WesWorld

July 2, 1934 - Berlin

The government has announced the planned delegation for the San Francisco conference in September. The delegation will be led by Foreign Minister Stressemann and Grand Admiral Raeder, along with their respective staffs to allow the men to negotiate an agreement on behalf of the Reich. Current travel plans have the Grand Admiral and his staff leaving in early August aboard Von der Tann, escorted by a pair of destroyers, for a trans-Panama Canal cruise that ends up in San Francisco in time for the conference. Foreign Minister Stressemann and his staff will fly to San Francisco aboard Graf Zeppelin.


July 6, 1934 - Rechlin

During today's testing of the He-118 prototype, a catastrophic failure of the wing occurred, causing the loss of the prototype aircraft. Luckily for Heinkel, they do have a second prototype that was just added to their stable, but it does cast some doubt on the abilities of the aircraft.


July 9, 1934 - Berlin

The Luftwaffe has placed contracts with Heinkel and Junkers for prototypes of the designs they submitted for the Nordish heavy bomber competition. The aircraft are dependent on their engines, though, and BMW does not expect to have the BMW-139 ready for flight tests until at least this time next year. The result is that Heinkel and Junkers do not expect to deliver the prototypes until the beginning of 1936.

July 12, 1934 - Berlin

The Kreigsmarine has announced that the naval delegation to the San Francisco talks will be setting sail from Bremerhaven on the morning of August 2. Their itinerary on the outbound leg will take them to Leivsborg, Boston, and Newport News, in addition to the Panama Canal, and then on to San Francisco. The return itinerary is not yet decided.

July 18, 1934 - Kiel

The Luftwaffe has received it's first aircraft design to land on an aircraft carrier and the He-51T has arrived here in Kiel for practice operations, both ashore and, once Otto Lillienthal completes her working up, at sea. An additional set of runway marks have been painted on the Luftwaffe runway, showing the pilot how long the entire runway is and how little of it he can actually use for landing.


July 23, 1934 - Rechlin

By all accounts, the DB-600 powered Fw-187 is sweeping the field in the Luftwaffe long-range fighter competition, showing speed equal to or better than the new Bf-109s and similar manueverability, while having twice the range. The other competitors are worthy aircraft by all accounts, but the Focke-Wulf design seems to have a leg up on them.


July 23, 1934 - Rechlin

Another crash related to the close-support aircraft tests for the Luftwaffe, this time after hours. The Ju-87 V1 prototype, flying after hours on a photo flight, lost it's tail in flight and crashed, killing both men aboard.

August 2, 1934 - Bremerhaven

The KM flotilla carrying Grand Admiral Raeder has set sail for, ultimately, San Francisco, by way of Leivsborg, Boston, Newport News, the Panama Canal, and San Diego. The Grand Admiral is flying his flag on the new Von der Tann, and his flagship is accompanied by the destroyers Z-219 and Z-222. Their course is expected to go north of Scotland, between the Orkneys and Iceland, then on to Vinland.


August 10, 1934 - Leivsborg

The German flotilla, headed by the new large cruiser Von der Tann, followed by the destroyers Z-219 and Z-222 arrived at the Leivsborg harbor today. Sailing into the harbor, the ships rendered honors to the flag and dropped anchor. They are expected to leave in 3 days for Boston, but in 2 days both Von der Tann and Z-222 will be conducting tours for those interested in boarding a German warship.

August 13, 1934 - Leivsborg

The German and Nordish flotillas heading to the San Francisco talks put out of port this morning, bound for Boston. The two flotillas, each led by a capital ship and accompanied by two destroyers, left port on a grey day with a strong chop, driven by a 20-knot wind from the southeast.


August 16, 1934 - Boston

The German large cruiser Von der Tann and her escorting destroyers and the Nordish battlecruiser Gota Lejon and her escorting destroyers, sailed into historic Boston harbor today. The crews of all 6 ships lined the rail, flags dipped, and saluting guns fired in the military style when entering a foreign harbor. All the ships are headed on from Boston to Newport News, then to the Panama Canal and then on to the San Francisco talks next month. Two of the German vessels will be open for visitors on the 18th.

