Chapter 155: Scam

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“This type of cannon is specifically for dealing with the super-fortresses built by the Red Army on the Crimean Peninsula. It can take care of those ammunition depots and barracks buried deep underground and can easily destroy enemy gun emplacements and fortifications,” Akado said with a loud laugh.

The few French military officers, however, looked very displeased. Your subordinate just brazenly mentioned the Maginot Line, and you pull out this ultimate weapon, but now you’re saying it’s a new weapon for fighting the communists? Isn’t that just a clumsy cover-up? If it’s really for fighting communists, what are you doing testing it on the Franco-German border?

But the rank of these French officers was too low. They really couldn’t voice any protest in front of Akado. They had no choice but to swallow their anger and prepare to go back and make an urgent assessment, so that their country could at least make some preparations early.

They had now returned to the outskirts of Kaiserslautern, chatting and laughing by the fireplace in a carefully arranged cabin. Smith and Akado made idle small talk, but they studiously avoided mentioning the railway gun again.

Akado’s diplomatic action this time was a piece of arms diplomacy meticulously planned by several masters in the German Foreign Ministry, so the follow-up was very well prepared. After displaying the necessary force, it was time to bring out the sweet jujube.

“Colonel Smith, I must sincerely congratulate the British Royal Navy,” Akado said with a smile, suddenly changing the subject to the sea. “The British Empire is about to reach a new peak once again.”

“I wonder why Mr. Führer is congratulating us?” Smith asked with a smile, his eyes narrowed. “There have been reports recently that the Soviet Union’s fourth battleship has been launched. That doesn’t seem like it should be good news for anyone in Europe.”

“Because one of the new battleships that Germany designed for Britain has been completed. Our navy is currently conducting sea trials, and it can be handed over to the Royal Navy within the month,” Akado said, throwing out his lure, which could also be considered a bargaining chip.

The British were not the French. They did not share a border with Germany. Even if the European continent became a chaotic mess, as long as no fleet superior to the Royal Navy appeared in the Atlantic, the British Isles were impregnable. And the German-built battleships had their own unique ingenuity in design and construction. The commissioning of this battleship would undoubtedly bring an increase in strength to the Royal Navy.

“Thank you very much for your generosity, Führer,” Smith said, taking the bait as expected, and raising his voice. “Britain will strengthen cooperation with Germany in areas such as anti-communism and, in principle, agrees to Germany purchasing Saudi oil at a normal price.”

What a difficult fellow, Akado thought with an inward sneer, but the smile on his face grew wider. “Thank you! The German people will always be good friends of the British people.” Who doesn’t know that Germany has just established a foothold in Romania? Do we still need to go to a place as far away as the Middle East to buy some damn oil? Can’t you use your brain before you speak?

“However, Germany hopes to ship another four boatloads of arms to the Far East in Britain’s name. I wonder if Colonel Smith would be interested in participating as well?” Akado asked, presenting his real demand and offering the British government a piece of the action.

“The Japanese are getting more and more out of control! They have already swallowed up large swathes of Chinese territory! What more do they want? To swallow the entire Chinese market? Aren’t they afraid of bursting!” Smith gritted his teeth whenever Japan was mentioned. Taking advantage of the First World War and the world economic crisis, Japan had accelerated its pace of annexing China, which had harmed the British government’s interests in China. Therefore, on the Far East issue, Britain had always been in the same boat as Germany.

“The Japanese are insatiably greedy and deserve to die. By doing this, they are simply angering your British Empire and the Americans. In the end, they will be forced to spit out everything they’ve eaten,” Akado said reassuringly.

“I just don’t understand why the Chinese haven’t gone to war,” Smith snorted.

“It was obviously very unwise for the Chinese to inexplicably abandon the northeastern region,” Akado said, patting Smith’s shoulder. “Their Generalissimo Chiang, in order to hide his strength and weaken his potential rivals, simply handed over the region controlled by the Fengtian warlords.”

“His troops now have a full eleven divisions of German equipment, as well as 110 Italian and American fighter planes! I hear the Soviet Union also sold them 70 I-16s! And they still don’t dare to go to war! What idiots!” Smith knew that China had considerable resources. In fact, he was still underestimating China’s war potential. Seeckt had worked hard under Chiang Kai-shek for five years, and the assets he had helped the Kuomintang build up were much more than what was visible on the surface.

“So we should show some attitude, to give the Chinese some courage,” Akado said with a smile. “But I still think that peace in the Far East is in all of our interests.”

