The Rise of the Third Reich

On March 18, 1941, at a high command meeting held in the Ministry of Defense Building at Wilhelm 77 in Berlin, Marshal Hersmann, Chief of the General Staff, formally proposed the implementation of general mobilization of the national economy and the transfer of the country to a total war mode.

The concept of "total war" was proposed by former President Marshal Ludendorff on the basis of summarizing the lessons of Germany's failure in World War I. Every executive or senior general who is qualified to participate in the headquarters meeting has read Ludendorff's book "Total War". "War", you naturally know what total war is.

However, knowing general war does not mean that you can implement general war, because general war is extremely resource-consuming and labor-intensive. Once the general war begins, it means that factories in Germany and even European countries under German leadership must operate at full capacity to produce military supplies. This kind of large-scale production requires sufficient supply of energy and raw materials, as well as sufficient labor force to maintain it.

In the past, Germany did not have sufficient supplies of energy and raw materials, so it was unable to turn Ludendorff's theory into practice. On the contrary, the United Kingdom on the other side of the English Channel can shift the country into a general war mode faster and better because of its huge colonial resources and the support of the United States. After mobilization and continuous improvement of production capacity in 1939 and 1940, Britain's total shipbuilding tonnage and total aircraft production now exceed Germany's, and even its tank production is no less than Germany's.

Including the United States, which is constantly expanding its armaments industry, the total output of various weapons and equipment by Britain and the United States in 1941 could crush Europe under the leadership of Germany.

In addition, there is a "comrade and brother" Soviet Union, which is also constantly expanding its arms and preparing for war. If the Soviet Union also switches to the side of Britain and the United States sometime in the future, Germany will be at a very disadvantageous disadvantage, at least in terms of arms production.

The only way to reverse this disadvantage is to shift Germany and even Europe into a general war mode as soon as possible and fully release its huge industrial and technological power.

At this time, everyone realized how valuable Hessmann's victory on the Mediterranean battlefield was. Without victory in the Mediterranean battlefield, even if Germany forcibly mobilizes, the tanks and aircraft it produces will not be able to operate due to lack of fuel. Even the pilots who operate these aircraft and tanks will not be able to train because of lack of fuel.

Therefore, after seizing the huge oil-producing areas in the Middle East, Germany was able to unleash its true power with its sea of ​​aircraft and tanks.

However, switching to the general war mode in Germany and even Europe under its leadership is not a matter of an order or a word. There must be a process of advancement. If you want German and European armaments to reach their peak in 1943 and 1944, you need to start taking action now.

Because arms expansion is a huge systematic project. If you want to expand the production of tanks and various vehicles, and at the same time ensure that the scale of ship production continues to increase, you must increase the production of steel, and it is not just ordinary steel, but various special special steels. This involves the mining and consumption of various non-ferrous metals.

To increase the production of aircraft, we must first increase the production of aluminum alloys, special plywood (used in the production of wooden aircraft) and engines, which requires the production of high-strength or high-temperature-resistant aluminum alloy materials. This also involves the mining and processing of large quantities of rare metals such as magnesium, nickel, manganese, molybdenum and tungsten.

In order for more advanced aircraft and tanks to exert their power, personnel training must also keep up. This is actually the most time-consuming and energy-consuming.

It is very fast to build an aircraft on the assembly line, but it will take at least 20 months to train a qualified pilot (driver) according to the current standards of the German Air Force and Naval Aviation, and a lot of precious aviation gasoline will be consumed.

"The core of all problems is still oil!" Hessman said at today's headquarters meeting, "The shortage of non-ferrous metals can also be made up by reducing the design service life and increasing the weight. If there is no oil, there is really no way. Therefore, Europe's overall war should still start with increasing oil and various synthetic fuels.

In the past, we had no oil fields, so there was nothing we could do. But now we have mastered the oil-rich areas, with two very large oil fields in Kirkuk and Khuzestan, so we must do our best to increase oil production from now on. In order to achieve this goal, we must not only leverage Germany's oil extraction capabilities, but also leverage the capabilities of the entire Europe in this regard. To this end I propose the establishment of a European Community Petroleum Commission. "

Hirschmann put forward the first suggestion to concentrate all European efforts on developing Middle East oil! This is necessary because Germany's own oil industry is not developed - Germany has no oil fields to exploit. France, Belgium and the Netherlands have relatively developed oil extraction industries. France owns oil fields in Syria, participated in oil development in Poland during the inter-war period, and has been engaged in oil exploration and processing in Algeria for a long time. Belgian Petroleum Finance Company is involved in the development of Romanian oil fields. The Netherlands is even more powerful. Dutch Shell is a well-known large oil company in the world. It has developed many large oil fields in the Dutch East Indies and British Malaya.

