Chapter 225 Major Breakthrough
On August 20, 1938, German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop and Soviet People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Molotov signed the "Axis of Socialism Treaty" in Moscow, marking the formal alliance between the Soviet Union and Germany - the Alliance. It was mainly aimed at Poland, but it caused an uproar in Europe.
Not only were Britain, France, and Poland in tit-for-tat terms, they also provided each other with security guarantees and promised to join the war if the other two were attacked. Even Italy, which was currently fighting together with Spain and Germany, issued a declaration opposing the Soviet-German alliance. There is a strong intention to join the "British-French-Polish Alliance" to oppose Germany.
Facing the Soviet-German threat, the Polish army held frequent reviews and exercises, displaying dazzling sophisticated weapons in front of the world.
Among them are Poland's own 7TP tanks, Wz29 armored vehicles, TKS ultra-light tanks, as well as R-35 tanks purchased from France, M39 armored vehicles purchased from the Netherlands, and Vickers tanks purchased from the United Kingdom. Hundreds of them formed a phalanx and passed in front of Polish leaders and guests from various countries!
There was also a surprising scene in the sky. There were not only the old PWS-10 fighters, P.7 fighters, and P.11 fighters, but also the quite new-looking PZL.23B light bombers, PZL.37 bombers, and PZL. 43 light bomber. The strength of the Polish Air Force does not seem to be much worse than that of the Germans and Soviets.
While demonstrating the powerful strength of his army and air force, Marshal Rez Himigwi, the Polish military review general, did not forget the Polish navy. In December 1938, construction of the battlecruiser "Vistula" began with high publicity - this was part of the ambitious Polish Navy expansion plan!
During Piłsudski's lifetime, Poland, which felt that its national strength was abundant, began to formulate its own "big navy" plan, preparing to invest in the construction of four battlecruisers, two light aircraft carriers, several reconnaissance cruisers and more than 20 destroyers. This will improve the Polish Navy to a point where it can compete with the German Navy. The "Vistula" class with a standard displacement of 16,985 tons, a full load displacement of 18,081 tons, and a main gun came into being.
The Polish high-profile expansion of the navy and the construction of the "Vistula" class battlecruiser in the Free City of Danzig, which does not belong to Poland, actually announced that Germany's efforts to peacefully recover Danzig were about to be shattered - - Since Poland wants to become a maritime power, it will naturally not hand over Danze, a treasure land with a developed shipbuilding industry and an excellent deep-water port, to Germany.
However, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler did not seem to give up on "peaceful recovery". Starting from October 1938, he frequently visited Italy and the United Kingdom to seek a peaceful solution to the "Danze Crisis". It was even proposed to convene a "Geneva Peace Conference" and have the League of Nations host a referendum to determine the ownership of the Free City of Danze.
Of course, Germany's war preparations have not slowed down, but are accelerating.
Not only are the domestic arsenals working overtime to produce aircraft and artillery, but they are also using precious gold and foreign exchange to purchase oil, non-ferrous metals, food and other war preparation materials from abroad.
"Mr. Prime Minister, this is the latest report from the Royal Navy," British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain picked up a document from his desk and handed it to French Prime Minister Daladier, who had just visited. "Another ship of tungsten ore and a ship of manganese ore have been shipped from China. At the same time, two oil tankers have departed from the Dutch East Indies and are heading to Europe. In addition, Argentina and Brazil purchased a large amount of food, and also purchased from the Belgian Congo A lot of uranium ore..."
"Uranium ore?" The pudgy Daladier was stunned for a moment, "What kind of weapons is this used to make?"
"I don't know," Chamberlain shook his head. "It may be used to produce alloys. The Germans have been importing uranium ore from the Belgian Congo since the 1920s. But our technicians have never been able to figure out what they are using uranium for... But it can be roughly guessed that it is needed to produce a certain special alloy. "
Daladier took the document and looked at it for a while, "Uranium is not a big deal, but Germany's crazy stockpiling of oil, tungsten ore and manganese ore is worrying. In addition, we also got intelligence that the Germans are recruiting scientists with high salaries all over Europe. They are all experts in chemistry, physics and electronic technology, probably related to the development of secret weapons!”
"Physics?" Chamberlain was a little confused.
Chemistry experts can help create chemical weapons, synthetic fuels, or rubber. They can also work in the fields of metallurgy and alloys, and they can also play a role in the pharmaceutical field. Electronic experts are also very useful. They are needed in radar and various communication equipment. But the role of physicists does not seem to be particularly great. And the German scientific community has many outstanding physicists.
