The Rise of the Third Reich

On Tuesday, December 19, the Hersmanns, who were in Berchtesgaden at the foot of the Alps, were returning to their villa from a morning jog on the shores of Lake Königssee when they saw Natalie Lesinskaya holding a newspaper. Wait in the lobby.

"Ludwig, this is the Wall Street Journal that I just received." Natalie handed the newspaper to Hessmann, who was wearing sportswear.

This newspaper was published on the 17th, US time, and was subscribed by the Consulate General of Rome in New York. It was then carried back to Europe on a Roman Imperial Airlines class and delivered to Hessman as soon as possible. In addition to Hersmann, Hitler, Schleicher and the German Emperor Wilhelm III all had access to the same Wall Street Journal.

The headline on the front page of today's "Wall Street Journal" is: Truman is elected President of the United States!

There was also Truman’s declaration to the press: The United States will never accept a humiliating peace—the United States will adhere to “no territory, no reparations,” “the principle of self-determination for the American and Australian nations,” “an open door,” “helping the peaceful reconstruction of Europe” and “ "comprehensive disarmament and limitation of armaments" and other five major peace principles.

Hersman asked Chloe to take a shower and have breakfast first, while he sat down on the sofa sweating profusely and began to read Truman's speech word for word published in the newspaper. During this period, Natalie probably handed him a glass of juice, and he drank while reading the newspaper.

The contents of the newspaper did not exceed Hersman's expectations. Truman, who was lucky enough to win the election, did not dare to propose politically incorrect peace conditions, and the five peace principles had no room for discussion.

Obviously, Germany must now implement the "Fort Gotchi Plan".

At this time, Chloe, who had finished taking a shower, did not go to the restaurant, but came to Hessman: "Honey, is there any encouraging news?"

Hersman took a sip of juice and said, "I think Reinhardt is going to the battlefield. Can this be considered encouraging news?"

Reinhardt is Hessmann's second son. He is 19 years old and has completed his studies at the Berlin Military Academy. He is now studying at the Armored Forces School and will graduate soon. If the "Fort Gotchi Plan" is really going to be implemented, Reinhardt will definitely be sent to the battlefield.

"I guess so," Chloe said with a smile. "This will make him a true Heinsberger man."

This answer seemed a bit cruel, but coming from Chloe's mouth, it was normal. Her family has been serving in the army for generations since the time of Charlemagne, and countless ancestors died on the battlefield - their distinguished family background and titles are all stained with blood!

And since marrying Hessman, Chloe has been working hard to have children, giving birth to a total of 6 children, 3 of which are boys. That's enough to make the men of the Heinsberg-Hersmann family seem less precious.

In addition, Hessmann's eldest son Rudolf has now entered the middle ranks of the military, and is also a very valuable expert in the use of carrier-based aircraft in the navy and naval aviation. He is now prohibited from flying aircraft in combat, so there is basically no risk of death.

Hersman closed the newspaper, threw it to Natalie, and ordered: "Change the schedule. I will go back to Tsosen after meeting with the Prime Minister today."

Zossen is the seat of the General Staff of the German Wehrmacht, and the headquarters of the Navy, Air Force and SS are also located there. It is the brains of the German Wehrmacht and even the entire European Community army. Hessmann was in a hurry to return to Zossen, and naturally he had to arrange and implement the "Fort Gotchi Plan" to attack the United States.

When Hessmann and Natalie arrived at the Eagle's Nest in a Mercedes-Benz 770K limousine, Adolf Hitler was on the phone with Mussolini, exchanging views on U.S. policy.

"Yes, that's right, we can't accept Truman's Five Principles, it's all nonsense... The newly elected President of the United States must not have understood the situation. He probably thought it was 1918... Of course, of course, we No atomic bombs will be dropped anytime soon, you and the Roman Empire’s peace efforts are still welcome… Okay, thank you.”

Hitler hung up the phone and said to Hessmann, who was being brought in by Martin Bowman: "Ludwig, it seems we are really going to attack the North American continent."

"Then let's attack," Hessmann said to Hitler. "We have been making plans for a long time. We have advantages in terms of weapons and equipment and the quality of our officers and soldiers, so the attack cannot fail."

"I would not be worried at all if the United States had a border with us," the German chancellor said. "But the enemy is separated from us by the ocean, with more than 2,000 kilometers and nearly 3,000 kilometers of water. This is our biggest enemy! Ludwig, how many troops can we transport to land on Newfoundland at one time now?"

"If we go all out, we can transport 4-5 division-level battle groups, including at least 3 regiment-level armored battle groups." Hessmann sat down opposite Hitler's desk and introduced in detail "Gao Qi" Preparations for landing in the "Fort Plan".

