2. Setting Up for Success
The World and Germany
1936
1935 had passed without the world challenging the Reich in any of her actions. It was time for the Reich to prepare herself to reach the foreign policy goals that her leaders had set out when they first came to power.
I. Diplomacy
Hjalmar Schacht, a prominent banker and industrialist. His work with von Neurath
and German Industry helped the Reich rise in power.
With the start of 1936, Hitler directed von Neurath and Schacht to work together to ensure proper allocation of force with regards to gaining the appropriate resources needed to power Germany’s economy. Schacht had already negotiated several trade agreements throughout South America and southeastern Europe, thus was particularly well suited to assist the foreign ministry in their negotiations. Their first customer was the Soviet Union. Recognizing that it was the largest producer of any material that mattered in Europe, they negotiated a trade agreement—signed on 3 January—in which the Reich would be supplied with 690 tons of rare materials per month in exchange for nearly ℛℳ437,000; though sounding impressive, it was only $104,000 in then-US Dollars. The Soviets, recognizing that this would bring in much needed foreign exchange, and on the approval of Stalin a week later, expanded the agreement to cover another 600 tons of rare materials, bringing in another ℛℳ370,000 (US$88,000) per month, bringing the totals to 1290 tons for nearly ℛℳ807,000 (US$192,000) each month. The agreement was further amended by the end of the month to include nearly 1290 tons of iron ore for Germany in exchange for ℛℳ387,000 (US$92,100) a month.
These were not the only successes. Italy and Germany put together several agreements over 1936 giving Italy access to nearly 1714 tons of coal for ℛℳ180,300 (US$43,000). Germany procured an additional 150 tons of iron ores a month from Sweden for ℛℳ48,000 (US$11,400). Even France, the sworn enemy of the Reich, reached an agreement of 780 tons of iron for ℛℳ252,000 (US$60,000). The real victory was getting the United States to procure much of their supply needs from Germany; by selling nearly 1200 tons of material a month, Germany brought in ℛℳ945,000 (US$225,000). This covered all of the outlays for the material procured from the Soviet Union and Sweden with a little left over to build reserves. Though these negotiations bore fruit, not all did. Poland refused to even listen to the German offer for their iron. A Switzerland newspaper implicated the Reich in support of an opposition party; though there was no official investigation, the government refused to meet with the negotiators.
Heer troops march over the Rhine, 1936. Germans leadership was cautious, but
optimistic about the lack of French response to their actions.
The foreign realm was not picture-perfect, however. On 4 January 1936, Hitler rode in a staff car at the head of a column of troops from Infantrie-Regiment 5, first brigade of 2d Infantrie-Division. At 0800, this column crossed the Schlageter bridge in Ludwigshafen am Rhein, thus violating the Treaties of Versailles and Locarno. Konstantin von Neurath had already been working since the announcement of rearmament on legal and other briefs to cover the eventuality, even though he had no orders to do so. Italy—having been supported (though secretly) after their invasion of Ethiopia—had already informed the Reich that they would abrogate Locarno; indeed, Mussolini told the German ambassador that should Germany find it necessary, they should work to bring the Austrians into their orbit. From the Abwehr, Germany had received intelligence to the effect that France was going to be in the grips of a economic crisis; the franc was having difficulty maintaining it’s worth relative to the Dollar and Pound—indeed, the Treasury had already told the French cabinet that they were bankrupt. This knowledge, combined with the belief perpetuated by General Gamelin that it would likely cost France nearly 30 million francs per day to mobilize their forces, deterred them from actually doing anything about the German incursion. They turned to the British, desperately seeking a ground force commitment on the scale of the Great War. The British House of Commons was rather pro-German; Lord Lothian claimed “it was no different than the Germans walking into their own backyard.” An Irish author, George Bernard Shaw said that it was no different than if Britain occupied Portsmouth. The Foreign Office was rather peeved that Germany had unilaterally taken an action that they had intended on negotiating; the cabinet said that though they opposed the action on principle, they had no capability—and certainly no public support—to oppose the German actions, or even to enforce their Treaty obligations. In Germany, Hitler made a speech announcing that the conscription period would be extended from two to three years after discussing the issue with his generals. Hitler reiterated this new policy again the next day when he was present at the commissioning of the
Admiral Graf Spee, Germany’s newest heavy cruiser.
