Chapter 186

April 15, 1941

Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union

Ioseb Stalin, General Secretary and Generalissimo of the Soviet Union, was agonizing over two proposals.

The proposal from the Allied Powers was a return to pre-war territories, in other words, a White Peace.

A proposal to end this war by nullifying the blood shed by the Soviet people.

And the proposal from Japan was to forget past mistakes and formally sign an alliance to fight the Allied Powers together.

Stalin took a long drag from his cigarette.

He knew that this war was going wrong.

It was none other than the Soviet Union that had tried to instigate anti-war sentiment within Germany to prevent it from entering the war.

If those cursed German bastards hadn't interfered with his every move, Finland and Poland would have collapsed long ago and the war would have been over.

Those damn French bastards who should have been holding Germany back not only failed to do their role properly, but they had now completely shattered his plans in Finland.

If the last offensive against Finland and Poland had been a success, he would have ended the war without hesitation.

If he had ended the war after tearing away Polish territory east of the Vistula River, Belarus, Ukraine, and Finnish territory including Karelia, he could have claimed it as the minimum result for the price of his people's blood.

But now?

The Soviet Union had lost a million men in Finland alone. In Poland, the loss was 3.

2 million. 4.

2 million men had died or surrendered in foreign lands.

In any other country, it was a number that would not be strange even if the nation had been overthrown.

Those arrogant Allied bastards must have offered a White Peace believing that the Soviet Union would give up after this much.

But the Soviet Union could still fight on.

The Soviet population of over 170 million could certainly endure this level of damage.

If he ended the war with nothing gained from 4.

2 million deaths, even he would have to worry about his own downfall.

Meanwhile, the Empire of Japan had been achieving considerable propaganda victories in East Asia, and by occupying Indochina, they had proven they had clearly broken with France.

But he knew well that neither he nor they trusted each other.

It was just that both had escalated their wars to the point where they were desperate enough to scrape together even the forces meant to keep each other in check.

The sacrifices on both the Polish and Finnish fronts were too great.

The military force on the Polish Front, which had shrunk to 2.

8 million in January, was somehow increased back to 4.3 million with newly conscripted soldiers, but the process was by no means easy.

The German Army was truly persistent in disrupting supplies via the railroad, and a new type of bomber, which Germany seemed to have developed, even went as far as to unleash Carpet Bombing along the tracks, blowing up the railroads and the trains themselves.

Trains carrying soldiers who had hastily completed a month of training were fiercely bombed before they even reached the front, and disasters where soldiers were massacred before they could even get off the trains were happening frequently.

If not for such incidents, the number of troops deployed to the front would not have been a mere 4.3 million.

But in the end, that's what it came to, and with the German Army, including the Western Front Forces, estimated at over 2.5 million, and the Polish Army, which had grown after retaking some of its territory, estimated at over 1.

2 million, the numerical superiority the Soviets once had was also greatly weakened.

Zhukov was concerned about the decline in troop morale and quality due to this situation and supply problems, and Stalin also knew that now that the difference in military strength had narrowed, it was a crisis.

In the midst of this, the northern front also fell into crisis, requiring reinforcements to be sent there as well, so even for the Soviet Union, it was facing the problem of limits to its supply and mobilization speed.

If things continued like this, the moment might come when, in order to somehow maintain an advantage on the front, he would have to send troops who hadn't even been properly trained to the front with just a gun in their hands.

Even now, people who express dissatisfaction with the war started by the General Secretary are being sent to the Gulag in droves. How long could such a war be waged?

Before his eyes today was a mountain of paperwork on immense production management, supplies, and intel gathered by the NKVD that he had to handle.

How much more manpower and resources would this war, which he had not wanted, have to devour before it ended in victory?

If he rejected the Allied Powers' proposal now, could he even win?

Was it really right to take the hand of the Empire of Japan, which had already tried to hit him from behind once?

But the moment he accepted the Allied Powers' conditions, his power—the power of the name Stalin—would fall to the ground.

Stalin recalled the time his second son, Vasily, had presumptuously and brazenly called himself Vasily 'Stalin', making him grab the back of his neck in anger.

The reason he was so furious then was because Stalin was not just an individual's name.

As long as he carried the name Stalin, he was not 'Ioseb Jugashvili' of Georgia, but the authority of the Soviet Union itself.

Stalin was smoking his cigarette with blurry eyes when he lifted his head at the sound of a knock.

"Comrade General Secretary. It is Comrade Vyacheslav Molotov, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs."

"Let him in."

Molotov, whom he hadn't seen in a very long time, entered with a very tense look and gave a stiff greeting.

"Greetings, Comrade General Secretary!"

