Germany does not seek survival

The German army often uses very young, low-ranking officers as combat staff officers. A captain combat staff officer in his twenties is generally the third-in-command of a division's chain of command. During the war, when manpower is tight, a captain staff officer in his twenties may even be the third-in-command of an army.

The personnel relations of the combat staff are directly under the General Staff Headquarters and are not influenced by the chief officers of the troops. When they arrive in the troops, they are equivalent to special envoys sent by the General Staff Headquarters. Naturally, they are very powerful and have a lot of say.

In contrast, in order to balance the problem of excessive power of combat staff, the system stipulates that combat staff are given low positions but high power, have low military ranks, great power, and are generally very young.

Because the creed established by Scharnhorst and Moltke the Elder for the German army was absolute rationalism.

The German army believed that a young officer with a strong learning ability could better adapt to the ever-changing and complex modern warfare than a veteran with decades of military career.

Therefore, a typical German military command center often has a veteran as the chief officer, who is responsible for management positions and handling personnel relations among officers at all levels of the army. The chief of staff is responsible for specific command of operations, and the operations staff is responsible for formulating combat plans for the chief of staff.

The Battle of Tannenberg on the Eastern Front is a classic example.

In the Battle of Tannenberg, the German commander-in-chief was Hindenburg, commander of the Eighth Army, but Hindenburg was not responsible for any command affairs. Hindenburg's main job was to rely on his seniority to calm the troops. The specific command of the Battle of Tannenberg was all in the charge of Hindenburg's chief of staff, Ludendorff.

Ludendorff was responsible for the on-the-ground command of the Battle of Tannenberg. The specific battle plan on how to cleverly defeat the enemy with fewer troops and annihilate two Russian armies came from Ludendorff's chief of staff Hoffmann.

When World War I broke out, Hoffmann was only a major. On the eve of the Battle of Tannenberg, he was temporarily promoted to lieutenant colonel. After the victory of Tannenberg, Hoffmann was promoted to colonel.

But even as a major staff officer, Hoffman was able to formulate combat plans for the entire Eighth Army under the German combat command system.

In the German military system, the position of combat staff is so prominent.

Rommel shook hands with the young captain and introduced Faust to him. When the young captain heard Faust's name, his eyes lit up immediately:

"Siegfried of Saint-Quentin! The name of Werther Faust has been a sensation throughout the country these days, especially on the Western Front. Everyone regards you as the latest idol."

Faust shook hands with the young captain. "In the whole of Germany? That's an exaggeration."

"It's not an exaggeration at all."

The young captain introduced himself to Faust and Rommel: "Frederick William Paulus, you can call me Captain Paulus."

Paulus?

This name sounds familiar.

Faust looked at the young Paulus and immediately felt something was wrong. Paulus, please don't let your bad luck befall me.

Paulus brought two small velvet boxes for Faust, each containing a Second Class Iron Cross and a First Class Iron Cross.

According to the German Army's medal awarding rules, the Iron Cross First Class is the highest honor that an ordinary German soldier can receive.

Generally speaking, German soldiers must first obtain the Second Class Iron Cross Medal. Only if they make meritorious contributions on this basis will they have the opportunity to obtain the First Class Iron Cross Medal.

However, because Faust's record was so incredible, after being reported by Rommel, it was quickly selected as a typical propaganda by the German propaganda department that was struggling to boost morale. Therefore, Paulus directly awarded Faust a second-class Iron Cross and a first-class Iron Cross at one time.

Paulus came over and first passed the ribbon of the Second Class Iron Cross through the second button of Faust's uniform and pinned it on top, and then used a pin to pin another First Class Iron Cross to Faust's left breast pocket.

Paulus also gave Faust a new military rank. The new rank was still a sash, but he could wear a cornflower collar and cuffs. There were golden metal lines on the collar and cuffs, and a matte gold button on the collar.

Chapter 18 Blue Max

Because Faust was a soldier from the Kingdom of Bavaria, the golden buttons were decorated with the Bavarian coat of arms.

In terms of military, the Imperial Constitution stipulated that all German armies, whether in wartime or peacetime, would be placed under the command of the emperor, and the rules and regulations of the Prussian army would be implemented in all German forces.

However, the Bavarian government had its own Ministry of War, and the Bavarian army also had its own general staff, and was only placed under the command of the General Staff in wartime.

In normal times, soldiers only need to swear allegiance to the King of Bavaria, and only to the German Emperor after the war breaks out. Bavarian soldiers can also wear uniforms and collars with unique southern German characteristics.

Faust thought, from this perspective, the German Empire actually had a lot in common with the Habsburg Austro-Hungarian Empire. No wonder the two countries eventually ended up in the same situation.

