WesWorld

January 1, 1934 - Berlin

Foreign Minister Stresseman, summoned from his home with the news of the message from the Commander in Chief of the Japanese Armed Forces, looked at the envelope with some degree of surprise and concern. While there had not been the expected statement from SATSUMA after India's announcement that it would be exitting the Cleito Treaty, he didn't think that an announcement on the Treaty would come from the C-in-C of Japan, that would be something for the Foreign Minister. Wouldn't it? Opening the letter, he read, and realized he was wrong. "Inform the Prime Minister, General von Runstedt, General Udet, and Admiral Raeder that we have received official notification that Japan has quit the Cleito Treaty, and that I'm here at the Ministry."

January 1, 1933 - Berlin

A sudden flurry of activity here in the German capital, as suddenly the Cabinet has been called back from their holidays into a closed session. So far no word on why, though there have been no domestic disturbances today so foreign policy seems the most likely reason. The Reichstag has also been put on notice that an emergency session has been called for the 3rd of January.

January 2, 1934 - Berlin

The Foreign Ministry has released a statement:

"Germany has received word that the Empire of Japan no longer considers itself bound by the Treaty of Cleito. While a number of other countries have recently taken such steps, those countries were countries whose Treaty allocations and industrial capacities were at the smaller end of the scale. The Japanese Empire is not."

"Germany regrets that the efforts taken by the Italian government were not sufficient to keep the Japanese Empire within the Treaty regime, as we expect that this means the end of the Treaty regime as a whole."


January 3, 1934 - Berlin

The Reichstag has begun meeting in emergency session. Topics on the agenda incluide a proposal to eliminate the embargo on Canadian goods, and what reaction Germany will have to the recent breakdown in the Cleito Treaty system.


January 4, 1934 - Dessau

The prototype of the new Ju-88 medium bomber for the Luftwaffe, the Ju-88 V1, has taken off on its maiden flight. Powered by 2 DB-600 engines, the aircraft has certainly shown a good turn of speed, though no timed runs have yet been made.


January 5, 1934 - Berlin

The Reichstag has passed the bill lifting the embargo on Canadian goods, sending it to President Eckener for his signature.

January 7, 1933 - Berlin

The Luftwaffe has announced the winner in it's monoplane fighter contest, giving a contract for 100 fighters to the BFW company for their Bf-109. This initial batch of aircraft, to be armed with 2 7.92mm and 2 15mm machineguns and powered by the DB-600A engine, will be known as the Bf-109A in Luftwaffe service.

Observers suggest that there were 2 main reasons that the Heinkel He-112, the favorite at the beginning of the competion ,lost: first, the BFW fighter, with it's simpler construction, is less expensive to build and thus the Luftwaffe can get more planes for the same amount of money; and 2, the He-112 went through significant changes during the competition, so that the Luftwaffe almost didn't know what it was going to be buying.

"Booooo! Hissssss!!"

Just means the H2-112 will be an export fighter.

(A small note requesting a carrier version of both He-112 and Bf-109 has been delivered to their respective manufactures from someone claiming to work in India)

Did you say export fighter? Turkey will be shoping for some new fighters soon....

It also helps that the performance of the Bf 109 was better than the He-112. The Heinkel was of the inter generation whereas the BFW was more modern.

Carrier capable Bf 109 - ouch.

A carrier version of the Bf-109 was certainly built, however, regardless of the difficulties seen by armchair pilots.

Heinkel will be looking to sell the He-112 on the open market, certainly. BFW won't have excess production capacity for a bit for the Bf-109, so it won't hit the market for a little while (though the 109As might be sold in relatively short order when the DB-601 equipped 109Bs replace them) without Luftwaffe consent..

Both Heinkel and BFW will start work on a carrier capable verson (Heinkel in response to enquiry, BFW in preparation for hoped for Luftwaffe orders).

January 8, 1934 - Berlin

The German government has announced that the 3rd Mountain Division will be taking ship from Hamburg during the second week of January for duty in Bolivia.


January 10, 1934 - Berlin

After a stormy series of Reichstag sessions, the German government has released a statement. "Germany is disappointed that various signatories of the Cleito Treaty have chosen to flaunt it's rules or to leave the Treaty entirely. Germany does not intend to respond in kind at this time, but will be re-evaluating its position as time passes should the current state of affairs continue."

January 27, 1934 - Grafenwohr

The vehicles and turrets competing for the Heer's medium panzer contract have lined up and begun their trials. Vehicles were submitted by Krupp, Daimler-Benz, MAN, and Rheinmetall-Borsig. The turrets on all the vehicles are mockups of the real thing, with dummy weapons as the specified weapons don't, yet, exist. Several different suspension systems are in evidence, with large road wheels and Christie-type springs on the Rheinmetall-Borsig design, a torsion bar system with smaller road wheels on the Daimler-Benz design, a leaf-spring and bogie design from Krupp, and an interesting interleaved design from MAN. Testing is expected to continue through the spring into the summer.


February 6, 1934 - Berlin

The Heere has put out a request for proposals for anti-tank guns for the infantry. Such weapons would supplement the anti-tank rifles already on order or in service, and must be light, handy, and easily manuevered in action by the crew themselves, without need of horses or motor vehicles. Rheinmetall, which already has produced some guns of this type for export in 37mm, is expected to win the contract.

February 20, 1934 - Berlin

General Walter Wever, Luftwaffe commander of bomber forces, has admitted that the Luftwaffe was watching the Nordish bomber competitions with interest. "Of course we'll be watching them. The two planes being submitted from Germany for the medium bomber competition are expected to be joining the Luftwaffe over the next year or two, so seeing how they stack up against international competition will only help us. I've also seen some designs that Heinkel and Junkers worked up for a heavy bomber, but they were not nearly as capable as what the Nords want. It will be interesting to see what aircraft wins the competition, and what Heinkel and Junkers can come up with a couple years after their last effort."

March 30, 1934 - Schweinfurt

The first Bf-109 A-0 has been rolled out of the BFW factory here in southern Germany. Equipped with a DB-600 and 4 machineguns (2 15mm MG-151s in the wing roots and 2 7.92mm MG-15s in the nose), it presents quite an upgrade from the He-51s currently equipping Luftwaffe fighter squadrons.

Additionally, the new Bf-110 twin-engined fighter design, intended to compete for the Luftwaffe's long-range fighter competition was rolled out into view for the first time. Equipped with twin DB-600s, 7 MGs, and carrying a pilot and a radio-operator as crew, it is hoped that this aircraft will bring more accolades to BFW.


March 31, 1934 - Bremen

The first FW-187 twin-engined fighter has taken to the skies. Powered by a pair of Jumo-211 engines, the slim aircraft, it's shape almost dominated by the two engine nacelles, demonstrated a very high turn of speed even during it's first flight.

March 31, 1934 - Berlin

Foreign Minister Stresseman paid visits today to the ambassadors of the countries which were or had been signatories of the Cleito Treaty. During his short visits, a diplomatic note was delivered to each Ambassador for communication to his govermnent. The note was brief and to the point

"Germany, pursuant to it's obligations under Part 1, Section II of the Cleito Treaty, stands ready to attend or host a conference of Cleito signatories, as called for under that Section of the Treaty. We await only notice of where and when the conference will occur. If Germany is to host the conference, we suggest the conference be held in Kiel, beginning on September 20. The German government awaits an answer."