My Third Empire

Mercedes-Benz was ordered to start mass production of 300 No. 3 assault guns, and at the same time stepped up the development of the No. 3 tank with a turret. The National Defense Forces claimed that 100 of the No. 3 assault guns were used as stockpiles and spare parts reserves, and the international public opinion was biased towards the New Versailles Peace Treaty, so that this blatant overproduction was not investigated by the Coalition Arms Control Commission.

And these No. 3 assault guns completely exceeded the limit of the New Versailles Treaty, weighing 21 tons, equipped with inclined and thickened front armor plates, equipped with the latest short 75mm caliber cannons, which can support infantry and can also be used Make do with the opponent's tanks.

Of course, according to Accardo's idea when he designed the Pluto Plan, the German armored force will be based on armored divisions, each division will have two armored regiments, each regiment has two battalions, and each battalion has four armored companies. , a company is equipped with 21 tanks, such a standard armored division of the Wehrmacht should have 336 tanks.

However, the Wehrmacht currently has 370 No. 2 tanks (the number accumulated over the past year) and 41 No. 3 assault guns - these 410 tanks are assigned to Guderian's 25th Panzer Division and Rommel is responsible for the new construction 26th Cavalry Division.

In terms of numbers, the two Wehrmacht tank divisions are not fully staffed. For example, Guderian's 25th Panzer Division has only one regiment of full tank troops, and the other regiment has only one armored teaching battalion. Rommel's forces faced a similar situation.

However, the current situation will be greatly improved. Daimler Benz will equip these two units with above-mentioned production tanks, and the units of these two divisions will also replace most of the tanks with No. 3 assault guns and may appear in the future. 3 tanks.

Those eliminated No. 2 tanks were simply disassembled and installed with 20mm caliber cannons, replaced with machine guns to pretend to be armored vehicles and assigned to another unit, the 27th Armored Division, which was recently secretly established by the Wehrmacht.

In this way, the German Wehrmacht has 3 tank divisions, and these new troops equipped with advanced combat capabilities and powerful are all in the hands of Arkado. This does not include several mechanized divisions heavily armed with armored vehicles and cars: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 15th, 22nd. Almost one-third of the Wehrmacht has been motorized, and its overall mobility has surpassed that of its neighbors, France and Poland.

Of course, there is a certain gap between France and the United Kingdom in terms of tank weight, protection ability and tank gun caliber, but German tanks are superior to their opponents in maneuverability, and except for some of the earliest No. 2 tanks that have no radios, most of them have no radios. German tanks are equipped with radio equipment, which makes German tanks far more capable of commanding and cooperating with each other than French tanks.

This time, the revision of the new peace treaty has benefited the German navy a lot. Arkado deceived the British authorities with the half-truth Project Hades, which made two 10,000-ton armored ships that did not exist. The ships were replaced with three actual light cruisers, and the X-Universal Cruiser program got underway—the Navy got a new weapon with great range and speed.

The British still don't know what the German Navy is thinking. Except for a few old battleships and cruisers left over from the First World War, the German Navy has only three Luzov and Count Spee with over 10,000 tons. Admiral, Admiral Scheer, and the rest of the newly commissioned naval warships are all destroyers, with a tonnage of only 4,000 tons.

What makes it even more ridiculous is that these destroyers are all exactly the same, with comfortable living conditions and a huge interior space. The weapons are only ridiculous a few 88mm caliber cannons and a dozen 37mm anti-aircraft guns.

The three newly equipped X-class light cruisers are similar to these destroyers. In the eyes of the British, they are just enlarged versions of the Z1-class destroyers.

The three cruisers built in Kiel use the same parts as the Z1-class destroyers. Most of the weapons and equipment on board can be used in common, except that these three cruisers have three single-barreled 150mm main guns and are equipped with more Just a lot of anti-aircraft guns. Compared with the British cruisers of the same period, these three small ships are not even a threat.

Of course, the Germans have the shrewdness of the Germans. They are only equipped with small-caliber artillery on these ships. The space saved can be used to store more food and fuel, and can travel longer distances - enough for their future. big guy escort.

The biggest change is the Luftwaffe. In the past, when the Luftwaffe was most prosperous, thousands of fighter jets could be dispatched to participate in battles. Even after the end of the First World War, the Luftwaffe still had 14,000 fighter jets of various kinds.

But after the war, Germany was forced to cancel its own air force, countless fighter jets were transported away or destroyed, and Germany's airspace became an undefended blank area.

