Chapter 54: Germany Boils

Until now, Hermann Oberth’s solid-fuel long-range rocket only existed on paper. Its only contribution was that Akado had once led the main leaders of the naval department on a tour of his experiments, proving that battleships were worthless in the face of future guided rocket attacks—of course, this was all a deception. The route of the model ships on the water was fixed, and the turning trajectory of the rockets was also pre-designed, all for the sake of making the technically ignorant generals give up on battleships, which were a complete waste of industrial raw materials.

Speaking of the German Navy, one must mention Germany’s newest destroyers. With Akado’s suggestion and help, the German naval shipyard at Kiel had launched a brand-new type of destroyer at the beginning of 1924. The navy’s new destroyers were designated the “Z-class.” This new class of destroyer possessed enhanced anti-aircraft and anti-submarine capabilities.

To emphasize their anti-aircraft combat capability, the main guns of the German Navy’s destroyers were uniformly 88mm caliber rapid-fire guns, serving as dual-purpose high-angle/low-angle cannons. They were also equipped with a large number of 40mm caliber anti-aircraft guns as defensive weapons. In terms of anti-submarine warfare, they were heavily equipped with depth charges, and in 1925, the newly launched destroyer Z13 was equipped with a little gadget that was considered a new piece of equipment at the time: “sonar.”

The anti-ship firepower of these warships was very weak, equipped only with a few torpedo tubes. They seemed completely incapable of threatening any of the British Navy’s combat vessels—even the cannon caliber of British destroyers was larger than that of these new German destroyers.

However, it seemed everyone had overlooked another fatal piece of data: these German naval destroyers had an ultra-high speed of 35 knots, enough to evade the interception of most enemy ships. Relying on their dense anti-aircraft fire, these ships also did not fear attacks from enemy aircraft. As ideal naval raiders, these new destroyers were perfect.

In addition, Akado’s shipbuilding method made the 15 destroyers produced by Germany completely identical, which meant that Germany could standardize the training process for its sailors, allowing them to immediately master the use of the new warships.

These warships also had a secret mission: to escort the German Graf Zeppelin-class aircraft carriers. In the naval expansion plan formulated by Akado, there were no warships larger than heavy cruisers. The heavy responsibility of carrying out offensive missions was completely entrusted to the Graf Zeppelin-class aircraft carriers, while all other vessels existed only to protect them.

These new warships included the future ocean-going escort destroyer Z2-class (which was the long-range version of the Z1-class), and the light cruiser X1-class—although this type of warship was still on the drawing board. Even though the Z2-class destroyer and the X1-class cruiser were still on paper, more than half of the parts for these two models were common with the already-in-service Z1-class destroyer. This was an absolutely astonishing miracle in the history of world shipbuilding.

What excited the German Navy the most was that Germany had already secretly trained over 600 naval submarine officers and men in the Netherlands. These sailors, who could skillfully operate submarines, and their commanders were one of the German Navy’s most precious assets. Akado was preparing to deploy these soldiers as a trump card in a new naval war.

Of course, in May of 1925, Akado still had many troubles. In this year, Germany’s rubber supply was still severely dependent on imports. For both civilian and military use, the rubber in German hands never seemed to be enough to meet the demand. This also severely restricted the pace of the German Reichswehr’s modernization.

The natural rubber imported circuitously from China was not cheap either, because Chiang Kai-shek did not have large-scale rubber plantations in his hands. He had to buy it from British merchants in Burma or French merchants in Vietnam. Adding in the transportation costs, the price was much higher than direct procurement. Of course, it was not without its benefits; purchasing from China at least bypassed the restrictions on directly importing natural rubber.

Akado was determined to solve this problem. He very cleverly approached it from two sides. On one hand, he increased the quantity of imported natural rubber and also expanded the channels for importing it. On the other hand, he funded domestic chemical research, especially the synthetic rubber project of the IG Farben company, hoping that synthetic rubber could be put into mass production.

A few days ago, he had just held talks with business representatives from regions such as Brazil, Malaysia, and Burma, signing a series of cooperation agreements. Germany would exchange industrial technology, including large machinery and railway construction, for the natural rubber exported from these regions.

And the support for the IG Farben project had started as early as 1921. Akado, using the name of the Reichswehr, provided funds to help the IG Farben company research synthetic rubber technology. Although the quality of the synthetic rubber was average and the price was expensive, the Reichswehr still quietly purchased all of the synthetic rubber produced.

Solving the problem of the rubber source cost Akado a lot of money, and luckily, he was a wealthy man. Even so, Akado was not very willing to look at the Reichswehr’s account ledgers, because they were densely filled with all sorts of entries: the Reichswehr owes the Krupp company XX dollars, the Reichswehr owes the MAN company XX million dollars for equipment procurement, the Reichswehr owes the Daimler-Benz company XX dollars… these IOUs nearly drove Akado mad.

