Das Morgengrauen des Dritten Reichs

Author's note: I know this is a huge block of text... I'm working on finding pictures and images to break it up some... maybe even some screenies. Maybe.


Upon hearing the terms of the Versailles treaty, the French Field Marshall Foch was heard to say, "This is not a peace. It is an armistice for twenty years." The rise of the German NDSAP party and the reasons for their popularity are well-known and documented--and therefore outside of the scope of this narrative. That said, several events of the interbellum period do bear scrutiny. With Hitler's rise to power in 1933, he quietly initiated a serious and exhaustive national defense review of the entire Weimar Reichswehr, the status of the industrial and commercial interests and capabilities, as well as a review of other national security apparatii: the Foreign and Intelligence ministries. What was found was profoundly disturbing. When informed of the results in late 1934, Hitler realized he had a tremendous task before him.

The first area of concern was the foreign realm. The Treaty of Locarno weighed down any hope of legitimate defense against marauding Allied armies in the event of war with France. von Neurath saw the weakness of the League of Nations, and so received permission to withdraw (causing nothing but mere verbal protests from the other Western powers) in 1933. France, receiving no assurances from the British, decided to seek out their own means of guaranteeing their borders. When told of this, the Nazi head of Intelligence, Wilhelm Frick and several others formed a plot to defeat the plan--the objectives were met and Louis Barthou and King Alexander were successfully assassinated on 13 October, 1934.




The announcement of the reorganization and rearmament in March 1935 was met with little protest or resistance. In Great Britain, the government believed that they would allow Germany to recoup some of the losses imposed by the unjust strict interpretation of the Versailles Treaty; they refused to assist France who was mulling the military option of invasion. The announcement of the Franco-Soviet Pact caused even more outrage amongst the German populace--and gave Hitler and his head of the General Staff in the Truppenamt headed by Fritz Bayerlein the push they needed to reform the Wehrmacht from the humble beginnings to the grand force it became.

In the Truppenamt, the conclusions arrived at in the defense review urged the reformation of the entire Heer, to include the promotion and reassignment of several high-ranking officers. Generaloberst von Fritsch, though a capable commander and patron of the blossoming Panzer branch, was replaced as the Army Chief of Staff by Generalfeldmarschall von Blomberg. It was explained in the memoirs with a quote that was liberated from the American General Bradley, "Amateurs may study tactics and strategy, but professionals study logistics," at which von Blomberg was adept. Though other members of Hitler's inner circle were skeptical of the move, their fears proved unfounded by the success of the Heer.

Blomberg's first move was the creation of a new system of command. At his urging, the Weikreiss system was altered slightly--though recruiting, replacement and some training took place in the kazernes, they were merely "rear detachments" for the new "Forward Deployed" Wehrmacht. Overseeing the Weikreiss was Oberkommando-Heer, the highest army-only link in the chain of command. Four Combatant commands were formed as well: Oberkommando-Westen, Ost, Süden, and Norden. The bulk of the army was held by OK-Westen and OK-Ost for obvious reasons--those were the two commands most likely to be engaged in war. OK-Westen's area of responsibility was towards the border with BeNeLux, France, and Switzerland; OK-Ost was primarily concerned with Poland and the USSR. OK-Norden and OK-Süden were assigned minor amounts of units (one corps of four infantry divisions each), with additional forces available should they be necessary from OK-Heer. Under OK-Heer's direct command was the Heeresgruppe-Panzer, which was the administrative command over all Panzer and other motorized and mechanized forces in the Wehrmacht; furthermore, all specialist army formations (most especially the Fallschirmjäger and Gebirgsjäger corps) were also held by OK-Heer. These units were held at this level to ensure uniformity of training and ease of logistical concerns--as plans became operational, these forces were assigned out to the various combatant commands at the army-level.

Hitler was more or less happy with the overall situation in the Luftwaffe. Herman Göring was many things--and an adept administrator was not amongst them--but he did manage to accumulate people around him who did manage to get the job done. The job of the as-yet-infantile Luftwaffe was identified to be to provide close support for the ground and naval forces--essentially to serve in the role as the flying artillery. The Luftwaffe command nearly demanded extreme precision in their personnel--indiscriminate bombing was utterly rejected as the Truppenamt argued (quite correctly) that they would desire to cause as little damage as possible to any locations that they were fighting in as it would turn the local populace against them, in turn creating more pressure on an already extended army. The organization of the Luftwaffe changed as well: instead of mixing the types of aircraft and creating large groups of aircraft, a text-book Luftflotte consisted of two wings of a single type of aircraft. It was assumed that minimizing the number of aircraft over a target (though lowering the amount of munitions that could be delivered) would assist in ground control and minimize losses from enemy anti-aircraft artillery.

