The Rise of the Third Reich

On June 30, 1941, just 19 days after the decisive naval battle between Britain and Germany, known as the "Battle of Shetland" in history, Rudolf von Heinsberg-Hersmann, who had just been promoted to captain, returned to the Berlin.

He came to Berlin for two purposes. One was to get the Medal of Merit (Blue Max Medal). In the naval battle that just ended, he shot down several more planes. Now he has 26 kills and can get the Medal of Merit. Become a real ace pilot.

The second mission was to report to the Chief of the General Staff, Imperial Marshal Hersmann - of course, as an acting captain of the carrier-based aircraft group who had witnessed the "Dauntless Attack", he went to see the Imperial Hersmann. marshal.

When little Herschmann arrived in Berlin, the city was immersed in grief, not because of the unfavorable situation at the front, but because the funeral of Wilhelm II had just been held. The Emperor of the German Empire, the First Citizen of the European Community, and the Chief Elder of the European Senate (the Chief Elder is also called the Head of State) will be the Crown Prince Wilhelm, called William III. The formal coronation and succession ceremony will be held on July 1 and July 2. He will first be crowned Emperor of the German Empire at the Imperial Residence in Berlin, and then go to the Europa Castle (formerly Strasbourg) on ​​the Rhine to take over. The first citizen of the European Community and the chief senator of the European Senate - Hitler originally wanted to seek the position of "first citizen" and "head of state" after the victory of the war, but now that Emperor Wilhelm died too early, he can only let Wilhelm III come. Come on... William III is not in good health anyway, and he probably won't live as long as his father.

After William III won the three thrones of Emperor of the German Empire, First Citizen of the European Community, and Chief Senator of the European Senate, he still had to go to Warsaw, Vilnius, Lviv, Bratislava, and Rubl He visited the capitals of the five German republics including Jana and was crowned King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, Grand Duke of Galicia-Ukraine, Grand Duke of Slovakia and Grand Duke of Slovenia. In short, His Majesty William III will be very busy in the next two months.

But this had nothing to do with little Hersmann. After arriving in Berlin, he went straight to the small town of Zossen. When he arrived at Tsosen, he didn't go home to have a look. Instead, he went to the General Staff Building to wait for his father to meet him.

Perhaps it was because the British "dauntless weapons" attracted Hessman's attention. Little Hessman did not wait long before he was taken to Hessman's office. In this office, Hersman Jr. also met Lieutenant General Helmut Heyer and Colonel Franz Hinze, as well as Colonel Werner Moulders, commander of the 1st HNA Aviation Division.

"Rudolph, sit down."

After little Hessman performed the military salute, Hessman raised his hand and pointed to an empty chair in the office. Then he pointed to a beautifully crafted wooden box on the table with a smile, and said with a smile: "I will wear your blue Max Medal for you later."

"Thank you." Little Hersman glanced at the wooden box, with a smile that couldn't be concealed on his face that still looked a little immature.

"Now, let's talk about the British fearless attack first." Hersman changed the topic and asked about the plane hitting the warship.

The British were also celebrating victory in the past two days - the British War Cabinet declared that the Royal Navy had won the Battle of Shetland and repelled the German attack on the Shetland Islands. During this naval battle, the Royal Navy's aviation also launched a "dauntless" attack, using an SBD dive bomber loaded with bombs to ram and sink the German aircraft carrier "Seidlitz"!

Moreover, in a "Victory Parade" held on June 22 (to celebrate the victory of the Battle of Shetland), the British high-profile displayed so-called "dauntless weapons", which were actually suicide weapons. Of course there was no such thing as Churchill's bomb vest "invented" by Hirschman. What Churchill showed off were models of "high-value" Dreadnought weapons, including Dreadnought torpedoes and Dreadnought attack aircraft.

Naturally, these "dauntless" weapons on display were photographed by German agents lurking in the UK. There are some such photos on Hirschman’s desk now.

Although Hessman himself does not believe that the British will imitate the YSL Saints and the Japanese and engage in suicide attacks. But he still did not dare to take it lightly and immediately asked relevant departments to conduct research. At the same time, some naval and naval personnel who had witnessed "suicide attacks" were summoned to Berlin.

"I think it was an accident." Hersman Jr. shrugged. "Although I was frightened by the behavior of the SBD dive bomber at the time, but after thinking about it carefully, I feel that it was not a premeditated suicide." style attack.”

"Why?" Hersman asked calmly.