However, compared with the Austro-Hungarian Empire's excessive delegation of power to Hungary, the German Empire's control over Bavaria was more successful.

The town of Spa is full of villas where dignitaries from various countries came for recuperation before the war. Faust walked into the town and saw a long row of yellow buildings on the corner of the street. It was the spa palace where Peter the Great stayed in the past, and now it is the palace of William II.

Paulus brought Faust and Rommel into the palace. There were many guards along the way and the security was tight. After passing through the iron-railed gate, there was a gray-white tall building inside, which was connected to the previous one by several corridors. There was a long stone corridor in the middle that looked like a skylight. It was actually the carriage road inside the gate.

William II did not like riding in open cars. After all, the lesson of Archduke Ferdinand was really profound. The German Emperor always rode in the royal carriage for his daily travel.

There were still five or six carriages and several Mercedes-Benz cars parked on the carriageway. When Rommel tried to go in again, Paulus reminded him, "Captain, His Majesty has only summoned Faust. We all have to wait here."

Rommel nodded. Faust was really flattered. Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany summoned him personally. It seemed that the scale of this awarding of honor was really grand.

Faust walked into the White Building, and the guards standing on both sides saluted at the same time with a "swish", like a group of male peacocks.

Faust was so frightened that he could only respond awkwardly to the people around him.

At the end of the concierge corridor on the first floor, two generals in German military uniforms, covered in stars and medals, were waiting there.

Faust didn't know the identities of these two people yet, but when he saw their military ranks, his heart began to beat fast. These two generals had extremely prominent identities. One of them had the rank of lieutenant general, and the other's rank was even more exaggerated. Looking at the crown and scepter symbols on his epaulettes, he was actually an army marshal.

"Are you Faust? You are so young and so brave. After all, you are our own child, so you are indeed reliable."

The field marshal was leaning on a cane and looked to be no more than forty years old. Such a young marshal, coupled with the Bavarian crown mark on his seal, made his identity obvious. The only person in the German army who met these characteristics was Field Marshal Rupprecht, the commander-in-chief of the Army Group Alsace-Lorraine and the Crown Prince of Bavaria.

Crown Prince Rupprecht was smiling, and his attitude towards Faust was a little too kind.

"Hello, Your Highness."

Faust saluted Crown Prince Rupprecht obediently and said, "I am Faust, Your Highness. I come from Munich. It is thanks to the honor of the Wittelsbach royal family that I am able to perform today."

"Come, His Majesty is waiting for you inside."

Crown Prince Rupprecht directly took Faust's hand. His approachable style really made Faust very uncomfortable. He always felt that the Crown Prince of Bavaria was plotting something.

"This palace was originally where Peter the Great lived, so even though it's simple, Your Majesty still chose to stay here."

From Faust's perspective, the rooms in the palace are definitely not simple, but they are not magnificent and the decoration is relatively simple. After reaching the second floor, there is a palace-style social place on the stairs, with famous paintings and sculptures arranged in an orderly manner; the doors and windows are stacked and the decoration is exquisite, as if you have walked into a museum.

The lieutenant general next to Crown Prince Rupprecht is the most stereotypical image of a Junker aristocrat:

He was tall and slender, his military jacket and trousers fitting perfectly. He carried a saber whose sheath just touched his spurred boots. He had a classic Prussian mustache, deep-set eyes with a monocle, an elongated neck, a small head, a receding forehead and chin, a prominent hooked nose, and hair like a hazelnut, neatly slicked back...

Crown Prince Rupprecht introduced Faust, saying, "He is my chief of staff, Lieutenant General Claus. You are here thanks to Lieutenant General Claus's efforts. He has put a lot of thought into your affairs."

Crown Prince Rupprecht smiled again and said, "After Your Majesty has finished awarding the honors, I can give you some time to have a good chat. In wartime, such opportunities are rare."

Faust felt a little surprised. At this time, Crown Prince Rupprecht had already walked into the royal reception room on the second floor. On both sides were the coats of arms of the Hohenzollern dynasty. The supreme ruler of the Second German Empire, His Majesty Emperor William II, was sitting on a velvet sofa by the window, holding a pencil in his hand, writing and drawing on the map.

"Crown Prince, Lieutenant General Claus, please be quiet."

Beside William II was a white-haired old general. He raised his finger, signaling everyone to be quiet. He whispered, "Your Majesty is drawing a hunting route map in the Ardennes Forest. Please do not disturb Your Majesty."

Crown Prince Rupprecht's face, originally full of smiles, couldn't help but turn a little cold after hearing these words. Faust even wanted to kick William II in the face. Germany was already on the verge of life and death, yet His Majesty the Emperor still had the leisure to immerse himself in hunting!

Lieutenant General Claus said, "General Pleasant, we have brought with us a war hero of great interest to His Majesty, the one I mentioned to you before, Faust."

