Chapter 225 Major Breakthrough

On August 20, 1938, German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop and Soviet Foreign Affairs People's Commissar Molotov signed the "Socialist Axis Pact" in Moscow, marking the formal alliance between the Soviet Union and Germany - the alliance was mainly aimed at Poland, but it caused an uproar in Europe.

Not only did Britain, France, and Poland confront each other, they also provided security guarantees to each other and promised to join the war when the other two were attacked. Even Italy, which is still fighting with Spain and Germany, has issued a declaration against the Soviet-German alliance. It is very likely to join the "Anglo-French-Polish Alliance" to oppose Germany.

Facing the threat of the Soviet Union and Germany, the Polish army has frequently held inspections and exercises, showing dazzling and sophisticated weapons to the world.

Among them are Poland's own 7TP tanks, Wz29 armored vehicles, TKS ultra-light tanks, as well as R-35 tanks purchased from France, M39 armored vehicles purchased from the Netherlands, and Vickers tanks purchased from Britain. Hundreds of them formed a square formation and passed in front of the Polish leaders and guests from various countries!

A surprising scene also appeared in the sky. There were not only old PWS-10 fighters, P.7 fighters, and P.11 fighters, but also PZL.23B light bombers, PZL.37 bombers, and PZL.43 light bombers that looked quite new. The strength of the Polish Air Force seemed to be no worse than that of the Germans and the Soviets.

While showing the strength of its army and air force, Marshal Rydz-Smigwi, the Polish military chief inspector, did not forget the Polish Navy. In December 1938, the construction of the battlecruiser "Vistula" was started in a high-profile manner - this was part of the ambitious Polish naval expansion plan!

Before Piłsudski's lifetime, Poland, feeling that its national strength was sufficient, began to formulate its own "big navy" plan, preparing to invest in the construction of four battlecruisers, two light aircraft carriers, several reconnaissance cruisers and more than 20 destroyers. Thereby, the Polish Navy was upgraded to a level that could compete with the German Navy. The Vistula class, with a standard displacement of 16,985 tons and a full load displacement of 18,081 tons and a main gun of caliber, came into being.

The Polish high-profile expansion of the navy and the construction of the Vistula class battlecruiser in the Free City of Danze, whose sovereignty does not belong to Poland, actually announced that Germany's efforts to peacefully recover Danze were about to fail. Since Poland wanted to become a maritime power, it would naturally not return Danze, a treasure land with a developed shipbuilding industry and excellent deep-water ports, to Germany.

However, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler did not seem to give up on "peaceful recovery". Since October 1938, he frequently visited Italy and Britain to seek a peaceful solution to the "Danze Crisis". He even proposed to convene a "Geneva Peace Conference" to decide the ownership of the Free City of Danze by referendum hosted by the League of Nations.

Of course, Germany's war preparations did not slow down, but were accelerating.

Not only were domestic arsenals working overtime to produce aircraft and cannons, but they also spent precious gold and foreign exchange to purchase war materials such as oil, non-ferrous metals, and food from the international market.

"Mr. Prime Minister, this is the latest report from the Royal Navy," British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain picked up a document from his desk and handed it to the visiting French Prime Minister Daladier. "Another ship of tungsten ore and a ship of manganese ore have been shipped from China. At the same time, two tankers have set off from the Dutch East Indies and are heading to Europe. In addition, Argentina and Brazil have purchased a large amount of food, and also purchased a large amount of uranium ore from the Belgian Congo..."

"Uranium ore?" The short and fat Daladier was stunned for a moment, "What kind of weapons are these used to make?"

"I don't know," Chamberlain shook his head, "It may be used to produce alloys. The Germans have been importing uranium ore from the Belgian Congo since the 1920s. But our technicians have never figured out what they want to do with uranium... But we can roughly guess that it should be needed to produce some special alloys."

Dalady took the document and looked at it for a while, "Uranium is not a big deal, but Germany's crazy stockpiling of oil, tungsten ore and manganese ore is worrying. In addition, we have also received intelligence that the Germans are recruiting scientists from all over Europe with high salaries. The recruits are all experts in chemistry, physics and electronic technology. It is probably related to the development of secret weapons!"

"Physics?" Chamberlain was a little confused.

Chemical experts can help make chemical weapons, synthesize fuels or rubber, and can also play a role in the fields of metallurgy and alloys, and can also play a role in the pharmaceutical field. Electronic experts are also very useful, as they are needed in radar and various communication equipment. However, physicists don't seem to be very useful. And Germany's scientific community has many outstanding physicists.

