Albert Speer: Reich Chancellor

Albert Speer

Reich Chancellor: 30 April 1945 - 20 April 1965

Many have called Speer the most reluctant world leader to ever take the political stage. Yet that did not stop him from becoming the brilliant leader that he was.

An apolitical man, Speer was first drawn to politics at a Party rally he attended in December 1930. There, he was amazed to find himself swept up in the oratory of the Fuhrer. Speer claimed to have been quite affected, not only with Hitler's proposed solutions to the threat of Communism and his renunciation of the Treaty of Versailles, but also with the man himself. It was this attraction to Hitler that would draw Speer into the Party and up to the highest echelons of power.

Despite numerous offers during the early years of the Reich, Speer turned downed numerous posts, instead wishing to focus on the architecture that was making him famous throughout Germany. He was determined to leave a defining mark on the Reich, his obsession with his works bordering on the manic. It was only through Hitler's personal request that Speer accepted the post of Armaments Minister during the Atlantic War. In that post, Speer demonstrated an excellent ability to recognize and recruit talent, manage, and lead. It was also in this post that Speer realized the inefficient system of conflicting and overlapping offices that hindered productivity in the Reich. He would learn quickly how to overcome those who stood in his way, centralizing authority in his hands.

It was a surprise to Speer when he spoke to Hitler on the night of the Fuhrer's 56th birthday. Hitler's health was failing and he believed he could no longer fulfill the obligations of his office. Speer tried to counter Hitler's arguments, but the aged leader would hear none of it. Hitler was not bitter that his body was failing him and that his time to retire had come. The Fuhrer had returned Germany to its proper place as a world power. He had led the Reich to victories over all the western powers. Germany was whole again. His duty was done. But Hitler could not leave unless he was sure that his Reich was in proper hands. The Fuhrer had already decided to split his office back into its two former parts. Goering was to receive the office of Reich President. Hitler wanted Speer to take the office of Chancellor.

For Speer, the idea of accepting such a post was anathema to what he believed. He had only taken the post of Armaments Minister to see Germany through its war with America. He was not a politician. He was an architect. What he had seen of the political leadership sickened him. He had avoided the corruption of power thus far. To be besieged by such sycophants. Speer had been sure this meeting was Hitler's acceptance of his resignation. He had never dreamed the Fuhrer would offer him such power. But offer Hitler did. "I cannot accept your offer, my Fuhrer. I am no leader. Surely there is someone better suited for this than I."

"You say you are a builder," Hitler told Speer, that old fire rekindled in his blue eyes with Speer caught in the center of them. "What do you build for? You build for the future of the Reich. What I am offering you is the chance to shape the Reich itself. No man can understand this more than you. You are an artist. You see things others can't. You are not corrupted like everyone else. You are about the spiritual. The amorphous shape. You take from the ether and make the abstract real. You cannot deny your talents. I have watched you. Nothing is impossible when you set your mind to it. I have entrusted so many of my dreams to you." Tears shone in the Hitler's eyes as his body trembled. The frail Fuhrer put a shaking hand on Speer's shoulder. "These people need you. I need you. Do not forsake us."

As president, Goering proved more a figurehead than an all-powerful ruler. He was content to sit in the background, stepping out for grandiose state functions in glittering, gawdy outfits. He did little to impede Speer in his post as chancellor, instead wandering the vast halls of his presidential palace. But the threat to Speer's power would not come from above. It would come from below.

Speer came to discover that without allies, the system Hitler had constructed threatened to consume him. Gauleiters, Ministers, SS, and others all valued their independence, even against their ruler, battling over the pettiest things. Speer would form an alliance with Goebbels and Himmler against these men in order to push his agenda. Himmler proved quite adept at blackmailing many officials into compliance with his vast collection of data collected over the years through the Gestapo. Goebbels also served his purpose securing loyalty from the people while using his intellect to outthink many who would try to undermine Speer's authority. Goebbels was to be the public voice of the quiet, reserved Speer. Of course these men did not freely work for Speer. In exchange for the loyalty of the SS, Speer gave Himmler free reign to continue his racial policies aimed at extinguishing all untermenschen from the Reich as well as to pursue ventures like his soldier-farmer colonies in the Eastern Territories. Goebbels found himself elevated to the post of vice chancellor and President of the Reichstag as well as given free reign to begin his assault on religion, though Speer served to moderate some of Goebbel's actions in this regard.

