The List Regiment at Havrincourt

[Gudestein]

Chapter 1, prelude: Hitler becomes an anti-Semite:

Hitler’s perception on Jewish people was a critical factor in his later politics and his success as a rule of Germany. When he was brought up in Austria he had Jewish friends and while anti-semitism was common, nothing suggested Hitler had any extraordinary beliefs. However, Hitler writes in his memoirs on his first appreciation of anti-semitism:

"Once, as I was strolling through the inner city, I suddenly encountered an apparition in a black caftan and black hair locks. Is this a Jew? was my first thought."

"For, to be sure, they had not looked like that in Linz. I observed the man furtively and cautiously, but the longer I stared at this foreign face, scrutinizing feature for feature, the more my first question assumed a new form: is this a German?"

To answer his own question, he immersed himself in anti-Semitic literature. Then he went out and studied Jews as they passed by.

"...the more I saw, the more sharply they became distinguished in my eyes from the rest of humanity..."

"For me this was the time of the greatest spiritual upheaval I have ever had to go through. I had ceased to be a weak-kneed cosmopolitan and become an anti-Semite."

One of the few pictures from Hitlers early life in Vienna.

It seems likely from later events that seeing Jewish people in this way profoundly influenced Hitler’s interpretation of nationalism, later foreign politics and ultimately the outcome of the war. Hitler was from then on interested in politics, admired anti-Semitic politicians, and took this debate with him into the trenches of WW1. It was here in the mud, prompted by the introduction of mechanized warfare, Marxism in the ranks, the inexplicable participation of the United States, that Hitler developed his remarkable stance on geo-politics.

[Explanatory remarks:

There is no POD in this first chapter, but an introduction to the main character of the TL and the revelation that this quote is not taken from Mein Kampf as IOTL and that Hitler did get to write his memoirs. Also, while you will see a number of changes, this is as IOTL a deeply anti-Semitic Hitler confusing personal prejudice with world-politics.

 

[Gudestein]

The List Regiment at Havrincourt is my latest attempt of a full-TL. In all my TL's I have explored the question on whether the OTL WW2 was the worst possible outcome of the post-WW1 instability which left a Scientific, technological and industrial leader weakened, but unbroken, with a self-perceived feeling of humiliation and of beeing betrayed.
In past TL's I have explored various scenarios at the strategic level to tilt OTL towards the worse, and encountered multiple bottlenecks which prevented OTL nazi Germany from doing worse mayhem than they already did. Some worked, some didn't and stitching them together was not easy, nor succesfully achieved in the past.
One of the bigger problems is the cast of Nazi leaders (yes, please keep in mind when it gets glooomy that this is a work of fiction ONLY). An easy way to have Germany perform better is to replace the Nazi's or Hitler, but to see pure evil reproduced at this level once more in history is already stretching belief. I have decided to Work with the OTL characters because they are proven psycopaths, but IOTL they were not up to the task. Hence in this TL, we start way back to change some of OTL Hitler's beliefs and strengthen others. I hope this Works to tie the TL together and I hope you can still recognize Hitler.
Disclaimer: If you did not already perceive it, this is intended to be a Nazi Victory TL. If you do not like to read such TL's, there are many other TL's available. Havingsaid that, comments are welcome.

 

[Gudestein]

To understand the event unfolding more than 20 years later the participation of the List regiment in the battle of Cambrai has been highlighted by Hitler as one of the key moments that shaped his beliefs on modern warfare.

The List regiment was transferred to Havrincourt in mid-November 1917 as German intelligence had begun to expect a British offensive, but unlike the 54th division that was moved into nearby Flesquires, it was not specially equipped or trained in anti-tank warfare. The List Regiment, and with it the Lance Corporal Adolf Hitler were completely overrun in the morning on November 20th by what may be considered the first massed tank offensive. Hitler himself was wounded for the second time of the war in the leg and knocked unconscious by a machine gun shot deflected of his helmet. He would later write in his publicized memoirs:

Broken British mark IV tank similar to the one Hitler encountered - Picture is from the battle of cambraix.

“When I awoke in the afternoon I was dazed from the wound and the blood loss, behind enemy lines and left for dead. Right in front of me was a British mark 4, stopped dead, not by us, but by its own mechanical failure. I shall never forget this sad monolith of lost victory. I saw then that we had been thoroughly defeated by the introduction of a new weapon the likes of which I had never dreamed about. It was a true marvel of the modern age which left us with little chance in the defence. I later came to realize that we had been saved by the inexperience of those wielding this weapon. The British had pierced our lines, but their weapons were too unreliable to exploit their break-through. Had their mechanics been probably developed before introduction and had their support train and reserves been ready, they could have rolled up our front, instead, the attack petered out and the British became the victims of German counter-attacks that infiltrated their lines. I saw their failure not as a success of our defenders, but as an inadequate commitment of the British forces to seek a decisive victory. I wowed that if I got the chance I would not make the same mistake.

After having recovered, I exploited the confusion to crawl back through the British lines, and I was able to supply vital intelligence on the British positions before I passed out from blood loss and fatigue.”

[*This is the POD. Hitler may overestimate the importance of the information he provided, but he was never to be contradicted.]

Edit, correct century inserted

 

[Gudestein]

Chapter 3: Hitler experiences the home front in 1917.

While the experience at Havrincourt would shape Hitler’s beliefs on military strategy, the experience of being away from the front would be decisive in shaping his views on geopolitics. Hitler needed to recover from wounds, and his conduct at the battle of Avrincourt had made him a minor war hero. He was ceremoniously awarded the Iron Cross, first class*, but it was not this decoration, but rather his impressions in the famished Berlin that he visited during his recovery that would become important later on. In Berlin, he experienced the shortages of anything and the deterioration of conditions as compared to when he had been in the hinterland in 1916. Reading the news about the U-boat war, the inexplicable American entry and experiencing the effects of the blockade, this let him to the conclusion that an international agency had intervened to prevent German rise to prominence.

Hitler sensed that the stateless supranational Jewish communities represented the prime suspects to influence and organize these events. While he during his 1916 recovery had blamed the German people of being too weak to support their military adequately, the situation in 1917 was so grim and the people so divided that it was no wonder support was failing. Germany was under attack at the front, on the oceans and from within. His now famous conclusion that the American/British alliance was forged - not by the British and American people that had themselves been severed by war - but rather by the Anglo-American Jewish scheming to hold down Germanism and all other races, was shaped by this experience. Indeed, he would explain that the realization came to him like a flash in the back of his head, along with the belief that he was the sole vessel with these insights. He was the only person that could bring Germany back to greatness once more.

Hitler wrote in his memoirs: “The whole development of the war (ww1, edit) seemed incomprehensible, if not as by a deliberate act to lure the Kaiser into a war together with the deluded megalomanic leaders of a broken empire of the past (Austro-Hungarian Empire, edit), against an opposition falsely uniting races that had no reason to stand united. Clearly, the intention had been to destroy Germany quickly by an assault from the Slav hordes, but the strength of the German people prevented this plan. It is my belief that the Jews had not only conspired to make sure that Russia would defeat Germany as a global power, they had also planted the plague of Marxism in Russia to ensure that Russia would not eventually take Germany’s place. What had backfired on the Jewish plotters had been that Germany bravely held out, and now the Russian regime were collapsing too soon from Marxism from within. While the Anglo-American Judaism preferred to let the French, Italians and Slavs do the fighting from them, now even the affluent Americans had been forced to go to war as well. All nations could seemingly be called upon to ensure that Germany would finally bleed to death, either on the front or from Marxism from within.*

I saw now that the world order was not British, European or Asian. The real instrument of power was the Judaic conspirators. Judaism in its inner circle had chosen to parasitize the anglo-american powers as their main host and managed to orchestrate the rest of the world to enhance the fatness of their host. They could mobilize their French and Slav puppets, plant a plaque like Marxism and mobilize all powers to make sure no other powers based on honesty and integrity – like Germany – could rise to prominence. It was far more convenient for the Jewish conspirators to control the decadent western democracies with a loose rein. Perhaps that had been the real folly of the empires. It had been folly to think that the democracies were weak when they were the very opposite. They were controlled by an iron will, a parasite perfectly willing to bring down civilizations as long as the parasite remained safe.

[*As you can see the Hitler of this TL is no less paranoid and delusional than the Hitler of OTL]

 

[Gudestein]

Chapter 4: Hitler participates in the 1918 offensive

I was disgusted by these prospects and when I was transferred to front units in the spring of 1918, I participated in Ludendorfs last great offensive with only a faint hope. I saw this as our very last chance of success and leaving behind the despair from the home front, I swelled with pride that the German soldiers could achieve with cunning and bravery, what the British had needed steel juggernauts to accomplish at Cambrai. However, although far more successful and ambitious than the British attempt, famine, lack of supplies and the influx of brave but hapless American soldiers stemmed our final grasp at victory. We had the commitment to victory that the British had lacked, but we now lacked the strength and support to carry out the offensive. When we finally retreated, and in light of the situation at home, I knew that our moment had passed. Although I find their defeatism repulsive, objectively I don’t blame our leaders their decisions to seek a peace at this time, rather, I blame them their naïve belief in our enemies’ promise of an honorable peace. But then again, had they recognized the enemy we were facing behind the scenes in our society, they would never have allowed the Jew to take leading roles in our country. Nor would they ever believe that Germany could remain strong once the Jew could whisper in the ears of our opposing negotiators. Of all the people I met in those days, I knew that I alone could see the bigger picture. This staggered me and I could see my path ahead of me. From then on, I decided it was my task to save Germany. Also, already then, I was acutely aware that the cunning and scheming Jews could only be defeated if I kept my cards hidden.”

In these words Hitler reveals his insights into the geopolitics that lead to WWI, and would attempt to hold down any resurrecting continental power in Europe*. As Hitler then saw it, by 1914, Germany was becoming the major power of continental Europe and therefore had to be broken to ensure the supremacy of Anglo-American Jewry. With scheming and murder, the alliance system was destabilized and Germany tricked into war to save the honor of the fatherland. The introduction of Marxism in Russia, Germany and France, but not really in Britain was clear evidence that all these countries were pawns in the Jewish game of domination. Without Hitler, no one could see this pattern and the Anglo-British Jew would continue to dominate world trade, politics and their hosts would remain the richest countries in the world. Conversely, no doubt can exist that Britain will be manipulated to oppose any emerging power on the continent and can count on the US support while doing so. Thus, the Anglo-American Jewry is the ultimate enemy that Germany will have to defeat before it can dominate Europe, and Hitler would have to lead Germany with much more cunning and determination that those preceding him.

[In this chapter you have been provided a unified version of Hitlers belief system ITTL. ITTL it has matured early and the struggle against Judaism on a global scale dominates before Hitler is introduced to the “lebensraum” concept. As IOTL, when something becomes fixed in Hitler’s mind, reality must yield to it.

This is a major divergence from OTL, were Hitler strongly believed in the “stab in the back” myth and the struggle for lebensraum was the overall theme. While the Germans were perceived to be stabbed in the back ITTL, he perceives that had the war not ended, Germany’s fate would have become that of Russia’s. However, Hitler will not be against exploiting the myth politically, in fact he realize that he will need to exploit peoples own beliefs rather than necessarily communicate the complete picture as he sees it. This will help him tremendously in his rise to power and beyond as will his own belief that the Germans have lost a war of the minds.

*In text narrative writes from a position of hindsight and the perspective of this ATL]

 

[Gudestein]

Chapter 5: Hitler becomes a member of the German Workers party.

