Chapter 61: The Ruhr Agreement

The Daimler-Benz company was ordered to begin mass production of 300 No. 3 assault guns, while also accelerating the development of a No. 3 tank with a turret. The Reichswehr publicly declared that 100 of these assault guns were for inventory and spare parts reserves. Coupled with the international public opinion that was biased in their favor regarding the “New Treaty of Versailles,” this blatant overproduction surprisingly did not face any investigation from the Allied Military Control Commission.

Moreover, these No. 3 assault guns completely exceeded the limits of the “New Treaty of Versailles.” They weighed 21 tons, were equipped with sloped and thickened front armor plates, and fitted with the latest short-barreled 75mm cannon, which could support infantry and also be used to makeshiftly deal with enemy tanks.

Of course, according to Akado’s original concept when designing Operation Pluto, the German panzer forces would be centered around panzer divisions. Each division would be composed of two panzer regiments, each regiment would have two battalions, and each battalion would have four panzer companies, with each company being equipped with 21 tanks. Thus, a standard German Reichswehr panzer division should have 336 tanks.

However, the Reichswehr currently had 370 P-2 tanks (a number accumulated through continuous procurement over the past year) and 41 No. 3 assault guns. These 410-plus tanks were allocated to Guderian’s 25th Panzer Division and Rommel’s newly formed 26th Cavalry Division.

In terms of numbers, neither of these two Reichswehr tank divisions was at full strength. For example, Guderian’s 25th Panzer Division only had one fully equipped panzer regiment; the other regiment only had one panzer training battalion. Rommel’s unit faced a similar situation.

But the recent situation was about to improve greatly. The Daimler-Benz company would openly produce tanks to equip these two units, and these two divisions would also replace most of their tanks with No. 3 assault guns and the subsequent No. 3 tanks that might appear.

The phased-out P-2 tanks had their 20mm cannons simply removed and replaced with machine guns to pose as armored cars, which were then allocated to another unit: the recently and secretly formed 27th Panzer Division of the Reichswehr.

In this way, the German Reichswehr now possessed 3 tank divisions, and these new units, with their advanced equipment and powerful combat capabilities, were all under Akado’s control. This did not even include the several mechanized divisions heavily equipped with armored cars and motor vehicles: the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 15th, and 22nd Divisions. Nearly a third of the Reichswehr had been motorized, and its overall mobility completely surpassed that of its neighbors, France and Poland.

Of course, even if there was a certain gap in tank weight (and thus protection) and tank cannon caliber compared to France and Britain, German tanks were superior to their opponents in mobility. Moreover, except for some of the earliest P-2 tanks which had no radios, most German tanks were equipped with radio equipment. This made German tanks far superior to French tanks in command, control, and cooperation.

This time, with the revision of the new treaty, the German Navy benefited even more. Akado, holding that half-true, half-false Operation Pluto plan, deceived the British authorities, causing the two non-existent 10,000-ton class armored ships to be exchanged for three real light cruisers. The X-class universal cruiser plan was thus able to get underway—the navy now possessed a new weapon with long range and high speed.

To this day, the British had no idea what the German Navy was thinking. Apart from a few old battleships and cruisers left over from the First World War, the German Navy only had three over-10,000-ton ships: the Lützow, the Admiral Graf Spee, and the Admiral Scheer. The rest of the newly commissioned naval vessels were all destroyers, with a tonnage of only 4,000 tons.

What was even more ridiculous was that these destroyers were all identical, with comfortable living environments and vast internal spaces. Their armament consisted only of a few laughable 88mm cannons and a dozen or so 40mm anti-aircraft guns. And the three newly equipped X-class light cruisers looked quite similar to these destroyers. In the eyes of the British, they were merely enlarged versions of the Z1-class destroyers.

The three cruisers that began construction in Kiel used the same parts as the Z1-class destroyers. Most of the weapons and equipment on the ships were interchangeable. The only difference was that these three cruisers had three additional single-barreled 150mm main guns and were equipped with more anti-aircraft guns. Compared to the British cruisers of the same period, these three small ships couldn’t even be considered a threat.

Of course, the Germans had their own cunning. They only equipped these ships with small-caliber cannons. The space saved could be used to store more grain and fuel, which meant they could travel a greater distance—enough to escort their future big fellows.

The biggest change was in the German Air Force. In its most prosperous days, the German Air Force could dispatch several thousand fighter jets at once to participate in battle. Even after the end of the First World War, the German Air Force still possessed 14,000 various fighter aircraft.

But after the war, Germany was forced to abolish its air force. Countless fighter jets were transported away or destroyed, and Germany’s airspace became an undefended blank space.

But now it was different. Germany was allowed to maintain its own air power. Although this air force was as small as it could possibly be—it only had 50 various aircraft, a number smaller than even the air force of the backward China in the Far East—it was a leap from nothing to something, which couldn’t help but make people rejoice.

