The Rise of the Third Reich

"Mikhail Nikolayevich, what do you think of the German tanks?"

"It's not as good as ours," Tukhachevsky said honestly. "Their No. 2 tanks are significantly different from our T-26, BT-2, and BT-5. The total combat weight of the No. 2 tanks is only 7 tons, and our three tanks are all over 10 tons and 11 tons, and the power of the No. 2 is also insufficient, with only a 140-horsepower engine, while our BT-2 and BT-5 both have 400 horses. The HP engine has obvious advantages. As for the performance of Germany's unfinished Panzer III tank, which is similar to the BT-7, it is not a match for the T-28 tank. However, their Panzer IV tank is likely to have better performance than the T-28. Attract attention."

"No. 4?" Stalin smiled nonchalantly, "We only started research and development last year. According to the speed of the Germans, it will be good to mass-produce it in 1939. By then we will also have more powerful tanks."

Although the relationship between the Soviet Union and Germany was good in this time and space, the Soviet Union was still very vigilant and was always wary of Germany. As a rare "scientific student" among the highest levels of the Soviet Red Army, Tukhachevsky paid special attention to the German threat.

"But the Germans' level of use of mechanized forces and their wheeled vehicles is clearly better than ours."

"Oh?" Stalin said casually, smoking his pipe, "It's normal that their wheeled vehicles are better than ours. Our automobile industry is still imported from Germany."

In this time and space, Germany's automobile industry is much stronger than in history. In 1935, Germany's automobile production exceeded 500,000 units (nearly double the number in history), although it is much worse than the United States' annual output of several million units. But it still ranks first in Europe, more than twice as many as the Soviet Union's 150,000 units. The Soviet automobile industry was established with the help of Germany. Many models were copied from Germany. Although they began to design independently during the Second Five-Year Plan period, they were ultimately not as good as their German teachers.

"But how come their mechanized force utilization level exceeds ours?" Stalin asked with some confusion. "We began to form mechanized troops during the civil war. In the early 1930s, we began to build mechanization on a large scale."

"Comrade General Secretary, although we started early in terms of mechanized troops, their officers and soldiers surpass us in technology." Tukhachevsky explained, "We are building socialism on the basis of a backward country. And they have always been an advanced country, especially in education. They have many high-level schools, and the level and number of technical personnel they have trained far exceed those of the Soviet Union. Therefore, they also have many high-level technicians in their army. The level of technical personnel in the army is naturally higher than ours in using high-tech arms. Our level in this regard is very unsatisfactory. Not only are the level of military technical personnel poor, but also the level of engineers and technical workers in factories is not very good. , so the product quality is..."

He actually said that the level of education and engineering and technical personnel in the Soviet Union was not as good as that of Germany... Is this a criticism of the party's policy on intellectuals?

Stalin frowned slightly, analyzing Tukhachevsky's words in his mind.

In fact, Tukhachevsky's complaints are not without reason. Because of the successive purges of counter-revolutionaries in Soviet Russia, intellectuals, especially the old intellectuals from the Tsarist Russia period, have always been the targets of heavy blows. Before the "Great Purge" began, many "old professors" and "old engineers" in universities and factories were already unlucky as "conspirators" - the purges within the Soviet Union did not begin with the "Great Purge" in 1934. of.

It was only from the beginning of the "Great Purge" that the leading cadres of the Bolshevik Party began to suffer widespread misfortune. Before the "Great Purge", apart from Trotskyists and various spies, intellectuals were the main targets of the crackdown. The most famous among them is the "Schachter case" - which has nothing to do with the current president of the German Reichsbank, Schacht. It was caused by a coal mine accident in the city of Schacht, Kazakhstan. Later, it gradually expanded to all walks of life, mainly targeting Old intellectuals also pointed out that the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was a "center of counter-revolutionary activities against the Soviet regime." In the autumn of 1929 alone, 650 people in the Academy of Sciences were purged.

After the "Schachter Case", the "Industrial Party" case and the "Working Peasant Party" case once again hit hard the old intellectuals of the Soviet Union and the party's expert cadres in charge of industry. Because of these two cases, the arrested technical cadres and There are more than 3,000 intellectuals.

Although the number of arrests in the Schacht case, the Industrial Party case, and the Labor and Peasant Party case cannot be compared with that of the later Great Purges, most of those who were hit were top experts left over from the Tsarist era - considering the scientific and technical personnel from the Tsarist Russian era Most of them fled abroad. The number of these old experts was not large to begin with, and they were all leaders in their respective industries. Therefore, their purge did have some adverse effects on the education and technical research levels of the Soviet Union.