After the war ended with the armistice, Hitler would initially remain in the army. Here he would function as an informer against the communist uprising of spring 1919. He was given the task of lecturing returning German soldiers on the dangers of communism, pacifism, democracy and disobedience. This was a task he would assume with great vigour. Hitler then sought and got the assignment of infiltrating and studying the left-wing parties on the Bavarian political scene. The meeting with the German workers party was caused by the use of the word “workers” in the party name, as this lead to suspicion. It would prove to be a decisive event:

On September 12th, dressed in civilian clothes, Hitler went to a meeting of the German Workers' Party in the back room of a Munich beer hall, with about twenty five people. He listened to a speech on economics by Gottfried Feder entitled, "How and by what means is capitalism to be eliminated?" After the speech, Hitler began to leave when a man rose up and spoke in favor of the German state of Bavaria breaking away from Germany and forming a new South German nation with Austria.

This enraged Hitler and he spoke out forcefully against the man for the next fifteen minutes uninterrupted, to the astonishment of everyone. One of the founders of the German Workers' Party, Anton Drexler, reportedly whispered: "He's got the gift of the gab. We could use him."

(text in Italics borrowed from http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/joins.htm)

As Hitler would later speak of the event, he was initially unimpressed by the Peoples Labor Party. There was no written material, no program, but he was welcomed as an executive member with open arms. Hitler immediately realized that the immaturity of the party was an opportunity. The party program could then be shaped in his image. He immediately set to work on the party organization.

A few months later, Hitler and a thoroughly persuaded executive committee were able to provide his first draft of a party program. Hitler’s reasoning in writing the contents of the party program was on one hand to appeal to the German workers party anti-semitic sentiments, while not alerting the international and German Jewish networks too much and particular not provide any hints of his long-term plan. An important realization in so doing was that the party could not be a truly revolutionary party, but had to work within the rules of the republic. For this he needed external enemies to unite the party, but also mass appeals. He was active in anti-Semitic circles and needed anti-semitic principles in the program (also because of personal preference), but he needed to moderate it and channel it towards sentiments that had the broadest possible appeal. Here follows the point for what was called the National Socialisticshe Deutsche Arbeiter Partei (NSDAP):

“1. We demand the union of all Germany in a Greater Germany on the basis of the right of national self-determination.

2. We demand equality of rights for the German people in its dealings with other nations, and the revocation of the peace treaties of Versailles and Saint-Germain.

3. Only members of the nation may be citizens of the State. Only those of German blood, whatever be their creed, may be members of the nation.

4. Non-citizens may live in Germany only as guests and must be subject to laws for aliens.

5. The right to vote on the State's government and legislation shall be enjoyed by the citizens of the State alone. We demand therefore that all official appointments, of whatever kind, whether in the Reich, in the states or in the smaller localities, shall be held by none but citizens.

We oppose the corrupting parliamentary custom of filling posts merely in accordance with party considerations, and without reference to character or abilities.

6. We demand that the State shall make it its primary duty to provide a livelihood for its citizens.

7. All non-German immigration must be controlled. We demand that all non-Germans who entered Germany after 2 August 1914 shall be registered and there residence known to and subject to approval by state authorities.

8. All citizens shall have equal rights and duties.

9. It must be the first duty of every citizen to perform physical or mental work. The activities of the individual must not clash with the general interest, but must proceed within the framework of the community and be for the general good.

We demand therefore:


10. That private enterprise must serve the needs of the nation


11. That the income earned by private enterprises must be reinvested to serve the needs of the nations and not withdrawn to foreign countries.


12. That corporations having substantial influence over private and public life such as banks, monopolizing enterprises and political parties sever all Jewish influence and all direct international control.


13. In view of the enormous sacrifices of life and property demanded of a nation by any war, personal enrichment from war must be regarded as a crime against the nation. We demand therefore the ruthless confiscation of all personal war profits.

14. We demand the extensive development of insurance for old age.

15. We demand the creation and maintenance of a healthy middle class, the immediate communalizing of big department stores, and their lease at a cheap rate to small traders, and that the utmost consideration shall be shown to all small traders owned by Germans in the placing of State and municiple orders.

16. We demand a land reform suitable to our national requirements, the passing of a law to stimulate the use of land for communal purposes; the abolition of ground rent, and the prohibition of all speculation in land.

17. We demand the ruthless prosecution of those whose activities are injurious to the common interest. Common criminals, usurers, profiteers, etc., must be punished with death, whatever their creed or race.

18. We demand that Roman Law, which serves a materialistic world order, be replaced by a German common law.

19. The State must consider a thorough reconstruction of our national system of education (with the aim of opening up to every able and hard-working German the possibility of higher education and of thus obtaining advancement). The curricula of all educational establishments must be brought into line with the requirements of practical life. The aim of the school must be to give the pupil, beginning with the first sign of intelligence, a grasp of the nation of the State (through the study of civic affairs). We demand the education of gifted children of poor German parents, whatever their class or occupation, at the expense of the State.

21. The State must ensure that the nation's health standards are raised by protecting mothers and infants, by prohibiting child labor, by promoting physical strength through legislation providing for compulsory gymnastics and sports, and by the extensive support of clubs engaged in the physical training of youth.

22. We demand the foundation of a people's army.

23. We demand legal warfare on deliberate political mendacity and its dissemination in the press. To facilitate the creation of a German national press we demand:

(a) that all editors of, and contributors to newspapers appearing in the German language must be members of the nation;
(b) that no non-German newspapers may appear without the express permission of the State. They must not be printed in the German language;
(c) that non-Germans shall be prohibited by law from participating financially in or influencing German newspapers, and that the penalty for contravening such a law shall be the suppression of any such newspaper, and the immediate deportation of the non-Germans involved.

The publishing of papers which are not conducive to the national welfare must be forbidden. We demand the legal prosecution of all those tendencies in art and literature which corrupt our national life, and the suppression of cultural events which violate this demand.

24. We demand freedom for all religious denominations in the State, provided they do not threaten its existence not offend the moral feelings of the German race.

The Party, as such, stands for positive Christianity, but does not commit itself to any particular denomination. It combats the Jewish-materialistic spirit within and without us, and is convinced that our nation can achieve permanent health only from within on the basis of the principle: The common interest before self-interest.

25. To put the whole of this programme into effect, we demand the creation of a strong central state power for the Reich; the unconditional authority of the political central Parliament over the entire Reich and its organizations; and the formation of Corporations based on estate and occupation for the purpose of carrying out the general legislation passed by the Reich in the various German states.

The leaders of the Party promise to work ruthlessly -- if need be to sacrifice their very lives -- to translate this programme into action. “

In so writing the party program was intent to pledge to the state, the common people, to protect Germany from international control and de facto outlaw the communist party (see point 12). The chapters on companies working for the people was intent on appeasing left wing sentiments while the program clearly indicates flexibility for companies working to serve the German common good (as most industrialist will tend to think they are already doing). For the time, it was a skillful compromise and for its purpose it was very effective.

[The OTL program can be found here: http://en.metapedia.org/wiki/NSDAP_program]

 

[Gudestein]

Chapter 6, a party emerges.

After Hitler succeeded in defining an acceptable party program and guiding principles in February 1920, he had found his vocation and set about organizing the NSDAP. Hitler’s oratory skills were second to none and soon his following grew in Bavaria as did the party machinery. A friction was discovered in that Hitler’s mass appeal recruited discontented individuals who were also normally the listeners of communist arguments and Hitler would speak up against not only disloyal Jews, but also the communists as an infestation intend on destroying Germany. Soon thereafter, NSDAP rallies were frequented by communist thugs resulting in many clashes and NSDAP started to make the news.

The policies of rebuilding Germany’s strength and guard against international Jewry and communism also found a vocation among the better-off industrialists. During the local Bavarian elections of 1920, Hitler and NSDAP were too late to be registered, but they threw in their support for the German Nationalist People’s Party. This gave them speaking time in the conservative press, and the emergence of party donations. Following the elections, there was a center-conservative majority including BVP and DNVP, and NSDAP were getting to be seen as part of the establishment on the right. Hitler and NSDAP used the period following the 1920 elections to establish nationwide offices, but although the NSDAP were able to expand its membership numbers largely because of Hitler’s oratory skills, the NSDAP were also becoming seen as DNVP sister party for the discontended masses. Hitler saw that the NSDAP needed a sharper edge and increased his rhetoric’s against Jewish influence specifically in banks and in the political sector. The London Ultimatum of May 1921* which defined the TL for Germany’s repayment of war reparations then became Hitler’s stepping stone to the national center stage.

[*Cf. this entry on war reparations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_reparations#Young_Plan]

 

[Gudestein]

Chapter 7: NSDAP captures the streets from the communists

Following considerable activity in building the party apparatus in Berlin and Munich to which Hitler travelled back and forth on an endless schedule, Hitler’s NSDAP became seen as the natural bulwark fighting the communists on the streets, and as the opponent to Jewish influence in the financial sector. Hitler perceived the opposition to war reparations as a stepping stone towards wider based popularity, and he saw fighting Jewish financial and political influence as one of his primary political missions, although he was careful not to speak offensively against Jewish people in general. Even though Hitler saw Jewish infiltration as the world’s principle problem, he specifically played on the more common beliefs about Jewish influence and money. He wanted to harvest the support of those already anti-Semitic, broaden understanding to have a non-Jewish influenced national and economic decision making, all the while trying not to stand out to the Jewish as more dangerous than any other right wing anti-Semite. Consequently, a more common theme for Hitler than Jewry, and a theme of which he would speak at ever larger rallies, was accusing the government of sucking up to the Reparations Commission and prolonging the humiliation imposed upon Germany. While these were popular opinions at the time and Hitler was highly capable at communicating these views, they were shared by most of the German political parties in opposition. Hitler decided that NSDAP needed to stand out further and in November 1922, a series of speeches and newspaper ads accused Jewish influenced German banks, which constitutes the majority in the private banking sector*, of wanting to secretly extract funding from Germany.

Shortly after these proclamations, a series of Bank robberies, occasionally followed by arson happened in a number of Berlin and Munich Banks. Some of the robberies went wrong and people were apprehended, but the obvious ties to NSDAP were not followed up by the police. While officially denying the involvement in the Bank robberies, the NSDAP also organized soup kitchens to pay back part of the spoils and be sure to get the political credit. The crisis escalated as the communist parties joined in on the activity, but they failed to claim the benefits in goodwill – this had already been secured by the NSDAP and Hitler – and the communists only faced ridicule in their attempts while further antagonizing those who first of all wanted law and order.

What happened next was a godsend to Hitler: the French occupied the Ruhr in January and Hitler immediately proclaimed this as proof of his warnings. The NSDAP also sent cadres of SA members to organize what would sometimes become highly active and bloody resistance. Again, while these were extremist actions, they were popular among Germans and at least passive opposition within the Ruhr was indeed the action of the majority of the local Germans. Hitler, as the loudest orator and most active on the scene became seen as the principal opponent to the Versailles treaty and membership of the NSDAP sky-rocketed as did participation in the SA. The SA now became very visible in combating communists in the streets and they would play the major role in organizing demonstrations in Berlin and in the Ruhr.

While these events clearly gave Hitler an important popularity base and a political position as the dominating party on the far right, what happened behind the scenes has been a source of much controversy. Clearly, banks with German owners were exempted from attacks and some of their leaders would personally prosper after the Nazi take over at a later time. It is also clear that suddenly funds were available to let Nazi newspapers appear throughout Germany and the costs of this long-term must have been more than what was available from the robberies themselves. Clearly, while claiming that the government was a puppet of Jewish financial influence, Hitler could not be seen as a puppet of German owned banks instead and he always denied such allegations. Maybe he was not directly influenced beyond working against Jewish banks, but it seems sure that Hitler did receive money from some banks owned by non-Jewish Germans from 1922 and onwards.

