On December 12, 1936, the day after the abdication of the British monarch Edward VIII, who "did not love the country and loved the beauty". The Reichstag adopted the Constitution of the Third Reich, and on the same day, the Reichstag elected Wilhelm II as Emperor of the Third Reich in accordance with the newly adopted Constitution.

Unlike history, from this date onwards, the throne of the Third Reich of the German Empire was no longer empty - historically, Hitler's official title was "Leader and Reich Chancellor", and after the death of President Hindenburg, Hitler adopted the strategy of "abolishing" the presidency. This meant that the position of "Leader and Reich Chancellor" became Germany's head of state.

Isn't it a bit odd for the prime minister to become the head of state?

In fact, this was a common tactic used by many European autocrats in the 20s and 30s, to leave the throne empty instead of abolishing it, and at the same time monopolize power in the name of "prime minister", "prime minister", "regent", etc.

For example, the regent of the Kingdom of Hungary, Horti. Miklos and Spanish Prime Minister Franco both used this strategy to govern the country. Hitler, on the other hand, took an ambiguous approach to the monarchy, ruling an empire without an emperor in the name of "leader and chancellor of the Reich", giving the Junker officers who supported the monarchy an infinite reverie - after all, Hitler was not young and had no children, and his successor, Goering, was close to Crown Prince Wilhelm......

However, with Hersmann's efforts over the years, the strength of the Junkers officer corps has increased much more than the original history, not only the number of officers in the officer corps (referring to the officers before the expansion of Germany's armaments) is larger, there is also a huge secret service organization, and it also has a "Junker state" Baltic Republic with a population of three or four million.

In this case, the restoration of Wilhelm II was also logical. This is the will of the entire Junker group, and Hersmann, as their agent, naturally has to conform to their will. As a political general. Hersman, like most politicians, must hold on to his fundamentals.

"Thank you, Your Excellency!"

"Hats off, General!"

"Well done, General!"

Standing in the trunk of an open-top Type 62 Volkswagen (National Automobile Factory) military vehicle, Hersmann drove past a crowd of veterans and officers in World War I uniforms. Many people saluted him.

These people came to participate in the coronation parade of the emperor, and each of them had medals on their old uniforms. Hersmann saw that his father was among them, and that the old man was now a member of parliament of the Fatherland People's Party, but today he did not attend the ceremony with the other parliamentarians, but put on his well-preserved old military uniform and walked through the phalanx with his former comrades-in-arms to be inspected by the emperor and the leader and chancellor of the empire, Hitler.

"Salute to you!" Hersman also raised his right arm and saluted.

Because of his "meritorious support", his position in the Juncker group has also risen, and he is now the Marquis of Heinsberg-Hersmann and the army general. Unlike when he was an infantry general, many people were not convinced, but now he is a general who is very popular - at least the royalist officers are convinced.

Hersman, who has been an officer for more than twenty years, knows. This kind of "obedience" is very important for the generals who command thousands of troops. This is "execution", not only will people listen to the orders, but there will also be people who will work hard to carry them out, and they will not disobey the yang and the yin.

To obtain this kind of "execution", it is not enough to just form a small circle, but also to do something convincing. What Hitler did was to completely solve the problem of unemployment and allow Germany to take off economically. Hersmann and Schleicher, on the other hand, built a strong Wehrmacht and brought back the German emperor.

"The morale of the big guys is very high. If only the old president, His Excellency Hindenburg, could see this. ”

Schleicher, who had just become field marshal, sat next to Hersmann, holding a scepter in his hand. His face was full of smugness.

"He will see, in heaven, with millions of German martyrs!" "He will be glad that we have not only brought His Majesty back, but have also built the most powerful army in the world!" ”

When two people are talking. The Type 62 Volkswagen they were riding in had already driven past the veteran phalanx – Hersmann was the chief inspector of the review, and Schleicher was the defense minister for the final inspection before the review.

As a tribute to the veterans of the last world war, the veteran phalanx will be the first to appear. There is nothing wrong with this link, just a group of old people wearing military uniforms and hanging medals, just walk the phalanx so-so.

Behind the phalanx of veterans was a military band - the Germans were more fond of music. Their marching band is also of a high level and is able to play very beautiful music. And in many ceremonies in the German army, the blowing and beating military band often went to the forefront.

