Chapter 778： Admiral Hoffman

The majestic military song sounded in the palace, making everyone present couldn't help but stand up. As the protagonist this time, Hoffman was no exception.

Listening to the military music, Hoffman couldn't help but think of his military experience. Although I am now fulfilling my childhood dreams of success and fame, I have also suffered a lot over the years, but I have not been able to reach out to the outside world.

Of course he also knew that it was not suitable to think of these at this moment, but he couldn't help it.

In front of him, Edel looked at Hoffman in front of him with some emotion. The founder of the Romanian armored force he discovered by himself has always performed very satisfying.

Regardless of how it looks, he is a perfect soldier, with integrity, honesty, and reliability at the same time. Of course, in this one, Edel also values ​​him even more. Soldiers should be pure. This is not to say that the high-level military leaders such as Fereit and Mandiv are impure, and they all entered middle-level officers before Edel took power, and many habits still carry the colors of the previous ones.

But Hoffman is different. This is the talent that Edel has personally excavated. From the lower-level officers to the current lieutenant general, every footprint is clearly affected by Edel, which naturally feels more assured.

Although Edel was thinking about this in his mind, his hands were not slow. He removed Hoffman's lieutenant epaulettes, put them on the tray, and then picked up a new pair of epaulettes to accompany them.

"Congratulations, Admiral Hoffman, this is the best commendation for your military exploits and military contributions."

Edel shook Hoffman's hand and congratulated him. As Edel spoke, there was applause at the scene, and several people were in charge of taking pictures nearby. I believe that the following photos of Hoffman and Edel will inevitably appear in the headlines of tomorrow's newspapers.

This promotion ceremony was considered to have achieved what Hoffman wanted, but he knew that apart from being promoted to general in Bucharest this time, he had other things to do, but he had to wait for the award ceremony. thing.

The award ceremony actually ended very quickly, and the entire ceremony took less than an hour. Except for everyone watching the ceremony, and then having lunch with your Majesty, everything was kept simple during the war.

But this time, besides Hoffman, there were also Chief of Staff General Fereit and several other generals. Basically, the heads of the armed forces were all present. And this also made Hoffman curious, after all, this was the first time he participated.

And this banquet also let him understand the coordination problem between the three armies.

As the chief of the general staff, General Fereit took the lead to open up the topic. "Your Majesty, the Army is ready for the next Middle East operations. The 500,000 Romanian officers and soldiers are waiting for your Majesty's order to launch attacks on the enemy at any time. It just requires the cooperation of the navy and air forces."

As soon as Fereit opened the topic, the leaders of the other two armies naturally couldn't sit still. I saw the Air Force chief Admiral Ankeda speak. "Your Majesty, the Air Force can only provide more than 900 fighters for landing and follow-up plans. Because the current aircraft are used too frequently, we need to maintain and rotate them, so within this month, the Air Force can only provide So many fighters are used."

Unexpectedly, Admiral Ankerdra would complain as soon as he came up. In fact, this is not a complaint, because the Romanian Air Force has only more than 5,000 aircraft. After deducting damaged or malfunctioning and outdated aircraft, there are currently nearly 4,000. After deducting trainers and commuter transport aircraft, Romania currently owns 3,000 fighters. More frame.

These fighters seem to be quite a lot, but after deducting the thousands of fighters facing the Soviet Union and the fighters stationed on the mainland and new territories to perform various tasks, it is considered to be doing everything possible to come up with so many.

If the combat time could be postponed to February, then the Air Force would be much better. But how can this be changed because of the Air Force? It is necessary to know that the current intention of the military is to complete the combat mission in the Middle East as soon as possible while the main force of the British and French forces is being dragged by Germany.

After the Air Force’s Admiral Ankerdra finished speaking, Admiral Lomodan, the head of the navy, spoke. "At present, the navy's ships can start operations according to the plan at any time after rest and reorganization."

That's right, although the small navy warships are tired like dead dogs and are constantly busy, but the battleships, aircraft carriers, and heavy cruisers that are the main force of the Navy have just finished their rest. In fact, this situation is not only found in the Romanian navy, but also in the navies of other countries.

The most tiring and painful thing is the small ships. The bigger the battleship, the easier it is to receive preferential treatment. Otherwise, why is it always better to go to a submarine than to a destroyer, to a destroyer than to go to a cruiser, and to go to a cruiser...

Faced with the words between these generals, except for Hoffman who participated for the first time, everyone else has already taken offense. As for the monarch, Edel is even more peaceful. This is not even a scene. It would be a lively event if the funds were allocated at the end of the year.

Hoffman actually knew a little bit about attending such banquets. Calculating how old the generals such as Felieit and Mandiv were, they were all almost 70 years old, and he was in his 50s at the peak of the spring and autumn. He is in his early years, so he still has enough time to imagine the future.

"By the way, have you determined when to start the war in the Middle East?"

Edel looked at the several military leaders who were talking, and talked about the topics he cared about.

"Your Majesty, this question needs to be asked to General Hoffman."

In the words of Chief of Staff Feleit, everyone focused on him.

Hoffman, who became the focus of the audience, did not panic at all. I saw him speak slowly. "At present, the Middle East Group Army Command led by me has made a plan and intends to choose a time between January 15-25 to start. However, we still have some differences on the first port to seize, but it should be soon. It's solved."

After hearing Hoffman's words, Edel asked curiously. "What's the difference?"

"That's it, Your Majesty..."

In Hoffman's account, the main difference lies in the landing site. The three proposed locations are Haifa, Beirut, and Latakia.

Among them, Haifa is located in Palestine and is the closest to the Suez Canal, which will help the army to seize the Suez Canal as soon as possible. The same is true for its weaknesses, which will also increase the difficulty of seizure. Although Romania has the advantages of both sea and air, the enemy also has a geographical advantage.

Beirut, on the other hand, is the most important port in the French Middle East. Its port conditions are also the best in three landing points, and its defense force is not weak. At present, the two divisions of the French army are deploying defenses in the port city, which is also the focus of defense.

As for Latakia, it is the worst of the three ports, but its defensive force is not strong, and only one dissatisfied division is stationed.

As for other places that are eligible for landing , they are too far away from the island of Cyprus and are not suitable as targets.

At present, the combat headquarters has not yet made a decision on which port to land from. The main reason is that the three ports have their own advantages and disadvantages.

And Edel can only help Hoffman's difficulties. After all, he doesn't know much about military matters as much as his generals, so he doesn't intervene in this topic.

Although not intervening, Edel still has to give some advice. "You need to solve this problem as soon as possible. The landing time is not enough."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Of course Hoffman knew that indecision was a strategist's taboo, and he certainly wouldn't let him wait long before deciding.

Since there are no other questions, then there will be more to come. A group of military generals discussed and completed the entire combat plan in Edel's face.

After Edel sent the generals away, a guard brought a telegram to him.