In 1937, however, the damage had been done. Rather than undergoing a dramatic expansion, as had clearly been intended in 1936, armaments procurement had stagnated. Indeed, in the entire pre-war history of Hitler’s regime, 1937 was the only year in which military spending did not significantly increase.132 As Blomberg had predicted this had serious strategic ramifications. As of December 1937, the German army high command did not expect Germany’s wartime army to be fully equipped and ready for combat until the spring of 1943.133