Internationally, the civil unrest in Berlin and the frequent street fights and strikes in the Ruhr seemed to reinforce the British position that the French military intervention had been a mistake. The immediately following hyperinflation was hyped as a Jewish/French punishment in Germany and the British popular opinion at large who were not to confortable with neither the French nor Jewish people were predisposed to agree to a large extent**. The events of the German national elections in 1924 would be pivotal in forming an international anti-French political coalition that would at the same time lessen the burden of Versailles and improve the German economy, but would also stem the tide of rising NSDAP popularity for a while.

[* Please bear with me here. Searching for Jewish influence in the Weimar era gives you a lot of crazy hits. This one from Princeton University Press, “Sarah Gordon: Hitler, Germans and the “Jewish Question””, stipulates the vast majority of the privately owned Berlin banks to be owned by Jewish people. I don’t know if her figures are accurate, but I go with the assumption that there were indeed some banks with Jewish owners and that the banking sector at the time was seen as Jewish Influenced in Germany, Europe and for that matter the US. In any case, such views would be the official doctrine in a post-nazi war, which is the tone in which this ATL is written. This assumption on OTL and TTL beliefs is also the reason why Hitler takes this approach to let out his impatience for more radical action. He is advocating anti-semitism, but in a form that has a relatively wide appeal. Breaking Jewish influence over finances and politics also happens to be a paramount objective in his deranged political beliefs.


**This is not really a change from OTL, but increased instability resulting from this question was seen at a large scale even before the occupation ITTL. Thus, radicalism and chaos in Germany is seen as a highly predictable result of French stubbornness and inflexibility to an even larger degree than what it was IOTL. ]

 

[Gudestein]

Chapter 8. The inflation election and recovery in 1924.


The federal elections of May 1924 or as it would be called “the inflation election” established the NSDAP as a political power for the first time, entering the Reichstag with 12.5% and 62 seats making it the 4th largest party. The party benefitted to a considerable degree from Adolf Hitler’s oratory skills and a carefully crafted balance between extremism and widely appealing demagogy.


While no-one who knew Hitler privately would doubt that he was virulently anti-Semitic, in public he only voiced a minority of his views, focusing almost entirely on Jewish control and influence at the economic and political level. Hitler would not speak about racial struggles, but rather express the rather academically formulated view that a super-national culture should not hold national influence (over Germany or any other countries).

Regarding the “stab-in-the-back” Hitler would use this myth to perform highly agitated speeches against the German establishment. He would later explain in his memoirs that he found no difficulty building up the fury against the so-called 1918 traitors. The peace of 1918 was a conspiracy against Germany, whether it was domestic or international.

However, were Hitler chose to stand his ground was with the Versailles treaty and France. In his views it was treason to comply with the provisions, and all means necessary should be taken to ensure France would gain nothing from the occupation of the Rhineland. Even acknowledging a renewed schedule under the Dawes agreement was a national mistake.

Hitler and the NSDAP wanted to renegotiate their international relations starting with the cancellation of the Versailles treaty, and no reparations were to be paid. Other central themes such as Pan-Germanism which was a major theme within the NSDAP members were voiced in the campaign, but only as a long term objective or dream.

Following the election, the traditional leaders from the center, GDP (5.7%), GPP (9.2%), CP (13.4%) were able to form a minority coalition, but they would always depend on a plethora of smaller parties and either the German National People’s Party or the NSDAP to pass new legislation.

This was a highly unreliable situation and a new election was held in December 1924 after the Dawes agreement and the stabilization of the currency had caused considerable improvements in the economy.

NSDAP would lose votes in the December 1924 election, but Hitler would show political courage by taking a stand for his long-term view points. Thus, despite the dramatic improvements of living conditions following the accession to the Dawes plan, Hitler claimed that acceding to it was just postponing the misery and humiliation - indeed reparations would be increased when the German economy improved. Bread triumphed over pride at this election and the NSDAP lost 3% or 15 seats and ended at 9.5% and 47 seats in the Reichstag. It was in agitated frustration over this defeat that Hitler declared that the resumption of economic growth would not be allowed to continue by Germany’s enemies. The International Jewish influence in the financial sectors would again manipulate the world to assure the downfall of the German people.

At the time, this outburst was seen as an embarrassment and immaturity by the young agitated demagogue, and clearly lost Hitler popularity in the more educated circles. However, 5 years later what had been seen as desperation was to be heralded as prophecy.

While the re-elections reduced the influence of the far-right somewhat, primarily to the gain of the social democrats, Hitler would never forget that the established parties had robbed him of Victory by calling new elections. After the elections, a center majority coalition could still not be formed and still, either the German National Peoples Party or the NSDAP + a plethora of smaller parties was needed to pass legislation without the Social Democrats or the Communist Party**.

In the following years, Hitler would use this significant influence to gain small concessions that suited his long-term goal. In these years, NSDAP would propose initiatives favoring self-sufficiency and quality of the Wehrmacht within the legal boundaries.

The initiatives conducted in these years would prove instrumental for the transformation of the German society when the NSDAP finally achieved the supreme power and will be described in the next chapter.


[*Up 6% as compared to OTL gains by the National Socialist Freedom Movement, Gained from German National Peoples party and to a lesser extent the communist party.

**The national socialist’s dropped from 6.5 to 3% IOTL so it’s a similar decrease on a national scale. The major difference is that with the majority taken from the German National Peoples Party two possible coalitions exists to the right and one to the left of the center party. This enables Hitler to achieve small political pay-offs in exchange for passing or not voting against necessary bills. In this TL Hitler initially moves within the parliamentary rules. ]

 

[Gudestein]

Chapter 9. The NSDAP/industry alliance

While the center parties are often verbally concerned with favoring the private economic sector, it soon became clear that Hitler was one of the best investments for nationalist minded industry tycoons, bankers and even large land owners looking to make a good investment. Cash would start pouring in to support the administration of Hitler’s shadow government and Hitler would lend votes to many initiatives that somehow benefitted the German industry, military and self-sufficiency.


These initiatives followed a similar pattern from 1924-1929 and included numerous initiatives throughout Germany. Thus, it was not only secret activities in Russia that received the NSDAP backing, but also municipal constructions such as airports, restoration of railroads and water ways. Specifically for Wehrmacht or Wehrmacht related technologies and critical infrastructure Hitler would take a rather uncompromising course and insist on adding in his own 50-100 million Reichsmark influence - the price for accepting the annual national budget and reluctantly agreeing to various bits of necessary legislation.


This reputation in the right circles led army officials to contact him regarding the support for military development in the Soviet Union. Hitler relished this project which fitted exactly with his own world views that Germany should secretly rearm, and he worked to double the budgets from an annual 10 million to 20-25 million reichsmark. One of the major changes he advocated would be much more emphasis on actually constructing tank prototypes and he worked to ensure that the German aviation training center was placed near the Black Sea to establish a naval aviation emphasis*.

Notably, with every prototype considered and in particular the tank developments, Hitler insisted that new products were tested rigorously under field conditions as a necessity for backing the projects. As Hitler would be infamous for declaring: “The British tanks that defeated us at Cambrai drove to the battlefield, but they broke in the trenches”**.


For the Reichsmarine Hitler was able to vote for increased support already in 1925. NSDAP would assure funds to increase and re-hire staff for the Naval design bureau in order that the few ships Germany would be able to build under the Versailles treaty, at least would be cutting edge designs. Funding would also be set aside for long-term research into technologies that could improve the performance of ships facing tonnage restrictions. Such research included electric welding, structural armor (eg. using tough yet tensile steel alloys), testing of welding and armor scheme efficiency under various conditions, dual purpose guns, overall improvements of shell and gun performance, fire-control, and quite peculiar, a fixation on diesel engine investments and combined diesel and steam propulsion (CODAS). Hitler officially argued that the diesel engine development might stimulate an existing German technology edge and have smaller upkeep costs, but as we know now, they also offered the best prospects of increased range at high speeds. These long-term research objectives were laid out by NSDAP in 1925 together with a request that Krupp would be reimbursed to establish gun pits for large naval guns in Brandenburg, outside the influence of the French occupiers. Hitler would require 50 million in 1925 and 20-30 million reichsmark per year over the next 5 years for these investments, but then he would approve the national bill which was otherwise quite a predicament.

In his memoires Hitler would explain this fixation on specific naval design strategies with his perceived need to build superior ships within treaties designed to reassure Germany’s enemies. Germany could not build a navy to numerically rival Britain, but no treaty could prevent Germany from launching ships with a higher rate of fire, more accurate shooting and efficient damage control, or better armor allowed by welding techniques and use of structural steel for armament (and as time would show, by increasing the actual tonnage by 10-20% or more by making ships with deeper draught than officially disclosed).

The newly financed Krupp gun-pits were officially intended to build heavy coastal gun-installations at German ports of which some guns were allowed under the Versailles but not used to the limit. The French occupation of the Ruhr seemed to justify this move as a move towards self-sufficiency and self-determination.


A small cooperation, the “Metallurgische Forschungsgesellschaft”, would be established in 1926 to provide favorable loans and support to look for minerals on German soil. An agricultural investment bank and a research institution was also established in 1926 dedicated to put former forested areas under the plough and to increase the yield of food harvested respectively. Both of these initiatives were instigated following discussions between Hjalmar Schacht and Hitler after the former had left the Deutsches Democratishes Partei. Schacht left DDP in protest against confiscation of large land-owner estates and was vulnerable to Hitler’s resolve in his search for political allies. He found Hitler a keen listener and Schacht teamed up with NSDAP to collaborate on these early self-sufficiency schemes. At least they aimed to stimulate investments through incentives rather than confiscation as the communist were attempting.

One of Hitler’s key interests in this area apart from stimulating national self-sufficiency, and provide a positive stimulus to the Junkers whose support he needed (as opposed to having their lands confiscated, stimulating investments in agriculture and agricultural science is much preferable), was that the German industry would start producing tractors by the numbers. When Junker estates were put under the plough, it happened in scarcely populated regions and the norm would be large and effective mechanized farms. Hitler and Schacht’s investment banks provided the finances to what would actually become quite profitable investments and over time it would dramatically improve the German industry’s ability to produce large tracked vehicles. This had been one of Hitler’s central goals since the faithful battle of Cambrai in 1917. The agricultural research center latched on to the only one of its kind in existence and implemented wheat sources and techniques from the center in Rieti led by Nazareno Strampelli.


1926 was indeed Hitler’s most influential year up until 1929, and he could now use his acquaintance with Hjalmar Schacht to string plans together and find creative financing opportunities. When Deutscher Aero Lloyd and Junkers Luftverkehr merged to form Lufthansa, and Hitler would vote for public loans and investments to Lufthansa, in exchange for the commitment of Lufthansa to service a number of domestic and international lines. Interestingly, Lufthansa would in turn start to help the NSDAP in running sportfliegerclubs for the youth, primarily with the use of gliders. This was a way of stimulating the German aircraft industry through otherwise exceptionally harsh times. Similarly, 1926 was also the year of the merger between Daimler and Benz which prompted Hitler to speak out against the starvation of German technology corporations and secure funds for forward looking investments.

The German aviation and aero engine industry would be given basic funds to stimulate training of new engineers and proposal for new ideas and concepts and in 1927-8, requests for new families of aero-engines were issued aiming at both inlines, radials and diesels and for sport planes and larger long-range multiple engine passenger and transport planes.


For the army Hitler would generally advocate the introduction of the most advanced weaponry, but frequently could not move enough Reichsmark around to make a noticeable difference - with the exception of the secret developments in Russia.