"First of all, the SBD is a two-seat dive bomber. As a dive bomber, it is not flexible enough, has weak air combat capabilities, and is easily shot down. As a two-seat aircraft, there is a pilot and a gunner on it, and one attack will cause Two deaths were completely unnecessary.

Secondly, the 1,000-pound armor-piercing bomb carried on the SBD dive bomber can easily penetrate the armored deck of the USS Seydlitz aircraft carrier. This is much better than using the aircraft itself for impact.

Third, it is not easy to pilot an aircraft to dive from an altitude of 3,000 meters and hit a moving aircraft carrier. Only very good pilots can do this, and using such pilots to perform one-time missions is a huge waste. If an undertrained pilot is asked to perform such a suicide mission, I think the probability of him successfully hitting an enemy ship is only 1% at best. "

Hersman Jr.'s analysis is very accurate, which shows that he has carefully studied this issue. Hersmann nodded with satisfaction. It seemed that the Heinsberg-Hersmann family was about to give birth to another great soldier.

"You take a look at the photos on the table first." Hersman pointed to the photos of the Dreadnought aircraft and Dreadnought torpedoes on the desk - he had just studied them with Lieutenant General Haye and Colonel Hinze. , but both Heyer and Hinze are authentic naval officers. Although they can fly airplanes, their skills are not outstanding and cannot be compared with the trump card of Little Hersman who took the Blue Max. So Hirschman wanted to hear his son's opinion about the Dreadnought.

Little Hersman picked up a color photo of the Dreadnought aircraft and looked at it for a while, frowning and said: "The propeller and engine are rear-mounted... The aerodynamics of this aircraft are much better than the currently popular front-engine aircraft. The big difference is that the pilots flying it may have to undergo special training. In addition, the landing performance of this aircraft may not be very good and it will be difficult to land on an aircraft carrier.”

"Suicide aircraft equipped on a large scale cannot be carrier-based aircraft," Lieutenant General Haye interjected, "because the training of carrier-based aircraft pilots is difficult, and the number of aircraft carried on the aircraft carrier is also limited, and there are not many suicide aircraft. ”

"But without getting onto an aircraft carrier, how far can such a suicide plane fly?"

Captain Franz Hinze, the captain of the "Seidlitz", took the question and said: "This aircraft may be carried by another four-engine heavy bomber to the vicinity of the combat area and then released."

Little Hersman nodded and said: "This is a solution...but the design of this aircraft is still not very reasonable."

"Do you still know about aircraft design?" Hersman asked, looking at his son.

"Just some common sense," Hersman Jr. said with a smile. "For example, the shape of this aircraft is obviously to facilitate dive attacks. But dive attacks are really difficult. A pilot like me has to convert into a dive bomber pilot." , you have to undergo at least 2 months of rigorous training.”

Starting in July, little Hersman will go to the Danze Port Naval Aviation School to receive training as a dive bomber pilot. After three months of training, he will be qualified to become the official captain of the carrier-based aircraft group.

Hersman Jr. added: "But it is much easier to fly horizontally. A pilot with an A2 certificate can handle it."

At this time, German pilot training was graded (graded all over the world), with levels A and B being primary flight training, and level C (advanced) training above. It takes a student pilot 14-20 months from enrollment to completion of C-level training, flying 200-270 hours, and then he can join the supplementary training unit for several more months of training.

For someone like Hersman Jr. who entered the Air Force NCO School as a candidate officer and then became an elite carrier-based aircraft pilot, the training time for the entire process lasted at least thirty months.

If the British let elites of his level fly "dreadnought aircraft", they would definitely want to lose the war quickly. And a pilot who is qualified to fly dive bombers (not carrier-based) must pass C level no matter how reduced the training is. In wartime, this is also a huge waste.

Little Hersman thought about it and said: "If the British really want to use suicide aircraft to deal with us, the only reasonable way is to design a rear-propeller aircraft that is easier to control and has good low-altitude performance. It can be used by medium or heavy bombers Drop it, and then fly horizontally at low altitude to hit the warship."

"Hit the side?" Lieutenant General Haye shook his head, "That's where the armor is thickest."

Hersman Jr. said: "It can hit the bow, stern and superstructure of the ship, and it can also add charges, such as 500 kilograms of explosives."

After listening to his son's idea, Hessmann suddenly came up with the idea of ​​designing a special suicide attack aircraft... Although Germany has no need for this kind of weapon, Japanese friends may be able to use it. What they have to deal with is the very cruel U.S. imperialism!