The proposal for a general mobilization was vetoed by the confident Hitler!

However, the establishment of the General Directorate of Armaments to unify and lead the production of armaments in Germany was also supported by Adolf. Hitler's approval.

"Ludwig, I would like to recommend Hermann. Göring was also the head of the General Directorate of Armaments. Hitler said to Hersmann in his chancellor's office. Göring was the Minister of Economy, and he had worked very well over the years, believing that he would be able to meet the needs of the war effort. ”

"Herman," Hersmann nodded at the fat man Goering, who was sitting in a chair next to him, "let's fight together for the future of the German Empire!" ”

The fat man is not the best candidate, and his ability is not as good as Speer. However, it is better to have a director of the General Armaments Bureau than to be in charge of each yamen.

Moreover, the fat Goering also has enough authority, and in the past few years, he has successively formulated and supervised two four-year plans, and the results seem to be very good. Under his command, Germany produced 26.6 million tons of steel, 473 million tons of coal, 70.2 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, 250,000 tons of electrolytic aluminum, and 520,000 automobiles in 1937. In addition, the shipbuilding industry in Germany was restored, as evidenced by the construction of battleships of the Scharnhorst class and aircraft carriers of the Sedlitz class.

However, the General Directorate of Armaments will not be completely handed over to Goering. It's not that he doesn't trust Goering's abilities, in fact Goering is quite capable, but he has been corrupted by power in history. In this plane, Goering's power was not yet strong enough to corrupt him. But knowing the direction of future weapons and equipment development is Hirschman's greatest reliance, so the jurisdiction of this department is still in the military.

The General Staff and the Ministry of Defense have the right to jointly decide on the candidates for the heads of the General Armaments Headquarters, the deputy directors and the directors of the subordinate bureaus (the Army, the Air Force, the Navy and the Reserves). Moreover, the director of the Main Directorate of Armaments is responsible only for organizing production. As to what weapons to produce, it would be decided by an armaments committee chaired by Hersman himself - the Ministry of Defence, the Army (General Staff), the Navy and the Air Force were all represented on this committee, and the General Staff and the Ministry of Defence had the final say.

That is, what to produce. The power not to produce anything is in the hands of Hersman.

Of course, the armaments production plan approved by the Armaments Commission had to be signed and confirmed by Chancellor Hitler. Hersmann then handed Hitler an up-to-date version of the Navy's "priority" shipbuilding plan.

"Mr. Prime Minister, this is part of the latest plan of Plan Z." "The shipbuilding program was designed with the goal of defeating Poland in 1939, France in 1940, and Britain in 1941," Hersman said. ”

Victory over France in 1940? Victory over Britain in 1941?

Hitler and Fat Goering looked at each other, and both had the feeling of listening to people talk in their dreams.

"Before the victory over Poland, the Navy will focus on submarine break-up operations," Hersman said. Before defeating France after the victory over Poland. The navy will operate mainly with submarines breaking up diplomatic relations and attacking the British home fleet as a supplement. After the victory over France, the navy will fight with the goal of fighting for sea supremacy in the North Sea and the Mediterranean. ”

"How can there be a Mediterranean?" Adolph. Hitler interjected.

"Because the General Staff anticipates that Italy will become our ally after Germany's victory over France." "Then the focus of the war will turn to the Mediterranean," Hersman said. ”

"Isn't it an immediate attack on the British?" Herman. Goering smiled and asked, "Aren't you going to defeat Britain in 1941?" ”

"Yes," Hersman nodded earnestly, "we will bring Britain to its knees in 1941!" However, the battlefields for this goal are in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. We want to suffocate the British with submarines, while also seizing their oil and threatening their most precious colony, India...... And this strategy has been successfully implemented. It will make our strategic resource supply situation quite abundant, which will help us to integrate our forces in Europe. ”

Unlike in history, Hitler did not attach importance to the Mediterranean theater – Hitler may have thought Mussolini was capable of conquering the region – Hersmann did quite seriously attach importance to it. Because he knew that the Middle East and North Africa had the resources that Germany needed to sustain the war and become a leader in Europe.

The abundant oil in the Middle East, various metal resources in Turkey and Iran, grain and cotton in Egypt are all extremely important materials. They would keep Europe's factories running at full speed, and they would allow Europeans led by Germany to live a comfortable wartime life.