Hitler would also help fund specific scientific disciplines including petrochemical industry and engineering which was his primary price at the 1928 national bill negotiations. IG Farben had initially been founded with the help of Hjalmar Schacht and when Hitler and Schacht started to collaborate more closely from 1926 and onwards, this was the collaborator with whom Hitler most openly could explain his desires for stimulating national self-sufficiency. The leadership in IG Farben knew that the NSDAP foresaw a future were a rebuild Germany needed strength to reassert itself in the world and had to be blockade resistant. Synthetic fuels, textile, rubber, and chemical weapons*** thus came on the IG Farben long term research agenda.


Overall, while Hitler during this period was unable to initiate any actual difference in rearmament he was able to stimulate continuous technological development and recruitment of scientific and engineering talent into defined areas of research, development and engineering. Together with Schacht, he was instrumental in stimulating the agricultural mechanization and many other areas of German home production which did make a profound difference and would over time release millions of workers to industrial jobs while increasing food production.


[*The naval aviation base was planned IOTL and the site selected near Odessa, before it was cancelled

**People familiar with German technology development in WW2 would realize this as a ground-shaking departure from OTL with numerous butterflies. Germans were defeated by new technology, but saved by its inadequate reliability in the field. Now Germany must defeat its enemies with new technology that is verified to work.

***Hitler did not personally experience the effects of chemical warfare ITTL].

 

[Gudestein]

Chapter 10, 1928 elections and the question of rearmaments.

The years 1924-28 had seen substantial improvements in German living conditions. These were being seen as related to the social benefit rights which provided popularity for the social democrats and for the public efforts to create jobs that was becoming more and more associated with the NSDAP. The draft for the 1928 annual budgets had been made in the spirit of an election year and the ruling center party coalition independently suggested the building of a new class of Deutschland class capital ships to mark their position within German nationalism. As NSDAP had always been supportive of military investments and independent political viewpoints are critically important in election years, nobody had assured the backing of the NSDAP and Hitler was furious. Predictably, the center group of the Reich Party of the German Middle class, German National People’s Party, German Democratic Party, German People’s Party, and the center party on the one hand were for the new warships and the communist and social democrats on the other hands advocating free school meals quickly instead went into serious infighting.

To everyone’s surprise, the NSDAP, ran nationwide advertisements undermining the position of both factions. Hitler would declare that the Deutschland class was a premature design, not fulfilling the mission of asserting sovereignty in Germany’s own region, and in the bigger picture was an infantile provocation designed to threaten the greater sea powers. The problem was however not primarily the design of the ships, but also the puny scales of the modernization ambitions. In the present state were Germany experienced growing national deficits and ever increasing war reparations, spending valuable Reichsmark on ships that would label Germany as a threat to world peace was not only politically irresponsible, but also a wasted opportunity. The unique opportunity should be taken to first design a proper and modern heavy cruiser that could exert control in the Baltic region and in the meantime modernize the German shipyards, recruit apprentices and provide loans towards the construction of profitable commercial ships. Then, in one to two years, the time would be ripe to start modernizing the entire German fleet up to the limits laid out in the Versailles treaty (Hitler would later remark that “I never said we would not go beyond that limit. I just said that we should plan to reach the limit with a modern and effective fleet).

The Social Democrats would not get off without a lash either. Hitler would Quote Lao Tzu: “Give a man a fish, and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and feed him for a life-time”, to imply that the Social Democrats would rather feed the children on the state’s pocket, than provide jobs for their fathers or to teach a trade to their older brothers so they could both feed their family and make Germany strong.

In the NSDAP propaganda, the German center had allowed the Versailles to enslave Germany from abroad while the Social Democrats and communists were willing to move the country towards bankruptcy by extravagant reparations payment and fruitless expenses. Now if people wanted their children to receive a free meal after school, they only need to join the Hitler Jugend.

As NSDAP was the established pro-military albeit radical party on the right, Hitler denouncing the planned expansion destroyed the credibility of the proposal. Equally importantly, the tirade against pointless and extravagant expenses by the left secured some votes and dramatically increased Hitler’s credibility in the years to come. A well-funded German NSDAP press was beginning to hammer home its message time after time: The left spending money was pointless and enslaving Germany, the center was irresponsible and without thought for the working man. NSDAP spending was smart money spent; it created jobs and it made Germany strong.

Far from a land slide victory, the 1928 election would still see nearly a doubling of NSDAP support to 17% and 85 seats in the Reichstag largely at the expense of the German National Peoples Party which lost over half their votes ending at 8%. Hitler’s tirades against the social democrats did not prevent the election from being a social democratic victory. The social democrats with 26% support formed a dysfunctional government under Streserman, which had to concede on many viewpoints either to the center or the NSDAP, and at the moment every card seemed to be played into Hitler’s hands. For the military, a compromise would be made in which the first Deutschland ship’s would not be laid down, instead 5 light cruisers were laid down to follow the Emden ending with a totaling of 6 new cruisers allowed under TOV – AND massive improvements for the shipyards, as well as loans for liner and freighter construction would be implemented. These orders and loans included a requirement for massive inclusion of new apprentices in the shipyards and strategic investments into the production capabilities of large marine diesel engines, turbines, gears and boilers.

The leadership in the Reichsmarine took notes of these political developments and gladly tailored the ship designs to NSDAP wishes. The new cruisers would officially be designed to Versailles limits, but the designers would know that this could not be kept with the deliberately late introduction of a mixed diesel and turbine propulsion plant. Officially to be designated as 5999 ton light cruisers, the ships ended up totaling 7200 tons and were in effect designed for long-range scouting and escort missions.


Hitler could stand back and see his mark on the popular initiatives, the center’s mark on the unpopular ones and the social democrats deserting one of their major campaign promises. During 1928-30, Hitler and NSDAP would not exert a direct influence (the social democrats and the center had a majority), but NSDAP was clearly the party on the rise and no-one wanted Hitler’s oratory fury descend upon them as it had descended upon the German National Peoples Party in 1928.

For the center party, once the panzerschiffe were introduced on the agenda, it had been too late to go back on the promises for the 1928 election campaign and stop the Deutschland design, but with the postponement of further building, Hitler would from now on be asked for his opinion – approval even – on any new major military investments. While the German military would find that Hitler had many opinions not entirely consistent with peaceful intentions, his role in the debate over the Deutschlands which were obviously designed as commerce raider would lead to a gross international misinterpretation of his intentions (eg. He is seen as against the commerce raider). It remains obscure even today if this outcome was part of a master plan of Hitler’s as later claimed, or if it was an effect of losing his temper after not being counseled. However, it is evident from Raeders diary that Hitler shortly after the election did consult him and that together a plan was made for the future expansion of the German navy.


In 1928-30 Hitler would on occasion save the social democrats from the predicament they found themselves in when passing legislation, but his price would be to commit the government to an investment program for self-sufficiency in 1928 it could ill afford at the time (see investment priorities in chapter 8-9): This program included funding to both Daimler-Benz and Opel for large tractor factories to kickstart agricultural mechanization and a small, but industrial scale synthetic fuel demonstration plant by IG Farben, opening of new oil rigs domestically, slowly increased coal and domestic crude iron production, and excessive deforestation to put new land under the plow. Ironically, it was not to be communism who put the hunting grounds of the Junkers under the plough, it would be the state investment banks operated under the auspices of Hjalmar Schacht. The decisive factors being the availability of mechanization tools and increasing import tariffs that finally came together to provide an effective German agricultural sector. Hitler’s immediate goal had been self-sufficiency but the down-stream and long-term effects of this revolution were to improve the FOREX balance, improving the German industry and provide former farm hands for the continuous growth of the industry and Wehrmacht.

In 1929, Hitler again made few requests, except providing funding for a five year expansion program for the Lufthansa and a marine diesel factory to be completed by MAN diesel. The official task for Lufthansa would be to make transatlantic passenger flights, thereby demonstrating German technological prowess.

[ITTL Hitler’s initiative coalesce to strengthen German armaments compatible industry over a 4 year period from 1926-30 including agricultural mechanization to improve yields, FOREX and free up labor that did not happen IOTL].

 

[Gudestein]

Chapter 11: Development of Hitler’s shadow administration from 1924 -1929.

Hitler established a shadow government in the form of dedicated advisors following the initial parliamentary success in 1924. With the access to stable sponsorships within the German financial sector the funds were available so these advisors could perform their lobbying duties. This organization would grow into much more than a symbolic appointment of party officials with the addition of a private army (the SA), an elite bodyguard (the SS), an intelligence network (the SD) and a nationwide youth program.

Following the 1924 elections a number of notable people were appointed to designated advisor roles. Advisor on economics within the party was unquestionable Otto Wagner. In essence, Wagner carried the responsibility for NSDAP finances and guided Hitler’s views on economics. From 1926 Schacht became a close collaborator with Hitler and together they launched a number of initiatives from NSDAP’s position as an influential opposition party.

Advisor and organizer on defense would be Hermann Göring, Göring was already the leader of the Sturmabteilung or SA since 1923. Göring would later recruit subordinates such as Heinrich Himmler to organize Hitler’s bodyguard and Otto Wagner to lead the SA in 1928.

Otto Wagner had been a member of the General Staff from 1916 and was well connected in businesses. He personally used his creativity to fund and expand the shadow army of the SA as this example shows:

“Wagner had used his business contacts to persuade a cigarette firm to produce "Sturm" cigarettes for SA men -- a "sponsorship" deal benefiting both the firm and SA coffers. Stormtroopers were strongly encouraged to smoke only these cigarettes. A cut from the profit went to the SA ....[“


In this development of the SA Göring showed his acumen in acquiring power, then delegating and search for more power. Göring was a critical figure throughout the rise of Adolf Hitler, by ensuring that loyal and competent subordinates implemented Hitler’s strategic visions.

The appointment of an SA leader from the general staff would have profound consequences. Organization was made with military inspiration and what would start out as a few dozen would swell to a small, but disciplined paramilitary army of 50000 in 1929*

The SA could have become larger, but Hitler’s support for private ownership cost radicalized members. Also, the SA would on occasion turn down members as a disciplined force was needed that would not destroy Hitler’s reputation, and too fast growth would compromise the training and indoctrination of the troops. Hitler would later claim that he saw the SA as a future part of the Wehrmacht, already from the start. “While the Versailles only permitted the German army 100000 soldiers, no restrictions applied to private armies”.

The Schütsstaffel (bodyguard), Hitlers bodyguard, contained only a few hundred men under the leadership of Heinrich Himmler, when the first intelligence crisis broke out in 1926.During the summer/fall of 1926, the SPD circulated a press release stating that Soviet hand-grenades were killing hundreds of innocent Germans. On 02 December 1926, Britain's Manchester Guardian published an article stating that Sondergruppe-R of the Reichswehrministerium and GEFU and WIKO were working with the Soviet Union on German re-armament issues. This article really helped stir the pot of intrigue and speculation. On 16 December 1926, the German communist party countered the SPD position by stating that the SPD was full of lies. Of key importance to the argument of the SPD was that three Soviet munitions ships had indeed docked in Stettin to unload their cargo including hand-grenades which were channeled for the communists**.

Hitler was naturally shocked, not only by the import of handgranades to communists in Germany (The SS already had access to small arms and the SA was trying to get as many as possible as well), but even more that SPD had revealed the affair publicly and thereby drawn international attention to Germany’s secret rearmament. Hitler personally intended to promote as many secret rearmament arrangements as possible and realized he needed tight security. This realization then led to the formation of the Sicherheitsdienst which saw it as its immediate purpose to identify non-reliable elements. Initially with a focus on individuals involved directly with NSDAP negotiations, later following onto their connections like ripples in a pond. Hitler would also be quick to realize that a dossier on political opponents could come in handy, and he would not take long to form the conclusion that such information could be directed against them. Gradually, an obsession with intelligence gathering took hold in Hitler and he spurred onwards his acolyte Heinrich Himmler, to follow his own trail, that of fellow Nazi dignitaries, political opponents, key officials in the Wehrmacht procurement, their connection in the various subcontractors and developers. The trail would even be followed into the military’s own intelligence organization named the Abwehr.

