Chapter 32

Wilhelm walked straight into Emperor William II's office, holding a statement in his hands.

Looking at his grandson, Emperor William II appeared slightly surprised. "Wilhelm, why are you still not resting at this late hour?"

Wilhelm handed over the document. "I just finished something, Grandfather. This is a statement."

"A statement? What kind of statement?" Emperor William II asked, puzzled.

"It's the testimony of Minister Feigert from the Defense Logistics Department, regarding the G43," Wilhelm explained.

Emperor William II raised an eyebrow. "Feigert? Did you arrest him? And the G43, the firearm you designed?"

Wilhelm shook his head. "I haven't arrested him yet. I had the intelligence department invite him for a talk, and he confessed everything. Then I let him go home. But at this point, he should be smart enough to take his own life."

As Emperor William II read through the statement, his anger grew. "This bastard! He dared to tamper with test reports because the design of the G43 was too excellent and could potentially affect Mauser's business? The Minister of Logistics is no fool; even he recognized the brilliance of the G43. I don't know how to praise my grandson for this. I initially thought it was just a game."

Taking the opportunity, Wilhelm made a suggestion. "Grandfather, this time we should appoint someone loyal to the royal family as the new Minister of Logistics."

As mentioned earlier, after the previous defeat in war, Emperor William II spent ten years regaining control of the military. This small matter was a simple task for him. "How do you plan to deal with Mauser Company then?"

"Grandfather, I won't make this matter public for now. You can send someone to show Mauser this statement. If they still refuse to cooperate, I will import Modified Rifles from China. Although they are replicas of our Gew.98, even with the shipping cost included, they are cheaper than the Gew.98. Without orders from the Defense Logistics, Mauser will be forced to shut down."

"What if they cooperate? What do you want? Are you still aiming for a 12% stake?" Emperor William II inquired.

Wilhelm replied seriously, "Grandfather, I never intended to get the 12% stake for free. I already told them last time that I wanted to exchange it for the design blueprints."

Emperor William II couldn't help but feel confused. "Weren't you giving the design blueprints to Walther Company for rifles and military pistols? Aren't you aware of the logistical challenges that arise from having too many different firearms in the army?"

Wilhelm also felt a bit frustrated. "The craftsmanship of the G43 is not as simple as the rifles, and it costs more than double the price of the Mauser rifle. If we bite the bullet, we might be able to equip the current 100,000-strong Defense Force, but it's not feasible when the Defense Force expands to several million in the future. So, it's better to provide around three G43 rifles to each squad of skilled marksmen in the future." In the original World War II timeline, only financially powerful countries like the United States extensively equipped themselves with semi-automatic rifles.

"In that case, will the rest of the soldiers continue using Mauser rifles?"

"No, how is that possible? So, I redesigned a light machine gun, named it assault rifle, which is a combination of a rifle and a submachine gun."

"Are you saying that there are five types of guns in one platoon? And including handguns, that makes six? Don't tell me these six firearms use different types of ammunition?"

That would be a logistical nightmare then. Wilhelm chuckled and said, "Grandfather, how is that possible? The firearms I designed, the light machine gun, G43, and the rifle, can use the same type of ammunition. The handgun and submachine gun use the same type, and the assault rifle uses another. So, it's only three types of ammunition."

Kaiser Wilhelm II nodded slightly and continued to ask, "What is this assault rifle you mentioned?"

After thinking for a moment, Wilhelm explained concisely, "Well, simply put, this type of firearm is neither entirely a rifle nor a submachine gun. It's a combination of the two."

"What about its range?"

"This assault rifle is mainly used to suppress individual enemy soldiers at a distance of three to four hundred meters, with a maximum effective range of not more than five hundred meters."

Wilhelm II furrowed his brow. "So, you mean its effective range is far inferior to the Mauser rifle?"

Wilhelm knew that in the original timeline, the assault rifle was not initially accepted by the authorities, who believed it was useless and even ordered a ban on its production. However, some people secretly produced it. In one instance, a German soldier was surrounded on the Eastern Front, and someone suggested airdropping a batch of these rifles to try them out, as a desperate measure. As a result, those German soldiers, armed with this AK-like weapon, managed to break out of the Soviet encirclement. Upon learning of this, Adolf Hitler was very pleased and named it the "assault rifle."

Seeing Wilhelm II's reaction, Wilhelm knew that he, too, advocated long-range capabilities. "Grandfather, if we want to win the next war, we can only rely on new weapons and tactics; otherwise, we will only repeat history. Grandfather, to put it bluntly, you might not be alive at that time. You wouldn't want to see me hiding in a dark basement, shooting myself in the head after being defeated, would you?" The heavens allowed me to cross over, but it certainly wasn't to repeat Hitler's fate.

"Continue talking about this type of firearm."

"I was just talking about it, wasn't I? This assault rifle can automatically chamber a round, eject spent casings, and achieve continuous firing."

"Isn't that just a downsized machine gun or an upsized submachine gun? Why not use rifle or handgun ammunition?"

"Because this assault rifle has a relatively shorter barrel, and if rifle ammunition is used, it would be difficult to control the weapon's recoil and muzzle jump during fully automatic fire. On the other hand, using handgun ammunition, like a submachine gun, would result in insufficient power at medium to long distances. To solve this problem, I designed a new type of intermediate cartridge that balances power and control over continuous fire. If rifle ammunition is considered high-power ammunition and handgun rounds are considered low-power, then this assault rifle cartridge falls into the intermediate power range."

"Now, let's talk about Mauser company. My request is simple: their rifles need to change calibers. The current 7.92mm Mauser round has outdated design principles, high trajectory, poor accuracy, excessive power, and heavy ammunition. I want to change it to a more practical pointed 7.62x51mm round."

"Change caliber?" Wilhelm II furrowed his brow once again. "If we change the caliber, the entire production line will have to be overhauled, the processes will need to be improved, and it will require a considerable amount of money for materials, production equipment, inspection devices, and more."

Based on the perspective of a veteran and a national military decision-maker, Hitler believed that the STG44 assault rifle had advanced design principles but required new ammunition and couldn't utilize the large stockpile of Mauser rifle rounds.

The STG44 assault rifle had a high rate of fire and could predict enemy movements, consuming ammunition in combat not much different from a submachine gun. The ammunition consumption would be astonishing as well.

At that time, Germany was already in a precarious situation, with a large number of equipment and personnel lost in the Eastern Front's trench warfare. Replacing those losses was already a significant challenge.

Equipping the STG44 assault rifle would greatly increase the logistical burden. From this perspective, the small mustache's (Adolf Hitler's) denial of the STG44 assault rifle was not entirely unreasonable.

Seeing Wilhelm II hesitate, Wilhelm continued to persuade him, "Grandfather, now is the best time to make the change. Just think about it. Luckily, our defense force only has a hundred thousand soldiers, so the transition won't be difficult. If we wait until the defense force grows to millions, it would be a disaster, requiring significant manpower, resources, and finances to complete."

After contemplating for a while, Wilhelm II raised another concern, "What about Mauser company's stockpile?"

Wilhelm had already thought of a solution for this. "If there is surplus stock after the transition, we can offer it all to the China. After all, they have a large army, and even if they want to transition, it won't be something they can accomplish quickly."

Wilhelm II asked a few more detailed questions, and Wilhelm responded fluently without omitting any details.

Finally, Wilhelm II nodded. "Alright, I will have a talk with Mauser."