Chapter 390: The Werwolf Brigade
Ernst Röhm demonstrated his full potential almost immediately after Bruno appointed him commander of the shadowy mercenary force tasked with conducting "black operations" on behalf of the German Reich beyond its borders.
This unit would handle the security operations Germany would normally finance across its soon-to-be former colonial empire while also serving as an unseen blade, delivering decisive blows against enemies without direct ties to the Reich.
A seasoned expert in counterinsurgency and irregular warfare, Röhm had led stormtroopers through the trenches of the Great War and was bound by the brotherhood of 1906—the foundation of the newly reconstituted "Iron Division," whose name had yet to be decided.
Over the next few months, Bruno brought him up to speed on combined arms warfare and unit cohesion. This mercenary force would serve as the ideal testing ground for new weapons that Bruno’s engineers had efficiently adapted from the previous E-10 pattern weapon systems.
The arsenal included E-10-style wheeled armored personnel carriers, each equipped with a 2 cm auto-cannon housed in a rotating VK 16.02 Leopard turret, and tracked E-25-style infantry fighting vehicles armed with 3.7 cm auto-cannons in a similar turret design.
These prototype armored troop carriers would become the backbone of Germany’s restructured military, with this mercenary force serving as the proving ground for their effectiveness.
Additionally, new tanks were developed on the E-25 chassis, featuring the formidable 88mm KwK/PaK 43 L71 mounted on a rounded turret inspired by the prototype Leopard 1 from Bruno’s previous life.
Once perfected, this formidable machine would be introduced as the Panzer II, serving as the primary tank of the German armed forces during the interwar period, while the existing Panzer I would be repurposed as an armored scout.
Perhaps, in time, these scouts could be upgraded with more powerful weaponry and slat armor to counter emerging threats, but for now, they were more than sufficient. Further additions to the arsenal included self-propelled artillery, multiple launch rocket systems, anti-aircraft guns, armored recovery vehicles, ambulances, and command vehicles—all based on the E-10 and E-25 platforms.
Only a limited number of these vehicles had been produced over the past year, enough to equip a single combined arms brigade. Fortunately, the initial wave of recruits for this mercenary force numbered just 3,200 men, making the scale ideal for current needs.