The Rise of the Third Reich

On February 12, 1940, the climate in Berlin was still quite cold, and the outside of No. 73 Wilhelmstrasse (the location of the meeting of the Ministry of Defense and the General Headquarters) was also quite deserted. There was only one anti-aircraft gun group playing with an 88mm anti-aircraft gun on their anti-aircraft gun position. There were also several Opel trucks with anti-aircraft balloons attached parked on the roadside. Last night, Berlin was hit by another air raid! The war seems to be really moving in the direction of "bombing and blockade to win". Ground troops on both sides of the war are hiding behind strong defensive lines, and exchanges of fire rarely occur. Only the air and sea battles raged. While German planes kept bombing French airports, British and French bombers would also visit Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt and other major German cities at night from time to time, dropping a few bombs and then quickly leave.

Although such an air raid, which is close to guerrilla warfare, will not cause much damage to Germany, the sudden sound of air defense sirens and bomb explosions in the middle of the night is annoying enough.

Hersman, who had been up all night due to official business and bombing, got out of the Mercedes-Benz 770K with red eyes. Accompanied by his adjutant Major Schnet, he walked into the Ministry of Defense building surrounded by air defense balloons.

There were many people sitting in the No. 1 conference room used for headquarters meetings. Hitler had not yet arrived. Schleicher, Goering and Ribbentrop had already arrived and were sitting at the conference table holding coffee. Talk about things. Seeing Hessmann walking in, Schleicher waved to him: "Ludwig, I heard that a bomb fell on Zossen. Did you not sleep well last night?"

Due to navigation and light control problems, bombers flying over enemy airspace at night often lose their way and drop their bombs far away from their targets.

"The bomb fell on my manor and made a big crater," Hessman said with a frown, "and shocked Chloe."

Hersman's estate in Zossen occupies a large area, and horses can be run in the yard. Although the impact point of the bomb was still far away from the house (about 3 kilometers), the loud noise still frightened the pregnant Chloe. She ran barefoot inside the house and called the children up to let them Go to the basement to hide from the bomb, then storm into Hessman's office.

"Is she okay?" Schleicher asked concerned.

"It's okay," Hessman shrugged. "I was instructing my servants to fill the bomb craters early in the morning."

"It's really troublesome!" Schleicher shook his head in disgust, "It seems we have to think of some way to deal with this kind of night bombing."

"How?" Hessman found a chair and sat down. "The British are probably ahead of us!"

He took out a photo from the briefcase he brought and handed it to Schleicher. The photo showed a strange thing, which was composed of a black disk, a glass cover, and some messy wires. .

"What is this?" Schleicher asked.

"This is a resonant cavity magnetron," Hirschman said. "It was invented by researchers at the University of Birmingham in the UK - it can emit powerful microwave rays, dozens of times more powerful than existing emitters. Using it, The British can build efficient airborne radar."

The University of Birmingham is a top university in the UK and also has a top research institute. Naturally, it is the focus of surveillance by the Central Security Bureau's Foreign Intelligence Service. As early as the 1920s, spies had penetrated into it.

"Did our agents steal it?" Schleicher asked again.

"Not yet, but we are working hard." Hessman thought for a while and then said, "We are also working hard to develop it ourselves. Maybe these photos will be a little help."

It's not easy to take secret photos, but it's impossible to steal the real thing. After all, the British counterintelligence agency is not a vegetarian.

"In addition, we can also try to get resonant cavity magnetrons through Japan and Italy." Hersman said, "They are now countries that Britain, the United States and France want to win over, and it is still possible to get a few advanced radars. "

Hersman once heard a rumor: Japan developed a cavity magnetron with relatively reliable performance in 1939. In fact, the Japanese are not lagging behind in the field of microwave transmission and reception, and the Yagi antenna is from Japan. Invented by Dr. Yagi Shuji. However, like this possible cavity magnetron, the Japanese themselves did not make good use of this invention. Historically, the Japanese seized the British Yagi antenna (radar) in Singapore, but they couldn't figure out what it was.

Therefore, Hessmann wanted to obtain Japan's cavity magnetron through technical cooperation, and by the way, he would also pass on German radar technology to Japan.

"Marshal," Ribbentrop reminded, "the Japanese have no intention of turning over to us now. Ambassadors Todman and Dixon reported that the Japanese government and emperor were still hesitant, and that their troops had done nothing. They are ready for war. At present, Japan only asks us to provide technology to help them prepare for war, but does not make any commitments."