For his Kriegsmarine, Hitler had few choices. Erich Raeder was a capable commander, but the defense review studied the lessons from the previous war and took them to heart. They urged a large fleet of long-range U-boats, loosely managed and working only as closely together as the situation dictated. Aside from those surface vessels already ordered and a few new transport vessels (as a requirement of providing a way to build up the domestic shipyard capacity), no new surface combatants were ordered or authorized in the military budget.

On the diplomatic front, the lesson of the Great War--that the Americans were a decisive element--was taken to heart. von Neurath organized several diplomatic missions to the (relatively) young power across the sea, and hoped that they found receptive ears for their desires. Few of the other powers were entertained as lavishly as the Americans were, and with good cause: it was expected that eventually, much of Europe would likely either be fighting the Nazis or be conquered. Foreign Intelligence played a key role in this. A huge shake-up occurred in late 1935 when it was discovered that Canaris was wasting serious amounts of hard currency on getting spies into places as worthless as Oman, Yemen, Bhutan and Nepal. He was replaced by Frick who himself was relieved of his job at the Internal Security department when several of his deputies committed suicide. The issues that caused so much trouble in Internal Security were exactly the fit for the foreign intelligence sector, however. Goebbels had been coveting the position anyways, and proved exceptional to the task.


Author's note: It's now 00:00, 01 JAN 1936... what say you we unpause?

Author's Aside: thank you very much, Loki100. I'm a huge fan of your "The Great Patriotic War" and I hope that this will be even half as interesting as that one! Also, bear in mind that I do not actually speak German, so most of my German titles are courtesy of Google Translate...


The start of 1936 proved that the changes made in 1935 were the right ones. Between January and April, some fifty-to-sixty foreign agents and their accompanying espionage rings were rolled up and (depending on the relations with their home nations) either simply declared persona non grata and deported or quietly executed. The Abwehr rightfully celebrated their counter-espionage capabilities--the desire to prevent any foreign power from gaining access to the particulars of the build-up was ably communicated by Goebbels to his subordinates.


Not only were the domestic operations proving more than capable, the Abwehr under the leadership of Wilhelm Frick proved to also have the Golden Touch. In February 1936, the Clandestine Service assisted the Japanese attempt to assassinate Joseph Lyons, the Australian Prime Minister. Though the gambit proved futile (luckily enough the German agents managed to escape without incident), it did cause the confidence in the United Australia Party to fall, leading to the coalition government with the Country party.


Afterwards, Frick reached the decision that operations should focus on more pressing threats--France and Poland topped the list. The Germans hoped to drive a serious distrust between the two, who were signatories of the Franco-Polish alliance. On 21 February, Abwehr agents managed to plant sufficient evidence on a local party official in the Strasbourg region that the national media picked up on and reported rigged elections had occurred. Feeding an already large public distrust of the government, the reaction from the public was immediate. Only a month later, a local agent recruited by a non-official cover operative of the Abwehr attempted to assassinate the radical Albert Sarraut. Unfortunately, the local agent was captured, tortured and gave up his handler; the ineptitude of the French Sûreté at the time managed to cause the French to simply deport the Abwehr operative.


For Poland, the Abwehr decided to use their political capabilities once more. Poznan was the target this time, and though the expectation was that the charge of rigged elections would simply irritate the Polish voters, the result was far more than the Abwehr dreamed. Full-scale worker strikes, protests and even some riots accompanied the announcement of the parliamentary scandal gave rise to the month of what came to be called in Poland "Kłopotów," or the Troubles.


Indeed, the successes of the Abwehr and the internal security mechanisms were only matched by the talent of Konstantin von Neurath and his Foreign Ministry. Within the first three months of 1936, Germany had secured several impressive trade agreements with the Soviet Union, as well as secretly agreeing to continue the training of German aviators and tankers. Though privately, the German government recognized that within the next several years that the Soviet Bear would have to be conquered in some manner the ministers (for now) were more than happy to buy and sell the rope with with the Soviet Union would be hung. In the meantime, Hitler had announced in his New Year's Day address to the Deutsches Volk that there would be a continuation of the massive infrastructure and defensive work projects, called Volks-Projekte, similar to the Soviet "Hero Projects." The continued expansion of the autobahn, the Western Wall and the North Sea Walls was an attempt to further reduce the effects of the Great Depression. Secretly, the Germans also continued the process of building the most advanced and hardened air-defense network system in the world.

These projects were rapidly followed by the Reoccupation of the Rhineland. Hitler had expected that the French could possibly be willing to oppose the measures that had been publicly announced, especially the further development of the Siegfried Line. To counter any possible moves, he ordered Oberkommando-Westen to deploy all available forces along the French borders. Though not up to full authorized strength, the deployment of nearly 18 infantry divisions (even if they weren't mobilized) was enough to convince the French that any military opposition they could raise was likely to be ruinously expensive. Other than several speeches denouncing the move--though none from Great Britain--no reaction was made in the atrophied League of Nations. Though unannounced, and not publicly discussed, the conscription laws were amended further to three years.


