Iron Cross

"Socotra Island has been completely occupied by the Japanese combined fleet and is now its temporary anchorage. Some of our naval aviation officers and soldiers are conducting joint training on it. The Japanese fleet will hand it over to our army after returning home. The location of the island is very important, not only for It will provide a barrier for the fleet transporting oil from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea, and will also become the thorn in the empire's control of the northern Indian Ocean. The head of state has directed that it be built into our naval and air force base, our unsinkable aircraft carrier in East Africa. In terms of administrative division, it will separate from the Aden Protectorate and become an overseas territory directly under the empire. A small number of indigenous residents will also be moved to the Aden Protectorate to build the first line of defense for German East Africa in the future. For this purpose, the High Command decided to send additional forces. "Large-scale construction and garrisoning," Keitel explained, "The construction focuses on four aspects. The first is to widen hangars and runways and increase the number of aircraft deployed; the second is to build fortifications and deploy additional ground troops; and the third is to build artificial intelligence. The dock provides convenience for 10,000-ton ships to dock for supply and unloading; the fourth is to build a submarine cave to provide convenience and concealment for U-boat operations. Taking into account the location and mission characteristics, the base camp is responsible for the initial construction and then handed over to the navy. Management, the aircraft and ground forces above will also be under the management of the Navy, and the headquarters will separately allocate 100 million yuan for them. "

According to Keitel, in addition to Socotra, military bases will also be formed on Cyprus and Crete. This is a package defense plan for the Third Reich in the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. However, the latter two islands are large in area and lack local residents. Many of them were decided to be directly managed by the Supreme Command, with a focus on increasing the air force.

"In view of the current weak strength of the Marine Corps, I will coordinate with the Army and transfer some troops and add existing forces to form a new Marine Corps brigade - temporarily based on the armored grenadier organization, 6,000 people, more than 50 amphibious tanks and armored vehicles With the addition of light artillery, it will be integrated into the naval command in the future. All officers and soldiers will join the navy after transferring from the army. At the appropriate time, the Supreme Command will consider expanding it into an armored grenadier division," Keitel said. "The expanded equipment and personnel will be transferred from the army. The transfer will not occupy the navy’s military expenditure.”

The German Navy was already very weak, and the Marine Corps was even more weak, almost on the same level as the Air Force Field Division. Since Hoffman planned to build a navy, make up for shortcomings, and defend these islands, he had to work hard on the details and think about it. It is better to follow the method established by HNA and directly recruit people from the army to form groups. But he decided that it would be better to let Keitel do the favor - Keitel is the chief of staff of the three armed forces and is not only responsible for the army.

Richthofen transferred from the Air Force to the Navy. This move greatly improved the relationship between the Navy and the Air Force and made up for the rift caused by the aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin in the Goring era. The Army was also thinking about future combat issues, focusing on the Middle East and Peace Take the North African campaign as an example. It is unimaginable without the accompaniment and support of the navy. Logistics alone will overwhelm the army. In order to safely transport Persian Gulf crude oil back to the country in the future, maritime power is absolutely indispensable. Therefore, Keitel and Zeitzler cannot They were jealous of the funding that the Navy would receive - anyway, the head of state had promised not to deduct it from the Army's military expenditures. They not only agreed to the outline of Plan Z, but also agreed to the construction of a naval base and the deployment of some troops to join the Marine Corps. They believed that this would help strengthen the Army's Naval influence was necessary.

"Thank you, head of state." Having said this, Redel of course wanted to express his deep gratitude. Speaking of which, this is the Navy's first overseas base.

Although Redel was a little disappointed not to be able to build a battleship, he was still very happy to have such a large number of aircraft carriers, aviation battleships and cutting-edge destroyers - this shows that the navy's status in the eyes of the head of state is constantly improving, although the funds are not yet available. There is no bottom at all, but with a base of 600 million, at least the ship construction and modification projects ahead can be smoothly promoted. As for the rest, he believes that the head of state will be able to find a way. The key now is that the navy, especially the surface ship force, must prove its worth in combat. As he thought about it, his mind drifted to the upcoming "Tsunami Plan".

Dönitz did not feel much loss: he never believed that the war could be won by relying on submarines alone. As for the conflict between him and Raeder, it was not as serious as the outside world exaggerated. In his eyes, the revised Z plan was more In the past, it was more pragmatic and reliable. If Germany could really complete the construction of its naval power according to this plan, he felt that it would at least have the strength to fight Britain.

On the way back from the naval headquarters, Speer deliberately chose to ride in the same car with Hoffman. He asked with concern: "Führer, how do you plan to solve such a huge funding gap?"

Hoffman joked: "I saw that you didn't say much at the meeting. I thought you had already thought of a solution."

