Chapter 26 Iron Man Hermann and Genius Fokker
On a Saturday in late May 1918, a small party was held in the apartment where Hersman and Chloe lived together. It was to celebrate the promotion of Karl Haushofer to Major General and his honorable retirement from the German Army. Except for officers like Hersmann who had accomplished several great things, most of the officers of the Second German Empire did not have a big man as their father. It is very difficult to become a general.
For example, Hessman's father is still a lieutenant colonel at a very old age. After the war on the Eastern Front was basically over, he followed the army to the Western Front battlefield and continued to command his infantry battalion to squat in the trenches. In late April, someone even wrote a letter back to Hessman, saying that he was temporarily blinded by poison gas on the battlefield and was now recovering from his injuries. Hersmann's Jewish stepmother, Odeya, thought her husband had become a blind old man, and she burst into tears on the spot.
Hersman tried his best to tell her that it was just temporary blindness caused by burning the cornea and iris from low-concentration mustard gas (wearing a gas mask for several hours would also cause a certain degree of poisoning), and she needed to rest for a while. Vision can be restored. However, Odeya was still worried and left Margaret in the care of Hessman, and went to Belgium to visit the old Hessman alone. Margaret went on several dates with Hessmann's secretary, Rosenberg, but there was no spark of love.
At this moment, Margaret and Chloe were preparing meals for the banquet in the spacious, steaming kitchen. There is delicious broth, fragrant pickled pork knuckles, cod from the Gulf of Riga, and fresh vegetables - for most Germans today, such a meal can only be tasted in dreams. But for Hessmann, who had a rough road, it was not difficult at all.
The meal was prepared, and the invited guests—mostly officers and their partners—arrived one after another, chatting and enjoying beer, wine, and coffee in Chloe's spacious living room. But the party had not yet begun, because Hersmann and Haushofer were still nowhere to be seen.
Chloe and Margaret had to go out to greet the guests with Mrs. Haushofer, Martha, who had already arrived.
"Why haven't you come yet?" Margaret was a little anxious and whispered, "If you don't come, the dishes will be cold."
"The lieutenant colonel called just now and said that he met two friends at Koenig Square and they will come back together later. Is there enough food for two more people?" Martha said to Margaret. Although her husband became a major general and could stay away from the battlefield, Mrs. Haushofer still looked a little sad.
"The food is enough, we have prepared a lot, unless the visitor has a particularly big appetite." Margaret said half-jokingly, "I don't think Ludwig will bring back two fat guys, right?"
After a while, the apartment door opened. Ludwig von Hersmann and Karl Haushofer came back, bringing with them two young men of the same age as Hersmann. One of them had a rectangular face with straight features. Very impressive. He wore a field gray military uniform, with the rank of lieutenant on his shoulders and a row of medals on his chest. Chloe and Margaret looked at this man and felt familiar, as if they had seen him somewhere.
Another guest who arrived with Hessmann was older than the lieutenant. His eyes, nose, and mouth were all large, but his face was a bit small, and it seemed that he couldn't fit those large features. The way he smiles is a bit cunning, and he looks slippery. He was not a soldier. He was wearing a very well-made suit and carrying a briefcase in his hand, as if he were a manager of a large company.
Hermann seemed to be in a good mood. He first pointed at the lieutenant and said in a cheerful tone: "He is Iron Man Hermann! We were friends with me when we were in Grosslichfeld. This time he came back to Berlin." Whoever holds the Blue Max will be awarded a medal by His Majesty the Emperor himself!”
Hearing the name "Iron Herman", many women present, including Hersman's sister Margaret, screamed, as if they had met some idol star.
Iron Man Hermann is Hermann Goering! The future Nazi Luftwaffe commander Fatty Ge, but now he is not fat, and he is still a star well-known throughout Germany...militarism. Of course stars fight, not sing. Ace pilots of Fatty Ge's level are all German celebrities, and their photos can be sold for money.
Like Hersmann, Goering also graduated from the Grosslichfeld Military Academy. He was one year younger than Hersmann and was not in the same class, but he was also taught by Karl Haushofer. And they were the only ones who knew each other in the military academy.
Göring, who was back in Berlin waiting for the award, heard that Haushofer was to be promoted to major general, so he went to the General Staff Headquarters to watch Haushofer's promotion ceremony. At the ceremony, I met Hersman, who had already obtained the rank of lieutenant colonel and a blue Max. It is much more difficult for Army officers to obtain Blue Max than for pilots. Göring was greatly surprised and went up to talk to Hessmann. Of course Hersmann would not give up the opportunity to make friends with Göring, so he took him home for dinner.
"This gentleman is also our German hero, although he is not German yet." After several ladies at the scene stopped screaming, Hessmann pointed to the young man in a suit. "He is the creator of Fokker's disaster, Mr. Anthony Fokker!"
Anthony Fokker, the founder of Fokker Aircraft Company and the most outstanding aircraft designer during World War I, developed the "synchronized machine gun" that allows bullets to shoot through the propeller without hitting the blades. Relying on this invention, the Fokker fighter became a star in air combat, causing heavy losses to aircraft in Britain, France and other countries, and caused the terrifying "Fokker disaster".
It was not accidental that Anthony Fokker appeared in Hessman's house. This was related to the new job that Major General Karl Haushofer would do after his retirement. Karl Haushofer retired from active service now, in fact, to implement the "Dark Sword Plan" in the "Gray Plan" to preserve the vitality of the German military industry.
After retiring from active service, Karl Haushofer will serve as the chairman of a "non-military organization" called the "Industrial Promotion Committee". The main responsibility of this "non-military organization" is to help the German military industry through the difficult period after the war.
After synthesizing various intelligence, the General Staff predicted that the aviation industry would be in the most difficult situation after Germany's defeat. Because the Air Force is an emerging military branch, the technology is advancing very fast. This also means that the backwardness and elimination of aviation weapons are also very fast. If Germany's aviation industry is shut down for ten years, Germany may lag behind in the air forever - this is of course the consensus of the German military and the Allied military leadership at the moment, but the development of history has deviated greatly.
For a long time after the war, the aviation industry has seen a strange phenomenon that civilian technology leads military technology. The most advanced technology is often used in civilian aircraft, and then in military aircraft. This gives Germany the opportunity to develop civilian aircraft manufacturing to maintain the level of its aviation industry.
However, Hirschmann would not tell others in advance what would happen in the 1920s and 1930s, and no one would believe it even if he did.
Moreover, preserving the vitality of Germany's best aircraft and aircraft engine manufacturers such as Fokker Aircraft Factory, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and Albatross Aircraft Factory, and funding them to build new aircraft factories in Riga to produce advanced civilian and military aircraft, is also very beneficial to Germany's future.
Therefore, Anthony Fokker, the most outstanding aircraft designer, was invited from the aircraft factory in Schwerin to Berlin to discuss with Karl Haushofer the possibility of moving the Fokker aircraft factory to Riga after the war. While he was preparing for Berlin, Haushofer happened to be promoted to major general, so he was invited to attend the celebration banquet.
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