Over the next week, Garland and Leibniz found that Chen Dao had locked himself in his office every day, barely leaving the house except for eating and going to the bathroom. When Garland and Leibniz went to report to Chen's office, they found their commander's desk covered with a large map of Northern Europe, filled with books and documents.

Garland took the opportunity of the report to take a few glances at the books, and found that the types of books were disorganized. There were books on military theory such as "On War" and "Air Supremacy", as well as various secret documents with the Air Force logo on them, and Garland even found a Norwegian tourist brochure inside.

Is Germany going to war against Norway? Garland secretly guessed. Seeing that many of those documents were marked with the word "confidential", Garland wisely hid his curiosity in his stomach, and had a tacit understanding with Leibniz to reduce the number of times he disturbed Chen Dao, unless he encountered something important that he could not decide.

After studying the plan for the "Weser River Exercise" sent by Stuart and the secret information about Norway sent by Goering, Chen Dao finally had a general understanding of the intention of the German High Command to attack Norway.

Norway is located in the northwest of the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe, bordering Sweden to the east, Finland and Russia to the northeast, and the Norwegian Sea to the west. Since Germany had no direct outlet to the Atlantic, it was only possible to enter the Atlantic Ocean via the North Sea, bypassing the British mainland. But the mighty British Navy has always been a piece of the heart of the German Navy. During World War I, Britain used its naval superiority to lay out a tight blockade net across the narrow North Sea from the Shetland Islands to the coast of Norway, leaving the German fleet trapped in its home port and unable to do anything.

On September 3, 1939, after Britain declared war on Germany, the German Navy, in view of historical experience and geographical facts, believed that in order to deal with the superior British Navy, Germany must try to obtain a base in Norway, so that it could break through the British blockade in the North Sea and enter the Atlantic Ocean unimpeded. German Vice Admiral Wegener vividly compared: "The German fleet in the North Sea, which was a knight without horses, should now be allowed to ride in the saddle of geography." "This saddle refers to Norway.

On October 10, 1939, the commander-in-chief of the German Navy, Raeder, met with Hitler and expressed concern that Norway might open its ports to Britain, which would have strategic consequences for Germany. He urged Hitler to occupy Norway first as a naval base against Britain and to secure Sweden's iron ore sources.

Of the 15 million tonnes of iron ore consumed by Germany each year, 11 million tonnes are imported from Sweden, which in winter is transported by rail to the Norwegian port of Narvik and then shipped to Germany, just within Norwegian territorial waters. But the primary goal of Hitler's strategy was the conquest of Western Europe, so he preferred to retain Norway's neutrality rather than take any extraneous military action.

On December 16, 1939, the leader of the Norwegian National Unionist Party and former Minister of Defense, Quisling, visited Berlin and reported to Hitler that Britain was about to occupy Norway with the tacit agreement of the Norwegian government. Ghisling asked Hitler for economic and military assistance to support a coup d'état to overthrow the Norwegian government, and when this was done, he invited Germany to protect Norway and thus prevent the British invasion. Hitler said he would rather see Norway remain completely neutral, as would the rest of Scandinavia, because he was reluctant to expand the battlefield. But if the enemy is ready to expand the war, he will act in self-defense to counter this threat. He promised to give Guisling a sum of money and promised to study the issue of giving military assistance.

However, the British and French sides constantly threatened Norway's neutral status. As early as September 19, 1939, the British cabinet approved the plan proposed by Churchill, Secretary of the Admiralty: to lay mines in Norwegian territorial waters, thereby cutting off the sea transportation routes for Germany to import Swedish iron ore.

On January 6, 1940, the British government sent a note to the Norwegian government declaring that the British fleet would not allow German merchant ships to use Norwegian waters. This increased Hitler's concern about the security and strategic resources of his northern flank. On 27 January, Hitler instructed the German High Command to draw up a comprehensive battle plan for the necessary occupation of Norway. To this end, the German High Command set up a special staff department for campaign preparations, composed of one representative from each of the army, navy, and air force, and drew up a draft Norwegian campaign plan codenamed "Weser River Exercise."

