Chapter 1.2 Training I
I've finshed one of the Assignments, so I finshed the update
Enjoy
Chapter 1.2 Training Feb –June 1936
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As days changed into weeks, slowly the cold Bavarian Winter came to an end and Spring ensued.
Bavarians Enjoying Spring
Nearly 3 months ahead of schedule, on the 10th of March, Conrad Handerhausen joined the Bavarian Army (I missed the screenshot of the production starting, sorry). His mother was actually fine with this as Conrad had achieved above average academic marks and qualified for early graduation. This made his father absolutely Ecstatic with his son’s performance. Anne was extremely annoyed with Conrad and they had a bad fight about Conrad joining the army. As Ansbach had been a centre of recruiting for the Bavarian Army, the 8th “Ansbach” Battalion was formed and was sent to train in Bad Reichenhall with the rest of the 3. Infanterie Division.
The newly formed Infanterie Division was not without its problems. It was so poorly equipped that it only had 1 Kar 98K rifle per company. As things were looking bleak for the Division, Bavarian High Command placed Generalmajor Albert Kesselring as Commander. “Onkel Albert” was a proven General who had served in the western front in France and had distinguished himself when he halted a British advance at Arras. He was also the relative of the proprietor of a popular local brewery in Bavaria, these two things made him extremely popular with the men.
When Conrad and half of his Kompanie had received there Kar 98’s they received this manual on cleaning your Rifle. Conrad and the Kompanie were ordered to memorize the entire cleaning chapter for an upcoming test.
“For routine cleaning, all you need to do is swing out the latch on the Left side of the receiver and remove the bolt from the rear. Then insert a standard cleaning rod with solvent patch into the chamber end of the barrel and push it through the barrel. Repeat until the patch is clean then run a lightly oiled patch through the barrel. Check the barrel after a couple of days to make sure no rust is forming. Also clean all residue from the bolt face and the area surrounding the chamber. After sustained shooting, high velocity rifle bullets deposit copper fouling in the barrel. From time to time, it is advisable to remove this copper with repeated applications of ammonia based copper solvent and a properly sized bore brush threaded onto the cleaning rod.”
When the officers asked the entire Kompanie to demonstrate the cleaning process of the Kar 98k, Conrad was amazed how many men had forgotten completely about their cleaning handbooks and these unfortunate men were ordered to do “Scheiße Pflicht” for a month, they were stunned, one of the worst punishments for a stupid handbook. Conrad was dismayed at his comrade’s lack of discipline and wondered when one of their Kar’s would misfire or jam and lead to one of the men dying on the battlefield.
Meanwhile on the world stage many things had happened that would affect the world greatly in the short term. For some reason world war one fortifications were again brought back up to strength and were being employed by countries for a defensive edge over others.
During the reinforcement of the fortifications, Italian Imperialist thirsts were satisfied with the conquest of Ethiopia. While King Halle Selassie flees to London, his people prepare for the occupation of their homeland by Italy.
Conrad was also informed by Nikolaus that Bavaria was exceeding its production requirements and was producing more than average. And that the many trade agreements Himmler had arranged were now bearing fruit for Bavaria, The trade of food, clothing and ammunition to the countries expanding their militaries had paid off and now Bavaria could gain any product easily. Nikolaus also informed Conrad that the Chinese and Germans were suppling each other with trade goods. As Conrad was getting no news from the outside world apart from him and the Fascist party newspaper, Nikolaus informed Conrad that Albert Sarruat was elected as president of the French counsel.
Nikolaus also told Conrad that the Police brigade that his factory was providing weapons for was deployed to guard Field Marshall Goring’s person and HQ.
Late in June the Fascist party Newspaper actually gave Conrad some real news, that King George the 5th of England... was dead!!!
Conrad then pondered what the death of the great monarch would mean for Bavaria and the world for that matter.
Until the next installment! Chapter 1. part 3. Training II.
Edit: Kesselring Pic Gone