The autumn breeze was crisp, the wheat waves were golden, and 1935 ushered in its last quarter. For Europe, the past nine months have undoubtedly been marked by significant events: the reinstatement of compulsory military service in Germany, the signing of a mutual aid alliance between France and the Soviet Union; The Anglo-German Naval Pact was concluded in London, and Belgium withdrew from the Little Entente. While Hitler's peace speech won a chorus of cheers in Germany and throughout the West, the European countries at the center of the maelstrom were nervous: they watched as the situation around them became increasingly complex and confused, but they could not find effective solutions to their problems.

On October 3, another big news came out of southern Europe: the Italian army, supported by tanks, artillery and other heavy weapons, fully invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia) on the coast of the Red Sea in Africa, intending to bown the humiliation of the defeat of the natives in this land by cold weapons 40 years ago. This invasion, a bully in flagrant violation of the rules of the League of Nations, was a deliberate decision made by Mussolini: he took full note of Britain's betrayal of its traditional ally, France, in its naval agreement with Germany on 18 June, which Britain could use if it could tolerate Hitler. Moreover, Britain's selfish attitude of ignoring the Treaty of Versailles led Mussolini to believe that London might not take his breach of the League of Nations covenant too seriously.

Italy's military campaign in Abyssinia caused an uproar. Annoyed, Britain was determined to give a little color to the country that dared to slap the face of the leader of the European martial arts alliance, and immediately gathered a large number of countries in the League of Nations to impose sanctions on Italy; However, at this critical point, France has dropped the chain again.

As Britain openly recognized the legitimacy of German rearmament, and Belgium broke away from its alliance with France, it was imperative for Paris to unite all its forces to contain the German revival; Although they had signed a mutual assistance pact with the Soviet Union, France did not expect much from the red bear because of the huge ideological gap between the two sides. Therefore, Italy, whose comprehensive national strength is several grades stronger than Poland, and which also belongs to the capital world. Naturally, France saw it as a potential foreign aid against Germany. Finally, France has always been half-hearted in its sanctions actions; This indecisiveness did not stop Italy's actions in Abyssinia, but also damaged Anglo-French relations with Italy, which officially ended the latter's career as a member of the Entente.

It wasn't Adolf who got the most out of this chain of events? Who else was Hitler? He was overjoyed to see the rift between Italy and England and France widening, and this provided him with an excellent opportunity to win over Mussolini, who was also a fascist dictator. Moreover, now that the eyes of the world are drawn to the Italians in the war against the natives of East Africa, no one is concerned that Germany is being rearmed day by day; All this greatly reduced the pressure on Hitler from abroad, and he enjoyed the benefits of making a fortune in silence.

As the slowest effective unit among all branches of the military. The lineup of the German Navy on Christmas Eve has not changed significantly from that when the treaty was signed six months ago; Almost all of the warships planned for the new round are under construction, and only a few small boats for offshore activities have joined the combat sequence at the end of the year because of the fast construction schedule. However, the expansion of the navy's personnel has already been carried out in full swing. According to the assurances given by the Brom-Foss shipyard, all ships built this year, including 2 super-battleships, will be completed in 1938; Preparing enough qualified crews for these warships has become the most urgent task for the Navy at the moment.

Under Raeder's central coordination, the port headquarters and professional and technical colleges. are open to the public to recruit numbers; The German navy suddenly expanded dramatically, and its total number of active personnel undoubtedly far exceeded the 15,000 under the former peace treaty. At this time, the strategy of elite troops implemented by the navy in the past was able to give full play to its usefulness. Since every officer and soldier is qualified for a post higher than his current rank. This makes it easy for them to manage and lead this new group of members; After a few years, these new members will be able to transform into qualified sailors through continuous learning, and the navy's lineup will be qualitatively improved. In fact, the Army uses the same method. A geometric multiplier increase in the number of troops was achieved.

As a result of the dramatic increase in the number of Navy personnel, many of the existing officers' positions and ranks have been promoted. With excellent performance during the service, and unique special popularity. At the beginning of New Year's Day in 1936, Fang Yan was able to successfully remove the straight double star mark on his shoulders and replace it with a major epaulette intertwined by two thick silver threads. Due to the increase in rank, a gorgeous gold oak border was also added to the dark blue eagle brim hat that was attached to it. Perhaps for psychological reasons, when Fang Yan, who changed into new clothes, looked at himself, he always felt that he was more dignified and temperamental than when he was a captain before.

