Chapter 423 Caucasus (11)
Needless to say, the navy, of course, watched these 500,000 tons of diesel fuel. Dönitz watched helplessly. Although he did not say anything, Redl mentioned it to Speer several times - not only U-boats need diesel, but also S-boats and some transport ships. Diesel is available, the more the better.
Forget about the Navy, Hoffman didn't expect that the Army would also shamelessly ask for an increase in diesel supply. The reasons sounded very good: first, the T-34 and Raider are standard diesel vehicles, and there is a production capacity of hundreds of units in a month. , more diesel is needed; secondly, Germany has always had technical reserves for high-power vehicle-mounted diesel engines. The Weapons Bureau wants to install diesel engines on new tanks and trucks. The tanks can also be slowed down, and diesel engines for trucks have great advantages.
Then Frank, the Governor-General of Poland, wanted to provide more diesel. The reason sounded very good: since the head of state was willing to provide diesel to Eastern countries, why not distribute more to the Polish Governor-General. After all, there were many collective farms built using prisoners of war, and investing in diesel There’s more to gain here.
The Army's request was ruthlessly rejected by Hoffman. In addition to agreeing that they imitate the engine on the T-34, he did not recommend installing a diesel engine on the tank. Although diesel engines will be the mainstream in later generations, the problem is an excellent one. Diesel engines are not easy to form - technical experts cannot fool Hoffman. Germany currently has no shortage of tank gasoline engines below 700 horsepower, but reliable tank diesel engines above 700 horsepower currently do not have the technical capabilities in the world.
Germany's own Maybach HL234 gasoline engine has just produced samples. Although the power can barely reach 850 horsepower, it still has a long way to go before it is mature. Hoffman does not think that it can achieve greater power than the HL234 by racking one's brains on a diesel engine. results. Truck diesel engines can be used to some extent, but to simplify the supply of troops, he does not want to use them on a large scale on the Eastern Front. Perhaps they can be used on a small scale on the Southern Front - because there is a lack of reliable railway lines and higher truck carrying capacity requirements. high.
Although Hoffman has not yet responded to the request of the Polish Governorate, the request will never be approved, because Bauman has bitten Frank, accusing him of being a mastermind and corrupt in Poland, and Hoffman has signed the arrest warrant. Fritz Sauckel, the General Representative for the Deployment of Labor in Germany, will take over Frank's position, waiting for the latter who is likely to be guillotined.
This allegation is of course true, but it is not the root cause of Frank's fall. Frank only ended up like this because he offended the head of state on two things: First, he controlled the relevant economic industries and labor resources of the Polish Viceroyalty. Let Speer and Milch intervene, openly and covertly resisting the general war of the Ministry of Armaments; secondly, on the issue of dealing with Jews, Frank did not agree with the head of state's "new policy", repeatedly contradicted him in private, and continued to find excuses to kill Polish Jews. In Speer's view, it doesn't matter how the Jewish issue is handled, but if you dare to violate the Führer's policy, the outcome will generally not be good. The Führer is not merciless in killing people now - compared with the treasonous group, the Night of Long Knives is simply It's just pediatrics.
Speer didn't know that the inside story was more complicated than he imagined. In addition to the above two reasons, Hoffman wanted to move Frank, but also because of Frank's performance after the war in history: in order to exculpate himself, he randomly attacked Hitler and the Jewish people. blood and dumping all the guilt on the dead man - this made Hoffman despise him. Sauker was able to get this position as a result of many struggles. On the one hand, Sauker's position conflicts with Milch's Toth organization. There are often conflicts between the two. Changing Sauker's position will help reduce the problem. Friction; on the other hand, Sauckel was Bowman's man and was supported by the latter in the appointment.
After Deputy Head of State Rudolf Hess was imprisoned by the British and Imperial Marshal Göring died, the position of successor to the Head of State suddenly became vacant. It is generally believed in the party that four people are expected to take the position based on their current status, age, and prestige. This position is known as the Big Four: Himmler, Goebbels, Bormann and Speer. Originally, Speer could not be included in this list. After the general mobilization, his power grew rapidly, and he vaguely became the top figure of the Big Four. The Big Four are generally 10-15 years younger than the head of state, and are basically the same in terms of allegiance. However, they have considerable conflicts with each other, and conflicts will occur from time to time, and they will use various occasions to frustrate their opponents.
Frick and Himmler were very close. Bowman's move not only attacked Himmler's plan, but also promoted one of his own to the position of Governor-General of Poland - he was a direct beneficiary, while Speer was only an indirect beneficiary. who. After serving as a leader of the pluralism for half a year, Hoffman finally became familiar with politics and power struggles. The mutual checks and balances and mutual supervision of the four giants were of great benefit to him. Finally, he found an opportunity that was relatively balanced and allowed him to take charge of the overall situation. Of course, we will not easily announce who the successor will be and change this pattern.
