" Mr. Colonel, I don't understand why the most advanced weapons of the Imperium should be provided to these people. They do not seem to have a mature industrial system to protect and maintain the weapons, nor do they know much about them. It is a waste to give them the weapons!”
Corporal Dietrich was very puzzled by Colonel Maynz's decision, especially when he saw that the tank he once drove was also among the arms given to him.
During the First World War, the people of the Sun Never Sets were the first to bring tanks to the battlefield. When the British tanks appeared in the Battle of the Somme, it did bring a lot of shock to the German army. However, the German army, which had been passed down from the Prussian era, still adhered to its glorious tradition. They were not very accepting of this new weapon, and their arrogance caused the German army to lag far behind Britain and France in tank development.
Compared to the British and French armies, which had begun to produce tanks early, the first domestic tank of the German army did not go offline until 1918. At the end of the war, the German army only had more than 20 tanks. During the First World War, the size of the German armored force was very small. There was only one regiment, and most of the time, it was not fully organized!
Because of the lack of production capacity, the most equipped tanks in the German tank force were not their own domestic tanks, but tanks captured from the British and French forces. The French Renault light tanks were the most common.
During the First World War, the quality and quantity of the French tanks were quite good, especially the Renault tank. Compared to the British Mark tank and the French Schnader tank, the Renault light tank had a simpler structure and a more ingenious design. This tank had a first-generation turret that could rotate 360 degrees. The tank usually only had two to three members, a driver and a gunner.
The Renault tank was relatively small. At that time, the engine was generally not advanced, but it could still achieve a relatively fast speed by relying on the low propulsion power. After the birth of this tank, it immediately replaced the Schnader tank and began mass production. By the end of World War I, the French army had produced more than 3200 vehicles!
Compared to the pitiful 22 A7V tanks of the German army, the number of Renault tanks of the French army could only be described as terrifying.
It was also because Gaul had invested a large number of Renault tanks in the war that many of these tanks were captured by the German army during the battle. At this time, the batch of Renault tanks that were taken out and sold by Maynz was a batch of captured Renault tanks.
Although Mayinz planned to sell the excess domestic firearms, the A7V tanks were not suitable for export. These tanks had long been targeted by the allied forces. They had even sent people to destroy these tanks.
The German army had very few tanks, and their appearance was quite unique. If they were to export these tanks to the outside world, they would soon be discovered by the allies, which would cause unnecessary trouble. However, there was no problem with the Renault tanks. After all, the French army had produced enough of them, and they would also export them to the outside world. Therefore, even if they discovered that the Northeast Army was equipped with Renault tanks, they would not suspect the Hans.
Corporal Joseph Dietrich was one of the members who followed Mayinz on the trip. The other person was Heinrich Himmler from the same hometown as Dietrich. Both of them were soldiers. Other than them, the rest were not soldiers.
Himmler was only 19 years old this year and was still very young, so he knew that he had no right to speak at this time, so he consciously shut his mouth and listened attentively.
"Tanks are a weapon that the Versailles treaty explicitly forbids our army from equipping and producing. This kind of thing is useless in the country. Once it is discovered by the allies, it will inevitably be confiscated or destroyed.”
"Moreover, for a long time to come, we need to develop our economy and people's livelihood. The land of the world has been divided up. The raw materials we need for production can only be imported from the areas controlled by Britain, France and other countries. If we can't expand the import channels, Britain, France and other countries only need to limit our iron ore import quantity, and our industry will be finished!”
The biggest loss for Hans in the First World War was that not only did he not win more colonies, but he also lost all his colonies in Africa.
Africa was currently the main source of raw materials for European countries 'industries. The resources here were very rich, so Britain and France attached great importance to Africa. As soon as World War I ended, they began to secretly discuss the division of the Second Empire's colonies. Because of this matter, Eagle Chan was very dissatisfied. In order to prevent Eagle Chan from setting foot in Africa, which they regarded as their backyard, when discussing the division of the Second Empire's colonies, He completely excluded Ying-chan.
The colonies were very important to European countries because they were important sources of resources and markets for dumping products.
The reason why the Sun Never Sets Empire could dominate the world with a small territory of more than 200,000 square kilometers was because they had a large number of colonies around the world, especially in the Asan region of South Asia. This place was regarded as the pearl on the crown of the Sun Never Sets Empire and was the most important piece of the many colonies!
Other things aside, the huge market of more than 200 million people in India alone could guarantee the sales of industrial products in the Empire.
Moreover, during wartime, the Empire of the Sun Never Sets could recruit a large army from the other colonies at a low price and let these people fight in their place.
The reason why the Second Empire started a world war was that after their industrial strength surpassed that of Britain, France, and other countries, they faced a very awkward situation. That was, the products they produced did not have enough markets to digest. If they could not sell the products they produced, they would not be able to make money. If they wanted to sell them, they had to pry open the gates of the colonies of Britain, France, and other countries. This would naturally cause dissatisfaction between the two countries, so the world war eventually broke out!
