Chapter 993 Strategic Defense (Part 2, Additional Chapters for 3,600 Votes)

On August 6, just one day before the German army set off for Brazil ahead of schedule for massive reinforcements, a package of contracts between Britain and the Axis camp (except Japan) was signed in The Hague. This rhythm basically couldn't change the pattern - Germany neither raised its offer nor did it. It did not agree to the British request to lower the price, but insisted on fulfilling the original agreement.

This made Black Cat and others breathe a sigh of relief. What they were most afraid of now was that Germany suddenly turned its back and refused to admit its debt and raised its offer. After Germany decided to accept the armistice conditions in the last war, the Allies shamelessly played this trick. At that time, the German government had already lost its authority. It tends to disintegrate, and the army gradually recovers. It doesn't even have the ability to resist, and can only be slaughtered by others.

Now it seems that Germany is still very trustworthy, and both parties quickly fulfilled the preliminary conditions as agreed in the terms: Germany relaxed the import of food, energy and other necessities to the UK, and released 100,000 British prisoners in advance; the UK promised to start demobilization of the army and obtain parliament within 15 days. After approval, and at the same time delivering the hull and relevant technical data of the Intrepid to Germany, Hoffmann has instructed the designers to transform the ship into an anti-aircraft battleship - the only anti-aircraft battleship in the world without a main gun.

After being re-sworn in as king, Black Cat made a greater personal sacrifice. He did not ask Parliament to call Simpson queen, and he also gave up his direct descendant inheritance rights - he had to give up the throne due to this marriage. This action resolved the last remaining conflict between him and the Church of England, and also reflected his image of being willing to sacrifice himself. The British people looked at the new king with mixed emotions and listened to his vision and voice for the future of the country: "I am not here for rights, I am here for the destiny and future of this country. If you want me to leave in the future, I will I will abdicate without hesitation..."

In order to take care of the emotions of the king and Mrs. Simpson, Parliament and Edward agreed that Mrs. Simpson would be treated as "Her Royal Highness" at home and enjoy the treatment of a queen when visiting foreign countries. Although Mrs. Simpson herself was still a little emotional, she wisely said nothing - she was an American, and this identity was very important and sensitive.

Hoffmann and Ribbentrop privately promised that if she could give birth to a male heir in the future and maintain Anglo-German friendship, no matter how difficult it was, Germany would find ways to help her descendants ascend the throne.

This promise was hidden even from the Black Cat himself, and Mrs. Simpson was very pleased with it. In her opinion, as the world leader in the future, the German head of state will have a much heavier voice. Doesn’t this restoration rely on the power of Germany? The conditions provided by Germany were not bad. Although she was an American, she believed from the bottom of her heart that cooperation with Germany was the best way out for Britain.

As for the peace talks between Britain and Japan, the two sides also negotiated similar terms based on the original conditions. Although there were voices in Britain that the price paid for a mere piece of Pakistan was a bit high, but the Japanese representative pointed out that this was not only the redemption payment for northwest India, but also the payment after the British armistice. Reparations paid - Britain handed over all equipment to Germany as reparations, but did not hand over reparations to Japan.

Germany said it had suppressed the price once and could not suppress it again, otherwise Germany would not be able to stop Japan from attacking Pakistan.

In the end, Iran acted as a middleman under Germany's suggestion: Britain transferred some metallurgy, shipbuilding and other technologies to Iran, and then Iran paid Japan 3 million tons of crude oil on its behalf, also in two years, and Japan reduced its demand for British special steel by 1 million tons. Require.

All three parties were happy and finally reached an agreement happily. Pahlavi was very grateful for Germany's help. Although it was not the most advanced technology, it was much better for Germany to come forward than for Iran to negotiate on its own. He patted his chest and expressed that he would accept the Petromark system - —This is the fundamental system that binds all Middle Eastern countries together.

Unlike the petrodollars in history, the German-led oil fund controls at least two-thirds of the oil production in the Middle East and has penetrated into all aspects of development. The remaining one-third of production is also under the direct or indirect influence of Germany, which is equivalent to the later OPEC The organization is directly controlled by the oil fund.

In addition to economic and financial control, Germany also directly occupied the protectorate and military bases and stationed powerful forces, which was much tighter than the United States. At the same time, Germany does not have to support a Jewish force that disgusts Arabs like the United States does, which is of great benefit to the stability of the Middle East order in the future.

As the war on the Eastern Front came to an end and the Petromark gradually came into operation, all countries needed to rely on the German-controlled oil fund to supply crude oil. Germany took the opportunity to recover the Mark treasury bonds originally issued.

In view of Germany's consecutive victories on the battlefield, not only conquered Europe and Africa, but also took half of South America, and even squeezed an American republic from Brazil, everyone was optimistic about the prospect of German hegemony and the Mark Good news, the value of the mark has been rising. Generally speaking, a strong local currency is not conducive to exports, but Germany needs to import a large amount of materials to maintain the war. A high-valued local currency actually saves costs.

Although Germany no longer needs to spend real money to purchase supplies at this moment, it can be completed by just turning on the printing press, but Hoffmann and Speer are very clear-headed. These debts will have to be repaid in the future. If In a democratic political system where elections will be replaced in 4-5 years, of course Hoffman does not have to worry about what to do in the future. It must be whatever feels good now. But in the future, the National Socialist Party will still be in power. This routine cannot be played like this. Find ways to export some materials and technologies to maintain balance and keep the trade deficit from being outrageous.

