Chapter 400136Chapter NaN

September 17, 1940

Berlin, Northern Germany, Government Chancellery

While Erwin Rommel was busy attacking the withdrawing French Army, the German mainland was also in a flurry of activity.

"Milan has fallen, but the collapse of Poland is imminent. We must make a decision."

Sikorski's Poland had done all it could, but ultimately, it could not overcome the difference in weight class and was desperately pleading for help.

"Poland has reached its limit, unable to hold on with just military equipment support. If they collapse, we may have to shed blood on our own mainland, facing a two-front war against France and the Soviet Union-"

My words were cut off by Erich Kordt, who burst through the door.

"The French Army has declared war on Belgium, using their abrogation of their alliance and support for an enemy nation as a pretext, and has begun its invasion of the Belgian mainland!"

It wasn't entirely unexpected, but my head still throbbed now that it was actually happening.

My father looked at me with an expression that seemed to see me in a new light.

"It seems the Vice-Chancellor has considerable ability as a strategist, doesn't he?"

I was only able to consider that possibility because I knew the original history, and now I was suddenly being treated as a strategist who had foreseen France's surprise attack on Britain and its bypass through Belgium.

"…It was not my opinion alone, but a result of calculating the number of cases with the military, Chancellor."

I have knowledge of the future, nothing more.

I didn't want to be treated as a great strategist with incredible foresight.

I said as much, having actually discussed the Belgian bypass with General Model, and Minister of Defense Ludwig Beck chimed in to support my words.

"Ahem, Army Group C was already preparing for a Belgian bypass in consultation with the Vice-Chancellor. Our path into Belgium is through the Ardennes, but the route from France into western Belgium is a wide plain. Belgium will not last long."

I wasn't sure how much Belgium had prepared after seeing Britain get hit, but wouldn't it be a success if they lasted for a week?

"I don't know how much military force France has committed to the offensive, but the additional 500,000 mobilized troops are not yet ready. In effect, General Witzleben's Army Group C, with its 500,000 men, is all we can commit to the French Front."

My father adjusted his glasses with an annoyed look.

"A troublesome situation. Army Group C's forces are stretched thin just stopping France, and now Poland is collapsing."

With the Sikorski Line collapsing on all fronts, East Prussia was already adjacent to Soviet-occupied territory.

The situation right now was truly a three-front war.

"Since it has come to this, we must consider signing peace negotiations with Italy as quickly as possible and recall at least a part of our main force. There is a concern that if Poland falls, or even if it doesn't, the Soviet Union will attack East Prussia."

The Belgian bypass was within my range of expectation, but Poland was collapsing too rapidly.

It was fortunate that the Italian army had already lost most of its will to fight.

If the Soviet Union devoured Poland while we were bogged down fighting France and Italy, there was no way Stalin would leave the vulnerable Eastern Germany alone.

"Hmm, I will consult with the Army and recall one of the three army groups in the direction of Italy first,"

Ludwig Beck said with a nod, and Foreign Minister Weizsäcker spoke up.

"The Kingdom of Italy has proposed that we allow them to keep their existing occupied territories and colonies in exchange for the cession of South Tyrol and reparations of 1 billion Marks paid over 10 years."

"Mussolini still hasn't come to his senses."

As I spoke in a dumbfounded tone, Weizsäcker corrected me.

"It is not a proposal from Mussolini, but one sent in the King's name. He expressed regret for Mussolini's unilateral war of aggression and even suggested we conclude peace negotiations on those conditions to strengthen the friendship between our constitutional monarchies."

"Hah…"

As far as I knew, the King was the one who appointed Mussolini as Prime Minister, and the King must have known all about the Italian army's operations.

This wasn't Japan, what is this…

Come to think of it, didn't Victor Emmanuel III sever ties with Mussolini in the original history when defeat was imminent?

We need to wrap up the Italian front quickly, but even so, those conditions are unacceptable. It's painfully obvious that our ally, Britain, would protest if we tried to accept them as is.

