Chapter 377: Invitation
After getting the desired result, Bowman left the Chancellery office satisfied. He didn't care www.biquge.info Hitler saw through his selfishness, because what he carried out was completely in line with Hitler's latent intentions.
As for the Minister of Economy, Val T, Baumann knew that Hitler had not been waiting for him for a long time. In the more than three years since he took office, he has never wasted the opportunity to use his power for his own personal gain: according to the Gestapo, entrepreneurs visit his private homes almost every day, sometimes dozens at a time. As for what kind of ulterior deal the two sides reached, it is really obvious!
Although looking at the National Socialist Party as a whole, almost all the regional governors and department-level officials are making a big profit, Val Ter, as a state-level official second only to Hess, has a really bad impact. In addition, as Val & T became the minister in charge of the country's resources and economic production, his brother Rudolph's industry also soared, rapidly expanding from ordinary Qatar to a super-industrial giant. The two of them were interdependent and borrowed from each other in the political and business circles, and they had formed a powerful force that Hitler was afraid of.
Contrary to the imagination of the vast majority of the German people, their godly Führer did not control all of Germany. Although Hitler launched the "National Socialist Transformation" campaign shortly after taking office, replacing all central and local government officials with all Nazis, it is clear that the inherent strata that had been formed in Germany over the centuries could not be eliminated in just seven years.
On the contrary, the bourgeois industrial giants were more co-opted and reused by the government than they were during the Weimar Republic, because they could help Hitler to meet his needs for arms expansion and rearmament. Under the auspices of the National Socialist Party, the traditional class of industrial magnates grew as the German war machine grew stronger, and eventually took a prominent position in the domestic power structure.
At present, there are several industrial conglomerates in Germany: Farben Chemical, United Steel, General Electric, and the old Krupp Military Industry; They control the lifeblood of the country's core industries, and the employees of the branches are all over the country. Not to mention the regional governors of the National Socialist Party, even Hitler could not be easily touched. They are followed in fifth place by the Hamburg-based Brom Group.
Today, the Brom Group not only has a near monopoly on shipbuilding, but also in the fields of petroleum refining, aircraft manufacturing, automobile and tank production, and banking and mining. The total number of employees directly under Rudolf exceeds 160,000, and the scale of the number is even comparable to that of the Krupp military industry. Unlike the previous Qatars, the Brom Group was the industrial giant that was least at the mercy of Hitler.
Faben Chemical is formed by the merger of major domestic factories, although the total strength is incomparably huge, but its interior is a lot of scattered sand. Hitler only had to pull a group of his many shareholders to control this fiery horse with ease. Although the shareholding of Krupp Mharmonium was concentrated, its new chairman, Alfred Jr., was a crazy fan of Hitler, and he even joined the SS and swore allegiance to the Führer. Under the dual halo of Hitler's idol + leader, Alfred Jr.'s Krupp military industry has always been obedient to the former.
The Brom Group, however, is different. Not only is two-thirds of its shares concentrated in the hands of Rudolf, but also in the political circles, there is a big tree of Val & T to rely on, Hitler has no reliable means to control it, and can only use his prestige and status to order the other party to do things in the air. Although the Brom Group has been very responsible over the years, and there is hardly any disobedience to the law, it is still the best choice for Hitler to be able to moderate the suppression and take power. Hitler had a clear idea, at least to remove the Brom clique's backers from the government, lest it continue to expand uncontrollably. Otherwise, who is the monarch of Germany?
Besides, Val & T has also caught too much. Although Hitler did not investigate in detail before, he was able to get a glimpse of the personal situation of important party members through the eyes and ears of the Gestapo: Val & Ter's gray income in recent years was at least 10 million marks, much more than his Hitler's wealth. This money was enough to arm 1 submarine detachment, and Hitler could not be indifferent when he thought about it!
Just as his thoughts were scattered, footsteps were heard again on the marble corridor. Hitler looked up and saw Admiral Keitel's muscular figure appear outside the office door and walk towards him with a respectful face. Looking at his most loyal follower in the Wehrmacht, Hitler couldn't help but smile a little: "General Keitel, what are you looking for me?" ”
"My head of state, the Government of Italy has sent a letter to my country. They will hold a naval parade in La Spezia on the 17th of this month, the National Day, and the Italian side has specially invited our country's Rear Admiral Jonas Brom to participate in it, and will give guidance on the current state of development of their carrier-based aviation for a period of time after that. The Italians say that they are very eager to have an air fleet like ours as well, and that we will lend General Brom to them for a few months, on the basis of the iron alliance between the two countries. With that, Keitel handed over a telegram.
