The Rise Of A Billionaire 1943

It took about a week.

A fully restored Tiger tank rumbled out of the workshop at the repair facility.

Although the scars from shells were still clearly visible on its hull, with even some shell craters as large as a bowl, looking at this tank—over three meters tall and moving like a stone wall—Pierre finally understood why the Allies would scream in terror whenever they saw a Tiger tank.

On the battlefield, this boxy-looking tank was truly a behemoth. Whether it was its powerful firepower or its thick, solid armor, it was a nightmare for Allied tanks!

"This is my Tiger tank!"

Suppressing his excitement, Pierre walked over to the tank, listening to the roar of its engine.

He couldn't help but give the hull a hearty slap.

At that moment, a thought sprang to his mind—he was determined to build a tank unit in the future. Who said tanks couldn't be used in the tropics?

During the Vietnam War, didn't the Americans rampage through Vietnam with their tanks?

If you lack manpower, make up for it with superior weapons.

One day, he would build the most powerful tank force in all of Southeast Asia. Those "Southern Monkeys" wouldn't be able to stir up any trouble.

Thinking of this, Pierre couldn't help but smile, even imagining the looks on those natives' faces when they saw these tanks.

Excitement!

They would definitely be excited—so excited they'd be trembling!

Or perhaps, more likely, terrified!

"All right, in the future, this tank will serve as a show of force!"

As he made this decision, Pierre had already resolved that when he returned to Borneo, he would not wade ashore like Marshal MacArthur, but instead land in a tank.

For example, this Tiger tank before him would make quite an impression!

"Major, thank you for your excellent work."

Faced with his boss's praise, Major Heydrich quickly replied, "Sir, this is our duty. We should be thanking you for taking such good care of us."

Like the other captured personnel in the repair facility, Major Heydrich was genuinely grateful to his employer. Not only were they well cared for here, but they even enjoyed a certain degree of freedom—they could apply for leave to go out!

Of course, such outings were conditional and only granted to a select few who performed exceptionally well.

For prisoners of war, this was an unimaginable privilege.

Naturally, none of them even considered escaping. Where would they run? Into the Sahara Desert?

In truth, their desire to go out was simply to satisfy certain physical needs—men will be men.

Those who understand, understand.

But the boss understood them well. If you did a good job, there would be extra rewards. For example, the soldiers who participated in repairing the Tiger tank were now given the opportunity to go out.

"Actually, we could also repair those planes…"

The planes Pierre referred to were those seized from the Axis forces when they surrendered to the Allies—over a hundred BF109s and various other aircraft. The best of these had already been shipped back to Britain and America for testing or for training pilots.

But among the leftovers, there were still dozens of damaged planes. To the Allies, these were just junk. But to Pierre, if they could be restored, he could at least have an air force of his own.

After all, to build an air force, you first need fighter planes. Maybe he could buy some transport planes from Italy, but as for fighters…

Normally, no one would be willing to sell them to him. Even after World War II, Israel had to go through countless twists and turns to establish its air force, relying entirely on smuggled planes.

However, these captured German planes were a good option.

With planes and personnel, building an air force wouldn't be that difficult.

As for personnel, Pierre wasn't worried. After all, people sent from the homeland were already on their way. Once they arrived in Tunisia, he could select a group for flight training. But before that, the planes had to be repaired first, especially those dozens of still-decent BF109G fighters.

"Boss, if you want to repair planes, you'll need to find air force ground crew from the POW camp—they're the professionals."

So, he still needed to recruit more people. Over the next few days, in order to repair the planes, Pierre made several trips to the POW camp, going through quite a bit of trouble before finally securing custody of more than 200 ground crew members, and even over a dozen German pilots.

Just then, an old acquaintance arrived in Tunisia from Italy.

Unlike a few months ago, Berlin now looked a bit haggard.

Once inside the tent, Berlin said,

"The Allies have landed at Normandy."

No wonder—

The guy looked so haggard—"Operation Overlord" had ultimately succeeded, without any suspense.

"Aren't you surprised?"

Berlin was taken aback.

"Something that was destined to happen—what's there to be surprised about?"

"Just like Germany's defeat? That was destined too…"

Berlin let out a helpless sigh and said, "Actually, from the moment we went to war against the whole world, today's outcome seemed inevitable. After all, Germany could never defeat the Americans, the British, and the Russians on its own…"

Faced with inevitable defeat, Berlin felt both helpless and somewhat unwilling to accept it.

"There was a time when we almost won—in Russia, we were so close…"

"But in the end, we still lost, didn't we?"

"I know, I know. Maybe… maybe next time…"

Watching Berlin mutter to himself, Pierre didn't even want to shatter his illusions. Next time… there would never be a next time.

The Germans reflected on this all the way into the twenty-first century!

They could definitely be called the best self-reflectors of the twentieth century!

Still, it was good that these people held onto their fantasies. At least, while they dreamed of rising again, he could benefit from it.

"So?"

"I'm here to talk about what we discussed before," Berlin said bluntly. "Berlin has already accepted your proposal."

The gears of fate had begun to turn!

Smiling wordlessly, Pierre lit a cigarette and looked at the man in front of him.

"If… I mean, if Germany is defeated, we'll head to North Borneo—if, by then, North Borneo is under your control."