The Rise of the Third Reich

Hersmann, Chloe and Rathenau walked together through two carved doors and came to a very ornate study with rows of books in brown, red and blue gilt leather.

Here, Hersman met Mussolini for the first time. He had a pair of Italian-style gentle, bulging eyes. There is also an sarcastic, exaggerated smile that looks a little vulgar. Hersman felt that this "everyone's favorite" Italian leader was a very shrewd politician. Historically, he entered the world war because he was completely smart but confused for a while.

Standing with the Italian leader was a man who was younger than Hessmann, had a very heroic appearance, and had a beard. Hersman had seen this man in the photos sent by the Stasi Foreign Intelligence Service. He was a big shot, one of the four core members of the Fascist Party under Mussolini, and the current commander-in-chief of the national economy, Itano. Balbo, future Italian Air Marshal, Minister of Aviation and Governor of Libya.

"Welcome, sir and madam." The Italian leader shook hands with Rathenau, Hersmann and Chloe one by one very warmly. Then he made a majestic gesture and asked them to sit down. Rathenau sat on the same sofa as the leader himself, while Hersmann and Chloe took their seats in the armchairs opposite them.

Balbo was sitting in an armchair to the right of Mussolini. His eyes had been sizing up Hersmann from the moment Rathenau introduced the two parties. He obviously knew something about Hersmann.

"Let's talk in German. Commander Balbo and I can both speak German." The Italian leader said to Hersmann in fluent German. He seemed to know that Hersman did not speak Italian - during the exchange of greetings just now, the leader had some conversations with Rathenau and Chloe in Italian, but he used German when speaking to Hersman.

"Okay, Your Excellency," Hessman said, "I have a lot to say today. I originally wanted Chloe to translate, but it seems that I won't need it now."

Hersman saw Mussolini smile and seemed very cordial. "Just say it, I invited you here today just to hear your opinion. If we can reach a consensus, then the future work will be much easier."

Indeed it is! Hessman thought: If the Italian leader is willing to follow his own suggestions to develop the Italian navy and air force. Perhaps World War II would have been easier to fight.

As for the Italian Army, Hessmann, who knew the subsequent history, had no expectations at all. Italy's national strength is obvious. Its output of steel and coal is less than that of Japan. Such an industrial base can barely build a fairly good navy and an air force that was once leading in Europe. It can no longer make any demands on their army. .

"Leader, let me get straight to the point." Hersman took out several enlarged photos from the briefcase he carried with him and handed them to Balbo. The future Italian Aviation Minister took the photo, looked at it carefully, and handed it to Mussolini.

"Leader, the first photo is of the BMW 101 engine, a very good engine... a brand new design, BMW has the patent. American and British companies are ready to purchase patent licenses. I think we can include the patent licenses in the compensation Within the amount of goods.”

Mussolini looked at Hersmann, waiting for him to continue.

"Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief, we hope to export the production line as a whole while selling the patent license. Just like the deal we reached with the Soviet Union."

"Soviet Union?" Mussolini was stunned for a moment, "Have you sold this engine to the Soviet Union?"

"Yes," Hersman said, "not only did we sell aircraft engines to the Soviet Union, but we also helped them design new fighters, bombers, and torpedo attack aircraft, as well as a light aircraft carrier!"

"Aircraft carrier? What aircraft carrier?" Mussolini asked.

"Leader," Balbo reminded from the side, "the second photo is an aircraft carrier."

"The 7,500-ton Lenin." Hessman introduced, "We completed all the designs before the defeat, sold the drawings to the Soviet Union after the Genoa Conference, and sent engineers and technical workers to Lening This aircraft carrier was built at the Black Sea Shipyard. It is now a training ship for the Soviet Red Navy. In addition, the Soviets also hired our people to design a 15,000-ton aircraft carrier, which will be built at the Black Sea Shipyard. If necessary, we can first give you the technical data of the Lenin as compensation."

According to the "Washington Naval Treaty", Italy can have a total of 60,000-ton aircraft carriers, that is, four 15,000-ton aircraft carriers, similar to Japan's Soryu in history.

Although aircraft carriers of this level cannot adapt to the wind and waves of the North Atlantic, the Italian Navy is actually the "Mediterranean Navy", and this type of aircraft carrier is the most suitable. If the Italian Navy had 4 motherships and a relatively powerful aviation force when the war broke out, it might be able to suppress the British Mediterranean Fleet.

