No YouTube version that seems to fit so no vote, but the intro alone raises the question "1926? Wouldn't that mean than Germany was planning for WW2 already clearly before Hitler came to power?"

The Germans had secret bases in Russia where they conducted military training, all the while submitting to a treaty that limited the Reichswehr to no more than 100,000 men and prohibited any tanks, artillery, or armed aircraft. During the later days of the Cold War, the Soviets formed an international trucking combine to transport goods around Europe. Tank drivers from the Red Army were assigned to drive 18-wheelers across the continent, learning about roads, bridges, towns, geographical features.

I can see Pernell Roberts singing this version.

What the Germans were doing before Hitler was rehearsing revolutionary principles in tank warfare and creating a 100,000 man core of officers and NCO's. In this way, if some politician were to come along and and abrogate the Treaty of Versailles, they could instantly form a formidable million man Army. And this Army would be light years ahead of other European Armies. This is why WWII happened so quickly after Hitler declared the Treaty of Versailles null and void -- the Nazis had to start the war before their enemies caught up

The Germans marched home from foreign territory in WW1 with their weapons due to the Armistice. But even though Fokker loaded up his aircraft and went back to the Netherlands, German military aircraft production went on in some cases well into 1919 before the ACC came and put a top to it. So the Germans tried to get by the restrictions with civilian aircraft that could be converted over. The first ordered destroyed was the Zeppelin-Staaken E.4/20 in favor of the little Junkers F13 and so on. But the Weimar Republic actually were the ones that started rearmament in secret BEFORE Hitler and the Nazis came to power. Their first bomber design was the Rohrbach Ro XII Roska. This was followed by the Do P, Do Y, and Do F (Do-11) and the cool Fw-42 canard design. The Rohrbach Roterra was licensed to Czechoslovakia as Avia 46. So rearmament preceded the Nazis just like the Autobahn that Hitler only completed. Paratroopers trained in secret in Russia and experimental tanks in various nations. Lufthansa desereves the credit for allowing military pilots to train new ones under guise of civilian airline. The civil planes became warplanes: Ju-52, Ju-86, He-111, and Fw-200 Condor. All were used in WW2 with the Ju-86s converted for high-altitude recon up to 50,000 ft! The British had to use modified Spits to get to them! Lufthansa also had large airfields to practice military bomber t/o and landings and the civilain planes were crammed with new navigational/electronic aids that were fitted to the bomber versions. And lastly, the civilian flights performed recon over future targets... as for war, Hitler's generals warned him to wait until 1944-45, but he went ahead anyway with his gambles that paid-off early. Had they waited, all the jet and rocket tech, nerve gas, and even atomic weapon would have been ready. Britain and France would not have been able to catch up regardless b/c Nazi Germany devoted all production and resources in men and material towards war when Europe begged for peace. The US of course came in last again...

First bomber Zeppelin-Staaken E.4/20 as civilian airliner 1920: http://www.natureandtech.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/zeppelin_staaken_e4.jpg Fw-42 design, late '20s: http://www.luft46.com/fw/fw42-1.gif

Reichswehr armor: http://en.valka.cz/files/wd-25_198.jpg http://www.achtungpanzer.com/votw/images/sdkfz3.jpg http://i52.tinypic.com/1rzxfs.jpg http://www.blogsvip.com/imagenesweb/190511_grosstraktor_10.jpg http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/6382/thistrackedvehicleisapic10fa.jpg http://easyget.narod.ru/tank/tank/gross_2.jpg

Thanks for the history lesson.