Chapter 28 Gustav Krupp

The solemn appearance of Schügel is very solemn, like an office building with a huge garden. It is located on the banks of the Ruhr River in Essen. It is about an hour's drive from Essen Train Station and is surrounded by industrialists in the Ruhr area. Residence, environment is very elegant.

Since June 1918, Ludwig von Hersmann has become a regular visitor here. He now travels frequently between the Ruhr area, Berlin and Riga. He was active in two identities at the same time. His public identity was that of a member of the Industrial Promotion Committee and an aide-de-camp to the Chief of General Staff (that is, Hindenburg's aide-de-camp). The secret identities are the Stasi director and the deputy director of the Eastern Division of the Military Intelligence Service. He needs to use an open identity to meet with the leaders of the Industrial Promotion Committee to discuss ways to use the Courland Autonomous State and Russian-German trade to preserve military industrial strength. At the same time, a secret identity must be used to direct the Stasi to escort various plans formulated by the Industrial Committee Promotion Committee. Today, he and Karl Haushofer came to Essen to meet and talk with one of the most important members of the Industrial Promotion Council.

In today's era, if anyone mentions the war machine of the German Empire, the first thing that flashes in his mind is Krupp, followed by the General Staff! Therefore, anyone with any sense can imagine that after the defeat of the German Empire, Krupp will not have a good life. Germany's enemies will not let it go (in fact, they have nothing to do with Krupp), and the German army, with its limited strength, will no longer be Krupp's biggest customer as it used to be.

Therefore, when the Industrial Promotion Committee was established, Gustav Krupp was an ex-officio member, and he was also the vice chairman of the Industrial Promotion Committee.

On the way to the Hugel Manor, Hersman carefully observed the city of Essen. It was a city of chimneys because of the large coal mines nearby and excellent water and rail transportation. Since the Second Industrial Revolution, this place has become the industrial center of Europe and the place where the working class is most concentrated in Europe. But contrary to the situation in Petersburg, Hersmann did not feel much of a revolutionary atmosphere in Essen. The train station square and streets were in good order, with workers everywhere hurrying to work. There were also "political activists" who distributed leaflets and gave speeches. They were all members of the German Fatherland Party, and they also preached militarism of fighting to the end.

"It seems that Lieutenant Colonel Schleicher's work is somewhat effective." Karl Haushofer said to Hessmann. Lieutenant Colonel Schleicher is now the chief of the Security Division of the Military Intelligence Agency, responsible for dealing with various troublemakers in Germany. However, he does not have many people under his command and must cooperate with the police department to achieve satisfactory results. However, there are definitely many uncertainties and constraints in this kind of cooperation, and only people like Schleicher who are good at working together can barely cope with it.

However, no matter how powerful Lieutenant Colonel Schleicher was, he could not control the increasingly disintegrated Austro-Hungarian Empire, let alone help Ludendorff, who was already in a state of distress. Even though the Ludendorff Offensive started nearly two months earlier than in history, the Ludendorff Offensive was still in trouble. The penetration tactics he adopted did not change the overall pattern of the war, and the defense was still beneficial. Even if the attacking side achieves a breakthrough, the battle will once again fall into a stalemate because it cannot allow subsequent attacks to catch up quickly. This is due to the mobility brought about by the dense railway network. The defending side can use the railway to quickly mobilize troops, but the attacking side will be sluggish and miss opportunities because it is far away from its own railway network.

"It's a pity that the place where victory or defeat is decided is not the Ruhr area!" Hersman sighed and followed Karl Haushofer into the Hugel Manor. They had been here several times, and the guard at the door - Krupp was so important that the military assigned him guards - already knew them, but he still checked their documents meticulously before notifying Gus by phone. Taft Krupp's secretary.

"Mr. Krupp invites you to go directly to his office. Please follow me." A middle-aged man wearing a crisp suit, slender figure, and combed hair looks a bit like an office building from that building (the main building of the manor) Come out. He was Gustav Krupp's secretary. After bowing politely to Hessmann and Haushofer, they were brought into the manor.

