Chapter 85 - 85

He became Hansi's defense chief at a young age, which was a huge challenge for Mainz.

However, while this position brought him tremendous pressure, it also provided him with great power.

He can transform the army in his hands according to his own ideas!

The new official took office with three things in mind. After Mainz took office, he did not make any major arrangements immediately.

Instead, we headed to Wilhelmshaven in the northwest for inspection.

Wilhelmshaven is an important base for the German navy. Although Hans's navy has almost ceased to exist in name only after the destruction of the High Seas Fleet, the navy is extremely important to the empire. In order not to repeat the mistakes of World War II in history, it must Build a powerful navy.

This navy will not only be used to protect the territorial waters of Hans' country, but also serve as the main force to carry out engagements and even cover landing operations.

In World War II, after the Battle of Gaul in 1940, if the German army had a powerful navy, they would not have to turn their guns to fight bears.

They can take advantage of the power of victory, march westward across the sea, and directly attack the homeland of the Empire on which the Sun Never Sets.

At that time, the Empire of the Sun Never Sets had been crippled in the Battle of Gaul, and their armies suffered heavy casualties in Benelux and other places. Although the Dunkirk evacuation allowed them to recover a little bit of blood, the hundreds of thousands who were killed How much fighting power the frightened soldiers still have? I am afraid that even if I don't know it for days, I don't know.

Therefore, this time is the best opportunity for the German army to directly attack the sun never sets.

Once this opportunity is missed, the Empire will slowly recover, and then become a hateful fly in western Europe, always interfering and influencing the Third Reich from behind, and will be threatened and influenced by the Empire. The impact was that even at the height of the Soviet-German war, the German army had to maintain a large army in Western Europe to guard against British sneak attacks!

Doesn't Mustache understand that the threat of the Third Reich on the Western Front will always exist unless we take over the mainland of the Empire on which the sun never sets?

Of course he knew, so Mustache launched an air raid on Sun Never Set, hoping that the fierce air raid would make the Sun Never Set people surrender and happily raise the white flag and surrender to the Third Reich like the Gauls.

However, Mustache's plan failed. After being the world's hegemon for hundreds of years, the sun never sets on people who have their own pride in their bones. They are different from Gaul and will not surrender so easily!

Therefore, even though the German bombing was extremely fierce and the capital city where the sun never set was bombarded indiscriminately, the people still gritted their teeth and refused to surrender.

But if the sun does not set and people do not surrender, Mustache's plan will completely go bankrupt. Without a strong navy, the German army will simply not be able to control the narrow sea area of the English Channel, which is only a few dozen kilometers.

Without naval cover, even if the German armored forces were able to fight, they would not be able to swim directly across the sea. Therefore, even though almost all of Western Europe fell, the Sun Never Sets managed to save a life!

The lessons of World War II are profound for Mainz. Since time travel has gone back to before World War II, the United States cannot ignore the problems exposed by the Third Reich in World War II!

To control the European continent, you must defeat Gaul and the Woolly Bear. It is easy to defeat Gaul, but it is difficult to defeat the Woolly Bear!

With Mao Xiong's land area and huge population, to defeat Mao Xiong, we must integrate the power of the entire Western Europe. To ensure the stability of Western Europe and allow the third stable rear to confront Mao Xiong, we must defeat Japan. Do not fall into the empire.

To defeat the Empire on which the sun never sets, you must have a powerful navy!

Therefore, everything comes down to the navy!

Hans must build a powerful navy. This is the dream of generations of Hans!

The Navy does not yet have its own naval commander. The previous naval commander was Tirpitz, but he was dismissed by William II as early as 1916. He was replaced by Admiral Scheer, commander of the High Seas Fleet, but General Scheer was also dismissed in 1918.

After the defeat and demise of the Second Empire, the newly born Weimar Republic continued to be turbulent, and Field Marshal Hindenburg focused his main energy on the army. With all the main fleets of the navy scuttling, Hans's navy existed in name only, and it was naturally not worth it. What's the concern?

Therefore, the Navy does not have its own commander at this time, only the Joint Chief of Staff, and the current Chief of Staff is still temporary, Rear Admiral Adolf von Trotta.

Historically, it was not until Raeder became the naval commander that the German naval commanders were fixed. Before that, they included Major General Adolf von Trotta, Major General Wilhelm Michelis, Lieutenant General Paul Behnke, Han Lieutenant General Szenkel, General Hans Zenkel and many other generals took up this position and were quickly replaced.

A navy without its own main battleships is in a really pitiful situation.

It was different from what Mainz thought. He originally thought that after all the main battleships of the High Seas Fleet were scuttled, Hans's navy would have no more battleships.

Unexpectedly, there were still more than twenty battleships parked in Wilhelmshaven.

Twenty-some battleships sounded pretty good, even larger than the High Seas Fleet that sank in Scapa Flow.

However, this is not the actual situation. These remaining battleships are all pre-dreadnoughts built before 1905. These battleships are generally over 20 years old.

These included: two Brandenburg-class battleships: Brandenburg and Wörth.

Five Caesar Friedrich III-class battleships: Caesar Friedrich III, Caesar Wilhelm II, Caesar Wilhelm the Great, Caesar Carl the Great, and Caesar Barbarossa.

Five Wichelsbach-class battleships: Witchelsbach, Swabia, Vidin, Mecklenburg, and Zalingen.

Five Braunschweig-class battleships: Braunschweig, Alsace, Lorraine, Hesse, and Prussia.

Four Hans-class battleships: Hans, Hannover, Silesia, and Schleswig-Holstein.

Among these battleships, except for the four Hans-class battleships that were launched relatively recently, the other battleships are all over 20 years old. The oldest Brandenburg has even reached the age of 7 years!

After the birth of the dreadnoughts of the Empire on which the sun never sets, these old battleships almost all fell behind overnight.

Since William II came to the throne, the Second Empire has always hoped to build a powerful fleet to expand its overseas interests, so they started an arms race with the sun never setting on building warships. From 1893 to 1905 In just 12 years, they built five models of 25 battleships. This construction speed is terrifying!

However, after the advent of the Dreadnought-class battleships, which never set, all the previous efforts of the Second Empire were in vain. All battleships fell behind overnight, and they had to quickly redesign new battleships. This was the main force of the High Seas Fleet in later generations.

After World War I, all the main battleships of the High Seas Fleet were towed away, but all these old-fashioned pre-dreadnoughts were left behind. Why?

The reason is that the Allied Powers simply looked down upon these scraps of scrap metal and had no desire to tow them away as scraps, so they were just dumped in the German military port!