On 07 February 1936, the Spanish Nationalists (with limited support of the Abwehr), initiated hostilities with the Republican government. Almost immediately, nations around the world pledged either support or non-intervention. With the Soviets declaring for the Republicans, and with an eye towards maintaining their trade relations, von Neurath quickly urged that Germany should publicly state that they would not specifically send weapons or supplies to the Spanish Nationalists. Privately, however, the Heer, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine all send special operations teams to assist in the training and leading of Nationalist forces. This would prove to be the best chance for the study of any tactics that would end up being used in future wars. The actual value of these effects were less than ideal, as it was a civil war and, as one observer put it, "Civil Wars are rarely civil or wars." The teams inserted into Spain, generally a joint team consisting of Kommando Spezialkräfte (KSK), Deutsches Fremdenlegion (DFL), and Abwehr Special Operations Groups. These teams, consisting of highly-motivated, tactically and technically proficient officers and senior enlisted men were rapidly welcomed in professionalizing the Nationalist army, much of which had been former army units anyways and so were well-suited to receiving German discipline. The effects were very obvious--by 05 April 1936, much of the country had fallen under the control of the Nationalist front.


As a further move, Hitler encouraged Hjalmar Schacht to push efforts to rebuild the German economy. To this end, the industries and businesses of several known communist and socialist party members were seized and nationalized in conjunction with the attempt to drive the (formerly) popular left-wing parties further from a place wherein they could affect the government. Though the action resulted in a slight increase in the general prices of consumer goods, the industrial impact validated the plan. Unfortunately, Schacht was generally opposed to these policies which led to various problematic political feuds in late April 1936. These feuds ended up with an entire class of officer candidates being 'recycled', but fortunately only temporarily inhibited the growth of the Heer's officer corps.


Author's Note: I can't recall if there are limits on the number of pictures per post, I'm assuming it's something like 10 or so, is that right?

I must say that I'm taking a (more than a) few literary liberties with regards to my Abwehr and it's capabilities... every so often when I see the "Attempted Assassination of Minister" event in a country where I have a reasonable force of agents, I claim it for myself... I'm hoping that it will speed up the early years and provide a bit of spice.

I'll be posting again tomorrow (sorry, "later this") morning! I'm going to try and do some picture combinations, should it become necessary.

I. Diplomacy

The second-half of 1936 was relatively quiet and serene. On 22 May, eyeing reports that France was operating on a deficit, Hitler—feeling very magnanimous—directed von Neurath to offer a token trade agreement. Contrary to most other negotiations, great emphasis was placed on the agreement in the foreign press. After all, it was Germany that was already out of their Depression, and France who had levied such strict reparations on the hapless Weimar Republic.


With the end of the Spanish Civil War in sight, the embassy to General Franco’s Nationalist Spain was invited to Berlin to renegotiate their trade agreements over energy with the Reich. Though reluctant, it was hoped that Franco would see the light and join with Germany in the future. When the war finally ended on 26 July, Germany—just to rankle Mussolini—was the first to publically recognize the Franco government. The Spanish would return on 2 October to again revise their trade agreement with the Germans for their energy needs.


Nearly the entire Foreign Ministry was taken by surprise when, on 28 June, King Edward VIII abdicated the throne of Great Britain to marry an American commoner, divorcee and socialite. Though not an ardent supporter, Edward was estimated by von Neurath to have been supportive of any future war of Germany’s against the Soviet threat. Nonetheless, the setback was not deemed problematic at the time.


After many months of problems with gaining the approval of the United States due to a crooked mid-level German bureaucrat (who, in the interest of mutual understanding, was immediately surrendered for prosecution in the United States for Bribery), a trade agreement was finally sealed with the United States. It was hoped that the combinations of the desire to see the economic relationships with the United States fully develop and the recognition that an ascendant Germany would prove to be the better economic partner than the ailing British Empire.

II. Intelligence

The Abwehr’s stellar performance in the first half of the year continued throughout the rest of 1936. More and more enemy agents were rounded up, and the operations in support of the foreign policy of Germany continued to be effectively carried out with only a few setbacks. On 6 July, the German consulate in Luxembourg was besieged for several days by a left-wing peace demonstration. Such was the furor in the crowd that when a NDSAP-leaning MP attempted to enter the consulate, he was shot. Fortunately, the MP escaped any harm (the security forces at the embassy joked that the socialist assassin decided to hold the gun backwards), but the would-be assassin and three others were killed in the ensuing confusion and stampede.