Mussolini thought for a moment, then turned to Balbo and asked, "Do we need it?"

Although the Italians secured a 60,000-ton aircraft carrier quota for themselves at the Washington Naval Conference, they did not believe that the Italian Navy really needed an aircraft carrier. Historically, it was not until the spring of 1941 that they decided to transform the cruise ship "Roma" launched in 1926. It became an aircraft carrier, but it was not completed until Italy surrendered.

"You can come here for reference. I think those drawings won't be very expensive." Balbo paused and said, "As for whether aircraft carriers are useful or not, I dare not draw a conclusion now."

Hersman interjected: "Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief, the conclusion cannot be guessed out of thin air. Experiments should be conducted."

"Experiment?" Balbo asked, "How to experiment?"

"Conduct an experiment to attack surface ships from the air." Hersman said with a smile. "The third photo is a torpedo attack aircraft modified from a Fokker F5 transport aircraft, and the fourth photo is a torpedo attack aircraft made from a wave The naval version of the CL-5 attack aircraft developed by the Baltic FK-BF company. If Italy needs it, we can provide several prototypes for experiments... However, the CL-5 and Fokker F5 attack aircraft produced by the Baltic FK-BF company Type cannot be used as compensation."

"Leader, I support experiments." Balbo immediately agreed. "I heard that the United States, Britain and Japan have all conducted similar experiments!"

"Okay, then we have to do it too!" Mussolini nodded his big head. Since the United Kingdom, the United States, and Japan have all played with aircraft and warships, Italy must also play it several times. What if a plane can really sink a battleship? This cannot be taken lightly.

"What's on the fifth photo?" Mussolini opened the fifth and final photo. It was not a weapon.

"Let me tell you about this," Val T. Rathenau took over the topic and said with a smile, "This is my specialty. This is a hydroelectric turbine, which is a key equipment for building hydropower stations. Currently, there are only the United States and the United States in the world. The UK, France and we in Germany have the technology."

"Hydroelectricity?" Mussolini looked at Balbo. The Italian Economic Director said: "We in Italy are very rich in water resources, surpassing Germany."

"Oh, we finally have one resource that surpasses Germany." The Italian leader said in a self-deprecating tone.

Italy is a country with very poor natural resources and very few resources required for industrialization. This is also one of the reasons for Italy's poor performance in World War II - Italian leaders led the country into the war in a hurry and did not do a good job in stocking up on various raw materials. Therefore, Italy's industrial production encountered great difficulties after the war. The difficulties are so great that even the fleet is lying down every day because there is no fuel.

Therefore, Hessmann must now give the leader a golden finger to prevent Italy from still being a big burden.

"My leader, Italy actually has one more resource than Germany." Val T. Rathenau said, "This is a very important strategic resource, which is bauxite."

European bauxite is distributed on the northern coast of the Mediterranean, and Greece, Yugoslavia, Italy, France and Spain are all rich. Germany basically relies on imports of bauxite, and historically a lot of it was obtained from Italy during World War II.

"My leader, aluminum is needed to build airplanes." Balbo reminded, "And electricity is needed to refine aluminum... Aluminum is made by electrolysis."

"Electric aluminum smelting from hydroelectric stations?" Mussolini asked.

"Yes." Hersman replied, "This is a very economical approach. We can sell the equipment for building the aluminum plant to Italy... Of course, this is not included in the compensation. The compensation we owe you is not that much, but you It can be repaid with aluminum and bauxite.”

The Italian leader and Balbo looked at each other, and then nodded their big heads. "Okay, in principle I agree. Let the professionals be responsible for the specific cooperation conditions."

Helping Italy build hydropower stations and aluminum plants is actually a very big "gold finger." Because electricity and aluminum were very important resources in World War II! Aluminum can produce aircraft, and electricity is not only an important source of industrial power, but also a source of power for isotope separation in the future (that is, making atomic bombs). Historically, the Manhattan Project in the United States consumed a large amount of electricity. If Italy could build a large number of hydropower stations before the war, it would be equivalent to increasing the power generation capacity of the entire Axis camp. Although this power does not belong to Germany, Italy can smelt aluminum and possibly copper for Germany, which can save money. Lower Germany’s power resources…

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The first update is offered first, and then Luo Luo asks for first order and monthly tickets. Guys, please!