridge over the Spree River was only a vague black shadow in the night. Two gunshots were heard from the sentry post on the other side of the bridge, startling the crows and sending them flying into the sky. The sentry post manned by several Red Guards was quickly eliminated by the National Army before they could react.

The bodies of the four Red Guards were pushed into the canal by the Nationalist army. Hutier's voice was like frozen ice: "Advance according to the plan, detour south of the bridge. If you encounter resistance, open fire immediately without warning."

Groups of trucks roared over the railway bridge over the Spree River, and their headlights swept across the tense faces of rows of infantrymen. Some of them stared at the bayonets at the muzzles of their guns with grim expressions, some had red pupils as if filled with burning hatred, but more people had empty eyes, and it was not known whether they foresaw the impending fratricide or had lost their subjective initiative in this civil war.

These veterans, who had slaughtered foreigners on the Eastern and Western Fronts, were now turning their guns against their compatriots.

On the east bank of the river, there were a large number of barricades built by the People's Naval Division and the Red Guards, with sandbags, roadblocks, barbed wire... everything was available. Several A7V tanks of the National Army's advance detachment, responsible for clearing the way, directly crushed and knocked open the barricades. When the convoy turned onto the main road leading to Berlin, several clusters of flames suddenly rose in the distance. The dancing flames illuminated half the sky red, casting the silhouette of the marching team on the snow, like a cracking iron-gray painting.

A messenger came from the front of the team on horseback and pulled the reins beside Hutier's command car: "General, the vanguard reports that there may be a firefight in Berlin!"

Hutier was surprised: "What's going on? What happened in Berlin?"

Hutier immediately sent a reconnaissance unit to find out the situation, and also sent a signalman to inform Ludendorff at the Spandau martial law headquarters.

Hutier gave the signalman a death order: "Twenty minutes! Have the commander-in-chief ask Albert about the specific situation in Berlin."

At the same time, the convoy consisting of dozens of trucks and tanks of the National Army advance detachment did not stop, but continued to move eastward along the main road towards the center of Berlin.

The sounds of engines and horse hooves merged into a heavy war drum, beating on everyone's nerves. Everyone knew that the moment they stepped into the suburbs of Berlin, the gears of German history would completely turn towards the abyss of civil war, and the war machine driven by Ludendorff himself would eventually crush the last hope of peace in the collision between red and black.

but……

Now many people are confused again. What happened in the city?

Albert also had no idea what was happening in Berlin.

Albert's presidential palace, which was the chancellery of the chancellor of the empire before the revolution and the former official residence of Bismarck, has never been as chaotic as it is today since the Prince of Baden handed it over to Albert.

The entire presidential palace was in chaos, everyone was like ants on a hot pan, the door of the presidential palace was closed, and Albert made more than a dozen phone calls, urging Noske, who controlled the armed forces of the Social Democratic Party, to come to the presidential palace.

Most of the personnel responsible for security outside the Presidential Palace are Berlin police officers under Noske, and the chief person in charge is Sheriff Ganat, who was recently promoted to captain of the Presidential Palace guard.

He was an old detective who was in charge of criminal cases at the Berlin Police Department before the war. He had become successful and was promoted to such an important position. No matter how envious others were, the smart Gannat could only smile bitterly. Whoever wanted to take such a position, let them take it!

"Mr. Noske, you're finally here. The President has been waiting for you for so long that he's lost his temper and is throwing things everywhere in the presidential palace! We can't persuade the President."

Sheriff Gannett used his hands to push aside a row of stern-faced presidential guards. When he saw Nosk, he knew that something very, very bad must have happened, because the expression on Nosk's face was very, very ugly.

Nosk cursed softly, "I wish I could kill all these people...!"

"what is going on?"

"Don't worry about it. Just stand guard here. I'll go see the president right away."

Noske soon met Albert in the presidential palace. Albert had just broken a telephone and was still pulling the phone wire in his hand. When he saw Noske, his red face calmed down a little.

