23-May-14-June/1915
Once at the Fifth Army camp we prepared all our equipment to return to the Eastern Front, since for the moment I had no other orders.
So we took our rifles and gear while we waited for the train that would take us to Poznan, and from there I would await orders from my commander, since I returned to serve under the Eighth Army after finishing my role as a trainer, and as a hunting dog of the OHL against Entente snipers who had been causing problems.
At least from what I heard in the Fifth Army, there were no longer as many French snipers, and now it was mostly our own snipers dominating the field. With better equipment they could use the dirt towers along the trench lines to deal with their opponents.
So I left satisfied that I had completed my mission well. At least all my superior officers said they would recommend me for medals… although I didn't really learn much of what I was supposed to learn, since Konstantin, the commander supporting the Crown Prince, was never available, and I was never in a position to accompany him or take part in things like planning operations or seeing how offensives were organized. So even if my service had been distinguished, I doubted I would be promoted again, since I lacked the command experience I was supposed to gain on the Western Front.
We had spent all that time putting out fires while the French and British launched constant offensives, now even more with the Italians putting pressure on the Austrians.
What did interrupt everything was that before boarding the train I had to pass through Württemberg, since the Duke of the Fourth Army had requested that I be awarded decorations from the Kingdom of Württemberg, a Ritterkreuz. So I had to take a detour, since by the duke's request the medal had been issued incredibly fast, as it came from the man who would one day be king of Württemberg.
So everything was quick. I attended a short ceremony with several wounded soldiers who received medals, and King Wilhelm of Württemberg himself handed me mine.
It was fast enough that I only lost a couple of hours before returning to Poznan.
Without wasting time we went back to the Poznan barracks, quickly taking over the place again even though it had been almost abandoned, since it was still useful for training local troops who would be sent to the front.
So I immediately started intensive camouflage and shooting training to raise the level of my troops, since many were just farmers or factory workers who had joined the war and had almost no real experience beyond a few skirmishes under my men's guidance.
There was also a major difference. The troops I usually received came from the same recruitment area, but the eight hundred men I got to fill my ranks were complete novices, some didn't even have good eyesight, and on top of that they came from different regions of western Germany. Even if they shared a similar culture, they didn't have that regimental unity you get when soldiers come from the same town.
So I had to train them and push them past their weaknesses, since even though they had been trained for a few weeks, elite troops cannot be expected to perform miracles with just three weeks of training, especially when our missions revolve around sabotage, where nerve control and precision matter more than anything else.
So back at camp I sent telegrams to the Eighth Army headquarters requesting instructions, but I also immediately went to my factories to check on production.
The rifles were already finished, but production continued to maintain a good stock for future orders, since the first requests were already coming in to replace rifles damaged or destroyed during combat.
Demand was still there. So I took eight hundred rifles stored in crates and brought them back to the training field, while preparing everything for camouflage training.
Nothing new happened and I still had no response regarding my next assignment.
So I started thinking about how to set up a production line for a machine gun. Starting from scratch was difficult, but paying 2000 marks per unit to the Königlich Preußische Gewehrfabrik Spandau for parts and then modifying them would mean selling the weapon for around 2500 marks, which would generate profit, but not the kind I was aiming for.
I needed money, and considering each German army had around 250 units, and possibly more given the increasing defensive needs on the Western Front, this was an opportunity I couldn't ignore.
Replace the MG-08 and offer a lighter but still effective machine gun.
So I considered building an MG-42, mainly because I knew every single part of it. My country had plenty of them for training, and the damn thing was reliable as hell. I had taken it apart and maintained it multiple times. I had every piece memorized. I could build it.
The problem was that knowing the weapon and actually manufacturing it are two very different things. I would need a hydraulic press system to work sheet metal and produce the parts. The internal mechanism wasn't that different from what was already used in machine guns, but specialized machinery would still be needed for each small component, and I would have to redesign parts to optimize the feeding system.
Welding would be critical, since several components would need to be fixed together properly.
So I ran into the same problem again… I didn't have time… building the industry for that would take months… even with the money I had available, buying the machinery, designing it, hiring engineers to work on my plans would take far too long.
