Chapter 957 D-Day (18)
On the morning of June 24, Hoffman was reviewing the military and troop adjustment plan drawn up by the Supreme Command. Although the war has not yet ended completely, everyone believes that this world war can end in as little as half a year or as long as a year - at least for Germany.
Although maintaining an armed force of more than 8 million is impressive for Germany, it is also continuously overdrawing the national economic potential and sustainable development space, so it is appropriate to cut the armed forces. According to Hoffman's idea, the enlistment of new soldiers should still be promoted, and young people should be allowed to feel the atmosphere of war and learn discipline, patience and obedience, but the conscription standards should be controlled. Young people who do not meet the conscription standards and have no strong desire to join the army will not be accepted. Sometimes the will to fight is more important than skills.
Of course, disarmament is also a process of structural optimization. In addition to disarmament, there is also military expansion. To deal with the war in the United States, a stronger navy and air force is needed, especially with the Yunlong-class and Axis-class aircraft carriers waiting to be commissioned one after another, the shortage of sailors is becoming more and more obvious. As the biggest shortcoming of the Third Reich, the navy must be made up, so the final plan is to reduce the overall force size by 1 million to 7 million by the end of 1944. Among them, the army will be reduced by 1.5 million, the navy will increase by 400,000, and the air force will increase by 100,000.
The expansion of naval personnel includes three parts: one is the Marine Brigade, which is prepared to reorganize 12 brigades in accordance with the requirements of the 1944 type organization, so that the force size will be expanded to 24 brigades; one is the sailors, many army troops will be transferred to become sailors, especially the artillery: field artillery troops can be transferred to naval gun sailors, anti-aircraft artillery troops can go to the navy to operate anti-aircraft guns, and other communications, radar and other troops can be called up intact; the third part is pilots, and the efforts to transfer excellent pilots to naval aviation will be increased.
Adjustments of other forces within the navy are also ongoing. For example, after losing their targets for intercepting commerce, sailors of small and offshore submarines have been transferred to destroyer officers. Except for the Type XXI submarine and the super submarines under construction, the construction of other small and medium-sized submarines has been temporarily stopped to free up steel for surface ship construction.
In principle, the army will no longer retain veterans over 32 years old by the end of the year. All troops will be properly arranged to enter factories. As for the officers who have been laid off, the command has also arranged other places: the Middle East, South America, and Eastern European countries are eager to hire German officers to increase their forces, and some will be added to the two territories of German East and West Africa and the government forces of the existing newly expanded territories.
In addition to personnel, the focus of the military economy has also been adjusted. The Tiger and Panzer IV production lines will be stopped one after another, and only the Tiger 2 and Panther production lines will be retained. The production of the Tiger 2 will be adjusted to 200 vehicles/month, and the production of the Panther will be 1,200 vehicles/month. The saved steel will be used to meet the needs of the navy. The No. 4 production line is ready to be transferred to the Italians, and the Tiger production line will be temporarily retained as a backup base for the future production of the Tiger 3 (King Tiger, E45). However, although the production of the Tiger vehicle has been stopped, the No. 5 tank destroyer (codenamed Berserker) developed based on the Tiger tank will still use the Tiger chassis and the Tiger tanks that have been returned to the factory for transformation. Since the 105mm tank gun originally intended to be used by the Berserker was ultimately proven to be less successful, the gun was changed to the 128mm caliber intended to be used by the Tiger 3. The overall weight increased to 50 tons after the main gun was changed. Fortunately, the engine horsepower increased a bit, and the mobility did not decrease.
What made Speer most dissatisfied was that the HL234+ engine that Maybach had repeatedly said would be finalized and mass-produced in June was delayed again until the end of the year, because even the 901 series engine of BMW, which was the king of delays and delays, was finalized and mass-produced not long ago, but this HL234+ engine still could not be seen, delaying the service of the King Tiger tank - Hoffman said that if the 800-horsepower engine could not be used, the King Tiger tank could be temporarily postponed.
Speer issued a final threat at the meeting of the Armament Department: If they dared to delay the delivery again, all the senior executives of Maybach would be loaded into a rocket and launched to the United States - according to the schedule set by Dr. Braun, by the end of 1944, the V6 rocket with two stages in series and four auxiliary boosters was expected to succeed, with a range of 2,500 kilometers. This was not bragging by the scientists at the Peenemünde base. The two-stage series method for range extension had been verified on the V2 rocket. Under the premise of a payload of 700 kilograms, the rocket using the new propellant could hit 1,200 kilometers away. Theoretically, there is no problem with the V6 with a thicker bullet diameter and longer length.
Hoffman was very happy about this and instructed to increase research efforts and provide more sufficient supplies, energy and personnel support.
The two agendas finally determined that day were more or less related to flight.
