Chapter 8

With some original settings and interpretations.

While writing about the air force, navy, territorial and rights division, and the successor, it turned out to be so long...

Also, I want to write a decent conversation soon (´・ω・｀).

In Europe, on the surface, peace continued.

The citizens of each country knew about the dramatic changes in diplomatic relations, but no one thought a war would break out, and they enjoyed peace.

This was no exception for the citizens of France and Austria-Hungary, who, while criticizing Germany, did not seriously consider going to war.

Similarly, the Italian citizens loudly demanded the resolution of territorial issues but did not think about war.

They understood that if war broke out, they, the citizens, would be the first to face the front lines.

Therefore, at the citizen level, everyone hated war, and this peace was called the Concert of Europe.

However, at the national level, the story was different. France was trying to break down Germany's alliance, and in response, Germany was engaged in a fierce diplomatic battle to prevent this.

In such a situation, in Germany, a specialized agency called the Imperial Information Bureau was established under the initiative of Wilhelm II to collect and analyze comprehensive information domestically and internationally.

As a result, the intelligence departments of the army and navy, which had been independent, came under the jurisdiction of this information bureau.

There was some resistance within the military, but the authority of the emperor, who had re-established the Bismarck system and formed alliances with Britain and Russia, was so great that no one could oppose it.

On the other hand, Wilhelm II was also working hard to improve relations between Russia and the Ottoman Empire.

Since it was impossible to make a favorable judgment for either side on this issue, it was being handled very cautiously.

And although Eulenburg was in poor health, he smiled and said it was his last job, and worked hard with Wilhelm II.

Moreover, in 1920, the world's first air force was established in Germany.

It had been exactly ten years since the establishment of the joint army and navy aviation corps.

The types of aircraft were varied, but overall, there were many gliders and training aircraft, and only about 400 aircraft were combat-ready.

These 400 aircraft included a mix of models from various manufacturers, such as the emerging Albatros and Junkers companies, and RFR.

The common feature of these aircraft was that, although their engines had only about 300 horsepower, they were aerodynamically refined and had low-wing monoplanes.

Additionally, RFR had procured 40 twin-engine and 40 four-engine bombers.

Although Sikorsky had already developed the four-engine bomber Ilya Muromets in Russia in 1913, and about 20 were deployed in the Russian army by 1920, the RFR models were noticeably more refined when compared.

The four-engine bombers procured were characterized by their long wings, slender fuselages, machine guns mounted on the sides, tail, and top, and an all-metal construction using duralumin. If someone familiar with the historical context saw them, they would likely think they resembled the B-17.

However, no matter how refined the aircraft were, if the engines had low power, they were meaningless. Although they were better than the Muromets, they would quickly become obsolete in a few years.

The twin-engine bombers were similar, and while they somewhat resembled the Junkers Ju88, their engines had low power.

Werner instructed Ford to double the bonus for every 100 horsepower improvement in engine output and demanded that a 2,000 horsepower class engine be mass-produced by January 1940.

Since Werner was not an engine specialist, he could not give specific instructions to the development team, so the only thing he could do was to create a good environment for the engineers and increase the bonus to motivate them.

In any case, the reason Werner introduced four-engine and twin-engine bombers to the air force, despite the high cost and the fact that they would quickly become obsolete, was solely to train future bomber pilots and to give manufacturers production experience.

The skills required for fighter pilots and bomber pilots, as well as the technologies required for their production, are different.

Experience is invaluable, and to avoid waste during wartime, it was necessary to gain as much experience as possible during peacetime.

Incidentally, the Junkers company, which would later develop the Ju88, was established in 1911 as a diesel engine company, almost as in history, and by 1920, it was independently developing aircraft and had obtained a few orders for transport aircraft from the air force.

However, the design of the aircraft it produced was more refined than that of the contemporary aircraft in the historical context, possibly influenced by RFR.

If there was a difference to mention in the historical context of aircraft manufacturers, it was that the Heinkel company was established relatively early compared to the historical context.

With the establishment of the air force, several new posts were created.

Moltke and Tirpitz argued over who should be the overall head of the air force, but in the end, since the idea of establishing the air force came from within the army, an army general was appointed as the Chief of the Air Force General Staff.

Werner, on the other hand, had been promoted to major in 1917 and was officially promoted to lieutenant colonel with the establishment of the air force.

At the age of 35 in 1920, he was the youngest lieutenant colonel, but this was because it was desired that the proposer, Werner, be given a relatively high position.

There was another reason for this: to prevent interference from conservative elements.

Werner had implemented large-scale reforms, but the military, as an organization, is large.

