Chapter 273 Justice 8
"You don't plan to go through Belgium and Luxembourg?"
On September 25, Hessman, Chloe, and Rudolf Hess moved into Villa Torlonia in Rome, the residence of the Mussolini family in Rome. The Hessmans and Hesss were guests of honor.
During dinner that day, the Italian leader also asked about Germany's "going through Belgium and Luxembourg". The Italian leader, like the British and French military strategists, believed that if Germany wanted to attack France from the ground, it could only go through Belgium and Luxembourg, just like in the last world war.
"Why go through Belgium and Luxembourg?" Hessmann put down his knife and fork, shrugged and said, "What does General Douhet's theory of air supremacy say? 'Mastering air supremacy means victory. Without air supremacy, you are doomed to failure and accept any conditions that the victor is willing to impose.' And we in Germany have a more powerful air force than France and Britain! We now have 4,000 of the most modern fighters and bombers. In the Battle of Poland, they basically wiped out the Polish Air Force with more than 1,000 aircraft in just a few hours, and their own losses were minimal. On September 3, our planes also bombed Scapa Flow and hit Destroyed 3 British aircraft carriers, sank 2 British battleships, and severely damaged several other battleships!
And we also have a lot of heavy bombers, which can be used to destroy Paris, Lyon and Marseille. I have 1,000 heavy bombers and 1,300 twin-engine medium bombers. The former can carry 8 tons of bombs, and the latter can carry 2 to 3 tons of bombs! As long as I give the order, 10,000 tons of bombs will fall on Paris tonight! "
Of course, Hessman was bluffing. He didn't have 1,000 heavy bombers at all, not even 100, and the number of medium bombers was less than 1,000. And Hessman didn't plan to use planes to raze Paris to the ground.
However, after becoming the Chief of the General Staff, Hessman's first order was to the Strategic Deception Bureau. He asked the Strategic Deception Bureau to release enough and real false intelligence to make the French believe that thousands of tons of bombs would soon fall on Paris-and so many bombs would fall from the sky every day!
"In addition, our navy is also strong enough!" Hessman said proudly, "The British had only four fast aircraft carriers before the war, and lost three in Scapa Flow. Now there is only one 'Royal Ark' that can accompany the fleet. And we now have two 'Sedlitz' class!
In this way, we can send out two commerce-breaking fleets with fast battleships and fast aircraft carriers. They will cooperate with submarines to destroy Britain's sea transportation lines. Britain and France simply cannot withstand such a blow, so they will ask for peace in six months at most and meet Germany's requirements."
It is unrealistic to drop 10,000 tons of bombs on Paris every day, but it is possible to use the commerce-breaking fleet to cooperate with submarines to severely damage the British transport fleet.
The reconnaissance aircraft of the commerce-breaking fleet can act as the eyes of the submarine, guiding the underwater wolf pack to attack the British fleet. At the same time, the "Scharnhorst" class battleship itself is also a commerce-breaking weapon. For a fleet without battleship escort, if it encounters "Scharn" and "Wolf Pack" at the same time, it can only be annihilated. A fleet with battleship escorts is not necessarily safe, because battleships are the prey of submarines. At that time, is it more important for destroyers to protect battleships or merchant ships?
For such a difficult problem, Mussolini's naval generals had already conducted war games and concluded that "it is difficult for Britain to deal with it."
"It seems that you don't have to go through Belgium and Luxembourg..." Mussolini seemed a little disappointed when he said this. He paused and asked in fluent German, "I don't think you will unconditionally recognize the neutrality of these two countries, right?"
"Of course!" Rudolf Hess said, "First of all, Luxembourg, the Luxembourg government must apologize for the injustice suffered by Her Majesty Grand Duchess Marie Adelaide, and build a cathedral named after the Grand Duchess to commemorate her!"
Grand Duchess Marie Adelaide was the monarch of Luxembourg during World War I. Because of her pro-German stance during World War I (she was originally German), she was forced to abdicate after the war and went to Italy to live in a monastery. She died in Germany at the age of 29.
"Luxembourg politicians who are responsible for the abdication of the Grand Duchess, even if they are responsible in the slightest, must immediately withdraw from politics and never be allowed to work in politics again!" Rudolf Hess added, "Any Luxembourg newspaper that has published articles attacking the Grand Duchess must also be closed!"
Mussolini nodded. This condition...is not harsh, at least it did not propose to merge with Luxembourg.