Though the demonstrations in Luxembourg were spontaneous, the Abwehr quietly sponsored a demonstration in Denmark on 15 June, on the date commemorating the return of Schleswig-Holstein to Denmark. The Abwehr hoped that the pressure that it was causing in the country would help bring them into the German fold with a minimum of frustration or problems.

Further Abwehr operations faced some problems, especially in Poland. With the continuation of the Kłopotów, Poland continued their investigation into German support of the opposition party. Though they professed innocence, the Poles were highly distrustful of the Germans. The investigation turned up nothing damning, and so the issue that had started on 21 October came to a quick end by mid-November.

III. Military

Early in May, the first contract to provide the Kriegsmarine with a sealift capability were launched and commissioned. Organized into two squadrons, the sealift command immediately set to work assisting in the redeployment (in accordance with the original exhaustive defense review) of the 31. Infantrie-Division, and the entirety of III. Armeeekorps. The rest of the contract for an identical number of ships was fully completed by 26 August 1936, early and under-budget. Miracles like these would prove to become the norm as the years went on and the industry of the Reich improved and grew.


In accordance with the Defense Review-1934 and after extensive testing and war-gaming with the 25th Fires Brigade, Krupp was awarded the contract to produce enough artillery for each of the current divisions in the Heer. Given the propensity for artillery to be beneficial in both the offense and defense, great care was taken in the pursuit of making the guns as accurate and as powerful as possible. Training in calling for fires was done repeatedly, by all levels of command from fire team leaders right up to battalion command. Experience from the Spanish Civil War and the now-biennial Defense Review-1936 showed that the organization and cooperation of all arms would likely prove vital in the maximization of damage to the enemy and the minimization of damage to the Wehrmacht. This level of Operational-level organization was formalized in a field manual published on 1 September. By 6 September, the first of the artillery pieces were being delivered to the divisional kazernes and the standard Fires Brigades stood up.

The annual Heer exercises were concluded on 18 September, and these repudiated several of the doctrinal shifts begun by the Wehrmacht. Great strides were made in the ability of officers to handle larger and larger formations in the tactical environment. Looking to save themselves the organizational nightmare of an army that had far too many divisions for its own good and looking to push the equipment and fighting power of the combined arms teams to the lowest levels, the need for engineers and self-propelled artillery was identified and plans drawn up to develop those forces. Furthermore, for the first time in a large-scale annual exercise, the Heer attempted to determine the nature of specialized forces for operations in terrain that the Heer-at-large was unable to handle. Special attention was paid to airborne and mountain troops. During the exercises, a company-sized element of KSK and DFL troops with experience from Spain conducted a mock airborne assault on the Blue Forces’ corps headquarters. Though a battalion-sized element, the headquarters was startled by the sudden appearance just prior to daybreak of Opposing Forces in their area and fled. The lesson learned in the after-action reports led the senior Heer leadership that airborne forces must be a part of any future Heer expansion.


The Luftwaffe learned more lessons when their own exercises were terminated at the end of September. Special attention was paid to the former Spanish liaisons who assisted in the development of strike packages with special attention to planning and executing proper logistical, port, and naval strikes. Experiences of Luftwaffe pilots who had never been aboard a ship led the senior leadership to believe that a dedicated anti-shipping wing consisting of pilots who had been aboard ships and knew their strengths and weaknesses—and how to exploit them—would be key in any confrontation with France or Great Britain. Furthermore, the end result of the exercises also exposed the need for better airframes with more capabilities for more range. The last recommendation of the after-action report further extrapolated a need for better bombs.

By the end of 1936, most of the identified improvements and recommendations had been implemented into the Heer and Luftwaffe. In early November the 1st Maneuver Enhancement Brigade had been placed under command of the 1. Panzer-Division; the 2nd and 3rd MEBs formed up with their respective Panzer-Divisions by the middle of December. Also in mid-December, the War Ministry was reorganized to streamline the bureaucracy and (it was hoped) to provide better support to the warfighters on the ground. The future of the Wehrmacht looked bright, indeed.


IV. Industry

Throughout the latter half of 1936, much was asked of the German Industry—and in return, much was given. With Hjalmar Schacht at the helm, nearly everything that was entered into the budget was finished on-time and some projects even managed to finish under-budget. The government did everything it could to refrain from interfering and therefore causing any delays to the projects as they developed. Even infrastructure progress was allowed to go on unimpeded. If the industry came back with recommended improvements to certain projects, they were immediately implemented with a few questions. Though this could be problematic—several companies (especially those owned or operated by communists or socialists) were accused of profiteering—by and large the German industry felt the patriotic duty of getting what they were tasked to do, done. Advances in agriculture had been adopted in mid-October, with Germany producing more food for internal consumption than it had since before the First World War. This was matched on 7 December 1936, German industry was announced to be operating more than 15% more efficiently and it’s productivity had been raised nearly 20%.