Albert slammed the table. "When did Faust transfer another Wehrmacht division to Leipzig? No one informed me of this. Leipzig is the territory of the German Communist Party! Do Liebknecht and Luxemburg still care about me, the great president?"

Noske's face was filled with sinister intent. He said, "Your Excellency, we can immediately send the Peace Corps to block the gates of the KPD headquarters and question the KPD. We'll have to force Liebknecht to give us an explanation. The SPD has secretly mobilized troops and is suspected of a military coup. At the very least, we'll have to make the KPD hand over a few people. I think we should use this opportunity to remove Eichhorn."

Eichhorn was a member of the Independent Party, which sympathized with the German Communist Party. He was also the Minister of the Interior in the Provisional Government and had jurisdiction over the Berlin police under Noske.

Albert's humorous, fat face was now filled with a sinister look. "What time has it come? And you're still blocking the door of the German Communist Party? Nosk, oh Nosk, do you have a pig's brain? Ludendorff has already led the Nationalist army into Beijing, and martial law is imminent. Now Faust is secretly mobilizing troops. No matter what his intentions are, we must treat him as a violation of martial law!"

"what do you mean?"

Albert sat back in his chair, took a deep breath, and said, "Send a secret telegram to inform General Ludendorff, telling him that the situation around Berlin has changed. In addition to the Great German Division, the Wehrmacht is likely to have other reinforcements, and then..."

Albert slammed the table again and ordered Noske: "The Peace Army troops will control the main road from Potsdam to Berlin. The Berlin police will go to the west and meet the National Army according to the original plan."

Nosk was a little shocked by Albert's decisive decision.

Albert, still sitting there, hesitantly resting his chin on his hands, said, "Is Faust in the General Staff Building? Liebknecht lives at the Hotel Adlon, and Luxemburg lives in her private residence. We have a detailed understanding of their locations... But they are all revolutionary heroes of great reputation. We cannot touch them lightly."

Noske volunteered: "President, I will take a group of people to arrest Liebknecht, Luxemburg, Kautsky, Faust and others first."

Albert put all ten fingers into his hair. "These guys are very difficult to deal with. If we arrest them, no matter how we deal with them, it will be inappropriate."

Noske immediately sensed the hidden meaning in Albert's words and responded immediately: "If they resist, no matter who it is, Liebknecht or Faust, I will execute them immediately. In this time of national turmoil and crisis, who can save the German order from collapse? If Germany needs henchmen, someone must be the executioner, and I am willing to do it!"

With Nosk willing to step forward and take the initiative to take responsibility for capturing and killing several revolutionary stars, the heavy pressure on Albert was relieved a lot.

But Ebert was still unwilling to leave a "shoot to kill" order on paper, especially for Liebknecht. After all, Liebknecht's father, Liebknecht Sr., was the founder of the SPD. If Ebert left a warrant to kill the founder's son, how could he continue to be the chairman of the SPD in the future?

Noske took all the responsibility on himself.

"Mr. President, martial law troops will take immediate action, even using heavy weapons in the city to eliminate all royalist elements. We suspect Liebknecht and Faust of having ties to the royalists. Martial law troops are free to shoot anyone illegally holding a weapon."

It is impossible to convince the people that Liebknecht had connections with the monarchists, but it seems plausible that Faust had connections with the monarchists, and there is some possibility.

Because many people know that Faust and Manstein, one of the pillars of the royalist party, were once close comrades-in-arms, and many people also remember the deal that Faust reached with the royalist General Seeckt in Potsdam.

Albert admired Noske more and more. It would be difficult to throw mud at Liebknecht for no reason. Moreover, given Liebknecht's personality and prestige, even if he threw mud at him, few people would believe it.

But Faust is different. Faust does have a close relationship with the royalists. By discrediting Faust, the effect of discrediting Liebknecht is achieved. This is another great invention of the counter-revolution.