Moreover, France, the Netherlands and Belgium all have domestic petroleum processing industries. France's petroleum processing industry in particular is still very developed, and its processing capacity even exceeded that of Germany before the war. The heavy industries of France and Belgium are still very developed and can produce all the equipment needed for the petroleum industry, so they have the conditions to rapidly expand the scale of their domestic petroleum industries.

If these countries are allowed to participate in the development of Middle East oil, not only will the speed of mining be greatly accelerated, but it will also ensure that the oil that is finally mined can be refined into high-quality finished oil.

In addition, European countries such as France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark also have large fleets and shipbuilding capabilities, which can transport the mined oil back to Europe.

Therefore, if Germany wants to speed up the development of Middle East oil, it must involve countries such as France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

And there is another great benefit in involving these three countries in the Middle East to dig for oil. This is the rhythm of everyone making money. With common oil interests, France, Belgium and the Netherlands will truly stand with Germany.

"I think we can use the joint development of Middle East oil as a trump card to attract France, Belgium and the Netherlands." Hersman said with a smile, "This will make them and us have real visible and tangible common interests!"

Having common interests cannot be empty talk, you must come up with something. And the oil in the Middle East is undoubtedly the most attractive big cake, far more attractive than the monthly supply of tens of thousands of tons or hundreds of thousands of tons of oil that Hitler took out.

Hitler seemed reluctant to part with it - the Dutch were fine, but even the French and Belgians could get their hands on Middle East oil...

"Leader," Hessman looked at Hitler and said, "If we win the war, the Aryan nation will get the whole world, and giving up some Middle East oil benefits is nothing.

And if we share the benefits of the Middle East with everyone, then we can ask France, Belgium and the Netherlands to share their colonies in Africa, America or somewhere else with Germany, which will be very beneficial for our integration of Europe."

"Okay," Hitler nodded and said to Hess, "Rudolf, when you arrive in France tomorrow, mention this to Marshal Pétain. As for the Netherlands, you can ask the Crown Prince to talk to him."

Now the Hitler government is actively trying to win over France, the Netherlands and Spain to join the alliance. Ribbentrop left for Madrid yesterday afternoon. The negotiations with France are in the charge of Minister Hess. The diplomatic work of the Netherlands is handed over to the German royal family, which has close ties with the Dutch royal family. Because Emperor William is old and weak, his heir, Crown Prince William, travels between Germany and the Netherlands.

"If France and the Netherlands are willing to join," Hessman said with a smile, "then the advancement of the total war will be easier. We can give more production tasks to France and the Netherlands, which will help us quickly expand production. I think that by 1943 we need to increase the number of regular aircraft to 18,000, and the number of regular tanks and assault guns should be increased to 12,000."

Herssman proposed "regular numbers", which refers to aircraft and tanks equipped to the troops and ready for combat at any time. The actual annual output of weapons is generally higher than this number!

Goering was shocked by this number and immediately reminded: "Marshal, if we want to maintain 18,000 commonly used aircraft and 12,000 commonly used tanks and assault guns. Then the actual annual output of the factory will be 1.5-2 times this number."

Hersmann thought for a while and said: "Tanks and assault guns can be formulated according to the same scale as the commonly used number. The assault gun is tentatively planned to be mainly No. 3, and at the same time, a lower-cost tank destroyer assault gun should be studied. If there is a tank destroyer with a lower cost but equivalent power to No. 3, it can replace part of No. 3. Tanks are mainly No. 4, which should account for 60% of the total output, and the rest are allocated to No. 5 and No. 6."

Tanks and assault guns can be repaired if they are damaged. As long as the German army can continue to win, the consumption will not be too large, and it may even increase. But planes are not good. There is no way to repair a plane that has been shot down.

"As for aircraft," Hessman continued, "considering the possibility that we may have a fierce sea and air war with Britain and the United States, the annual production must reach at least three times the usual number! In addition, we must speed up the training of pilots and tank crews. The number of pilot and tank cadets recruited this year should increase by 100% compared to 1940."