The first Volks-Projektes to be fully completed was defensive works of the Western Wall on 15 September. With the completion of this project, more workers were free to assist those working on the infrastructure improvements in the North- and South-eastern portions of the Reich, especially those in East Prussia. On 20 September, a dedication ceremony was held in Kolberg for the Richthofen Air Force Base. At the ceremony, the public announcement of the massive Luftwaffe contracts that had been signed back in late August was made. The winners were Messerschmitt for their interceptors, Junkers for their dedicated close-air support aircraft, medium bombers and transport aircraft and Heinkel for their medium bombers.


Author's Note: I should probably put the disclaimer in here now: All images are property of their respective owners. Also, yes, I'm aware that I just implied that the Kriegsmarine had access to a transport that was commissioned in 2002, but it's really rather hard to find pictures of Kriegsmarine transports...

I. Diplomacy and Intelligence

The year 1937 began inauspiciously on 2 January with the announcement by the Soviet Union of the charges against several high-ranking military officers of conspiring with the former Politburo member Trotsky. The Soviets, when asked about the origin of the charges, said that they were from German-supplied documentation. Foreign Minister von Neurath immediately and vehemently denied any involvement; indeed, he called upon the Soviet Union to recant the position. Privately, much of the Truppenamt were more than delighted to hear that the Soviets were wasting time and money on prosecuting and ringing out their military leadership, though they did caution that, “flowers, in a bed that has been weeded, often grow stronger.”

The Abwehr continued its’ operations through the first half of 1937 in a much more quiet and deliberate manner. Operations from the previous year had proven that the capabilities existed for the black-side operations, but now the Abwehr focused more and more on the softer, more nuanced forms of intelligence. Much of the work done was to attempt to convert several governments on the Continent and around the world to join the Germans in their desire to end the Bolshevik threat. The biggest advance for the intelligence services was the development of a new decryption device on 21 January. Though only recently declassified, the capability to “read the other man’s mail” would prove to be decisive in several areas during the war.


At the end of May, von Neurath, trying desperately to keep the United States from drifting too close into Great Britain’s political orbit, concluded another trade agreement with the United States. There came a realization in the foreign ministry that the Reich might have to settle for a neutral United States, vice one that was openly supportive of the US.

II. Industry

The German military-industrial complex continued it’s inexorable rise during the first half of 1937. On 9 January, the Luftwaffe announced the completion of the German Vaterland Luftabwehr-Netzwerk or “Fatherland Air-Defense Network.” Up to that point in time, it was the most advanced, largest and most hardened air defense network ever created. Nearly every important German city was ringed and cris-crossed with batteries of air-defense artillery guns. The green space opened up by the locations of the batteries even brought a useful (though completely unintentional) side-effect: more German families used the parks to have picnics outside, watching joyfully as boys and girls alike climbed around the guns under the watchful eyes of proud Luftwaffe personnel.


By the end of January, the massive aviation contracts proved their worth as the first three of the newest Luftwaffe Jagdgeschwaders were established. With their completion, the size of the Luftwaffe’s fighter force doubled from a mere 300 or so to nearly 600 of the latest Bf-109D interceptors built by Messerschmitt. At the start of May, the procurement of the Ju-87 Stuka attack aircraft allowed for the creation of Luftflotte IX, the first dedicated close air support wing. Further construction saw that by the end of June, total airframe strength of the Luftwaffe had gone from barely 1000 obsolete and out-classed aircraft to over 2200 of the most advanced aircraft that money could buy.


Developments did not just come in the form of aircraft. Because of the work done on the Luftabwehr-Netzwerk, improvements were made to the Kriegsmarine’s cruiser and projected battleship armaments. The more important improvements, however, were to the U-boats. On 13 April, the latest Type-IX submarine was unveiled for the first time. With completely redesigned engines, a new torpedo, and a faster, sleeker hull, the Type-IX was a huge leap in capabilities for the Kriegsmarine’s Unterseeboot Dienst. An order for a minimum of 36 of these vessels was immediately announced, with options for upwards of 100 should the Kriegsmarine deem it necessary.

The Heer was also improving the warfighting potential of the average German soldier. New heavy-barrel rifles, anti-tank and other close-support weapons (mortars and heavy machine guns) were all ordered into production in a bid to transform the army from something similar to the one that fought the First World War to the Future War Soldier. This was not without setbacks, however. When one new engineer was commenting on trying to develop chemical weapons, a senior army official (who had been subjected to a gas attack on the western front) leapt across the table and nearly strangled the young engineer to death. The subject was never brought up again.

Further investigations by the internal security apparatus exposed a few companies who were delaying their contracts due to sympathy with the Soviet Union. On 18 April, these companies were nationalized and their owners arrested.