General Hans von Plessen is almost eighty years old this year. He is the oldest active general in the German Army. He has served as the emperor's adjutant since William II ascended the throne. However, General Plessen's talents are mediocre and far inferior to his age.

General Plesson stroked his beard and looked Faust up and down. "That's Siegfried of Saint-Quentin. Come, His Majesty has come to the front specifically to award you a medal."

Faust complained in his heart that the town of Spa was already in the eastern part of Belgium, so it was not really a front line at all. After all, let's talk about the front line after we get to France!

Or, at worst, William II should have gone to his base in Brussels instead of hiding in the spa tourist attraction of Spa.

But despite his inner thoughts, when he really arrived before William II, Faust still put his legs together, banged his metal spurs together, and acted particularly eager:

"Hail, victor's laurel wreath! Hail, Kaiser of the German Empire! Your Majesty, your servant, Witt Faust, is honored to see your presence. I have no regrets in this life, and I have no fear of dying on the battlefield tomorrow!"

Lieutenant General Claus, Chief of Staff of Crown Prince Prurecht, immediately walked up to William II. He seemed to have an extremely close relationship with William II. He could even lean close to William II's ear and whisper a few words.

After Lieutenant General Claus finished speaking in a low voice, William II shifted his gaze from the hunting map to Faust.

"Hmm, hmm... Very good, very heroic, a handsome man, very good... Hmm, very good, I'll do as you say and award him the medal."

It was obvious that William II was not concerned about the specific affairs of the German army. After the outbreak of World War I, His Majesty the Emperor had been avoiding the front line and specific military decision-making work. Originally, the German army's base camp on the Western Front was Brussels, but William II insisted on moving his palace to the deserted town of Spa during the war. His idea was to avoid all the tedious work at the base camp.

William II stood up, his left hand wearing a deerskin glove, leaning on his sword. Faust knew that this was because William II was born upside down and the delivery was difficult, which caused his left arm to atrophy and become disabled.

William II walked up to Faust, patted his shoulder with his right hand, and said absentmindedly, "Good boy, you look very energetic. The Empire needs soldiers like you. If we had more Fausts who can fight one against a hundred, we would have defeated the Allies long ago, and the war with them wouldn't have dragged on for so long."

Lieutenant General Claus brought the medal for the Emperor. Compared with the Iron Cross Medal, which is generally black, this medal has a very special style. It has a layer of sky blue porcelain glaze on the top and gold on the bottom. The words "For Merit" are also written on the front of the medal.

William II casually placed the medal on Faust's chest and said, "The Blue Max Medal is the highest honor in the Empire. After you receive this honor, you must fight for my country and defeat the Allies for me as soon as possible. I don't want to wait until next year."

Chapter 19 Storm Commandos

The Blue Max Medal was the highest-level medal of merit in the German Empire and was only used to reward those who had made outstanding contributions in battle.

In the German army, only heroes like Red Baron Richthofen and air force genius Hermann Goering have won the Blue Max Medal, and its value can be imagined.

Even Rommel, who is already very famous in the German army, is not currently qualified to receive such a high-level medal.

Winning the Blue Max Medal means that the path to promotion in the military is completely open. For example, after winning the Blue Max Medal, Goering soon became the captain of the 1st Fighter Wing "Richthofen".

Faust also understood that after he received the Blue Max Medal, his career would be greatly improved. With the protection of this medal of merit, the National Socialist Party's future activities would surely be much smoother.

This is the value of the Blue Max Medal.

After William II finished awarding Faust the medal, he immediately immersed himself in the hunting map again. General Plesson, the emperor's most obedient adjutant, could only awkwardly see Faust off alone.

After leaving, Crown Prince Rupprecht sighed and said, "May God bless the Brandenburg royal family, which once created miracles, to create miracles again. I hope His Majesty can understand what he needs to do soon."

Faust didn't dare to speak carelessly in such an occasion. He could only straighten his back and say, "I will always be loyal to the Empire. Your Majesty's actions must have a deep meaning."

Crown Prince Rupprecht looked a little sad. He looked at Faust deeply and reminded him, "Your hometown is Munich, right?"

Faust bowed slightly, lowering himself to the level of Crown Prince Rupprecht. "Yes, I am Bavarian, Your Highness."

Crown Prince Rupprecht looked at Faust and said, "You are one of our Bavarians. Don't worry, the General Staff will definitely treat you with special favors. During this period, we will arrange for you to take a crash course for reserve officers. With your ability, I believe you will graduate from the crash course in no time. After that, the General Staff will proceed to arrange for your promotion to officer."

In fact, with Faust's academic qualifications, as a top student at the University of Munich, normally, as long as he joins the army, he will definitely not start as an ordinary soldier, but at the very least as a reserve officer.