Another crisis which had broke out in 1925-6 and one which we have briefly mentioned above is the petition for a referendum to confiscate the Princes property. On 25 November 1925, the Communist Party initiated a bill. This did not provide for any balancing of interests between the states and the royal houses, but instead specified expropriation without compensation. The land was to be handed over to farmers and tenants; palaces were to be converted into convalescent homes or used to alleviate the housing shortage; and the cash was to go to disabled war veterans and surviving dependants of those who had fallen in the War. The bill was addressed less to the parliament, where it was unlikely to gain a majority, as to the populace. The petition for a referendum was meant to allow the people to express its will for a radical change in the ownership of property, first of all with respect to the seized property of the ruling houses.***

The result was a referendum held in March 1926 which rejected the proposal, but before this came to pass, the debate caused considerable difficulties for the SPD who ended up mostly in favor and for the Deutsche Demokratische Partei which was split over the referendum. Hitler was quick to exploit and derail the debate, stating that the problem was not the large properties held by private landowners per se, and that confiscation without compensation should only be considered at the utmost necessity and prompted by criminal acts. The problem was rather the fact that these properties were not put to use for the common good, because the infrastructure and investment climate was not available (due to the financial drains imposed by the Versailles treaty etc.)****. These statements immediately caught the attention of the dissatisfied DDP co-founder and president of the Reichsbank, Hjalmar Schacht. NSDAP and Schacht collaborated to put forth an alternative proposal in which the Reichsbank could guarantee for private loans for development of large agricultural business. These businesses would in turn gain a federal guarantee that any investments would be added to the land value in the case of future expropriation. The bank was establish and in a climate were lands could be confiscated after the next referendum, large land-owners were keen to have possessions registered as important for the common good. Communist party statements such as "Russia gave its rulers five grams of lead. What does Germany give its rulers?”, also helped pave the way for the initiatives success. Hitler would later answer this question as follows: “When the former rulers wished to become faithful servants of the state, the state was keen to lend a hand in support”.

The agricultural investment bank was a huge success and the bank would never lose money on the risk entailed in guaranteeing the loans. As it was, the time was ripe for large effective mechanized farms (the new effective tractor’s made mechanized farms much more effective and profitable than traditional farms), and the initiative became a boon for the economy in rural Germany. The financial success of the Bank was another reason why it could later expand its focus into exploitation of Germany’s natural resources in general. Hitler later explained that he worked feverishly in support of the bank, not because he was opposed to confiscation of property by the state, such could be necessary, but for three defined reasons: The bank was a counterproposal to a communist initiative, it would provide gratitude among the ruling non-Jewish economic elite and finally, it was a way to promote the heavy automobile industry. This had been a fixation point for Hitler since his experiences in Cambrai.



[*This number is about half of what is seen IOTL at the same time despite NSDAP being more successful. The party profile is less radical than IOTL.

**An OTL leak with apparently remarkably few butterflies IOTL http://www.feldgrau.com/ger-sov.html

***https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expropriation_of_the_Princes_in_the_Weimar_Republic

****A clear reference to the party programme]

 

[Gudestein]

Chapter 14: Epilogue

A small summary before we move into part 2. As stated in the beginning, the purpose of this ATL is to show how bad the post-WWI instability could have gone. ITTL I have a delusional leader set on world war who makes Germany considerably more prepared for a long war, than Hitler did in OTL.

I would encourage anyone to explore this route (or just start it from here), because there is a potential that things could have gone much worse. Irrespective of how I take it from here.

First chapter in part II will be uploaded in a few minutes.

 

[Gudestein]

Chapter 16: The rise of the foreign branch of the SicherheitsDienst (SD) and Reinhard Heydrich

The SD had been formed already in 1929 and had formed dossiers on journalists and politicians involved in armaments decisions, identified the leaders within military technology development and had held them under periodic surveillance. In 1932, SD came to lead these activities throughout Germany and took over foreign industrial espionage from the Abwehr. The resources for domestic counterespionage were dramatically increased which lead to early successes in identifying spy’s working for foreign governments (See Otto Krueger example in the next chapter). The SD next attempted to establish networks abroad with a far reach. Even including activities to be supported in South America, Mexico, Canada, The United States and Great Britain and Ireland. One of the immediately informative routes was basically to ask follow-up questions to the offers Germany received to establish tractor factories in Germany. The offers included documentation of competences and thus the US route would help create a detailed map of strategic armaments installations in the Soviet Union. It was a fact of considerable irony that the Germans did not need to steal secrets in the US. They could be bought. Once a business collaboration had been established (eg. a contractor to design a larger aeroengine plant for Brahmo radials), it became easier to purchase research assistance. Once secrets had been sold or reengineered in Germany, blackmails and/or further bargains could keep the information coming.

The SD also took part in some rather less intelligible activities under direct orders from Hitler. The SD was to seek influence and information in political circles and the media to establish and reinforce a picture of Germany as the Bulwark of western civilization. On a more offensive nature, the SD was to search for the nature of international Jewish conspiracies and sensitive information on influential Jewish people in order to limit Jewish influence in the years ahead. Heydrich would perform all of these tasks diligently, but never saw any information of an actual Jewish conspiracy. Nevertheless, falsified information, misinformation, and just the information that could be dug up could be construed to paint such a picture as the anti-Semitic sentiments were there from the onset.

 

[Gudestein]

Chapter 17: The home branch of the SD and early scientific development.

While the foreign branch of the SD was concerned with espionage abroad as well as foreign espionage in Germany the possibility was there to take over large areas of responsibility and the SD foreign branch would grab it. However, the home branch of the SD were tasked with looking at domestic enemies such as those unfriendly to the NSDAP, and surveillance of strategically important projects and people. Not surprisingly, the home branch of the SD under Himmler would overlap with the auspices of the Gestapo that in these years was led by Göring. Ultimately this system assured that every security task was covered by two agencies and frequently saw agents monitored as suspicious individuals by agents from other agencies. While wasteful, this in-build control of reliability by redundancy soothed Hitler who was a strong believer in validation.

What deserves special notice is the initiative to strengthen German science and innovation. Naturally, the Wehrmacht requested developments from the knowledge it already possessed and could not ask for what it didn’t already know about. To Hitler who remembered the sudden shock of armored warfare and Germany’s own development of poison gas as a weapon wanted to keep an open eye towards new developments. In order to surprise the enemies of Germany and to avoid being surprised in turn. He insisted on the creation of two initiatives. One was a government controlled spin-out of the patent authorities were inventions filed for patenting in Germany was screened and patent and publication activities abroad was scrutinized for militarily relevant information. Basically, government employed scientists were paid to read, summarize and grade military relevance. The Jet engine patent by Frank Whittle stand above most other military inventions detected and was taken up in the years 1932-33 by this instrument, and the (RLM funded) task of developing an engine prototype was taken up by Blohm and Voss who were eager to enter the lucrative aviation industry and would promise additional co-funding. Notable was also the Christie suspension patent (US1836446) which entered discussion for German tank development priorities. Domestic science was also strengthened by starting a new “military science” funding agency under the SD and it was now possible for anyone with qualifications or recommendation by qualified people to suggest R&D projects with military value*. This was not only an opportunity, but also came with an obligation for scientist to report developments with potential military applications to the agency. Once funding and attention was granted the involved scientist would be interviewed, evaluated for security risks and individuals put under variable levels of surveillance as deemed justified by their profile and the importance of the project. Notable individuals who later demonstrated the importance of their inventions and who received funding in these early years were Kurt Blome for his proposal to develop matched pairs of vaccines and bioweapons based on anthrax, plague and poxviruses and Rudolf Kuhnold who in a position as a chief scientist in the navy used R&D funding to starts his own private venture in 1932**. Also noticeable were Hellmuth Walther who conceived the idea of a closed cycle High-Test-Peroxide driven propulsion system in 1933. Later in 1934, Otto Hahn received funding for a project to make radioactive elements by neutron bombardments and (presumably/eventually) use the radioactive elements in diagnostics for medicine. This funding was used to hire a number of junior staff members and the senior chemist Fritz Strassman who was scandalized after having resigned from the German chemical organization after the introduction of NSDAP overseers. The existence of Fritz Strassman and having the Jewish Lisa Meitner as department head on a military funded project ensured that the team members were receiving heavy surveillance***. It is also notable that Hitler received a brief quarter page descriptions of such projects, and like to study them as bedtime projects. He originally disapproved of the Funding to Otto Hahn with a Jewish influenced project with a rather soft and contrived military angle, but the prestige of Otto Hahn was such that the project had been supported. Hitler later admitted that it was only his falling asleep and failure to act next morning which saved the project.

The later success of these early projects should by no means indicate that the system was bullet-proof. Millions of Reichsmark were wasted on fanciful ideas or good ideas implemented by unskilled/unlucky people, but that was the nature of the system. Depending on the scale for validation, early funding could be received. If the project didn’t show promise, well, the loss was tolerable and the people involved could easily find new employment in other upstarts and bring their skill with them.



*This scheme is typical of present day innovation projects.

**Started in 1935 IOTL. As IOTL he jumps at the opportunity when presented to him. This time in 1932.

***Lisa Meitner stayed longer as department head than OTL, as Hitler is toning down the anti-Semitism in general. ITTL the Nuremberg laws are in the beginning focusing on financial sectors and political influence which is publicly antagonized. Jewish individuals of high influence would more often be framed on specific charges if possible (including using information obtained by reading letters, periodic surveillance, tracing contacts etc.), as the publicly admitted level of anti-Semitism is toned down.

 

[Gudestein]

Chapter 18: Foreign financial policy in 1932-34:

One of the most popular early changes enacted by the Hitler regime was to declare that Germany would no longer pay war reparations*. Indeed, the timing was ripe as the economy at least appeared to be in deep crisis in 1932 with the influx of workers from the agricultural sector and about 5 million unemployed. Germany would need all its finances at home to stimulate the economy and to create jobs for the unemployed was the official explanation. Notably, Germany never stated that they couldn’t pay the war reparations, but they sweetened the deal initially by offering France German coal at a discounted rate with state subsidy to allow their industry to adjust. Unofficially, this policy coupled with rising domestic demand and access to capital provided the impetus for a growing domestic production in 1932-34 after which domestic consumption would take over.

Also, in a controversial and daring move, Germany implemented domestic import restrictions and clearing agreements to match German import with forced exports. Without officially deflating, Germany now followed a policy of quantitative easing** to subsidize exports that were otherwise hurt badly by the British devaluation of 1931.The net effect was to conserve FOREX and increase the volume of money at home. Coupled with pricing control, this financial surplus had an interesting knock-on effect. Without options to purchase consumer goods, cash flowed into investments or bank accounts from where they again were lend to the state at cheap interest rates or invested. As the state indeed did finance investments in all sectors, the economy boomed and unemployment rates declined rapidly. Partly to infrastructural works intended to create jobs and partly due to the creation of real jobs, many of these in the armaments industries***.



