Imperial Elite

Chapter 139 Great Purge

The Germanic crisis, which lasted only one night, ended, and the Führer, who had almost met the same fate as his close friends, returned to Germania.

A massive purge of royalists was immediately launched, and the head of state also initiated a diplomatic offensive while purging royalists.

Although the royalists warned Joe at the same time the coup broke out that they would discuss the Bohemian matter later and not to interfere in the Teutonic affairs.

But to the Führer, what the royalists said meant nothing, or rather, the royalists themselves meant nothing!
Before the smoke of war had cleared in Germania, the Führer launched a diplomatic offensive.

First, the propaganda officers of the National Socialist Party began to exert their efforts. The man who liked to wear a yellow jacket announced to the world: "We have thwarted a huge conspiracy jointly planned by Joe Harrison, the Bohemian government, and the Teutonic royalists, which aimed to assassinate the Führer and overthrow the Old World!"

What followed was a presentation of "evidence".

Although Joe was indeed not involved in the matter, presenting evidence in front of the guards was somewhat unnecessary.

In the end, most of the royalists, knowing what methods the leader would use against them, either chose to resist to the death or simply shot themselves before being arrested.

Some people left decisively, while others hadn't yet grasped the situation, thinking they could also negotiate and remain loyal.

But clearly, the Führer felt there was no need to discuss such a matter. As for loyalty? After the Germania incident, who could possibly be disloyal?
So, under the guard's patient persuasion, these surviving royalists soon remembered, with the guard's help, how Joe had helped them launch the coup.

What followed was a national address by the Führer, filled with both anger and restraint: "They not only want to kill me, but also want to drag the Teutons into a bloody war with Buntania and Gaul to satisfy the personal ambitions of that Buntanian warlord! But I, the Führer, am the Führer of peace! I will never let their evil schemes succeed!"

While delivering this national address, Teutonic diplomats also sent messages to almost all the Old World countries, including Buntania and Gaul.

"Gentlemen, you have all seen it! Joe is a complete warmonger! He tried to ignite war in Germania. It was I who saved peace with an iron fist! Now, for the stability of the Old World, we must work together to restrain this dangerous warlord. I demand: an international conference to permanently resolve the security threat posed by this general and his allies."

Of course, even with such public statements, heads of state may make different statements for different countries.

As for Buntania and Gaul, the Führer meant, "Support me, and together we will 'manage' this most dangerous man of the Old World. Otherwise, next time, I may not be able to control the Teutonic army's vengeful spirit. Would you rather see an orderly Teuton under my leadership, or a Teuton enraged and embroiled in a full-scale war with that mad general?"

The Polish leader stated, "Look closely, what will Joe's adventurism bring? He almost destroyed Germania! Cooperate with us to 'persuade' Bohemia to submit to the Teutonic 'justifiable security demands,' and the Sudetenland will be ours, and the Cechyn region will be yours. We will all gain security and peace."

While using diplomacy to cut the biggest slice of the pie for himself, the head of state also called off the "yellow plan," which was already in the works, internally.

The reason is simple: after the royalist rebellion, the Führer had some doubts about the loyalty of the Teutonic armed forces.

Although most of the IDF generals did not participate in this rebellion, the IDF troops that appeared in Germania demonstrated to whom these generals were truly loyal, or rather, whether they were loyal at all.

The head of state launched a massive purge of the armed forces, and anyone associated with royalists was either dismissed or arrested.

However, given that most of the Teutonic high-ranking officers came from the Imperial era, if the purge went too far, the Führer would lose all his generals.

This cost was unacceptable to the Führer, so the scale of the purge was strictly limited by him. Except for a few officers who were found to have ties to the royalists and were executed, most of the arrested officers were given a second chance by the Führer.

This so-called second chance came from Joe's movie "The Governors".

It's rather strange, although the Führer disliked Joe, the guy who dared to stop him in the Rhineland.

Furthermore, after the bloody Battle of the Rhineland, he stirred up emotions domestically and expelled many goods and industries related to Wagner from the Teutonic Kingdom.

However, the Führer himself was very fond of some of Joe's products.

Although Daimler gifted the Führer a bulletproof limousine, those familiar with him knew that he actually preferred a Victory Car, a gift from his friend in Bonitania, rather than the bulletproof limousine he frequently rode in at various public events.

The car's engine came from his close friend, Hermann, who now has a memorial erected after his state funeral.