Speer proved a practical ruler, pushing reforms throughout the Nazi system. One of his first acts was to clear the cabinet of many of Hitler's appointees and replace them with professionals. For the first time in thirteen years, the cabinet became a working organ in government. Speer would delegate his programs to these officials who in turn made his will happen. Speer was quick to clean up a vast amount of corruption in government, though the SS proved exempt from these drives. The average age of government would decrease under Speer to an average of 38. Speer had an affinity for young, driven men who focused their energies into their duties.

The educational system found itself completely overhauled. Appalled by the type of students produced under Hitler's reign, Speer curtailed many of the powers of the Hitler Youth in order to resurrect the intellectual traditions trampled by the Nazis. Many restrictive laws were relaxed allowing for greater freedoms for teachers in the classroom. Crackpot theories, political ideology, and other programs receded from the curriculum. Incentives were also created to encourage students to enter psychology and physics, now stripped of their pariah status as Jewish studies.

The economy would also see reform under Speer. He knew reparations money would not continue forever, that slave labor would only damage the economy in the long run, and that the massive military currently in existence was not necessary, especially with the nuke now in their arsenal. Demobilization was rushed through in order to cut military spending, though a sizable budget would remain. Slave labor was slowly removed from industry creating jobs for the soldiers returning home. Government was streamlined and many unnecessary projects halted, most especially Hitler's building projects though Welthauptstadt Germania would still be realized by 1964. To further encourage economic growth, Speer had an economic union established that included nearly all of Europe, Canada, and South Africa. It forged a single currency, stripped away tariffs, and allowed German business to dominate like it had never done before.

Great strides were made in agriculture boosting yields and turning the Reich into the breadbasket of the world. Advanced fertilizers, farm equipment, and more put Germany at the forefront of food production.

Germany would also establish the first space agency headed by Werner von Braun. Goals made by the agency were to launch the first artificial satellite (1955), to put a man in orbit (1958), to reach the moon (1964), to establish a lunar colony (1979), and to eventually venture out to other planets in the Solar System.

Technology and medicine would flourish during Speer's reign. He invested mass amounts of state funds into education and grants to spur technological growth, doing his best to get the greatest minds to interact with one another. The medical field made rapid gains, in part because of the use of untermenschen for experiments. The first organ transplants, human study (both physical and psychological), dissections, and more allowed for in depth understanding of the human form. Genetics were also pursued with the goal of eventually breeding out recessive genes and enhancing others.

In the shadows of this golden age, the Final Solution was ramping up. With the Jews of Europe wiped out by 1946, the SS added others to their list for extinction. This would include Slavs, Asiatics, Poles, Slovaks, Czechs, Blacks, Homosexuals, Gypsies, the insane, the handicapped, the retarded, Jews outside Europe, and others. Camps began to appear in Africa, North America, and the Eastern Occupied Territories. They would gradually eat away at the pseudo independence of the Central Asian states as well, gradually turning them into reichskommissariats. Tens of millions would die over the next two decades with the SS declaring their work done by 1963 in all German territories. It is estimated that roughly 100-150 million may have died during this period (including in the expanded territories of the European Union).

The Economic union Speer had crafted would lead to the integration of states into the Reich which created a problem for the superstate. How was Germany to deal with this influx of individuals, many of whom may not be of Aryan stock? The SS would step in, doing racial histories and deciding what groups were worthy and which were meant for the camps. One shocking development saw the southern Italians deemed subhuman as well as the Albanians. Many would flee to independent Yugoslavia to avoid the camps. Despite pressure by Himmler, Speer would not authorize an invasion of the slavic kingdom.

