Chapter 1:
Re-building the Fatherland
Re-building the Fatherland
Germany is destined to become a super power in Europe, if not the world! The Fatherland will have the most modern armed forces, lead by the most skilled commanders. In order to achieve this, however, the military, and the country itself, need to be rebuilt essentially from the ground up.
It begins with a minor shake-up of the cabinet. I briefly considered installing one of the +5% IC/+10% industrial research armaments ministers, but with only 3 industrial projects, the extra 5% IC from Schacht is simply too valuable. Diels' benefit will be useful in the short-term, but we will revisit the security minister sooner rather than later.
German technical schools and industrial centers are bustling with activity, as funding for new research projects pours in from the revitalized economy.
With limited spare capacity for fresh units, the promise to the Kriegsmarine of 2 powerful new capital ships simply cannot be kept. The fast battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau are scrapped on the ways. Few tears will be shed for these inadequately armed ships. Their 11-inch gun barrels will go to better use in other applications (railway artillery, anyone?).
In order to economize on government expenditures, several old destroyers are transferred to convoy duty with the merchant marine. The Kriegsmarine is scarecely weakened by the loss of these decidedly un-modern ships.
V-25 class destroyer in top notch condition awaiting sale
This bolstering of the merchant fleet comes at an auspicious time, as Germany hopes to implement a significant trade surplus, with the hopes of achieving a wartime reserve of resources.
Through a combination of bribes, deceit, political intrigue, criticism, rude gestures, and foul language, undesirable elements of the Wehrmacht officer corps are either shifted quietly to non-essential positions or forced into retirement. Enraged by the heavy-handed manner of the new government, a clique of 'Old Prussians' forms a small resistance ring, which is quickly uncovered. The guilty parties are summarily executed, most meeting their end honorably by firing squad.
The government, confident of the fervent nationalism of its people, now feels confident abrogating the terms of the treaty of Locarno, and in re-militarizing the Rhineland. German citizens line the streets in awe of the latest Wehrmacht-issue, saddle-equipped, Mark I horse.
England and France, the chief enforcers of the Locarno treaty, do little more than issue a weak protest. Privately however, the gears of war begin to churn.
Emboldened by the timidity of the Western Allies, and spurred by the need to maintain national secrecy with regards to her war aims, Germany commences an aggressive counter espionage-campaign. The Soviet Union remains the chief ideological enemy of the Reich, and so receives top priority for infiltration of secret agents, along with the USA and the UK. France is deemed weak enough that some funding is diverted to other areas.
Although production of 2 new fast battleships had recently been cancelled, the Kriegsmarine did receive a new unit in the form of the KMS Graf Spee. Though termed a pocket battleship by French and British observers, and armed with relatively heavy guns for her displacement, the Graf Spee and her sisters are no replacement for true capital ships.
With the influx of funding from the acquisition of the Rhineland, a freeing up of production with the completion of the Graf Spee, and increasing espionage costs, the decision is taken to reduce somewhat the expenditure on industrial research. Germany remains confident of achieving a technological superiority, however. The surplus of money will help fund the acquisition of foreign technology, once a suitably large force of agents has been established.
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