The cars all chose the Victory Car, and Joe's "Planet Governor" Führer was an even more loyal viewer.

The Führer was particularly fond of it, and the Krieg troops often told those around them, "This is how we fought back then. This kind of loyalty is the reason why the Teutons were able to stand at the top of the world."

As a devoted viewer of "The Governor of the Planet," how does the Führer deal with those who are connected to the Royalists but seem to have no connection at all?
They were sent to penal battalions, given a second chance to prove themselves on the battlefield, to wash away their shame and prove their honor with bayonets and blood. After dying on the battlefield, these penal battalion members would receive the same treatment as ordinary members of the National Defense Army.

As for surviving... that's impossible. The only outcome for everyone in the disciplinary camp is to fight to the death.

In addition to punishing traitors, loyal officials should also be rewarded.

Although the Air Force's paratroopers participated in the insurgency, including in the arrest of the Deputy Head of State and Hermann, and the raid on the Prime Minister's residence.

However, while Hermann was the Air Force's deputy commander, the Red Knight, as the Air Force's commander-in-chief, also demonstrated the Air Force's stance with a horrific bombing raid.

Therefore, the Air Force received commendation from the Führer during this turmoil, with more personnel, more budget, and more research institutes. The Air Force will gain the Führer's approval.

Compared to the Air Force, the Armed Guard, which protected the Führer and fought a bloody night to recapture Germania, undoubtedly got the biggest slice of the pie.

The Guard organization will not only receive the same treatment as the National Army, but will also be able to establish its own military academy training system and receive more staff. At the same time, the Guard organization will also act as the representative of the National Socialist Party, penetrating into all school organizations to promote the leader's ideology.

In all schools, even those of the National Defense Forces, officers from the Guard will come to "purify the mind."

The guard will become a state within a state for the Teutonic people, the most elite and trusted force of the head of state.

The diplomatic offensive by the head of state outside the Teutonic Kingdom put Joe in a very passive position.

After all, with the bloody battle at Rhineland as a precedent, no one would believe that Joe wouldn't do such a thing.

However, Joe also had an explanation for this.

As the most dangerous man in the Old World, Joe's explanation was quite simple.

Look at Rhineland. If I had really intervened this time, would their leader still be alive? What a joke!

If Joe tries to explain it in other ways, it's indeed not very clear.

However, Joe's explanation from the perspective of combat ability has led many to believe that Joe may indeed have been wronged.

After all, everyone knows how good Wagner is at fighting.

It's clear to everyone that the royalists only held out for one night in Germania.

But often, whether or not there is evidence is not important; what matters is whether you believe it or are willing to believe it.

London, which was already very dissatisfied with Joe after the bloody battle of the Rhineland, now unhesitatingly chose to accept the Führer's words and began to pressure Joe to lead Wagner to withdraw from Bohemia immediately.

Some radical pacifists even began to propose more radical motions, such as disbanding Wagner, reintegrating him into the army, and retiring Joe, the reckless general, directly.

Meanwhile, at the conference in Germania, the head of state also put forward his own demands.

Bohemia must immediately disarm and reduce its army to a symbolic size.

The Sudetenland region undoubtedly returned to the Teutonic tradition.

Bohemia's foreign and defense policies had to be "guided" by Germania, effectively making it a protectorate.

NATO must sever its alliance with Bohemia and accept international oversight of its military buildup to prevent a recurrence of the situation.

This would become the Teutonic Knights' final territorial need. With enough space to live, the Teutonic Knights would then live peacefully in the Old World.

The Bohemian and Wagnerian representatives naturally vehemently opposed the head of state's demands. However, the representatives of Bunitania and Gaul initially remained silent, then stated that they were discussing the order of the Old World and that the Bohemian and NATO representatives were not qualified to participate in a meeting of this caliber.

The Bohemian and NATO representatives were subsequently expelled from the meeting.

Without the interference of Bohemian and NATO representatives, the Germania conference quickly reached a conclusion.

The Führer’s demands were almost entirely met: Bohemia had to be disarmed, the Sudetenland would be returned to Teutonic territory, Wagner had to withdraw from Bohemia, and Bohemia would withdraw from NATO.

However, NATO will not be subject to disarmament or international oversight.

After the agreement was signed, the peacemakers in Buntania believed they would gain a generation of peace, and the head of state was also very satisfied.

Although this incident disrupted his plans and forced him to suspend the Yellow Plan to attack Gaul, he believed that he could annex Bohemia without bloodshed.