An incident on February 16, 1940, finally strengthened Hitler's resolve to occupy Norway. On the same day, a German ** ship "Altmark" carrying British prisoners of war was chased by the British ** ship and fled to Norwegian waters for refuge, Churchill ordered the British ship to break into Norwegian waters, board the "Altmark", and rescued the prisoners of war. Two Norwegian gunboats were present at the time and did not react to the British invasion, but the Norwegian government protested to Britain afterwards. But Hitler believed that the Norwegian government had become an accomplice of the British, and this protest was nothing more than a gesture to deceive him. Quisling then fanned the flames to Hitler and said that the British ship's actions were a plan drawn up by Britain and Norway in advance, which made Hitler even more convinced. So he decided to strike first and quickly occupy Norway.

Thus, under the orders of Hitler and the execution of Keitel, the chief of staff of the Supreme Command, the plan for the "Weser exercises" was born, which made Goering jealous.

The plan indicated that the Germans would launch simultaneous attacks on Denmark and Norway, landing and parachuting in the important Norwegian ports of Oslo, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Trondheim and Narvik, and then developing an offensive into the interior to seize all of Norway; The British and French navies were to be dealt with by the air force, but the German navy had to avoid a large-scale naval engagement with the British Royal Navy in order to preserve its strength.

The German 21st Army had seven divisions, commanded by General Nicholas von Falkenhorst, and was responsible for attacking Norway; The 31st Army had 2 divisions and 1 brigade, commanded by Admiral Kopis, and was responsible for attacking Denmark, supported by 878 aircraft of the German 5th Air Force and 274 ships of the Navy.

In stark contrast to the strong German forces, Denmark had only two army divisions and Norway had only six infantry divisions, and the German High Command predicted that British and French reinforcements would be the main enemy of the German army.

"The tragic Denmark is really a weak country with no human rights just because the Luftwaffe wants to use the Danish airfield." Chen Dao sighed.

Chen Dao immediately thought that on the day the attack was launched, the German Navy would send a landing fleet consisting of two battle cruisers, three heavy cruisers, seven light cruisers, 14 destroyers, 28 submarines, and several auxiliary ships to carry the landing force for a landing battle.

Chen Dao knew that these ships were almost all the strength of the German navy at present, and when he asked Raeder for advice, Raeder once said that as long as he could successfully occupy Norway, even if he could lose half of the ships, it would be worth it.

Even Raeder, a marshal who had always been regarded as a gentleman in Chen Dao's eyes, was so ruthless, and Chen Dao had a deeper understanding of the importance of the Norwegian campaign.

Chen Dao read the "Weser River Exercise" plan seven or eight times, did not miss a single detail, and finally came to the conclusion that this plan was a model of coordinated operations by the army, navy, and air force, and that it was also launched by surprise attack.

Chen Dao was sure that with the bonus of the surprise aura, this plan would definitely be able to achieve a great victory.

The more he discovered the excellence of the "Weser Exercise" plan, the more Chen Dao felt that he was possessed by the soul of Alexander the Great, so that even the proud IQ could not function at full capacity.

Under heavy pressure, Chen Daobai boredly picked up a copy of Clausewitz's book "On War" and flipped through it, trying to find some inspiration in it.

"War is the maximum use of violence, and this sentence is not used; War is not a short blow, and this sentence is not needed; War is by no means an isolated act, which is interesting, but it is not useful; The outcome of the war is by no means absolute, with the presence of bandits, the outcome of World War II is certainly not absolute, but it is not necessary now. While flipping through the book, Chen Dao criticized "On War" from a lofty position.

"War is not only a political act, but also a real political tool, a continuation of political exchange, the realization of political exchange through another means. ・・・・・・Because political intentions are the ends and war is the means, the means without the ends are always unthinkable. ”

Chen Dao's eyes lit up, and he said in his heart that this sentence is somewhat interesting, from a military point of view, he must be a PK but a group of staff officers of the Supreme Command, if you want to fight with such a group of outstanding talents and achieve victory, there can only be one way, that is, to adopt the dislocation strike theory of the bandit dialectic, for example, to interpret the Norwegian campaign from a political point of view.

Thinking of this, Chen Dao felt that he was instantly possessed by Clausewitz's heroic spirit. After a lot of punches and kicks, Alexander the Great's evil spirit retreated, and Chen Dao's clever IQ regained his brain, and his horsepower was running at full speed.

Looking at the "Weser River Exercise" plan again, Chen Dao became more and more sure that this plan only looked at the problem from a military point of view, and did not take into account political factors at all.

Since this is the case, his opportunity has come, and Chen Dao's heart is instantly calm. However, it is better to consult with Marshal Raeder first to see what he fears the most in this battle, and then formulate the right medicine and make a plan.

;