industrial inferiority, but only because they failed to destroy the Royal Navy and its power of blockade. We shall succeed. We shall avenge our comrades who died and our children who starved at the hands of the Royal Navy from 1914 to 1919 …
Phase I of our effort nears completion. A nucleus of modern surface ships is complete or near complete. Today, I have ordered the conversion of the three light cruisers now under construction to aircraft carriers. Unknown to many of you, plans for light and heavy carriers have been under development since 1920, as have the plans for modern aircraft for those carriers. I have the highest assurances that the carriers will be completed by early 1936.
Phase II begins immediately. Construction has been ordered on the following ships: two heavy carriers, two pocket battleships, two large battleships, three heavy cruisers, sixty destroyers, ten fast oilers, ten fast replenishment vessels. Due to limitations of the economy, completion of all ships is not expected until 1942. Additionally, orders for seagoing U-boats will be placed in the next month, with an estimated delivery of five boats per month by mid-1935. Finally, the Führer has approved the formation of thirty aircraft squadrons for naval service and of a corps of marines to train for amphibious assaults …
The marine corps will consist of three divisions of light infantry plus supporting units, including a special operations battalion, an amphibious armored brigade, and a parachutist brigade. Shipping and air assets will be allocated to provide a 100 percent first wave lift capability to the corps. For security purposes, the corps will be designated Schutzstaffel [“Guard Detachment,” abbreviated SS ], and will officially serve as security detachments aboard ships and at bases, and as a bodyguard for the Führer. Secretly, it will begin planning and training for the potential invasion of England … 13
We do not envision war before 1942, but we cannot ignore the fact that Great Britain or France could strike first, especially if either nation realizes that the Führer intends to restore Germany to its proper place in the world. To discourage premature conflict, every effort must be made to deceive our enemy as to our future intentions. There will, on pain of death, be neither public discussion of this missive nor overt criticism of the Royal Navy … 14
Grandiose plans indeed, but could Hitler accomplish them? Could he mold the entire German government to his will? The man that most Germans would soon call their Little Admiral quickly discovered that a government did not perform with naval efficiency. Ruthless, he sacked bureaucrats who did not come up to scratch and simply nationalized businesses that operated inefficiently. He put the German people to work building an infrastructure of roads and railways, even airlines, second to none—and the trains did run on time. He had little time for sycophants and no time for inefficiency or internal squabbling. 15 By early 1936, Hitler had accomplished miracles both within and without Germany—and had rallied the German-speaking people of Europe to the Nazi banner.
Backed by a strengthened military armed from the industry of the Rhineland (remilitarized in 1934), Hitler began the Anschluss, the annexation of all territory that had once belonged to Imperial Germany or that now held German-speaking populations. Province by province and nation by nation, he dismantled the artificial states created by the Treaty of Versailles. And his former enemies of the Great War, Britain and France, practiced appeasement—refusing to commit troops and treasure to stop the expansion of Hitler’s Reich. They convinced themselves that his territorial ambitions had limits, and they were correct—to a point.
Hitler also scored three diplomatic coups during the waning years of the 1930s. He cemented alliances with both Italy (the Rome-Berlin Axis) and Japan. Both countries possessed large
Phase I of our effort nears completion. A nucleus of modern surface ships is complete or near complete. Today, I have ordered the conversion of the three light cruisers now under construction to aircraft carriers. Unknown to many of you, plans for light and heavy carriers have been under development since 1920, as have the plans for modern aircraft for those carriers. I have the highest assurances that the carriers will be completed by early 1936.
Phase II begins immediately. Construction has been ordered on the following ships: two heavy carriers, two pocket battleships, two large battleships, three heavy cruisers, sixty destroyers, ten fast oilers, ten fast replenishment vessels. Due to limitations of the economy, completion of all ships is not expected until 1942. Additionally, orders for seagoing U-boats will be placed in the next month, with an estimated delivery of five boats per month by mid-1935. Finally, the Führer has approved the formation of thirty aircraft squadrons for naval service and of a corps of marines to train for amphibious assaults …
The marine corps will consist of three divisions of light infantry plus supporting units, including a special operations battalion, an amphibious armored brigade, and a parachutist brigade. Shipping and air assets will be allocated to provide a 100 percent first wave lift capability to the corps. For security purposes, the corps will be designated Schutzstaffel [“Guard Detachment,” abbreviated SS ], and will officially serve as security detachments aboard ships and at bases, and as a bodyguard for the Führer. Secretly, it will begin planning and training for the potential invasion of England … 13
We do not envision war before 1942, but we cannot ignore the fact that Great Britain or France could strike first, especially if either nation realizes that the Führer intends to restore Germany to its proper place in the world. To discourage premature conflict, every effort must be made to deceive our enemy as to our future intentions. There will, on pain of death, be neither public discussion of this missive nor overt criticism of the Royal Navy … 14
Grandiose plans indeed, but could Hitler accomplish them? Could he mold the entire German government to his will? The man that most Germans would soon call their Little Admiral quickly discovered that a government did not perform with naval efficiency. Ruthless, he sacked bureaucrats who did not come up to scratch and simply nationalized businesses that operated inefficiently. He put the German people to work building an infrastructure of roads and railways, even airlines, second to none—and the trains did run on time. He had little time for sycophants and no time for inefficiency or internal squabbling. 15 By early 1936, Hitler had accomplished miracles both within and without Germany—and had rallied the German-speaking people of Europe to the Nazi banner.
Backed by a strengthened military armed from the industry of the Rhineland (remilitarized in 1934), Hitler began the Anschluss, the annexation of all territory that had once belonged to Imperial Germany or that now held German-speaking populations. Province by province and nation by nation, he dismantled the artificial states created by the Treaty of Versailles. And his former enemies of the Great War, Britain and France, practiced appeasement—refusing to commit troops and treasure to stop the expansion of Hitler’s Reich. They convinced themselves that his territorial ambitions had limits, and they were correct—to a point.
Hitler also scored three diplomatic coups during the waning years of the 1930s. He cemented alliances with both Italy (the Rome-Berlin Axis) and Japan. Both countries possessed large
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