Iron Cross

"If you can't buy it, mine it yourself." Hoffmann gave Speer this advice.

"Mining?" Speer, who thought he heard it wrong, looked embarrassed. "Tungsten mines are mainly concentrated in East Asia. Except for Portugal and Spain, which have some reserves in continental Europe, other countries cannot find them."

"There is no need for other countries. The Eastern Province of the Empire (Austria) has it. This was also revealed in the resource map secretly explored by the British last time. I only paid attention to oil last time and forgot about this." Hoffman tried his best. After some recollection, I used my advantage as a time traveler to point it out to Speer: The Mittersill Tungsten Mine is located in the Alps, 350 kilometers southwest of Vienna. It is the second largest tungsten mine in the world, with an annual mining capacity of 400,000 tons. , producing 1,800 tons of tungsten - this output can basically meet the needs of the war.

Speer was overjoyed. This solved a great difficulty for him, and his originally depressed mood suddenly became high. He believed what the head of state said, even if it was false information, it was nothing, it was just a waste of exploration manpower. Besides, the head of state personally promised to talk to Marshal Franco once, and the crisis at hand was naturally solved - the head of state was really his savior!

Hoffman obviously has more ideas about the development of tungsten ore: "Large-scale mining of tungsten ore requires labor. I think the Polish prisoners of war held by the Air Force can be used. In addition, the Jews..."

As an intellectual with a conscience, he was opposed to the implementation of the Jewish extermination policy from the bottom of his heart even when he became the head of state in time traveled. However, since it was the established national policy of the Third Reich, it was impossible to completely overthrow it all at once. He decided to gradually reverse it and thought about it. Later, he said: "Let Himmler arrange for the Jews to go to mining. This is much more ideal than arranging them to go to concentration camps. It allows the Jews to atone for the country's sins. General Schmundt, the director of munitions on the Eastern Front, has complained to me more than once about the lack of train transportation capacity to the East. It was very tense, and the SS was still transporting Jews to the concentration camp all the time, occupying precious transportation capacity. Himmler liked to take care of the Jews so much that he asked him to use the power of the concentration camp in the management of the mine.”

Forcing Jews to do labor is obviously a violation of human rights, but it is at least much more humane than the policy of genocide. Speer strongly agrees with this, believing that this can change the perception of some people within the empire and can also ease the aftermath of the general mobilization. The problem of labor shortage.

The next morning, Hoffmann was studying maps and recalling the distribution of mineral resources in Europe in the office of the Prime Minister's Office, hoping to alleviate the Third Reich's overall resource shortage embarrassment. Unexpectedly, Martin Bowman came in with a cheerful face. He also said happily: "Under the wise leadership of the head of state, we achieved a brilliant victory last night."

"Brilliant?" Hoffmann laughed dumbly. "The Berlin Air Defense Center only shot down 4 Lancasters. Even if you include the 19 shot down in the Ruhr area, the total is only 23. It is only a fraction of the British bomber group. How can it be called Brilliant? It’s a matter of joy that the British didn’t gain valuable results in the Ruhr area.”

"Well..." Bowman was stunned and said subconsciously, "But I didn't hear the air raid siren yesterday?"

"No, but it doesn't mean there are no enemy planes. Last night I witnessed how they directed operations at the air defense command center." Hoffman smiled, "I faithfully performed my duties as commander-in-chief of the Air Force."

Only then did Bowman realize that what the head of state said was obviously not the same thing as what he wanted to say. He suddenly realized: "You went to the Air Force Air Defense Command Center again last night? I didn't know anything about it! I thought you had completed your technical studies from the armor school. I just came back from the demonstration meeting.”

"Then what are you going to say?" Hoffman was also stunned. Bowman's expression just now seemed very relaxed - this cannot be faked, but there seemed to be no big moves in other directions. Even if there was news, his adjutants would be there. Reported immediately.

"You see, this is the result of last night's arrest and interrogation." Bowman proudly raised the file in his hand, "As expected, Canaris is the biggest and fattest bait, even in prison. There was a fragrant smell in the underground prison of the Reich Security Service. His minions-mainly his deputy Major General Hans Oster and Director Hans von Dunany assembled a secret operation team in an attempt to rob the prison. , and we caught them all. Not only did we seize a large number of important documents from Dunani’s office, but they also turned over a bunch of conspirators, many of whom were big shots.”

