Chapter 177 The Future Commander Part 2
Hersmann looked at Hitler with a surprised face. In history, he led the German army and forced Germany's old enemy France to collapse and surrender in just 35 days.
But now, Hitler can't imagine such a scene at all. Mechanized warfare is still in the theoretical and exploratory stage. Fuller of Britain and Charles de Gaulle of France proposed theories, but few people in their countries are willing to listen. Although many people in Germany are interested in their theories, due to the lack of reliable tanks, the development of German armored forces is not fast, and it can only be regarded as an exploratory stage so far.
According to the plan, starting from 1935, the German Wehrmacht will begin to form the first, second and third armored divisions. However, these three armored divisions do not have any good tanks to use. At present, the speed of tank development and research in Germany is only slightly faster than in history. The No. 1 tank for training has been officially put into production, and hundreds of units have been produced and delivered for use, which allows the training of armored troops to be carried out on a large scale.
However, the army's combat tanks (No. 3 tanks) and support tanks (No. 4 tanks) are still under development. At present, in addition to the No. 1 tank that cannot be used on the battlefield, the 7.2-ton No. 2 tank has been completed.
Developing advanced weapons is a complex and long-term project, and it is not easy to cheat. Due to the constraints of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany fell behind in the design and production of many weapons. Tanks are one of them. Before the development of the Type 1 tank, Germany did not even have a decent tractor industry. Moreover, Germany had not developed tanks after the World War, so the Type 1 tank was almost built from scratch.
"Admiral," Adolf Hitler said in a tone of obvious doubt, "If I remember correctly, you don't even have a truly combat-capable tank now!"
"Yes, we don't." Hessman admitted very frankly, "and when we go to war with France in the future, it is very likely that we will not have tanks that outperform the opponent."
That is simply impossible. The French are far ahead of Germany in tank design and production. France's Charles D1, Charles D2, and S35 are all tanks equipped to the troops in the mid-1930s. Germany will have to wait until the Type 4 is mass-produced before it can have a tank to fight it - it can only compete face to face. If you want to ensure victory, you may have to let the "Tiger" and "Black Panther" play. As for the French Hotchkiss H39 and Renault R35, two light tanks put into use in the mid-1930s, they can also overwhelm Germany's No. 1 and No. 2 in terms of firepower and armor.
"How do you plan to win?" Adolf Hitler asked.
"Use a system to win!" Hersman said, "War has always been a confrontation of systems. At a minimum, it is a confrontation between military forces composed of many arms, and at a maximum, it is a confrontation of comprehensive national strength. For a senior officer of the General Staff like me, the main responsibility is to find the most reasonable way to combine arms and formulate a combat plan based on this. Due to the technological progress in the past decade, the land and naval battle modes of the next world war will be very different!
Mr. Prime Minister, I will use a military exercise to prove this to you."
...
"Dear, does Mr. Prime Minister agree to support the restoration?"
When Hersman returned to his estate in Zossen from the Chancellery in Berlin, Chloe von Heinsberg greeted him like a gust of wind.
"Oh, Chloe, be careful." Hessmann quickly threw the bag in his hand to the servant and reached out to support his wife who was pregnant again.
He and Chloe have already had three children. The eldest Rudolf has entered the Grosslichfeld Military Academy - this is the obligation of every eldest son of a Junker military noble. The second child Maria and the third child Reinhardt have already gone to school and are probably doing homework now.
Now Chloe is pregnant for the fourth time at the age of 38. However, this German woman is very strong and does not think of herself as a "key protected person" at all.
"I'm fine," Chloe kissed her husband on the cheek, "I'm as strong as a mare, you said it yourself."
This is what Hessmann said when he was drunk one time - isn't Chloe a "big horse"? But Chloe didn't feel unhappy about it, and sometimes joked that she was "Ludwig's mare".
"My dear," Hessman looked at his wife's "strong" figure, and then kissed Chloe on her face, which already had some crow's feet, "You are 38 years old after all. It is not safe to have children at this age."
"I'm fine," Chloe proudly touched her belly, "I want to give birth to two more children for you... By the way, does Mr. Prime Minister support your proposal?"
Hessman's proposal is to restore the Hohenzollern dynasty! He was the first to propose this idea, and he also wrote Hindenburg's will. The Army Policy Council and the Military Intelligence Bureau under his control are also doing their best to promote the restoration.
Basically, Hessman has become the leader of the restoration faction in the army - if this thing is successful, Hessman will be the "first to support it". Titles and military ranks are not a problem, and even the prestige among the Junker noble officers can be raised to a higher level.