Behind the military band phalanx was the cavalry phalanx. The Germans, of course, had cavalry! Although the annual production of German automobiles in this time and space is nearly double that of the original time and space, it is still not comparable with the annual output of millions of units in the United States. As a result, it is not possible to fully motorize, and Germany does not have as much fuel to consume.

So now the "mechanized" German army is only a minority, and the "burning horse manure" is the majority. There are currently 1.1 million horses in service with the German Army, which has about 1.5 million people! Each infantry division was equipped with at least 5,300 horses and 1,100 wagons. In addition, the reconnaissance battalions of infantry divisions were also mobile by horses and bicycles.

However, it was not the cavalry attached to the infantry divisions that were under review today, but separate cavalry units, a mixed cavalry regiment belonging to the 1st Wehrmacht Cavalry Brigade and a cavalry regiment of the 1st SS Cavalry Brigade.

The former is a partially mechanized cavalry, while the latter is a purely cavalry unit. However, the German cavalry no longer charged with sabers, but marched on horseback and dismounted to fight, in fact, it was mounted infantry.

"Haha, two whole cavalry regiments, it's spectacular!" Schleicher was very satisfied when he saw the soldiers leading the horses in a neat line, "It reminds me of the days before the World War, when there were still many cavalry. ”

"There are a lot of them now!" Hersmann said with a smile, "The Wehrmacht had 3 regiments, and the SS had 12 regiments. ”

The three cavalry regiments of the Wehrmacht, including a semi-mechanized cavalry regiment, belonged to the 1st Cavalry Brigade, which was a front-line combat unit. Hersman planned to equip the cavalry brigade with a motorized anti-tank battalion and a motorized reconnaissance battalion before the war began, so that they could accompany the armored forces.

As for the SS cavalry, they were all second-line troops, temporarily engaged in law and order warfare in the rear.

The cavalry was followed by a phalanx of infantry, wearing M35 steel helmets, carrying Mauser 98K rifles, shiny leather boots, leather backpacks and good quality armed belts and other equipment, all of which were good things made in Germany.

Then there was the artillery, which this time was pulled out to show the 150-mm K18 heavy guns that had just been equipped with the troops, towed by trucks, and the crew members were also sitting on the trucks - this was mechanized artillery.

Although the last military exercise in the Baltic told the German Army that they needed more self-propelled guns, the manufacture of tracked self-propelled guns required a large number of tank chassis. And the German factories are still running at full capacity to meet the needs of tanks for armored forces, and for the time being, they cannot take care of self-propelled howitzers.

However, some progress has been made in the development of self-propelled guns, and the No. 1 "training tank", which is currently being retired from active service, is being converted into assault gun No. 1 and self-propelled gun No. 1.

But these two projects are not yet complete, and naturally there are no weapons to use to demonstrate.

After the K18 cannon was unveiled the motorcycle units, which usually belonged to the reconnaissance battalions of motorized rifle divisions or armored divisions, using three-wheeled motorcycles produced by BMW and Congdap.

And after the motorcycle troops, it is the tank of the finale!

The No. 2 tank, which is no longer the original model, is a model No. 2C that has undergone several major changes, with a maximum armor thickness of 15 mm, and 20 mm of additional armor in the front of the turret. It's more reassuring in terms of defense, but the firepower is still too weak, and it's still a 20mm machine gun.

"There are a total of 400 No. 2 C-models, which will be spectacular." Hersmann looked at the neatly arranged tanks and said to Schleicher with satisfaction, "They will be enough to defeat Poland!" At most, a small number of Three and Skoda tanks are needed (Skoda has already developed several light tanks, and more advanced tanks are in the works). ”

"I think the Poles will be happy to see these tanks," Schleicher shrugged, disapproving, "because they're so small!" Without No. 3 and No. 4, the attack on Poland was not assured. The Poles also have quite a few tanks, right? ”

"There are small tanks of the TK series, with a maximum of one battalion per division," Hersman said, "and it is useless, the armor is too thin and rifles can penetrate it." However, their 7TP tank is still good. Better than our two, with greater tonnage, better armor and more firepower. But the number is too small to be useful. ”

"But they can hurry up and produce it, and if they are willing to spend the money, they can also get the help of factories in England and France. In two years, there may be thousands of 7TPs. ”

Hersman smiled, "Don't worry, we've got it!" ”

He raised his wrist to look at the time, and then said to Schleicher, "Kurt, it's still early, let's go to the airport now." This time the Air Force sent the latest four-engine heavy bombers, the Do19 and Ju89, which would have scared the British and French. (To be continued.) )