*These were also paused in 1932 IOTL

**Definition: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative_easing
See also Schacht's explanations IOTL: https://fixingtheeconomists.wordpre...-restoration-of-the-german-economy-1933-1939/

***These instruments were basically how Germany could create financial growth IOTL. ITTL, they are implemented prior to defaulting on their loans as happened in 1934 IOTL, and this does not happen ITTL. The reason for this is that Schacht is told to prioritize growth within 10 years and getting the most possibly out of it in that period. ITTL Germany continues to borrow foreign exchange from abroad to fuel its import and growth. This would have been a massive problem if Germany was asked to repay this money, but the crisis was to be postponed until the right time by fraud in the official records of the borrowing companies. It was the opinion by the regime at the time that the house of cards could last 10-15 years before collapsing. Hitler had decided it was enough. This is basically the OTL Greek model, with the difference being that there is a plan regarding how to avoid repayments.

EDIT: Second footnote inserted

 

[Gudestein]

Chapter 19: Mobilization of resources:

A major priority for Hitler was the capacity to supply the army as this had failed in the 1918 WW1 offensive in which he took part, and to prevent domestic shortages of resources as he saw as the reason for the break-down of domestic morale and which he had experienced on the home front during recovery from his injuries at Havrincourt. At the same time, he knew the economy was in for a massive expansion, and most of the purchases would be used by the Wehrmacht. Consequently, every available resource had to be mobilized for self-sufficiency.

The iconic investments in transportation was in the Autobahn, the railways and the transportation waterways. With an investment of two Billion Reichsmark in the autobahn, 1½ billion in the railways including a massive expansion of rolling stock and ½ billion in the waterways over the next 4 years, and half as much for the following 3 years, the German landscape was to be transformed*. The massive investments were deliberately used to also cover harbor drenching and shipyard renovations and thus setting the stage for the later naval expansions.

The waterway expansions was crucial for the German industrial expansion which was in turn set to exhaust domestic steel and coal production. Consequently, steel and coal production had to be rapidly expanded and cheap loans were provided for the mining sector. In the next 5 years half a million jobs were created in these sectors**.

This was in excess of expected requirement for the industry, but Hitler ordered maximum expansion as synthetic fuel plants, increased fertilizer production and coal powered steam trucks*** for the agricultural sector would absorb any coal surplus, and any excess steel would be used for ammunition, fortifications, and stored rails for the railways. Excess oil would be stored in massive quantities.

Labor: Despite a booming industry the Third Reich kicked off with 5 million unemployed because of 2.5 million workers had migrated to the city from the agricultural sector. Germany would continue to promote this expansion by subsidizing mechanization and transport and thus allow for a further liberation of 2.5 million hands by the end of the decade. With the task awaiting Germany, Hitler knew it would not be enough, and started the drive to mobilize the largest latent labor source: Women. The Hitler Jugend and Bund deutscher mädel and started to integrate kindergardens in conjunction with these after school organizations. Similarly, the larger plants to serve the German armaments industry was tasked to organize day care and to experiment in integrating women into the work force. With the initially high male unemployment, this would have little quantitative impact before 1935-37 when the available male work force started to dwindle, but it would set the stage for a massive enrolment of women in the work-force. Particular as external threats started to materialize from 1938 and onwards..

Vehichles: A major change was a decision to subsidise steam tractors and trucks which could run on wood or coal*** and penalize purchase of diesel tractors, with all private gasoline vehicles fitted for possible “gasogen conversion”. Later on from 1936 and onwards there would be additional increased taxes on domestic diesel which enabled the Wehrmacht to purchase cheap diesel tractors from the agricultural sector in the tens of thousands.

Rare materials mining: A few oil fields were active in Germany and saw active expansion with the stated objective to produce more, irrespectively of the eventual durability of the fields. The German domestic production of minerals had been supported in the exploratory phase in the preceding 6 years, now resulting in the identification of a massive copper deposit in Lubin in lower Silesia for which massive investments would be forthcoming.

The explorations now also started to include other countries with an emphasis on Poland and Austria. In Austria, oil yielding wells had been discovered by the Geologist Dr. Friedl in 1930 and with lavish investments and exploration, the German owned company Austrian Oil teamed up with Shell to secure expertise and began setting up explorative oil rigs throughout the Vienna basin.



*4 billion Reichsmark for the autobahn IOTL. 6 billion total ITTL, but spread out over a longer period.

**for individuals without tradition for mining, these were not popular jobs and would be taken up by immigrants (and later foreign conscripted labor) as unemployment declined.

Edit: ***The introduction of steam tractors had been facilitated by the purchase of the Doble steam motors Company in 1930 which by then were nearly bankcrupt. These featured closed cycle engines for increased efficiency and practicality.

 

[Gudestein]

Chapter 20: Hitler and Mussolini, the first overtures and the Austrian question.

In 1932, the majority of foreign policy had pertained the war reparations, the ensurance that Germany would pay their depts., and the establishment of clearing agreements with Germany’s neighbours. However, While national socialism grew in Germany proper, it followed in close pursuit in Austria were the majority already favored pan-Germanism. In the 1930 election the Nazi party had received 25% of the votes and established a sizeable paramilitary wing of 20000 individuals. Following the Nazi victory in Germany, similar events looked to be possible in the next election, scheduled no later than 1934.

Before that happened, Hitler needed to know the position of Austrias southern neighbor, Italy. While Hitler was adamant that Austria would be included in a future German Reich, concealing aggression for a few more years was even more important. Mussolini greeted Hitler and extended the earlier offer to the Weimar officials, that Germany and Italy were natural allies in opposition to France. Hitler recalled asking what Mussolini’s opinion was of the public movements to join Germany in Austria? Mussolini had replied that “Austria is our (Italy’s, edit) northern border and it is a peaceful and stable border. I support an independent Austria that can supply that stability”.

Hitler in turn had remarked on the irony that Germany and Italy should be allied and potentially go to war together, while they could not even trust each other to be neighbor’s? Hitler at this time extended his assurance that Germany or a Nazi German Austria would have no claims on Italian land.

Returning to the subject of eventual alliance against France and presumably Britain Hitler declared that a confrontation was to be avoided against these two great powers as Germany needed to complete rearmament before it could be risked. Instead Hitler offered to support Italy if it should decide to claim other rights for the Italian people, but then Italy must also trust Germany”

The meeting would provide no other conclusions, but Hitler would encourage Mussolini in his aspiration on land in Dalmatia, Albania and Abyssinia and Hitler while Hitler on the other hand would support the paramilitary wing of the Austrian NSDAP, provided they would not engage in radical acts until agreed with the German sister party. It seems true that Hitler already in 1932 planned for a “fait accompli” at a time of Italian dependence on Germany.

 

[Gudestein]

Chapter 21: Early Naval rearmament:

The Navy had prepared for re-expansion since 1925 and had expanded from the laying down of 5 light cruisers in 1929. The expansion which followed had been discussed between Erich Raeder and Adolf Hitler in 1928. Hitler had come to Eric Raeder to assure him that the NSDAP decision not to back the construction of panzerschiffe, but instead 5 light cruisers was not a demotion of the Reichsmarine, but rather his honest opinion that the original plans did not go far enough. Hitler had urged Erich Raeder to consider a navy which would one day be facing Great Britain as in the last war and consequently laid a plan integrating not only the strongest possible expansion of the German navy, but also a plan which went to great lengths to hide its true purpose and mislead with regards to the real possibilities. As it became clear after the 1930 election that Hitler would be dictating future rearmament, Erich Raeder and the Reichsmarine had organized accordingly for when the Nazis came to power.

Consequently, the Reichsmarine could immediately in May 1932 initiate works into the naval base infrastructure, including longer slipways, drenching of harbors and canals and ordering of accessory ships such as logistics ships, minesweepers and E-boats. Steel mills, gun pits, turbine and diesel manufacturers had either already been expanding or were prepared to do so as the pre-planned orders went out.

The construction of two large drydock’s of 300 m’s was also starting construction in Kiel and Hamburg, in addition to the massive drydocks in existende in Wilhelmshafen and the future construction of 4 large liners for the German passenger ship industry was announced to explain this necessity for these expansions*.

As indicated, a number of naval gun designs had been prepared and more profoundly, a new ship design philosophy had been developed. Implementing it was one of the most keenly watched and secretive programs. This was directly related to Hitlers strategic emphasis on threatening Britain, but without letting them know in advance. For this reason, only a few people had the overall overview of the new designs.

Hitler overall naval political strategy was to mislead Britain by capitalizing on his long-standing opposition to the treaty of Versailles. His plan thus were to buy time by claiming to adhere to the treaty of Versailles and restore credibility afterwards by acknowledging the break of the treaty of Versailles, but not other international promises and agreements. Germany was bound by the treaty to not make more than 6 ships of 10000 tons, but Hitler’s Germany did not recognize this treaty and because of it was not bound by any other treaties. In fact, they had tried to become bound by the international naval limitations treaty, but denied the opportunity by the French. Hitler’s overall plan from the moment he came to power was to rapidly rearm, and while he would never refute his pre-election point of view that the Versailles treaty was invalid, he would only officially admit non-adherence to the treaty of Versailles when it was obvious that he was breaking it. In particular, Hitler intended to postpone this moment and appear to pose as little a threat as possible for as long a time as possible, in the hope that he could prevent Britain and France from opposing him together. For this reason all of the initial naval activities were unofficial and initial naval buildings of war ships were shrouded in cover names and official orders for civilian ships. Also, direct stimulation of new constructs of liners and oil tankers (justified by the real increasing demand for oil in the agricultural sector) were provided to justify the very obvious buzz of activity at the ship yards.

The undeniable symbol of this rearmament, the 6 10000 tons ships which Germany admitted to have laid down was the most controversial. Dangerous surface raiders and submarines were counterproductive to Hitler’s official policy and the plans were therefore heavily intertwined with deception, lies and counterespionage.

For the Panzerschiffe, the problem emerging from the originally proposed, but postponed designs was that they would be vulnerable to conventional heavy cruisers, to slow to follow the battleship designs intended as follow ups and were not up to date considering the experiences the Germans had acquired from their naval base at Odessa in the Soviet Union. The ships needed stronger armor, in particular deck armor against aircraft as well as speed, and this could simply not be kept within the 10-12000 tons limit. Eventually, it was decided to focus on the requirements and create something which would be part surface raider and part expendable battle cruiser in the battle line. The real design would come in at 200 m’s and 18000 tons, and therefore it was originally decided to officially order the construction of 6 10000 tons 2x3 8’’ Ostsee (Baltic Sea) cruisers with a shallow draft and then as the Versailles treaty was officially rejected, acknowledge that the ships had come in overweight at 13000 tons. This admission would still be cheating regarding the draft and would thus hide their true capabilities in speed, armor and range, but the Versailles treaty would justify the used deception. The actually intended 2x3 13,5´´ turrets would only be installed at a later time, which goes to testify that Hitler was willing to pay the price of additional turrets for the gain of deception. The initially installed 2x3 8´´ turrets would, even with the addition of a spacer to fit the barbettes of the larger 3x13.5’’ turrets, be very spacious and they would serve as installation test-beds for rapid autoloading systems, with the intentions to reuse these at a later time.

Secondary guns would have to be DP 150 mm guns. There was no question that the Reich’s future enemy would have superior number in destroyers and light cruisers and it was critical that the rapid-firing german secondaries could match the cruisers and out-gun the destroyers. On the other hand, the navy anticipated wide-spread use of naval aviation and the importance of the ability to engage enemy dive bombers and torpedo bombers could not be overstated. The loading system for rapid sustained fire had been under development since the late 1920’s, but was not fully developed yet in 1932. This resulted in rather poor heavy AA defenses with a slow rate of fire of about 8 rounds/min, but design compromises to accommodate 2 gun categories were avoided. Despite the inadequate testing of this new system, Hitler allowed it to go ahead, because it could be compensated for AA defense with lavish installment of fully automatic 37 and 20 mm FLAK cannons. The 1932 designs including both 37mm, 150 mm and 206 mm guns consequently had Germany committed to a continuous development path for gun auto-loading.

