Chapter 169

February 6, 1941

North Africa, British Libya (former Italian colony) - Tripoli

Off the coast of Tripoli, occupied by the French Africa Corps, floated the massive Royal Navy battleships, the Nelson and the Rodney.

The two battleships, heavily damaged in a surprise attack by the French submarine fleet at Scapa Flow, seemed intent on avenging their absence from the main stage, simultaneously spewing fire from the three main turrets clustered on their bows.

“A-Aaargh!”

“Take cover!”

The barrage from nine 16-inch guns per ship, eighteen in total, shook the defense line the French Army had painstakingly established.

While the naval bombardment itself didn't cause massive casualties, it was more than enough to shatter the carefully constructed structures and break the morale of the second-rate French Africa Corps.

“Waaagh! Long live Ethiopia!”

“Glory to His Majesty the Emperor!”

The sight of the Black army charging with the Royal Navy's artillery support brought shock and terror to both the French and the Algerians.

“Hold your positions!”

“Show those savage darkies what a real battle is!”

The Algerians were inwardly displeased by the Frenchmen's shouts, but it was a familiar occurrence, so they merely watched in silence.

The French Army committed obsolete FT-17 tanks and AMR-33 light tanks.

Though already obsolete on the European Front, they believed the 'inferior darkie army' would be helpless before the tanks.

But far from being intimidated, the Ethiopian Army fired their Pak36 anti-tank guns, blowing the shabby light tanks to pieces.

“Gasp…!”

“That's absurd!”

The tank unit, sent out to suppress the Ethiopians they had underestimated, was reduced to a pile of scrap metal.

Along with precious fuel they had, which was desperately needed in the home country but couldn't be sent.

General Seyoum Mengesha's Ethiopian Army had received a large number of captured Italian equipment and obsolete German gear, and was even accompanied by a German Army officer advisory group.

Naturally, the Ethiopian Army was more than capable of destroying interwar period tanks, but to the French, still steeped in an imperialistic mindset, even this was a culture shock.

And the unimaginable result they faced, after expecting the 'inferior Black army' to crumble before their tanks, instead plummeted the French Army's morale to rock bottom.

As the Ethiopian Army charged with growing vigor, and the main guns of the Nelson and Rodney once again roared like thunder, spewing fire and striking the defense line, the French soldiers began to flee one by one.

The Algerians had no choice but to run with them, but even as they did, they were shocked in a different sense, glancing furtively at the Ethiopian Army.

“What? The darkies are destroying tanks with anti-tank guns?”

Over an hour later, upon receiving a report from a staff officer who had rushed over, the French Africa Corps commander, General Henri Freydenberg, furrowed his glabella while elegantly cutting his steak at a table.

“That's right, General! Our army is collapsing!”

“T-Those inferior Algerians are the problem! It must be because they're a ragtag mob!”

In reality, the ragtag French troops assigned to the second line had fled before the Algerians, who were accustomed to coercion, but the commander had no way of knowing that.

“What in the world were the frontline commanders doing to be pushed back by darkies! Must I have my pleasant meal interrupted?”

As the general was lecturing the innocent staff officer irritably, without putting down his fork and knife, another staff officer belatedly entered.

“G-General! Our forces are retreating!”

“What?”

“We've lost!”

Finally, the fork and knife fell from the general's hand.

Before the general could even devise a countermeasure after receiving the report that their tanks were being destroyed and they were being pushed back, they were defeated.

The French Army, which had ambitiously advanced into Libya to disperse the Allied Forces' strength, was shattered in the first battle and driven back to Algeria.

-

February 7, 1941

Paris, the 'City of Light,' capital of France

Its nickname was the City of Light, but with clouds blanketing the Parisian sky and showering rain, there was no light to be found.

French Prime Minister Jean-François de La Rocque was heading to his official residence, holding an umbrella.

Even with the fuel shortage, there was enough for the Prime Minister's car, but with the use of private vehicles already banned and all fuel managed by the government, he too was walking to and work, claiming that the Prime Minister could not receive special treatment.

His well-pressed trousers and luxury shoes were soaked by the downpour, despite the umbrella.

La Rocque felt the illusion that his rain-soaked feet were stuck in a quagmire.

As he neared the residence, reporters who had been waiting under umbrellas in the downpour rushed toward him.

“Mr.

Prime Minister! Please give us a statement!”

“What is the scale of the prisoners of war who surrendered in Belgium?”

