Now, in addition to occupying the entire Wales, the German army has also occupied cities such as Exeter, Southampton, Portsmouth, and Plymouth in England. The occupied British territory has exceeded 30,000 square kilometers. The cost is huge. The cumulative casualties now exceed 60,000, which is equal to the number of German casualties in the Battle of France. What is even more worrying is that most of the British land is still under the control of the British.
Whether it was Rundstedt or Guderian, there was nothing they could do. The frontal position left for them to break through was too small. The forced German army could only attack head-on from the front. Fortunately, after occupying Wales, the situation has improved. Guderian's idea was to select weak points in the British defense in England to attack. Once it started, he would use the armored group as the leading force to attack Scotland. After the situation stabilized, he would turn around and attack London from the side and rear of London, in conjunction with the attack on the front of the Thames River. French and Italian armies so that London could be conquered in one fell swoop.
The armored group led by Guderian is currently resting in the seaport city of Swansea in southern Wales. The area controlled by the German army is mainly divided into two areas. One is the coastal area of England along the Thames River to the seaside, and the other is Wales. These two places Although not connected, they are not isolated either. At least at this stage, the British army still has the ability to cut off the connection between the Axis forces in the two places.
Guderian, who has been waiting for the supplies to arrive, is now a little bored. For a pure soldier like him, nothing is more annoying than waiting. Even the beautiful scenery of Swansea's harbor cannot attract Guderian at all now. Compared with Guderian, the SS Gestapo who acted with the armored group enjoyed life better. After Wales fell under German control, without the disciplined SS soldiers of the Wehrmacht, they began to work.
The Gestapo's job is nothing more than to follow Lin Wei's instructions to appease the people. Furthermore, it is to find more prestigious local figures to help Germany calm the people. As for things like helping an old lady cross the road or helping a widow dive, the cold Gestapo will not do that. To do it.
Guderian cast his eyes out the window, and could vaguely see some soldiers sunbathing on the beach without anyone else, and he shook his head secretly. These soldiers must be lawless Gestapo, and as a senior general of the Wehrmacht, Guderian obviously cannot speak on such occasions. After all, there is still a gap between the Wehrmacht and the SS, and there are times when the Wehrmacht and the SS are close. But this is limited to the national leader of the SS. As we all know, the national leader is now wandering around the European continent. No real SS soldiers landed, and all Guderian saw was the annoying Gestapo.
"Hello, General Guderian!" Whenever Guderian was unable to implement his plan due to lack of supplies, an annoying voice happened to sound at this time. This man, Lin Wei, was specially sent to England to complete the arrest and comfort. A man with two jobs, his name is Walter Schmidt, and he is the head of the SS's Justice Bureau.
Hey... Guderian quickly put the plan on the table into the drawer. It wasn't that he didn't believe Walter Schmidt, but it was Guderian's habit that he would never show a plan that was not implemented to others first. Moreover, it was Walter Schmidt who in his eyes did not understand military matters. "Come in!" Guderian said helplessly. If it weren't for the sake of the national leader of the SS, Guderian would have no desire to meet Walter Schmidt.
"Hello, General Guderian!" Like most senior cadres of the SS, Walter Schmidt looks much younger than the Wehrmacht generals at the same level, but compared to the national leader who is only in his thirties, Generally speaking, Walter Schmidt can be regarded as a veteran in the SS, so under normal circumstances, Walter Schmidt and even the relationship between the Wehrmacht and the SS would not come to Guderian. . It just always appears when Guderian is irritable.
Walter Schmidt, who opened the door and came in, saw Guderian's unkind expression and shrugged indifferently. For such a long time, Walter Schmidt also knew that Guderian's temper was the worst in the Wehrmacht. On the previous day, it was natural that he was not surprised, but this time Walter Schmidt came with important matters and said, "General, I have some good news for you! A huge transport fleet has set off from the mainland, and the people above The supplies are enough for you to carry out your long-planned plan! Among them are the three hundred Panzer IV tanks that have just left the factory. They were specially ordered by the leader after he returned to Essen. They should be able to make up for the losses suffered some time ago. full!"
This is indeed good news, the best news that General Guderian has heard recently. The moment Walter Schmidt said the news, General Guderian's face turned from sunny to cloudy. Nothing excites General Guderian more than being able to implement his plan. At this moment, in Guderian's eyes, Walter Schmidt, the leader of the Gestapo, is no longer so hateful.
