November 19, 1939
Northern Germany, 10th Military District, Hamburg – Kiel Naval Base I was just entering the Kiel Naval Base by car with Emperor Wilhelm III.
My father, Hjalmar Schacht, had once again passed the military-related event to , saying there was no need for him to attend.
I couldn't shake the feeling that he was dumping all the uninteresting or botherso events on , while only handling the economic and dostic affairs he wanted to…
"Is this the first ti you and I are on an official schedule together?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Since we've decided to form a democratic governnt and proceed with a constitutional monarchy, it's normal for the Emperor not to be at the forefront.
However, since the Kiel Naval Base, a major stronghold of the German Navy, was where the sailors' rebellion that led to the collapse of the German Empire broke out, we decided to hold a ceremony for the Navy's defection here, visiting with the Emperor for symbolic aning.
The conservative figures in the German Navy also tend to have quite the royalist disposition.
It's understandable, as many in the Navy's high command likely still feel nostalgia for the majesty of the World War I-era Kaiserliche Marine, which is incomparable to the current Kriegsmarine.
"The Kiel Naval Base, it has been a very long ti…"
Honestly, I ca here seriously worried about getting a stomachache from accompanying him, but the expression of Wilhelm III, who was unusually quiet today, felt sowhat distant.
I realized for the first ti that this man could make such an expression.
I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, but the massive battleships that must have filled the Kiel Naval Base were the very symbol of the expansionist policy pursued by Wilhelm II and the German Empire.
Although Count Blunthal, who perford the incredible feat of sniping Hitler and forcing Army Group North to surrender, had been confird to be alive, the Emperor—who had been fully prepared to politically exploit his eldest son's close friend by packaging him as a martyr before the news arrived—was showing a rare display of emotion.
Our car drove slowly through the ranks of the honor guard and sailors as the military band played, stopping in front of the waiting naval admirals.
The naval headquarters is originally in Berlin, but Admiral Canaris, who is both the Director of the Abwehr and a naval admiral, coordinated with Admiral Raeder to dispatch the main naval commanders to major naval bases like Kiel and Wilhelmshaven just before the civil war.
Thanks to that, all the real power players of the Navy were gathered here.
"It is an honor to receive you, Your Majesty the Emperor, and the Vice Minister of the Chancellery."
The Navy's most senior officer, Admiral Erich Raeder, had a subtly different tone for the Emperor and for .
It seems the old and conservative admiral wasn't pleased that a wet-behind-the-ears Vice Minister of the Chancellery had co, not even the Chancellor himself…
"Thank you for the welco. It's been a while, Admiral Raeder."
Wilhelm III and Erich Raeder shook hands naturally, and then he shook hands with .
"It is an honor to et you, Admiral Raeder. I am Dietrich Schacht, Vice Minister of the Chancellery."
"A pleasure."
Even after shaking hands with Erich Raeder, there were many more people to greet.
Rolf Carls, who in the original history competed with Karl D??nitz for the position of Commander-in-chief of the Navy.
Günther Lütjens, who drafted a significant number of the German Navy's operations during World War II, such as Operation Sea Lion and Operation Rhine Exercise.
Wilhelm Marschall, who was an exceptionally capable admiral but was so belligerent that he defied orders to avoid engagent multiple tis and sank enemy ships, And even Alfred Saalw??chter, who was the commander in charge during the chase of the Bismarck.
Seeing the key figures of the World War II Kriegsmarine all at once, I feel a strange sense of novelty.
And finally, I shook hands with a man who, despite being on the younger side among the admirals here, looked like an old man with his many wrinkles and slightly thin fra.
"Karl D??nitz, Commodore (Kommodore). A pleasure to et you."
"I am Dietrich Schacht, Vice Minister of the Chancellery.
It's a pleasure to et you, Commodore D??nitz."
The symbol of the World War II German Navy, represented by the U-boat, and the man who, as the final leader of Nazi Germany after Hitler's death, surrendered to the Allied Forces.
Among the naval admirals, who were like oil and water with the Nazis, I was a bit curious about what D??nitz, an outlier who approved of Nazism, would think of the new governnt.
But unlike Raeder or the other conservative admirals, D??nitz didn't seem to show any particular displeasure or curiosity toward , a young man.
He just gave a dry handshake and imdiately looked away. What was he thinking?
While I was pondering, Wilhelm III, who had exchanged so pleasantries with the admirals, stepped up to the podium.
The battleships that once filled the harbor, the grand Kaiserliche Marine of the German Empire, were gone without a trace.
Not just in Kiel, but even if you combined all the battleships docked in every naval base, you could count the number of proper ones, including those under construction, on one hand.
But at this mont, that didn't seem to matter to him. The Emperor, who had seed to have no blood or tears, was making a human-like expression for the first ti.
Wilhelm III, who had fought as the Crown Prince in the last great war, stood where the end of the German Empire had begun, and now, as the constitutional monarch of Germany, he opened his mouth and spoke in a low voice.
"…I have finally returned."
-
After the welcoming ceremony, the naval admirals and I attended a eting for serious discussions.