Neville Chamberlain shook his head and brought his thoughts back to the politics and diplomacy he was familiar with.
"The Germans' crazy purchasing shows that they are not ready for war," Chamberlain said. "Hitler's recent intensive overseas visits seem to indicate this. At this time, he should be a guest in Rome, trying to win over the Italian leader."
"Mussolini will not support Germany," Daladier was very confident. "We have already made concessions to Italy on the Spanish issue. Moreover, Italy's war preparations are very bad. The Abyssinian War and Spain The war has emptied Italy's wealth. According to the information we have, Italy's steel reserves are only enough for 2 weeks, coal reserves are enough for 2 months, iron ore is slightly better, enough for 3 months, and oil reserves are enough. Just over one million tons, and Italy consumes four million tons of oil a year in peacetime, so the Italian leader must either keep his country neutral or stand on our side."
"We must block Germany's imports," Chamberlain thought for a while. "We cannot allow them to hoard strategic materials any longer. We must persuade our allies around the world to close their doors to Germany. If necessary, we can use money and Germans. Snap up!”
In terms of using funds to buy supplies, the UK has a clear advantage over Germany. Because the pound is still half the world's currency, Germany needs to use its gold reserves to purchase supplies, while the UK only needs to print some banknotes to buy them.
…
"Your Excellency General, your phone number!"
Lieutenant Colonel Hans Speidel walked into the No. 1 War Room of the General Staff, where a flag exercise to verify the "White Plan" was going on - the "White Plan" was the real combat plan to solve Poland.
As in history, this plan prepared to use a large number of armored forces and would use "blitzkrieg" to crush Polish resistance in the shortest possible time.
A huge map table was placed in the center of the No. 1 War Room, with a huge map of the situation in Eastern Europe spread out on it. The map not only included the entire territory of eastern Germany and the Polish Federation, but also the Soviet Union's East Belarus and Left Bank Ukraine, as well as the German-controlled Slovak Republic.
The map was densely covered with various wooden signs with unit numbers written on them. Several elderly generals and generals stood on the far left side of the map table, exchanging opinions in low voices. They were all senior generals who would serve as group army commanders in the attack on Poland. There are Infantry General von Bock who is preparing to serve as commander of Army Group North, Infantry General Lundstedt who is preparing to serve as commander of Army Group South, and General Blomberg who is preparing to serve as commander of Army Group Baltic. Kuchler, Kruger, List, Reichenau, Blaskowitz, von Fritsch and Falkenhausen served as army commanders in the Polish campaign.
They will command their own army groups to attack the Polish army on the map in the war game. General Hersmann, who will serve as the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Front in the Polish campaign, will play the role of the commander of the Polish army together with his headquarters staff. Chief of General Staff General von Hammerstein and another group of senior staff from the headquarters acted as Soviets.
When the three groups, who were probably the most brilliant land warfare experts in the world, were having fun, Lieutenant Colonel Hans Speidel just barged in, walked up to Hessman, and whispered: "Ms. Doctor On the phone, she said: 'Transuranic Project Group 1' has just made a major breakthrough!"
"Mrs. Doctor" Schlagmüller is now an aunt and no longer serves as the principal of the Stasi Junior College after the Stasi reorganization. Instead, he serves as the director of the Scientific Investigation Division under the Imperial Central Security Bureau. The focus of this office is to secretly monitor important scientists and scientific research projects in Germany and even Europe.
The "Transuranic Element Project" is the focus of close attention and sponsorship by the Scientific Investigation Office!
Group 1 of this project is composed of Otto Hahn, director of the Institute of Chemistry at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, and two of Hahn's collaborators, the physicists Fritz Strahmann and Lise Meitner.
Among them, Liz Meitner has Jewish ancestry, but because she worked as a nurse in the X-radiology department in a frontline hospital of the Austrian army during World War I, she also received honorary Aryan status.
In addition to Group 1, there is also Group 2, led by Italian scientist Fermi. It is a scientific research project jointly conducted by the University of Munich in Germany and the University of Rome in Italy. The project funds are of course secretly provided by the Imperial Central Security Bureau. , and there are also several young scientists who have joined the Security Bureau as "cooperative informants" and are acting as Fermi's assistants.
"Okay!" Hessman nodded and said to everyone in the war room with a tone of excitement that could not be concealed. "This is a major breakthrough in a secret weapons project! Our empire will be invincible because of this." He turned his head He said to General Hamerstein, Chief of the General Staff, "Your Excellency, now I have to meet with the scientists in charge of the project. Can we stop here for today's war game?"