Moreover, due to the "component theory" in the Soviet education system, many students with poor backgrounds but very good academic performance were unable to enter universities for further study. As a result, the quality of Soviet college students was also slightly low.

With a large number of old experts either being reorganized through labor or standing aside, these politically reliable newcomers were naturally reused. They became the technical backbone of all walks of life, so the quality of Soviet products during this period was always somewhat poor, and maintenance was also very difficult. The quality of the personnel responsible for maintaining military technical equipment was often worse than the people who produced them...

"The quality of products and the level of technical personnel cannot be improved within a period of time," Stalin interrupted Tukhachevsky, "and there is no possibility of war with Germany now."

"Comrade General Secretary," Tukhachevsky interjected with some worry, "we should not underestimate the threat from Germany. What Germany is pursuing now is a war policy. They are preparing for war, and the preparations are going very smoothly."

"I know, aren't we also preparing?" Stalin waved his hand holding the pipe, "But until White Poland is wiped out, there is no possibility of war between us and Germany."

Tukhachevsky still wanted to speak - he did not agree with the policy of uniting Germany to destroy Poland, because Germany was obviously a more dangerous enemy than Poland - but Stalin had no interest in listening anymore.

"Mikhail Nikolayevich," Stalin said, "now you are assigned a task to lead a military delegation to Germany with Comrade Berzin to visit their tank factories and mechanized troops. This time They will be open without reservation, so watch carefully.”

"Comrade Berzin is also going?" Tukhachevsky was slightly surprised. Berzin was the director of the Military Intelligence Bureau and was in charge of intelligence work. He did not understand tank production and mechanization.

"Yes," Stalin nodded, "He will go with you."

…

"Jan Karlovich," Natalie Leshinskaya called out the name of the very handsome middle-aged man who was passing by Arbat Street in the car with her, "I didn't expect General Secretary Stalin to send you in person. Take action."

"Why didn't you think of it?" The man's name was Jan Karlovich Berzin. He smiled silently, "I have experience in this area."

It was he and Yulovsky who led the people to kill Tsar Nicholas II. Yurovsky is now a Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumous). He is in the Cheka headquarters at No. 2 Lubyanka Square. full body statue. Berzin escaped capture and is now the chief of intelligence for the Red Army.

"I thought I would send a smaller person," Natalie Lesinskaya looked at Berzin, "I know you must have some other mission, and Hessman will also know... your mission I’m afraid it will be difficult to complete.”

She came to the Soviet Union as Hessmann's special envoy, bringing with her the "Summary Report of the "Iron Fist-1935" Military Exercise" and the drawings of the No. 2 and No. 3 tanks.

After receiving the report and drawings, Stalin made no excuses and decided to send the Bolshevik "gold medal killer" Berzin to personally preside over the "Slovak Incident" - which was the Slovak Bolshevik Party's proposal to expose "Stefan" proposed by Hirschman. "The truth about the death of Nick" (the leader of the Slovak nation), and his plan to assassinate the President of Czechoslovakia and create unrest in Slovakia.

And once something changes in Slovakia, involving the assassination of the president (whether dead or not is a big deal), the Czechoslovak authorities will definitely suppress it. At this time, politicians from the Slovak National Socialist Party will "complain" to the League of Nations, demanding national self-determination and the separation of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Carpathian Ukraine.

The League of Nations will accept the complaint and send an investigation team to Czechoslovakia. There is no doubt that the results of the investigation will be unfavorable to the Czechoslovak authorities. After the investigation is completed, the League of Nations will most likely make a resolution to hold a referendum to determine the future of Slovakia and Carpathian Ukraine... Of course, in order to ensure the fairness of the referendum, Czechoslovakia will be divided between Germany, Austria, and Polish and Hungarian troops temporarily occupied it.

After Czechoslovakia lost Slovakia and Carpathian Ukraine, it lost half of its territory and at least 40% of its population. Since Czechs and Slovaks live together, the Czechs will also lose part of their population after the referendum. . The Czechs were also likely to become a minority in Bohemia and Moravia (later the Czech Republic).

This would allow Hersmann to promote a new referendum in the Czech Republic - a referendum on the Czech Republic's accession to the German Empire!

After listening to Natalie's words, Berzin smiled and nodded, "Although there is little hope of success, it is still worth trying."