The Rise of the Third Reich

"Thank you, Your Excellency, Admiral!"

Hersmann stood at attention and then respectfully gave a military salute to the Minister of Defense, General Kurt von Schleicher. This "political general" who became the Minister of Defense a month and a half ago and was promoted to general yesterday, had just given Hessman the epaulette symbolizing the lieutenant general to wear neatly.

"Haha, you deserve this, my good brother!" General Schleicher laughed and patted Hessmann on the shoulder, and said to a group of beaming colonels and lieutenants around him, "39-year-old Lieutenant general, he is also the deputy chief of staff of our national defense force...it is really enviable!”

Promoted to lieutenant general at the age of 39! It was really fast in the German Army, and he was promoted in peacetime. But among all the field officers and lieutenants gathered in the ceremonial hall of the Ministry of National Defense today, no one was dissatisfied with Hersman. Because they all knew that Schleicher and Hessmann’s instigation for their promotion this time was the result of the expansion of the Wehrmacht from 230,000 to 800,000! As the scale expands several times, the chances of promotion will naturally increase several times! For most of the German officers who were almost old because of their seniority, this period of time was like paradise.

And the two instigators, Schleicher and Hessmann, had a lot to do with it - the expansion of the army to 800,000 men directly tore up the Treaty of Versailles. If the Allies really fought, the trap would probably be too big. .

Fortunately, good news has arrived from Geneva, Switzerland this morning - France's old-fashioned Foreign Minister Aristide Briand has officially filed a lawsuit against Germany to the League of Nations!

This is great news! If the French choose to accuse, it means that they will not use force to interfere with Germany's military expansion. Moreover, the most the League of Nations can do is collective sanctions, economic blockades, etc... there is nothing to be afraid of!

Because the current League of Nations does not include the United States and the Soviet Union, these two countries will not participate in collective sanctions. Sanctions without the participation of these two countries will have little impact on Germany at the moment.

In addition, Brian may not be able to pass the accusation. Germany, Japan and Italy are now permanent members of the League of Nations!

Italy has had many cooperation projects with Germany over the years. It is impossible for Mussolini to agree to sanctions, otherwise what would happen to a bunch of unfinished projects? As for Japan, it wears the same pants as Germany. There are many German engineers in Japan's shipyards, steel plants, and aircraft manufacturers. Moreover, 90% of the cooperation projects between Japan and Germany violate the Treaty of Versailles. Will they also be sanctioned?

Therefore, among the five permanent members, three are on the side of Germany (including Germany itself), but the five gangsters of the League of Nations do not have "veto power". When the League of Nations Executive Yuan meets to decide who to sanction, according to procedures, the five permanent members and 11 non-permanent members must vote in accordance with the "one country, one vote" principle.

And among the current non-permanent members of the League of Nations, not all are close to Britain and France. The dictators of three Latin American countries had good relations with Schleicher and were preparing to develop their industries with German help. Therefore, Germany will be protected when the time comes. Finland is now also a non-permanent member of the Security Council. This country was saved from the Bolsheviks by the current president of the Baltic Republic, Goltz. I have always been pro-German and will definitely support Germany when I vote.

In addition, the Kingdom of Siam is now also a non-permanent member of the Security Council. This country has a very good relationship with Japan and Japan can try to win over it.

Calculating this way, Germany can win 8 of the 16 permanent and non-permanent members. The French's prosecution will most likely not succeed. And even if it succeeds, there will be no sanctions.

"Ludwig, I awarded you the rank, now it's your turn to give the rank to our brothers in the Wehrmacht!"

Schleicher pointed to the epaulettes and collar badges placed on a long table. These are prepared to be awarded to the generals gathered in the hall of the Ministry of National Defense today.

Since Schleicher got the position of Defense Minister in charge of military and political affairs, he had great power in this "big promotion". And he generously asked Hessman to draw up a list - asking Hessman to promote some of his cronies.

So the people who arrived at the ceremonial hall of the Ministry of Defense today are all close to Hersmann. They either spent time with the Stasi in the Military Intelligence Agency, or they had a close relationship with Hersmann when they served in the Baltic Defense Forces or the Aviation Committee. , or it may be that Hersman knew his comrades when he served on the front line.

Among those who are famous in later generations are Kesselring, Guderian (he met Hersmann when he was training armored forces in Baltica), and Rommel (he and Hersmann knew each other when they were fighting in Romania). , Halder, Model, Canaris, Falkenhorst, Hipple, Milch, Student, Paulus, Jeshunek and Udet and others.