Instead of welcoming him, Stalin tossed the telegrams from the Allied Powers and the Empire of Japan at him as if throwing them.

Though flustered, Molotov read the contents of the telegrams and looked at Stalin with a confused face.

"What do you think, Comrade People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs? Whose hand do you think it is better to take?"

Molotov seemed at a loss for words, unable to continue.

"This General Secretary clearly remembers what you said when we declared war on Finland."

"C-Comrade General Secretary."

"You said that if they don't listen when you just tell them to hand it over, you just raise your voice a little, and if they don't listen even when you shout, you just fire a few shots.

I trust you know very well what has become of the war that began as such a simple, very easy task."

Molotov looked at the General Secretary with a mixture of resentment and bewilderment.

He had merely followed the General Secretary's orders faithfully and, mocking the small nation, had shown a 'little' bravado.

"Comrade People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs.

What do you think of the outrageous demands of those Allied Powers? Should the Union accept this humiliating negotiation? Or should the 'Empire' and the 'Union,' which could betray each other at any moment, join hands and fight?"

Molotov could only open and close his mouth, at a loss for words.

In the end, accepting the Allied Powers' proposal is impossible.

As long as he carries the name Stalin, he is not an individual.

He is the Soviet Union, and for Stalin to fall means for the Soviet Union to fall.

Therefore, his authority must never be broken.

Even if it means the blood and corpses of the people cover this frozen land.

The General Secretary asked again, as if to press him.

"Speak, Comrade People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs.

What do you think of the Allied Powers' proposal?"

"I-I believe the proposal of the Allied Powers is an absurd demand, Comrade General Secretary!"

At Molotov's words, Stalin nodded.

"I see, I understand your opinion well, comrade. As the General Secretary of the Soviet Union, I must respect the opinion of you, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs."

The war cannot end like this.

But if the responsibility for this war lies with him, a time will come when the people's anger will be hard to bear.

When that time comes, Molotov, as the one who started this war and rejected the Allied peace negotiations, will take responsibility, thus fulfilling his excellent duty befitting a People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs.

"C-Comrade General Secretary! I was merely loyal to you, comrade!"

"I know that very well, comrade. Therefore, I will simply use your loyalty for the Union of People."

As if realizing what Stalin was thinking, Molotov's face turned paler than ever, but Stalin waved his hand as if to tell him to leave.

Stalin turned away from Molotov, glared at the telegram sent by the Empire of Japan, and said as if spitting it out.

"In the end, I have no choice but to sign this unpleasant alliance."

To protect the authority of the name Stalin, and for the victory of the war.

The paradoxical moment had come when the Union of People had to join hands with the empire of the Fascists.

-

April 20, 1941

Warsaw, the capital of Poland – Allied Eastern Front Command

It was something I had expected to some extent, but in the end, the Soviet Union rejected our proposal.

Instead, an alliance between the Soviet Union and Japan was signed, and countries around the world issued statements denouncing this combination of Communism and Fascism as the 'Evil Alliance'.

In the end, the German-Soviet War in its truest sense, no—

The war between the Allied Forces and the Soviet-Japanese Alliance had begun.

I looked at the faces gathered around the conference room.

German Commander-in-Chief of the Army Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben, Chief of the Army General Staff Erich von Manstein, Army Group North Commander Günther von Kluge, Army Group Centre Commander Fedor von Bock, Army Group South Commander Johannes Blaskowitz, Mobile Army Group Commander Ewald von Kleist, and Air Force Chief of Staff Wolfram von Richthofen.

And Polish Inspector General of the Armed Forces and Commander-in-Chief Władysław Sikorski, Chief of Staff Stanisław Kopański, Army Group North Commander Władysław Anders, Army Group Centre Commander Stanisław Sosabowski, and Army Group South Commander Kazimierz Sosnkowski.

The scene of figures from Free Poland, who in the original history would have been destroyed by Nazi Germany and then struggled with the Allies for their homeland's liberation only to be abandoned in the end, discussing an operation with German generals was an unfamiliar yet heart-swelling sight.

They probably couldn't even imagine what kind of emotions I was feeling right now.

And also about the level of sacrifice that would occur in the war to come.

"Nervous, Minister of Defense?"

Perhaps my expression was a bit stiff, as Richthofen came closer and asked quietly.

"…I suppose I am, a little."

2.

6 million German soldiers, 1.2 million Polish soldiers, and 4.

3 million Soviet soldiers before us.

This alone was the largest scale of any battle that had occurred during this Great War, but I was well aware that even this was not the full extent of the Soviet Union's military power.

A large-scale war, the likes of which no one had ever seen before, was approaching.

I know it's an inevitable war, but I can't help the sweat forming on my palms from the pressure.

