The Rise of the Third Reich

"The Imperial Marshal, Walter Wink, fought well and scared the British back. Dublin was temporarily saved."

At noon on May 5, Chief of the General Staff Kesselring, who came from Zossen to Berlin to attend the headquarters meeting, saw Hessmann and immediately told him about the "Battle of Svos".

Although the Battle of Sworth was only a confrontation between two brigade-level troops, it was of decisive significance to the situation on the island of Ireland. The British temporarily gave up their plan to attack Dublin and turned to defense, which gave the German army an opportunity to increase its troops to Ireland... Of course, the British could also increase their troops in Ireland in a large scale.

Although Germany has control of the sea and a greater advantage in the air, it does not yet have the ability to cut off maritime traffic between Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Because after Germany landed in Ireland, the Royal Air Force's fighter force not only gave up the fight for air supremacy over the English Channel, but also almost ignored the air defense of southern England, using all its strength on Northern Ireland, Scotland and the Iceland-Scotland route. Above the air defense.

At the same time, the British Home Fleet spent most of its energy on mine warfare in the waters near Ireland. It not only dispatched fast mine-laying cruisers and destroyers to mine mines, but also used a large number of submarines to conduct mine warfare in the Brest-Cock Bay. The laying of mines on the waterway also caused a lot of trouble for the German army's reinforcements on the island of Ireland.

It was not until the morning of May 5 that all the ships carrying the 3rd Armored Division arrived in Cork Bay under the protection of destroyers and minesweepers, which was much delayed than originally planned.

However, the airlift of troops to Dublin went relatively smoothly. In addition to the 7th Airborne Division, which was parachuted in Dublin from the beginning, a parachute regiment, a parachute anti-tank battalion, a tank battalion and an artillery regiment of the 22nd Airborne Division also dropped on May 4 and 5. On the morning of the same day, they were airlifted to Dublin one after another.

In addition, the 1st Marine Division, which arrived in Cork on May 2, has basically completed its unloading operations, and the troops are gradually heading to Dublin.

"By tomorrow night at the latest, our troops in Dublin will increase to three divisions and nearly 50,000 men," Kesselring said. "Although it is slower than the original plan, it is generally satisfactory."

Hessman shook his head slightly, "But the British are transporting troops to Northern Ireland faster than we originally predicted, so we must also speed up our actions."

On his desk were two reports from the Imperial Central Security Service and the Military Intelligence Service (the Military Intelligence Service was developed from the intelligence agency of the General Staff and was also firmly controlled by Hersmann), both of which pointed out that the British They were transporting troops to Northern Ireland like crazy, and even transferred many troops from southern England to prepare to transport them to Ireland.

Hersman said: "The British are preparing to fight a decisive battle with us in Ireland. This is consistent with the overall plan of the Sea Lion Project for the War in Ireland, but the British reaction is more intense and their determination is more intense. But this is better. The greater the war in Ireland, the faster Britain will collapse. If all the elite troops of the British Army are eliminated in Ireland, the British Isles may soon surrender without a fight. Without the steel mills, shipyards, and aircraft manufacturing plants of the British Isles, Europe's industrial output could equal that of the United States."

Although Hessmann has always been a staunch anti-British supporter, reducing Britain to ruins has never been his idea. The real victory is to obtain the British industrial center in its entirety. So the current situation in Ireland can be said to be exactly what Hessman wants - unlike southern England, which is full of factories and big cities, Ireland is a large rural area, full of pastures and potato fields, and it is not easy to destroy it. It would be ideal to fight the British Army there.

"And the British Empire is actually over. It's just that the British don't know it yet." Hersman said with a smile: "Although we are working hard to defend Dublin, in fact we don't necessarily need Dublin. Cork Bay is enough. Because we have many long-range aircraft, if we build a large air base in Coke Bay, the combat radius of the Fokker Zero, P.108, S.M.7217 and He-219 can cover the northwest waters of Scotland, and These aircraft take off from Bergen and can cover the northeastern waters of Scotland.

As long as Cork Bay is in our hands, the British mainland will be pocketed, and the amount of imported materials from overseas will be reduced by at least 50 to 60% or more than it is now. Therefore, there will be no suspense in the land battle in Ireland. We do not need to take the initiative to attack Belfast, we can just take a defensive stance. When the airfield expansion in Cork Bay is completed, we can use bombing and blockade to force the British army to launch a fatal attack. In this way, we can win the Battle of Ireland with ground troops equivalent to one-third to one-half of the British army. "

Although the terrain of the island of Ireland is flat, it is not wide. It is only an island of 84,000 square kilometers. There are too many troops that cannot be moved away, and it is impossible to rely on mechanized troops to launch a blitzkrieg or a large-scale assault in depth, because they will reach the seaside in just a few bursts. As long as the belligerents do not completely lose control of the sea, they can use night time or weather that is not suitable for aircraft dispatch to deliver supplies to the troops on the island. Therefore, it is impossible to completely cut off the British army's retreat on the island. The greatest possibility is that the British and German armies will fight a war of attrition on the island. Due to the restrictions of the island's terrain, this war of attrition is bound to be more beneficial to the defender.