It's just that Faust has a disability. One of his eyes is weak, which is equivalent to a disability. For the German army where social Darwinism is gradually rising, he is not a qualified soldier.

There was only one position for each person in the Military Academy, so there was no place for Faust.

But with the guarantee of Crown Prince Prurecht, the situation will naturally change greatly.

Faust behaved very respectfully in front of the crown prince, but deep down, he did not think that the crown prince's favor could be considered a special promotion or recognition.

After all, after the Battle of Saint-Quentin, Faust had become famous throughout the country as a war hero. With such brilliant military achievements, he was not even qualified to receive the Blue Max Medal, let alone a position as a reserve officer.

The favor that Crown Prince Rupprecht is showing now is nothing more than an afterthought.

Of course, Rupprecht is the crown prince of Bavaria. His Wittelsbach family is one of the oldest and most prestigious families in Germany. Since 1180 AD, when Zhao Gou of the Southern Song Dynasty was still alive, the Wittelsbach family has ruled Bavaria to this day, and has been deeply rooted for nearly 800 years.

As a native of Munich, Faust was of course regarded by Crown Prince Prurecht first as his subject, and then as a subject of Germany and William II.

Lieutenant General Claus, the Crown Prince's chief of staff, always had a serious expression in front of Faust, but his tone was still very friendly when he spoke.

"The promotion system within the Imperial Army was extremely strict. Before the outbreak of the war, an ordinary soldier could only be promoted to the rank of exempt soldier in his entire life. There was a huge gap between soldiers and officers, and only the most outstanding soldiers could be promoted to the rank of second lieutenant upon retirement. Graduates of regular military academies would start as second lieutenants upon joining the army."

Faust also knew that the armies of most modern countries had two separate promotion paths for soldiers and officers, but only Germany had made these two paths reproductively isolated, and the gap was a world of difference.

Behind this, there are both reasons for the German officers to be highly professional and factors that the Junker families used this to exclude civilians from joining the army.

The noble children of the Junker family usually enter the Junior Military Academy at the age of ten, and then go to the Officer Candidate School for two years, and then to the Senior Officer Candidate School for four years. When they reach the age of eighteen, they will enter a military unit for internship. After one to two years of internship, they will be awarded the rank of second lieutenant or lieutenant based on their internship performance.

If we count from the time he was a child in military school, even the children of a Junker family would have to spend eight years studying in military school and two years of internship in the army, a total of ten years, before he could become a formal officer of the German army.

As for those who want to become a combat staff officer, they must be an outstanding member of the army, be recommended by their unit, and go to the Berlin Military Academy to study. Only after graduation will they be qualified to be a combat staff officer.

If you want to become an officer of the General Staff, you must undergo three years of assessment as an operations staff officer before you have a chance.

If ordinary soldiers want to break through the barriers and be promoted to officers, they almost have to have amazing achievements like Faust.

The path that Crown Prince Rupprecht arranged for Faust was to first attend the crash course for reserve officers organized during the war to cope with the military expansion. As long as he completed the two or three months of the course, he could become a reserve officer equivalent to an officer trainee. After that, as long as he made meritorious contributions in the army, he could immediately obtain the official rank of second lieutenant, thus making a gorgeous transformation from a soldier to a formal officer.

Crown Prince Rupprecht had already prepared a car for Faust, and the three of them drove together in a six-cylinder Horch car to the Fountain Manor where the Crown Prince was staying.

Source Manor is a large-scale garden villa complex with white exterior walls and cast iron carved balconies. Even in winter, there are gardeners taking care of the very few flowers that can bloom in winter in Western Europe.

Decades ago, Princess Sissi, the Queen of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, would stay at the Fountain Manor whenever she came to Spa for spa treatments.

Princess Sissi also came from the Bavarian royal family. In terms of kinship, Princess Sissi was the aunt of Crown Prince Rupprecht.

However, the romantic rumors about Princess Sissi were all things of the past thirty or forty years ago. That golden age of Europe was long gone and would never return.

After getting off the car, Faust was still a little surprised by the special courtesy of the prince.

After entering Fountain Manor, Crown Prince Rupprecht handed his coat and cane to the servant and said:

"Marquis Claus, please explain the specific military matters to Faust."

Lieutenant General Claus invited Faust to sit down. He was the same age as Faust's father, and his tone of voice was the classic fatherly tone of a Junker aristocrat.

"Faust, you're still young and don't need to know too much about high-level affairs. I'm only responsible for discussing some military-related issues with you. You know that the main force of the Battle of Verdun was the Fifth Army, right?"

Faust said, "Yes, the Fifth Army. I have seen relevant battle reports in the newspaper. The commander-in-chief of the Fifth Army is your Majesty's Crown Prince, Prince William."