Under the blazing summer sun, the newly decorated "Himalayan" super battleship is parked at the shipyard's outfitting dock. After a short acceptance test, it is about to usher in the day when it will be officially delivered to the Republic of the Navy and enter service.
As Hitler was preparing to launch the "Summer Offensive" on the Eastern Front, the German side was eventually represented by Deputy Head of State Marshal Goering, Propaganda Minister Goebbels, Foreign Minister Ribbentrop, and Navy Commander-in-Chief Marshal Redel to participate in the warships. sailing and handover ceremony. For the Republic of China, a delegation headed by General Zhang Tingfu, Commander-in-Chief of the North African Front, Admiral Sa Shijun, Commander of the Atlantic Fleet, and Yang Jie, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, attended the handover ceremony of the warship.
Since the top domestic decision-makers wanted to vigorously publicize this achievement that symbolized "Sino-German friendship", not only many representatives of the Allies were invited to the scene, but also diplomats and journalists from some neutral countries stationed in Berlin were also invited to participate. This grand commissioning handover ceremony was completed.
To this end, the German Propaganda Department also sent a special photography team to make a promotional video for the commissioning ceremony of this super battleship and the two "Hindenburg-class" battleships that had been commissioned earlier, and promoted it with great fanfare to inspire domestic public opinion. People's morale. Experienced naval intelligence personnel can easily deduce some basic data of this class of super battleships from these image data. Naturally, there are many British and American intelligence personnel hidden among the cheering people at the dock.
Although with the advent of the aviation age, the dominance of battleships has gradually been replaced by aircraft ships, but if you observe this super giant ship up close, you can still feel what this industrial age has brought to people. Shocking and oppressive, the super battleship equipped with four triple-mounted 400mm main guns and a standard displacement of 61,000 tons still has the terrifying power to destroy everything.
Fang Minghao also participated in the commissioning ceremony of the super battleship. His interest was not in these two battleships. Although the two super battleships "Himalaya" and "Tianshan" built by the Republic Navy and the Germans were powerful, However, if you encounter an aviation fleet at sea, you will still be in the embarrassing situation of being beaten without being able to fight back. It will also be a tragedy in the end. The two so-called "super battleships" will still only be reduced to high-end escorts that are expensive to build and look even more impressive than their owners.
After the grand handover ceremony, he took a small naval delegation and began to discuss with Admiral Redl some details about the German Navy's entry into the Black Sea.
After Hitler's defeat in the Battle of Moscow, he replaced a large number of senior frontline commanders, which caused considerable dissatisfaction in the military, and the head of state ordered the troops not to retreat. The order to hold on to the position caused hundreds of thousands of German soldiers to suffer frostbite or freeze to death in Russia. in this winter. Non-combat attrition was several times the number of casualties in combat. The German army lost a total of nearly one million mobile troops.
In the Soviet-Russian battlefield, both sides were exhausted and unable to launch a major offensive. Throughout winter and summer, the Russian frontline seemed quite calm.
Although behind the scenes, both sides are gearing up and preparing for the next big battle.
The group commanded by Manstein is conducting the final siege of the Sevastopol Fortress on the Crimean Island. This base and port of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet seems to be occupied by the German army soon. Because of the entire Mediterranean. In particular, the Fortress of Gibraltar was captured by the Republican Army, and the German Navy's sea channel to the Black Sea was finally opened. Hitler hoped that during the summer offensive, the German Navy could enter the Black Sea to provide necessary support.
According to the plan, the Third Reich Navy will send four battleships and two aircraft ships as the main fleet into the Black Sea. Although the Turks still adhere to the policy of neutrality, they are obviously leaning towards Germany and agree to open the Bosporus. The international waterway of the strait allowed passage of the German fleet.
For these reasons, the Republican Fleet will send the main force of the Atlantic Fleet from Gibraltar to the waters south of Iceland to respond. The German fleet is currently unable to cope with the British and American fleets alone. If the Republican fleet is added to the fleet, the British will be unable to stop this fleet from entering the Mediterranean.
The two sides quickly agreed on the details of the plan, and "Operation Bloodhound" will begin in mid-July.
Fang Minghao stayed in Berlin for a while to assess the situation of the German army on the Eastern Front. And he met with Yue Chengzong the currently unemployed commander of the Fourteenth Armored Corps, General Guderian. Due to a dispute with Hitler on the front line, the armored general was dismissed from his post.