La Rocque quickened his pace with a hardened expression, but the reporters persistently followed, throwing questions.

“Have we lost the war?”

As La Rocque continued to hurry, a woman from the crowd rushed at him.

“Bring back my son!”

The woman was pushed over by a bodyguard as she lunged, and amidst the reporters frantically taking pictures, La Rocque also stopped walking.

“My husband… my husband was dragged to Belgium and died, and I raised our son alone, so why, why does my son have to die in Belgium too…”

At the despairing cry of the woman, soaked and disheveled by the downpour, the reporters began to write frantically under their umbrellas.

As La Rocque stood still, watching her, a bodyguard approached and asked.

“Shall I restrain her?”

La Rocque glanced at the sky, so dark it looked like evening with no light in sight, shook his head, and started walking again.

The woman, who had collapsed sobbing, shouted at his retreating back.

“Murderer!”

-

La Rocque had considered delaying the announcement of the disastrous defeat in Belgium, but Germany used strategic bombers to spread the tragic news from Belgium all over France.

La Rocque couldn't help but be horrified by Germany's tactic of taking aerial photographs of the increasingly haggard, besieged French troops in Belgium and printing and dropping tens of thousands of copies in the form of a newspaper condemning the war started by the French government.

Lacking the fuel to launch fighter aircraft, and with air superiority completely lost even if they had, France had no way to stop the newspapers being dropped from high altitudes.

At first, the French people were in denial.

The French government claimed it was a German fabrication, and most French people dismissed it as petty German propaganda.

But it was impossible to completely hide the deaths of 500,000 and the isolation of another 500,000.

As time passed, reports of people actually losing contact with their families flooded in, and the La Rocque government finally admitted that its military force was isolated in enemy territory.

The French people were enraged.

The proud people of France, especially those whose families were confirmed to be trapped in Belgium, seethed with public opinion demanding an immediate offensive to rescue them.

However, the French Army no longer had the spare capacity to launch an offensive, and the people condemned the inactive military and government.

When Germany didn't stop there, even inviting reporters from neutral countries like Switzerland, and the situation of the isolated French forces in Belgium appeared in foreign media, the French people finally had to face reality.

From then on, the papers dropped by Germany were no longer mere propaganda, but a medium that delivered news of the isolated Frenchmen, in place of the silent French government.

When the 500,000 French soldiers in Belgium finally could not hold out any longer and all surrendered, Germany went as far as to interview individual privates, capturing their resentment toward the government and the horrors of the battlefield, and distributed these interviews with their photographs.

The families of those privates in France rejoiced that their sons were alive and gave interviews to the progressive press, only for an incident to erupt where they were attacked by the Mobile Propaganda Unit of the French Socialist Party.

The Mobile Propaganda Unit acted out of a sense of loyalty and patriotism to the French Socialist Party government, but thanks to that distorted goodwill, the incident spiraled out of control, only adding to the chaos.

La Rocque personally ordered the French Socialist Party to refrain from extreme actions, but the clashes between the people holding anti-war protests and the far-right groups branding them as traitors were already beyond control.

While France descended into chaos, the government had no way to stop the 'la paix' (Peace) that Germany printed and dropped from the sky, and it was now being treated almost like a French daily newspaper published by Germany.

Ultimately, watching the German newspapers that continued to be dropped while battles raged on the Eastern Front, the French people accepted reality.

This war was lost.

Cars were gathering dust as fuel ran out, and even the magnificent warships that were the pride of France were docked in port, unable to move.

On top of that, seeing a government that couldn't stop Germany from freely dropping newspapers in French skies, nor prevent the surrender of 500,000 isolated young men, the French people keenly felt their reality.

Even without Germany dropping bombs or launching offensives, the number of French people who called for continued resistance while denouncing anti-war protesters as traitors dwindled day by day.

-

February 8, 1941

Northern Germany, Berlin, the Government Building

My father and I were receiving a report from Foreign Minister Weizsäcker.

“It seems most of the Dutch East Indies has finally fallen into Japan's grasp.”

“Hmph, so it has come to that…”

And just when we'd heard from President Kyösti Kallio of Finland that they have effectively reached their limit and are on the verge of surrender or an armistice…

“According to a message from Britain, the navies of Australia and New Zealand have also suffered near-annihilation.”

Foreign Minister Weizsäcker's face was grim as he said this.

“Damn.”

As it was, Churchill had asked for our understanding, so the defense of the English Channel was being handled by the recently completed battleship Tirpitz and the Reichsmarine.

