On September 14, the world war seemed to have entered a "truce", with a ceasefire on the Eastern Front and a sit-in on the Western Front. After the peace sued in Poland, Britain and France had no interest in borrowing through the Netherlands. Instead, they persuaded Belgium to join the war - so that Britain and France could deploy in Belgium and use the rivers and fortresses there to completely block the German westward advance. Then they used the blockade at sea and the protracted war on land to slowly drag Germany down, as in the last great war.

Further east, on the lands of Belarus and Ukraine, there is a calm before the Great War. Under this calm, the two countries are stepping up the deployment of troops, and a life-and-death battle no less massive than the German-Polish War is about to begin.

Of course, during this short "truce", it was not too peaceful everywhere. German submarines began to make frequent sorties at sea, carrying out merciless killings against British transport fleets in the Atlantic with "unlimited submarine warfare" and "wolf pack tactics"!

For a time ships at sea became more lethal than in the trenches of the front, and British merchant sailors became the most dangerous profession these days.

And Hersmann, who returned to Berlin from the headquarters of the Eastern Front in Stettin, knew very well that because of the victory in Scapa Bay on September 3, the current German navy could actually make even greater moves in the Atlantic.

"Kurt, what do the Navy guys think of the 'Scapa Gulf Air Raid'?"

At the Berlin train station, Hersmann exchanged a few words with Defense Minister Schleicher, who had come to greet him, and asked the Navy what it thought about the "surprise attack on Scapa Bay."

"It was a great victory," said Field Marshal Schleicher with a laugh, "and it changed the balance of power in the Atlantic." Field Marshal Raeder has already planned to send the 'Scharnhorst' and 'Seedliz' to attack! ”

The Army leveled Poland in 12 days, and in fact, the naval aviation of the Air Force blew up Scarpa Bay again, and only the Navy did not show anything. Even in order to compete for the military budget, Raeder had to let the fleet venture to the Atlantic.

"I think so," Hersmann said to Schleicher as he walked out of the train station, "as long as you don't use the three 'German' classes." They are too slow to support the landing, and they cannot break the fighting. ”

It is reassuring to have the "Scharnhorst" and the "Seydlitz" strike together, and the "Scharnhorst" is equipped with sea and air search radars, and the speed of both ships is not slow. This is very conducive to their use of night cover to break into the Atlantic.

As he walked out of the railway station building, Hersman suddenly saw several 88-mm anti-aircraft guns in the station square, all pointed high into the sky, and soldiers in air defense uniforms were practicing loading shells and aiming over and over again.

"It smells of gunpowder," Hersman said to Schleicher with a smile, looking at the anti-aircraft guns in the square, "and the air raids on the night of September 6 were scary, right?" ”

"I don't know, I spent the night at Tsosen's villa. However, it took a lot of effort to catch the animals that escaped from the zoo. Schleicher shook his head, raised his hand and pointed to a Mercedes-Benz 770K car, and motioned for Hersmann to get in with him. The sedan was followed by two open-top Beetle cars, painted in the gray of the field representing the military, and Schleicher's lieutenant and guards stood right next to them.

Apart from these two Beetles and a Grand Mercedes, there were no other motor vehicles in the entire square. Since the beginning of the war on September 1, gasoline and diesel have become strictly regulated supplies. Within the city of Berlin, moving cars become rare items overnight.

"Ludwig, will I go to the Chancellery first or will I send you home first?" Schleicher asked.

Hersmann, of course, had come back from the front on official business, and he had come to a meeting to discuss the "policy of the occupied territories", which was a very important meeting!

In its original history, Germany occupied a large number of areas, including many industrialized countries, such as France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, but there was no way to truly mobilize the industrial potential of those countries.

"Let's go to the Chancellery first," said Hersmann, turning to his adjutant, Lieutenant Colonel Spaydar, "and when I get to the Chancellery, call Chloe and ask her to wait for me at the house in Charlottenburg, where I will spend the night." ”

While fighting at the front, Hersmann was so preoccupied with the situation that he forgot to inform Chloe when he returned to Berlin. But as soon as he returned to Berlin, he immediately remembered Chloe, the wife with whom he had lived for 20 years.

……

"Leader!" Hersman greeted Adolf in a very imposing office. Hitler saluted.