Because the White Orchid Group under Akado’s control held stakes in many companies, and these companies had basically all adopted advanced assembly line production techniques around 1921, their output and quality had been greatly improved. In the space of a few years, the scale of these companies had expanded more than tenfold, becoming some of the largest enterprises in the world—of course, the White Orchid Group also became one of the world’s largest financial conglomerates.

Therefore, the cars produced by the Daimler-Benz company were already one of the most famous in the world, sold far and wide both at home and abroad. The Coca-Cola company had also become a household soda brand in America, much loved by American youth. The motorcycles of the BMW company had become synonymous with fashion and excitement; almost all the prodigal sons of dignitaries and nobles had to buy one to show off—all of this earned countless sums of money for Akado.

Of course, Akado would not divert the funds of these companies to subsidize the Reichswehr. He only took out his due dividends to support the Reichswehr’s development. Although it was already all the profit he earned without hindering the companies’ growth, it was still his entire income.

In private, Major General Akado Rudolph was absolutely not associated with wealth and nobility. This frugal general never even went to hotels or restaurants. He squeezed into the Reichswehr High Command’s canteen just like all the soldiers of the guard battalion. A few days ago, when he invited the business representatives from Brazil and other countries to a meal, it was Krupp who paid the bill. His only suit was one he had made when he was promoted to major.

Of course, he owned a standard model Mercedes-Benz sedan. His new driver was an army second lieutenant named Depp. But the car was procured and allocated to him by the Reichswehr, didn’t cost him a cent, and was purchased from his own company. The driver cost even less, a member of the Greater Germany Party whom he had casually selected from the guard battalion.

Akado didn’t even have any savings. Although his apartment had been bought by Krupp and transferred to him, which saved him the rent he had to pay every six months, he really had no savings, not a single penny. It’s hard to imagine that he had an income of over a hundred thousand US dollars every month, yet could spend all of it in a matter of seconds.

On May 11, 1925, Miss Fanny’s “Feature Interview with the Chairman of the Greater Germany Party,” after being edited, was finally published as a front-page headline in the Greater Germany Gazette. It caused a huge sensation overnight. Even Fanny herself did not know that this article could become so popular.

For a time, the streets and alleys were plastered with a photo of one person: a young general sitting in a chair with his legs crossed, leaning to the side with his left arm on the armrest, his left hand on his abdomen, his right hand on his knee, and his head lowered with his eyes shaded by his cap. Below the photo, a slogan was written in bold black font: “The Greater Germany Party! The Hope of the Great German People!”

Countless workers took to the streets, waving flags and shouting for this newly born political party that had improved the workers’ standard of living. And the frugal capitalists actually gave these participating workers a day off and even gave bonuses to many of the leading workers. The streets and alleys of Berlin were filled with banners reading “Long live the Greater Germany Party!”

To carefully prepare for this grand-scale parade, Krupp invited the famous Carl Orff and Wilhelm Furtwängler to jointly compose the Greater Germany Party anthem, “Forward, March!” And so, the streets and alleys echoed with the stirring melody, and people raised their right hands high, humming the inspiring lyrics: “We are the people of Greater Germany, we use our long swords to protect our land, straighten our unyielding backs, and forge victory with blood and sweat! … Forward! People of Greater Germany! Forward! Ye who march ever forward!”

And the Daimler-Benz company directly donated 50 trucks to the Greater Germany Party’s propaganda department. Sprayed with the slogans of the Greater Germany Party and carrying crowds of people with their right hands raised high, they roared through the streets and alleys of Berlin, receiving a warm welcome from the people lining the roads. This was a masterpiece of Akado’s direct copying of Nazi propaganda methods, a replica and expanded version of the famous Nazi propaganda war, the “war of flags and slogans.”

The thing that truly panicked the followers of the Social Democratic Party was that about 2,000 fanatical supporters of the Greater Germany Party gathered in front of the President’s office, loudly demanding an immediate parliamentary election. This was undoubtedly the first step of the Greater Germany Party’s march into Parliament and its attempt to control it.

As everyone knew, the Greater Germany Party was composed of two forces: one was the German military group, representing the Reichswehr and the old army; the other was the political group, representing the capitalists and the workers. This included almost all professions and classes in Germany. So during this parade, various forces, including President Hindenburg, all kept their mouths shut, letting the procession “make waves” outside.

But this was exactly what Akado wanted. The entire nation of Germany was boiling with excitement for the Greater Germany Party.