The Rise of the Third Reich

Normally, the development of weapons and equipment is always linked to the imaginary enemy, and the German Third Reich, which has limited resources and financial resources, is no exception.

Today, the several new weapons under development mentioned by Hersman at the armaments conference, including the Type 5 and Type 6 tanks, the "final version" of two piston fighters, and the "practical version" of turbojet fighters, are all used to deal with the ultimate imaginary enemy of the German Third Reich - the United States of America!

Hersman has never had a plan to divide the world with the United States in the Cold War. Because he knows the strength and potential of the United States, even the German Empire, which ruled most of Europe and controlled the crude oil production areas in the Middle East, has no confidence in defeating the United States, which controls the entire American resources, in the Cold War. Not to mention, there will be a Soviet Union to the east of Germany that will join forces with the United States.

Therefore, after the Geneva Peace Conference, the General Staff led by Hersman began to secretly formulate a "Terminator Plan" to defeat the United States and march into America.

And the various new weapons that Hersman now requires the armaments department to speed up the development of are all prepared to be used in the "Terminator Plan"!

Of course, the above weapons are not all the new weapons needed for the "Terminator Plan", and they are not even the most critical part.

"Admiral Wetzel." After confirming that the development of new tanks, ultimate piston fighters and jet aircraft was proceeding as scheduled, Hersman named Admiral Carl Wetzel, director of the Navy Armament Bureau.

"Is the design plan for the ultimate battleship ready?" Hersman asked.

The "ultimate battleship plan" is an additional part of the Navy's "Z" plan. The development work began long before the construction of the H-class started. The internal code name is "H41 plan". The implication is that construction will start in 1941, and it is planned to start 2-4 ships at the same time, and all will be in service in 1944.

The idea of ​​using the "ultimate battleship" to fight the United States may be wrong in the Pacific battlefield. Historically, the two "Yamato Hotel" built by Japan were called "the three major Japanese stags in the second century".

But the situation in the Atlantic battlefield is completely different from that in the Pacific battlefield. The Pacific battlefield is not only very wide, but also in low sea conditions and low latitudes. Although there are strong winds and waves in the Pacific from time to time, it is incomparable to the bad climate of the Atlantic, especially the North Atlantic.

The North Atlantic battlefield not only has a bad climate, but it is also a high-latitude area, and some battlefields are still in the Arctic Circle! For example, the two important battlefields of the Norwegian Sea and the Denmark Strait are both in the Arctic Circle, where there are "polar day" and "polar night" phenomena. From September 23 to March 21 of the following year, there is a polar night at the North Pole - it is night for the entire six months!

Near the Arctic Circle, although the polar night and polar day phenomena are not so extreme, there is also a full six months when the nights are very long and the days are very short. Considering the bad climate of the North Atlantic, during this half of the polar night period, aircraft carriers are of no use at all in the North Atlantic battlefield near the Arctic Circle.

When aircraft carriers are useless, battleships will naturally come in handy. Therefore, Hersman's "Terminator Plan" is to use the half-year Arctic polar night phenomenon to occupy Iceland and Greenland, and threaten northeastern Canada.

To achieve this goal, it is necessary to have an "ultimate battleship" that can suppress the American battleship force headed by the "Iowa" class battleship!

Of course, such an "ultimate battleship" is actually about to be launched, that is, the "Yamato Hotel", one of the three major Japanese twentieth-century idiots. This ultimate battleship with a standard displacement of 64,000 tons, a full load displacement of 72,808 tons, and a 45-caliber main gun is definitely not an "idiot" as long as it is used in the right place.

If two Japanese "Yamato" class ships can be brought to the North Atlantic battlefield at the beginning of the polar night in the Arctic Circle in the winter of 1942.

Then with two "Yamato" class ships, two "Hindenburg" class ships (H class), two "Bismarck" class ships, two "Richelieu" class ships and three "Veneto" class ships added together, it will be enough to beat all the battleships of Britain and the United States.

If the North Atlantic decisive battle can be won, then Iceland and Greenland will definitely be taken. In theory, there is also the possibility of landing in northeastern Canada, which would put the most elite northeastern coastal areas of the United States under the threat of long-range four-engine heavy bombers!

Moreover, defeating the British and American naval battleship forces in the North Atlantic would also win Germany great reputation. The pro-German forces in South American countries are likely to take the opportunity to take power and then lead the country to join Germany.

In this way, Germany can open up a "third battlefield" against the United States in South America, thereby depriving the United States of the market and resource supply in South America, while also being in a passive position of being attacked from three sides (northeast, south and west).

In the end, it may not be possible to successfully land on the US mainland - the industrial strength and population of the United States are obvious, and it is possible to mobilize more than 10 million troops and arm them with good weapons in times of crisis. However, as long as South America is separated from the sphere of influence of the United States, the United States will be seriously injured and will no longer have the opportunity to compete with Germany.

