บท 264: Chapter 342 The Winter War (11)
After the banquet, Model returned to his room, washed his face, and was about to lie down when he heard a knock on the door.
Walking over to open the door, he found Sofia standing outside. "Sofia? What's the matter so late?" After these days, he hadn't noticed anything unusual about her and didn't know what her "special mission" was.
Sofia walked into the room on her own and spoke in a barely audible voice, "General, I have a mission to execute, and I need your cooperation."
"How do I cooperate?" He was a pure military man and didn't like these covert spy activities.
"It's simple; you just need to sit quietly and don't say a word." After saying this, Sofia took out a record from her bag and put it into the nearby player, pressing the switch.
Then she began to unbutton her clothes.
"What are you doing?" Mordel was stunned by her actions.
Sofia put her finger to her lips, gesturing for silence. She continued unfastening the waistband and took off the outer garment, leaving only a tight-fitting thin inner garment. She then took out a black jumpsuit from her bag, turned off the light, walked to the window, looked outside for a while, and carefully pushed open the window before swiftly climbing out.
The cold air outside the window rushed in all at once, causing Model to shiver. It was only then that he noticed the haunting chanting coming from the record player, instead of the beautiful and soothing music he had expected.
"..." Model stared in amazement at the record player playing the haunting chanting. The sound became increasingly intense, enough for anyone outside to imagine what was happening inside the room.
Although he wanted to turn off this damn record player, considering the "special mission" instructed by His Highness, Model could only endure the annoyance.
After some time passed, he heard a faint rustling sound outside the window. Sofia slipped back into the room, changed her clothes without a word, packed up the record, and left Model's room.
Perplexed, Model pondered for a long time but couldn't make sense of it. He could only lie on the bed with a head full of questions and soon fell asleep.
Early the next morning, Model was abruptly awakened by a piercing scream. Hearing the chaotic commotion in the corridor outside, he hastily put on his coat and walked out, witnessing many people rushing towards the end of the corridor, their faces filled with disbelief and panic. Model grabbed a senior staff member and inquired, "What's happening? Have the Soviets breached the defenses?" Logically, the Soviets couldn't have broken through so quickly. What could have happened to make them this frantic?
"I heard, Marshal, Marshal..." The senior staff member, red-faced and stuttering for a while, finally managed to utter a complete sentence, "Marshal, he, he passed away!"
Model was instantly shocked. "How is that possible? The Marshal was perfectly fine yesterday. How could he suddenly be dead?" He pushed the staff member away and rushed towards Marshal Mannerheim's room.
The entire corridor was already crowded with people. It took considerable effort for him to reach the entrance of the Marshal's room. Glancing inside, he saw Marshal Mannerheim lying on the bed, with livor mortis already present on his face. It seemed that he had indeed died.
President Kallio rushed over in a state of panic. Seeing Marshal Mannerheim's body, he nearly stumbled and fell. "What on earth is going on?!"
A doctor in a white coat inside the room expressed sorrow. "Symptoms suggest a myocardial infarction. However, the specific cause of death needs confirmation through an autopsy. Your Excellency, what do you think?"
President Kallio nodded without hesitation. "Perform the autopsy immediately. We can't let the Marshal die under such unclear circumstances."
As they watched Marshal Mannerheim being lifted onto a stretcher and covered with a white sheet, everyone removed their hats, lowering their heads. Many began to cry, and the atmosphere became extremely mournful.
Model, with a tense expression, felt beads of cold sweat on his forehead. He believed that Marshal Mannerheim's death was related to Sofia; if the Finns discovered any clues, he might end up losing his life on the spot.
Upon receiving the news of Mannerheim's death, Reinhard couldn't help but sigh in relief. He wondered if the man had an extraordinary fate or just good luck, as he had evaded numerous assassination attempts organized by Reinhard over the years, emerging unscathed each time. If he didn't die now, Reinhard felt he would have to apologize to His Highness.
The reason Wilhelm went through the trouble of eliminating Marshal Mannerheim was not due to any personal grudge but because the Marshal was a pure patriot.
Mannerheim dedicated everything to Finland, almost without any reservation for himself.
He was a figure similar to Jon Snow in "A Song of Ice and Fire," a noble-born military man who adhered to unconventional thoughts and values. Throughout his military and political career, he cherished honor, valued responsibility, and engaged in public affairs without party biases. The positions and status he attained were not deliberately pursued; he faced challenges when the nation and his people needed him, and he quietly withdrew when not needed, indifferent to personal gains and losses.
He vehemently opposed Finland's alignment with the Axis powers, even after reluctantly declaring war on the Soviet Union, where the Finnish forces only managed to reclaim the Karelian Isthmus and refrained from further aggressive military actions.
Furthermore, Mannerheim repeatedly refused to assist Germany in attacking the Soviet Union directly, limiting the conflict to defending sovereignty, reclaiming territories occupied by the Soviets. This approach neither incurred deep hatred from the Soviet Union nor directly conflicted with Germany.
In the later stages of the war, as the German forces were steadily retreating, Mannerheim sought reconciliation with the Soviet Union. However, the vengeful Soviet Union, true to its nature, refused, launching a counteroffensive against Finland in 1944. Faced with Soviet invasion, the Finns were forced to rise in resistance, taking up arms and engaging in guerrilla warfare. Despite the Soviet advantage, the casualties were immense, with the Soviets losing over tens of thousands in just one summer campaign. Realizing the difficulty in dealing with Finland, the Soviet Union initiated peace talks, and after Finland accepted their conditions, both sides reached a resolution.
After the Soviet-Finnish reconciliation, the Germans naturally weren't pleased, escalating tensions between Finland and Germany. According to the agreement with the Soviet Union, Finland decided to expel German forces. Under the leadership of Mannerheim, the Finnish forces clashed with the Germans. In the Lapland War, Finland suffered casualties of only around 1,000 people, while Germany incurred losses as high as 2,000. The fighting capability of the Finnish people was evident.
In this way, during World War II, Finland was like the tough guy of Europe, facing off against two major powers, Germany and the Soviet Union, one after the other. Faced with formidable opponents, the Finns showed no fear, no retreat, and relying on sheer determination, they managed to drive away both major adversaries and severely damage the powerful Soviet Union. Just mentioning Finland gives people a headache.
Wilhelm didn't want to waste such formidable fighting strength and, of course, aimed to eliminate Mannerheim, finally achieving his long-awaited goal.
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