Today is destined to be a day that surprises Guderian. Walter Schmidt continued, "Also, according to the British Fascist Party's information, we have identified more than fifty secret oil depots in hidden locations in northern Scotland. , I think this can be a lubricant for our attack. If the Air Force is not resting now, I really hope that paratroopers can be mobilized to seize these locations first!" Are those British fascists British spies? At least not in the eyes of Walter Schmidt. The current SS is no longer German. At least in all European countries that he knows, there are people who have joined the SS. There are even 70 Gestapo who landed. Many Americans. Although they were foreigners, in Walter Schmidt's eyes, they were already his comrades.
"This is great!" Guderian's mood at this time could not be expressed beyond excitement, and he immediately shouted outside, "Call all the people in the armored group for a meeting, now is the time of war!" After finishing his words, , Guderian rarely said to Walter Schmidt, "Walter, you can stay too! Let's study this plan with us!" For Guderian, this was a relatively rare confrontation with him. The SS men were so pleasant.
However, Walter Schmidt obviously did not appreciate it and said, "Thank you General for your kindness, but I have my own things to do. When the Wehrmacht takes action, the SS must also be ready!" Walter Schmidt While Te was talking, he kept looking out the window. Several soldiers were playing volleyball on the beach. Judging from the uniforms piled nearby, Walter Schmidt knew that these people were SS soldiers.
"Okay, whatever you want!" Two good things made Guderian not care about Walter Schmidt's rudeness. Under normal circumstances, Guderian would have gotten angry.
In the temporary conference room, a huge table was surrounded by officers of the National Defense Forces. Guderian talked eloquently, "We will break through the British defense line with the most violent attack at the beginning. Our attack this time will Launch in the plain area between Liverpool and Manchester. Pass through the heavily defended Leeds, reach York in northern England, and finally storm Scotland! It has to be admitted that there are many cities in central England, and we must act close to the Irish Sea! Everyone Is there anything you want to add?”
"I have something to say!" Rommel, commander of the 7th Armored Division, stood up. Rommel looked at the map carefully and said, "It's very stressful for us to act alone, so I think we can act like Commander-in-Chief Long De General Stetter applied to order the troops of Army Group B in Wales to storm Birmingham, creating the illusion that we were going to attack London. London is the capital of the United Kingdom, and we must not dare not pay attention to it if the main force of the British army is attracted to Birmingham for defense. , it will be much more beneficial to our attack! The Third Air Force stationed in Bristol can also be dispatched, so the British will definitely believe it!"
Guderian thought for a while and found no flaws. He said to the generals of the armored group, "In this case, I am now sending a report like the commander-in-chief, General Rundstedt!" After scanning around, Guderian saw no objection, and the whole matter was settled.
Not to mention the upcoming offensive on the British battlefield, after Lin Wei returned to Essen after a long absence, he had a good feel of the chimneys of Essen and smelled the smell of soot in the air. Several of them had never been to Essen. The city's military police showed great discomfort. Not to mention them, even Lin Wei was a little uncomfortable. Even London, known as the Fog City, was just like this!
"Okay, once you get back to Villa Hugel, have a good rest!" Lin Wei said in a comforting tone. The pollution in Essen City is indeed very serious. The factories that come into view all have huge risks. The black dragon shot straight into the sky, and the sky looked a little gray. However, it is impossible to stop pollution. If these factories are closed, Germany will be in danger. Therefore, pollution control can only wait until after the war. Now the war is the most important thing.
This time when Lin Wei came back, he not only paid a visit to his parents, but also checked the conditions of his family's factory, keeping both public and private affairs in mind. This is what Lin Wei has always insisted on. Although it is no wonder that he has been paying attention to the beginning and not the end, but he has simply stopped until now. So far, Lin Wei has done pretty well.
In addition to the old-fashioned request to increase the production of Panther tanks, Lin Wei also asked the technicians of the Krupp family to ensure quality. What the technicians of the factory are most afraid of now is to see the arrival of the eldest son. If it is Gusta If the husband comes, some old employees can still complain and ask Gustav to reduce production, but Lin Wei is different. In the eyes of the leaders of these factories, Lin Wei simply cannot communicate. The output must be achieved, and the quality must be achieved. It is also necessary. In short, Lin Wei will not give anyone any room for negotiation regarding the indicators he has set.
The comparison of the number of tanks between the Soviet Union and Germany during the Soviet-German War frightened Lin Wei. Soviet tanks were measured in units of tens of thousands, while German tanks were measured in units of thousands. Lin Wei did not want to see his soldiers experience that feeling, so for the factory When technicians complain, Lin Wei's routine is to smile more and agree less, but the final result will not work.
During this period, the Panzer IV tanks that had just left the factory were ordered by Lin Wei to be transported to the transport fleet heading to Britain. Compared with the needs of other troops, the frontline troops were more important. The SS had not sent troops to participate in the British Campaign. , this has caused some generals of the Wehrmacht to complain, believing that the SS is conserving its strength and must not implement population-based equipment on equipment at this time.