With Europe integrating, German influence, and thus SS influence, spread. The SS would make its presence most known in Africa where it quickly rushed to wipe out the natives or use them as slave labor in the mines. By 1963, roughly 15 million blacks remained in the whole of Africa.

Media would undergo a revolution as television emerged. Goebbels proved the most adept at realizing its full potential, using the new media as a way to assimilate many into the regime including those nations newly added to the Reich.

Nuclear power would become the beating heart for this great regime, providing energy to millions at a fraction of cost.

As to religion, Goebbel's served to bring first all German churches and finally all European churches under state control. Dogma was altered to support the state and its goals. This revisionism saw alterations to the Old Testament which stripped out Jewish cultural history and replaced it with an Aryan motif.

The population of the Reich would grow by leaps and bounds. By 1960, the estimated population of the Reich (including those European states added through the union) stood at well over 300 million.

Over the years, Speer's power grew greater and greater as he centralized his authority. One by one he removed those gauleiters against him until all that remained were allies. In full control, the chancellor would make it law that he had the right to appoint and dismiss gauleiters at will. Speer would further undermine local authorities by having all taxes paid straight to the central government which would in turn be doled out to the local governments.

When Himmler died in 1964, Heydrich became the new Reichsfuhrer and a rift began to develop in the alliance Speer had once held with the SS. Though Germany had expanded greatly, independent states still existed such as the United States and Japan not to mention South America and Australia. This angered the Reichsfuhrer who believed that Germany should use their nuclear arsenal to force the world under their hegemony. There was also the issue of open elections. Speer believed it was time to allow for a gradual return to democracy, something many in the Party feared. Speer believed it would make the government more responsive to the people and also break up the stagnating influence of a single party with no challengers. The threat of elections would force those in government to become more dynamic and competive. It would also bring fresh voices to power. But above all, what proved the most damaging to the alliance between Speer and the SS was when it was discovered that Japan was working towards a nuclear weapon. Heydrich presented this information to Speer, advising the chancellor that Japan should serve as a warning to those who would think to challenge Germany's nuclear superiority. The Reichsfuhrer suggested that they nuke every major city in Japan destroying its industrial and cultural base and rendering it incapable of challenging them in the future. Speer was horrified at the idea. The chaos that such an act would bring. The casualties alone would be in the tens of millions. Then there was the threat of destablization throughout Asia following the fall of Japan which could threaten to spill over into German lands. Speer believed dialogue would work best.

Despite warnings from all corners, Speer believed himself safe from the Reichsfuhrer's wrath. The chancellor had the support of the military, the final arbiter of power in the Reich. He had also been gradually wittling away at SS authority, Himmler's obsession with the Final Solution and his colonies blinding him to Speer's eroding of SS authority, whether it be in factory ownership, independent funding, control over the nuclear arsenal, the dismantling of the Gestapo, or the gradual demobilization of the Waffen SS with those remaining divisions being placed under Wermacht control. By the time Heydrich had come to power, the SS had been reduced to a national police force with a foreign intelligence wing. But such a force was more than enough for Reinhard.

With the strength of the SS behind him, Heydrich launched a coup on April 20, 1965.

SOURCE: Blix, Heidi The Reluctant Chancellor

April 1944 - June 1944

Hitler's order to secure the industrial core of America recommenced in the spring of 1944 when Rommel drove into Ohio reaching Youngstown April 10. American forces, largely National Guard units, offered little resistance as he struck northwest towards Cleveland, taking the city on April 17, before then striking south for Akron.

Guderian's drive into Indiana was just as rapid, Elkhart falling April 13, followed by Ft. Wayne on April 19. The first signs of organized American forces appeared as he approached Muncie, April 25. The VI Corps, under Major General Ernest J. Dawley, had moved east from Illinois in late March, taking up position north of Indianapolis on April 17. When news came of Guderian's march south, Dawley prepared his forces to meet him. It was patrols of the 45th Division which first encountered Wermacht troops outside Muncie on April 25. Brief gunfire was exchanged before American forces withdrew to report German troop movements.