Under the German interpretation of the “New Treaty of Versailles,” the reconnaissance and patrol aircraft equipped by Germany had to be biplanes. As for the speed limit, that clause simply didn’t exist. Thus, a new type of fighter-reconnaissance aircraft was designed by the Heinkel company to rearm Germany’s air force.

This aircraft was even faster than the current British fighter, the “Bulldog,” and was equipped with powerful machine gun armament. It could be said that this HE-51 fighter was the pinnacle of biplane design. The moment it was equipped, it became the fastest fighter jet in Central Europe.

Command of the air force was given to Major Kesselring, who had just returned from studying in the Soviet Union. The 40 fighter-reconnaissance aircraft were divided into two squadrons. Captain Dick commanded the 1st Fighter-Reconnaissance Squadron, and another captain, Bierhoff, who had excelled in the Soviet Union, served as the squadron leader of the 2nd Fighter-Reconnaissance Squadron.

Such a large-scale military expansion naturally drove the entire German industry. Akado personally flew to the Ruhr region in western Germany and, on behalf of the Reichswehr military, met with the German heavy industry capitalist group represented by Krupp.

The two sides signed the “Ruhr Agreement,” which would later be known as Germany’s first five-year plan. It clarified the production scope of weapons and equipment for various factories and the procurement quantities for the Reichswehr. It even included Germany’s entire economic plan for the next 5 years.

The sub-plan of Operation Pluto, Operation White Dove, continued to be expanded. Germany would build another 400 kilometers of highways and 350 kilometers of railways, connecting the entire country to rapidly deploy forces scattered throughout the nation.

And as Akado’s secret envoy, Merkel visited the Soviet Union, contracting to build 3,000 kilometers of railways and 3,000 kilometers of roads for the Soviet Union at a low profit margin. All of this economic aid was signed in the form of secret cooperation agreements with the new Soviet leader, Stalin, who had not been in power for long, helping him to consolidate his position.

In return, the Soviet side provided Germany with 4 million US dollars’ worth of oil and a large quantity of grain. Moreover, the scale of German soldiers secretly training within Soviet territory was expanded to 1,000 men.

Subsequently, the heavy industrial bases in Kiev, Minsk, and other places that Germany was aiding also received equipment from Germany. These precious industrial foundations provided the Soviet Union with steel and its derivatives, including tanks and armored cars.

Of course, an even more audacious plan was provided by the Germans to the Soviet leader, Stalin: German engineers would help the Soviet Union build a brand-new battleship. This battleship, named the “Soviet Union-class” by Stalin, was equipped with 9 massive 406mm cannons, making it a veritable super-hegemon of the seas.

Stalin particularly liked this kind of super-weapon and ordered the immediate construction of the first ship, the Sovyetsky Soyuz, at the “Baltic Shipyard” in Leningrad with the help of German engineers. Subsequently, the second ship was to be built at the second major shipyard in Leningrad, the “Admiralty Shipyard.”

In Stalin’s plan, a total of 15 Soviet Union-class battleships were to be built, to deal with the Japanese threat in the Far East and the British warships from Europe. With the help of German engineers, Stalin believed that relying on the vast territory and abundant resources of the Soviet Union, it was entirely possible to compete with the British Empire at sea.

Thus, a strange phenomenon occurred: the Germans were continuously building small-tonnage cruisers and destroyers for escort use, while the Soviets, with German help, were building super-battleships with a displacement of over 45,000 tons.

With the Soviet Union footing the bill, German industry burst forth with unprecedented vitality. The entire country of Germany became a massive arsenal and construction site. The social unemployment rate was almost zero for a time, and prices were stable. The people lived and worked in peace and contentment. Germany swept away the haze of a defeated nation and became the most economically vibrant country in Europe.

And under the vigorous propaganda of the Greater Germany Gazette, the latter half of 1925 was called the “Year of Greater Germany” by the people. The Greater Germany Party, through the “New Treaty of Versailles,” brought the German people an unprecedentedly prosperous Christmas.

In September 1926, exactly one year after the Ruhr Agreement was signed, Hindenburg, on behalf of the government, commended Major General Akado Rudolph, thanking him for his outstanding contributions to Germany’s economic recovery and social stability. He also privately issued a bonus for the Reichswehr and generously allocated another 4 million Marks as secret funds for the military.

And at the end of 1926, Germany’s actual army strength was 425,000 men (a little less than expected due to the secret nature of the expansion). They had a total of 633 tanks of various models, an air force of 1,400 men and 60 aircraft, and a navy with 21 new Z1-class destroyers and various other old ships (the 3 X-class light cruisers were still in their trial phase and had not yet entered service).

And just when the capitalist merchant group, who had made a fortune, was finally satisfied and decided to take a rest, they remembered that there was still one important matter that had not been implemented. So they once again started to bustle about in a hurry.