Although Germany's current economic structure of focusing on the development of military industry is deformed, it does not mean that it cannot export, nor does it mean that it cannot make money. Iran, Iraq, Argentina and other Axis brothers are crying for the equipment in Germany's hands. The rich buy Germany's current first-class equipment. For example, the rich like Pahlavi specifically want the most advanced jets, Tiger and Panther tanks, STG43 assault rifles, and even ordered two Axis-class ships to enjoy in the future. Recently, when he heard that Germany was going to sell railway guns, he didn't even bargain and directly snatched 4 K5s away. At least he didn't get confused and didn't say he wanted to buy Gustav - who was he going to fight with this thing?

Argentina is a little poorer but has the need for modernization, so it will buy the Type 4 and anti-tank guns that Germany has eliminated. As for cutting-edge weapons, Peron wants them, but he has to calm down first.

As for the Eastern European countries with more limited finances, they directly used material exchange as a means to buy captured Soviet and American weapons from Germany. Soviet artillery and American M1 rifles were in great demand.

In the end, all the scrap copper and iron that could not be sold were stuffed into Japan, allowing them to go to the Far East to make a profit from the second-hand price difference. The thrifty Japanese always panned for gold in the garbage dump first, and then sold the remaining goods to the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. This kind of work has always been done by the poorer Japanese army, while the navy is much richer. Hori Teikichi equipped the Marine Corps with a complete set of American weapons and advanced German weapons.

Even the army was more wealthy than before after the Indian Campaign. The entire Japanese Army had more than 4,000 tanks - not the thin-skinned coffins of the past, but at least tanks above the level of the Type 3, mainly Type 4, Sherman and T-34. With the success of Japan's imitation of the T-34, the proportion of T-34 equipment is slowly increasing.

Now the army has set its sights on the German armored grenadier system and plans to develop Japan's mechanized infantry. Since the terrain in Asia is more complex than in Europe, the armored vehicles built by Germany based on half-track vehicles are not very suitable for Japan. Ishihara Kanji and Yamashita Tomoyuki believe that full-track armored vehicles are needed - they can be fewer, only equipped with 3-4 mechanized infantry divisions.

This requirement also happens to meet Hoffman's demand for the development of full-track infantry fighting vehicles. Although there is a design tender for light tanks in the E series, it is obviously impossible to achieve it overnight.

After comparison and research, the designer proposed two emergency construction plans: one is based on the chassis of the No. 3 tank for transformation, and the other is based on the chassis of the 38T tank for transformation. Relatively speaking, the No. 3 has a larger number of possessions, more chassis, and a wider spread of technology - Italy and other countries also have it, and the cost will be higher than the modified products of the 38T. .

Considering that there will be few large-scale wars in the future, Hoffman decided to develop an infantry fighting vehicle based on the No. 3 chassis to serve as a transition before the E series enters service after comprehensive consideration.

However, the weight of No. 3 is obviously too heavy at more than 20 tons. After research, it was determined that the weight should not exceed 15 tons. Each vehicle has a driver and a co-driver, and can carry 10 soldiers sitting back to back, which is exactly 12 people to form an infantry squad. The engine remains unchanged in its original configuration. After the weight is reduced, the speed requirement is increased to 60 kilometers per hour. The vehicle body is equipped with a 20mm cannon and a 7.92mm MG42 machine gun, arranged in front and back. At the same time, the members can also use the STG43 rifle to attack externally through the firing hole.

The rear passenger compartment of the vehicle has a rear door for passengers to enter and exit, and they can also escape from the top in an emergency. This design was completed in less than 2 months. Hoffman asked to modify 50 vehicles for verification first. If feasible, he was prepared to modify 1,000 vehicles first and distribute them to the troops.

To keep consistent with the original armored vehicle naming, the armored personnel carrier of chassis No. 3 was codenamed Sdkfz.281, nicknamed "Lang Guan". Japan recognized the improvement and hoped that Germany would transfer the finalized technical data to Japan in the future. Hoffman also generously agreed to this small request of the Japanese. After all, the Japanese had just spent a lot of money, so they had to give a little discount.

During this period, Japan was crazy about buying equipment, especially advanced radars, aircraft, anti-aircraft guns, etc., and the Combined Fleet was even more busy. In just three months from May to July, Germany successively delivered 400 Do-412s, 600 Ju-198s and 600 Bf-319s to Japan, more than 3,000 matching engines, more than 400 sets of sea-to-sea radars, and more than 200 sets of twin-mounted 128mm anti-aircraft guns.

Especially the Bf-319 (Gale Kai) provided at the end. Due to the difference in tactical use between Japan and Germany, the main fighter of the Combined Fleet is the Gale Kai, and the Shiden Kai accounts for less than one-third of the fighters. However, ace pilots such as Akamatsu Sadaaki like to use the Shiden Kai. In order to take care of these pilots and take into account the need to intercept the US 4-engine heavy bombers, some aircraft carriers are also equipped with a batch of Shiden Kai.

Hearing the news that the Combined Fleet was going out to the East, Hoffman nodded slightly: "The good days of the Americans are finally here..."