The Rise of the Third Reich

Berlin, Wilhelmstrasse 73, Reich Defense Ministry Building.

A Maybach "Leader" luxury bulletproof sedan produced in 1942 stopped steadily at the main entrance of the building. A very handsome and elegant lieutenant colonel in his thirties got out of the passenger seat and opened the door of the back seat of the car. Then he saw Imperial Marshal Hersman getting out of the car and adjusting his military uniform. , stretched out his left hand again, and whispered: "Klaus, my scepter."

The lieutenant colonel who opened the door for Hessman immediately handed a beautifully carved marshal's scepter to Hessman, and then wanted to take Hessman's handbag, but Hessman stopped him. It wasn't that there was something shady in this leather bag, but Hessman always had an uncomfortable feeling when he saw his new adjutant holding the bag.

Because the full name of this lieutenant colonel is Chris von Stauffenberg... He was the man who put a bomb in a bag to kill Hitler. Of course, this was in the original history!

As a royalist militarist from a high-ranking aristocracy, Stauffenberg was of course loyal to royalist leaders like Hersmann.

In fact, he and Herschmann are still related. The Stauffenberg family and the Heinsberg family are both famous Catholic families in western Germany, and they are also well-matched count families. Of course there is a marriage relationship between the two families. This is because Chris von Stauffenberg is a distant cousin of Chloe. Not long after he married Chloe, Hersman met him when he was still a young man. Children's Chris von Stauffenberg. Since then, the relationship between Hersmann and the Stauffenberg family has been very good, which is why Chris von Stauffenberg will now become Hersmann's adjutant.

In terms of his ability to control the Junkers group of officers, Hersmann was much better than Hitler. Because he himself is the "most perfect" Junker, impeccable in both his background and experience. Moreover, he and Schleicher also promoted the restoration of the German Emperor. They also pursued the Soviet line pioneered by Emperor Wilhelm that was recognized by the "old guys" of the Junkers Officer Corps. Now they have achieved a series of great achievements. success.

Therefore, among the German Junker aristocracy and officer class, there is no so-called "opposition" now. At least the Reich Central Security Service led by General Stockhausen and the Military Intelligence Service led by Major General Reinhard Galen did not discover the existence of such a faction.

Even General Ludwig Beck, a historical "anti-war", is now following the militarist leader Schleicher (Beck was originally promoted by Schleicher and Hammerstein) ) went to be the commander of the English Army Group (this was a bluff force) preparing to invade Britain.

…

"Ludwig, how was your talk with the Dutch?"

In a rectangular conference room in the Ministry of Defense building, Hersman heard Marshal Kesselring's voice as soon as he entered the door.

Kesselring has now succeeded Hessmann as the Chief of General Staff. He was transferred from the Army to the Air Force, and has also commanded the Air Force and the Navy. He is an "all-round" general and is most suitable to take over as the Chief of the General Staff of the Wehrmacht. Therefore, Hessmann selected Kesselring as his successor among three candidates: Kesselring, Halder and Guderian. Halder served as First Munitions Director, Kesselring's deputy. Guderian became the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Front, and together with Rundstedt, Reichenau, List, Model, Manstein and other army group or army commanders, he went to prepare for Stalin's thunderstorm.

Today, Kesselring came from Zossen to the Ministry of Defense building in Berlin early in the morning to prepare for a very important headquarters meeting.

"The Dutch agreed to the independence of Dutch Guiana." Hessmann sat on a chair opposite Marshal Kesselring, put the heavy leather bag in his lap on his lap, opened it and took out a handwritten secret. Agreement - This is an agreement signed by Hersman and Dutch Prime Minister Dirk Geer, in which the Dutch government agreed to recognize the independence revolution of Dutch Guiana in the event of it.

"Independence?" Marshal Kesselring smiled and shook his head, "These Dutch people can really think of it."

"Leave this to the Central Security Bureau. With the cooperation of the Dutch colonial authorities, there will be no problem." Hersman took the coffee cup from a female secretary of the Ministry of Defense. After taking a sip of coffee, he continued to talk to Kai Serling said, "However, our people must enter immediately to secure control of Dutch Guiana before the Americans do it. It is best to control both British and French Guiana at the same time."

"Okay," Kesselin nodded, "The General Staff will make a plan immediately... When will we enter South America?"

"Of course, the sooner the better!" Hessman said, "Because the period of opportunity left to us by history will not be too long. Once the Americans develop a wire-controlled gliding bomb, we will have no chance to get one in South America. Springboard. By the way, the codename of this plan is 'Springboard'."