Commissioning ceremony aboard the Admiral Graf Spee
, 1936.
Ethiopia capitulated to Italy on 16 February 1936. Though originally wanting to incorporate the country into the Italian Empire, the government quietly formed a puppet government. A month later, in a request received from the Italian government, the Abwehr withdrew it’s lone agent who had been assisting the Italians in gaining key political intelligence about the regime.
Italian troops march past a billboard of Mussolini in Ethiopia, 1936.
On 10 June 1936, King George V passed away; his four sons, Edward, Albert, Henry and George all mounted the guard. Edward would assume the throne as Edward VIII. Within months, however, Edward VIII agreed to give up the throne in order to marry Wallis Simpson. His younger brother Albert assumed the throne, using the regnal name George VI. The Reich Foreign Ministry was very disappointed, as it seemed to their ambassador that Edward VIII was a supporter of the Reich as a bulwark against the Red menace from the Soviet Union.
King George V, succeeded by his son, Edward VIII. Edward was seen in the Foreign
Ministry as supportive of the Reich.
Edward gave up his throne to marry American socialite and divorcee Wallis Simpson. This loss was regretted in the foreign ministry.
If there was one thing that 1936 would be known for, it was the sheer number of assassination attempts on various ministers in several European governments. They began in Holland (3 March), continued in Romania (2 April), Switzerland (8 April), UK (8 June), Czechoslovakia (9 June), Finland and Norway (13 June), and ending in Australia (2 July).
II. Intelligence
1936 was a good year for the Abwehr and it’s clandestine service, the Geheimdienst. Their primary mission—the elimination of enemy foreign agents inside Germany—was executed to perfection. In the month of January alone, 26 spies were captured. By the end of the year, nearly 101 agents had been found and neutralized. Things were not all good in the offices, however. After the loss of two German agents in the UK and Poland, combined with the loss of three more agents a few days later in Austria, France and Liberia, Hitler asked for Canaris’ resignation, assigning Wilhelm Frick in his place.
Wilhelm Frick was reassigned to the Abwehr when Canaris failed to live up to
Hitler's expectations.
Though many operations were run by the Abwehr, they needed to run operations that could give their agents more experience with little risk to themselves. The first of these was planting enough evidence on a Belgian minister to cause a minor bribery scandal in the Belgian media and forcing the PM to expend political capital to limit the damage to the government. It was not the only scandal that the Abwehr was the source of. They managed to cause more scandals in Poland (9 June), Spain (6 July), Netherlands (2 August), and France (4 September).
There was some backlash against the government in the form of a student group called “White Rose”. The group was implicated in the production of several fliers that were distributed around Ludwig Maximillian University of Munich. Though the Abwehr increased it’s efforts to track the offenders down, no arrests were made.
III. Industry
The Reich’s industry was not dormant in 1936. Much of their attention was directed to the completion of the autobahn system in the north and southeastern portions of Germany, as well as in Prussia. On 19 June, the Western Wall had been completed. Though really just a collection of counter-mobility sections to prevent rapid movement into Germany by a French offensive, it was symbolic in that it proved that Germany would not simply roll over again to the Allies. Further, though lower-key, were expansions to airbases in Bitburg, Tuttlingen, Dortmund, Neisse and Falkenburg.
The West Wall under construction, early 1936. Designed to simply slow down any
possible French advance into Germany, there were no plans to expand it to Maginot
proportions.
The Kriegsmarine was the first service to receive new units in 1936. During the course of 1936, they took possession of six flotillas of transports, which were immediately put into service bringing several Heer divisions from Kolberg to Konigsberg. The deliveries were not all auxillaries—a destroyer group and three U-boat groups were also commissioned. For the Heer, 37 brigade sets of artillery were ordered, with the first entering service later that year in mid-December.
The Berlin
, one of the newest transport auxiliaries for the Kriegsmarine. These ships would pay for themselves many times over during the war.
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Author's Note: sorry that the AAR is taking so long to develop. I wanted to get a realistic historical perspective, and so have played to 1938 already... not to mention several intercessions of real life (unfortunately). Thank you for all of your support!