The Rise of the Third Reich

On a Saturday in late May 1918, a small party was held in the apartment where Hersman and Chloe lived together. It was to celebrate the promotion of Karl Haushofer to Major General and his honorable retirement from the German Army. Except for officers like Hersmann who had accomplished several great things, most of the officers of the Second German Empire did not have a big man as their father. It is very difficult to become a general.

For example, Hessman's father is still a lieutenant colonel at a very old age. After the war on the Eastern Front was basically over, he followed the army to the Western Front battlefield and continued to command his infantry battalion to squat in the trenches. In late April, someone even wrote a letter back to Hessman, saying that he was temporarily blinded by poison gas on the battlefield and was now recovering from his injuries. Hersmann's Jewish stepmother, Odeya, thought her husband had become a blind old man, and she burst into tears on the spot.

Hersman tried his best to tell her that it was just temporary blindness caused by burning the cornea and iris from low-concentration mustard gas (being smoked for several hours while wearing a gas mask would cause a certain degree of poisoning), and she needed to rest for a while. Vision can be restored. However, Odeya was still worried and left Margaret in the care of Hessman, and went to Belgium to visit the old Hessman alone. Margaret went on several dates with Hessmann's secretary, Rosenberg, but there was no spark of love.

At this moment, Margaret and Chloe were preparing meals for the banquet in the spacious, steaming kitchen. There is delicious broth, fragrant pickled pork knuckles, cod from the Gulf of Riga, and fresh vegetables - for most Germans today, such a meal can only be tasted in dreams. But for Hessmann, who had a rough road, it was not difficult at all.

The meal was prepared, and the invited guests - mostly officers and their partners - arrived one after another, chatting and enjoying beer, wine and coffee in Chloe's spacious living room. But the party had not yet begun, because Hersmann and Haushofer were still nowhere to be seen.

Chloe and Margaret had to go out to greet the guests with Mrs. Haushofer, Martha, who had already arrived.

"Why haven't you come yet?" Margaret was a little anxious and whispered, "If you don't come, the dishes will be cold."

"The lieutenant colonel called just now and said that he met two friends at Koenig Square. They will come back together later. Is there enough food for two more people?" Martha said to Margaret. Although her husband became a major general and could stay away from the battlefield, Mrs. Haushofer still looked a little sad.

"The food is enough, we have prepared a lot, unless the visitor has a particularly big appetite." Margaret said half-jokingly, "I don't think Ludwig will bring back two fat guys, right?"

After a while, the apartment door opened. Ludwig von Hersmann and Karl Haushofer came back, bringing with them two young men of similar age to Hersmann. One of them had a rectangular face with straight features and looked Very impressive. He wore a field gray military uniform, with the rank of lieutenant on his shoulders and a row of medals on his chest. Chloe and Margaret looked at this man and felt familiar, as if they had seen him somewhere.

Another guest who arrived with Hessmann was older than the lieutenant. His eyes, nose, and mouth were all large, but his face was a bit small, and it seemed that he couldn't fit those large features. The way he smiles is a bit cunning, and he looks slippery. He was not a soldier. He was wearing a very well-made suit and carrying a briefcase in his hand, as if he were a manager of a large company.

Hermann seemed to be in a good mood. He first pointed at the lieutenant and said in a cheerful tone: "He is Iron Man Hermann! We were friends with me when we were in Grosslichfeld. This time he came back to Berlin." Whoever holds the Blue Max will be awarded a medal by His Majesty the Emperor himself!”

Hearing the name "Iron Herman", many women present, including Hersman's sister Margaret, screamed, as if they had met some idol star.

Iron Man Hermann is Hermann Goering! The future Nazi Luftwaffe commander Fatty Ge, but now he is not fat, and he is still a star well-known throughout Germany...militarism. Of course stars fight, not sing. Ace pilots of Fatty Ge's level are all German celebrities, and their photos can be sold for money.

Like Hersmann, Goering also graduated from the Grosslichfeld Military Academy. He was one year younger than Hersmann and was not in the same class, but he was also taught by Karl Haushofer. And they were the only ones who knew each other in the military academy.

Göring, who was back in Berlin waiting for the award, heard that Haushofer was to be promoted to major general, so he went to the General Staff Headquarters to watch Haushofer's promotion ceremony. At the ceremony, I met Hersman, who had already obtained the rank of lieutenant colonel and a blue Max. It is much more difficult for Army officers to obtain Blue Max than for pilots. Göring was greatly surprised and went up to talk to Hessmann. Of course Hersmann would not give up the opportunity to make friends with Göring, so he took him home for dinner.

"This gentleman is also our German hero, although he is not German yet." After several ladies at the scene stopped screaming, Hessmann pointed to the young man in a suit. "He is the creator of Fokker's disaster, Mr. Anthony Fokker!"

Anthony Fokker, the founder of the Fokker Aircraft Company and the most outstanding aircraft designer during World War I, developed a "synchronous machine gun" that allowed bullets to shoot through the propeller without hitting the blades. Relying on this invention, the Fokker fighter became a famous star in air combat, causing aircraft from Britain, France and other countries to suffer heavy losses, causing the terrifying "Fokker disaster".

The appearance of Anthony Falk at Hessmann's home was not accidental. It was related to the new job that Major General Karl Haushofer would take after retiring. Karl Haushofer's current retirement from active service is actually to implement the "Dark Sword Project" in the "Gray Plan" to preserve the vitality of the German military industry.

After retiring from active service, Karl Haushofer will serve as chairman of a "non-military organization" called the "Industrial Promotion Council". The main responsibility of this "non-military agency" is to help the German military industry survive the difficult post-war period.

After synthesizing various intelligence, the General Staff predicts that the aviation industry will be in the most difficult situation after Germany's defeat. Because the Air Force is an emerging service, technology is advancing rapidly. This also means that aviation weapons are falling behind and becoming obsolete very quickly. As long as the German aviation industry is stalled for ten years, Germany may always fall behind in the air. This is of course the current unanimous view of the German military and the Allied military leadership, but the development of history has shown great deviations.

In the aviation industry, for a long time after the war, there was a strange phenomenon of civilian technology leading military technology. The most advanced technology is often applied to civilian aircraft, followed by military aircraft. This gives Germany the opportunity to develop civilian aircraft manufacturing to maintain the level of the aviation industry.

However, Hirschman would not tell others in advance what was going to happen in the 1920s and 1930s. Even if he told others, no one would believe him.

Moreover, the vitality of Germany's best aircraft and aircraft engine manufacturers such as Fokker Aircraft Factory, Bayerische Motoren AG and Albatross Aircraft Factory should be preserved, and funding should be provided to allow them to build new aircraft manufacturing plants in Riga to produce advanced The civilian and military aircraft are also very beneficial to Germany's future.

Therefore, Anthony Fokker, the most outstanding aircraft designer, was invited from the aircraft factory in Schwerin to Berlin to discuss with Karl Haushofer the relocation of the Fokker aircraft factory to Riga after the war. possibility. And just as he was preparing for Berlin, he happened to encounter Haushofer being promoted to major general, so he was invited to attend the celebration banquet.

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