At the same time, Fang Yan's position also changed. Since he had long made up his mind to participate in the decision-making of the fleet, he did not choose to serve in the government of the Navy or become the commander of the destroyer detachment at the grassroots level, but entered the center of the first line and became the fleet staff officer of the First Air Fleet, whose flagship was located on the Hippel. This allows Fang Yan to get close to this aircraft carrier designed by himself, and improve his theoretical understanding of aviation operations through continuous practice. Moreover, his proposal could have a direct impact on the commander of the air fleet, Herman? The will of Rear Admiral Bomay, and this is the most ideal situation that Fang Yan, who is obviously lacking in age and seniority, can achieve direct intervention in the entire naval battle.

Within a few days, Fang Yan found his own stage in his new position. Although Bomei, who is over 50 years old, has served since the beginning of this century and is almost encyclopedic in traditional business, he is ignorant of the use of the new carrier-based air force, and he still has a strong style of naval artillery decisive victory in the handling of many affairs. Fang Yan, on the other hand, had a deep understanding in the field of aviation operations, which made him quickly relied on by Bomei and became the center of the fleet composed of three light aircraft carriers.

Although the new foldable wing carrier-based aircraft developed by the Gotha company is still in the test flight stage, it is conservatively estimated that it will not be mass-produced until 1937; However, Fang Yan still vigorously promoted the daily training of pilots, including taking off and landing on the surface of ships in windy and rough weather, aerial search and identification of targets at sea, and simulated attacks on target ships. Excellent pilots are made of oil, and Fang Yan firmly believes that before these old wooden biplanes are retired, it is necessary for him to exert his remaining enthusiasm and improve the number and skills of carrier-based pilots as much as possible.

In early January 1936, when Fang Yan was transferred to the aircraft carrier, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Raeder also submitted to Hitler a list of new warships to be built in the Navy this year, as well as the total amount of military spending to be allocated. In order to get the dictator's nod, Raeder also specially asked someone to make a batch of fine wooden warship models, and displayed them to Hitler when he met him, in order to give Hitler, who loved large warships, a visual pre-feeling. In order to further strengthen the public relations effect, Raeder, who has always strictly ordered his subordinates not to participate in politics, even made an exception to ask Fang Yan to attend the celebration of the third anniversary of the National Socialist Party's government held on January 30 of this year, showing Hitler's overtures. Money can make ghosts grind, and this sentence is also a philosophical and precise rule in Western Europe!

Raeder's efforts achieved the results he wanted. As a result of Goering's early death, the German Navy was able to remove the greatest obstacle to its development, and Hitler, who had no one to blow the wind in his ears in the face of the Navy's request for expansion, quickly weighed his head and nodded his head. On February 6, the German Navy officially issued a statement that the same number of combat ships will be built this year as last year. Rao is Fang Yan's cheap father Rudolph has long been accustomed to seeing big scenes, and he is still smashed by this ecstasy that fell from the sky and is about to faint: most of the construction tasks of these warships will fall on the heads of their own shipyards, and even supergiants such as Farben Chemical and General Electric Power will also be extremely red for this more than 1 billion mark contract!

In the face of the rapid expansion of 130,000 tons (actually 180,000 tons) of surface warships built by Germany for two consecutive years after the shackles of the Versailles Peace were lifted, Britain, which was separated by a body of water, could not help but have obvious hidden worries. However, Hitler told the British that although Germany planned four new battleships, this was to cope with the massive expansion of the French navy that had begun since 1932; In order to avoid an escalation of the competition and endanger peace in Europe, Germany deliberately did not start construction of any new cruisers, which is enough to show the German government's sincerity for peace. Finally, Hitler also once again emphasized that the total tonnage of surface ships of the German Navy was 35% of that of the Commonwealth Navy, which was the final and unchanging demand of Germany; Germany's rapid construction of ships in the past two years is only a temporary phenomenon, and as long as all countries can stop the pace of building ships and expanding their forces, then Germany will be very happy to transfer the resources and manpower used for military expansion to other ways.

In fact, the shipbuilding orders in the past two years have already completely filled the inherent production capacity of German shipyards, and even if the navy plans so many warships next year, the shipyards will no longer be able to take care of it. Hitler's unleashing of smoke bombs on Britain would be a full cover for the next adventure he was about to embark on, following last year's announcement of the reintroduction of compulsory military service. (To be continued.) )