The Rise of the Third Reich

"Marshal, you are the most amazing soldier, comparable to Marshal Moltke!"

Berlin, Charlottenburg Palace, Ludwig von Heinsberg-Hersmann is now Field Marshal, awarded the military title by the German Emperor William himself, and also received a newly established "Grand Knight's Iron Cross" Medal" - This is the highest military medal of the German Empire, higher than the "Blue Marx Medal". It is awarded to those who have made outstanding contributions to the national defense strategy. Hersmann was the first person to receive it.

As soon as Emperor William finished speaking, applause rang out in the magnificent audience hall. Hessmann raised his hand to Emperor William, and then said: "Your Majesty, I will defeat France like Marshal Moltke! Today next year, you will be the master of Versailles!"

This was not the first time that Hessmann said such words to Emperor William, but it was the first time that Emperor William took it seriously. After all, Hessmann led the German army to defeat Poland, the "second largest army in the world," in just 12 days.

"Very well," said Emperor William, "Chief of the General Staff, I look forward to this day!"

At the same time as his military rank was promoted, Hessmann's position also improved and he became the acting chief of the general staff of the German Wehrmacht (Marshal Hamelstein, the chief of the general staff, personally went to serve as the commander-in-chief of the Western Front on September 12 to deal with Possible French invasion)! Now the position of the German Chief of General Staff is actually parallel to that of the Minister of Defense, and in wartime "has full command authority, and the instructions issued by the Chief of General Staff and the Minister of War have the same effect."

The battle plan to attack France was naturally led by Hessman. Even though he is talking big words now, in fact he has no confidence in his heart. The history of this time and space has changed, and it is difficult to say whether the "Manstein Plan" to attack from the Ardennes Forest will be feasible.

And now Britain and France are also trying their best to pull Belgium-if they succeed and the army enters the Liege Fortress, it will be very difficult for the German army to break through from the front.

…

"My Lord Marshal, my Lord Marquis, you really did it. I am so happy. I have a perfect life now."

After coming out of Charlottenburg Palace, as soon as she got into the Mercedes-Benz 770K car, Chloe gave Hessmann a passionate kiss. For a girl who had wanted to marry a great German soldier since she was a girl, today is undoubtedly the happiest day in her life.

"My dear, your happiness has just begun," Hessman put his arms around his wife, whose waist was not slender but not too big compared to her big breasts, and kissed her on the cheek. "This time next year, I will conquer Paris for Germany, and then all of Europe!"

Actually it's the same thing for Hirschman!

Historically Germany has not taken full advantage of its victory in the Battle of France. Hitler always kept his hands on Britain, and he also trusted Italy too much - just looking at power on paper, there was no reason for Italy to lose in North Africa. If Italy successfully takes over Egypt and blocks the Suez Canal, then British power will be forced to withdraw from the Middle East, and Turkey will have no choice but to turn to the Axis powers. In this way, the Axis powers can easily conquer the Middle East and no longer have to worry about oil and non-ferrous metals.

However, in this time and space, Hersman believes that he will not repeat Hitler's mistakes, nor will he let Chloe end up in a miserable life.

"Really?" Chloe looked at her husband affectionately, "Then I must reward you well. Why don't you let me give you another little Hersman?"

"Are you still having a baby?" Hersman touched his wife's waist, "You are already in your forties."

Chloe is no longer young. Although she is well-maintained, she is still very attractive - her skin has naturally become saggier, but she likes sports very much and still maintains a good figure. And Hersman still loves her body very much.

Chloe smiled sweetly: "So what? My body is very healthy, just like a mare."

"Really?" Hersman said half-jokingly, "Then I'm going to ride."

Chloe glanced in the direction of the driver's seat shyly - the front driver's seat of this 770K car was separated from the back by plexiglass, but Chloe still kept her voice to a minimum: "As much as you ride, Bar……"

After saying this, Chloe gave Hessman another long kiss.

But that night, Marshal Hessmann did not "ride" Chloe. Because the two of them had just returned to the villa in Charlottenburg, the phone call from the Chancellery came.

"Your Majesty Field Marshal," the voice on the phone was Colonel Friedrich Hosbach, Hitler's military adjutant. "The leader will return from Italy in the afternoon and hopes to convene a high command meeting immediately."