But now it is different, Germany is allowed to retain its own air power, although this air force is too small - it only has 50 aircraft of various types, even the backward Chinese air force in the Far East is larger than it. Powerful, but this is a leap from nothing, and can't help but rejoice.

Under the understanding of the Germans, the New Treaty of Versailles stipulated that the reconnaissance and patrol aircraft equipped by Germany must be biplanes. As for the speed limit, there is no such thing at all, so a new type of combat reconnaissance aircraft was designed by Henkel Company. , used to rearm German air power.

This type of aircraft flies faster than the British fighter Bulldog in service, and is equipped with powerful machine gun fire. It can be said that this HE-51 fighter is the pinnacle of biplane design. Once equipped, it will become Central Europe. The fastest fighter jet in the region.

The command of the Air Force was handed over to Major Kesselring, who had just returned from the Soviet Union. The 40 combat reconnaissance aircraft were divided into two squadrons. Captain Dick commanded the 1st combat reconnaissance aircraft squadron. Captain Bierhoff served as Squadron Commander of the 2nd Fighter Reconnaissance Squadron.

Such a large-scale military expansion has naturally driven the entire German industry. Arkado personally flew to the Ruhr region in western Germany to meet the German heavy industry capitalist group represented by Krupp on behalf of the Wehrmacht military.

The two sides signed the Ruhr Agreement, later known as Germany's first five-year plan, which clarified the scope of weapons and equipment production at each factory and the number of purchases by the Wehrmacht, including even Germany's entire economic plan in the next five years.

The Pluto Plan sub-plan White Dove Plan will continue to be expanded and implemented. Germany will build another 400 kilometers of highways and 350 kilometers of railways to connect the whole of Germany to quickly deploy troops scattered throughout the country.

As Akado's emissary, Merkel visited the Soviet Union and contracted to build a 3,000-kilometer-long railway and a 3,000-kilometer-long highway for the Soviet Union at a low profit. All of these financial aids were signed in the form of secret cooperation to Stalin, the new Soviet leader who had just come to power, and helped him stabilize his position.

In return, the Soviet Union provided Germany with oil worth $4 million and a huge amount of grain. And the number of German soldiers secretly trained in the Soviet Union was expanded to 1,000.

Subsequently, Germany assisted the heavy industrial bases in the Soviet Union, such as Kyiv and Minsk, and also obtained equipment from Germany. These valuable industrial bases provided the Soviet Union with steel and its derivatives, including tanks and armored vehicles.

Of course, an even crazier plan was offered by the Germans to the Soviet leader Stalin. German engineers helped the Soviet Union build a brand new battleship, which Stalin named the Soviet class, equipped with nine 406mm cannons. , can be called a super sea hegemon.

Stalin especially liked this super weapon and ordered the construction of the first Soviet at the Baltic Shipyard in Leningrad immediately with the help of German engineers, followed by the second large shipyard Naval Shipyard in Leningrad Build a second one.

In Stalin's plan, a total of 15 Soviet-class battleships were to be built to deal with the Japanese threat in the Far East and the British warships from Europe. With the help of German engineers, Stalin believed that relying on the vast land and resources of the Soviet Union, it was entirely possible to compete with the British Empire at sea.

So a strange phenomenon occurred. The Germans were constantly building small-tonnage cruisers and destroyers to use as escort warships, while the Soviets built super battleships with a displacement of more than 45,000 tons with the help of the Germans.

With the Soviet Union paying the bill, Germany's industry has shown unprecedented vitality, and the whole of Germany has become a huge arsenal and construction site. The social unemployment rate was almost zero for a while, and prices were stable, people lived and worked in peace and contentment, Germany swept away the haze of defeated countries and became the most economically dynamic country in Europe.

Under the desperate propaganda of the Greater Deutsche Zeitung, the second half of 1925 was called the Greater Deutsches Year.

In September 1926, just one year after the signing of the Ruhr Agreement, Hindenburg commended Major General Arkado Rudolph on behalf of the government, thanking him for his outstanding contribution to Germany's economic recovery and social stability, and privately issued a certificate to the Wehrmacht. A bonus, another generous allocation of 4 million marks as a secret fund for the Wehrmacht.

At the end of 1926, Germany actually had an army force of 425,000 people (because the expansion was secretly carried out, resulting in a little less than expected), a total of 633 tanks of various types, an air force of 1,400 people, 60 aircraft, and the navy had the new Z1 There are 21 destroyers, and a number of other old ships (3 X-type light cruisers are still in the trial stage and have not been commissioned).

And when the group of capitalists and businessmen who had made a lot of money finally decided to take a rest, they remembered that there was an important thing that had not been implemented, so they hurriedly started.