III. Wehrmacht

With the deployment of new weapon systems for all branches of the Heer, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine, much of the first half of 1937 was reserved for training and exercises to gain familiarity with their new equipment and the doctrines that had been developed during the previous years’ annual exercise. More of the Fires brigades were stood up as their guns were delivered and developing the cooperation between the artillery and infantry was practiced until it became nearly automatic. The practice would take on a whole new meaning in the coming months, however.


Author's Notes: Some of the figures in this post are estimates... given the generally accepted understanding that a wing in the game is 100 planes, and that the destroyer and submarine squadrons are 3 ships/boats each. Also, just wondering (since I'm not getting much feedback yet it seems), but is everyone understanding when I'm finishing a tech?

Stuckenschmidt said:

Interesting read so far, but the title has to be

Das Morgengrauen des Dritten Reichs

Don`t say it, german is effing difficult sometimes.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I know it. I've changed the title in the original post, as well as in the clickable in my link, but I can't change the actual thread title. Maybe a mod could help me?

Thank you, Great One... I consider that high praise coming from you! Also, thank you for editing my title!

I've since moved all of my AAR pictures over to imageshack... and edited all of them in here with a few new ones as well. Hopefully these look better now!

The second half of 1937 started with an event that took the world by surprise. Despite having an agreement with the local Kuomintang (KMT) forces in the area of the railroad between Beijing and Tianjin concerning the exercise of troops performing night maneuvers, the local Japanese forces failed to inform the local KMT in the vicinity of the Marco Polo Bridge. After a day and a half of heavy fighting and missteps from both sides—including willful subversion of the Japanese diplomatic efforts—the Japanese had carried the day, if pyrrhicly. This was rapidly followed by the declaration of war against the Shanxi warlords by the Japanese. The Nationalist and Communist Chinese forces agreed to set aside their differences and fight the Japanese, and were joined by the Xibei San Ma Clique a few days later.


Secretly, Foreign Minister von Neurath’s ambassador-at-large, Joachim von Ribbentrop had been travelling to Tokyo to arrange for the Japanese to sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, which was publically announced on 2 July. With Japan now allied, Hitler directed that the industry of Germany should send representatives to Tokyo to assist in their development and assimilation of mechanical engineering, especially after being told of the conditions of much of the Chinese “road” network. The assistance only lasted a month, as it proved too expensive to maintain a constant presence overseas of a team of engineers who would be better serving the Reich at home. During his time there, von Ribbentrop was directed to travel to lands controlled by the Yunnan Clique. The Yunnan Clique was the most critical of the KMT, the most ideologically similar to the NDSAP, and refused to join the war against the Japanese; for all of these reasons it was considered that if Yunnan joined the war against the KMT and Chinese Communists, the war would rapidly be concluded in favor of the Japanese.


The war progressed slowly, but steadily in China. Though it was considered, the Heer and Luftwaffe rejected a plan that would have sent an expeditionary force to Japan. The understanding was that whatever experience was available to be gained in fighting overseas would not necessarily transfer back to the European fronts exactly, and could cause more confusion in an already violently confusing arena of combat. By October, the matter seemed well-in-hand, regardless: Shanxi Clique surrendered and was annexed by 16 October. A month later, the Japanese, eager to appear to be magnanimous to their former enemies, formed the puppet state of Mengkuko, which had more territory added to it when the Chinese Communists surrendered on 5 December.


In the mean time, the Heer was conducting their annual exercises. By the end of July, much had been learned regarding the employment of armored forces and several improvements to the design of tanks were considered for future procurement into the Panzerarmee. Futher doctrinal refinements were also made in the command and control (C2) in large formations, the Truppenamt hoped that this would allow them to maximize the amount of firepower and tactical capabilities at the divisional level.

In mid-September, the first naval aviation squadron was formed. The Marinefliegergeschwader 1 (MFG 1) was equipped with the Dornier Do217, and immediately assigned to Luftflotte XIII, which was under the operational control of the Kriegsmarine. MFG 1 was training on attacking shipping in and out of ports within the month, and Luftflotte XIII would round out its authorized strength with MFG 2 in mid-October. Both wings, now fully formed, traded half of the pilots with each other, allowing both to benefit from the experience that MFG 1 had already built. Their first test came quickly with a surprise all-hands exercise that was run through November. It rapidly developed more precise port and at-sea naval strike patterns, targeting procedures and other tactics for use in the future. The exercise also improved the handling of the aircraft by both the air and ground crews assigned.


These were not the only expansions in air power for the Luftwaffe. In early November, the first transport squadron, flying the proven Ju-52 "Tante Ju" airframe, was formed as a part of Luftflotte XV. The two Lufttransportgeschwader would be conducting check flights by the end of December.