The "High Command" was established after the beginning of the Polish campaign, but the Supreme Commander of the German Armed Forces, Kaiser Wilhelm, was not directly involved in the activities of the High Command. Instead, in accordance with the Constitution, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense and the Chief of General Staff are granted the "right to make direct statements". In fact, these three people are allowed to act as commanders. The current command of the German army actually belongs to the leadership of a "three-person committee" (Navy The Commander-in-Chief, the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, and the Director of the General Administration of Armaments are also members of the High Command Committee, but they do not have direct authority), and Hersman is one of the three.

…

The headquarters meeting was held at the Ministry of Defense Building at 73 William Street. After the start of the world war, this "meeting of three" (of course there were more than three people present at the meeting, but all decisions must be made with the consent of at least two of the three) became the highest authority in Germany.

"I have been discussing with Italian leaders in Rome for two full days, and we only reached an agreement this morning that Italy will guarantee the neutrality of eight countries including the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Spain and Portugal. Well, we can now confirm them Neutral status?" Adolf Hitler asked.

Since the Wehrmacht has never been able to control the Wehrmacht, the main improvement in the Polish campaign was the prestige of Field Marshal Hessmann. Even Hitler himself now believes that Hessmann's opinion must be sought on military matters - after all, Hitler does not understand the current methods of fighting the Wehrmacht, and the 12-day victory over Poland seems incredible to him.

"It should be confirmed!" Hersman said. "The neutrality of these eight countries is good for us."

These eight countries, with the exception of Switzerland and Portugal, are all relatively pro-German. If they remain neutral, Germany will be able to obtain many of the materials needed to sustain the war from them, and they will also be able to obtain the raw materials needed to sustain their own economy from overseas trade.

Hessman paused, "So has Italy stated its neutral position?"

Hitler glanced at Herschmann, then shook his head, "No! Italy will not remain neutral forever." He said in a very low voice, "Actually in Rome, I discussed with the Italian leader the issue of letting Italy participate in the war. I thought he might join the war on our side."

The German Wehrmacht fought so hard in Poland that Mussolini was inevitably itchy.

Hessmann nodded and exchanged glances with Schleicher. Hessmann said: "We will eventually need the Italians, because the Mediterranean battlefield is decisive, and we do not have a springboard into the Mediterranean. But before France was defeated, , we don't need to win over Italy to join. And after France's failure, I believe the Italians will join on their own. It's just that their war preparations are very bad! We have intelligence in this regard that their navy does not have enough fuel to drive the fleet. ;The Army does not have enough trucks and useful tanks, and its training is poor; the Air Force is also in bad shape. Although it has 2,300 aircraft on the books, only about 1,000 are actually operational if the Italians really want to get them in the war. What, I think they should use the little time left to stockpile some supplies as much as possible."

"Is it really that bad?" Hitler thought for a moment, "Italy gives people the impression that it is a military power!"

Hersman said to himself: In another time and space, you were always fooled to death by this impression.

"They..." Hessman shook his head, "If you don't consider the Italian navy, Italy's military power will not be stronger than Poland."

In other words, defeating Italy only takes ten days and a half! If it were not for the uncertainty of capturing the Italian naval fleet, Hessmann would have wanted to push Italy to the side of Britain and France, and then send troops to knock it down.

"But Mussolini didn't have an accurate understanding of this," Hersman sighed softly, "and that's a problem."

"We still need him," Hitler breathed. "Now he is the arbiter of Europe."

Now that Britain, France and Germany seem to be "evenly matched", as a "military power", Italy's attitude is crucial.

"He should use this 'arbiter status' to speed up oil reserves!" Hessman said thoughtfully, "We can give him planes and tanks, but not oil. He is now guaranteeing neutrality for eight countries, should he? They want something in return? Especially the Netherlands...they have a lot of oil in the Dutch East Indies!"

The UK now blocks Germany's oil import channels and does not allow the Netherlands to transport too much oil to the country. However, Italy has a special status and is now the target of Germany, Britain and France. If Mussolini took advantage of the opportunity to guarantee neutrality for the Netherlands and demanded 1 million tons of East India oil as payment, Britain and France would have nothing to say.

"That's a good idea," Hitler nodded. "Hess is going to Rome next week. I'll let him talk to Mussolini."

"Hess and I went to Italy to meet Mussolini!" Hessman thought for a moment and said, "And we should also ask Mussolini to mediate relations with Belgium and Luxembourg."

Belgium and Luxembourg also made demands for neutrality, but Mussolini did not dare to guarantee them.

"Belgium and Luxembourg?" Hitler was stunned. "Don't we plan to pass through there?"