One of the important reasons why Lin Wei stopped when he passed through his hometown this time was that the number of helicopters manufactured by the Krupp family has reached a certain scale. In Germany, Baumgatto was the first to pioneer the manufacture of helicopters. He began manufacturing coaxial helicopters in 1913, but this type of helicopter could not remain empty for a long time. The subsequent outbreak of World War I interrupted the development of German helicopters.
On March 31, 1923, the so-called "gyroplane" he built was successfully launched into the air by Spanish Air Force Captain Roca, and flew 17 kilometers from Hotafe to Vietos. After becoming famous, Hilava immediately went to the United Kingdom, the world's industrial center at the time, to begin further research, where he developed the "Shilava C" series of helicopters, the more famous of which is the C-19 helicopter. The C-19 helicopter aroused the interest of Germany. After negotiation, Germany purchased the production license of the C-19MKIV helicopter.
In addition, some engineers who have a strong interest in helicopters are also developing special-purpose helicopters, such as a man named R. Schmidt's engineers used electric motors as power sources to develop a helicopter with a complex coaxial rotor that could carry several soldiers, but the German military had no interest in it.
In 1935, the German Navy proposed the development of a helicopter that could be used on ships. Seeing hope, Flett immediately invested in a factory near Berlin that specialized in the production of ship-based helicopters. It didn't take long for him to develop the Fi-184 helicopter, which used a 150-horsepower Sh14a engine, three-piece blades, and a blade diameter of 12 meters. During the test flight, he found that the performance of the aircraft was poor, so he developed the Fi-185. . The development of Fi-185 was completed in 1936. It was similar in appearance to Fi-184, but its performance was still not ideal. Flatt was not discouraged and continued to work towards hope. By this time, Fokker had developed the Fw-61 with better performance.
Falk. In order to develop a helicopter that could truly serve, Wolfe invited all aviation scientists in Germany, including Dr. Jackel, Dr. Gast, etc. Beginning in 1931, it took six years for the Fw-61, the world's first helicopter to actually enter military service, to be born. The aircraft uses Siemens' specially improved Sh14b engine, with the output power increased to 165 horsepower; it uses the fuselage of the Fw-44 trainer aircraft, with large metal tripods welded on both sides of the fuselage, and two rotors installed on the top of the frame. It adopts three-piece blades with a blade diameter of 15 meters. The test flight location was chosen at the German Hall in Berlin. During the test flight ceremony, although the Fw-61's performance did not dazzle the audience, some experts present found that Germany was already at the forefront of the world in the development of helicopters, and the Fw-61 began to set world records.
The success of the Fw-61 gave the German Air Force hope. They immediately signed a contract with the Fokker Company to develop large helicopters. The primary goal was to develop a helicopter with a load of more than 700 kilograms. Fokker Company immediately began development, and here in Bremen, Flett's development has made new progress. With the joint efforts of Flett and his assistants, the Fi-265V1 adopted a coaxial scheme with two pairs of counter-rotating rotors, and the fuselage was completely the same as the Fi-185. Since 1939, Flett has built a total of 5 Fi-265 helicopters, and followed the German Navy's light cruisers to conduct sea flight tests in the Baltic Sea. During the tests, except for one that crashed overseas due to technical reasons, the remaining tests went smoothly. In order to test the flexibility of the aircraft, the German Navy specially asked two German Bf-109s to simulate attacking the Fi-265. It was found that the Bf-109 could hardly shoot down the Fi-265. This caused a sensation in the German Navy, and the order was immediately sent to Flett's factory. However, the output of Fi-265 was not large, because Flett had already developed the better-performing Fi-282, which was the ship equipped by the German Navy. carrying helicopter.
But Lin Wei knows that the value of helicopters is far from this. A navy cannot realize the potential of helicopters. The helicopters that shined in the Vietnam War and even the Gulf War are precisely because helicopters are the nemesis of tanks, and helicopters are used in street fighting. And in dealing with guerrillas, it performed even better. From the current stage, the German Army needs helicopters more than the Navy and Air Force.
Knowing the possibility of equipping the army with helicopters, Lin Wei tried his best to ask Gustave to gather engineers who were researching helicopters. Although he didn't know why his son did this, Gustave, who doted on his son, was very interested in Lin Wei. Always responsive. Therefore, under Lin Wei's insistence, the Krupp family began to work hard on helicopters. With its strong strength and the help of other companies, the Krupp family soon began to catch up in the helicopter industry, and was the first to catch up. The pace started with imitation. After obtaining a Fi-265 helicopter from Redel, the Krupp family immediately began to draw inspiration from it.
I made up some words today, hey..., it was mainly due to the power outage, forget it, I won’t explain it.