Chapter 649: Navy and Air Force

Akado returned to Berlin in the afternoon. With the fighting on the Eastern Front stabilizing before the onset of winter, consisting mostly of small-scale local battles, there was no need for a swift response from the Führer-level decision-makers. So, Akado took the time to return to Berlin to see his beloved son.

After all, compared to the frequent and varied battles of the special forces, his son was the one who truly occupied Akado’s thoughts. The skirmishes at the front could not shake the foundation of the Third Reich, but his son was a fragile infant who needed constant care.

Ever since she saw her son born into this world, Mercedes had forgotten about the business empire that had once consumed her thoughts and had dedicated herself wholeheartedly to her child. The radiance of motherhood was overflowing at this moment, bathing Little Caesar in the warmest of love.

In fact, as the son of the Third Reich’s Führer and the sole heir to a vast business family, Little Caesar, who was just over three months old, was not yet ready to become the most powerful person in the world. He was currently wriggling his small, cute head on Mercedes’s ample chest, observing this strange world with a pair of large, bright eyes.

“It’s already past 3 in the afternoon, why do you still have to go out?” Mercedes had waited so long for Akado to return to Berlin from the Wolf’s Lair. Before she even had a chance to say a few words to her beloved husband, she heard that he had to go out again in the afternoon. With a hint of resentment, she chided him.

In the past, Mercedes would never have tried to stop Akado from leaving. But now, the transformation from a woman to a mother had turned this woman, who had once put her career first, into a model mother. She hoped her husband could spend more time with their son, to sit in this home for just a few more minutes—a simple wish for any woman. Regardless of whether her husband was a humble worker or the Führer of an empire, this was what they all hoped for.

“The itinerary was arranged before I came back, so I must go to the cemetery to pay my respects. After all, these men were founding heroes who died for the Empire. They cannot share in the fruits of the Empire’s victory, so I can only give them endless mourning and glory,” Akado said, putting on his black SS uniform while apologetically stroking the small infant in Mercedes’s arms. “I’ll be back for dinner tonight. Have the kitchen prepare an extra steak.”

The car was already waiting at the door. When Akado came out of the Führer’s residence, many dignitaries of the Greater German Party and other famous figures were already waiting. Krupp, who had rushed back from Rotterdam; Dönitz and Lütjens, who had returned to the heart of the Empire from Wilhelmshaven. Any one of them was a figure who could shake the world with a stamp of his foot, yet they all stood straight before Akado, extended their right arms, and shouted the slogan: “Heil Führer!”

“Thank you for your hard work, gentlemen! The glory the Empire enjoys today is all thanks to your efforts,” Akado said, giving a slight wave of his hand to signal them to be at ease. But everyone was quite tense; the aura of a superior accumulated over twenty years in various fields could indeed make one shudder.

“Lütjens and Kesselring, you’ll ride with me. The rest of you can follow behind. I need to ask my two generals some questions. I have to get home for dinner, so time is tight,” Akado said, making a small joke that caused everyone to relax and crack a smile. The two generals then got into the custom-made Führer’s vehicle, a lengthened Mercedes “Empire.” There were only three of these cars, named “Empire,” in the world, prepared for Akado’s use when traveling. The imperial constitution explicitly stated that this car and its subsequent “Empire” series derivatives and developments could not be used for commercial purposes and were only for the use of the head of state.

The convoy soon arrived in the suburbs of Berlin. The journey was unobstructed. The guards stationed every three steps and five paces not only proved that the German Führer was back in his capital but also that there were a great number of important figures in the convoy. Citizens lined the streets to welcome them, stopping to applaud their Führer. The lives of the people in the German homeland had been upgraded from dire straits to a paradise. Aside from the news of conscription and the war, which made people slightly nervous, there was nothing to worry about here.

Traffic control had become a necessary preparation for the Führer’s outings in Berlin. In this ancient and vast city, traffic congestion had reached a certain level. Many streets were under construction to be widened, and more new buildings were rising from the ground. This was an international center, the absolute political, cultural, and economic center of Europe.

“How are the experiments with the Nighthawk fighter equipped with search radar going?” Akado asked, looking at his naval general, Lütjens. Although he already knew from the Wolf’s Lair that the joint navy-air force research project, the Nighthawk, had been successful, he was not yet clear on the specific progress.

