Lealhadon strongly opposed the operational plan proposed by the General Staff of the German Army for a full-scale invasion of Soviet Russia.

After the outbreak of the war, the Chief of the General Staff of the German Army, General Hader, and the Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Colonel Paulus, began to formulate a comprehensive battle plan for the elimination of the Soviet Russian Social Workers regime, and the battle plan was quite feasible, the German Army was ready to use 2.6 million troops, Austria-Hungary sent 1.5 million, plus Ukraine. The Don River, the Caucasus, Finland and other countries have a total of 500,000 troops, with a total force of 4.6 million, and it is expected to capture all the European territories of Soviet Russia, including Moscow, within half a year.

This battle plan was quite feasible, but it did not serve the political and economic interests of Germany and Austria, firstly, it was very costly, and secondly, even if the Social Workers were eliminated, what would happen to Russia? This, on the contrary, would lead to the unification of Russia.

The senior generals of the German Army were indeed professional enough, but they also did lack political brains and foresight.

"Our strategic intent is only to preserve and guarantee the independent status and territorial integrity of Ukraine, the Don and the Caucasus, which is beneficial to the national security of Germany and Austria-Hungary. So, I think the war against Soviet Russia should be confined to Ukraine, the Don, the Caucasus and Finland for the time being, and our aim is only to weaken Soviet Russia, not to eliminate them. What do we gain by overthrowing the Socialist Workers' regime for the Russians? A united Russia, they will soon become strong again and become our enemies again. "We need a divided and hostile Russia, not how to help the Russians unify," Lehedon himself went to Berlin to address the German Supreme Military Council. This is the fundamental national strategy, and every military plan is aimed at achieving this strategic goal. Juashvili's eagerness to restore the rule of the Tsarist period is understandable, but the French have lost their minds when they entered the war, and it seems that the 'Popular Front' in power in France cannot be handled by common sense. ”

"According to you, we should allow the invasion of other countries by Soviet troops?" This was stated by the German Minister of War Blomburg. "In that case, the war on the Eastern Front will become very long."

"We are not trying to indulge in the aggression of Soviet Russia, so we want to contain their offensive. Of course, we need to rearm the Ukrainians, Cossacks and Caucasians. In the future, they will be the main force in the operation on the Eastern Front, and we will only play an auxiliary role, with the aim of preventing Soviet Russia from being able to defeat them. As long as the war does not spread within our borders, it will not cause us much damage, on the contrary, it will be more conducive to our industrial exports and arms exports and to our economic growth. "Our main battlefield in the future is at sea, and we need to defeat Britain and Japan." Most likely, the Americans will be added as well. ”

"You're saying the Americans will go to war?"

"Of course, they won't sit idly by and watch our victory." "They want us to be weakened in this war, to the exhaustion of the British, the French, and the Russians, and then to come out and come out as saviors to pick up the pieces." Sadly, we will disappoint them again. ”

Germany was now in a state of misery, having once again been occupied by the Japanese army in all its Pacific colonies except Annam, and to the displeasure of the Japanese, Australia had preceded the arrival of the Japanese army. seized New Guinea and the Bismarck Islands. The Germans were very unhappy with the current situation, but they could not reach for it.

Wilhelm II publicly threatened several times that Germany would definitely retaliate against Japan and Australia.

Now the question is. If the German Navy wanted to return to Asia, it had to overcome the British roadblock, so the battle plan for the Western Front was put on the agenda.

Germany's annual steel production is 33 million tons per year, while Austria-Hungary's steel production is 18 million tons, of which about half of the iron ore needs to be imported every year, which means that nearly 60 million tons of iron ore need to be imported every year to ensure domestic steel production. Most of Austria-Hungary's iron ore imports come from Ukraine and the Don River republics, some from the Austrian Congo colonies in Africa, and 80% of Germany's iron ore imports come from Northern Europe. Partly from Ukraine.

The power of the Second German Emperor, Wilhelm II, although limited by parliament and government, had unparalleled influence over domestic policy, especially the military. As a result of winning in the European competition. Wilhelm II is regarded as one of the great emperors of German history. But because of his natural defects, he himself could not personally lead a large army on the battlefield like Caesar or Napoleon. It is regarded as a lifelong regret. This did not hinder his enthusiasm for intervening in the construction of the army, and the four "Scharnhorst"-class battleships currently under construction by the German Navy are the "masterpieces" of the emperor's intervention in naval equipment.

The German Navy after the refit of four aircraft carriers of the "York" class. Only two aircraft carriers of the "Zeppelin" class were built, and after the outbreak of the war, Admiral Raeder, Minister of the Navy and Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, found that the number of aircraft carriers in the German Navy was simply not enough for the needs of the current large-scale naval battles. Raeder ordered a moratorium on the construction of the Scharnhorst-class battleships, hoping to use the four near-completed hulls to convert them into aircraft carriers.

The Kaiser opposed Raeder's construction, but the Austro-Hungarian Emperor was in solidarity with Raeder. In Leehydon's opinion, the current battleships of the German Navy were too many. Due to the outbreak of war, the battleships of the "King" class, which were originally planned to be dismantled after being decommissioned, were re-towed into the dock for modernization. Although the five German "Bavaria" class battleships suffered heavy losses in the Far East, the information received was that the two sunken battleships could be repaired after being salvaged from the water, plus the five "Mackensen" class battleships that had been modernized and the five "Deutschland" class battleships that were about to enter service, the German Navy had a total of 19 battleships.

Due to the emergence of aircraft carriers, battleships have been reduced to the role of "chicken ribs", and in another time and space, because the German Navy did not have enough carrier-based aircraft and did not have the experience of using aircraft carriers because of restrictions, the importance of aircraft carriers was not understood. But in this time and space, the German Navy itself, because it has four converted heavy aircraft carriers, has realized in practice the great advantages of aircraft carriers, because of the needs of the war, so Admiral Raeder wants to use the hulls of four battleships that are about to be launched to convert them into aircraft carriers.

Although Germany is not short of money now, it is indeed a great waste to build battleships that are expensive and expensive to maintain each year, but do not play their due role in naval warfare.

Kaiser Wilhelm II approved the German Navy's plan to urgently build six heavy aircraft carriers under the Austro-Hungarian "Romania" class aircraft carriers, but opposed the conversion of the battleships under construction into aircraft carriers. So Raeder ordered the shipyard to temporarily suspend the construction of battleships to meet the Emperor's orders.

The German Emperor had nothing to do with Raeder for the time being, and he could not dismiss him from his post as Commander-in-Chief of the Navy for no reason as soon as the war had just begun.

On this issue, the two are at a stalemate. (To be continued) R580