Chapter 65:

November 19, 1939

Central Poland, the Polish capital of Warsaw In his office, the President of Poland, Ignacy Mościcki, was dealing with Lieutenant General Władysław Sikorski, who had come to see him.

“Your Excellency, Mr.

President. You must stop the military’s plan to invade Germany.

They are not the crumbling sandcastle they were after their defeat in the last great war. Their civil war is ending quickly with fewer casualties than we predicted, and international public opinion is also favorable to them.”

At Lieutenant General Sikorski’s words, President Mościcki just narrowed his glabella slightly and stroked his mustache.

“Your Excellency! We have the Soviet Union at our rear.

And you want to attack Germany in this situation?! Field Marshal Rydz-Śmigły is overestimating our military strength. The last war with the Soviets, while a victory, was a war that brought our fatherland to the brink of destruction.

They are driving our fatherland to the brink of crisis again, so why are you standing by and watching those nationalists!”

And the de facto ruler of Poland, Field Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły, had been establishing a war plan against Germany with the goal of retaking East Prussia and Śląsk (Silesia), once Polish territory, and its preparation was reaching its final stage.

“Look here, Sikorski. Just like you, I do not like those radical and reckless nationalists.”

“Then why have you stood by and let things come to this? It was you, Your Excellency, who empowered Field Marshal Rydz-Śmigły to cause the downfall of Prime Minister Sławek!”

Mościcki cleared his throat with an uncomfortable expression.

After the death of Poland’s national hero, Field Marshal Piłsudski, Poland was ruled by President Mościcki, Prime Minister Sławek, and Inspector General of the Armed Forces Rydz-Śmigły, who all kept each other in check.

Prime Minister Walery Sławek was a man who could be called Piłsudski’s legitimate successor, but Mościcki and Rydz-Śmigły, who disliked him, formed a collusion to oust him and installed Rydz-Śmigły as a Field Marshal of the Polish Army and the de facto ruler.

And that Rydz-Śmigły is the culprit who, by being hostile to both Germany and the Soviet Union, has driven Poland into its current situation.

“I also regret what happened to Sławek.”

After his downfall from the premiership, Walery Sławek still remained active and received popular support, even becoming the Speaker of the National Assembly, but he was prevented from even that when Mościcki, at Rydz-Śmigły’s demand, dismissed the Parliament.

Sławek did his best to stand against Rydz-Śmigły’s dictatorship, but after all sorts of checks and obstructions, he ultimately despaired that the government was driving the nation to ruin and committed suicide in April 1939, just as the Danzig Crisis began to escalate.

Although he was a political enemy he detested, the vain death of a man who possessed both ability and patriotism left a considerable shock on Mościcki as well.

“You resemble Sławek. Lieutenant General Sikorski.

No, former Prime Minister.”

“I am a soldier, Your Excellency.

I only served as Prime Minister for a little over a year.”

Władysław Sikorski was a figure who was widely supported not only by soldiers but also by Polish conservatives and liberals.

He had briefly served as the Prime Minister of Poland from 1922, achieving significant diplomatic achievements and receiving the love of the entire nation.

However, even he, with his nationwide support, was disliked by the far-right nationalists and the Sejm (Polish nobility) and had to resign.

“I know you are a patriot, and a wise man. And yet, you were Prime Minister for only a year, while I have been President since 1926.

That is the difference between you and me.”

Sikorski’s face hardened, but Mościcki continued speaking.

“Do you know how many prime ministers have come and gone while I’ve held the presidency? Fifteen. Including the current one, Składkowski, it’s fifteen.

During that time, Poland has faced countless national crises, but we have overcome them all.”

The political situation in Poland, founded after World War I, was extremely chaotic.

So much so that the average term of a prime minister during his presidency was less than a year.

Having seen the whole chaotic process of countless prime ministers being assassinated by nationalist terrorism or being driven out by the Sejm, President Mościcki’s course of action could be explained as self-protectionism.

He disliked the far-right nationalists too, but he never once directly went against them, and so while countless prime ministers were ground down, he had remained as Poland’s President for that long, even if only as a figurehead.

“As I have always done, I will not step forward.

I believe that God will protect Poland this time as well.”

Lieutenant General Sikorski let out a deep sigh at President Mościcki’s words.

“God has already protected us by stopping that cursed devil, Hitler. But now we’re about to kick that away with our own feet.”