In truth, the welcoming ceremony was just for show, for symbolic purposes; the real business started now.
"Your Majesty, the Navy's current situation is extrely poor. The battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz have been left abandoned in the harbor after their launching ceremonies, and the aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin is in the sa state."
A launching ceremony is the act of floating a ship on the sea once its basic hull and watertight structure are complete.
Of course, being warships, they usually require another one to two years of fitting out with equipnt and armant after the launch, but with those expensive battleships and aircraft carriers left abandoned halfway through construction, the Navy must have been burning with frustration.
At Admiral Raeder's statent, Wilhelm III, who had been listening with his arms crossed, pointed at
and said.
"Tell that not to , but to the Vice Minister. The era of the Empire has already passed."
For Emperor Wilhelm, of all people, to say sothing like that.
Did the establishnt of a constitutional monarchy and the visit to Kiel Naval Base move him so deeply?
While even I was making a surprised face, Admiral Raeder, with a slightly displeased look, turned to
and spoke.
"Vice Minister, as I said, the Navy has been virtually abandoned since the start of the civil war. We will, of course, pledge our loyalty to His Majesty the Emperor's governnt, but I trust the new governnt doesn't intend to keep neglecting the Navy."
The German Navy's situation during World War II was truly like a chicken rib.
Trying to build it up was hopeless against the weight class of its opponents, yet you couldn't just abandon it either.
"Of course not, Admiral. We've arranged this eting today precisely to discuss that."
The Kriegsmarine's admirals didn't look very expectant.
After all, Nazi Germany itself had a history of drawing up a grand plan like Plan Z, only to dole out a pittance for the budget before trying to start a war in 1939.
"First of all, I must unfortunately inform you that Plan Z, which you planned with the Nazi Regi, must be scrapped."
Plan Z is a naval construction plan to rebuild an ocean-going fleet composed of nurous battleships, aircraft carriers, and battlecruisers.
Honestly, it was such an incredibly rosy blueprint that it seed only a country with the economic power of Arica could have made it possible.
"Ahem…"
The admirals looked uncomfortable, but at least they didn't get openly angry.
They weren't so brainless as to demand the new governnt push forward with Plan Z while in the middle of a two-front war.
That, at least, is a favorable factor.
The German Navy's high command still believes in the outdated relic of big-gun-big-ship doctrine, but we have an excuse.
"As you know, the new governnt is still fighting a civil war with the Nazi Regi and also waging a two-front war with Italy, so the budget is not very generous."
Admiral Raeder, who was listening, asked with a very uncomfortable expression.
"We have eyes, so we know that. But are you planning to just leave the battleships and aircraft carrier we were building as heaps of scrap tal?"
"Of course not. At the very least, we plan to allocate the budget to complete the Bismarck, the Tirpitz, and the Graf Zeppelin."
Seeing the admirals' faces soften so quickly almost made
laugh.
They must have been worried sick that the new governnt would abandon all plans for constructing large ships.
It's good that their low expectations make them easy to satisfy.
"T-To what extent?"
Admiral Raeder seed inwardly delighted but also half-in-doubt upon hearing the unexpected words.
"It is not yet confird, but the plan is to allocate the budget to complete the Bismarck within 1940, the Tirpitz within the first half of 1941, and the Graf Zeppelin by the end of 1941."
"Ooh…"
The naval admirals were quite pleased, but in truth, I originally had no intention of doing this.
I knew how much of a white elephant battleships were, and while the aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin was another matter, I was skeptical about the need for not one, but two Bismarck-class battleships built with an outdated design philosophy.
The ones who actively pushed for this plan were Director Canaris and Deputy Director Oster of the Abwehr.
They argued that we needed a minimal deterrent for command of the sea and the Navy's loyalty to smoothly maintain imports from Arica—especially oil and trucks.
It's true that during the Crown Prince's last visit, things were just starting, and Arica took our circumstances into account and traded with us through the Netherlands, but to bring in enough oil to operate both the Air Force and the Navy, we can't just keep borrowing Dutch or other countries' transport ships forever.
The Abwehr, which played a major role in the coup d'état, was set to absorb and manage all intelligence agencies after the civil war, but since that alone was a weak reward, this was approved as a political compensation for them, who are at least nominally part of the Navy.
"Thank you.
But, the auxiliary ships…"
"That part will have to be discussed later, after we end the civil war."
"Hmm, I see."
The admirals were satisfied just by the hope instilled in them that they would see the completion of the Bismarck, Tirpitz, and Graf Zeppelin, which had been indefinitely postponed.
The only one with a sour expression was D??nitz…
In truth, I also think it's more efficient militarily to produce submarines with the money for battleships, but the story gets complicated when political issues are involved.
D??nitz's infamous unrestricted submarine warfare is certainly efficient as a military operation, but it's a violation of international law and the risk of causing a diplomatic disaster is too great.
You don't have to look far; one of the reasons the U.S.
entered World War I against Germany was none other than the Sinking of the Lusitania, where an Arican passenger ship was sunk by a German submarine.
Nazi Germany's diplomatic strategy was not to have diplomacy, so that was one thing, but we can't do the sa, so unrestricted submarine warfare is not an option.
