Whoops.
The Reichskanzlei, Hitler's bedroom. Jul. 1st, 1937; 03:35.
**
It is a fair summer night in Berlin. The stars glitter in the skies above the quiet Reichskanzlei. Only a few members of personel and the ever-watchful men of the LSSAH move in the quiet corridors. These go about their business silently, ever respectful of the sleep of their glorious Führer. Adolf Hitler is enjoying his well-deserved rest, lying contentedly side-by-side with his beautiful companion Eva Braun under soft silken sheets.
The only reason why I drew this idyllic picture was to shatter it: I seem to remember Hitler saying this was "his" AAR, and no decent writAAR can let his characters entertain this kind of delusion. It is therefore time for us to remind the Führer he's been screwing things up since the beginning of this AAR. Royally.
Neurath bangs loudly on the bedroom door: Mein Führer! Mein Führer! MEIN FÜHRER!
Eva Braun, groaning: Mmmhhh... I want to sleep...
Neurath: MEIN FÜHRER!
MEIN FÜHRER!
Eva Braun: Adolf, make that man shut up, please...
Hitler, grumbling: I can't.
Neurath:
MEIN FÜHRER! MEIN FÜHRER!
Eva Braun: Adolf, please, ask one of your guards to shoot that man, I want to sleep.
Hitler: I can't. He's my Foreign Minister.
Eva Braun: Can't you at least have him tortured?
Neurath:
MEIN FÜHRER! MEIN FÜHRER!
Hitler, growling: If he hasn't got a really good excuse I swear I will.
Eva Braun, smiling: He's such a nice boy.
Hitler gets up, puts some clothes on and goes to the door.
Hitler: Why are you waking me up in the middle of the night? Are we at war?
Neurath: Nein, mein Führer.
Hitler: WHY DID YOU WAKE ME UP, THEN, YOU BLOODY SON OF A NON-ARYAN?
Neurath: Because we aren't at war, Mein Führer.
Hitler: ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?
Neurath: Mein Führer, you ordered me to guarantee the borders of Nationalist China.
Hitler: OF COURSE I DID!
Neurath: You said it was to profit from a Japanese declaration of war to get free IC and get rid of Consumer Good demand at very little risk to Germany, boosting our economy by about 5 IC-Schachts.
Hitler: WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM WITH THAT?
Neurath: Mein Führer, Japan has declared war on the Chinese.
Hitler, suddenly confused: Wait a minute, you said we weren't at war. How come we didn't honor our GoI on China?
Neurath: The Japanese didn't declare war on Nationalist China, mein Führer. They declared war on Shanxi.
Hitler, to one of his guards: Scharführer, arrest this man and hand him over to Himmler.
Neurath: MEIN FÜHRER! Please! You must listen!
Hitler: I bloody well won't! The Japanese will DoW Nationalist China within a couple of hours, we'll honor our GoI and my Hitlervellian plan to game our Industrial Capacity will work perfectly!
Neurath, getting dragged away by the Scharführer: But mein Führer! The Japanese can't DoW the Nationalists!
Hitler: I'm through with you. I'm going back to bed.
Neurath: MEIN FÜHRER! The Nationalists honored their Defensive Alliance and are at war with Japan. The Japanese can't DoW them!
The Scharführer stops dragging Neurath. Hitler stops thinking he's brilliant.
Hitler: Scharführer, un-arrest this man.
Neurath, cravenly: Thank you mein Führer! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Hitler: You're lucky I didn't listen to Eva.
Neurath: Why, mein Führer?
Hitler: Because I couldn't have ordered this guy to un-kill you, that's why.
Neurath: Eep!
Hitler: And now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to hang myself.
**
Yep, Hitler really screwed royally with this one. The Nationalists were annexed on Dec. 1st, not that Germany would have helped them.
And this isn't the end of the story: not learning from his mistakes, he forgot to guarantee Communist China and the other Chinese minors, meaning he missed the DoW on the Reds on Dec. 28th, which would still have gained him some time. Finally, on Jan. 2nd, 1938, the Führer remembered he had a brain and guaranteed the remaining minors, Guangxi Clique and Yunnan, and also guaranteed Tibet just in case. German priests and pastors have been ordered to pray for a Japanese DoW on one of those countries during mass, utterly confusing their parishioners.
Germany lost at least 85 additional usable IC for more than six months, which would have been enough to allow for the training of 8 full divisions and starting to train a further batch of 10. Considering that the German division count in July 1937 was a whopping 16, those additional divisions would certainly have helped