"Big shot?" Hoffman said with a smile on his face, "Let me guess who they are."

"You can't imagine it," Bowman said with a smile. "I was shocked after seeing it. I still can't believe it is real."

"That's not necessarily true." Hoffman thought for a moment and then said, "Canaris's few capable subordinates in the Military Intelligence Agency will definitely not be able to escape - no, they are not big shots. Big shots naturally have to be bold. Well, General Halder, the Chief of General Staff, must be one of them, and Marshal Loeb must be one, and General Hoppner, the former commander of the Fourth Armored Army, should also be among them - he has always been against me, Typhoon. He was the first to become a deserter during the battle. Oh, I almost forgot about Brauchitsch, the Army Commander. Without him turning a blind eye, Halder and the people from the Army General Staff did not dare to do this. There should also be two generals, the French garrison commander-in-chief Stupnagel and the Belgian governor Falkenhouin. They have been doing little things behind my back in the past two years. By the way, there is also a very important person. , Rommel recommended to me two days ago, the newly returned Colonel Stauffenberg. Don’t underestimate this colonel. He was the liaison officer of the Baker-Canaris treasonous group during the September coup. It was he who delivered the 'military advice' order on behalf of Hoppner..."

"What?" Bowman was startled, with a look on his face that he had seen a ghost, because the string of names that Hoffman just said were almost exactly the same as what he wanted to say. He stammered: "Has someone reported it to the Führer?"

"No." Hoffman denied it and asked doubtfully, "You said you just finished the interrogation that night, so I didn't even know you had a raid last night."

"What about you?..."

"You don't really think that I know nothing about their affairs, do you?" Hoffmann laughed meaningfully, "During the Munich negotiations in 1938, these people were frightened by the arrogant British Empire and wanted to Give me a September coup. Later, Mr. Chamberlain agreed to my request, and their conspiracy failed. Since then, I have been observing them, hoping that they will wake up. I did not expect that human nature can be so despicable on the surface. They were obedient to me, but their secret activities never stopped. The attempted explosion of the Eagle's Nest uncovered Canaris, but I did not arrest anyone else. Even Halder was put back to rest in old age because I always wanted to wait. Look, see if anyone will come to me to surrender and repent. If possible, I can give them another chance to change their ways. Unexpectedly, they flatly rejected my good intentions and insisted on betraying Germany all the way to the dark side. ”

This is of course a way of putting money on his face, because before time traveling, Hitler knew nothing about these conspiracies, otherwise there would never have been a peaceful situation. Although Hoffman clearly denied the speculation that someone had reported in advance, Bowman had beads of sweat on his forehead. In his heart, he was almost 200% sure: There must be an informant planted by the Führer in yesterday's action team, and He was a dangerous person who could report directly to the head of state without being under the control of the General Security Bureau. When he thought of the head of state's careful arrangements to prevent his subordinates from colluding with each other and making small moves, he felt the hairs on his back stand up. And the so-called beginning of 1938 The statement about monitoring the conspirators made him feel that the Führer was unfathomable, and his awe for the Führer rose to another level.

"Führer." He stepped forward tremblingly and said in a complaining tone, "You are the only hope of the party and the country, but you cannot take these vital matters lightly. How can you take any chances with traitors? "

"I will keep your advice in mind." Hoffman nodded to express his agreement with Bowman's point of view, but he almost laughed in his heart. He stretched out his right hand and said, "Bring it here."

"What?"

"The arrest warrant." Hoffman asked rhetorically, "Without my signature, can you and the General Security Bureau easily arrest these big shots?"

"Yes!" Bowman reacted quickly. Originally, he wanted Hoffman to read the interrogation file before signing the arrest warrant, but he didn't expect that there was no need to say anything more. He lamented in his heart: He came here in a hurry early in the morning just to ask for credit and reward in front of the head of state. Unexpectedly, the head of state knew it all and he was being led around everywhere. The whole rhythm changed completely, and he looked like a showoff in front of the head of state. clown.

Hoffman glanced at the list, and found that it was basically as he expected. He only made comments on the handling of one person: "Marshal Bock was not deeply involved in this matter, and his handling was changed from arrest to residential surveillance... …”

Bowman opened his mouth to say something, but in the end he didn't say anything and nodded to show that he understood.

Hoffman quickly signed the signature and added at the end: "Keep Canaris as the bait for now. There will be people who risk their lives to act as moths. Just replace the lampshade with a new one..."