The Rise of the Third Reich

The huge roar reached the ears of Ludwig von Heinsberg-Hersmann, who was now standing on the top of Lenin's tomb built of polished red granite and black marble. The top of Lenin's tomb is a review platform with gray marble viewing platforms on both sides. Every major festival or celebration in the Soviet Union, the country's leaders would review parades and armed forces here.

Hersman arrived in Moscow on the eve of May Day in 1932. So I was invited to the review platform on Lenin's Mausoleum in Red Square, and reviewed the Red Army together with Stalin, Molotov, Voroshilov, Kalinin and other Soviet big figures.

What was rumbling in was a phalanx of 25 tanks. It was a very tall tank. Hessmann had never seen such a tank before in his two lifetimes. His Stasi The agents did not discover the existence of this kind of tank in advance this time - Hersman visually inspected it and found that this kind of tank was more than three meters tall and had two superimposed turrets, which looked very majestic. The bottom turret should be equipped with a 45mm main gun, and the smaller one above is a machine gun turret, equipped with a 7.62mm machine gun.

Twenty-five of these steel behemoths roared and puffed out black smoke. They rumbled past Lenin's tomb amidst the cheers of the masses.

"This is a T-24 tank with a total combat weight of 18.5 tons! It is equipped with a 45mm cannon and four 7.62mm machine guns."

Stalin, wearing a military coat and a large military cap, introduced the most powerful tank of the Red Army in a very proud tone. He knew that this was an advanced weapon that Germany did not have!

Now Germany's advantage lies in the air force. They had the lead in the air during the World War and have maintained it to this day. However, Germany's tanks were relatively backward. The Treaty of Versailles prohibited Germany from producing tanks, not even agricultural tractors (although controls were later relaxed, tanks were still not produced). Although the Germans used their satellite country the Baltic Republic to open a tractor manufacturing plant, they secretly developed tanks starting in 1924 or 1925.

However, Germany, which is fully restricted, still lags far behind in this regard. According to a report from the Red Army Intelligence Department, Germany currently only has one small 5-ton tank, and it is only produced in small quantities and is used for tactical experiments and training. There is no combat effectiveness. A nearly 20-ton steel behemoth like the Soviet Union is at least 10 years ahead of Germany!

"It's amazing. The 18.5-ton tank is 5.5 tons heavier than the French Charles D1 tank! Probably only the French B1 heavy infantry tank is bigger and heavier than it, right?"

Hessmann said the compliments, but in his heart he couldn't help but admire the Germans' own armored forces. They did not have any advanced and powerful tanks. The tanks the French had in 1931 were better than the tanks they used in 1940. . However, the German armored forces still used inferior equipment to achieve an overwhelming victory, sweeping across Western Europe as if they were cheating.

It's a pity that the resources I have mastered over the years have been limited. I can only use good steel on the blades and have not invested much money in tanks. Therefore, German tanks are still similar to those in history, or slightly ahead. The pocket-sized Panzer 1 tank has just been trial-produced, and only a few dozen have been built to replace the FT-17 (a French copycat) produced by the Riga Tractor Factory. tank, as a training tank for the weak German armored forces.

"We will soon build a 30-ton tank like the B1 heavy infantry tank!" Stalin said in a casual tone, "We have already conducted trial production at the Putilov factory, and I believe it can be put into active service within two years."

Is that a T-28 tank? Hessmann said that this kind of tank was not very easy to use, but it allowed the Soviet Union to accumulate a wealth of experience.

"Ludwig, Germany has restored the compulsory military service system and the army has expanded to more than 800,000. Now is it time to develop medium and heavy tanks?" Stalin turned to look at Hessmann and smiled, "Maybe We, the Soviet Union, can provide help to you, Germany. We have spent a lot of energy in this regard and have designed and manufactured the BT-1, BT-2, T-24 and T-26, and have rich experience.”

Hersman had little interest in cooperating with the Soviet Union to develop tanks, and he also knew that Stalin would not help for free. He looked at the communist leader, waiting for him to make conditions.

Stalin looked around. This was an order. Except for Molotov and Voroshilov who accompanied Stalin in the military parade, all the guards guarding Lenin's tomb turned and left.

"You have done a very bad thing recently, which will cause us a lot of trouble!" Stalin said.

