Chapter 34: Sudetenland

When the "Gneisenau" was inexplicably recalled from its navigation exercises in the North Sea, Zhang Hainuo guessed that it was related to a famous historical event. Sure enough, when the warship returned to the port of Kiel, his suspicions were confirmed by his superior, Wilhelm Marshall: for some political purpose, the Emperor himself ordered the navy to gather all new warships in the Kiel Bay for a large-scale exercise and invited foreign diplomats and important guests to observe.

Since the beginning of summer, the Sudetenland region in Czechoslovakia has become a new focus of attention throughout Europe. It is home to 3.5 million Germans who were considered part of the national body during the Austro-Hungarian Empire. However, after the empire's dissolution at the end of the previous war, dividing into countries such as Austria, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia, the Sudetenland region was assigned to Czechoslovakia, and the Germans here became a minority in the new country. The German Emperor, citing injustices against the Germans in the Sudetenland region and strongly demanding their return to Germany, proposed to Czechoslovakia the cession of the Sudetenland region—a demand that was rejected by the Czechs, thus leading to the Sudeten Crisis.

Throughout the entire process of the Sudeten Crisis from beginning to end, it can be described as full of ups and downs and uncertainties. The German Emperor sometimes displayed a posture of resolving issues with force, and at other times expressed his "tolerance" and "desire for peace" to the international community led by Britain and France.

After the crisis erupted, the Czechoslovak government stood firm, demonstrating their determination to resist the aggressor by later conducting a national mobilization—people were once fearful of the impending war, especially considering the perceived lack of preparedness by the British and French governments. Despite having assistance agreements with Czechoslovakia, Britain and France were prepared to sacrifice the country's interests to avoid war, a stance particularly evident in British Prime Minister Chamberlain.

"For Peace at All Costs"—this was his most grandiose slogan.

That summer, Adolf Hitler almost became Germany's most outstanding politician since Bismarck. Externally, he employed both hard and soft tactics, constantly pressuring the Czechoslovak government by taking advantage of concessions from the British and French governments; internally, he demanded an accelerated pace for the construction of the "West Wall" and national highways, and ordered the High Command to draw up a "Green Plan" aimed at attacking Czechoslovakia by force.

When the "Gneisenau" returned to Germany in mid-August, as the navy's grand exercise was scheduled for late August, it did not have time to return to the dock in Kiel for a comprehensive inspection after the navigation exercises. After replenishing ammunition, fuel, and supplies for the crew in Kiel Harbor, Zhang Hainuo was ordered to lead the ship into the bay to rendezvous with the main navy force. Apart from submarines, the German navy spared no elite forces this time—Deutschland-class battleships, various light cruisers, destroyers, torpedo boats, and the naval aviation unit. However, the exercise plan formulated according to the instructions from the Imperial Palace seemed utterly devoid of any specific purpose in Zhang Hainuo's eyes, purely for the sake of showcasing military might.

On the second day of the exercise schedule, Admiral Reeder led a group of naval officers aboard the "Gneisenau." As the largest warship in the navy, it was selected as the flagship for the exercise, while the Emperor and the dignitaries watched from a luxurious liner. For Zhang Hainuo, this was good news because he didn't have to set up sunshades or arrange a lot of seats on his warship's deck.

The exercise, aside from the booming of cannons, torpedoes filled with water, and squadrons of Messerschmitts and Stukas—most of which were temporarily borrowed from the air force—had little noteworthy elements in terms of routine exercise items. However, the guests from various European countries were still quite interested. On the day of the exercise, Hungarian Regent Horty and his entourage were even allowed to board the "Gneisenau" for a tour, which made the British and French officials, who were already curious about this large warship, quite jealous. However, at the direction of the Foreign Ministry, the German navy only arranged for them to visit the "Deutschland" instead, a warship and its sister ships had made several visits abroad since their commissioning, and most of the facilities on board were nothing new to those professional military observers.