"In addition, there is another condition," Rudolf Hess said, "Luxembourg must guarantee to join the European Union, the European Common Market and the European Mark after the war."
"What?" The Italian leader was stunned, "European Union, European Common Market and European Mark? Do you really want to do this?"
Mussolini certainly knew what the European Union, the European Mark and the European Common Market were. But he did not expect Germany to be so determined to promote them, and would not hesitate to use war to achieve its goals.
"Yes!" Hersman said, "We are fighting for a united Europe! We will not only ask Luxembourg to join, but also have the same clause in the final peace treaty with Poland. If Belgium wants to be neutral, it must also join, and it must also return the compensation state.
Otherwise, Belgium will have to return all the wealth looted from Germany! Including the machines, reparations, and in-kind compensation that they dismantled and destroyed... All must be converted into gold and returned to Germany!"
Germany, Poland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and there should be pro-German Slovakia and Hungary... Mussolini calculated in his mind that the European Union, the European Common Market and the European Mark Zone include at least 6 countries. The Netherlands and Denmark will have to join sooner or later, and Sweden, Norway and Finland will mostly not be able to escape.
"Then if France wants peace..." Mussolini asked tentatively.
"France will return half of the land of Alsace and Lorraine, and will also join the European Union, the European Common Market and the European Mark Zone." Rudolf Hess said, "In addition, the gold and foreign exchange reserves in the Bank of France must be deposited in the European Bank. This is also our request to Belgium, Luxembourg and Poland. Our own gold and foreign exchange will also be deposited in the European Bank headquartered in Geneva."
"European Bank?"
"It is the European Development Bank," Rudolf Hess said, "We plan to reorganize it into the European Bank, and all shares of non-European Mark countries will be withdrawn. The new European Bank will be responsible for the creation of the European Mark, and it will be the only central bank in the European Mark Zone."
Are the Germans really fighting for a unified European market? Mussolini was very surprised.
He asked again: "What about Britain? Will you ask Britain to join?"
"No," Hessmann shook his head, "We will not ask Britain to join. They will be excluded from the European Union, the European Common Market and the European Mark. Our request to Britain is to return the reparations and colonies."
Mussolini finally understood Hessmann's "victory route", using bombing and blockade to force Britain and France to surrender, and at the same time forcing or luring European countries to join a European Common Market and European Mark dominated by Germany - just like the German Customs Union that once appeared in German history.
And this new "Europa Customs and Monetary Union" will also exclude Britain and the Soviet Union (Mussolini estimated), and Italy will certainly not join it. This will ensure Germany's dominant position in this customs and monetary union, just like Prussia's dominant position in the German Customs Union. Over time, Germany will be able to integrate the countries that join the "Europa Customs and Monetary Union" into a whole, which will be a continental country as large as the United States and the Soviet Union!
However, such a calculation is probably not accepted by the British Empire, and Italy will not accept it either!
……
Near Cherkasy, Ukraine. The red flag has been flying over the city of Cherkasy. The glorious Red Army of Workers and Peasants has driven out the evil White Bandits and brought liberation and happiness to the poor and lower-middle peasants in Ukraine around Cherkasy.
As the first secretary of the Ukrainian Bolshevik Party, Comrade Khrushchev began to visit the rural areas around Cherkasy, regardless of the threat of the still rampant White Bandit Army detachments.
It is now the autumn harvest season, and the wheat in the right bank of Ukraine is generally growing well - it looks better than the left bank of Ukraine.
Moreover, there seem to be many rich peasants in this area, and the houses in the countryside are built very beautifully and sturdily. Horses can be seen everywhere, and there are many cows and sheep. Khrushchev specially chose the time of dinner and walked into several farmhouses with smoke coming out of the kitchen. He found that these Ukrainian rich peasants also ate well, with a lot of meat and dairy products, and almost ate bread freely. This made Khrushchev think of "socialism" uncomfortably - compared with the collective farms on the left bank, the rural areas of the right bank Ukraine seemed more like socialism...
"How are the poor peasants? How are the poor peasants living here?" Khrushchev's car stopped in a Ukrainian village. He looked out the window and asked a leader of the Bolshevik Party organization of the Right Bank Ukraine who accompanied him on the visit.
"Comrade Secretary," the old Bolshevik who had persisted in the struggle in the Right Bank Ukraine for nearly 20 years was stunned for a moment, and then answered very seriously, "These few days I took you to visit poor peasant families. Most of the landlords and rich peasants in Cherkasy have fled, and those left are middle peasants and poor peasants who don't have much property."