Hessman nodded and said: "Japan has established a complete national mobilization system, and their army will be ready within 12-18 months. Only then will they decide the direction of the attack, not to advance westward. If you go north, you can’t hit us anyway!”

Hersman knows that the current situation in Northeast Asia seems tense, but in fact there is no possibility of a fight. On the one hand, Japan is not ready for war-in the past few years, they have spent too much money on the "03 Ship Supplement Plan."

The budget for a Yamato-class ship is more than 100 million (actually more than 200 million), and Japan started construction of four ships at once! The construction budget for an "ideal aircraft carrier" is also 85 million, and the Japanese also started construction of four ships at once.

In addition, the "03 Ship Supplement Plan" also includes a large cruiser, destroyer and auxiliary ship construction plan.

The navy spends too much, so the army can only save money... Anyway, the Japanese Imperial Government has less than 6 billion yen in the national total budget to allocate a year.

So the number of personnel and equipment level of the Japanese Army are not yet at the level of being able to fight a large-scale war.

On the other hand, Stalin has not yet decided the direction of the Soviet Union's expansion-according to the tradition left over from the Tsarist era, the Soviet Union will only actively fight in one direction at a time. If the Soviet Union wants to shift the focus of its expansion to the Far East, it will definitely conclude an alliance treaty with Germany, but the current Soviet Union has no intention of forming an alliance.

"Your Excellency the Leader is here!"

While several people were talking, the door of the conference room was pushed open, and then Hitler, dressed in military uniform, walked in quickly. The officers and government officials attending the meeting of the High Command stood up and saluted, and Hitler raised his hand in return.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I was just on the phone with Stalin!" Hitler said after sitting down.

After the release of the "Liberator's Declaration", Hitler and Stalin had a telephone hotline (of course, there was a translator involved).

"He told me that the Battle of Brest will be won within a week!" Hitler said, "Then the Soviet Red Army will feint to Warsaw. Marshal Schleicher, Marshal Hessmann, I ask the Wehrmacht to carry out a protective occupation of the entire Poland within a week after the end of the Battle of Brest in accordance with the provisions of the Polish-German Armistice Agreement!"

This was planned long ago, and there was naturally no problem. Even the people of Poland who were about to be occupied would cooperate more. Because if they did not accept the "protective occupation", then the great Soviet Red Army would come!

However, how to deal with Poland after the occupation is a headache...

"In addition, Stalin also said on the phone that he would attack Finland this spring." Hitler glanced at Schleicher and Hessmann after he finished speaking, "This is our last chance to defeat France from land!"

Hitler originally wanted to attack France in the winter of 1939, but was stopped by Schleicher and Hessmann. The reason is that the German Wehrmacht exposed many problems in the 12-day Polish campaign, which needed to be solved by strengthening training and replenishing equipment.

In addition, Germany's senior generals also need time to digest the experience of the Polish campaign in order to better master the armored forces.

"Leader," Hessmann said, "The troops will be ready as early as the end of March, and the attack can be launched in April. The specific date will depend on the weather conditions."

The battle plan for attacking France has been drawn up. There are two copies, one is the "Yellow Plan" copied from the "Schlieffen Plan", and the other is the "Manstein Plan" for a surprise attack through the Ardennes Forest.

Among them, the Yellow Plan is a smokescreen to paralyze the opponent, while the Manstein Plan will be truly implemented.

However, the Manstein Plan is not the only operational plan used to deal with France - it is only a plan to defeat the main force of the British and French coalition forces concentrated in northern France.

Because in addition to these main forces of the British and French coalition forces, France also has a very powerful force - the French Navy! Hessmann will not be as easy to talk to as Hitler, allowing France to retain the navy's main battleships until the end of the world war!

Three "Richelieu" class battleships, two "Dunkirk" class battleships and seven heavy cruisers must be handed over to the German Navy for use. With these battleships, the German Navy can organize a Mediterranean fleet, and the Mediterranean operations will be foolproof.

In addition, France's colonies in Algeria, T Nice and Morocco must also be liberated by Germany and Italy.

The operational plan to seize the French battleships and liberate Algeria, T Nice and Morocco was formulated by Deputy Chief of Staff Halder and Air Force Commander-in-Chief Kesselring. The plan was named "Operation Liberator" and would be implemented jointly by the German and Italian armies when the time was right.