Post by Diarist on Mar 7, 2017 22:18:32 GMT 1
At breakfast with Winston, Anthony and John we informed each other of our conversations the previous evening. There will be two parallel meetings today. I shall be chairing the military meeting with John Gort, Wilfrid Freeman and Louis Mountbatten - Sally will also be with me. Since Erhard Milch would be at the 'political' meeting the Luftwaffe will be represented by MG Walther Wever and Oberstleutnant Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen. The former is the OKL's Chief of Staff while the latter (a cousin of the Red Baron) is currently head of Technical Services. Now that Goering and Ernst Udet have been purged from key positions in the Germany Air Ministry, Reichsluftfahrtministerium, the Luftwaffe is hoping for more realistic specifications for their designs. Heinz Guderian and Erich von Manstein are also present today and it is good to see them again.
"Guten Morgen, meine Herren. General Beck, has Admiral Canaris informed you of our conversation yesterday evening?" After he had indicated that he has been brought up to date I asked if he would like to make a comment.
"I do indeed. General von Blomberg and I agree with what you discussed with Admiral Canaris and I have been instructed to ensure you of Germany's full support for your intention to defend Eastern Europe against Soviet aggression. We welcome your request to transfer Colonel von Manstein to your planning section in London. General Gort we would gladly invite some of your armour specialists to Germany and we are also interested in increasing the standardization of organization and equipment in our armoured units. I believe that we both have a lot to offer.
We shall also continue to support China and welcome a joint programme with Britain, France and Holland. We have no intention of sending ground forces to defend China but would contribute air and naval units to a European Expeditionary Force."
"That is excellent news, Herr General. The Soviet Union and Imperial Japan pose real threats to German interests and I personally believe that we are now a big step nearer to a future alliance with Germany. What do you think, Bob?"
"I agree entirely. Would Germany be interested in joint tenders for new equipment? For example, we want to replace our Enfield rifles with a semi-automatic assault rifle to increase the firepower of our infantry. Do you have similar plans?"
"We do but we are thinking of more firepower at platoon level," General von Weichs answered. "You are talking about a squad level weapon?"
"Yes. We call it a Squad Assault Weapon (SAW). When I was in Africa the Thompson SMG was an awesome weapon. The Italian infantry had no chance against its automatic fire. Base upon this experience I want all of our infantry to have extra firepower."
"We could agree on the same calibre ammunition and ask our manufacturers to submit designs."
"We want to use the 7.62x39mm round which should have an effective range of more than 300 metres. In my opinion that's more than enough."
"That's a relatively small round," Erich von Manstein commented.
"If an infantryman has to carry more ammunition the least we can do is make a round lighter."
General Beck liked the idea and asked if we could cooperate in other areas.
"What about comparing air superiority fighter-aircraft? Your Bf109, the French MS 405/6 and our Spitfire in maybe September. We should have a formal agreement by then. We could agree upon the same tank gun for your Pzkw. III and our Crusader tank."
Now General Weaver from the OKL got involved. "Then what is this Hurricane fighter which we have heard of?"
"That's also a fighter but it is more intended as a ground support aircraft rather than for air defence. We have already received several hundred orders from five or six European nations including France. We can discuss this in more detail at the proposed Federal Defence Council in London."
We then discussed the possibility of multi-national corps in Britain, France and Germany. A joint War College was also suggested and sharing intelligence information on potential adversaries. We decided to break for lunch at 13:00 so I asked Wilhelm, Heinz and Erich to join Sally and myself.
"Guten Morgen, meine Herren. General Beck, has Admiral Canaris informed you of our conversation yesterday evening?" After he had indicated that he has been brought up to date I asked if he would like to make a comment.
"I do indeed. General von Blomberg and I agree with what you discussed with Admiral Canaris and I have been instructed to ensure you of Germany's full support for your intention to defend Eastern Europe against Soviet aggression. We welcome your request to transfer Colonel von Manstein to your planning section in London. General Gort we would gladly invite some of your armour specialists to Germany and we are also interested in increasing the standardization of organization and equipment in our armoured units. I believe that we both have a lot to offer.
We shall also continue to support China and welcome a joint programme with Britain, France and Holland. We have no intention of sending ground forces to defend China but would contribute air and naval units to a European Expeditionary Force."
"That is excellent news, Herr General. The Soviet Union and Imperial Japan pose real threats to German interests and I personally believe that we are now a big step nearer to a future alliance with Germany. What do you think, Bob?"
"I agree entirely. Would Germany be interested in joint tenders for new equipment? For example, we want to replace our Enfield rifles with a semi-automatic assault rifle to increase the firepower of our infantry. Do you have similar plans?"
"We do but we are thinking of more firepower at platoon level," General von Weichs answered. "You are talking about a squad level weapon?"
"Yes. We call it a Squad Assault Weapon (SAW). When I was in Africa the Thompson SMG was an awesome weapon. The Italian infantry had no chance against its automatic fire. Base upon this experience I want all of our infantry to have extra firepower."
"We could agree on the same calibre ammunition and ask our manufacturers to submit designs."
"We want to use the 7.62x39mm round which should have an effective range of more than 300 metres. In my opinion that's more than enough."
"That's a relatively small round," Erich von Manstein commented.
"If an infantryman has to carry more ammunition the least we can do is make a round lighter."
General Beck liked the idea and asked if we could cooperate in other areas.
"What about comparing air superiority fighter-aircraft? Your Bf109, the French MS 405/6 and our Spitfire in maybe September. We should have a formal agreement by then. We could agree upon the same tank gun for your Pzkw. III and our Crusader tank."
Now General Weaver from the OKL got involved. "Then what is this Hurricane fighter which we have heard of?"
"That's also a fighter but it is more intended as a ground support aircraft rather than for air defence. We have already received several hundred orders from five or six European nations including France. We can discuss this in more detail at the proposed Federal Defence Council in London."
We then discussed the possibility of multi-national corps in Britain, France and Germany. A joint War College was also suggested and sharing intelligence information on potential adversaries. We decided to break for lunch at 13:00 so I asked Wilhelm, Heinz and Erich to join Sally and myself.