So as much as I wanted to push it to the limit, it simply wasn't feasible. Instead, I decided to get an arc welding system, which forced me to spend several hundred thousand marks to buy a factory near the train station so I would have a proper workspace and bring in the necessary machinery.
I also sent a telegram to the Duke of Württemberg so he could issue the order, since I would begin working immediately and operate under his authority to produce a machine gun with a lighter body while using the automatic firing system of the MG-08, removing the water jacket like in my prototype.
The barrel would now be air-cooled, but it would still heat up no matter what I did, so making it removable so it could be replaced or cooled separately in water would give the troops much more mobility.
So if I wanted to do this properly, I had to spend money. But the duke delivered, sending a purchase order for 1000 machine guns using his budget as Duke of Württemberg, at the same price as an MG-08. What looked like a small contract was actually three million marks… if I took that contract to the bank, I could probably secure another two million.
I immediately started searching through military channels to see if there was an industrial hydraulic press available. Using the telegraph, I reached out everywhere until I was informed that a state factory in the Ruhr was upgrading its press to a better model, leaving the old one available. We quickly closed a deal, buying the press for 20,000 marks.
I also purchased additional machinery such as industrial milling machines, grinders, saws, everything needed to produce weapons, along with skilled labor, mainly engineers from the Ruhr who charged a high price, but someone had to maintain the machines and enforce safety standards since every day counted.
Using the duke's authority, I declared the prototype a priority project, while also taking advantage of the time to further train my men before the next mission.
So I used every moment I had, even though I was only told I would be called back to the front when needed. With the Italian front opening, the offensive in Ukraine had completely stalled, since our southern ally was now conducting risky attacks that distracted the Russians. The forces of the 8th, 9th and 10th Armies, along with the Polish Army, were not enough to defeat them, and with Austrian reinforcements diverted, the offensive came to a halt, even if it had made good progress.
As soon as the machines arrived from the Ruhr, just two days after the order, they were brought in by train and we began installing them in the factory. It took us five days to make everything operational, setting up all the machines and organizing a form of production line to maximize speed.
I had to hire nearly 300 workers from the area, which was still easy at the time since my higher wages attracted workers from other factories that paid less. There was always a surplus of labor, people eager to work.
I split my time again between training and production. In the mornings, while my veterans handled the training, I went to the factory where workers waited for instructions.
I personally taught them what their work was, how to press the metal, shape it, drill the holes in the barrel shroud, machine the barrel, and how to handle the machinery needed to produce every small part that had to go into the weapon.
And how the entire line had to keep moving, maintaining the proper process to manufacture a machine gun efficiently.
It took nearly a full week before the machines were running at full capacity and the work was properly distributed. Each production line could turn out one machine gun every 70 hours, and we had around 20 lines that, using pre-made parts, assembled the weapons.
Once everything was in place, we were producing around 8 machine guns per day.
I seriously considered starting a night shift, but making people work 12 hours already felt excessive. Even if I could legally increase their working hours due to necessity, that would just be asking for an accident.
So the order would be ready in four months, with a total cost of 1700 marks per machine gun, leaving 1300 as pure profit.
But I had to show a patriotic face. So through the telegraph, I informed the Fourth Army that the order would be completed in four months and that I would sell each machine gun for 2500 marks, leaving myself only 800 marks of profit so they could justify placing more contracts later. It wasn't enough to be better, I had to be cheaper as well.
The quality tests were solid. The weapon didn't jam and performed well until the barrel started to overheat, at which point it could be removed, cooled in water-filled tubes, and replaced. It was very similar to an MG-37, but with some more modern refinements.
I set aside two days of production for my jaegerkommandos, but I also redirected one production line to start developing a submachine gun, a compact automatic weapon to carry into battle.
At the same time, I decided to establish an industrial zone outside the city and expand the rail network. I couldn't keep relying on improvising with existing factories. I needed something built from the ground up, designed to make production easier, using my profits.
And by taking a loan from the Poznan bank, offering my contract with the Kingdom of Württemberg and my newly acquired lands as collateral, I secured a loan of 4 million marks.
That money would be used to build a dedicated military factory, and I immediately began placing orders with manufacturers for machinery built to my specifications.
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