With the acquisition of Bohemia, the Teutons would become stronger. At the same time, having lost Bohemia, which could have threatened them from behind, the Teutons could concentrate all their forces on the western front and, after completing the purge, wash away the shame of Versailles twenty years earlier.

The future looks promising, but there's just one small problem.

That is, Joe was not prepared to follow London's plan.

After Buntania, Gaul, and the Führer announced their agreement in Germania, Joe, looking back on the lies, foolishness, and persistence of the past two decades, finally concluded: how the hell could one possibly get politics right with those vermin from London?!
So, the day after the contract was signed, Joe made two statements: first, the agreement was not drafted with the participation of Bohemia and NATO, and it was not signed by representatives of Bohemia and NATO, so it had no legal effect on Bohemia.

Bohemia and NATO will not accept this treaty imposed on them.

Then he announced that he would renounce his Bonitania citizenship and, as NATO Supreme Commander, would fulfill his treaty obligations and lead NATO forces to fight to the last in Bohemia.

This announcement instantly caused a huge uproar around the world.

Although the animosity between Joe and London was nothing new, Joe's public announcement that he was renouncing his Bonitania citizenship was still too provocative for London.

Many people don't even understand why Joe did this.

Even if Joe, as a veteran of the last war, didn't like the Teutons, wasn't going to go a bit too far in order to restrict them?

While some were puzzled, others were filled with admiration. Many felt that this was exactly what Joe would do, and that Joe truly deserved to be called the last knight of the Old World, going to such lengths to fulfill his covenant.

Look at Old Joe, and then look at the government of Buntania and Gaul—a bunch of bastards!
Some people don't understand, some admire, and naturally, some feel embarrassed.

The one who felt embarrassed was Andrei, because at this time Andrei, who wanted to follow in the footsteps of Old Joe, had joined the Buntanian Army.

Because the principle of "if you come to the Buntanian army, you are a Buntanian" has always been upheld, even though Andrei filled out the conscription form haphazardly, he still managed to join the army under the name Leon Johnsen.

Andrei, who had just made a name for himself in the recruit camp, heard the news that his father had renounced his Bonitania citizenship, which immediately made Andrei extremely embarrassed.

The Führer was not angry at all at Joe's statement; on the contrary, he was overjoyed.

Throughout the entire story, although Wagner demonstrated formidable fighting prowess and Joe was a dangerous general.

However, even Bohemia, which had already begun mobilization, could not possibly be a match for the Teutons.

Joe might be able to win one or two brilliant battles, but the overwhelming national strength and the fact that the neighboring countries of Bohemia, apart from Poland which remained neutral, were either allies or politically and ideologically biased towards him, meant that he was not a true ally.

The Teutons were almost certain to win in the end, and the only reason they hadn't done so before was out of concern for intervention from Buntania and Gaul. Now, Joe had given himself a perfect reason to intervene militarily.

At the same time, due to the political propaganda of the National Socialist Party, the troops now have a lot of opinions about Bohemia and Wagner.

Now, it is time to remove Bohemia, this thorn in the side of the Empire's eastern front, before beginning the western campaign.

So the Führer began to move towards Bohemia, having previously planned to launch a surprise attack on Gaul's armored forces.

This included three Armed Guard armored divisions that had just emerged from the Germania conflict.

While the head of state was mobilizing troops, Bohemia was also making final preparations. In addition to routine preparations such as increasing mobilization and forming troops, Bohemia did something else.

After Joe once again welcomed the American volunteers who had come to support him with their own weapons and equipment to his military camp at lunchtime, the Bohemian president's special envoy invited Joe to the presidential palace.

Inside the presidential palace, the Bohemian president handed Joe a plan.

After flipping through the nameless plan, Joe stared in shock at the Bohemian president before him.

"This is……"

"This is how we Bohemians fulfill our covenant."

The Bohemian president looked at Joe calmly.

“Bunitania and Gaul have abandoned us, but you, General, have not. Even without the gold you protected for us, Bohemia wouldn't be where it is today, so…”

The Bohemian president placed his hand on the plan.

“We started developing this plan during the Rhine crisis, and now it’s time to begin the first part of it.”

Joe glanced at the Bohemian president, then at the plan in his hand. Even though he had seen too many storms, Joe didn't know what to say at this moment.

Although the plan in his hand was just a few sheets of paper, it felt incredibly heavy to Qiao at that moment.