Kesselring's brows kept frowning. He listened quietly to Hessmann's words, pondered for a while, and then said: "There is nothing to worry about in the Battle of Ireland. The absolute advantage is on our side and we can always win." . But the recent situation on the Eastern Front is very worrying. Both Marshal Guderian and General Rommel reported that the Soviet Air Force's cross-border reconnaissance has become increasingly intensive, and spy infiltration activities have also been extremely rampant. Moreover, the intelligence agencies have also detected Soviet-level reconnaissance. The No. 2 battleship Soviet Ukraine and the No. 1 Kronshtadt-class battlecruiser ship Kronshtadt began to move to Molotovsk without completing all outfitting... The General Staff believes that these circumstances indicate that the Soviet Union is about to launch a war! "

Germany has long known about the Soviet Union's preparations for war. It is impossible for a military mobilization of millions to hide from an opponent like Germany that has been at war for a long time and is on high alert in all aspects.

However, preparing for war does not mean that war is about to begin. The Soviet Union's mobilization can also be defensive. However, the transfer of two Soviet-class battleships and one Kronshtadt-class battleship from Leningrad to Molotovsk was clearly in preparation for the attack.

Because the anti-ship capabilities of the German Air Force and Naval Aviation were obvious to all, the Soviet Navy's capital ships were unable to play a role in the Baltic Sea. Even once the Soviet Union's land attack begins, these three precious warships will most likely be bombed and sunk in the port. Therefore, the Soviet Union must transfer these three warships to the safety of Molotovsk in advance, and then attack from there to coordinate with the British and American naval fleets.

In addition, intensive cross-border reconnaissance by aircraft is obviously also preparing for the attack. If the Red Army was only preparing for defense, the main battlefield would be within the Soviet Union, and there would be no need to repeatedly reconnoiter German territory. Moreover, such reconnaissance can easily become the trigger for the outbreak of war. Those who hope to maintain peace will definitely be cautious.

"The Soviet Union is probably waiting for us to massively increase its troops in Ireland," Hersman couldn't help but frown when he thought of the Soviet Union, which was heading towards war step by step. "It seems that Stalin is unwilling to coexist with a unified Europe after all."

Hersman then laughed again. He said: "It is actually not easy to delay the outbreak of the Soviet-German war until now... In fact, Stalin reluctantly launched the war when the international situation was unfavorable to the Soviet Union. . As long as we deal with it in the right way, we will definitely win.”

The so-called correct method naturally refers to the "blue plan". The general policy is to first take a defensive position, open the door, lure the enemy deep, then annihilate the enemy on the Polish plains, and finally counterattack to seize Ukraine and the Caucasus, forcing the Soviet Union to cede territory and seek peace.

As for the destruction of the Soviet Union, it was never the method Hessman wanted to adopt, because that would cause Germany's vitality to be excessively consumed by the Soviet Union, thus giving the United States a chance to breathe. The United States will defeat Japan, and at the same time strengthen its control over South America, forming a "American sphere of influence" in North and South America + the Asia-Pacific region to compete with Germany. Although this is the outcome of the war that Hitler's government is willing to accept, it is one that Hersman does not want to accept. Hope to see.

Hessmann thought for a while and then said: "Albert, you try to emphasize the Soviet Union's war potential at today's headquarters meeting. You must let Hitler know that the Soviet Union is an opponent that is difficult to defeat completely from the outside. If we cooperate with the Soviet Union If a war begins, it will inevitably be a long-term and protracted war of attrition. Only by fully consuming the resources and population of the Soviet Union while preserving our own vitality as much as possible can we win at a lower cost.

Of course, before that, we should still make our last efforts to strive for lasting peace between the Soviet Union and Germany. "

"Strive for peace?" Kesselin was stunned and immediately shook his head, "This is impossible...and what kind of peace conditions can we give?"

"I know it's impossible," Hessmann waved his hand and said, "But we should let the German people, the European people, and every Soviet person understand that we have no ambitions for Soviet territory and we do not want to destroy the Soviet Union. We want to coexist peacefully with the Soviet Union... In addition, the differences between us and the Soviet Union are not the struggle between the two nations of Germany and Russia for living space, but the differences between national socialism and scientific communism!"