"Putting the Kingdom of Italy aside, Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie and King of Albania Zog I have requested to move their governments-in-exile from Britain to Berlin."

They were both leaders of territories occupied by Italy, so it seemed they thought we would have the initiative in peace negotiations with Italy, rather than Britain.

Was Haile Selassie the emperor who sent reinforcements during the Korean War? In the original history, both of them ended up losing their thrones, but I don't know how it will be in this world.

"Hmm, the justification of being the liberator of nations trampled by fascists is quite appealing, so I think it would be good to accept."

My father, having heard my words and Weizsäcker's, nodded his head.

"There's no harm in it. But what do you plan to do about the armistice with the Kingdom of Italy?"

"I think we will have to decide after consulting with the regent of Yugoslavia and the group called the Anti-Fascist National Liberation Committee in Italy, whom we have previously contacted."

The situation may be urgent, but unless we have no other choice, the German people and Britain would not accept leaving Italy as a fascist den with only a new Prime Minister.

"Hmm, then I will leave that matter to the Foreign Ministry and the Vice-Chancellor."

"Understood, Chancellor."

Even as I answered, I felt my throat go dry from the tension.

Army Group C, with its 500,000 men, had to face the enormous French Army that would bypass Belgium, and Poland was collapsing.

As a member of the government, it was a simple matter to judge with one's head.

But on the actual battlefield, how many corpses and horrors of war have occurred, and how many more will?

The mountain of corpses that Sikorski built, trying to protect his fatherland even at the cost of everything, might have been a mountain we would have had to build on German mainland if not for him.

If possible, I'd like to prevent the sight of Poland being wiped off the map, but I can't sway Germany according to my individual intentions, and I don't know if the circumstances will allow for it.

There's no choice but to hurry as much as possible.

-

September 18, 1940

Northern France, Franco-Belgian Border Region

[To our fatherland, once great, that should have been great, but lost its greatness! Proud citizens of France, the time has come to reclaim our greatness!]

As the grand French army of 2 million marched, filling the roads, the passionate speech of Prime Minister Jean-François de La Rocque flowed from loudspeakers set up in the cities and radios in private houses.

[Throughout history, the French people have never been anything but great! So why has the nation of those great people failed to be great!]

The French Army had maintained incredible prudence and secrecy for this offensive, the Bonaparte Operation.

All plans were completed in secret among the Army's general officers, and the issuance of operational plans and orders to each unit took place on the very day the operation began.

[It is because those filthy, dirty traitors who call themselves allies have been lining their own pockets by exploiting France's goodwill and honor!]

France's outdated command system, which favored messengers over telegrams or radio transmissions even in this era, ironically helped them avoid having their orders decrypted or discovered by the Abwehr's intelligence network.

[In the last Great War, how many French citizens died in those trenches for the sake of our allies! The victory our former allies achieved was built on the blood of the French!]

Upon receiving news of their defeat in the naval battle in the English Channel and that Erwin Rommel's armored unit had departed for Britain, France immediately launched its operation on the 16th.

[How dare they! How could they betray France, which endured all those sacrifices and dedicated itself to its allies!]

France was horrified when Germany, which it believed was suppressed by the Treaty of Versailles and the Demilitarization of the Rhineland, recovered from the Great Depression before France and rearmed at an astonishing speed.

[Once, we believed patience was a virtue.

We showed them consideration and respect! But if the price for that is such a vile betrayal, then France has no more patience!]

France had been fearful of Germany, which, under Hitler's mad storm, had arbitrarily annulled the Treaty of Versailles—the price for the blood shed by the French—and threatened the world.

[Now, France will no longer offer goodwill that goes unrewarded.

We have been freed from the old, hollow restraint called 'alliance'!]

When that same Germany overthrew Hitler, laundered its past, and then, under the protection of its former allies, denied France's legitimate rights and re-emerged as the hegemonic power of Europe, France could finally no longer contain its rage.