The Heer, eager to get even more practice in, conducted a command post exercise in the winter. This led to further refinements of the doctrines involved with the employment of main efforts, or schwerpunkt. It was hoped that using the combined arms and precision fires that breakthroughs would be rapidly achieved, which would allow the release into the backfield of the armored forces. This war game—already a great success—was concluded at the 1. Panzer-Division’s kazerne west of Leipzig. While there, the Führer made a surprise visit, and assisted in the unveiling of the latest development of German engineering: the Panzer III. Though it was obvious that it would be at least a year before the Panzerarmee would be fully kitted up with the medium tank, the officers present were said to be, in the words of the Krupp representative on hand, “Positively salivating at the possibility of using the III.”


In mid-December, the Kriegsmarine’s fleet added their first examples of the latest technology with the delivery of the six Type VIIs which were assigned to III. Unterseebootflotte. These boats weren’t the Type IX that the head of the U-boat service, Admiral Donitz, wanted, but they were the first blue-water boats that the Kriegsmarine had available to prepare his crews for their eventual war patrols against the enemy.

During the New Years Eve celebrations in Berlin, it was announced that the major Volks-Projekt—finishing extending the autobahns to all corners of the Reich—had been completed in what was becoming the standard catch-phrase of the German industry: “vor und unterhalb” or “ahead and below”—meaning ahead of schedule and under-budget. Hitler praised the workers of the Reich who had made the miracle possible and spoke at length about the rise of the German might. The future, despite the rumbles at the periphery, was bright indeed.

1938 began with acceptance in the Foreign Ministry that the effort to keep the United States from getting too close to the British Empire had proved ineffective. Now the objective was to keep the United States neutral and out of the war as long as possible. These issues, however, were quickly overshadowed by subsequent events.


On 3 January, a political crisis in the Osterreich came to a head when the local NSDAP began agitating for a referendum on a union with Germany. Besieged on all sides and facing a vote of no confidence, the Prime Minister chose to resign instead of facing the ignominy of being voted out of office. The same day, Hitler and his political advisors, having been kept abreast of the situation by telephone in the Reichstag, decided to act. Oberkommando-Suden was directed to move all available troops to the border in preparation for any possible contingency. The Anschluss was executed to perfection and the troops were not necessary. While some groups protested in Salzburg and Vienna, Hitler proclaimed a Week of Celebration, which muted any discord.


Diplomatic concerns raised it’s ugly head again a month later when, after publically agitating in the international forum for the “return” to Germany of the Sudentenland. Having been emboldened by the international response—and lack thereof—to the bloodless coup of the Anschluss, von Neurath and Hitler began to press Czecholovakia over the Sudetenland. Seeking a rapid conclusion to the situation and recognizing that every moment they delayed would likely equal lives lost, property destroyed and increasing anger against the external world, PMs Neville Chamberlain and Édouard Daladier from Great Britain and France agreed to the demand. German troops from Oberkommando-Ost were deployed, but in the end were again not required to actually fight. Great Britain, France, Germany and the Italians on signed the Treaty of Munich on 1 February 1938. Another Week of Celebration was declared, and all dissent was quickly overcome. Even ethnic Czechs saw the economic prosperity of their northern neighbors and wanted that as well.


The rapid high-level diplomacy involved in the acquisition of Sudetenland into the Reich also permitted the initial contacts between von Neurath and Mussolini. Interested in having his own African Empire, Mussolini agreed in principle to signing the Anti-COMINTERN Pact, but wanted assurances that any territory gained in the ensuing wars would remain Italian-controlled. One foreign advisor, upon hearing the demands retorted, “What, they want sand? They can have their sand… and eat it too.” Over the objections of the Wehrmacht’s advisors—who had reservations concerning the Italian Army’s equipment and training—Italy signed the Anti-COMINTERN Pact on 16 April. For the press, the in lieu of using the actual name (and therefore risk offending the Soviets who still provided much of the German resources), the pact was named the "Pact of Steel". They would quickly be joined by Hungary who signed the agreement on 12 May.

Success was not only encountered in Europe. Japan, still fighting it’s war in China, finally broke the back of Chinese resistance, forcing the Nationalist Chinese to surrender on 12 June. Though the Xibei San Ma Clique remained an opponent, their contributions were not considered to be serious. With the major obstacle out of the way and Yunnan close to joining the Axis anyways, FM von Neurath ordered his best man—von Ribbentrop—to Portugal. Portugal was one of the countries that the Wehrmacht had considered important to any war plans. As an ally, their bases in the Azores and Africa threatened any supply line between Great Britain and it’s Dominion, as well as allowing the Kriegsmarine’s Naval Aviation assets far better capabilities with regards to the elimination of convoys in the Atlantic. They also saw the possibility of using Portuguese bases in a possible air assault of Gibraltar, key to the Mediterranean and largely considered unassailable by sea. Considered a long-term possibility, the combination of Foreign Ministry attention as well as intelligence operations by the Abwehr moved the Portuguese government rapidly into the German sphere of influence.