Restoration has been the dream of the Junker Officers Corps for more than a decade. If Hessmann succeeds, he will be a leader of the General Staff as influential as Hindenburg. Hessmann wants to restore not only the Hohenzollern dynasty, but also re-establish a command and mobilization system with the General Staff as the core.
However, Hersman's promotion of restoration was not purely to seize command of World War II, but also for the sake of himself and his descendants. If the emperor was not restored, he would be just a count. With the emperor, he would not only become a real Earl, and can go two steps further to become a marquis or a duke.
Moreover, there is no emperor at the top. Once Ludendorff dies, Juncker and the Nazi Party will have to show their cards... Who knows what the result of this showdown will be? Hitler was not a fuel-efficient lamp either.
"Not yet," Hersman said, "but he has not expressed any objection. We can move forward with this matter and slowly find ways to convince him."
"How to convince?" Chloe and Hersman walked to the restaurant together.
"Use a military exercise to prove that his talents and knowledge are not enough to serve as commander-in-chief." Hersman explained, "In this way, I can personally serve as the de facto commander-in-chief of the army! By the way, I am going to the Netherlands in two days. Will you come with me to meet His Majesty?"
"Meet His Majesty?" Chloe smiled in surprise, "Of course, let's go together."
…
"A military exercise? Ludwig, what do you want to do?"
The next day, at the General Staff Headquarters in Zossen, Hessmann and Chief of General Staff General Kurt Hammerstein and Director of Armored Forces General Guderian talked about holding a "joint military exercise of armored forces and infantry". idea.
"We will do it in the Baltic Republic in the second quarter of next year." Hersman whispered, "His Majesty and the Prime Minister will go to observe..."
"Your Majesty? Which Your Majesty?" General Hammerstein was stunned.
"Of course it is His Majesty the Emperor!" Hessmann looked at his immediate boss, "By the way, we will arrange for His Majesty to meet with Mr. Prime Minister and His Excellency President Goltz to discuss the establishment of restoration and the Third Reich!"
"Really?" The way General Hammerstein looked at Hessmann changed a bit - originally he looked down upon Hessmann, who had never commanded a field unit above a company, and thought he was not worthy of being a general at all. But watching Hessmann push forward the restoration step by step, it seemed that it was about to succeed. As a general of the Junkers, how could Hammerstein not be excited?
"Of course!" Hersman said, "President Goltz is a staunch royalist, and Mr. Prime Minister has always supported the restoration of the Hohenzollern dynasty. He is just worried about the reaction of Britain and France. If we can prove to him the military's If it is strong, the restoration will be successful."
This mechanized war exercise was not only for Hitler, but also for the old emperor William - so that the old man knew that the current war was completely different from what he knew!
"So how to prepare for the exercise?" Guderian interjected and asked. He was not of noble birth and had no special feelings for His Majesty the Emperor. What he is most concerned about now is to test a set of mechanized warfare methods that he imagined based on the theories of Fuller and de Gaulle.
"One army against two armies!" Hersman said, "Form an armored corps, consisting of an armored division and a motorized infantry division, and then attach a bombing aviation group as the blue side. The red side is composed of two infantry corps. Hold the preset position. The Baltic side provides a motorized infantry division and an infantry corps.
In addition, after the army exercise, a naval aviation long-range attack exercise will be held in the Gulf of Riga. A fleet of 100 twin-engine torpedo bombers and reconnaissance aircraft will take off from East Prussia to attack target ships in the Gulf of Riga. "
"Who will command the blue side?" Guderian asked.
"Heinz, of course you are here!"
"What about the red side?" Guderian asked again.
"Let Lieutenant General Alexander von Falkenhausen serve as the commander-in-chief," Hersman replied. "His term in China will end in February next year. He has stayed in China for almost five years and has not had much contact with him. The concept of armored and motorized combat is most suitable for imitating the brainless Poles!”
Lieutenant General Falkenhausen has been the head of the military advisory group in China for five years. As in history, Falkenhausen's advisory group was sent by Schleicher to help the Wuhan government train the army. However, in this time and space, they have trained many more troops than in history, and have trained a total of 60 outdated infantry divisions - the kind that only know how to dig trenches and squat in pits, and do not have many cannons, machine guns and rifles. It can be regarded as a barely adequate infantry division, and it is not German-made. It is an upgraded version of the Soviet Union made in Hanyang (most of the military industry of the Wuhan government is aided by the Soviet Union, and the reason why German instructors are used to train the troops is entirely because of Stalin) unwilling to irritate Japan and Britain on this issue).