German and American forces would skirmish over the next three days in and around Delaware County with Guderian forcing Dawley gradually southwestward. The fourth day of fighting transpired near the White River, five miles from Yorktown. The river to his rear, Dawley found himself trapped. With a lack of decent armor, only VI Corps' artillery served to deter German charges meant to drive them into the river. This was quickly solved by Guderian's panzers which sliced through the VI's infantry and overran Dawley's main guns. Suffering heavy casualties, many American soldiers dove into the White River swimming across to the southern shore while being shot at by Wermacht rifles and panzer cannons. Scores of bodies would foul the water for weeks to come, some washing up as far as ten miles downriver.

Rommel, meanwhile, had picked up his breathtaking pace reaching Marietta, OH on April 28. There he met parts of the reconstituted II Corps, now commanded by Major General Geoffrey Keyes.

Patton, the former commander of II Corps, had been "promoted" to an inactive front, commander of III Corps at the Presidio in Monterey, CA, due to his controversial dealings with his superiors and subordinates. The press had printed some of Patton's abusive correspondence with Washington greatly angering President Dewey who wouldn't bear his authority being undermined. Dewey was sure Patton had leaked the correspondence as a way to guilt him into action on a list of complaints the general had earlier sent him. To make matters worse was Patton's slapping of a soldier suffering from shell shock following the Battle of Pittsburgh. Patton's abrasive personality drove Eisenhower to move the man as far away as possible for his own good.

Major General Keyes proved an able leader though not as skilled as Rommel who rapidly punctured the American line and rolled up part of II Corps by April 30. Only Keyes deft maneuvering kept the entire II Corps from being enveloped. Part of the reason for this defeat was attributed to II Corps' armor which stood at 65%, manned largely with inexperienced tank crews that had been rushed to the front. Among these tanks was the M5 which saw its first frontline action, performing well under fire but still inadequate against German Panthers.

The Battle of Marietta would end American support for light tanks and lead to the development of medium and heavy tanks. Rommel would complete the annihilation of II Corps over the next four days leaving only 80,000 American troops between him and Washington to the east, but the German commander turned west to link up with Guderian as ordered despite a desire to gamble for the American capital.

In Indiana, Indianapolis was encircled by Guderian April 28 and taken two days later severing a vital transportation hub in a largely bloodless offensive. Guderian would then turn southeast cutting a swath through disorganized American forces, put together piecemeal from whatever was available, on his way to the Ohio border.

Rommel and Guderian would meet in Cincinnati on May 14. Though this served as a major blow to the United States, it was only the beginning of a larger offensive.

Hitler had decided to open a second front in September 1943 following the beating Rommel had taken in Pennsylvania to relieve the pressure on German forces in New England and to put renewed pressure on the American capital. The Fuhrer looked towards a landing somewhere along the Carolina coast. Goering and Raeder would aid Hitler in his planning. What the pair offered up most were doubts.

Goering informed the Fuhrer that landings anywhere south of Virginia would be unsupported by Luftwaffe aircraft, the distance being too great from their airfields in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Raeder further warned Hitler that should the Carolina landings be successful, there was the possibility that the United States could blockade the coast using parts of the Atlantic and Pacific fleets cutting off the landing force from resupply. Up to this point, the United States had been willing to not call on the Pacific Fleet to augment their Atlantic naval forces, but the German offensive in the south could be viewed as a large enough threat to redeploy parts of the Pacific Fleet to the Atlantic, especially due to the lull that had settled over the west coast. Then there was the problem of landing and amphibious craft which were in short supply. There would need to be designs drawn up, raw materials allocated, workers found, etc. This didn't include the training necessary to prepare troops for the operation. The entire venture was not likely to happen in less than two years at best and even then it was still fraught with a myriad of threats of failure.