The people Bowman captured this time also included Artillery General Seydlitz-Kurzbach. In the eyes of many people, this was an unlucky guy: he first lost the 51st Army during the expansion and disarmament. The post of commander was assigned to the reserve army. I thought I would have the opportunity to serve as the main person in charge of the reserve army. Unexpectedly, the head of state directly arranged the reactivated Marshal Blomberg to the reserve army. Kurtzbach, who had the rank of general, could only do so in front of the marshal. It was an insignificant role - so there were all kinds of complaints, and somehow these complaints reached Bowman's ears.
After the treasonous group came to an end, Bormann was worried about where to put his energy, so he immediately "hated evil" and controlled Kurtzbach on the charge of "hidden traitor". In fact, Bormann himself did not think that the other party was guilty of this crime. He thought that the Führer would at most reprimand him and let him retire from active service. Unexpectedly, the Führer's instructions on the file passed back by the adjutant were "not to be tolerated", while Frank's file was "severely dealt with." So after Bormann racked his brains, Kurtzbach "committed suicide out of fear of crime" in prison one morning.
In Hoffman's eyes, Kurtzbach, who was treacherous and cooperated with the Soviet army in history, deserved the punishment. His behavior and nature were worse than Paulus. He wanted to observe Kurtzbach's performance in the reserve army. If he could settle down and play his value in the reserve army, he would not mind giving him a decent result. Unexpectedly, he turned out to be the second Hoepner. Of course, Hoffman had to deal with him mercilessly.
After receiving the secret telegram from Bauman, Hoffman sighed. Now he finally began to understand the dictator: only constant purges and killings can keep them safe. He went further and further on this road and could not turn back.
"Führer, Minister Speer said that the Baku oil field has preliminary survey results. Do you need him to report to you immediately?"
The call from Chief Deputy Darges made Hoffman recover from his emotion. This time he rushed to the Eastern Front. In addition to observing and commanding the "Spring Awakening Campaign" on the spot, Hoffman came more to inspect the recovery of the war economy.
"Our oil and engineering experts in Iran followed the first batch of surrendered troops to check the current situation in Baku. The situation is much more serious than we thought, and the destruction is also very thorough, much more thorough and comprehensive than the destruction the British did in Iran and Iraq."
According to the preliminary judgment and estimation of experts: if enough labor, equipment and materials are invested, Baku's crude oil production can be partially restored in 6 months, with an annual output of about 1.5-3 million tons, and crude oil production can be restored to more than 5 million tons in 9 months; 1 year or more time, the refinery can be resumed; 2 years can restore oil field production to 10 million tons, and have a refining capacity of 3 million tons; 3 years can reach 70% of the peak level, and 5 years or more can be completely repaired.
"It takes too long." Hoffman pondered, "There is another problem. Even if Baku oil is produced, it is difficult for us to get it now."
After Turkey took over the Transcaucasus, it not only demanded to occupy all the land, but also had special ideas about Baku's oil resources, and did not mean to let Germany intervene. Hoffman knew this very well. President Inonu was not the leader of Iran or Iraq. He was even more cunning than Mussolini and a typical fence-sitter. Now Germany still needed the cooperation of the Turks in many places, and the relationship between Turkey and the Allies had not deteriorated to an unmanageable level. He had received intelligence that the US ambassador was still trying hard to persuade Turkey to withdraw from the war: as long as Turkey was willing to withdraw, the Americans were willing to guarantee that Turkey would maintain the land it currently occupied.
He did not intend to make enemies with Turkey for this matter. On the contrary, he had to appear more generous and make sure that the relationship between Turkey and the Bolsheviks deteriorated to an unmanageable level. However, not making enemies did not mean that he was willing to be a sucker on the Baku issue. He thought very clearly: If Turkey wanted Baku's oil, it had to develop it together with Germany, and the conditions must be favorable to Germany. Anyway, Germany now has the Middle East oil as a base, and the large oil fields in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are stepping up exploitation. The recovery and construction capabilities of related oil projects have reached their limits, and it is impossible to invest more in Baku. The funny thing is that Turkey has not yet made a request for "joint development".
"Given the actual situation, experts suggest temporarily abandoning the restoration of Baku. At most, use prisoners of war and other spare labor to clean up the ruins. If there are still people left, they can be sent to build oil pipelines."
"Don't be so troublesome. Let the Turks do the cleaning themselves and leave the Baku oil field there first." Hoffman smiled, "Let the Turks do it first and see if they can do it without the Germans."