Also, in 1932, the orders were secretly placed for the new guns, steel and engines for a next generation of battleships. These would come to feature 40´´ 50/49 caliber guns with a pre-planned design feature to bore out the gun from 406 to 420 mms. It was expected that such guns and newly developed APCBC shells could ensure penetration at longer ranges. This was seen as beneficial as the next generation of German ships would by necessity be constructed to incorporate stronger deck armor and better torpedo protection against aircraft, both features which would help against underwater near-misses and deck penetrating shells. This priority was in turn a consequence of the new navy’s own intention to rely of the ship killing capabilities of aircraft and the expectation that the opposition might do the same. Accordingly, the new battleships with these attributes were heavily influenced by this requirement as combined heavy deck armor, speed, range and large guns which would optimally require massive ships. The compromise that was struck reduced the number of heavy guns, but not the caliber, as Hitler personally liked the more impressive heavy guns (cf. Design posted below). Furthermore, the emphasis of very heavy shells, speed and large numbers of DP guns to prevent interference from destroyers would allow the Germans to choose which battles to fight and they had the option of trying their luck outside the range of the opposing forces. As part of the deception it was also intended that the battleships might initially claim to be designed as 3x3 13.5 inch ships at 35000 tons, when in fact they were to be 3x2 40 inch ships at 45000 tons and the 13.5 inch guns were intended for the Panzerschiffe.

Also in 1932, the naval shipyards would receive orders for new destroyers and be told to expect new orders. Initially 6 were ordered for completion in 1934 and 6 in 1935 with the expectation that 6 new destroyers would be needed annually from 1936. These destroyers would all receive combined diesel and steam propulsion. Mann Diesel had been expecting this request and the Panzerschiffe and battleship requests since 1930 and received funding to increase capacity.

Submarines were easily the most controversial point, but the initial designs were nothing special. Crude designs intended to be quickly produced so training could commence and expertly camouflaged (as regular warehouses, factories) with submarine pens constructed inland adjacent to rivers to hide their numbers.

A next generation of submarine designs were subsequently called for and like for the panzership design teams, heavy surveillance of the teams were applied by Heydrichs Sicherheitsdienst. Crucially, this led to the apprehension of Otto Krueger. Otto Krueger had been an SIS agent since WW1 and had high reliability**. Upon his apprehension he was turned into a double agent and his handlers in the Netherlands identified. During the next couple of years two more double agents were allowed to be recruited by the British who now received constructed intelligence on surface warships and naval aviation capabilities. Credibility of this deception was initially high as it was decided to leak the later official, but still falsified displacement of 13000 tons of the new classes of Panzerships through this network before Germany admitted to have violated the Treaty of Versailles.

A subject which was initially postponed was the attempt to make aircraft carriers. Following their own experiences in Odessa, the marine saw aircraft as pivotal in the future. Hitler was however not convinced that the KM knew what they were doing and instead sent a delegation to Japan to gain inspiration for a fleet carrier. They would remain there for two years and participate in exercises and carrier operations before a fleet carrier design was submitted in 1934. Rather than building their own fleet aircraft carrier, the Kriegsmarine supported Loyds shipping in the construction of 4 liners of 22000 tons each***. These were designed with more compartmentalization than usual on civilian hips and prepared for the later addition of torpedo bulges. A low strength deck would allow the later removal of the superstructure and addition of a hangar and flight deck. These ships would be fitted with combined diesel and steam propulsion to enable a speed of 30 knots. When the ships were commissioned in 1935, the CODAS arrangement was heralded as a showcase of German technology which allowed Loyds shipping to either use the same liners for either weekly cross-atlantic trips and for very long-distance Asiatic trips.

The simultaneous ordering of 6 heavy cruisers, 4 ocean liners prompted a reassessment of the German shipbuilding capacity for larger ships which was enhanced with enlargement of 2 slipways at Howaldtswerke Hamburg and Howaldtswerke Kiel****. The official intention was that two more ocean liners would be ordered from Howaldtswerke Hamburg and Howaldtswerke Kiel in 1934.



*The German naval expansion and its rapidity, while officially within ToV limits does not go unnoticed abroad. Foreign reactions will be covered in a later chapter.

**Importance of Otto Krueger: https://books.google.dk/books?id=O0mEDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA102&lpg=PA102&dq=Otto+Kruger+submarine&source=bl&ots=QMwRAwsc1y&sig=HDDssVRo5zGuGmDnisMX4nwwXIM&hl=da&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi2ouzNx9PYAhXmC5oKHXnaB2sQ6AEIVjAI#v=onepage&q=Otto%20Kruger%20submarine&f=false

***Enlargement of the admirals classes of OTL

****[Slipway capacity in the 20000/200+ m’s class. Number of large slipways in parenthesis:

(3) AG Weser (Deschimag) Bremen: (launched Bremen of 286 m and 51000 tons), had slipways for simultaneous building of 2 admirals class liners and 20000 tons Terje Viken at the same time. Many destroyer sized vessels build simultaneously.

(2) Reichsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven: Build Tirpitz. 2 battleships build at a time before WW1

Expanding to two 300 m ships.

(2) Blohm and Voss Hamburg: Build RMS Majestic of 291 m’s and 56000 and Leviathan simultaneously. Also Bismarck.

(2) Germania Werft Kiel: Major U-boat producer in WW1 and WW2. Slipways for building 2 BB’s at the time during WW1. Order for 816 feet battlecruiser during plan Z.

(2) Deutsche Werke Kiel: Build the Gneisenau, Blücher and the Graf Zeppelin and were designated for a H-39 BB under plan Z. Graf Zeppelin and Blücher were on the slipways at the same time. Blücher spent only 10 month on the slipways

Howaldtswerke Hamburg: Smaller ships, less than 200 m’s documented at the time. Expanding to build 200+ m liner

Howaldtswerke Kiel: Smaller ships, less than 200 m’s documented at the time. Expanding to build 200+ m liner



[Overall, the driver for a change from OTL is the early reinstallment of the emperial design agencies, the continuous research into large diesels and combined diesel and steam (CODAS) propulsion plants since the mid-20’s and the formation of a German naval aviation base in Odessa in the early 1920’s. The potential of the propulsion system for high speed and long range appealed to TTL Hitler while it had the in-build fall-back position, that it would always be as good as combined diesel or steam (CODOS) used in the German navy IOTL. The diesel focus has led to pronounced performance improvements that will have even higher impact on the German destroyers and escorts. The importance of the naval aviation base in Odessa cannot be overestimated. That experience, in essence about of Germany’s total interwar aviation experience, coupled with an emphasis on aircraft in the general reformation of the Wehrmacht leads them to believe in a future with powerful air borne torpedoes and armor piercing bombs. That has the knock-on effect that the Germans require greater bomb and torpedo protection which is difficult to maintain with their very long armored belts. Heavier deck armor combined with better targeting systems, makes it logical to consider fighting naval battles at longer ranges as a way of getting a decisive edge. Notably, the Germans are unaware that American and British designs are also preparing for longer ranged engagements event though and this design philosophy only becomes decisive with the later adjunct of radar guided gun-laying.

The audacity in the German designs ITTL stems from the peculiar limbo of German treaty adherence ITTL and IOTL. Germany is bound by ToV which it almost officially don’t respect and have not been able to be accepted into other treaties. Hitler therefore can use France as the reason why he has to lie on the Deutschland class ships and come (semi)clean when he decide to refute the ToV. He sticks with the 8’’ guns for the first ships to calm authorities abroad and they will even be installed, all the while 13,5’ and 16’’ guns are being build as the real guns for the Deutschlands and BB’s. The 13,5’’ guns are next envisioned as Germany’s official battleship guns while the 16’’ guns are kept secret and if exposed are for coastal installations.

The original 8’’ guns and turrets is a cost of deception that TTL Hitler is willing to pay, and they may later find use on a future generation of heavy cruisers.

Below, please find the Shipsharp of the official Deutschland class design and the unofficial real design (please consider the engine slide does not work and actual performance of engines at the stated weight is about twice as high. The official speed of the fake design is 32 knots and the unofficial speed of the real ship is 31,3 knots. Range is about double when going exclusively on diesels. At that speed they are slightly wet ships:

Alt Deutschland class, Germany Heavy cruiser laid down 1932


Displacement:

9.276 t light; 10.023 t standard; 12.585 t normal; 14.635 t full load


Dimensions: Length (overall / waterline) x beam x draught (normal/deep)

(649,30 ft / 623,36 ft) x 59,06 ft x (22,97 / 25,83 ft)

(197,91 m / 190,00 m) x 18,00 m x (7,00 / 7,87 m)


Armament:

6 - 8,11" / 206 mm 45,0 cal guns - 269,01lbs / 122,02kg shells, 200 per gun

Breech loading guns in turret on barbette mounts, 1933 Model

2 x 3-gun mounts on centreline ends, evenly spread

1 raised mount - superfiring

10 - 5,91" / 150 mm 45,0 cal guns - 103,86lbs / 47,11kg shells, 500 per gun

Dual purpose guns in turret on barbette mounts, 1933 Model

6 x Single mounts on sides, evenly spread

2 x 2 row twin mounts layout not set

2 raised mounts

16 - 1,46" / 37,0 mm 45,0 cal guns - 1,57lbs / 0,71kg shells, 1.000 per gun

Breech loading guns in deck mounts, 1933 Model

8 x Twin mounts on centreline, evenly spread

8 raised mounts

32 - 0,79" / 20,0 mm 45,0 cal guns - 0,24lbs / 0,11kg shells, 3.000 per gun

Breech loading guns in deck mounts, 1933 Model

8 x Quad mounts on centreline, forward deck aft

8 raised mounts

Weight of broadside 2.685 lbs / 1.218 kg


Armour:

- Belts: Width (max) Length (avg) Height (avg)

Main: 3,94" / 100 mm 360,89 ft / 110,00 m 9,84 ft / 3,00 m

Ends: 0,79" / 20 mm 229,66 ft / 70,00 m 9,84 ft / 3,00 m

32,81 ft / 10,00 m Unarmoured ends

Main Belt covers 89 % of normal length


- Torpedo Bulkhead - Additional damage containing bulkheads:

1,38" / 35 mm 360,89 ft / 110,00 m 16,40 ft / 5,00 m

Beam between torpedo bulkheads 52,49 ft / 16,00 m


- Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)

Main: 4,72" / 120 mm 3,15" / 80 mm 3,15" / 80 mm

2nd: 1,57" / 40 mm 0,79" / 20 mm 0,79" / 20 mm

4th: 0,79" / 20 mm 0,79" / 20 mm -


- Armoured deck - multiple decks:

For and Aft decks: 3,15" / 80 mm


Machinery:

Oil fired boilers, steam turbines, plus diesel motors,

ERROR: Revise drives, 3 shafts, 61.568 shp / 45.930 Kw = 28,65 kts

Range 10.500nm at 19,00 kts

Bunker at max displacement = 4.612 tons


Complement:

593 - 772


Cost:

£3,914 million / $15,657 million


Distribution of weights at normal displacement:

Armament: 776 tons, 6,2 %

- Guns: 776 tons, 6,2 %

Armour: 2.373 tons, 18,9 %

- Belts: 646 tons, 5,1 %

- Torpedo bulkhead: 302 tons, 2,4 %

- Armament: 410 tons, 3,3 %

- Armour Deck: 1.015 tons, 8,1 %

Machinery: 1.794 tons, 14,3 %

Hull, fittings & equipment: 4.333 tons, 34,4 %

Fuel, ammunition & stores: 3.309 tons, 26,3 %

Miscellaneous weights: 0 tons, 0,0 %


Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:

Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):

