Chapter 27
1923 was a disaster year in Germany, and during this year, Germany seemed to have been in trouble from the beginning.
First, France invaded the Ruhr industrial zone, causing almost to stop production in the entire German heavy industrial zone. The revitalization plan of the National Defense Forces was severely set, which also made Germany's already collapsed economy worse.
The German Mark began to depreciate significantly, and the degree of depreciation was shocking. When German President Ebert reacted, the German Mark with a cart was just enough to buy a loaf of bread.
Taking advantage of the financial crisis and France's dispatch of troops to the Ruhr industrial zone, Germany's right-wing separatists jumped out. They organized strikes and even carried out armed riots, conspiring to seize Bavaria, a large southern German state, and make the entire Bavaria autonomous.
The German government is in a state of turmoil and has not yet mobilized forces to suppress the right-wing separatists in Bavaria. The more serious situation once again made the situation of the German government led by Ebert worse.
In September, just as the right-wing separatists became more and more fierce, the left-wing elements also began to create large-scale riots, shaking the rule of Thuringian and Saxony. For a time, Germany seemed to be split into several small countries, and the turmoil caused by France's invasion of Germany's Ruhr industrial zone seemed to be even better than France expected.
"This is a good opportunity!" Sickett praised Akado, who was sitting on the sofa in his office: "Your plan is perfect! The Wehrmacht will indeed get more benefits than fighting against the French invasion."
After saying this, Sickett asked Acardo to leave the office because the National Defense Forces would hold a meeting in the morning to discuss how to deal with the crisis of French invasion of the Ruhr area. The meeting was chaired by Hindenburg himself, which was very important.
Of course, the senior members present were all at the level of generals, so a small role like Akado did not even have the opportunity to participate. Although the work he was engaged in was very important and irreplaceable, the gap in military rank and the defect in qualifications made him missed many high-level meetings, and he could only get copies of the records of these meetings from Sikte.
Now Sickett is very satisfied with the policy of keeping troops in control during the French invasion of the Ruhr area. Although he once clamored to use the blood of the National Defense Force to protect the German city. But now the city has been given up, and Sickett did not order the National Defense Force to take any action against France.
The benefits are obvious. Lieutenant Colonel Smith, a military officer who was permanently resident in the Defense Forces General Command, secretly met General Sickett, implicitly expressing the British's intention to allow the Germans to slightly expand the Defense Forces, and indicating the basic position of Britain's support for Germany in the Ruhr Industrial Zone crisis.
In the subsequent specific meeting, Smith also made a promise to Acardo to ensure that the British support the Defense Forces had more machine guns and automatic weapons to resist possible domestic invasions and French invasions. In other words, the British in the coalition Arms Control Committee would turn a blind eye to the expansion of the Defense Forces and support Germany in disguise to secretly expand its military preparations.
The US ambassador to France made solemn representations, demanding that France immediately withdraw all its troops on German territory and stop its crazy invasion of neighboring countries. The Netherlands has maintained friendly relations with Germany, so it also condemned France during this crisis.
Among the many voices of condemnation, the appearance of a voice has attracted the whole world. In the far Asian Far East, in Guangzhou, China, the leader of the Chinese Kuomintang, Sun Yat-sen, issued a statement condemning France's invasion of Germany and expressing his support for the anti-invasion struggle of the German people.
"700 howitzers, 10,000 Maxim heavy machine guns, 200,000 rifles, and 4 million bullets. Our Chinese friends in the Far East finally got on the ship." Akado smiled softly at the newspaper.
"Of course, they also have a loan of about 300 million US dollars owed by the United States. This loan has allowed the United States to control the Chinese revolutionary forces more firmly. I helped China hold the Americans' thighs in advance and gave them weapons and equipment. I believe that Chiang Kai-shek's confidence will be more secure in the upcoming Central Plains War, right?" Akado took a sip of coffee and put down the newspaper.
He looked out the window, and the street was filled with parade crowds. People shouted slogans and walked past the gate of the Defense Forces General Command. The slogans were painted with red paint, looking bloody. The banner read: "Bad government! There is a country but no defense! Get out of Berlin!"
"Gel!Gel!" Akado leaned against the window frame and shouted at his assistant: "The parade outside has been in trouble for three days, right?"
