Automotive and arms manufacturer Rheinmetall armed Germany in two world wars. Between those wars, it was forced to operate underground. Prohibited by the Versailles Treaty to test weapons in Germany, Rheinmetall cooperated with Russia to test its weaponry abroad. This enabled the rise of Adolf Hitler and German military dominance.

In 1944, the SS leadership directed Rheinmetall and others to go underground again. The minutes of the meeting were kept classified until 1996—and even then the media largely ignored them. But Rheinmetall followed these orders and is now rising from the underground!

It is time we pay attention. It is almost too late!

Rheinmetall is Germany’s largest military contractor, and its business is booming. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the company’s share price has increased more than fivefold. Its value is expected to surpass $10.8 billion this fiscal year. It recently received an order from Germany’s armed forces to supply up to 123 infantry heavy weapon carriers worth nearly $3 billion. Rheinmetall expects a backlog of orders from nato members and allies worth $65 billion by the end of this year.

Rheinmetall has been preparing for this moment for decades. It is proud of its many military innovations. Its website states, “Rheinmetall is a global industry leader that is highly experienced in mastering the entire weapon and ammunition system. … Rheinmetall successfully combines world-class gun, ammunition, charge and fuse technologies to offer precise and effective solutions against enemy threats.” Among the achievements it boasts are: “the world’s most effective tank,” the Leopard 2; “an innovative new generation of enhanced-range ammunition”; cutting-edge laser weapon systems; and “the world’s most advanced main battle tank,” the Panther KF51.

Some 80 years ago, Rheinmetall helped produce another Panther tank for Adolf Hitler. It didn’t even bother to change the name! Are we to simply assume that this arms manufacturer had a change of heart?

The Underground

Rheinmetall has amassed an impressive portfolio over the years. But on a global ranking it falls behind larger, mostly American arms manufacturers. That is partly because it has had to fly under the radar so as not to arouse suspicion. But its time to rise has come.

“We need big companies in Europe,” Rheinmetall ceo Armin Papperger noted in an April 1 Financial Times interview. He urged European countries to forge bigger, more specialized defense groups to compete with rivals in America.

In many ways they are already matching and in some cases exceeding the United States’ standards in quality. That is why one entity that has chosen to use Rheinmetall as a supplier is the U.S. military.

How can that be?

Everything is unfolding according to a well-calculated plan.

Toward the end of World War ii, Nazi leaders and industrialists got together to prepare for an inevitable military loss. A French spy attended one of these meetings and leaked the details to the Allies. The meeting was held on Aug. 10, 1944, in the Hotel Rotes Haus in Strasbourg, France. Among the industrial leaders present was a representative of Rheinmetall.

Think about this. The Allies knew in 1944 that the Nazis had exhaustive plans! Still, shortly after the war, they handed over the process of denazification to German authorities and allowed Germany to remilitarize. Then they kept the Nazis’ underground plans a well-guarded secret for 50 years!

Only in 1996—after Germany had remilitarized and reunified—did the U.S. declassify the information. By that point, most of the world didn’t care.

The Trumpet has been the only source that has repeatedly highlighted the report. Most media outlets ignore it to this day.

Notice what the British Daily Mail wrote about it in 2009: “The paper is aged and fragile, the typewritten letters slowly fading. But U.S. Military Intelligence report EW-Pa 128 is as chilling now as the day it was written in November 1944.”

Chilling indeed! And it is even more so if you understand that these secret plans have been meticulously carried out and are about to affect our whole world! Why don’t the media report on it?

The report reads: “From now on also German industry must realize that the war cannot be won and that it must take steps in preparation for a postwar commercial campaign. Each industrialist must make contacts and alliances with foreign firms, but this must be done individually and without attracting any suspicion.” They wanted this to be secret and underground in every way. That is exactly what Rheinmetall has done!

How did Rheinmetall go underground? Its website states this about its activities after the war: “Rheinmetall AG wanted to be involved in the transshipment of coal, coke, gravel, sand, gypsum and general cargo. After World War ii, Düsseldorf [Rheinmetall’s headquarters] announced its intention to focus on civil activities to utilize its capacities: a project whose profitability was—to say the least—doubtful. Yet the executive board remained adamant and established the department ‘T/V (transport and loading facilities) and mobile cranes.’”

But Rheinmetall only stopped producing arms for a short time. In the 1950s, its military branch was revived. Then it grew its exports to gradually build itself into an industrial powerhouse. Today it is preparing to arm a German-led European superpower!

You can see from this one example that their plan is being fulfilled!

The full list of industrialists attending that 1944 meeting is printed in my booklet Germany’s Conquest of the Balkans. That’s one of few places where you can read the report. The booklet gives more details; it shows how this is affecting Germany today and how these elites execute their plans—with terrible consequences. I encourage you to request a free copy.

Some of the other industrialists that went underground still carry the same name they did in World War ii. (See our infographic “The Roots of German Military Might,” theTrumpet.com/18696) But those companies whose names were changed can still be tracked. You can find their locations and see how powerful they are. Many are again producing armaments, at least in part. And as the arms industry grows more lucrative, we can expect them to put more and more of their energy into this field.

It is important to note that most Germans don’t know of these plans. But the German people have a history of getting swept up into this terrible system. In the last 1,500 years they were part of the Holy Roman Empire, which brutally suppressed opposition and tortured and killed millions of people. Then the Germans followed their leaders into two world wars. The German people have collective guilt, but they are also victims of this sinister system. We need to keep that in mind. They too need to be warned—just like America, Britain and the Jewish nation in the Middle East.

An Ignored Warning

On a radio program, May 9, 1945, one day after Germany’s surrender in World War ii, Herbert W. Armstrong made a startling prophecy. “We need to wake up and realize that right now is the most dangerous moment in United States national history, instead of assuming we now have peace!” he warned. “What most do not know is that the Germans have their plans for winning the battle of the peace. … We don’t understand German thoroughness. From the very start of World War ii, they have considered the possibility of losing this second round, as they did the first—and they have carefully, methodically planned, in such eventuality, the third round—World War iii! Hitler has lost. This round of war, in Europe, is over. And the Nazis have now gone underground. … They plan to come back and to win on the third try.”

Mr. Armstrong proclaimed this warning throughout his life, even while the actual plan remained secret. In 1981 he wrote: “What the world does not realize is that, under cover, secret planning is proceeding furiously, uncovered by the news media, unknown by the public. But suddenly, unexpectedly, as biblical prophecy reveals, the whole world will be startled and shocked into wonder, to learn that a new third super world power has suddenly burst forth onto the world scene—a resurrection of the medieval Holy Roman Empire …” (Dec. 27, 1981, co-worker letter).

What Mr. Armstrong described is prophesied in Revelation 17, which he repeatedly pointed to.

Verse 8 says, “The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.”

“Bottomless pit” is not the best translation; underground is better. This prophecy describes the German-led power as a beast that “was, and is not, and yet is.” It appeared to be gone—but it was just underground! And now it is rising!

In this last resurrection, it will form the heart of a coming European superstate (verses 12-13).

Rheinmetall is part of a whole system that has been plotting this revival since the end of World War ii.

Even more astonishing is that this prophecy reveals that their plan will be successful—no matter how much we want to ignore it. It will all be fulfilled, and we don’t have long to wait.

Most astonishing of all, these events will then lead this evil empire into a clash with Jesus Christ Himself! (verse 14). He will destroy this last resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire and bring the German people and our whole world peace!