One was about the design of a new generation of aircraft carriers. Hoffman believed that it should be put on the agenda. He proposed the construction of a large, dedicated, angled aircraft carrier of 50,000 tons. As the only country in the world with an angled deck aircraft carrier, the important value of the angle has been fully demonstrated in previous operations. The new generation of aircraft carriers will no longer be based on battleships for transformation, but will use a new design concept to build an attack aircraft carrier for the post-war period. The main standard is to be able to safely take off and land jet fighters and attack aircraft, and the hull will be wider and longer. It is required to complete the design plan by the end of 1945, start construction in 1947, and serve in 1950. Considering the lack of experience of German designers, it is also planned to introduce British and Japanese ship designers to participate in one go. To catch up with the United States - Hoffman knew that the Americans had the Midway-class design, but they just didn't have the time to build it.
The second is about the mass production of the second-generation jet fighter Ta-183 from September, the finalists of the third-generation jet fighter design plan, and the release of the bidding specifications for the first-generation jet long-range bomber and the second-generation tactical jet bomber.
Although the Raven fighter (Ta-183) is still the same model as the historical aircraft, Hoffman knows that the substantive connotation is far different. The current Ta-183 uses the HeS-011F engine with a thrust of up to 20 kilonewtons (static thrust equals 2,000 kilograms), so the body is more slender than the historical Raven. If Hoffman looks at it, it is exactly between the Ta-183 and the MiG-15.
Since Germany is not short of supplies now, it no longer needs to use the historical wood substitutes, the wing load capacity has been greatly improved, and the layout has been changed from a mid-wing to a lower wing. The overall empty weight is about 3.3 tons, and it is slightly more than 5 tons when fully loaded. The maximum speed exceeds 1,000 kilometers/hour for the first time, and can reach 1,015 kilometers/hour. The maximum ceiling is nearly 15,000 meters, and the range is over 1,500 kilometers. The firepower is still outrageously strong, with four MG213 cannons distributed on the left and right sides.
The test pilot was quite close to the speed of sound when performing a full-speed dive in a light-load state, but the aircraft structure was not adapted to this speed and eventually disintegrated. Fortunately, the ejection seat saved the pilot's life, laying a solid foundation for obtaining a reliable flight envelope. This process also made designers including Tan Ke and others understand that subsonic and transonic speeds have different requirements for aircraft structure and shape. He believes that the era of supersonic speed will come soon-now the DB016 engine with a thrust of 27 kilonewtons in the laboratory has been basically successful, and the BMW018 engine with a thrust of 34 kilonewtons is also progressing in an orderly manner. He is optimistic that the supersonic era will definitely be entered in 1946.
Therefore, the main tone of the bidding for the third-generation fighter is to require safe transonic flight capabilities-fly faster and higher.
Blohm & Voss came up with the P.212 plan, Focke-Wulf came up with the Ta-483 plan, Junkers came up with the EF-128 plan, Heinkel submitted the P.1078C plan, and Messerschmitt came up with the P.1092 and P.1101 plans. The first three plans were quickly eliminated, and Blohm & Voss and Junkers were asked to produce the Ta-183 instead. Since the Ta-483 was an improvement on the 183 plan, the Armament Department believed that it did not need to be reported and could be improved directly.
Hoffman was delighted when he saw Messerschmitt's P.1101 plan, because the design was very similar to the historical Swedish Saab-29, except that the latter used the British de Havilland engine. Following the Saab-29 plan, through the Saab-32 (Spear), Saab-35 (Dragon) and Saab-37 (Thunder), he finally got the JAS-39 (Gripen). He readily approved the three plans of the two companies, hoping to see a supersonic aircraft in a year.
The strategic adjustment meeting had just ended, and General Kaltenbrunner, director of the Imperial Security Bureau, had been waiting in the office for a long time. When he saw Hoffman coming back, he whispered: "Führer, the King of Hearts has made up his mind and formally asked us for assistance through an intermediary today."
The King of Hearts is a synonym for Ciano and has a special meaning.
Hoffman raised his eyebrows: "What does he want to do? Is he ready? Both mentally and by means."
"Ready, it is said that he found a medicine for the leader... um... a medicine that makes people extremely happy."
"Be careful, don't go too far, the leader is the leader after all." Hoffman said with a double meaning, "He has worked so hard for Italy for so long, he needs to take a break temporarily, which is good for his body."
"The King of Hearts thinks so too, but he cares more about our support and commitment to him."
"Our commitment remains unchanged. Since he is the leader's designated successor and the leader's son-in-law, of course he will continue to hold high the leader's banner and lead the Italian people to move forward."
"I will pass this message to him."
"You can go to Marshal Kesselring later and notify the troops in the Italian direction to enter a state of loose outside and tight inside, and be ready to respond to emergencies at any time."