"General!" Hitler also politely returned the salute, and then told Hersmann the good news, "Your Majesty has just called me, and he has decided to promote you to field marshal, congratulations." ”

Hersman smiled and said, "Chloe will be very happy that she is married to a marshal." ”

"And a field marshal who led the German army to victory in the world war!" "The results of the Polish campaign show that our army is incomparably strong, and the world war is undoubted!" ”

He and Hersmann were the souls of Germany's preparations for the war, and of course knew how strong Germany was now.

"There's still a lot of battle to be fought!" Hersman was not as optimistic as he was, "And the victory over a country's army is only the beginning of the conquest of the country!" ”

He sat down in a chair, then took out a stack of papers from the briefcase that Specdar had handed him and placed them on Hitler's desk.

"This is the 'Survey Report on Resources and Land of Western Ukraine' submitted by the Government of the Free State of Ukraine, which is now occupied by us, includes 6 provinces with more than 110,000 square kilometers and a current population of about 8 million. In addition, the Lviv province of western Ukraine is very rich in natural resources, and the current proven large coal fields include the Donbas coalfield, and the iron ore mine is the Krivoy Rog iron mine, and it has been developed to a certain extent. And then there's the Lviv oil field, which is very old. In addition, Lviv has a variety of non-ferrous metals such as manganese, chromium, titanium, lead, zinc, aluminum, nickel, etc. ”

"It is indeed a good place," Hitler picked up the report and looked at it carefully, "Western Ukraine should be incorporated into the Reich in the future......"

"It's better to have an investment and development plan in place as soon as possible," Hersman said, "and in a little while there may be a lot of Ukrainians moving from the east, and there will also be a plan for resettlement." ”

Population is also an important resource, with only about 90 million people currently in Germany, and if the new Ukrainians, Lithuanians and some Poles are used, the population could reach 110 million.

"These people are peasants, miners and construction workers first, and soldiers second," Hirschman explained, fearing that Hitler would not accept the Ukrainians, "and if we go to war with the Soviet Union in the future, the Ukrainians will be good cannon fodder." ”

Hitler, however, said with some concern: "But the admission of these Ukrainians may increase the tension in the food supply." ”

Germany was not self-sufficient in grain before the war, and needed to import about 1.5 million to 2 million tons of grain every year.

"Then we should all the more accept Ukrainian peasants," Mr. Hirsman said, "and Western Ukraine is a black soil belt, and it's very empty, and there's enough land to cultivate." ”

"But I want to settle the Germans in Western Ukraine!" Adolph. Hitler stated his plan, "The lands occupied by the Poles in West Prussia, Posen, and Silesia should also be recovered and used to settle the Germans." ”

"The lands of West Prussia, Posen and Silesia, of course, should be recovered, and there are German lands." Hersman nodded.

He paused, and then said: "But in Western Ukraine, it can't be too explicit now, Ukrainians are the ones that need to be fought for...... With their support, we will be able to develop Western Ukraine in the shortest possible time. If the war lasts for five to six years, we will need the resources and black soil of Western Ukraine. ”

"But that requires investment!" Hitler reminded Hersmann, "I know what Western Ukraine has, I am an Austrian (Western Ukraine was part of Austria-Hungary), but I also know how backward it is." ”

"Well, then let's invest," Hersmann said, glancing at Hitler, "and start investing now!" ”

"Easy to say!" Hitler snorted, "That would require machines, materials, fuel, and a lot of labor!" ”

"Money is needed!" "Machines can be bought from the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland, and labor can be hired by Ukrainians," Hersman said. What we need now, Leader, is money, not barter! ”

Barter is a form of international trade developed in Germany in the absence of hard currency, and its core is "balance" - machines for food, or arms for oil, etc., basically maintaining balance. The purpose of trade was to exchange goods, not to accumulate gold, silver, or foreign banknotes.

Of course, this form of trade has its advantages, and Germany's foreign trade was maintained and expanded in the 20s and 30s, and barter trade played a major role.

But barter also had the disadvantage of making it difficult for Germany to use monetary means to overdraft the future – for example, Britain and the United States could simply swipe money when they needed to tap into foreign resources, machinery, and labor.

And Germany had to go through barter or ...... Plunder!

The former is limited by Germany's own productive forces, while the latter comes at a great cost, as Germany must constantly expand the occupied zone, which will cost considerable energy and troops.

"Money?" Hitler looked at Hersmann, "Money is waste paper!" ”

"Leader," Hirschmann laughed, "if Germany were just a bandit, then no one would trust Mark." But if we can present Germany as a righteous European leader, then we can issue a European mark that is comparable to the dollar and the pound. (To be continued.) )