I wanted to write a narrative about 1935 events explaining "stuff", but I realised it would be boring, to me as well as the readers. So I will start with 1936 instead.
January 1936
The first cabinet meeting of the year was held on 2 January 1936. Adolf Hitler, the Chancellor of the Empire and the Prime Minister of the German government looked at his men of trust, greeting them. They were: Foreign Minister Constantin von Neurath, Armament Minister Hjalmar Schacht, Minister of Security Wilhelm Frick, Head of Intelligence Wilhelm Canaris, Chief of Staff Ludwig Beck, Chief of the Heer Werner von Fritsch, Chief of the Kriegsmarine Alfred Saalwächter, Chief of the Luftwaffe Karl Koller... and the Kaiser, Wilhelm II.
The main reason of the meeting was to set up a new build plan for the next 4 years, which was made intentionally optimistic and ambitious. The German government knew about it, with the current German economy it's not possible, but there are plans of very important changes during these years which will render this plan more realistic... There were many disagreements over the key decisions to be made, for example on which arm of the army to focus. While the Kaiser supported Saalwächter in his idea of making the Kriegsmarine able to compete with the Royal Navy, Hitler had different plans. He put his faith into the relatively new warfare techniques: air force and mobile armour units. The plan was finally composed by Schacht and signed by both Hitler and Wilhelm, though not without complaints. The biggest controversy was the plan for the Kriegsmarine, which included only submarines and a "possibility of amendments".
The cabinet was divided in opinion about the role of the navy. The Kaiser wanted a strong navy with battleships, cruisers and destroyers, while Hitler opposed to that idea saying that it still won't be able to challenge the Royal Navy (which he doesn't want to do anyway). Instead he proposed to use hardly detectable submarines to sink convoys, and defeat the enemy with patrol bombers. Another element of this strategy (although not included in the plan) would be carriers, with some escorts for defence).
The final build plan for the years 1936-1940 is as follows (includes units already on the map on 1936 start):
The Heer:
20 garrison divisions (2xGAR or 2xGAR+1xSUP(H) as needed)
68 standard infantry divisions (3xINF+1xSUP(H))
24 "offensive" infantry divisions (2xINF+2xSUP(H))
4 mountaineer divisions (3xMTN)
4 paratrooper divisions (2xPAR)
24 armour divisions (2xL-ARM+1xMOT+1xSUP(T))
24 motorised infantry divisions (3xMOT+1xSUP(T))
The Luftwaffe:
12 light fighters
9 heavy fighters
6 light bombers
9 medium bombers
2 heavy bombers
9 patrol bombers
The Kriegsmarine:
21 submarine flotillas
Will be expanded in amendments. Either by Light Cruisers or Destroyers, add to that a carrier or two.
Other:
3 transport flotillas
~50 convoys
~30 escorts
~15 factories
rocket test site
land & coastal forts as needed (along the French border and in key coastal cities)
Diplomacy and espionage
Another issue to discuss was the course the German Empire shall take internationally. There were very few ideas that got accepted by the entire cabinet. In general one of them was the decision to continue breaking the Versailles Treaty in order to break off the chains of the Western powers. Another point of common agreement was expanding the Empire's borders. The first target was Austria, where people are very supportive of Hitler and the ideas of consolidating the German lands. We also can't forget about the Germans living in Sudetenland, currently part of Czechoslovakia. And of course, the correct imperial borders must be restored:
(Here you can see current administrative division. The country's divided into 24 regions, 3 of them are "theoretical", and another 3 are partially occupied by other countries.)
Hitler however had different plans. For him the main enemy was the Soviet Union and the first war should be declared on them. Then Germans will be seen as saviours, who's saved the World from the nightmare of communism... He was sure that to make this come true, the German Empire must either defeat Poland or ally her. The Chancellor liked the second option more, though he wasn't sure whether Poland will accept the pact against Bolsheviks. The said pact should also allow the Germans to attack Poland after having defeated the Soviet Union or otherwise claim the rightful imperial territories... "We'll think about that later," Hitler thought.
In order to convince the Poles to join him in his effort against communism he dispatched emissaries to them, whose mission shall be bringing them closer to our faction and farther from the so called "Allies". Then spies have been sent to Paris and Moscow to make them appear more dangerous to the World. "This will help us obtain more allies in our struggle," said the Chancellor. Two other targets are Austria and Czechoslovakia, where we need to support our parties to help them acquire power there. The last thing... the United States. "While they are neutral and we keep good relations with them, they are closer to the Brits.." said Hitler, "we don't expect any war with them, but neither do we expect them to join us. But we shall do everything to keep them as far from the continental Western powers as possible."
Kaiser Wilhelm wasn't convinced. He wanted to see the imperial territories back to their rightful owner first, and only after defeating the UK and France, turning to the East to fight the Red Bear. "I don't believe Poland will join our cause anyway," he ended.
"We won't fight the United Kingdom," said Hitler quietly.
"Why not, Chancellor?" asked von Neurath, "if we attack France, they'll come to their aid. And I believe they won't watch Poland being invaded neither."
"We will do everything we can to convince the British, as well as the Americans, that attacking us is a bad idea."
"And if it fails?" Canaris spoke unexpectedly.
"I didn't say we won't be prepared for such a turn of events," the Chancellor answered. "If they dare attacking us, we'll crush them, like everyone who gets in our way."
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Now some gameplay comments. The navy route is my choice because of the little experience I have with navy in this game... I also want to put more resources into the powerful glorious Luftwaffe and unstoppable Heer... As I plan to go fight the Soviets first (if Poland lets me*) I won't need that huge navy - tons of troops and planes will be more useful. I've heard there's a way to get the UK out of the war right after the fall of France somehow, I would like to try that (IF I defeat everything on my way by then I must just try to invade them though lol). As for plans for Poland... I don't want to get them into the Axis, because I want to destroy them at some point in the future... An alliance should be enough. Since I don't want to occupy the Soviets, but to "dissolve" them, the war goal will be applied even if I conquer them from Poland. I think.
* They might actually, I tweaked their relation with Germany at the start of the game (I did likewise with Czechoslovakia). I don't believe the relations were *that* bad at that time. Obviously, there were conflicts, but also cooperation of the two states. So instead of the -25 I found there, I would put 0 or (even!) +25. And bear in mind that in my reality Hitler is not that radical and warmongering (although he's got his times as well
). At least his not a racist and there is (almost) no concept of the "Untermensch". The German and Polish cooperated, etc. So it's at 50 now. There's a worse relation with the Soviet Union however, possibly due to the fact that Hitler called for destroying all the communists. But that's only
possibly the reason.