Speer shook his head: "I have no idea, but with 600 million in hand, the previous plans can be launched as scheduled. The Navy will get more as long as it proves its value."

Hoffman did not directly state what to do, but asked: "Will there be difficulties in production? I am talking about personnel, resources or technology."

"It's very difficult, but I should be able to overcome it if I think of a way. Although the plan is ambitious, it is less than one-eighth of the U.S. Navy's shipbuilding plan. The time span has been extended to three years. It is very challenging for me, but it is not What an unattainable task. I now particularly understand the importance of the navy. If the combined fleet had not blocked and destroyed the reinforcing British and American forces this time, the North African and Middle Eastern campaigns would never have been so easy to win. Once the war reached a stalemate, we must Continuously pouring money into the Middle East and North Africa is not a matter of billions, it will only make us pay an unbearable price. Therefore, as long as you have a way to get the money, I will definitely find a way to turn these drawings into reality. real thing.”

We are all smart people, and the money Speer mentioned definitely does not refer to bills - if that is the case, he only needs to turn on the machine to print a little bit. This requires Germany to actually come up with hard currency or materials, even if Western European countries temporarily Accepting the Reich Mark will also snatch supplies from Germany in the future. Playing with inflation moderately will help lubricate the economy. Relying entirely on printing money to maintain turnover will only lead to an immediate economic collapse. If government bonds were issued, someone would have to buy them. With such a huge number, he couldn't imagine who would buy them.

After pondering for a moment, Hoffmann asked: "If I issue 20 billion marks of national debt to these industrial giants, do you think they can pay it?

"It's a little difficult, but it should be between 10 and 15 billion." Speer thought for a while, "The question is how do we convince them to buy? Relying on force will not work."

"They have made a lot of money since re-armament. Although they have bought some national debt, I believe they still have room for it." Hoffman said, "The amount of national debt issued is set at 20 billion Reichsmarks."

"What about mortgages and repayments?" Speer said worriedly, "Now there are not many things in the occupying countries that can be sold to them."

Hoffmann gritted his teeth and squeezed out a few words: "Use oil!"

"Use oil!" Speer's eyes lit up. "Führer, please continue."

“What is the current price of a barrel of Middle Eastern crude oil?”

"The market price is about a little more than 2 US dollars, but it is rising every day, and you can't buy it yet because we control it all - the British will run out of gas soon." Speer said with a gloating smile, " I think if I say 8 marks a barrel, countless people will want to buy it.”

"Well, we will sell the bonds at a price of 8 marks a barrel. We will sell the government bonds at the current price and repay that amount of oil at maturity. In addition, taking into account the repayment period, we will add an interest of 1% per year to them. "

Speer quickly understood: "You mean, if we lend 20 billion to the capitalists, no matter whether the mark depreciates or appreciates in the future, we will be responsible for paying back 2.5 billion barrels of crude oil? - This is equivalent to using the name of the country now. Sell ​​them crude oil futures?”

"You can give them a cash option, and they can take either marks or oil after the expiration of the term." Hoffman thought for a while, "This kind of bond is marked as a special mark, or oil mark, which is guaranteed by oil and has no inflation." No worries.”

"So, where's the oil?"

"There will be, don't worry! Are you worried about running out of oil in this oil sea in the Middle East?" Hoffman enumerated with enthusiasm, "Libya, Iraq, Persia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Aden, and the Arab Emirates are all oil accumulations. The land is in our hands. After the war, it will be the greatest victory dividend for the empire, and the capitalists will get benefits. You can imagine that in the future, every household will have a car, and the amount of oil consumed in a year will be astronomical. "

Speer quickly calculated: Germany has now obtained the rights to exploit Libyan oil. According to the agreement with the Italians, Germany will have half of the proceeds, and there are at least 2 million tons here (he has no idea that there are billions of dollars buried in Libya's deep well oil fields. tons), Iraq and Persia currently mine nearly 10 million tons per year, and this is the result of destruction. If Germany is allowed to mine, 25 million tons a year will definitely be no problem, plus the mining rights in other parts of the Middle East ——After doing the math and deducting the mining costs, he felt that the debt of 350 million tons of crude oil (250,000 barrels is roughly equivalent to this figure) can be paid off in 20-25 years, and it is not a particularly heavy burden—— It’s all for nothing anyway.

"Can we sell it to capitalists in other countries? Of course, I mainly refer to Western European countries, excluding enemy countries."

"Absolutely. After the war, they will either buy our oil or American oil. Now selling national debt to them is equivalent to locking in customers in advance." Hoffman laughed, "Another advantage is that these capitalists We must support us. If Germany fails, it will be a piece of waste paper. They will stop thinking about oil. Let’s destroy it together.”