The Rise of the Third Reich

In October 1942, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt faced a difficult choice. His opponents, German leader and chancellor Hitler and Reich Marshal Hersmann, also had to make choices on many seemingly critical battlefields.

Due to the failure to maintain relations with the Soviet Union, Germany has finally fallen into a multi-front war situation. However, the situation is definitely much more favorable than at the same time in history - Germany is now capable of dealing with a war on multiple fronts. And among this "multiple fronts" there is already a "front line", that is, the front at war with Britain is at a time when victory is in sight.

"Before the end of the mud season in the Soviet Union from the end of 1942 to 1943, we should strive to end the war on our homeland!"

At the headquarters meeting on October 3, Hessmann proposed the current primary goal. He said: "As long as we solve the British mainland, the empire will be invincible."

"Marshal Reich, if we want to occupy the British mainland in the next six months, do we still have the ability to launch a large-scale attack on the Black Sea coast?" Hitler asked.

He was obviously more concerned about the Eastern Front. The UK now looks like a dead tiger. Due to the complete blockade for several months, the UK has to rely on reserves of supplies to survive. Although the oil reserves can still be barely maintained, the food is enough to survive for the time being, and coal and iron ore are temporarily It can also be dealt with (Britain itself is a major coal producer and has abundant iron ore reserves). However, there was a serious shortage of various non-ferrous metals except tin ore. Without non-ferrous metals, the British war machine immediately ran into big problems.

Because there was not enough aluminum, British aircraft began to use a large amount of wood and steel as fuselage and wing materials from June 1942, which increased the empty weight of British aircraft. At the same time, due to the lack of rare metals, the engine standards of British aircraft and tanks also began to regress. The engines became heavier and heavier and became less and less heat-resistant. Coupled with the shortage of high-quality gasoline derived from the lack of oil (without good gasoline, the performance of aircraft engines will further decline), and the serious lack of pilot training caused by the lack of gasoline. The RAF has now all but disappeared from the skies over the English Channel and the Island of Ireland.

The German navy could now strut across the English Channel in daylight on a good day!

German aircraft can even fly in and out of southern England (south of London) at will, bombing British radar stations, airports, ground forts and other targets indiscriminately.

On the island of Ireland, Britain has accumulated a large number of ground troops. However, because air superiority was firmly controlled by the European coalition led by the German army, every attack was ineffective and had no meaning except increasing casualties.

If Germany had not gone to war with the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front, the voice for peace in the UK would have long ago drowned out Prime Minister Churchill, who was stubbornly pro-war. In fact, in May 1942, before the Soviet-German war, Churchill and the British pro-war faction We are all ready to run away to Canada!

Even after the war between the Soviet Union and Germany, cruise ships flying the flag of a neutral country traveled between the United Kingdom and Canada (after Germany took complete control of the North Atlantic route, cruise ships flying the British flag were no longer allowed to pass, but neutral ships were allowed to transport British evacuations. The business of going to Canada (but these cruise ships must undergo strict inspection by the German Navy to prevent strategic materials from flowing into the British mainland) has not become deserted, but has become more prosperous. Apparently, the British government is continuing with its plan to transfer to Canada.

Under this circumstance, Hitler and Hess, who had always been pro-British, believed that as long as they could establish an unshakable advantage on the Eastern Front, the British mainland would join the greater Europe led by Germany. Therefore, what they are now keen on is attacking the Soviet Union.

"I'm afraid not." Hessman shook his head and said, "We now have two powerful enemies, and one half-dead but very insidious enemy. Therefore, we are not lenient in the use of troops, and there must be trade-offs. If we use our troops and fleet in the Black Sea, we can land on the coasts of the Black Sea and the Sea of ​​Azov. However, it is not easy to advance from the coast of the Sea of ​​Azov to the Caspian Sea area, and it will not be possible before the end of the mud season in 1943. "If we cannot complete the offensive from the Sea of ​​Azov to the Caspian Sea, we will not be able to cut off the connection between the Baku-Grozny oil-producing area and Moscow. Therefore, my opinion is to postpone the attack on the Caucasus and southern Russia until 1943."

Adolf Hitler looked at Marshal Kesselring, Chief of the General Staff again. Kesselin nodded and said: "The General Staff thinks so too. At present, our progress in Ukraine is relatively smooth. It is estimated that we can seize the entire right bank of Ukraine before May 43. In this way, we can seize the entire right bank of Ukraine in the summer of 43. launch a massive offensive in the region.”

"The target is the Caucasus oil-producing area?" Hitler asked.

Kesselring shook his head and said a place name that made Hessman a little scared: "It's Stalingrad! Attack from Kiev and push 1,000 kilometers eastward to Stalingrad. If we can capture Stalingrad, Then the connection between the Caucasus oil-producing areas and Moscow will be cut off.