Landing across the ocean is not easy. This is not about transporting troops. Unity ships and high-speed cruise ships are enough. Various large and medium-sized landing ships must be used to transport troops to Newfoundland. The European Community countries have a limited number of large and medium-sized landing ships.

Including the "Baltic" class amphibious landing ships, "Faroe Islands" class dock landing ships and T-type landing ships, the total number is only 166. Even if all of them are used in the "Fort Gauch Plan", it will be difficult to put up to 5 The troops and all equipment of the division (heavy division) and a large amount of supplies were shipped to Newfoundland at one time.

However, the German Navy still has several "blue ribbon aircraft carriers" that have taken a back seat and serve as training aircraft carriers - aircraft carriers converted from luxury cruise ships. Although this kind of aircraft carrier cannot carry many carrier-based aircraft, its displacement is full. Among them, the Bremen and Europa have a huge displacement of 47,000 tons, and are worthy of further modification.

Therefore, after deciding to attack North America, the Bremen and Europa entered the factory again for modification. It has transformed from an aircraft carrier into a special amphibious landing ship - a special landing ship different from ordinary amphibious assault ships. It can carry a large number of soldiers, supplies, equipment and combat aircraft, and can also carry landing craft. However, there is no design for the bow hatch and the stern hatch. Landing craft and amphibious vehicles cannot enter the water directly and can only be put into the water through the boom. The crane on the aircraft carrier (used to hoist aircraft) has limited capabilities and cannot lift equipment that is too heavy. Therefore, the total weight of the landing craft and amphibious vehicles aboard the Bremen and Europa cannot exceed 20 tons.

However, the huge displacement and a large number of cabins for soldiers still make the Bremen and Europa extremely valuable. After the modification, the two ships can jointly carry a lightweight (that is, replace all vehicles above 20 tons with vehicles below 20 tons) marine division or armored grenadier division. This kind of carrying capacity is enough to carry dozens of T-class landing ships.

As long as these two special amphibious landing ships can be delivered to the European Combined Fleet in time, the plan to transport five division-level combat groups to Newfoundland at one time can be completely realized.

"Five division-level combat groups are not huge, but once they land on Newfoundland, it will be impossible for the Americans to drive them away." Hersman assured Hitler.

The first batch of troops sent to Newfoundland must be the best of the best. There are 70,000-80,000 people in 5 division-level groups and hundreds of tanks/assault artillery. As long as they can get ashore, the Americans will have hundreds of thousands of troops. , and certainly nothing can be done.

"How to solve the problem of air supremacy?" Adolf Hitler was not an outsider in military affairs, so he immediately asked the most critical question. "I am not worried about the problems at sea and on land now. As long as there is air superiority, 100,000 German soldiers will have no problem defeating 1 million American troops. But how many fighter planes will the Americans deploy on Newfoundland and the neighboring Nova Scotia Peninsula? ? Can we defeat them?"

"The Americans may dispatch thousands of fighter planes in the battle on Newfoundland," Herschmann told Hitler. "Because Newfoundland is so close to the mainland of the United States, the Americans can mobilize a large number of aircraft at any time to supplement battle losses. So we must Destroy U.S. military airports as the main means to seize air supremacy.”

"Destroy the airport? For what?"

"Using missiles and Me264s and Ju288s," Hersman said, "we have built airports in the Azores, 2,500 kilometers away from Newfoundland, and in Nuuk, Greenland, 1,700 kilometers away. The former can take off and land Me264s, and the latter can Taking off and landing Ju288. We plan to deploy 300-350 Me264 and Ju288 there. This will enable us to launch up to 350 high-precision missiles and remotely controlled gliding bombs at one time.”

"The Americans have a lot of fighter jets on Newfoundland, right?" Hitler continued, "How are you going to solve it?"

"Shoot it down with the Me262T jet fighter!" Hessman explained, "In fact, the Americans' numerical advantage is not as big as imagined. Because the performance of fighter jets is restricted by altitude and visibility. It is usually divided into "day high altitude" There are three categories: "daytime and low-altitude" and "night". Each category has many special requirements, so it is impossible to cover them all. Therefore, the US military deploys three categories of fighters on Newfoundland. .

The Me264 and Ju288 we plan to use are both high-altitude bombers, and guided munitions can also be dropped from high altitudes. Therefore, we will use the Me262HG to compete for air supremacy in the airspace above 10,000 meters during the day. At this altitude, the American P51 has little room to play, the opponent of the Pe262HG. Therefore, the main thing our Me262HG has to deal with is the P47 day fighter that can fight at high altitudes. "