Hitler's eyes brightened. He quickly read the telegram that Kettel had handed him, and his heart began to groan. As the Führer, Hitler knew for a long time that Italy was going to take the opportunity of the National Day to show off its muscles to the outside world in a high-profile manner; But what he didn't expect was that the Italians actually named Fang Yan to be their adviser and give advice on the construction of their HNA. In Hitler's view, this was undoubtedly a sign that Italy was speeding up preparations for war, and perhaps it would not be able to wait for the German High Command to enter the war before it had been predicted.
It's just that this invitation from the Italians is completely slapping Raeder in the face...... Hitler whispered in his heart. Previously, in order to balance Fang Yan, Raeder transferred him from the fleet to a second-line position, but now the Italians took a fancy to his aviation command talent and specially invited him to be an adviser. It is estimated that after the news spreads in the navy, those officers and soldiers who have been fooled will re-examine Raeder's appointment of Fang Yan before: Oh, it turns out that Admiral Brom is so powerful that even Italy, which is far away in southern Europe, rushed to ask him to help develop his own aircraft carrier. Only, why did Marshal Raeder transfer the general away from the fleet? Aren't generals our precious talents?
"Let Jonas go. With this time, he was able to personally inspect the combat strength of the Italian Navy and let us know more about this ally. Hitler thought to himself and quickly made up his mind. After this was done, it would have made Raeder visibly disgusting and undermined his prestige in the navy, and Hitler would naturally not have objected. After a pause, Hitler suddenly thought of something, and asked the person in front of him suspiciously: "General Keitel, shouldn't the Navy have asked about this matter, why did you pay attention to it?"
Keitel smiled bitterly when he heard this. He is nominally the supreme commander-in-chief above the army and navy, but he can't interfere with the navy under Raeder at all, whether it is personnel transfer, equipment production, or the formulation of battle plans, it has nothing to do with Keitel. Keeping his mind in check, he explained to Hitler: "If the Führer allows it, I am prepared to send a man from the High Command to follow Major General Brom to Italy to inspect his army units." We now also know very little about the Italian Army, except to hear the Italian leader boast that he can mobilize an armed force of 6 million men. I don't want to wait until after the war to find out that the Italian army is the same scrap as the Russians. In that case, our plans will be a mess. ”
Hitler nodded slightly. Today, the Soviet army has become the laughing stock of the world, and their inevitable invasion of Finland has lasted for four full months, but it has not yet won a decisive victory. Even though the Soviet army has changed its tactics in the past month or so, concentrating its absolute superiority and artillery fire to charge at any cost, what they have gained is only a desolate position that has been bombed beyond recognition, and they have also suffered extremely heavy losses.
The Finnish resistance remained orderly and stubborn, with the Soviets paying thousands of casualties for every 1 kilometer of their advance. Now that the situation of the Soviet-Finnish war has long been far beyond the control of the Kremlin, Stalin, who is difficult to ride a tiger, can only fill one division after another into this flesh-grinding demon cave in the north, and let Timoshenko pave a road to victory for him with flesh and blood.
With the Soviet Union in front of the negative textbook, Germany can no longer misjudge the strength of itself and its allies. Even if Italy would only play an auxiliary role in this war at most, Germany would have to know what kind of work its little brother could do. Thinking of this, Hitler looked at Keitel with a little more approval in his eyes, and said: "Who are you going to send to carry out this mission?" Now that the offensive on the Western Front is about to be launched, it will be difficult for the army to draw manpower. ”
"I think Colonel Kurt Zeitzler is the right person. He had served in the General Headquarters of the Army for many years, and he had a deep knowledge of infantry, artillery, and armored troops, and if he had examined the Italian army, he would have been able to draw accurate conclusions. As for the inspection of the Italian Air Force, I am going to ask General Brom to do so. Since he is an expert in the sea and air, he will certainly not be a stranger to the field of land-based aviation. Keitel said.
"Now that you've got the arrangement, let's do it. I will contact Marshal Raeder and ask him to let Jonas go to Italy for two months. Hitler readily agreed. He looked at the huge map of Europe on the wall and emphasized: "However, Italy is only a supporting role on the side of the empire, and we still have to defeat Britain and France on our own." Combat readiness on the Western Front must be intensified. In the next two months, we are bound to launch an attack on the Western Front. It's time to put an end to this situation of fake wars on land. ”