Moreover, Stalingrad and Kharkov and Donetsk, which need to be occupied on the way to Stalingrad, are important industrial towns in the Soviet Union! If our plan to attack Stalingrad is completed, the Soviet Union's war potential will be reduced by 50%. "

"But... can we win?" Hitler asked again, "We have to advance 1,000 kilometers!"

"Yes!" Marshal Kesselring said with great confidence, "because the Soviet Red Army must relieve Leningrad in the summer of 1943! Otherwise... Empress Olga will get her Petrograd, plus a population of 2 million, 600,000 troops and a solid industrial base.”

The current siege of Leningrad is a complete siege and it is a siege without a fight. It is clear that Leningrad will be forced to become Petrograd through starvation. This was a situation that Stalin and the Bolshevik Party did not want to see under any circumstances.

Therefore, this winter and next summer, the Soviet Union will definitely launch a campaign to relieve the siege of Leningrad. By then, the Soviet Union's elite troops will definitely be concentrated around Leningrad, and the southern Russian region will be relatively empty.

"Reichsmarschall, do you agree?" Hitler asked Hersmann again.

"Agreed." Hessman nodded. Although he was frightened by the name Stalingrad, Hersmann agreed to the plan drawn up by the General Staff.

"So... we can't attack the Russians severely before the summer of 1943?" Hitler seemed unwilling to do so. “Are we going to watch the Russians use this winter to recover?”

"No." Hessman shook his head, "We will continue to attack the Soviet Union!"

"Where to strike?"

"At sea!" Hersman said, "If we want to attack the Soviets at sea... we must first completely blockade the Soviet Union. This is the best way to weaken the Soviet Union's war potential!"

Although Stalin's three five-year plans enabled Soviet industry to achieve great achievements. But the Soviet Union was still not a truly "self-sufficient" country. Although the Soviet Union was self-sufficient in raw materials, its industrial categories were also very complete.

However, the foundation of Soviet industry was too thin after all. Many products were only of quantity but not quality. Therefore, it needed to obtain key components and high-tech materials from the United States.

"Complete blockade?" Hitler frowned, "Relying on the aircraft carrier Seidlitz?"

Admiral Raeder added: "There are also the guided missile cruiser Emperor Friedrich III, the reconnaissance cruiser Warsaw, the light cruiser Posen and four other destroyers, as well as a seaplane carrier, two fast supply ships, 2 fast refueling ships and 4 camouflaged assault ships.”

"That's all?" Hitler asked doubtfully, "Is that enough?"

Redl replied: "That's enough! They're enough to block the North Pacific shipping lanes."

"Okay, so where are these ships now?"

"In the Mediterranean, Alexandria."

…

The name of this small expeditionary fleet now gathered in Alexandria, Egypt under Italian rule, is the "European Combined Fleet Eastern Squadron". The commander of the fleet is Lieutenant General Leopold Siemens, chief of staff and flagship of the fleet. The captain of the guided missile cruiser Kaiser Friedrich III is Colonel Hans-Karl Mayer, and the captain of the fleet's main aircraft carrier Seydlitz is Colonel Gerhard Wagner. And Hersmann's eldest son Rudolf von Heinsberg-Hersmann was also in this expedition fleet.

He is currently flying his new aircraft, a Fw-190T carrier-based fighter-bomber produced by Fokker Company, for dive bombing training.

"Captain, it missed. It missed a lot."

As soon as the training bombs were dropped, fluent English came from Little Hersman's earphones. This was a Japanese soldier talking to him - the man who was watching him drop the bombs from the flight console of the Seydlitz liked to carry a handle. Japanese Navy Major Shigeru Itani who boarded the plane without a parachute.

Major Shigeru Itani was sent by the Japanese Navy to the European Eastern Fleet as a liaison officer and observer. He was also responsible for studying the German new carrier-based aircraft Fw-190T-1. In the words of his good friend Hersman Jr., the Fw-190T is an all-purpose aircraft that can do everything, but can do nothing well.

This aircraft can not only carry out air combat, but can also carry bombs and rockets to attack surface ships. It is said that special dive bombing and torpedo attack types are being developed (Fw-190T-2 and Fw-190T-3).

In addition, although this aircraft is a carrier-based aircraft, it has quite good high-altitude performance (because the BMW-801S has a MW50 jet afterburner system and a supercharger that can adapt to high-altitude environments). It can cover Ju288 bombers carrying remote-controlled gliding bombs, and can also escape from high altitudes without defeating enemy carrier-based aircraft.

However, the shortcomings of this aircraft are also very obvious. Its performance in mid- and low-altitude combat is poor, its landing speed is too fast, and its bomb delivery is inaccurate... In short, it can't do anything well.