“…… Priority in Plan Z: Two Bismarck-class battleships, outfitted and put into active service within 1940. ”

At this time, Hitler whispered out the plan for the construction of large surface ships that he was most concerned about. At present, the German Navy already has a number of new large surface ships, including two Scharnhorst-class battleships and three Deutschland-class armored ships. In general, though. The strength of the German Navy was still very limited and needed to be strengthened urgently.

"Four heavy cruisers of the 'Admiral Hipper' class. In 1939, all outfitting was completed and put into active service; Two 'Sedlitz'-class aircraft carriers, one outfitted and undergoing sea trials in 1938, and one delivered to the Navy in 1939......" Hitler looked up at Hersmann, "that's all there is to it?" ”

"Yes," Hersman nodded, "that's all that's been determined at the moment. ”

About the shipbuilding program. The differences between the General Staff and the Admiralty were great, and the bargaining continued.

……

Shire. De Gaulle struggled to get out of the cramped tank hatch, the Polish 7TP light tank was too small for his tall man. Still, he was very satisfied with the Polish tank.

"Admiral, this is a very good tank, almost as good as our R-35 tank." De Gaulle jumped from this 7TP tank. Ran to the front of the French Army Chief of the General Staff, General Gamblelin, who was surrounded by a group of Polish generals.

The visit of the Gammelin military delegation meant that the military alliance between France and Poland had deepened in an all-round way, and it also reassured the Poles.

"I think Poland should speed up the construction of 7TP tanks," De Gaulle suggested, "and then concentrate all the 7TP tanks with the R-35 tanks that we supplied and the British Vickers tanks, so that it would be enough to form four or five tank battalions." If these tank battalions were to be combined into two tank brigades, and then mixed with two motorized brigades that were being formed, two lightly armored divisions would be formed. ”

The 7TP tank is a tank produced by Poland itself, equipped with Swiss or British engines, and purchased turrets and guns from Bofors in Sweden (there are also some models that use self-produced turrets plus British guns and Browning machine guns), which is a very good light tank. However, the production volume is not high, and only one hundred and thirty or forty units have been produced in history.

And in this time and space, because Poland took the right bank of Ukraine and Lithuania, its financial and industrial strength increased. So it was possible to produce more 7TP tanks, as well as to purchase more British Vickers light tanks and French Renault R-35 light tanks (historically the Poles also had these two tanks). But the total number is not much more, and at the level of 49 units of a battalion, the Poles can form up to 5 battalions of light tanks. In addition, Poland has produced more than 800 TK series ultralight tanks, but these ultralight tanks can only be used to support infantry and have no value as an armored force, so each Polish infantry division has a company equipped with TK tanks.

……

"Charles, tell our Polish friends what you think."

In one of the war rooms of the Polish Ministry of Defence, Admiral Gammelin asked de Gaulle to speak out about the French Army's General Staff's vision for a future war -- from the 20s, when Germany was still bound by the Treaty of Versailles, the French army has been studying how to defeat Germany again with Poland and Britain. There were also many versions of the plan, and some of them were aimed at the Soviet-German alliance.

Shire. De Gaulle took the baton from a Polish officer and walked over to a huge military map. The map shows the current serious defensive situation facing the Polish Commonwealth. The Polish Confederation was "too big", there were too many places to defend, and it was also surrounded by the lands of Germany proper, East Prussia, the Baltics, Bohemia, Slovakia, and the Soviet Union. It is almost impossible to adopt a strategy of "every inch of land".

"We believe that it is impossible for the Polish Commonwealth to deploy heavy troops for defense on every border in a future war." Shire. De Gaulle said, "Therefore, the strategy of combining key defense and mobile defense can only be adopted, and the entire Polish Confederation can be divided into 'key defense areas', 'mobile defense areas' and 'temporary abandonment zones'." ”

De Gaulle used his baton to point Brest and Pinsk, which belonged to the Polish Free State; Kyiv and Lviv (the capital of the Free State of Ukraine) belonging to the Free State of Ukraine.

"Brest, Pinsk, Kyiv and Lviv are all key defense areas." De Gaulle said, "Since Poland was faced with a war on multiple fronts, it was unrealistic to hold the entire Pilsudski Line, and the Polish Confederation did not have so many troops."

But the three important support points on the Pilsudski Line: Brest, Pinsk and Kiev have great value in holding out. Lviv, the capital of the Free State of Ukraine, must also be held out, as it is the center of heavy industry in Poland. Holding on to these areas will be able to delay the advance of the Soviet army to the greatest extent, kill and injure the living forces of the Soviet army, and create favorable conditions for the victory of the mobile defensive operation on the Western Front. (To be continued.) )