But it is not certain whether the Japanese are willing to send the two "Yamato Hotels" to the North Atlantic to fight. Therefore, in July 1940, Hessmann still had to fully promote Germany's own "ultimate battleship" plan.

"Marshal, the design work of the Navy's 'H41 Plan' has been completed." General Carl Wetzel took out a document bag from his briefcase and asked the adjutant to hand it to Hersman.

He said: "The H41 plan is improved on the basis of the H39 (referring to the 'Hindenburg' class) plan. The no-load displacement of the H41 class will reach 67,000 tons. For this reason, we have also expanded 4 super-large slipways. , in order to accommodate the construction of the H41 class.

In addition, the H41 class will also change the past concept of pursuing high speed, so the maximum speed will be only 28 knots. This would allow more tonnage to be devoted to artillery and protection. Therefore, the H41 class will be equipped with eight 420mm main guns, and the armor protection will be much better than the H39 class. "

Germany's previous battleships were all influenced by the idea of ​​"breaking the engagement" and excessively pursued powerful power. Therefore, the power system occupied too much tonnage. The H41 class will be a battleship used for the ultimate decisive battle at sea. It does not need a high speed of more than 30 knots. The top speed of 28 knots is enough.

"That's good," Hessman nodded, "we need to push it as soon as possible."

However, using Germany's own "Ultimate Battleship" is actually the second-best solution in the "Ultimate Plan", and the best solution is to use Japan's "Yamato Hotel".

To this end, Hessman also formulated a plan to "replace aircraft carriers with battleships." It is planned to send four aircraft carriers converted from cruise ships, "Europa", "Potsdam", "Gneisenau" (planned to be renamed "Alsace") and "Bremen" to the Pacific to assist in the war ( Fighters and all personnel will be assigned) in exchange for Japan sending two "Yamato" class ships to the Atlantic to help.

"By the way, when will the modification project of the four 'Blue Ribbon Aircraft Carriers' be completed?" Hersman asked again about the so-called "Blue Ribbon Aircraft Carrier", which is the code name given by the German military to the project of renovating aircraft carriers for large cruise ships.

Because two of the fast cruise ships used for modification, "Bremen" and "Europa", won the Blue Ribbon Award for Cruise Ship Racing. The aircraft carrier converted from this high-speed cruise ship will be very fast because it will retain the original power system.

In addition, they are also very large in size, with a displacement of 40,000 to 50,000 tons before modification. After modification, they can carry more carrier-based aircraft. If a variety of loading methods are used, it can carry 60-70 carrier-based aircraft.

Therefore, after the modification is completed, these "blue ribbon aircraft carriers" can follow the main fleet in combat. Historically, Japan's two aircraft carriers, the Hayabusa and the Flying Eagle, were modified from passenger ships. The German Navy's "Blue Ribbon Aircraft Carrier" is much larger than the Hayabusa and the Flying Eagle, and its power system is also more powerful.

However, because the "Blue Ribbon Aircraft Carrier" does not carry all aircraft in its hangar, it cannot exert its maximum power in the North Atlantic. Therefore, it is most appropriate to send them to the Pacific Theater or the Indian Ocean Theater.

On the Atlantic side, the German Naval Armament Bureau plans to start the construction of four more "Zeppelin" class ships (according to the previous Z plan), two of which will be built in the shipyard of Danze City, which was recaptured by Germany. According to It was planned to be completed in 1943.

"Your Excellency, the modification plan for the four 'Blue Ribbon Aircraft Carriers' has been completed, and the superstructures of the four cruise ships have been dismantled." Carl Wetzel said, "The remaining modification projects will be undertaken by shipyards in Belgium and the Netherlands. Completed. It will definitely be delivered to the Navy in 1941."

The Netherlands and Belgium were industrial powers before World War II. Belgium's steel and Dutch shipbuilding can also be ranked among the best in Europe. In the Netherlands alone, there are four shipyards that can undertake the "Blue Ribbon Aircraft Carrier" modification project. However, two of the shipyards have recently undertaken the business of building battlecruisers (the Netherlands started construction of two battlecruisers with the help of Germany), so the German Naval Armament Office handed over the other two "Blue Ribbon Aircraft Carriers" to Belgian shipyards Go for modding.

In addition, there is a slipway that can be used to build an 80,000-ton giant ship in Saint-Nazaire, France, near the Atlantic Ocean - the French built the "Normandy" cruise ship there. However, Saint-Nazaire is on the Atlantic coast, and the waterway to the German mainland is blocked by the English Channel. It was also relatively vulnerable to attacks by the British fleet and aircraft, so the German Naval Armament Office did not dare to hand over the construction of large battleships to France, but it still awarded contracts for large oil tankers and fast troop carriers.

In short, it is now necessary to utilize the industries of all EU countries as much as possible. Only in this way can we compete with the United States on the other side of the ocean in the future.