Hessmann stood in front of these "brothers" who had made great achievements for the German Empire in history, but most of them had no good endings in the end, and did not immediately start to award titles. Instead, he took a deep breath, jumped on a chair next to the long table, and began to speak impromptu.

"Comrades! Today is a day worth remembering. Since November 1918, our great German motherland has been suffering humiliation and oppression, and has been bound by the evil Treaty of Versailles. It has been almost 13 years today. In the past 13 years Every day, we dream that one day we can put the Treaty of Versailles under our feet and restore the glory of the German Empire... Now we have finally succeeded in breaking through the obstacles of the Treaty of Versailles and rebuilding our great German army! This is! The beginning of our victory! The beginning of the German motherland’s re-establishment! Long live the Third Reich!”

"Long live the Third Reich! Long live the German Reich!"

…

"They, they succeeded... succeeded in tearing up the Treaty of Versailles!"

At the same moment, in Adolf Hitler's private apartment on Prinzregentstrasse in Berlin. The leader of the Nazi Party, who had just participated in a pre-election rally, also knew that France had complained to the League of Nations about Germany's violation of the Treaty of Versailles.

Hitler had a complicated look on his face when he heard the news. Of course he was very happy. This was his dream. From the day he learned that the German Empire was defeated, he had dreamed of the day when the Empire would stand up again.

But it was not him who tore up the Treaty of Versailles, but the German army... and the army's adventure was successful.

"This is good for our election!" Hermann Goering was also in this room. He seemed to be in a good mood - the Luftwaffe had been rebuilt, and many of his comrades had returned to the army and were being reused. , and he will soon become famous.

"The Social Democrats and the Bolsheviks are now making a fool of themselves. They have been claiming that the military adventure will lead to a joint intervention by France, Britain and Poland. But now nothing has happened except the French to press charges!"

The speaker was Major Rosenberg, Chief of the Political Section of the Military Intelligence Agency. He is not a Nazi party member now, but he has a close relationship with Hitler and is actually participating in the activities of the Nazi party.

The adventurous behavior of the Sekt caretaker government is, by democratic standards, simply nonsense!

A caretaker cabinet should not do anything major, just maintain the situation. However, the Sekt cabinet did something earth-shattering—partially tearing up the Treaty of Versailles and pushing the country to the brink of war.

As soon as the news of the implementation of compulsory military service came out, the whole country was in an uproar. There are welcomers and detractors. The Social Democrats and the Bolsheviks held the same view on this issue and were both the most determined opponents.

But when there are more than 2 million registered unemployed people, and there are still many people (at least 2 million) who make ends meet by working part-time jobs, expanding the army by more than 500,000 will definitely attract the votes of unemployed and semi-unemployed voters... If General Sekter's If the adventure succeeds.

The Nazi Party's attitude on this issue is firmly supportive! Although Seeckt himself is a member of the Fatherland People's Party, the Fatherland People's Party has always been biased towards the middle and upper classes. The votes of the Fatherland People's Party will definitely increase, but it will not divert votes from the Nazi Party, because lower-class voters are unlikely to vote for this content. Kremlin Party.

So Hitler's Nazi Party could definitely be the beneficiary of this adventure, but... not the biggest one! The biggest beneficiary is definitely Juncker, the Legion of Honor.

"They will soon have more than 800,000 troops. If you include the Baltic Defense Forces, it will be almost 900,000." Isn't that the tone of the SA Chief of Staff Ernst Röhm who had just returned to Germany from Bolivia? A little gloomy and not very happy.

Although his stormtroopers are said to be one million, in fact, they can only charge two to three hundred thousand, which is no match for the more than 800,000 National Defense Forces. This means that his political capital has been greatly reduced, and it may be difficult to implement his ideals - Ernst Röhm is the leader of the left wing of the Nazi Party. His political view is to resist capitalism and advocate Nationalize major industrial enterprises, expand workers' control, confiscate and redistribute the property of the old aristocracy, and achieve social equality.

Hitler glanced at his old comrade, "Ernst, in about 20 days, we should be able to gather enough seats to become a major governing party! Some practices and positions must be changed, not only for our The party is also for the fundamental interests of the German people!”

Röhm shook his head and was about to speak when Rudolf Hess opened the door and walked in: "The leader, Lieutenant Colonel Paulus, the adjutant of Lieutenant General Hermann, the deputy chief of staff of the National Defense Forces, called and invited you and Hermann Mr. Göring, Mr. Ernst Röhm and Mr. Gregor Strasser went to his home in the Charlottenburg district for dinner tonight, and by the way, they wanted to study the issue of the coalition government. "