But Hitler would not be swayed. The very audacity of the plan, coupled with the fact that it would be the largest amphibious assault in history, mesmerized the German leader. When Raeder and Goering realized the futility of halting preparations, they tried to convince the Fuhrer to move the landing point further north to allow for air support. Hitler would not hear of it. First, the threat of American air forces would be minimal in the Carolinas. Naval reconnaissance had found only four to five squadrons scattered across the area, mostly used for training and coastal patrols. The Fuhrer was quick to point out to Raeder the fact that recent modifications to five merchant ships would provide the Kriegsmarine with additional escort carriers whose fighter complement added up to 30 Bf 109s. Added to the Graf Zeppelin's aircraft, that numbered 40 fighters placing the American to German fighter ratio at roughly around 2:1. German aircraft had proven its supremacy time and again and American air forces would be disorganized coming from several air fields and could, likely, be intercepted before they became a problem. Second, landing anywhere in Virginia was ridiculous with the American troop presence so close to Washington. The invasion force would quickly find itself bogged down by soldiers already on alert and then pushed back into the sea. An attack further south would face minimal opposition allowing for an easier push inland and would also serve to draw off forces opening Washington to the joint forces of Rommel and Guderian leading to the fall of the capital and the end of the United States as a coherent entity.

"American forces are broken," Hitler stated. "All it will take is one more bold stroke to shatter their resolve. Our forces will walk over them to everlasting victory!"

As to the problems of landing craft, Hitler ordered German forces to begin confiscating all merchant and commerical craft in the occupied areas of Canada and New England. They had until summer 1944. Speed and surprise was essential.

The initial phase of the operation, the combined Luftwaffe/Kriegsmarine assault on Newport News in November 1943, served to drive the Atlantic Fleet south. It would be followed by numerous sorties to keep the Atlantic Fleet away from the proposed landing zones and to allow for aerial reconnaissance of the region. With naval success on the American east coast, Hitler ordered plans for an amphibious landing at Charleston to be sped up. He would travel to Philadelphia to set up his American HQ to oversee the Atlantic Theater, coordinating with Rommel, Guderian, Manstein, Goering, and Raeder. Training for the landing was conducted throughout late winter/early spring.

30 May 1944, Raeder initiated the invasion heading south from New Jersey. American forces would be ill-equipped to counter the coming attack, lacking in men and materiel. The American General Staff had become used to Raeder's roaming up and down the east coast over the past year in what was perceived as a useless blockade. Any threat the German Admiral offered, such as shelling of coastal ports, had been kept at bay by coastal aircraft which had markedly increased in northern Virginia. Also, after having overreacted to the joint Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine attack on Newport News, and with Rommel and Guderian to their west, American commanders were not willing to divert troops to the Carolina shores. In fact, they had diverted troops north to defend against a renewed drive by the Wermacht on Washington. The American Midwest and Washington took priority. Thus, South Carolina was not prepared for the German forces that stormed her shores, having been stripped of a vast amount of divisional strength and mostly used as a training area.

The Battle of Charleston began at 0300, June 6, with a naval barrage accompanied by bombing runs by the Graf Zeppelin's Ju-87s which would render the air strips at Myrtle Beach and Charleston Army Air Fields useless, grounding their squadrons and stripping air supremacy from American forces.
121,000 Wermacht troops ran ashore over the next five hours starting at 0630 in a motley collection of cruise ships, steamers, and other craft overwhelming limited American resistance in what quickly became a debacle for the American High Command. By the time USAAF air support could be called from nearby air fields in Florence and Charlotte, German troops had secured their beachheads and were driving inland. When USAAF forces arrived on the scene, what they found was mass panic. Numerous civilians clogged the roads trying to escape the German drive. What they did not know was that aircraft from the Graf Zeppelin and her escort carriers had been strafing and bombing American civilians in their exodus causing mass panic.