President Mościcki gave no reply, and Sikorski turned his back in dejection.

-

November 19, 1939

Northern Germany, 4th Military District Dresden – Eastern Saxony Border

“Advance, advance! O Panzer gentlemen, the glory of driving the final nail in the coffin of victory belongs to us!”

Comprised of Panzer IVs and Tank Destroyer 3s, General Oswald Lutz’s armored unit passed through Dresden and made a rapid advance to the eastern edge of Saxony.

Inside his tank, General Lutz looked at the operation map and grinned.

“Anyway, what a peculiar idea.

An interesting operation, that Manstein fellow.”

Even to General Lutz, who had been an avid proponent of the Armorization Policy before being ousted as a radical within the military, Manstein was radical in a different sense.

Was there ever an officer who could come up with such a strange operational plan? The superiors who approved it as is are also impressive.

[General! It's the Luftwaffe!]

“Well, damn it.

Them again!

General Lutz ground his teeth. No matter how much the tank was the key player on the battlefield, the enemy raining down bombs from the sky where you had no way to fight back, blowing up tanks left and right, was terror itself.

[S-Stuka-!]

At the radio message, which was almost a death cry, General Lutz squeezed his eyes shut. He could only hope the sacrifice of his subordinates would be minimal.

General Lutz took the Iron Cross hanging around his neck in his hand and kissed it.

“Oh God, please protect us.”

It’s not a cross, but it’s roughly similar, so it should work out somehow!

Immediately after, the sound of fighter aircraft machine guns firing and bombs exploding came from all directions, and General Lutz could clearly hear the goosebump-inducing roar of an air force aircraft flying over the head of his tank.

After the storm passed, for a moment, only the sound of tank engines and tracks sliding over the ground could be heard, and a silence fell among the tankers.

[General, are you unharmed?]

“Is it over?”

[Yes, it seems so.]

General Lutz opened the hatch, stuck his head out, and looked around with his telescope.

“What is this.”

Despite the considerable scale of the air raid, his armored unit was perfectly fine, and there were only traces of bomb explosions along the path the armored units had passed.

General Oswald Lutz stared blankly at the Luftwaffe air force aircraft receding beyond the clear sky, then lifted his Iron Cross to his lips again and muttered.

"I'm buying a cross as soon as this battle is over."

-

November 19, 1939

Northern Germany, 3rd Military District, Southwest of Berlin – 10th Army Defense Line Army Group South Chief of Staff Walther Model was walking alone along the 10th Army’s defense line.

It wasn’t common for a general of the rank of Army Group Chief of Staff to wander around the front line, but Walther Model’s eccentricities were something he had always done since he was the 4th Army Corps Chief of Staff, so the soldiers didn’t find it particularly strange.

They just offered a salute with faces devoid of any will to fight as Model passed by.

Walther Model was walking along the defense line when he slightly narrowed his glabella at the scene he saw. He slowly walked over to a group of men in SS military uniforms and spoke to them.

“Greetings, SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General). I am Lieutenant General Walther Model, Chief of Staff of Army Group South.”

The man leading the group was quite young. Early 30s, perhaps? But his rank insignia said he was an SS-Gruppenführer, a Lieutenant General.

“A pleasure to meet you, Lieutenant General Model. I am SS Youth Leader Baldur von Schirach.”

He replied politely to Walther Model, but Model’s expression did not soften at all.

“Why are they here?”

“It is the Führer’s command.

He has ordered that the Hitler Youth also take part in the resistance to protect the fatherland!”

Walther Model looked up at the clear sky, then bowed his head to look at the ground, and then turned his gaze again to look at the ‘soldiers’ lined up behind Schirach’s back.

Teenage boys, wearing SS combat uniforms and shouldering old-fashioned rifles that were too large for their bodies.

“Have those kids been properly trained?”

At Model’s question, Schirach’s face clouded over slightly, but he seemed to pull himself together and replied.

“Their loyalty to the fatherland is second to no soldier’s!”

“Loyalty.”

Walther Model let out a hollow laugh and immediately grabbed Schirach by the collar.

“L-Lieutenant General.”

“Your face shows you know exactly what bullshit you’re spouting. You’re going to put those sniveling kids on the front line?”

While Schirach was flustered, a series of clicking sounds came from behind Model.

Walther Model slowly turned his head and asked the boys pointing their guns at him.

“Do you even know where you’re going? Do you even know what loyalty is?”

