The Rise of the Third Reich

At the end of December 1940, Marshal Hessmann, Chief of the General Staff of the German Wehrmacht, temporarily handed over his duties in the General Staff to the new First Munitions Director Guderian, and then went to Rome to serve as Commander-in-Chief of the German-Italian Allied Forces in the Mediterranean.

Because of the promotions of Schleicher and Hessmann, Guderian received the rank of General of the Armored Forces during the great expansion of the army before the war. This was a very high starting point. Therefore, after the Polish campaign and the Western Front campaign, Guderian was promoted to the rank of marshal. In early December, he became the second-ranking figure in the General Staff Department - the First Munitions Director.

Another reason why Hessmann temporarily handed over the General Staff to Guderian was because he knew that Guderian was a general who dared to quarrel with his superiors. Let him take charge of the General Staff on his behalf, which could ensure that the work of the General Staff was not carried out. Interfered by Hitler, a layman.

At this time, the front headquarters under the leadership of the Grand General Staff, in addition to the Mediterranean German-Italian Allied Forces Command personally chaired by Hersmann, also included the Western Front Headquarters responsible for operations against the British mainland and the newly established Southeastern Headquarters responsible for the Balkans battlefield, as well as the Defense of the Soviet Union's Eastern Front Headquarters.

The commander-in-chief of the Western Front Headquarters is now held by Marshal Rundstedt, the Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Front is currently held by Marshal Brauchitsch, and the newly established Southeast Front Headquarters is handed over to General Halder who has been unable to open up the situation in Italy. .

The Southern Front Headquarters previously chaired by Halder was upgraded to the General Headquarters of the German-Italian Allied Forces in the Mediterranean. The first thing Hessman did when he arrived at the Villa Medici in Rome (the headquarters of the Southern Front) was to hand over to the somewhat dejected General Halder.

"Franz, there is no need to be so downcast," Hessmann smiled and patted Halder on the shoulder, "You will achieve an unprecedented victory in the Balkans, and then you will command the troops to march into the Middle East."

Hersman was fully confident of Halder's victory in the Balkans.

"Marshal," Halder forced a smile and said, "Of course the Balkans are not a problem, but whether we can enter the Middle East is hard to say."

"No, we will definitely achieve our strategic goals!" Hersman said, "because I will win in the Mediterranean."

"Marshal, don't overestimate the Italians." Halder has now completely given up on the Italians. "The Italians are not soldiers at all. I originally thought that the fascist movement could change them, but now it seems that I am completely wrong. These Italians are not only greedy for life and fear of death, but also slack and not serious about anything. The most hateful thing is that the Italians like to lie to their own people too much, because everyone does not know what is happening below. Not telling the truth. So we can't have any hope for the Italian army, and if conditions permit, I recommend that you fight with the German army instead of the Italian army."

"But our surface fleet can't enter the Mediterranean," Hersman shrugged, "so we still have to rely on the Italian fleet... Franz, what do you think of the Italian navy? Is it better than their army?" Some?"

Halder thought for a while, nodded and said: "Italy's navy and air force are better than the army, that's for sure. But they were not prepared when the war started, so they lost the opportunity to annihilate the British Mediterranean Fleet. "

He told Hersman very worriedly, "Now the British have strengthened the Mediterranean Fleet. According to the latest intelligence, their Mediterranean Fleet has 8 battleships, 3 aircraft carriers and at least 7 heavy cruisers. Its strength has been greatly enhanced."

"This is a good thing," Hersman said. "The more the British lose in the Mediterranean, the less naval power they will have to defend their homeland in the future!"

Halder shook his head, "But Marshal, how are you going to do it? The Italian army is composed of liars and cowards, with only a handful of people of noble character. It is very difficult to command them, and besides, you are not an Italian soldier."

Hessman smiled and said, "It's not a problem for me, because I'm better at lying than the Italians. They can't fool me, but I can fool the Italians."

…

At the end of 1940, probably no one thought that Hessmann, the German war god who was hailed as "more outstanding than Moltke" by the soldiers of this era, was actually a complete liar!

Since guiding the Russian August Revolution in 1918, most of Hersman's achievements have been "cheated". The Russian Bolsheviks could have come to power without his help. In fact, he played no role in the Russian Revolution. The reconquest of the Rhineland was also risk-free and could easily have been accomplished by Hitler without him, as was the subsequent annexation of Bohemia.

And in the Polish campaign and the Western Front campaign where Hessmann truly became the "God of War", he was also a liar who stole credit. He just signed his name on the foolproof battle plan prepared by others and said "start".

This Mediterranean battle was the first time that "German God of War" Hessmann actually commanded a battle.