“Six boatloads of arms! We have a batch of obsolete fighters to send over there too!” Smith said with a nod. “At the very least, we can’t let the Japanese continue to do as they please! We have our bottom line!”

Three days later, France passed the weapons development plan that would become known as the “Giant Cannon Act.” They began research into railway guns with calibers of over 500mm and 370mm fast-firing railway guns. From the outset, they ordered 30 railway guns of various calibers to consolidate their already impregnable Maginot Line. They also retained the option to place additional orders, and in the retained clauses, the procurement number for these large-caliber cannons reached a staggering 170.

The British were not idle either. The 381mm “Queen” railway gun began mass production, and two were deployed in the first month. However, the British government was much more conservative in its procurement of this type of weapon. They planned to deploy 10 such cannons in the homeland and 12 in Belgium.

On the other hand, less than an hour after the tour group had left, Colonel Friederici, the commander of the Wehrmacht’s 7th Infantry Division, ordered his troops to help the combat engineers begin dismantling the “super cannon,” which could neither be moved nor truly fire.

The steel was to be transported back to the factory to be reforged into sheet metal for car bodies and other parts. The eight railcars and the containers piled on them for show had to be returned to the German railway command. Germany, however, had no interest in building large-caliber railway guns. Even Krupp, who was fascinated by large cannons, only had the courage to persuade Akado to build 283mm railway guns for heavy fire support.

In the end, even this German railway gun, with a caliber smaller than those equipped by other countries and capable of rapid deployment, was rejected by the Führer. Akado’s written comment made Krupp blush: The steel for one of these cannons is enough for an entire artillery division of the Wehrmacht! Which do you think should be prioritized for production?

Although Germany showed little interest in large-caliber railway guns, seeming to have forgotten the once-glorious Paris Gun and no longer intending to compete with Britain and France, in fact, Germany’s pace of improving and innovating its artillery never stopped. After inspecting Soviet arms factories, the Krupp factory chose to purchase the design blueprints for the Soviet 76.2mm “jack-of-all-trades” howitzer to use in designing a German 75mm howitzer. They also signed a contract with the Swedish Bofors company to provide Germany with 7,000 40mm anti-aircraft guns and their design blueprints.

German intelligence agents used every trick in the book, swindling and deceiving everywhere to induce Britain and France to constantly make mistakes and take wrong turns in their weapon development. To this day, Britain still believed that in a future war, the caliber of tank guns would not exceed 40mm, while the French were being fooled into endlessly reinforcing their Maginot Line. The result was that Germany gained an even more obvious advantage in the world arms race that was just beginning.

At the same time, German military-industrial enterprises were producing an enhanced version of the Panzer IV, which was separately named the Panther Tank. The navy was rushing to get its aircraft carriers launched as soon as possible. Several aircraft manufacturers were working overtime to produce fighter planes for their allies. The entire industrial machine of Germany had been set in motion, and the smokestacks of its factories belched black smoke day and night.

The Me-109C export model fighter brought vibrant life to Germany’s arms sales. The Italian leader Mussolini purchased 100 in one go. Spain’s General Franco also got the 150 he had dreamed of. The Romanians quietly bought 110, and Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria also bought some. Now, the Germans could say without any modesty that their ME fighter was a world fighter.

Including 200 export model Do-17 bombers, the German aircraft manufacturing companies had made a fortune. As a result, the now-wealthy German Air Force was equipped with the more technologically mature and advanced Fw-190D fighter, and in the past few months, they had equipped 350 of them. Including the high-altitude Me-109A used for homeland interception and the He-51s that were being prepared for phase-out, the German Air Force, for the first time, had a total of over 1,000 aircraft. Air Force Lieutenant General Kesselring finally had enough strength to contend with his opponents.

The German intelligence services drew up countless hoaxes to ensnare any power they could. Some of these hoaxes succeeded, like the one with the super railway gun. Some failed, and the agents carrying out the missions even died in the streets of the enemy. These Germans, or foreigners loyal to the Führer, did not even leave their names when they died. Even in the destroyed files of the German intelligence service, they were merely a letter.

Akado closed the memorandum report submitted by the intelligence department. It was densely filled with the names of sacrificed intelligence personnel. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed for these heroes of the Germanic nation.

A knock came at the door of the Führer’s office. His secretary, Cindra, stood at attention in front of his desk. “My Führer. Mr. Yamashita has arrived and is waiting for you in the conference room outside. He has come this time representing the Japanese government, hoping to begin comprehensive cooperation with us.”