[Now those traitors must pay the price! London is already under encirclement and will soon fall before the proud army of France.

]

The illusion of a great feat that even Napoleon could not achieve being within reach was enough to paralyze the people's reason and make them fervent for the empty value of the fatherland's glory.

[Belgium, which betrayed us who defended our fatherland with French blood from German invasion in the last Great War, will also pay the price!]

The French Army considered a swift breakthrough of Belgium and the Netherlands to occupy the Ruhr as the core plan of the Bonaparte Operation, and so, while the movement of each unit was in progress, the advance party at the Belgian border invaded first.

[Proud citizens of our great fatherland! Be enraged! Be enraged at all the unjust treatment we have received, and let us reclaim the greatness we were meant to have! Vive la France!]

"Vive la France!"The reaction of the soldiers and the public to La Rocque's speech was ecstatic, and the French Army, with soaring morale, continued its march toward Belgium, shouting "Long live France."

-

But unlike La Rocque's speech and his grand ideals, the Bonaparte Operation was faltering from the very beginning.

France remembered the lesson from the Nivelle Offensive, which met with the worst kind of ruin due to an information leak during the last Great War, and it was well aware that the Abwehr was openly operating in France.

So, the intention to conceal their motives from Germany by restraining military movement and the delivery of orders until the last moment was good.

Although it was anticipated due to the irregular named Dietrich Schacht, France had succeeded in the concealment of information itself, much like the attack on Pearl Harbor in the original history.

The problem was that the operation, executed so secretly, was not a plan to lead a fleet across a vast ocean, but one that required the mobility of an enormous land army of 2 million.

The operation plan, delivered just before the operation was executed, was more complex than imaginable, and the French troops, who had not even familiarized themselves with it, were naturally in a panic, their movement paths tangled with other units, making it impossible to even identify each unit's position.

While the advance party vigorously declared war and invaded Belgium, the main force, which began its movement from the Maginot Line and other strongpoints, fell into complete chaos with this large-scale mobility it had never once attempted before.

"Do you know where the 37th Division is?"

"I don't know! This is the 13th Division!"

"Huh? Wasn't this the 8th Division?"

Watching the soldiers practically acting out a comedy, the division commander who had asked the question had to let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.

"Ha! A division commander who doesn't even know where his own division is!"

The chaos that began with a few divisions among the 2 million-strong army soon spread to the whole, turning the meticulously crafted marching plan into a scrap of paper.

The chaos of the 2-million-strong army caused a massive 200km traffic jam stretching from major cities like Paris and military strongpoints like the Maginot Line all the way to Belgium.

The Belgian Army was initially pushed back in disarray by the surprise declaration of war and the invasion of the French advance party.

But when the French main force, which was supposed to be committed as follow-up forces, was delayed indefinitely, Belgium used the time to rally its army, defeat and rout the small French advance party, and begin to establish a defense line.

And while Belgium was establishing its defense line, the French Army was still suffering from the traffic jam of its horribly tangled marching plan, and it was only on the 21st that all units were able to finish deploying to the Belgian border region.

It was the day the London encirclement was broken by Erwin Rommel's Ghost Division.

Belgium, having somehow established a trench line, declared a general mobilization order and sounded out Germany about its intention to join the Allied Powers, asking for help.

This unexpected incident threw both France and Germany into chaos.

France's ambitious plan to quickly break through Belgium and occupy the Ruhr was completely down the drain.

As for Germany, if it turned a blind eye to Belgium, which was obstinately refusing to give way, it would mean the Allied Powers were abandoning a nation that had built a defense line and was asking for help, letting France devour it.

But if it helped Belgium, it would have to abandon the Siegfried Line and its defense plan, which had been continuously reinforced on the premise of Belgium's collapse, and fight an engagement in Belgium, where French forces were already densely packed, making an Ardennes bypass or anything of the sort impossible.

The German government fell into a dilemma, not because of the French Army's powerful offensive, nor because of Belgium's swift collapse, but because of France's poorly fought battle.