Geer walked into Akado's office, nodded and said, "Yes, it's been almost three days. And there are more and more people! It seems that the government is under a lot of pressure."
"Do you know why these people didn't come to the National Defense Forces Command to march?" Akado asked with a smile, without looking back.
Geer was stunned for a moment, and then said helplessly: "We are too weak and cannot resist the invasion of the enemy country! So no one blames us."
"Weak? Can't resist? No! Ger, we hid 200 cannons in the secret base of the Alps, and all the troops were almost twice as large as the invading French troops. There was only one division, and we had the strength to destroy it."
"Then, why don't we fight back? Why don't we drive out the damn Frenchmen?" Geer was a little shocked. Although he had done a lot of things with Akado, he had no way of knowing how much Germany was armed.
"Because once the National Defense Forces join the war, our combat effectiveness will be discovered, the world will stand on France, and the arms control of Germany will never be lifted, and the German shackles "The Treaty of Versailles" will always exist," Acardo explained.
He wanted to find a reason to convince himself, so he had to tell Geer some of the military secrets. He was under too much pressure and needed someone to share it.
He worked hard to run the National Defense Forces, but could not fire a shot when the enemy invaded. In order to develop and grow in the future, he had to take the lead in giving up his oath when he joined the army and violated the saying "Use your own blood to defend your country." The National Defense Forces did not resist, did not shed blood, or even sweat.
"The adults always have the truth about adults, but we only want to fulfill our loyalty to the country once." Geer said with red eyes: "Last time we were defeated inexplicably! This time we have the ability to fight back, why do we watch those malpractices harm our home?"
"We are enough to win this war, but we are destined to be unable to win the next war! Use Germany's century-old national fortune to gamble once, so that you can do your duty?" Akado looked at Lieutenant Ger with some angrily: "I worked so hard! Isn't it just to prevent the enemy from riding on our heads in the future?"
"Sorry! Lieutenant Colonel Acardo! I know your efforts! So please tell me when can we defend our own country?" Ger stood attentively and saluted.
"Give me 5 years, and you will see the answer in 5 years. Second Lieutenant Geer! If you can't see hope in 5 years, then please break my head with a gun, because I have also sworn that I will sacrifice my life to defend our country, but at least today, I have not done it." Akado said bitterly.
"Lieutenant Colonel! I believe in you! In the past five years, you will be the master of my loyalty to Geer! I will give everything for you!" Geer said solemnly: "I hope you can make Germany stronger again!"
The next morning, Sickett asked Lieutenant Gris to call Akado to his office, and happily sipped coffee and said to Akado: "Just just now, Ebert called on behalf of his government and invited me to a special meeting."
"Just go, I guess they should compromise," Akado said with a narrowed eyes and raised his lips. He finally waited for the opportunity for the Defence Force to truly rise.
"There is a very interesting saying recently. The German Wehrmacht has two courages. He must look at Sikte, and his literary courage must be Akado." Sikte looked at Akado's face with his eyes with his eyes down and was in a good mood: "You have been raised to the level of being on par with me, so I'm really embarrassed to leave you here alone."
Sicket picked up the documents on the table and said with a smile: "Let's go! Let you, the National Defense Force's courage, help me come up with ideas and see what the fools in the government are going to talk to us!"
As Acardo walked into the conference room of the government building, Ebert was surrounded by several politicians and said something. The current political situation was a mess and no one had hope for the current government. However, as an official at all levels of this government, I still hope to turn the tide and maintain his position and power.
President Ebert was wiping his sweat with a handkerchief. He never expected the situation to worsen to this extent. Seeing Sickett and Akado coming in, he immediately pushed away the crowd surrounding him and walked to Sickett.
"The German Mark began to depreciate significantly, and the situation was very bad. Right-wing separatists conspired to seize the rule of Bavaria, a large southern German state; left-wingers also began to create large-scale riots, shaking the rule of Thuringian and Saxony." Ebert briefly introduced the situation and seemed a little desperate.
Sicket stood there without saying anything, so Akado had to step forward to play Sicket's dog-legged image: "These defense forces already know! The situation is really bad. So, what do you want us to do?"
"I just want to know where the Defence Force is now? Will it stand with us? Your Excellency General?" Ebert asked Sickett in a pleading tone.
Chapter completed!