"Then how about it be implemented before May 1942?" Kesselring thought for a moment and said, "Before we invade Ireland, and before the end of April we will have at least one Ju.288 equipped with the Hs239 glide bomb. The group can go into battle, and this group will pose a great threat to the U.S. Navy."

Ju.288 was a project that Kesselring was very optimistic about when he was the commander-in-chief of the Air Force. This aircraft was designed by Junkers and is considered a successor to the Ju.88.

This aircraft is equipped with a 24-cylinder Jumo222 turbocharged engine with a maximum output of 2,500 horsepower (Jumo222 also has a non-turbocharged version, so Ju.288 is also divided into high-altitude type and medium-low altitude type). The maximum horizontal flight speed can reach 670 kilometers/hour, the ceiling can reach 12,500 meters, the bomb load is 3.6 tons, and the maximum range is 5,985 kilometers!

The Ju.288's anti-ship capabilities are unprecedentedly powerful. Not only can it dive and drop bombs like the Ju.88, but it is also equipped with two epoch-making controllable glide bombs, the Hs293 and Fritz X. In addition, the maximum range of 5,958 kilometers and the combat radius of more than 2,200 kilometers also make this aircraft a killer weapon for Germany in the Atlantic!

The aircraft used to take over the Ju.88 flight are not only high-end goods such as the Ju.288. The more economical and practical Do.217 bomber developed by Dornier has now begun to be equipped with a large number of troops.

Although the maximum range of Do.217 is much smaller than that of Ju.288, only 2148 kilometers, the maximum speed is only 557 kilometers per hour, which is not as good as the 670 kilometers per hour of Ju.288. However, the Do.217's bomb load can reach 4 tons, which is the largest among all known twin-engine bombers (excluding pseudo-twin-engine bombers such as the He.177). And it also has relatively good dive performance, and can also carry Hs293 and Frieze X remote-controlled gliding bombs.

In the plan of the German Air Force, the future twin-engine tactical bombers of the Air Force will form a high-low combination of Ju.288 and D0.217.

As for Germany's new generation heavy bomber project, significant progress has been made. The Me.264 project jointly developed by Messerschmitt and Fokker and the Junkers Ju.390 project are in the final competition.

At the same time, the Fokker Company also produced the Fokker 108 (P.108) as an emergency model for the German Air Force to replace the aging Ju89 and Do.19 aircraft.

"By the way, has the eighth draft of the Sea Lion Project been drafted?" After discussing "Springboard", Hersman turned the topic to "Sea Lion".

"Project Sea Lion" was a combat plan to deal with the British mainland, but the main battlefield was chosen in Ireland. It was Hessmann himself who proposed this plan, and it was Hessmann's eldest brother, Field Marshal Schleicher, who executed it.

However, "Project Sea Lion" is an extremely complex plan, including a deception plan before the launch of the battle, a decisive battle plan at sea before the landing, a plan to land and airborne in Ireland, a decisive battle with the British army in Ireland, and a plan to use Ireland as a base to attack There were plans for a comprehensive blockade of the British mainland, and finally there were plans to deal with the entry of the United States and the Soviet Union into the war.

Of course, plans for fighting the United States and the Soviet Union will not be included in the "Sea Lion Plan." As early as the end of the Mediterranean Campaign in 1941, the General Staff of the National Defense Forces began to secretly formulate combat plans against the United States and the Soviet Union. The former was code-named "Barrier Plan" and the latter was named "Blue Plan."

The core idea of ​​the "Barrier Plan" is to use the Atlantic Ocean as a barrier and Guyana as a bridgehead to block the power of the United States from Europe, while placing the battlefield between Germany and Germany in the Caribbean.

The core of the "Blue Plan" is to seize the Soviet Union's heavy industry base in Ukraine and the resource-producing area of ​​the Caucasus - of course, the prerequisite is that the Soviet Union first goes to war with Germany. Hersman's position of being unwilling to go to war with the Soviet Union has not changed, because once the Soviet Union and Germany go to war, the United States may benefit, and Germany will be trapped in a two-front war. However, based on the current analysis of U.S.-Soviet relations and Soviet-German relations, the risk of Soviet-German war is becoming increasingly greater. Therefore, we must consider solving the "Soviet problem".

However, solving the American and Soviet problems must come after defeating the United Kingdom. The pace of aggression and expansion under the control of Hersman is still steady, which seems reassuring. This is why he can enjoy the unanimous support of the Juncker militarists.

"It's all done," Kesselring said with a smile, "It's not easy. It's already the eighth draft... The entire plan has almost one million words, and 18 sets of landing plans alone have been made. All possibilities have been considered. In fact, the difficulty of the entire Sea Lion plan is the landing. After all, we have not fought a major landing battle. If Paulus had not returned from Japan, we would not be able to make these 18 plans. "