20.650 lbs / 9.367 Kg = 77,4 x 8,1 " / 206 mm shells or 3,3 torpedoes

Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1,07

Metacentric height 2,6 ft / 0,8 m

Roll period: 15,4 seconds

Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 79 %

- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0,96

Seaboat quality (Average = 1.00): 1,59


Hull form characteristics:

Hull has a flush deck,

an extended bulbous bow and a cruiser stern

Block coefficient (normal/deep): 0,521 / 0,539

Length to Beam Ratio: 10,56 : 1

'Natural speed' for length: 24,97 kts

Power going to wave formation at top speed: 49 %

Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 50

Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 30,00 degrees

Stern overhang: 9,84 ft / 3,00 m

Freeboard (% = length of deck as a percentage of waterline length):

Fore end, Aft end

- Forecastle: 30,00 %, 27,89 ft / 8,50 m, 22,97 ft / 7,00 m

- Forward deck: 30,00 %, 22,97 ft / 7,00 m, 19,69 ft / 6,00 m

- Aft deck: 20,00 %, 19,69 ft / 6,00 m, 18,04 ft / 5,50 m

- Quarter deck: 20,00 %, 18,04 ft / 5,50 m, 19,69 ft / 6,00 m

- Average freeboard: 21,42 ft / 6,53 m


Ship space, strength and comments:

Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 76,6 %

- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 163,4 %

Waterplane Area: 25.005 Square feet or 2.323 Square metres

Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 150 %

Structure weight / hull surface area: 110 lbs/sq ft or 539 Kg/sq metre

Hull strength (Relative):

- Cross-sectional: 0,95

- Longitudinal: 1,59

- Overall: 1,00

Excellent machinery, storage, compartmentation space

Excellent accommodation and workspace room

Ship has slow, easy roll, a good, steady gun platform

Excellent seaboat, comfortable, can fire her guns in the heaviest weather

Actual planned Deutschland design:

Deuschland, Germany Panzerschiffe laid down 1930


Displacement:

13.225 t light; 14.642 t standard; 18.215 t normal; 21.073 t full load


Dimensions: Length (overall / waterline) x beam x draught (normal/deep)

(645,14 ft / 626,64 ft) x 71,16 ft x (27,23 / 30,52 ft)

(196,64 m / 191,00 m) x 21,69 m x (8,30 / 9,30 m)


Armament:

6 - 13,58" / 345 mm 45,0 cal guns - 1.403,62lbs / 636,67kg shells, 150 per gun

Breech loading guns in turret on barbette mounts, 1930 Model

2 x 3-gun mounts on centreline ends, evenly spread

10 - 5,91" / 150 mm 55,0 cal guns - 111,16lbs / 50,42kg shells, 500 per gun

Breech loading guns in turret on barbette mounts, 1930 Model

2 x Twin mounts on centreline ends, evenly spread

2 raised mounts - superfiring

6 x Single mounts on sides, evenly spread

24 - 1,46" / 37,0 mm 45,0 cal guns - 1,57lbs / 0,71kg shells, 2.000 per gun

Breech loading guns in turret on barbette mounts, 1930 Model

6 x Twin mounts on centreline, evenly spread

6 raised mounts

6 x Twin mounts on sides, evenly spread

Weight of broadside 9.571 lbs / 4.341 kg


Armour:

- Belts: Width (max) Length (avg) Height (avg)

Main: 3,94" / 100 mm 423,23 ft / 129,00 m 13,12 ft / 4,00 m

Ends: Unarmoured

Main Belt covers 104 % of normal length


- Torpedo Bulkhead - Strengthened structural bulkheads:

1,18" / 30 mm 524,93 ft / 160,00 m 16,40 ft / 5,00 m

Beam between torpedo bulkheads 52,49 ft / 16,00 m


- Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)

Main: 3,94" / 100 mm 3,15" / 80 mm 3,15" / 80 mm

2nd: 5,91" / 150 mm 1,97" / 50 mm 1,97" / 50 mm

3rd: 0,79" / 20 mm 0,39" / 10 mm 0,39" / 10 mm


- Armoured deck - multiple decks:

For and Aft decks: 3,35" / 85 mm


Machinery:

Oil fired boilers, steam turbines, plus diesel motors,

Geared drive, 3 shafts, 56.685 shp / 42.287 Kw = 26,34 kts

Range 10.000nm at 20,00 kts

Bunker at max displacement = 6.431 tons


Complement:

783 - 1.019


Cost:

£6,456 million / $25,825 million


Distribution of weights at normal displacement:

Armament: 1.974 tons, 10,8 %

- Guns: 1.974 tons, 10,8 %

Armour: 3.492 tons, 19,2 %

- Belts: 902 tons, 5,0 %

- Torpedo bulkhead: 376 tons, 2,1 %

- Armament: 670 tons, 3,7 %

- Armour Deck: 1.545 tons, 8,5 %

Machinery: 1.718 tons, 9,4 %

Hull, fittings & equipment: 6.041 tons, 33,2 %

Fuel, ammunition & stores: 4.989 tons, 27,4 %

Miscellaneous weights: 0 tons, 0,0 %


Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:

Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):

23.274 lbs / 10.557 Kg = 18,6 x 13,6 " / 345 mm shells or 3,5 torpedoes

Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1,18

Metacentric height 4,1 ft / 1,2 m

Roll period: 14,8 seconds

Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 60 %

- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 1,00

Seaboat quality (Average = 1.00): 1,21


Hull form characteristics:

Hull has a flush deck,

a normal bow and a cruiser stern

Block coefficient (normal/deep): 0,525 / 0,542

Length to Beam Ratio: 8,81 : 1

'Natural speed' for length: 25,03 kts

Power going to wave formation at top speed: 47 %

Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 50

Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 30,00 degrees

Stern overhang: 6,56 ft / 2,00 m

Freeboard (% = length of deck as a percentage of waterline length):

Fore end, Aft end

- Forecastle: 20,00 %, 20,67 ft / 6,30 m, 16,73 ft / 5,10 m

- Forward deck: 30,00 %, 16,73 ft / 5,10 m, 16,40 ft / 5,00 m

- Aft deck: 35,00 %, 16,40 ft / 5,00 m, 16,40 ft / 5,00 m

- Quarter deck: 15,00 %, 16,40 ft / 5,00 m, 16,40 ft / 5,00 m

- Average freeboard: 16,83 ft / 5,13 m

Ship tends to be wet forward


Ship space, strength and comments:

Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 102,7 %

- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 121,9 %

Waterplane Area: 30.403 Square feet or 2.824 Square metres

Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 122 %

Structure weight / hull surface area: 159 lbs/sq ft or 778 Kg/sq metre

Hull strength (Relative):

- Cross-sectional: 0,97

- Longitudinal: 1,41

- Overall: 1,00

Adequate machinery, storage, compartmentation space

Excellent accommodation and workspace room

Good seaboat, rides out heavy weather easily


Edit: inconsistant Numbers. 4 large liners, not 6 mega liners.

 

[Gudestein]

Chapter 22: Development of the German Aero-engine industry and the Luftwaffe

The events normally attributed the later success if the Luftwaffe was the fusion of Daimler and Benz which Hitler was able to showcase and use to address funding for German aero-engine development in 1926.

The main aircraft and aero-engine producers had since this day been able to obtain funding for engine prototype designs resulting in a major boost to German R&D efforts and ressources. From 1930 funding had started to pour in for real and a major wind-tunnel facility had been opened outside Munich- available to all major aircraft producers.

For brevity, the focus of this chapter will be on the piston engines and aircraft most important for the early revitalization of the Luftwaffe from 1935 and the R&D developments before this time frame, rather than the biplanes and trainers which formed the beginning of the Luftwaffe expansion. Most renowned among these engines are the DB600 and Jumo211 and Jumo205 Diesel, all with their first run in 1930. By 1932 the designs had shown considerable maturity and were expected as available as test-beds for future aircraft and platform for further development.

Germany also produced Radial engines from Bramo and BMW. Both Bramo and BMW had quickly set up production of its BMW132 based on the Pratt-Whitney Hornett and Bramo 323 based on a Bristol Jupiter engine. These were originally 9 cylinder engines.

From 1930 it had been anticipated that lavish funding would be available to higher performing engines and in 1932 the RLM set out rules to stimulate competition without duplication.

Both DB and Jumo were tasked with new development projects based on their first designs. These would be evolutionary (eg. Superchargers, direct fuel injection, high-pressure coolant), new engines based on the proven layout for instance by allowing higher volume or increasing rpm, and brand new developments. Hitler, quite uniquely saw a need for ever increasing aircraft engine output and the RLM set DB on the path of 16 cylinder inline diesels and petrol engines with Jumo pursuing 24 cylinder engines in the Jumo222 and Jumo223’s. These were long term projects with basic funding made available to try out different variations on the original designs.

Similarly BMV were funded to pursue 14 cylinder engines in the BMW801 and Bramo would pursue 18 cylinder engines.

For aircraft, the RLM would set available biplanes designs in production and issue calls for new aircraft. These would include a single-seat fighter (sportsplane), a two-seat heavy fighter (two-person sports plane), an attack aircraft (mail plane), medium passenger aircraft (bomber), long-range passenger aircraft (heavy bomber) and transport aircraft (transport aircraft).

In four of these categories, Heinkel would prove the victor. In an age of biplanes, Heinkel was far advanced with the He-70 Blitz design and decided to convert the basic shape with elliptical gull wings into what would become the He-112 (fighter), He-111 (bomber) and He-118 (attack aircraft). Junkers would prove an exception with its rugged and effective Ju52 design and Do 17 was selected as a back-up or supplement to He-111. For a heavy fighter Robert Lusser* designed the He-113, basically a twin engine fighter with pilot and rear gunner. For the heavy bomber Willy Messerschmitt would device the Ju-89 and Dornier the Do19 aircraft which would prove insufficiently capable compared to He-111.

These prototypes started to appear in 1933-34, beat the competition in 1934-35 and entered production in 1935-36 based on the mass produced DB600 and Jumo210 engines. However, the massive Heinkel dominance caused an uproar among the competition and the potential monopoly of all advanced aircraft engineering which started to materialize from 1934 did not appeal to Hitler. Consequently, and in agreement with the long-term perspective of Hitler’s focus on advanced weaponry, a second generation of calls went out in 1935 and these were expected to be based on the new DB601 engines or Jumo211. For these calls, Hitler would personally insist that Heinkel would put in an effort in the heavy bomber category.

Additionally, an instrument was put in place were the RLM could dictate licensing terms to allow other aircraft producers a chance to outperform the original winners.

This policy was also the reason why the serious contenders, Heinkel, Junkers, Focke-Wulf, Bayersche Flugzeugwerke, Dornier, Fieseler, Arado and Blohm & Voss all received contracts to construct large air craft assembly plants in 1934. Similar contracts had already been granted to DB, Jumo, BMW and Bramo for engine production,

*Robert Lusser was at Heinkel until 1933 IOTL.

[sorry for this Heinkel wank, but in 1932, The He70 was in the works and years ahead of the competition, and this design formed the basis of He-112 and He111. Also in 1932, Robert Lusser who made Bf110 and (Bf108 and Bf109) was employed at Heinkel (anyone feel like making TTL versions with a mixed Heinkel/Lusser inspiration). Heinkel & Co. will however be quite overwhelmed by these early successes and the competition will be quite fierce next time around]

Edit:
Below follows the official He-113 design of TTL from Cortz#9. The He-112 is equivalent to He-112A of OTL but the power will jump from 690 HP to 1100 HP. Any performance estimates?
He-118 starts out as OTL, but later receives considerably more powerful engines providing a payload of 1000 kg. He-111 is as OTL depending on the engine as are the Do17.