The exercise, with no suspense, achieved an unsurprising success. That evening, the German government hosted a grand banquet in the luxurious hall of the "Patria" cruise ship, entertaining guests and diplomats from various countries, with senior officers of the German navy also invited. Due to the exercise during the day, these German generals became the focus of attention at the banquet—especially after the German Emperor retired early.

For foreign diplomats and military attachés stationed in Germany, this was an excellent opportunity to gather various information from the German navy. For those in the upper echelons, it was an opportunity to satisfy their various mentalities through exchanges with these naval officers: curiosity, networking, or other purposes.

Zhang Hainuo has always been the type who dislikes and likes socializing with the upper class. Such occasions also made him uncomfortable. In order to avoid being the target of criticism, he tried not to get too close to acquaintances from the Prime Minister's Office, and fortunately, these big shots were busy socializing with guests from various countries today. Nevertheless, Zhang Hainuo still had to toast frequently with gentlemen and ladies whom he may have met on some occasions or never met before. Their compliments made him feel goosebumps—all because he was never good at socializing. If it were in the past, he would probably have become a busy white-collar worker in the office after graduation. If it weren't for the hope of gaining knowledge through such opportunities, strengthening relationships with naval officers, and making more acquaintances who might be helpful to him, he would rather have dinner with his subordinates on the ship.

However, in such occasions, no one would laugh at his poor English pronunciation. During a conversation with a British naval lieutenant in a white dress uniform, he found that the British navy actually had a lot in common with their German counterparts. At least they both disliked the unpredictable weather at sea, and their biggest impression of the "Gneisenau" was its large size but small guns—an apparently illogical design that made them feel justified, which happened to be an important political goal of Hitler.

At this point, the main body of the anti-Hitler movement was no longer just progressive youth and intellectuals, but included influential figures such as General Erwin von Witzleben, commander of the Berlin Military District, who held a pivotal position as the commander of the Third Military District, which included Berlin and its surrounding areas; Count Erich von Blumenthal-Alfeld, a general who was the commander of the Potsdam garrison, which consisted of the 23rd Infantry Division; General Erich Hoepner, who commanded an armored division stationed in Thuringia, and when necessary, this division could repel any attempt by the SS from Munich to rescue Berlin. In addition, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, head of the national spy and counterintelligence agency, former Army Chief of Staff General Kurt von Hammerstein, and Franz Halder, who replaced Beck as Chief of the General Staff, were also significant figures among these opponents.

In addition to military leaders, this coup also involved figures such as the president of the Imperial Bank, Hjalmar Schacht, and other government officials. It was extremely rare in history for so many civilian and military officials to join forces in plotting to overthrow the Nazi regime. Army Chief of Staff Halder even secretly sent two negotiators to London in hopes of using the power of England and France to stop Hitler's aggressive plans. However, due to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's appeasement stance towards the Nazis on the Sudetenland issue, this effort failed. The Sudetenland crisis was ultimately resolved through non-violent means, leading to the failure of the coup plans by the opposition.

At the end of September, the Prime Ministers of Germany, Italy, Britain, and France gathered in Munich to discuss the Sudetenland issue, ultimately signing an agreement aimed at separating the Sudeten region, inhabited by Germanic peoples, from Czechoslovakia and returning it to Germany. Thus, without Czech representation, the fate of this country was sacrificed by politicians for their own political purposes.

With the Sudetenland crisis over, Adolf Hitler once again became a hero in the eyes of the German people. With the loss of the Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia lost its most advantageous mountain barrier and its "Maginot Line", rendering its national defense virtually nonexistent. The hopes of England and France for Germany to be satisfied with the Sudetenland were doomed to be nothing more than foolish appeasement.

Zhang Hainuo was not a politician, so he had no intention of getting involved in such political events. During the Sudetenland crisis, the actions of naval leaders once again demonstrated the tradition of the German Navy staying out of political affairs, except for one person, the former head of naval intelligence and leader of the national spy and counterintelligence agency, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris.

In early October, as the Sudetenland region was gradually transferred to German control according to the Munich Agreement of the four nations, the sense of crisis that had loomed over people all summer finally dissipated, but the distance between Europe and war had come one step closer...