The most urgent task is to prevent more Red Wehrmacht - "Red Army" troops from entering Berlin!

However, Albert could never have imagined that when he received the news that the Wehrmacht reinforcements had arrived in Leipzig, the vanguard of the Wehrmacht's 2nd "Republic" Grenadier Division had actually arrived in Potsdam long ago, and some of them were riding in trucks, rushing towards the city of Berlin.

In the General Staff Building in Berlin, Faust changed into a dark leather coat and wore long black leather gloves. He knew very well that if he wanted to win, his hands would have to be stained with blood today.

"Now, in the name of the head of the National Socialist Supreme Revolutionary Committee, I give the order that the Great German Division immediately follow me and begin the attack. We have only one target, the Presidential Palace. After entering the Presidential Palace, if you find Ebert, you must kill him. I repeat, comrades, remember this: if you see Ebert, kill him immediately, kill him immediately!"

Following Faust's order, a 105mm howitzer that the Great German Division had transported to König Square in advance quickly fired a shot in the direction of the Presidential Palace.

The grenade flew towards Wilhelm Street, and one shell hit the building of the Foreign Office directly, igniting the Second Battle of Berlin on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1918.

Chapter 201: Bombarding the Presidential Palace

“Bombard the Presidential Palace!”

The Great German Division has begun to advance towards the inner city. Faust received intelligence from the Stasi early this morning that Ludendorff's six divisions were hiding during the day and moving at night, avoiding railways and main roads. However, it is impossible for an army of tens of thousands of people to rush back to Berlin from the Rhineland without leaving any traces along the way, especially after arriving in Spandau. It would be impossible to conceal their whereabouts.

The Red Wehrmacht began to take action after the National Army arrived in Spandau. The Great German Division was armed in advance, and the Republican Division began to move from Leipzig to Potsdam, a suburb of Berlin.

The vanguard troops, which had arrived in Potsdam earlier, entered the city of Berlin in the afternoon of the 24th.

Civil war had become a reality, and all Faust had to wait for was for Ludendorff to fire the first shot in the coup.

So as soon as the advance detachment of the National Army crossed the Spree River railway bridge, Faust ordered the Wehrmacht to launch an attack.

The offensives of both sides were launched almost simultaneously, and Noske led a battalion of the Peace Army to the Adlon Hotel to arrest Liebknecht.

In the inky darkness of the night, a large number of Peace Corps officers and soldiers, still wearing the uniforms of the Kaiserin Army, looked up in astonishment. A flash of fire shot up into the sky in the direction of Wilhelm Street, and the sound of artillery was deafening. Noske immediately broke out in a cold sweat, thinking of the most horrible outcome.

Noske's officers also asked him, "Director, should we continue to the Adlon Hotel or return to the Presidential Palace?"

Noske's face turned pale. He took out a handkerchief from his breast pocket, wiped his forehead, and gritted his teeth and said, "Something is wrong. Let's go back to the presidential palace and protect the president!"

However, at this point, it was no longer the time when Noske said he wanted to rush back to the presidential palace, and a troop could easily rush back to the presidential palace.

The Grossdeutschland Division already had two infantry regiments, and several thousand officers and soldiers formed into skirmish columns and rushed towards Wilhelm Street. Several regimental officers in charge of commanding the battle included Model and Gotthard. They left some troops behind and assigned officers and soldiers to enter the high-rise buildings on both sides of Wilhelm Street, seize the commanding heights, and block the road with high-precision Mauser 98 rifles and MG08 machine guns.

Bullets shot out from the buildings on both sides of William Street like fire snakes. Any Peace Army armed forces that broke through this street would be nailed to the spot by the bullets fired from both sides. If they stuck their heads out, they would be immediately fired upon.

Machine gun bullets were firing continuously, and it was difficult for Noske's Peace Army troops or the Berlin police to rush back to the presidential palace.