In return, the Royal Navy had dispatched a mobile fleet to Asia, including the battleships King George V and HMS Prince of Wales, the battlecruiser HMS Repulse, and the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, but I guess it was too late.

If it comes to this, Japan can threaten even Australia and New Zealand. Moreover, the Republic of China is in a much harsher situation, with aid from the Soviet Union, which was a great help in the original history, cut off, and the safety of the Burma Road no longer guaranteed.

It seems Falkenhausen and the advisory group we sent are being quite helpful, but that doesn't create resources out of thin air…

No matter how well Germany performs on the Western and Eastern Fronts, the other fronts are only worsening.

“By the way, a secret proposal has arrived from the Empire of Japan.”

“A secret proposal?”

My father, who had been listening silently, expressed his doubt.

I'm curious too.

A secret proposal? What kind of proposal, at this point?

“They propose a truce on the condition that their current occupied territory in China becomes a demilitarized zone where an autonomous government, on par with the one in Outer Mongolia, is established; the Republic of China pays full reparations for the Second Sino-Japanese War; and British Malaya and the Dutch East Indies are ceded to them.”

“Are they crazy? Hah, my apologies.”

It was incredibly embarrassing as my father and Weizsäcker's gazes fell on me.

Ah, fuck.

It was so absurd a curse just slipped out.

No, are they really insane?

They're essentially turning all of occupied China into a puppet state and demanding reparations, while also taking all of Britain's and the Netherlands' colonies?

I knew Imperial Japan was crazy, but this is something else.

It was so preposterous that a new contempt for Imperial Japan was blooming, even beyond my memories as a Korean.

My father asked with a deeply scowling face.

“So, what are they offering in return?”

It's ridiculous, but fine. It's a proposal, so they must be offering something.

Not that I have any great expectations…

“…They will guarantee the safety of India, Australia, and New Zealand, withdraw from the Axis Powers, join the Allied Powers to take French Indochina, and strike the Soviet Union in the Far East.”

“Hah.”

So they'll take moribund France's Vietnam for themselves, while 'graciously' sparing India, Australia, and New Zealand?

“Hmm, what do you think?”

“Absolutely not. Ah, what does Britain say?”

I answered my father's question immediately, but still, this isn't something we can decide without hearing Britain's opinion.

Though it's obvious what Churchill would say.

“For now, they said they've only conveyed it to us.

They mentioned that adjustments to the details are possible, and it seems they want us to mediate, as negotiations with Britain or the Netherlands will likely be difficult.”

“Hahaha…”

They've secured the Southern Resource Area, so now they want to use Germany to get a truce and have some fun with the Soviet Union, too?

Are those bastards taking Germany for a sucker?

“This proposal is not worth a single word.

Even attempting to mediate it, let alone accepting it, will cause our credibility within the Allied Powers to hit rock bottom.”

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs agrees with the Vice-Minister's opinion.

Striking the Soviet Union might be a great help, but how can we trust such a nation? Acceding to their demands now would be no different from the Munich Agreement, betraying our allies and handing Czechia over to Hitler.”

My father also nodded.

“Well, good. We'll reject it for now.

But we must also consider that our means of intervening in Asia are extremely limited. First, we need to sort out France and focus on the Eastern Front.

For the time being, we have no choice but to leave Japan to Britain.”

“Understood, Mr.

Chancellor.”

Even if we can cover the English Channel since it's close and narrow, our Reichsmarine is also tied up checking the Soviet Baltic Fleet.

It's true we're in no position to intervene on the Asian Front right now, but that damn Empire of Japan will definitely pay the price one day.

In the original history, America delivered the Hull Note, and Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, which I recall happens at the end of this year.

It's still a ways off, but the problem is that Japan has already secured the entire Southern Resource Area and is trading with the Soviet Union, liberating itself from resource shortages.

With the main reason for Japan's decision to go to war with America resolved, it's an unknown whether they will do the same thing.

Of course, they're madmen, so it wouldn't be strange whatever they do, but with the Republican Party in power in America, we still don't know how they will react.

Nothing is certain.

“Hoo, understood. Let's forget about Japan for now.

In any case, according to the Abwehr's report, France's situation is the absolute worst. It seems the groundwork is sufficiently laid, and the Empire of Japan has personally thrown us some material… ”

I met Weizsäcker's eyes.

“Let's start preparing for peace negotiations with France.”