Richthofen stared at me and then grinned.

"You don't trust our abilities?"

"How could that be, General?"

I immediately shook my head.

There was no way I didn't trust the German Army's ability. If problems arose elsewhere, maybe, but they were undoubtedly the world's strongest group in terms of tactics.

"Then is this a war that shouldn't be fought? Yes, just as you said. A war where we don't know what we are fighting for?"

"No, General."

I've run this far to prevent Germany from fighting such a war.

Richthofen patted my shoulder.

"Then there's no problem. We know why we fight, and we have more than enough ability to fight."

Among those who would fight on the front lines as German soldiers, there were so many people I knew.

General Model, whom I trust more than anyone, General Tresckow, who always helped me, Deputy Director Oster, who would do his utmost to realize the Ministry of Propaganda's ideas, Roger Michael and Clemens, who would work as staff officers, and countless others who have crossed my path, including Otto Carius.

As a politician who ultimately decided on war, I must trust the soldiers on the front lines.

…I'm a bit worried about Clemens, though. Damn it.

Still, I was grateful that Richthofen, who usually didn't think and only followed orders from his superiors, was showing me consideration, and a genuine smile emerged.

"…I see. Thank you, General."

"Right, just give the order anytime! If you want a city burned to the ground, I'll burn it all down for you! Haha!"

It would have been more touching if he hadn't added that last part, this damn warmonger mister.

I let out a sigh, feeling the warmth that had just blossomed in my chest turn cold.

"As I've said, the utilization of strategic bombers is, for now, to prioritize the destruction of railroads. Please have all other aircraft focus on ground support."

Strategic bombing of cities inevitably causes civilian casualties and is a rather sensitive factor.

The reason the Allied Powers could blatantly carry out things like the Bombing of Dresden or the Bombing of Tokyo was because the Axis Powers had first crossed the line with The Blitz and Pearl Harbor.

Besides, burning cities with strategic bombing not only raises moral issues and causes innocent civilian casualties, but its cost-effectiveness isn't that great either.

There's no reason to do something that will only increase the animosity of the Soviet people when they haven't given us any justification.

War is a thing where once one side starts crossing the line, the reins come off in an instant.

I hope our war does not become a scene from hell like the German-Soviet War of the original history.

And to that end, I not only urged the military high command, but also fully mobilized the Ministry of Propaganda to distribute propaganda materials that emphasized refraining from war crimes and stressed the honor and tolerance of a soldier, and I've been educating them.

On top of that, once the operation begins, civilian war reporters will follow.

I don't expect this to suppress war crimes 100%, but it will be much better than doing nothing.

"Well, I get it."

Richthofen smacked his lips but agreed.

It's a huge relief that I built a relationship of trust with him early on. I don't want to see articles like 'The Second Guernica' in the newspaper.

"Still, the Luftwaffe will be taking a leading role this time, so I'll hold back. Haha."

At Richthofen's words, I turned my head and looked at the Ukrainian leader Andriy Melnyk, who was sitting in a corner of the conference room.

Perhaps because he was once detained in Poland, he's still a bit wary, but he and his comrades from the moderate faction of Ukrainian nationalists are preparing in cooperation with the Abwehr and the Luftwaffe to play a part in this operation.

"We'll just have to hope Stalin enjoys his surprise gift."

All possible preparations have been made.

Our Germany does not stand on the battlefield for the twisted justification of Lebensraum.

We do not face the Soviet Union alone.

Now, all that's left is the decisive battle.

Just as I was thinking that, at the end of the meeting, Manstein and Sikorski were having a light argument.

"Ahem, this operation will be named Operation Barbarossa! It's obvious that the German Army's contribution will be the greatest!"

"But it is also an operation that will give hope to the Poles who have suffered for so long. I wish to name it Operation Wyzwolenie (Liberation in Polish)."

Just as the argument that started with the two of them was about to spread to the generals on both sides, I quickly raised my hand.

"Let's go with Operation Wyzwolenie. Isn't it an operation to give freedom to the Poles in the Soviet-occupied territories? Operation Liberation. It's perfect."

"Nooooo, Ministerrrr!"

Ignoring Manstein's dismay, Field Marshal Witzleben glanced at me and nodded his head.

"The meaning is good, and the operation name doesn't really matter, does it? Let's go with Wyzwolenie."

Nice, Your Excellency Field Marshal.

"Thank you for the concession."

As Sikorski, who had sealed the deal as soon as he heard the translation, smiled with satisfaction, Manstein had a 'Traitor!' look on his face, but…

Who cares? To think he'd try to bring up the name of a Nazi Germany operation that failed in the original history, what a jinx.

My Germany has no need for a Nazi operation name, you cunning Chief of the General Staff