Author's note: since there was so much Diplomatic news (and to keep it from becoming a wall of text), I split off the military-industrial for it's own.

The first half of 1938 did not go unnoticed by those in the Heer. While handling the crisis in the south, Oberkommando-Heer published it’s latest doctrinal update concerning the command structure at the operational level. Officers assumed that this would be the focus of the annual summer exercises and so began to plan accordingly for their unit’s participation. With a brief break in the weather in February, an exercise with the company of airborne troops from the KSK and DFL allowed more doctrinal and practical work to be done with them as well. Though there were—at that point in time—plans for the formation of an airborne division, the Luftwaffe remained committed to the idea, and so was constantly exercising their new Ju-52s.

During this period, the Heer also began to stand up the first of the new-pattern infantry divisions, rounding out to the full authorized strength of four infantry divisions the VII., VIII., IX., and X. Armeekorps. The first four divisions for the XI., XII., XIII., and XIV. Armeekorps also were stood up.


The Luftwaffe was not far behind in their massive (and expensive) expansion. During the first six months of 1938, no less than 600 operational aircraft were received from the production lines; these forces fully rounded out the Luftbrücke-Befehl or Airlift Command (four squadrons of Ju-52s), Marinefliegergeschwaders (four squadrons of Do-217s), and a wing of Stukas for the new Luftflotte XI. This sent the Luftwaffe up to nearly 3000 aircraft of all types.


The newly obtained Sudetenland provided an ideal training ground for operational doctrines for both the Heer and Luftwaffe as well. Given the number of (now) useless forts in the area, the Heer and Luftwaffe were constantly conducting live-fire exercises against the forts, paid for courtesy of the Czech government. Through these exercises, concepts for better weapon sights and mounts for both artillery and anti-aircraft weapons were developed and their designs transmitted to the defense contractors. With more live-fire evolutions, however, came a price. Several accidents involving soldiers being flagged by their comrades and ending up being shot exposed a need to improve the training and treatment of soldiers wounded in action. Medics were ordered to serve for several days a month in the local hospital emergency wards, caring for all sorts of critical injuries and sicknesses which would result in a new doctrine being published on the subject on 23 June.

The defense industry was not content to sit back on their haunches, either. On 18 June, they completed work on the first rocket testing facility at Rostock. Though the facilities were crude at first, more expansion was planned.

Just as the first half of 1938 was a whirlwind of activity for all of Germany, the second half proved no less important. The decision to allow Yunnan to join the Anti-COMINTERN Pact of it’s own accord occurred on 1 July. Though it didn’t involve itself in the fight against the remaining Xibei San Ma Clique forces, it did give the Truppenamt planners more latitude in future planning operations for where forces were going to be asked for support. With Yunnan joining the Axis on 1 July, other remaining Chinese regions were forced to react, leading Sinkiang to join the COMINTERN on 29 October. On 9 November, the Second Sino-Japanese War was concluded with the surrender of the Xibei San Ma Clique.

Much of August and September were allowed to pass without incident. Portugal continued to be wooed to join Germany in her inexorable march to become a hegemon, and much progress was made. October, however, smashed the calm of Europe.

On 1 October, Hungary and Czechoslovak ministers met in Vienna to sign what became the First Vienna Award. After numerous issues between different census results from years past, Germany and Italy ruled in favor of the Hungarians. Hungary received their portion of territory in return for their signature on the Anti-COMINTERN Pact from back in May. Poland gained a negligible portion for themselves, and Slovakia was formed from what remained, a German puppet let by Tiso.

After this abrogation of the Treaty of Munich, Great Britain and France both invited Poland into the Allies. Though they claimed they would guarantee the Polish border, one Polish Foreign Ministry official reiterated the words that Józef Piłsudski had said when presented with the Locarno Treaty: “No, no, believe me, you will back down, really, you will.” With the threat of war increasing daily, nations in Western Europe made fateful decisions. Through October 1938, five nations would mobilize their forces: Netherlands (27 September), France (4 October), Belgium (5 October), Luxembourg (11 October) and Denmark (23 October). When news reports of the mobilization of Luxembourg came in, Hitler—unknowingly—paraphrased Stalin when he asked Frick of the Abwehr, “And how many divisions do the Luxembourgers command?”


Author's Note: Sorry, no pictures for this bad boy, yet... I'm going to get some screenshots of Imperial Japan, but I'm already up to Apr39. On question I have to ask is if anyone else is reading this? I know Loki is, but I'm not getting the feedback I expected, really. Is it because I'm not using FtM? Is it because Germany is boring? Am I boring? I'm trying to get through the boring stuff as fast as I can...