And his art of military command was first demonstrated in deception...not deceiving Wavell and Cunningham, but deceiving an honest fascist leader, Benito Mussolini.

"Prime Minister, the situation in North Africa is not completely out of control. The defeat of the Italian army is only temporary and the situation can be restored. In fact, it is beneficial to us to conduct a decisive battle in the Benghazi area because the supply port is nearby, but the British Dragging a 1,000-kilometer logistics line, as long as we are reinforced by powerful German armored divisions, we can annihilate the main force of the British army in North Africa in Benghazi, and then the road to Cairo and Alexandria will be clear..."

At the Palazzo Venezia, Hessmann, who met Mussolini again, pretended to be confident, patted his chest and made sure, and then asked for power.

He said: "The key now is that you must fully trust me as commander-in-chief, give real command authority, and support me in forming a joint general headquarters including the best Italian and German soldiers."

Mussolini was still a little hesitant after hearing Hessmann's boast.

On the one hand, he was looking forward to the combat effectiveness of the German armored divisions - Hersmann promised Mussolini when he was in Berchtesgaden that he would send two powerful armored divisions and one motorized infantry. Form an Afrika Korps to support Italian allies.

On the other hand, he also knew how powerful the British Navy was. Benghazi is quite far from Sicily. If the British Mediterranean Fleet is dispatched, it is entirely possible to cut off the communication between Benghazi and the Italian mainland.

"Marshal," Mussolini asked with a frown, "how do you plan to deal with the British Mediterranean Fleet? It is stronger than the Italian fleet..."

"French naval volunteers will join us, and the French Richelieu and Jean Bart will be ready in January."

Hersman lied, although the Richelieu and Jean Bart would be repaired and outfitted in January 1941. But it is hard to say whether the French will let them join the German-Italian coalition, because these slick French guys are not yet sure whether Germany will win.

"Really?" Mussolini was like a man who fell into the river and was about to drown. He refused to let go even if he grabbed a straw, let alone two battleships?

"The French are very smart and know that they should stand on the side of the winner." Hersman laughed. "As long as Germany and Italy can truly unite, a large number of German army and air forces will enter the Mediterranean, and the German and Italian coalition forces will be in the Balkans." If the peninsula is victorious, France will definitely make the right choice.”

Hessmann continued to draw the pie. He knew that if he wanted to win the Mediterranean, he had to first deceive Mussolini.

He continued: "Even if the French are unwilling to join, we can still win. Because the German air force and naval aviation are strong enough, they will be deployed to Italy in large numbers." He paused and asked for help from his adjutant Schnetz. After passing a few photos, he handed them to Mussolini.

Mussolini took the photo and looked at it. They were all airplanes, a kind of airplane that Mussolini had never seen before.

"This is the Fw-190 fighter," Hersman said. "This aircraft is equipped with a BMW 801D series air-cooled engine that can reach 2,000 horsepower. Its combat performance far exceeds that of the Fokker Zero, and its range Also enough to cover from Sicily to Benghazi.”

"2,000 horsepower?" Italian Air Force Chief of Staff Priccolo, who accompanied Mussolini to meet Hersmann, asked in surprise, "You actually have such a powerful engine?"

"Admiral, actually this is not the most powerful air-cooled engine we have." Hersman said with a smile, "The BMW801 is a dual-row 14-cylinder engine. We also have an experimental dual-row 18-cylinder BMW 802 engine, which can be stable. It outputs a high power of 2,300 horsepower. If you want to study it, I will ask BMW to send a few such engines immediately. "

Hersman’s words are not entirely true. This 2,000-horsepower high-power engine must use high-quality aviation gasoline with an octane number of 100-130, and it must also be supercharged and injected (water and methanol). , can the output power of 2,000 horsepower be briefly reached, otherwise it will only be 1,700 horsepower. The octane number of B4 gasoline extracted from coal in Germany is usually only 87. Aviation gasoline with an octane rating of 100-130 can only be obtained by reprocessing high-quality fuel extracted from petroleum.

Due to the preciousness of oil, this kind of high-octane gasoline cannot be openly supplied, so most Fw-190s are equipped with smaller horsepower BMW801C series engines (using 96 octane gasoline), with only 1600 Horse power. This model of Fw-190 was also sent to the Mediterranean, and the number was not large (the Fw-190 has just been put into production, so there are not many in total). Compared with the latest model Spitfire, their performance does not have an overwhelming advantage. .

Looking at Mussolini and Pricolo who were surprised and delighted, Hessmann said with certainty: "As long as we invest in this Fw-190, the sky of the Mediterranean will belong to us. That's why I will have a sure victory." Get it!" He looked at Mussolini, "Prime Minister, can you trust me completely now?"