"Troubled?" Hessman frowned, "Is it the "Bode-German Declaration of Non-Aggression"? This is indeed a very bad thing... Some people in our country always have illusions about peaceful rise."

Of course it was Hitler who dreamed of a "peaceful rise". More than a year after Hitler came to power, Herschmann discovered that this "big devil" was a true pacifist compared to himself! Of course he wanted to break the shackles of the Treaty of Versailles, let Germany stand up, and establish a strong and unified German Empire.

But Hitler hoped to achieve these goals through peaceful means. He obviously had insufficient understanding of the two enemies, Britain and the United States.

"It's not the Polish-German Non-Aggression Declaration," Stalin shook his head. "This declaration is just a piece of waste paper, worthless!"

The first five-year plan is almost completed, and Stalin has gained a lot of confidence. Compared with the Soviet Union's great achievements in the past few years, Poland's progress can only be described as slow. He believed that as time went by, the gap in national power between the Soviet Union and Poland would become wider and wider. If the three five-year plans were completed, the Soviet Union would be able to crush Poland effortlessly without any help from Germany.

By that time, the Soviet-German alliance was completely dispensable. To be honest, without Germany there would be one less person to share the spoils of war.

“It’s your National Socialist International that’s causing trouble to us!” Stalin said. “That’s what’s really bad, because socialism is ours!”

Sure enough, it's Lao Maozi! Hessmann laughed. Stalin was still overbearing now that he had some capital.

At this time, another huge roar came from far and near, coming from the sky. Hessmann was carrying a telescope. He raised a Zeiss 6x military telescope with one hand and looked into the sky. What was flying over was the famous TB-2 heavy bomber. In a Z-shaped formation, one team after another, they flew over the Red Square in turn.

"Comrade Stalin," Herschmann said, shaking his head, "if you think that state socialism is not socialism, then just criticize it! You can criticize it within the Soviet Union, or you can criticize it internationally. And we can also publish it The article rebuts. I think this is a debate between comrades to seek the truth... Just having a debate will not affect the deep friendship that already exists between our two countries.”

Debating socialism with the Soviet Union was actually Hersman's intended propaganda tool - because facts speak louder than words! Germany is definitely a more advanced country than the Soviet Union, and the life of the German working class is definitely better than that of the Soviet Union. In this way, National Socialism is likely to gain more people's approval.

"Well," Stalin obviously did not think that the Soviet Union's system was inferior to Germany's. "Since you think so, then we are not welcome." There was obvious displeasure in his tone.

"Comrade Stalin," Hessman said with a smile, "debate is a matter for theorists, let them reason. We are all practical people, so let's discuss some practical issues."

"A practical problem?" Stalin thought of aviation technology cooperation. Although the cooperation between the two parties has not stopped, they are currently working on old projects that were determined before 1931. There has been no new contract signed between the two parties since 1931.

After losing Germany as a source of technology, the Soviet Union suddenly encountered difficulties in upgrading aircraft and aero-engines. Due to more than ten years of cooperation, although the Soviet aviation industry has made great progress, it has also become relies heavily on Germany. Once they lost German support, although the Soviets could still produce aircraft and engines, they suddenly didn't know how to develop new products.

"Navy, we can carry out comprehensive cooperation in the naval field." Hersmann's answer disappointed Stalin - the golden age of Soviet-German aviation industry cooperation has passed. Now that Germany has begun to reorganize its armaments, it can establish its air force and naval aviation in an open and honest manner. Naturally, there is no need to accumulate experience through Soviet-German cooperation.

Moreover, the Soviet Union has learned a lot of skills through long-term cooperation with Germany. In the field of air-cooled engines, their products are even one generation ahead of the United States and the United Kingdom.

In addition, the scale of the Soviet Air Force and Naval Aviation is also worrying. With thousands of various fighter aircraft, it is undoubtedly the largest air force in the world. It really cannot continue to grow, otherwise it will really be a disaster.

Hessmann continued: "Comrade Stalin, we have just reached an agreement with the British on naval arms control. We in Germany can have 35% of the strength of the British Navy. In other words, we can now start building heavy cruisers and battleships and aircraft carriers. So we plan to start designing first-class battleships and first-class aircraft carriers in the near future. If the Soviet Union is interested, they can participate together... I think the era of great development of your Red Navy is coming soon, right?"