When the Second Empire was strong, they could not achieve their dream of dividing the world again. Now that they had been defeated, there was naturally no hope!
Since there was no way out through force, they could only use peaceful means to seek benefits for the Empire!
Europe and the United States had already been industrialised. Not only did they not need Hans 'industrial products, but they would even export them to Hans in turn, occupying the living space of Hans' factories. Africa and South Asia were the exclusive property of the Sun Never Sets and Gaul. Hans could not interfere here, so the only market left in the world that had not been completely divided was China in the Far East!
But in China, Britain, France, the United States, Japan, and other countries had already intervened. Each had their own sphere of influence. It was difficult for Hans to change this situation in a short period of time. He could only do it bit by bit.
The population of the northeast was much smaller than that of the inland regions. There were only 20 million people here, far less than the 200 million people in Jiangnan and the 180 million people in the Central Plains and North China. Therefore, the great powers were not interested in the northeast. Other than the foot basin and Mao Xiong, very few great powers set foot here.
At this time, Mao Xiong had no time to care about other things because of the civil war. In the northeast region, there was only one country. It was better to compete with the emerging countries that had risen in the past decade than to compete with traditional powers such as Britain and France.
Moreover, the main support of Jiaopeng was still the warlord of the Wan faction, Duan Qirui. They did not attach much importance to the northeast. Their goal was to invade the northeast, so they naturally could not support Zhang Zuolin. Under such circumstances, Hans 'intervention in the northeast was the least costly and most beneficial action.
Moreover, the northeast was rich in natural resources. In addition to iron ore and coal, there was also a large oil field with a billion tons of oil under the ground of Daqing. If the First World War was a war between coal and steel, then the Second World War was a war of oil. As a transmigrator, Maynz knew the importance of oil in the future better than anyone else. The distribution of oil in the world determined that Hans could only cooperate with China other than Mao Xiong!
These strategic issues couldn't be explained in a short time. He only hoped that when these people looked at the problem, they wouldn't measure the pros and cons based on temporary gains and losses. They had to look at it from a higher perspective.
Supporting the Feng faction warlords now was not only an investment for the future, but also a huge gamble. If the Feng faction warlords could become stronger, then they would be more advantageous in the warlord wars in China. At that time, they would have a greater demand for the German army's firearms and other products, which would be very beneficial for Hans 'products to open up this vast market.
Moreover, if the Feng faction warlords continued to expand, they would inevitably attack the forces supported by other countries and bring losses to other countries. This was naturally something that Mayinz was happy to see!
From a psychological point of view, Maynz was actually reluctant to part with these tanks. Although the Renault tank was only a light tank, compared to the later tanks, the performance of this tank was very backward.
However, in this era, the design of this tank was still very advanced, and there were many things worth learning.
If it was possible, he certainly hoped to keep all these tanks and use them to train the German army and accumulate experience for the German armored forces.
After the large-scale reduction of the German army after the war, only elites remained. If these elites could not absorb new knowledge and learn new tactics, then they could only waste time and energy on the old and outdated tactics. This was obviously fatal to the German army.
No matter how well they studied the outdated tactics, when facing the allied countries, the huge difference in strength between the two sides would still make the German army useless.
Therefore, Maynz wanted to start building and training the German armored forces now, but he knew that this was unrealistic!
Before 1922, the allies had always been very strict with the Weimar Republic and the German army. In the past few years, it was impossible to develop weapons such as tanks and armored vehicles without the eyes of the allies!
There was not much they could do. Other than hiding from the outside world and using the opportunity to cooperate with other countries to secretly develop these weapons, all they could do was wait patiently!
Dietrich opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
Although he didn't want to admit it, what Colonel Maynz said was the truth. These things couldn't be kept in the country at all. Instead of letting those bastards from the allied countries benefit for nothing, it was better to give these things to others as a favor!
"There's an old saying in China that goes,'throw out a brick to attract a jade'. Our country's weapons and equipment are of good quality, but our reputation in the international arms market is not very good. If we want our weapons to sell, and even better, we need to provide them with a trial opportunity to let them experience the excellent quality of Hans' products. Only in this way can we help us open up the market and create conditions for the sales of other weapons in the future!”
" The Far East is one of the few regions in the world that is still in chaos," Maynz said earnestly." The land in Africa has been divided up, and the war in Europe has ended. The Far East will be the focus of the great powers in the next period of time, so the war here will probably last for another 20 to 30 years. A huge battlefield with a population of 400 million and 13.5 million square kilometers. How big do you think the weapons export market will be here?”
Dietrich was silent after hearing this, but Himmler's eyes lit up. He began to understand the colonel's intentions.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。