The boys’ answer to Model’s question was resolute, as if they were mechanically brainwashed.

“Our loyalty is solely for the Führer and the National Socialist German Workers' Party!”

“The Führer has commanded it, so we follow gladly! Take your hands off the Youth Leader!”

Model looked into the eyes of the boys aiming their guns at him, and seeing not a single tremor in them, he felt his strength drain away.

It wasn't just lip service they had learned.

To them, this was a firm truth that didn't even require them to judge whether it was right or wrong.

Boys who deserved to be cared for by their parents were taking it for granted that they were going to the battlefield, just because the Führer and the Nazi Party wanted them to.

Even though it was an act of fighting against their parents, their brothers, and the German people.

Walther Model let go of Schirach, but the boys of the Jugend kept their guns aimed at Model until Schirach gestured for them to lower them.

“…This is crazy. What in the world have you all done.”

Schirach avoided Model’s gaze, then gestured and started moving with the Jugend.

The young boys marched mechanically like soldiers, yet they sent contemptuous glances at Model as if he were a defeatist.

Walther Model stood there as if rooted to the spot, watching the scene, and then muttered blankly.

“I have been serving a criminal regime.”

-

November 19, 1939

Northern Germany, Berlin, High Command of the Armed Forces

“The air raid was a failure, too?”

Army Chief of General Staff Franz Halder turned pale, but the tone coming from the other side of the telephone was unchanged.

[That is correct, Chief of the General Staff.

According to the reports from the scrambled pilots, the weather conditions were unfortunately bad, so it ended with only minor damage. My regrets.

]

At the tragic news delivered by Wolfram von Richthofen, Halder powerlessly put down the telephone.

“If their armored unit advances on the rear of the 10th Army or Berlin, we won't be able to block them.

The LSSAH’s armored unit has not yet returned to Berlin.”

Hearing Jodl’s words, Halder remained silent.

“Look here, Halder. What are you going to do now?”

Unable to watch any longer, Supreme Commander of the Wehrmacht Wilhelm Keitel asked, but Halder still remained silent.

As everyone looked only at Halder, he deliberated for a long time before making a decision.

“…Let’s retreat the 10th Army.

We must establish a new defense line behind the Elbe River. They might advance on Berlin before that, so I will mobilize all the forces of the Berlin Reserve Forces Command to block the path to Berlin.”

The 10th Army’s defense line was a trench line that had been built and reinforced since the beginning of the civil war, so if an engagement had occurred, it could have forced considerable bloodshed on them.

To have to give up that defense line without even fighting once.

Halder bit his lip, but narrowing the defense line and receiving air support to win a single decisive battle was his only hope.

If General Sepp Dietrich wasn’t too late, the annihilation of the enemy’s main armored unit would be possible.

“What about the 14th Army?”

Wilhelm List’s 14th Army was still in a confrontation with Blaskowitz in the Sudetenland. If they narrowed the front line like this, there was practically no way to provide them with supplies.

Halder wasn’t idiot enough to believe in the aerial supply that the damn Air Force Field Marshal had boasted about, even after he had lost all of Paul Hausser's SS.

“I will order them to detour through Silesia and strike their armored unit.”

Blaskowitz wouldn't just stand by and watch, so it would be difficult, but there was no other way since he couldn't just leave them to do nothing in Czechia when he was already short on troops.

At the beginning of the civil war, the new government's forces were far inferior to the Wehrmacht, but with the 4th and 8th Armies turning, they now had the superiority.

“What about the report to the Führer?”

Halder felt a cold sweat run down his spine.

“For now, let’s report after we’ve crushed their armored unit, General.”

The Führer was preoccupied with his seizure, pain, and medicine, and was not paying attention to this. Rather than stirring up a hornet's nest for no reason, he had to produce some military gains to talk about before reporting if he wanted to keep his head.

Keitel looked at Halder with a pitiful expression, then clicked his tongue and replied.

“…Do that.”

Franz Halder glared at the operation map with bloodshot eyes.

This cannot be called a fair and square war.

He was by no means losing to Manstein. It was because the damned soldiers' will to fight had hit rock bottom and betrayals were rampant.

That's all it was. Manstein, all that bastard did better than him was despicably switch sides!

There was no way he could lose to that guy like this, without even fighting properly once.

Halder ground his teeth with a grating sound and began to draw a new defense line and operational plan on the operation map.