The Rise of the Third Reich

Next to the Municipal Square in the small town of Roermond, there stands a very old Renaissance-style building, which is called the "Bishop's Residence" by the residents of the small town of Roermond. It is the former residence of a member of the Heinsberg family. A villa built by our ancestor who served as Bishop of Limburg.

Hersman and Chloe spent their first night as newlyweds in this old house. And this house will become famous in the history in the future. The Roermond Arms Conference, which was called one of the "100 major events that affected the course of world history" by later generations, was held in this house. And not just once, but five consecutive meetings from 1919 to 1923.

August 3, 1919, just three days after Hersman and Chloe's wedding. The first Roermond Arms Conference was held in a large room in the "Bishop's Residence" that was tall but somewhat gloomy, and the walls were covered with oil paintings of religious themes.

The person presiding over the meeting was Karl Haushofer of the Industrial Promotion Committee - today's "arms meeting" was actually a plenary meeting of the Industrial Promotion Committee. After the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, the Industrial Promotion Council was decoupled from the Weimar Republic government and became a truly private organization.

Moreover, the activities of this "civilian organization" also violated the Treaty of Versailles, so it was inconvenient to hold meetings in Germany, so the headquarters of the Industrial Promotion Council was simply moved to the Netherlands, which is close to the Rhineland.

In addition, due to the chaos in Germany after the November Revolution, the business of the Industrial Promotion Committee was suspended for several months, and activities were not resumed until March 1919.

However, from March to now, this committee has not accomplished anything major. In addition to promoting the birth of the FK-BF coalition, it is revising the previous "Dark Sword Project" and formulating a work plan for 1920.

Hersmann sat in the first seat to the right of Karl Haushofer, and Colonel Schleicher, another representative of the army, sat opposite him.

Next to them, Anthony Fokker and Gustav Krupp sat respectively. Dr. Schacht from the National Bank, Otto Gerstein from BMW, Richard Benz from Benz, Harald, the representative of Rheinmetall, and others. These were old acquaintances of Hirschman's, having met at past Industrial Promotion Board meetings.

In addition, the famous firearms manufacturer Mauser Company, the four major German shipbuilding companies Bremen Wessel Shipyard, Kiel Germania Shipyard, Hamburg Falken Shipyard and Danzig Caesar Shipyard, as well as Well-known German chemical manufacturers BASF and Bayer Chemicals, as well as German electrical industry giant Siemens, all sent representatives.

In addition, the German Navy also sent a representative, Erich Redel, who had just been promoted to naval captain.

Everyone present, including Hersman, had a confidentiality agreement handwritten by Karl Haushofer in front of them. Because from now on, the Industrial Promotion Committee must operate with as much confidentiality as possible.

Therefore, everyone involved must sign a confidentiality agreement. If the agreement is violated, it is not as simple as filing a lawsuit in court.

"We all have to sign this agreement." Hersman was the first to pick up the pen on the table and signed the agreement. "Because what we are going to do now is intolerable to the enemy, and even some people in the government will be afraid. If you are also afraid, then please withdraw now."

No one quit, and everyone signed the papers, as did Hirschman. Two secretaries of the Industrial Promotion Committee walked into the conference room, took away the documents placed in front of everyone, and replaced them with a "Work Plan for 1920".

When everyone opened the "Work Plan", Hessmann added: "Since everyone is working together and ready to contribute energy and financial resources to the rejuvenation of our motherland. As a representative of the Defense Forces (now the name of the German Army is the German Defense Forces) , I would like to first express my heartfelt thanks to all of you, and also give you a promise: the Defense Force will do everything it can to help the company you represent grow and develop!”

This can be considered a reassurance, but after all, today's Defense Force is not the German army that owned the country in the past.

"Lieutenant Colonel, can our Caesar Shipyard also develop and grow?" The person who had doubts about Hessmann's words was Dr. Eisenberg, the general manager of the Caesar Shipyard. He was an elderly Junker nobleman who replaced The German Navy has been building ships all its life.

The Caesar Shipyard was an industry of the Prussian state and an important naval factory. But now, although the city of Danzig is known as "free" (the residents there are all Germans), diplomacy and defense are controlled by Poland. Representatives of the Polish government were also present in the Julius Caesar shipyard.

"It can be moved to Courland," Hersman said. "The "1920 Work Plan" has already mentioned that all state-owned shipbuilding and ship-repair facilities in the ports of Riga, Windava and Liepaja, All will be taken over by the Julius Caesar Shipyards, which will provide loans to support the project.”

The ports of Riga, Windava and Liepaja are all military ports of the Tsarist Russian Baltic Fleet. There are many shipbuilding and ship repair factories originally belonging to the Tsarist Russian Navy. Although it is not large in scale, it has a large shipyard that can repair Gangut-class battleships (displacement 23,360 tons).

"We hope that the Caesar Shipyard can complete the relocation in 1920, and resume shipbuilding and ship repair operations in 1921. In 1923 or 1924, you will complete the construction of an aircraft carrier with a standard displacement of about 7,500 tons!"

"Aircraft carrier?" Eisenberg was surprised, "Can we build such a ship? The Allies..."

"There is no need to worry about the Allies," Hessmann said. "The United Baltic Principalities are not our territory... Now the Allies have recognized the status of Empress Olga. And there is hope that the Baltic States can achieve independence from Russia in 1920 or Achieved in 1921. By then, this country will be part of the 'anti-epidemic zone' that isolates the spread of Bolshevism."

Although the Baltic Republic did not appear in another time and space, it was not because of the opposition of the Allies. In fact, General Goltz in history had conquered Latvia and received support from the United Kingdom. However, the general was greedy and marched into Estonia. As a result, his "Iron Division" was crushed by the Estonian and Belarusian coalition forces. Even Latvia was not saved.

In this time and space, because of Hessmann, the "Courland Plan" was formulated very reasonably, taking into account all the most difficult problems. So now it has reached a point where it is difficult to shake.

Moreover, Britain and France have demands from Courland - now they are required to betray White Russia, and in the future they are required to resist Red Russia. With so many demands, it is natural to give the Germans in Courland a little sweetness.

After the Bolsheviks defeated White Russia, the Baltic Republics would be able to swing between the Soviet Union and the West, and they would have greater freedom.

Hersman continued: "Your Caesar Shipyard should start designing now. The intelligence department will get you some information on foreign aircraft carriers under construction and completed for reference. In addition, this aircraft carrier is a verification ship , training ships and advertising ships..."

"Advertising ship?"

Hessmann smiled and nodded, "Yes, so there is no need to consider armor or equipping naval guns, and the seaworthiness does not need to be too good. There is no need to consider the wind and waves of the North Atlantic... but the speed cannot be lower than 25 knots. It must have a deck that can take off and land aircraft and a hangar that can accommodate more than 20 carrier-based aircraft.”

————

The fourth update is here, please collect it and recommend it.