Neville Chamberlain shook his head and brought his thoughts back to the politics and diplomacy he was familiar with.

"The Germans' crazy purchases show that they are not ready for war," Chamberlain said, "Hitler's recent frequent visits seem to indicate this. He should be a guest in Rome at this moment, trying to win over the Italian leader."

"Mussolini will not support Germany," Daladier was very confident. "We have already made concessions to Italy on the Spanish issue. Moreover, Italy's war preparations are very bad. The Abyssinian War and Spain The war has emptied Italy's wealth. According to the information we have, Italy's steel reserves are only enough for 2 weeks, coal reserves are enough for 2 months, iron ore is slightly better, enough for 3 months, and oil reserves are enough. Just over one million tons, and Italy consumes four million tons of oil a year in peacetime, so the Italian leader must either keep his country neutral or stand on our side."

"We must block Germany's imports," Chamberlain thought for a while. "We cannot allow them to hoard strategic materials any longer. We must persuade our allies around the world to close their doors to Germany. If necessary, we can use money and Germans. Snap up!”

In terms of using funds to buy supplies, the UK has a clear advantage over Germany. Because the pound is still half the world's currency, Germany needs to use its gold reserves to purchase supplies, while the UK only needs to print some banknotes to buy them.

…

"Your Excellency General, your phone number!"

Lieutenant Colonel Hans Speidel walked into the No. 1 War Room of the General Staff, where a flag exercise to verify the "White Plan" was underway - the "White Plan" was the real combat plan to solve Poland.

As in history, this plan prepared to use a large number of armored forces and would use "blitzkrieg" to crush Polish resistance in the shortest possible time.

The huge map table is placed in the center of the No. 1 War Room, with a huge map of the situation in Eastern Europe spread out on it. On the map is not only the entire territory of eastern Germany and the Polish Federation, but also the Soviet Union's East Belarus and Left Bank Ukraine, as well as the German-controlled Slovak Republic.

The map was densely covered with various wooden signs with unit numbers written on them. Several elderly generals and generals stood on the far left side of the map table, exchanging opinions in low voices. They are all senior generals who will serve as army commanders in the attack on Poland. There are Infantry General von Bock who is ready to serve as commander of Army Group North, Infantry General Lundsted who is ready to serve as commander of Army Group South, General Blomberg who is ready to serve as commander of Army Group Baltic, ready to Kuchler, Kruger, List, Reichenau, Blaskowitz, von Fritsch and Falkenhausen served as army commanders in the Polish campaign.

They will command their own army groups to attack the Polish army on the map in the war game. General Hersmann, who will serve as the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Front in the Polish campaign, will play the role of the commander of the Polish army together with his headquarters staff. Chief of General Staff General von Hammerstein and another group of senior staff from the headquarters acted as Soviets.

When the three groups, who were probably the most brilliant land warfare experts in the world, were having fun, Lieutenant Colonel Hans Speidel just barged in, walked up to Hessman, and whispered: "Ms. Doctor On the phone, she said: 'Transuranic Project Group 1' has just made a major breakthrough!"

"Mrs. Doctor" Schlagmüller is now an aunt and no longer serves as the principal of the Stasi Junior College after the Stasi reorganization. Instead, he serves as the director of the Scientific Investigation Division under the Imperial Central Security Bureau. The focus of this office is to secretly monitor important scientists and scientific research projects in Germany and even Europe.

The "Transuranic Element Project" is the focus of close attention and sponsorship by the Scientific Investigation Office!

Group 1 of this project is composed of Otto Hahn, director of the Institute of Chemistry at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, and two of Hahn's collaborators, the physicists Fritz Strahmann and Lise Meitner.

Among them, Liz Meitner has Jewish ancestry, but because she worked as a nurse in the X-radiology department in a frontline hospital of the Austrian army during World War I, she also received honorary Aryan status.

In addition to Group 1, there is also Group 2, led by Italian scientist Fermi. It is a scientific research project jointly conducted by the University of Munich in Germany and the University of Rome in Italy. The project funds are of course secretly provided by the Imperial Central Security Bureau. , and there are also several young scientists who have joined the Security Bureau and become "cooperative informants" acting as Fermi's assistants.

"Okay!" Hessman nodded and said to everyone in the war room with a tone of excitement that could not be concealed. "This is a major breakthrough in a secret weapons project! Our empire will be invincible because of this." He turned his head He said to General Hamerstein, Chief of the General Staff, "Your Excellency, now I have to meet with the scientists in charge of the project. Can we stop here for today's war game?"