The Rise of the Third Reich

"We are brothers everywhere, why are we in such a hurry?" Major General Schleicher poured beer into a cup while reciting a limerick from Emperor Showa. Reading the German translation, of course. "What does phase frying mean?"

"It means killing each other." Hirschmann reached out to take the beer from Schleicher's hand and explained with a smile.

He has now successfully completed his trip to the Far East and brought back a "Germany-Japanese Industrial Technology Cooperation Agreement." According to the agreement, Germany will transfer technology and equipment in aviation, shipbuilding, metallurgy, chemical industry and other fields to Japan. Heinkel and Kaiser Shipyard will also be designated to jointly develop new military aircraft, aircraft carriers, battleships, heavy cruisers and destroyers with Japan.

There are also some secret clauses in this "Germany-Japan Industrial and Technical Cooperation Agreement" regarding Japanese-German naval cooperation. Germany will send officers and pilots to participate in the training of the Japanese fleet starting in 1929, and will also send aviation students to the Etajima Naval War School in Japan. In other words, Germany will learn naval aviation expertise from Japan.

"You seem to be very enthusiastic about the development of naval aviation."

Schleicher poured himself another beer and sat down in an armchair next to Hersmann, both of whom were now at Schleicher's home in the Charlottenburg district. It's not far from Hersman's home, so the two families often travel back and forth.

Today Hersman came here with Chloe, who had just given birth to a son (named Reinhardt). Chloe is now accompanying Schleicher's wife in the kitchen preparing dinner. Two men were drinking beer and chatting on the balcony.

"Because naval aviation will be a key force in determining the success of future naval battles, we have held many related tests and exercises in the past few years. Even if modified medium bombers are used to drop torpedoes, there are records of simulated sinking of battleships "

"Then why do we want to join forces with the Japanese in naval aviation? Don't we already have torpedo bombers that can sink battleships?"

The medium bomber Schleicher mentioned is a shore-based bomber developed based on the Junkers three-engine transport aircraft, and the Baltic Defense Forces Air Force is equipped with 24 of them.

"Kurt, that's not enough," Hessman took a sip of wine. "We don't have a big navy, and it's impossible to simulate large-scale ship-aircraft battles... You know, new tactics must be close to the real situation. We do not have such conditions now, so we cannot summarize and explore the most effective navigation tactics.”

In the history Hersman knew, the Luftwaffe did not achieve any brilliant results in ship-to-ship combat. Apart from the lack of targeted development of aircraft suitable for sea and air combat, it was probably a matter of tactical application.

In contrast, the Japanese are far ahead in this regard. During the Malayan Naval War from December 8 to 10, 1941. The Japanese used 59 twin-engine Type 96 land attack aircraft and 26 twin-engine Type 1 land attack aircraft to launch a long-distance attack from Saigon. It took two hours and cost 3 aircraft crashed, 27 aircraft were damaged, and 21 people were killed. The battleship Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser HMS Repulse were capsized at a slight cost.

During World War II, the German Air Force may not have had a long-range fighter jet that could compare with Zero War. But there are many medium bombers that have capabilities that exceed those of Type 96 Land Attack and Type 1 Land Attack. But if we can't win a battle like the Malayan Naval War, the problem naturally lies in training and tactics.

Therefore, Hessmann did not fully trust the nascent German naval aviation, but instead fully promoted military cooperation between Germany and Japan, hoping to learn the Japanese's ability to bomb ships.

He stood up from the chair and took a few steps on the balcony with the wine glass in hand. "Kurt, the economy has begun to have problems now, just like I expected. And there is only one way to solve the problem, that is fight!

I am very at ease with the Army and Air Force. We have accumulated a lot in this area, and the construction cycles of these two services are relatively short. But the Navy...we can't rebuild the High Seas Fleet in 10 years. And we haven't built battleships, battlecruisers, and heavy cruisers for 10 years, so we're lagging behind in this regard. Therefore, the only hope is to find another way and achieve a breakthrough in the field of naval aviation. "

After saying these words, Hersman stood at the railing of the balcony and looked out thoughtfully.

The street outside the house is very deserted, even giving people a depressed feeling. After entering the autumn of 1928, Germany's economy began to encounter a cold wave.

The cause of the depression, as it seems throughout history, is that the growing prosperity of the U.S. economy sucked away money. In addition, the German economy itself has also encountered some problems, mainly the Keynesian Plan is facing revision.