The German invasion of Charleston was only part of the Operation. Following the success of their spring campaign, Rommel and Guderian used the bulk of their forces to stab into West Virginia in a drive aimed at Washington itself meant to divert troops and attention away from South Carolina prior to the amphibious landings. This drive commenced in mid-May and reached as far as Moorefield, WV by June 6. Surprised by the ease of their eastward assault, Rommel and Guderian decided to press further than planned. The first line of defenses surrounding Washington would be shattered three days later.

Washington was in a panic. They had no immediate forces to counter the invasion in South Carolina, Rommel was less than thirty miles away, and the threat of losing the entire east coast was fast becoming a reality. Many voiced the opinion that Washington should be abandoned so that American forces could then focus on crushing the German forces at Charleston while maintaining a coherent defense against German forces from the north. President Dewey refused to abandon the capital citing its symbolic nature. Instead, he ordered that all forces in Virginia be focused on defending the capital while the fleet was to solve the problem in Carolina. Parts of the Pacific Fleet would be diverted east in the weeks to come while the bulk of the Atlantic Fleet was told to move north and engage the Kriegsmarine.

Admiral King issued the command for the Atlantic Fleet to remove the Kriegsmarine from the Carolina coast that the Wermacht in Charleston could be cut off and captured by I Corps. The decisive battle of the Atlantic unfolded June 12 between the Atlantic Fleet and the Kriegsmarine. Raeder was ordered by Hitler himself to hold his position at all costs. Raeder's naval aviators held the sky against American aircraft. The majority of the USAAF pilots were still trainees and quickly overwhelmed by the German aces who tore them apart. The two navies pounded one another across the sea taking numerous casualties. While Ju 87s and Fi 167s rained fire from above, Uboats attacked from the depths. Le Malin class destroyers glided through the churning waters blasting holes in American naval craft with elegant efficiency. Fiery pyres littered the ocean blazing brightly along the horizon.
American naval forces fought on despite their losses, realizing that South Carolina was likely lost if they retreated. Their determination was heroic and shocking to the German sailors who witnessed it. One remarkable event was the ramming of an American cruiser into one of the German escort carriers. Despite their efforts, they were overcome by the Kriegsmarine. Raeder pressed in for the kill virtually decimating the remains of the Atlantic Fleet as it finally turned to retreat south. The Grand Admiral would send his Uboats after them as he took up position off the coast.

SOURCE: Wilder, George Hitler's Great Gamble: The Amphibious Invasion of Charleston

Goering Joins the Invasion

Reich Marshal Goering struggled to remain relevant in the American campaign. When the Fuhrer had first declared war on the United States, the Reich Marshal hadn't realized the consequences of that action.

Naval power was essential for both supplies across the Atlantic and to ferry troops for the planned invasion. Grand Admiral Raeder received more and more of Hitler's attention as the campaign's planning progressed pushing Goering to the periphery; a place he was not used to. There was also animosity between the two men over the Graf Zeppelin. Raeder had managed to create a naval aviation arm; something Goering viewed as an invasion of his field. That this man might now garner Hitler's attention completely away from him was too much.

Goering was quick to offer his own opinions on the planned invasion. Yes, initial naval strength would play a part but the length of the supply line and its continued vulnerability to America's Atlantic Fleet made it seemingly untenable. The Reich Marshal offered a solution. Airfields could be built on Iceland and Greenland and, once Rommel's forces landed, more fields could be built or seized in Canada. These airfields could then be used as an additional supply line, a Luftwaffe artery which could carry men and materiel through the air much more safely and at a fraction of the time. These airfields could resupply Luftwaffe craft on their long trek while longer ranged aircraft was in the works. Goering stressed the positives of his ideas: faster build-up, less risk, and proven via Operation Wotan.

Hitler liked the idea of a second supply line, especially with the enthusiasm it generated in the Reich Marshal. The Fuhrer thus planned for the initial wave of invasion to be naval to be supported by, and possibly superseded by, the Luftwaffe's air supply.

Raeder and Goering eyed each other wearily.

SOURCE: Groening, Oskar The Reich Marshal