The main building of Hugel Manor is composed of two square buildings connected together, one is three stories high and the other is four stories high. It is connected to the manor gate by a wide asphalt road, with bronze streetlights on both sides of the asphalt road. It didn't look like it was in a private residence, but rather like it was outside on the street.

Gustav Krupp has an entire office in a four-story building, which can also be regarded as half of the headquarters of Krupp. Hersman saw many models of cannons in the corridor on this floor, and two tanks that looked like lunch boxes were covered with glass covers and lined up at the end of the corridor - they were German A7V tanks and K-type super tanks. Heavy tanks. Hersmann had seen the same model outside the offices of the Transportation Section of the Grand General Staff. The former is Germany's first tank and has been put into actual combat. The latter weighs 150 tons and is a monster with a lot of imagination. There is no possibility of it being used on the battlefield. Although the value of these two tanks in actual combat is relatively low, they are the originators of the future German steel torrent.

"You two, please come in." Krupp pushed open a heavy carved wooden door.

Hersman withdrew his eyes from the tank model and walked into a luxuriously furnished office with Colonel Haushofer.

A couple stood side by side in the office door. The man in his forties with regular features, a huge Lenin-like forehead and a Hitler-like mustache should be Gustav Krupp. Next to him stood a tall and strong woman - taller than him - with a long face and big features. She should be Gustav's wife, Beta Krupp (Big Beta? It seems that it makes sense for Gustav to name the super cannon after his wife).

…

"Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Hersmann, General Haushofer, this is my wife Beta. She will also attend the talks today." Gustav Krupp said to Hersmann in a low and melancholy tone.

In Chinese terms, he is a son-in-law. Big Beta is the real Krupp. Gustav's original surname was Halbach and he was a diplomat. Because Big Beta's father, Friedrich Krupp, committed suicide after being exposed for homosexuality, and Big Beta is Friedrich's only child. William II thought it was too much to let a woman lead Krupp, so he personally selected Gustav to be his son-in-law and be responsible for managing Krupp Company - this incident shows the status of German capitalists.

Today Gustav asked his wife to participate in the conversation, which shows that Big Beta still has the final say on some major issues. And what we are going to discuss today is such a major issue!

"The current situation is very difficult..." Karl Haushofer's face was very ugly when he spoke, and he looked like a disaster was about to happen. "The Americans have arrived in large numbers. According to intelligence, starting from June, the number of American troops arriving in Europe every month will exceed 300,000!"

"300,000 every month?" Big Beta exclaimed. "Major General, how long will this process last?"

"It will last a long time," Hersman answered in a sad tone as if he was reading a eulogy at a memorial service. "The United States is an industrialized country with a population of 100 million. In the Civil War more than 50 years ago, the North and South mobilized 3.26 million people to join the army, and more than 1.03 million soldiers were killed and wounded... At that time, the United States had only more than 31 million people." Although the official German propaganda described the United States as a country with no combat effectiveness, people at the level of the Krupp couple would not believe that kind of nonsense. Trench warfare does not require high cannon fodder. In the trench warfare on the Western Front, even Indians can become qualified cannon fodder, let alone Americans? "How long can the empire last?" Gustav Krupp asked as if he was asking how long a terminal cancer patient can live. "Not sure..." Karl Haushofer shook his head, "After a while, when the French shed more blood, they will try to make peace." "What if they don't agree?" Big Beta asked, she looked very nervous. Hessmann grabbed the armrest of the chair and spoke in a very low voice, "One failure cannot scare the brave German nation, so there will inevitably be another struggle! What we need to do now is to preserve the vitality of the country to the greatest extent, especially the vitality of the military industry, so that the German military industry will have the motivation to continue to move forward in the most difficult moments. In this way, we can immediately let Germany take up arms when needed!"

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