After the pound suffered a "run" crisis in June and July, it had to accept loan support from the United States. Britain, France and Belgium began to join forces to put pressure on Germany over the revision of the Keynes Plan. It is hoped that the "in-kind compensation" will be reduced to 100 million pounds per year, and at the same time, cash compensation of 100 million pounds per year will be paid (payable in pounds, gold, or US dollars).

The demands put forward by Britain, France and Belgium are of course subject to negotiation. Germany today is not the Germany of 1923. Especially after Japan encountered the "uncovered aircraft attack incident", the whole world knew that the German aviation industry had huge military potential!

If France and Belgium want to invade the Ruhr area again, it is very likely that the "TB Express" will visit Paris and Brussels... In fact, for the TB-2, a bomber developed based on the most advanced civil aviation technology, let alone Japan There is no way to defend it, even if it is replaced by an "aviation power" like France.

This is because the military aircraft development of various countries (excluding Germany and the Soviet Union) in the 1920s fell into conservative thinking. The most advanced technology is not first used on military aircraft, but on civilian aircraft. Under normal circumstances, the military aircraft technology of countries such as Britain, the United States, and France is one generation behind civilian aircraft.

Not to mention France, which is focused on building its defense line. Even Italy, which attaches great importance to the air force, is now dominated by slow biplanes. The leader's most advanced CR.20 is faster than Japan's three-type warships. It's not much stronger. It can't catch up with the TB-2 equipped with four 880-horsepower air-cooled engines, let alone the improved TB-2 equipped with a 1,200-horsepower engine that will appear soon.

Moreover, now Britain, France and Belgium are all facing the problem of rapid flow of funds to the United States. If there is another "TB Express" visiting Paris and France and Belgium attacking the Ruhr area. Then funds will only flow to the United States faster!

But the financial market is a place where the wind is at your mercy. Stocks on Wall Street are rising every day and money is easy to make. Who would stay in Germany and be worried? Therefore, as soon as the British, French and Belgian proposals to revise the Keynesian Plan came out, the stock markets of Germany and France plummeted, and funds were withdrawn like a tide.

France can cope with this situation, but the worst it can do is let the franc fall a little more. However, Germany has no monetary sovereignty and must use the mark according to the amount of pounds in the Reichsbank. When funds (pounds) flow out, the mark must be reduced!

Anyone who knows about finance and currency knows that when a country's economy is very active, the base currency (currency issued by the central bank) moves very quickly in the banking system, which will produce a "multiplier effect." To put it more simply, if the Reichsbank swipes one mark, there will be two to three more marks of liquidity in the German market.

If the Reichsbank withdraws one mark, Germany's domestic liquidity will also decrease by two to three marks. Therefore, a large amount of money flowed out of Germany, which immediately gave a sudden brake to the German economic train that was running at high speed.

The only thing the Reichsbank could do at this time was to raise the Mark interest rate to retain funds. However, high interest rates inhibited the impulse to invest. Instead of improving, the economic situation became more severe.

As soon as the economy went into trouble, the "class contradictions" that had been covered up began to show signs of rising again - although the "Weimar boom period" in this time and space was longer than in history, and the economic growth was much stronger than in history.

But after all, hyperinflation only lasted for more than four years. People who became proletarians during that disaster were not enough to re-accumulate wealth in just four years to upgrade their own class.

Therefore, today's Germany still has a majority of proletarians. Their ability to withstand the Great Depression was very low.

"Kurt, Ludwig, Mr. Hitler and Mr. Strasser have arrived." Schleicher's wife's voice came from the room at this time.

Today Hersmann went to Schleicher's home to meet with the two leaders of the Nazi Party, Hitler and Strasser - it should be mentioned that Strasser was actually the cooperating informant of the Stasi. He was the same age as Herschmann, had graduated from college, and had been a well-paid pharmacist before the war. He fought bravely in the war and was promoted from soldier to lieutenant. He also received the Iron Cross First Class.

Compared with the single Hitler, Strasser, who had a family and a family, was obviously easier to control. Moreover, through contact with Strasser and his brother (Otto Strasser), Hersmann and Schleicher discovered that although their views were more radical, they were actually indecisive figures, not at all not dangerous.

So Schleicher came up with the idea of ​​replacing Hitler with Strasser, provided him with a large amount of funding, and helped him establish a faction that could fight Hitler.

————

Additional update for the 500th vote