“My Führer,” Lütjens began, clearly in a very good mood. As a general of the Imperial Navy, he had already made history. The carrier fleet under his command now ruled the North Atlantic. Germany’s maritime transport routes had never been so unobstructed. Countless raw materials from South America and Africa were delivered on time to the French, Dutch, and German ports of Wilhelmshaven and Kiel under German occupation. Germany’s war machine was running at full speed, and the rate of weapon production was astonishingly fast.

Lütjens happily answered Akado’s question: “The takeoff and landing experiments for the Nighthawk were perfect. The only issue that hasn’t been resolved yet is the integration of the radar detection and weapon systems. The technicians are currently researching guided weapons to fill this gap. The more mature plans are for a guided bomb codenamed ‘Fritz’ and a guided torpedo.”

Germany’s technology for filtering out sea clutter from radar was already very mature. Even if Akado hadn’t changed history, the British and Americans would have developed search radar for anti-submarine warfare within three years, capable of detecting the two snorkels of a submarine on the sea surface. The fact that Germany had now developed a radar that could find battleship-sized targets on the sea was not some great technological leap, but a historical inevitability shaped by Akado’s push.

“Continue the experiments. You must try to solve the reliability issue. After all, to maintain our leading edge on the battlefield, we must constantly improve our weapon systems and not be the slightest bit complacent!” Akado was quite satisfied with the progress of the navy and air force’s Nighthawk project. He had heard that the air force version, a night air defense fighter, had already begun production and was first slated for service in the skies over the Romanian oil fields and Berlin.

After he finished speaking, he turned to the air force’s Kesselring. This general had been recently overwhelmed by weapon development and replacement. An air force long-range strategic reconnaissance plane had been intercepted by Royal Air Force jet fighters in the airspace over Iceland. Two crew members were killed, and a Butcher reconnaissance plane was destroyed. This had made Kesselring, as the commander-in-chief of the air force, very nervous.

After all, when a terrifying next-generation weapon appears on the enemy’s side, the pressure on any general would increase greatly. In the past few days, Kesselring had been frantically allocating all newly produced Ta-152 fighters to the German air forces stationed on the British Isles and in the German homeland. The Eastern Front, for the first time, had not received a single one.

“Don’t worry, my Air Force Deputy Commander-in-Chief. After all, the enemy’s air force hasn’t reached my doorstep yet,” Akado said with a smile to his trusted and beloved general, Kesselring. This young, actual commander of the Imperial Air Force, although he hadn’t shown any dazzling, extraordinary performances, had been steadily commanding the German Air Force to one victory after another. Under his command, the Third Reich’s air force had not been defeated since the beginning of the war. He was a general that Akado felt very reassured about.

“My Führer, my air force is not afraid of a small number of jet fighters. According to the intelligence department, the reliability of this British fighter is very low. What I’m anxious about is when our jet fighters will enter service,” Kesselring said, an anxious look on his face, to the Imperial Führer he admired most. “The air force needs jet fighters. I think this type of aircraft, which uses a faster engine, is also the future direction of air force development.”

Akado was taken aback for a moment, then had to admit with some melancholy that Germany had now completely emerged from the negative influence of the Treaty of Versailles. The period of confusion and exploration in technology and weapon development was over. Now, even without Akado as the Führer, Germany’s military weapon development would at least not end up in the tragic situation of Nazi Germany.

“Because the current engines have relatively low power output, we can only use a twin-engine design to ensure safety and speed. This gives the current generation of jet fighters a slight speed advantage, but no advantage in dogfighting whatsoever,” Akado explained with a smile to his general. “What’s the use of producing such a specialized interceptor that can’t help our air force further expand its air superiority?”

Seeing that Kesselring was about to say more, Akado raised his hand to stop him and continued, “Moreover, although the new White Orchid Group has developed a stronger material for engine turbine blades in the field of new materials, the new production line will have to wait another five months. By then, the production line for the jet fighter will also be established. That will be the best time for us to mass-produce jet fighters!”

“Since you already have a plan, I have nothing more to say,” Kesselring nodded, giving up his radical idea of rushing the experimental ME-262 into production.

Published: 2025-09-14T07:06:02.000+00:00
Last Edited: 2026-02-07T16:57:34.000+00:00
URL: https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair/posts/mtr-c649-navy-138854837

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