The German army¡¯s preparations for the summer offensive obtained from Yue Chengzong were quite poor due to the huge losses and attrition in the war. The German army currently has only more than 1,600 tanks on the Russian front, and the domestic military production under Goering's supervision?It's confusing. In addition, Hitler and others advocated vigorously manufacturing tank destroyers, which greatly affected the German tank production. Currently, the entire German-occupied area can only produce 350 tanks per month, which is far from meeting the needs of the front line.
"The Russians currently have about 6,000 to 7,000 tanks, and half of them are T34 tanks that have better performance than our Panzer IV tanks. The Russian tanks equipped with 85mm long-barreled guns are better than the ones we currently use. The Panzer IV is much more powerful." Although Guderian was dismissed, he still knew the situation of the armored troops well. In this world, due to the impact of the Central Asian War, the Republican Army weighed nearly 30 tons and was equipped with a 56-caliber 75mm tank gun. Influenced by the Type 28 tank and the 37-ton Type 35 tank, the Russians modified the T34 with an 85mm main gun and enhanced the tank's armor very early after obtaining captured Republican tanks from the battlefield. Although the German Panzer IV tank is stronger than in another time and space, it is still no match for the Russian T34 tank.
Due to the adjustment of the production line and the mass production of tank destroyers, the monthly production of the only Type 5 "Leopard" tank that can fight the Soviet T34 tank developed by Sino-German cooperation is less than 100 vehicles. What surprises Fang Minghao most is that the German side currently only hands over the production of this type of main tank to the Man Company, while Henschel, Boscher and Krupp, as well as the Czech Skoda, have been excluded. outside of production.
In the Republic of China, there are currently seven tank factories including Baotou, Taiyuan, Wuhan, Zhangjiakou, Tianjin, Nanjing and Wuhu, all of which are fully committed to the manufacture of the latest main tanks. There are also five internal combustion engine factories and seven internal combustion engine factories in the country. Arsenal and hundreds of civilian machinery factories are processing parts for them, which allows the Republican Army to produce more than 1,500 of the latest Leopard tanks every month.
As the main research and development institution for new tanks, Northern Military Industrial Group can obtain a licensing fee of 300 yuan for each tank, and its income has far exceeded its initial investment of more than one million yuan in research and development expenses.
"According to the intelligence we have received, the Russians' monthly tank production exceeds 1,000 tanks, and this number is still increasing. If we look at the current production situation, this summer campaign will eventually become a tragedy. Even if the front is stabilized, the German army in the east will have to equip at least 6,000 to 8,000 tanks. If the German workers do not make adjustments and go all-out production, I think you will eventually taste the bitter consequences of your own actions." Yue Chengzong said. Guderian said while introducing the Republican Army's organization method in military industry.
"Yes, I also have a pessimistic view of the future, but there is nothing I can do about it at the moment. The head of state is becoming more and more stubborn, and he is surrounded by incompetent people. No one can give him advice!" Gudri! An's tone was full of helplessness and sadness, "When I was on the front line, I advocated retreating, but it aroused his anger. As a result, I had no choice but to resign!"
"My opinion is exactly the opposite of yours. Although the German army suffered heavy losses due to frostbite, it stabilized the situation on the front line after all. The result of frostbite was caused by unfavorable logistics. The General Staff and the generals in charge of logistics should be responsible for this. This is responsible. If the German army retreats in the weather in December, what awaits the entire German army will be a worse outcome than Napoleon. If the position is abandoned, most of the German army will freeze to death during the retreat, and the entire German army will collapse. In Here, your F¨¹hrer's intuition and the strict order not to retreat are very correct. It was he who allowed the entire German army on the Eastern Front to avoid the danger of total annihilation." Fang Minghao commented on the situation of the German army after the Moscow battle. His point of view But he sided with Hitler, "From this point of view, your head of state has unparalleled military intuition. Although the casualties were heavy, this was caused by the previous chaotic preparations. This is why we have never advocated that you go to war with Russia. The reason is that even without the assistance of the Americans, the Russians will not be defeated in a short time. Your plan has great weaknesses and loopholes. When formulating the operation, the General Staff never considered the long-term war. Question." (To be continued. Please search Piaotian Literature, the novel will be better and updated faster!