In the presidential palace, Albert sat at his desk, panting heavily, staring blankly at the darkness before him. He had done nothing wrong! Germany had reached its end of the rope and could not afford to allow those frivolous and radical revolutionaries to squander the nation's vitality and embark on some idealistic adventure.

The Germans cannot waste their lives in a world revolution with no future.

At the critical moment of life and death, Albert mustered up his courage. He had already heard the sound of the Wehrmacht's artillery fire. He smashed several telephones in anger before he got through to Ludendorff in Spandau.

Albert's voice on the phone was almost frantic: "Minister Ludendorff! If you don't enter Berlin to suppress the rebellion, the central government will be destroyed by the Red Bandits, and we will all become prisoners of the Communist Party!"

On the other end of the line, Ludendorff calmly asked, "Mr. President, please confirm who is included in the revolutionary army that launched the uprising? Is it a joint uprising of the KPD, the Independent Party, and the National Socialist Party?"

There were only Luxemburgists in the German Communist Party until Faust made the plan to go to Luoping and dissolve the Provisional Government. Kautsky and his group from the Independent Party were still unclear about the situation. When they heard the sound of artillery, they thought it was the Allies who attacked. Kautsky was even ready to escape to Weimar.

Luxemburg had been persuading Liebknecht to convene the Party Central Committee immediately, but at that time the Great German Division was fighting the Peace Army in the streets of Berlin, and transportation was inconvenient. Liebknecht was unable to gather enough Central Committee members for the meeting in a hurry.

Without sufficient numbers, the Central Committee cannot make decisions for the Party. Without making decisions for the Party, the People's Navy Division and the Red Guards cannot cooperate with the National Defense Army in action.

Albert calmed down a bit and told Ludendorff over the phone, "The Independent Party will definitely not actively participate in the rebellion. The German Communist Party... doesn't seem to have seen the People's Navy Division join the battle, and the Red Guards haven't taken to the streets. It should be only the National Socialist Party that is inciting rebellion."

Ludendorff reassured Albert, saying, "The National Army will guarantee the President's safety. Please stay in the presidential palace for a while longer. I will immediately send troops to protect you."

Albert's eyes rolled around. He originally wanted to ask Ludendorff to arrange troops to protect him and withdraw to Spandau, but he didn't expect Ludendorff to ask Albert to stay in the presidential palace.

The reason Ludendorff gave was that as long as the president stayed in the presidential palace, it symbolized the unshakable authority of the central government. If Ebert left the presidential palace easily, once the presidential palace was occupied by the Wehrmacht troops, the name of the central government might be usurped by Faust.

Albert, however, felt something was amiss. After verbally agreeing to Ludendorff's request, he put down the phone and immediately told his secretaries and security personnel around him, "Quickly call Sheriff Gannett. Tell Sheriff Gannett to arrange a team of guards. I am leaving the presidential palace now."

Albert's secretary was surprised and asked, "Mr. President, didn't Minister Ludendorff ask us to defend the presidential palace?"

Albert shook his head: "Don't worry about it, call Sheriff Gannat!"

When Sheriff Ganat arrived with dozens of guards, Albert immediately instructed Ganat: "Give me a police uniform. I want to change into a new one right now. Protect me and leave the presidential palace immediately."

Sheriff Gantner was also confused by the chaotic situation. He asked Albert: "Mr. President, where are we going after leaving the presidential palace?"

Albert's secretary said, "We should go to Spandau, where the martial law headquarters is located."

After hearing this, Albert immediately grabbed the ashtray from his desk and smashed it on the secretary, cursing:

"What a fool! Why go to Spandau now? Not to Spandau, go somewhere else."

Albert put his hands behind his back and paced around several times, muttering to himself, "No, no, no, we can't go to Mecklenburg. The two armies are fighting now, and the transportation lines out of the city must have been cut off. If we leave the city, we will be captured, and we won't be able to take Spandau and Potsdam. If we can't leave the city, we have to stay in Berlin."

"Is there any safe place in Berlin?"