"In any case, thank you. I was worried, not being ignorant of the new governnt's circumstances, but at least the ships containing the essence of the navy won't be abandoned. Please convey my thanks to Canaris and the Chancellor as well."
Well, still, the Bismarck, Tirpitz, and Graf Zeppelin.
In the original history, all three were symbols of the German Navy, but the Bismarck was sunk as soon as it saw action, the Tirpitz was used only as a threat, and the Graf Zeppelin was never even completed.
I hope they avoid such misfortune this ti.
"It is true that our circumstances are not easy, but please take it as a sign of how much interest the new governnt has in the Navy. I will relay your ssage to the Chancellor."
Admiral Raeder, a complete 180 from when we first t, shook my hand with a broad smile.
The budget that made this possible in our already strained situation was my father's work. The FO bills, worth over 20 billion Marks, were truly daunting, but in reality, the munitions companies must have been even more desperate.
Having gone into debt to supply to their limits, trusting only the governnt's guarantee, the weapons they were contracted to deliver to the Nazi Wehrmacht couldn't be delivered because of the civil war, and since they couldn't deliver, they couldn't get paid. Even Germany's renowned munitions companies were on the brink of bankruptcy.
That's when my father made a deal with the munitions companies. The new governnt would repay the FO bills, which had no guarantee of being paid, little by little each month, and also purchase the equipnt that was scheduled for delivery to the Nazis to provide them with funds, in exchange for reducing the total value of the FO bills.
From the munitions companies' perspective, it must have been incredibly unfair to have to reduce the value of the bonds the German governnt had promised to repay, but avoiding bankruptcy due to a lack of imdiate funds was more important than a huge sum they might never receive.
On top of that, when we added the condition of overlooking their collusion with the Nazis, the munitions companies had no choice but to accept with long faces, and we have already begun asset seizure of companies that actively collaborated with the Nazi Regi.
Given that my father was the creator of those very FO bills, it was a truly ruthless act worthy of a capitalist, but his craftiness was on a level I couldn't dare to imitate, so I have nothing to say.
As a result, the total value of the FO bills was reduced by about 40% to around 12 billion Marks.
This is still an astronomical sum, but by at least getting the companies to agree to installnt paynts, we've gained a little breathing room.
As I watched the overjoyed admirals, the Emperor quietly approached and spoke.
"As expected, loyalty to the imperial family and all that is nothing compared to money."
"We've entered such an era, Your Majesty."
-
After the eting ended and the Emperor and the Vice Minister of the Chancellery had left.
Karl D??nitz stood blankly on the balcony, the sea breeze blowing in, and gazed at the sea.
"Everyone else is celebrating, are you just going to stand here looking pathetic by yourself?"
D??nitz gave a bitter smile at the voice from behind him.
Günther Lütjens, a man with a rough disposition but a decent acquaintance of his, ca and stood next to D??nitz.
"What's wrong? Is it because you couldn't bring up the submarine fleet?"
"It just feels… empty."
Before welcoming the new governnt's Vice Minister of the Chancellery, Admiral Raeder had repeatedly warned D??nitz not to attract the high-ranking official's attention.
Thanks to that, D??nitz didn't even speak to the Vice Minister of the Chancellery and had to keep his mouth shut throughout the eting.
The young Vice Minister himself didn't seem to pay much attention to D??nitz, but the Navy had been concerned that they would get caught in the crossfire because of D??nitz, who was secretly friendly to the Nazis.
"At first, I thought that to spread my wings in the Navy, since my ideas differed from my superiors, it would be best to get on the good side of the Führer and the Nazi Party."
"Well, that makes sense."
It was true that D??nitz, who enthusiastically advocated for a submarine fleet alone in a German Navy that believed in the surface fleet and big-gun-big-ship doctrine, was non-mainstream, so Lütjens spoke casually.
But D??nitz was tasting a deep sense of frustration.
"But as I did that, I ca to truly believe it. That the Führer and the Nazis were the leadership that would make this Germany strong again."
D??nitz, who was considerably influenced by Nazism, genuinely respected Hitler and believed that Jewish people and the Bolsheviks were the sources weakening Germany.
"I believed there was no one who could lead this Germany better than Hitler. But that wasn't the case."
Only two and a half months since the coup d'état.
The once seemingly powerful dictator's regi was collapsing in an instant, revealing a shaful part so ugly that even D??nitz, steeped in Nazism, could not defend it.
"Do you regret it?"
"…It's all for nothing."
After those words, D??nitz fell silent, his gaze fixed on the sea.
Lütjens watched D??nitz for a mont before speaking.
"We saw the Emperor's Empire and the Kaiserliche Marine collapse."
Saying that, Lütjens looked at the incomplete aircraft carrier, the Graf Zeppelin, floating endlessly on the sea after only its launching ceremony.
"It felt like the end of the world back then, but looking back, we've managed to live on just fine."
Hearing Lütjens's words, D??nitz slowly closed his eyes.
He still found it hard to imagine a Germany without Hitler, but he would have to live on in a Germany without Hitler.
"Yes, I suppose so…"
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