August 5, 1934 - Vienna

Reports from the Italian border say a larger than normal number of Italians from the Tyrol region have crossed the border this summer "to visit relatives" in Vienna or elsewhere in Germany. It is suspected that the numbers are related to the continuing unrest in Italy.


August 20th, 1934 - Boston

The mixed Nordmarkian and German flotilla that has been moored in the harbor put out today, setting their course for Newport News, where they are expected to arrive on the 22nd.


August 22, 1934 - Newport News

The harbor was visited today by foreign warships not normally seen in these waters, with German and Nordmarkian flotillas visiting on their way to the San Francisco Treaty talks next month.

August 26, 1934 - Newport News

The German and Nordmarkian flotillas set sail this morning, en route to the Panama Canal and onward to San Francisco.


September 1, 1934 - Berlin

The first concrete results of the Kreigsmarine's testing of armor, guns, and projectiles became clear today, when the KM announced that, in future, all armor for purchase by the KM would be tested in accordance with the testing methods used by Witzkowitz, at a minimum.

Rheinmetall actually broke through Krupp's previous monopoly on large-caliber shells, receiving an order for 21cm, 28cm, and 38cm high explosive naval projectiles and a rather larger order for shell fuzes. It is thought that the large fuze order suggests that the new Rheinmetall fuzes will replace older Krupp fuzes on projectiles that are not being replaced by the new Rheinmetall projectiles.

July 29th, 1934 - Berlin

A month of stormy meetings within the Reichstag over the proposed treaty with Poland has culminated in the Treaty being brought to the floor by the Foreign Minister. The Chancellor has, by all accounts reluctantly, agreed to vote for it, but has refused to require his DNVP collegues to vote for it. The right has, predictably, argued vociferously against it, but the center and left have been united in their favor of the agreement. Cuts have been identified in the budget later in 1934 and into 1935 to meet the costs of the lease and the initial work to get the rail lines started. Passage of the bill, even with a lack of support from the DNVP, appears all but assured, barring delaying tactics or the collapse of the government.

August 17th, 1934 - Berlin

An attempt to delay passage of the Danzig Corridor pact has been defeated by a whisker-thin vote. A vote to send the pact to committee for "review" was turned back by only two votes.


August 29th, 1934 - Berlin

The vote on the Danzig Corridor pact has been completed, with the pact passing the Reichstag over the objections of many members of the largest party in the Reichstag. However, given the desire of the other parties in the Reichstag to pass the pact, the Chancellor made the decision not to collapse his own government over the issue and, holding his nose, pass the pact.

The pact will be paid for with a combination of budget cuts and a new bond issue. The Kriegsmarine, for instance, will see a budget cut later this year, while other areas of government spending will not see a cut as long as the bond sale goes through as expected. Given the fact that this agreement settles a persistent irritant in German-Polish relations, the bond market is expected to react favorably to the new issue.

The pact is to be forwarded to President Eckener for his signature by the end of the week.


September 4th, 1934 - Berlin

President Eckener, with a flourish, has signed the Danzig Corridor pact. "With this pact, Germany and Poland have reached an agreement that will, hopefully, cement friendly and peaceful relations between our peoples and nations. Let us work towards the future, instead of focusing on a past that is gone."

September 12th, 1934 - Kiel

The hull of the first battleship built in Germany since the Great War was christened Bismark, after the "Iron Chancellor" and slid down the ways into the water of the Baltic today. The hull was towed to the fitting out docks where it will spend the next two years before it's trials begin in late 1936.

September 19, 1934 - Rechlin

The Luftwaffe's long-range fighter competition has ended, with the Fw-187 being the clear technical winner. The Bf-110 and the Fokker G.I were worthy aircraft, but the Fw-187 was simply their superior.


September 29, 1934 - Rechlin

The Luftwaffe's close-support aircraft competition has ended, with no clear winner between the He-118 and the Ju-87. Both aircraft had advantages, both had disadvantages, and the Luftwaffe will have to determine which they aircraft that they liked better.