Not everyone accepted Werner's doctrine, and many mid-level officers considered it mere theory.

Fortunately, these mid-level officers were surprisingly flexible in accepting Werner's ideas in areas such as logistics, equipment, and strategy, and in these areas, they also evaluated Werner.

The development of new weapons was strongly promoted by Moltke and other high-ranking officials in the General Staff, and since the weapons developed were judged to be extremely useful in tests, this was also a factor.

In any case, the mid-level officers accepted it because they did not want to fight with insufficient supplies, equipment, or manpower.

Originally, the German General Staff had developed from the Quartermaster General's Office, and its original mission was to ensure the welfare of the units to withstand the wear and tear of marching and combat.

It is believed that only by achieving this mission can individual units meet the operational requirements of the General Staff.

In a sense, it is about taking command while feeling the pulse of the army, and past great figures such as Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Clausewitz, as well as the elder Moltke in the Franco-Prussian and Austro-Prussian wars, worked hard to achieve this consistently.

Therefore, the Prussian General Staff was praised for not demanding the impossible from the front-line units, even while demanding difficulties.

As for strategy, the large-scale deep penetration of combined land and air operations is, in simple terms, a matter of gathering a large number of available weapons and forces and hitting the enemy all at once.

This is in line with the basic premise of war, which is numerical superiority, so there was no opposition.

No one in their right mind would deliberately reduce their own forces and challenge the enemy.

The issue was the method of operation of individual units, specifically whether the infiltration assault tactics, a new and unknown method, would be effective against positions defended by machine guns.

The lessons from the Russo-Japanese War had been studied to the utmost.

After all, there had been no war since the Russo-Japanese War.

Naturally, the only way to imagine what recent wars would be like was to look at the war that occurred over ten years ago.

The fear of machine guns and pillboxes, and the addition of barbed wire, made it seem almost impregnable. Perhaps it would be better to bomb from the air.

For this reason, the mid-level officers cooperated to work for the air force.

Taking advantage of this, Moltke and Tirpitz decided to prioritize the transfer of young officers from the army and navy academies to the air force.

Additionally, a considerable number of mid-level officers also applied for transfer to the air force.

They all began to experiment with the operation of aircraft.

Such anti-Werner mid-level officers, on the other hand, saw Werner appointed as the head of the personnel and accounting department in the Air Force General Staff, where he focused on expanding the number of pilots and mechanics and procuring equipment.

This was welcomed by both the air force leadership and the anti-Werner officers.

The former wanted to expand the air force, and the latter wanted to avoid interference in strategy and tactics.

Despite these intentions, Werner went to the newly established office of the Chief of the Air Force General Staff, General Erich von Falkenhayn, and presented his theory.

It was that, like the army, the air force would be heavily consumed in war, and regardless of the era or whether it was wartime or peacetime, the focus should be on personnel training.

This was a matter of course, and General Falkenhayn immediately agreed.

There was a reason for this: he lacked confidence in handling aircraft.

Therefore, he asked Werner, the proposer of the air force, to freely express his opinions on a wide range of fields such as strategy and tactics.

Werner agreed and, in less than a month, submitted a report titled "Air Force Fundamentals," which outlined what knowledge an air force commander should acquire, from strategy and tactics to logistics.

General Falkenhayn read this report thoroughly and had it photocopied for other generals and colonels to read.

He was convinced that only Werner could handle the air force, and since the report was written by Werner himself, it was the most suitable as a textbook.

Incidentally, in the historical context, General Falkenhayn died in 1922, two years later, at the age of 61.

However, in this world, since the First World War, which placed a great strain on many people, did not exist, General Falkenhayn and many other generals and colonels were in good health.

General Falkenhayn would live longer in this world.

However, the anti-Werner officers did not accept the strategy and tactics in the "Air Force Fundamentals," especially in terms of logistics and essential knowledge.

The anti-Werner officers believed that close air support for the army was the role of the air force.

In response to this, Werner, who also had control over personnel, successfully brought multiple individuals into the air force.

Hermann Göring, Ernst Udet, Manfred von Richthofen, Erhard Milch, Hugo Sperrle, Albert Kesselring, and Walter Wever, among others, were almost all the generals of the historical German air force, were recruited into the air force.

When Werner met the young Göring up close, he resolved not to let him gain weight.

Göring, who admired the nobility, respected the noble Werner from the beginning.

Werner built a close relationship with Göring and taught him various things.

Among these, he often told him not to touch drugs, as those who do are not nobles.

Of course, he not only paid attention to Göring but also frequently held study sessions with the others.

These sessions covered the fundamental strategies of the