The Bohemians planned a strategic transfer right under the noses of the Teutons, moving the most important assets of the Bohemian sapphire, the Škoda military factory, overseas.

They made every effort to secretly transfer the core engineers, technicians, and their families from the arsenal, along with the most critical design drawings, technology patents, and production processes, to other NATO member states or other safe zones.

At the same time, once the defenses collapse, the Bohemians will take further action, carrying out planned technical sabotage of large production lines, precision machine tools, and key power systems that cannot be moved or cannot be transferred in time. They will dismantle core circuits and inject syrup or concrete into key components, making them unusable by the Teutons in the short term.

Some non-urgent but crucial technical drawings, smelting formulas for special steels, and weapon test data will be sealed in moisture-proof boxes and secretly buried in designated locations, awaiting the day of liberation.

Thus, the Teutons might be able to seize Bohemia, but they would not be able to seize Bohemia's treasure: the Škoda Arms Factory.

Seeing Joe standing there in a daze, the Bohemian president reached out and patted Joe's hand, which was holding the plan.

"We did everything we could and were able to do everything we should for Bohemia's independence."

Looking at the Bohemian president, Joe nodded.

"Don't worry, we still have the Sudetenland fortress area, so the situation might not be that bad."

Indeed, the situation is developing in the worst possible direction. Although, due to the principle of "neutrality," NATO's military equipment and personnel are still able to pass through Polish airspace by civilian aircraft.

However, after the head of state completed the purge of the armed forces, and after Joe directly announced that he was giving up his Buntanian citizenship, it was discovered that Bohemia and NATO had no intention of fulfilling the treaty.

The Führer declared that, in order to fulfill the treaty, the Teutons had no choice but to take decisive action to reclaim the Sudetenland and protect the persecuted Teutons there.

London and Paris, as always, remained silent about the Führer's pretext or justification for war.

Amid the silence of London and Paris, and accompanied by the terrifying bombing raids of the Teutonic Air Force, Teutonic armored forces began to enter the Sudetenland under air cover.

Originally, according to the Teutonic plan, the first step of the war would be a large-scale air raid by the air force to destroy the Bohemian air force on the airfields, and then the armored forces would advance frantically under the cover of the air force.

Once the position is breached, the infantry will take over, while the armored forces will cut through any defenses in their path like a butter-slicing dagger. The encircled troops will face only the fate of being cut up, surrounded, and annihilated.

Theoretically speaking, this is a qualified plan, a perfect plan, a plan without any surprises.

However, the only problem this plan failed to consider was that their opponent was Joe, who was the first to kick down the door with armored forces.

Joe had a clear idea of ​​how the armored forces would kick down the door and from where, especially since the Sudetenland region was originally mountainous.

Therefore, under Joe's targeted defenses, the armored forces' originally planned high-speed advance turned into a slow and bloody advance in front of the Sudetenland fortified zone.

Tanks were no longer high-speed mobile units, but became fire support points that could provide direct fire support on the front lines. After suppressing the Bohemian fire near the fortresses, the infantry could approach those fortresses and engage in trench warfare similar to that of the last great war.

Meanwhile, in the air, although the Teutonic air force had a larger number of pilots and their pilots were more well-trained.

However, the Bohemian pilots who were defending their homeland, after surviving the bombing raids by the Teutonic Air Force in their caves, took to the skies to fight without fear.

And soon, these Bohemian pilots discovered a small problem with the Teutonic Air Force.

Perhaps because the air force's top brass consisted of fighter pilots from the last war, the Teutonic Air Force pilots were very aggressive.

They were like the Royal Navy of Bonitania, full of the spirit of fighting the enemy at the first sign of trouble.

This spirit is a good thing in itself, but what if it means that when escorting bomber units, they start fighting every enemy aircraft they see?

After discovering this, Bohemian pilots quickly began to send out some planes at low altitude to attract the attention of escort aircraft when facing Teutonic bombers.

After the escort fighters left, the remaining interceptors launched an attack from high altitude.

Although this tactic cost the Bohemian Air Force many brave pilots.

However, it also successfully affected the support efficiency of the Teutonic Air Force, which in turn caused a chain reaction.

Many problems that could originally be solved with just one bomb from the Air Force now require an entire platoon or even a company of Army troops to resolve.

The brutal fighting quickly brought back memories of the terrible experiences at Verdun and the Somme for the officers in the Wehrmacht.

(End of this chapter)