128

January 24, 1942

Ministry of Defense building in Berlin, Germany

When we returned to Germany, we gathered together the clothes we wore, the things we took with us, and the gifts we received from the Soviet Union and examined them over the course of three days.

The Mauser C96 that Stalin had gifted me was also brought in by Mauser engineers to be disassembled and inspected in the presence of the Gestapo.

The result was no problem. No wiretapping devices or strange chemicals were found anywhere on the clothes or items.

I wondered if it was just a coincidence, but it turned out to be unlucky.

Still, considering that the Soviets have collected information through all kinds of extraordinary methods throughout history, I think we should make this much less fuss.

There is a saying that there is no harm in being careful.

The war situation in Southeast Asia is still the worst. As history goes, the Allied forces lost battle after battle to the Japanese army.

The only ones fighting properly are the U.S. military, but the Japanese military has both sea control and air superiority, so they can't even dream of a counterattack, so it's all about defensive warfare.

Even here, the Japanese army was falling behind, so the fall of the Philippines was a foregone conclusion.

While the United States, Britain, and Asia were in an uproar over war, Germany was extremely peaceful.

Miners dug out coal, office workers went to the office, housewives did their grocery shopping, and clubs and bars were crowded with customers every night.

"Marshal Leder, where do you expect the Japanese army to advance?"

The generals each held a glass in their hands and enjoyed discussing how the war in the Pacific would unfold.

After receiving Keitel's question, Leder sipped a martini and pointed out a corner of the map with his baton.

"First of all, once the occupation of the Philippines is over, I think we will advance to New Guinea. After taking control of New Guinea, it is highly likely that they will build airfields and naval bases to isolate Australia by cutting off the connection between the United States and Australia, and then attempt to invade Hawaii."

Leder predicted that Japan, which controls islands in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, would isolate Australia and attack Hawaii Island, the US Pacific base.

Unlike Raeder, Göring predicted that the Japanese army would advance west rather than east.

"Hawaii is far away, and it is fortified by the United States, so it will not be easy to occupy it. It seems to me that the Japanese are more likely to attack India than Hawaii. "India is geographically closer than Hawaii and is connected by land, making supply much easier."

"That too. "Then, in order to take control of India, we will first have to take control of the island of Ceylon-"

Reichenau predicted that China would attempt to take control rather than Hawaii or India.

Reichenau's argument was that since the war was initially started to advance into China, priority would be given to conquering China.

"What do you think, President?"

"hmm… . "I also share the same opinion as Marshal Reichenau."

Reichenau looked like he had won and took a swig of schnapps.

Goering and Raeder licked their lips in disappointment when their predictions turned out to be wrong.

"First of all, the reason Japan attacked Pearl Harbor was to continue the war in China. Of course, the priority will be to sort out China first. After taking control of China, we will attack India. Hawaii probably isn't in their plans. Even if there is, it will be far behind on the list."

"Why? "Those who value the Navy probably don't know the importance of Hawaii."

I took a sip of grapefruitade, downed it, and then answered Leder's question.

"Yamamoto Isoroku, who served as commander of the Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet, had experience studying abroad in the United States. So he is also an expert who knows American power better than anyone else in Japan. There's no way he doesn't know the state of Hawaii's defenses. In the first place, if Hawaii had really been at a level where she could attack and take over, she would not have just launched airstrikes, but would have taken her entire fleet and attempted a landing. But Yamamoto wasn't like that.

Above all, Japan will not be able to control even China and India, let alone Hawaii. "Before that, the United States, which has reorganized its battle lines, will counterattack and drive them out of the Pacific."

In the meantime, I predicted that Japan's strategic advantage would last until the end of this year at best, and that the United States would launch a counterattack as early as next spring, or as early as this summer.

There were some reactions as to whether the US counterattack was too quick, but most people agreed with my prediction.

Because so far, my predictions have never been wrong.

"The problem is, of course, the Soviet Union… ."

Even in history, the Soviet Union took over Japan right before the end of the German-Soviet War, so if Japan is on the defensive, there is a 99.9% chance that it will betray them and join the war.

However, since the German-German War did not occur here, the Soviet Union's participation in the war would also be accelerated.

Of course, since there is no front against Germany, the U.S. advance will also be that much faster.

My only worry was that the Soviet Union, which entered the Pacific War, would take over the entire Korean Peninsula with the connivance of the United States.

Whether the Soviet Union swallowed up the entire Korean Peninsula or even half of Japan would not affect Germany one bit, but it did not affect me.

Since it is a game, there is no guarantee that the changed history in the game will be applied to reality, but on the other hand, there is no guarantee that there will be no effect on reality.

I barely cleared the mission and escaped from this damn loop and returned to the original world, but what would I do if I woke up in 'North Korea' or 'Democratic People's Republic of Korea' instead of the Republic of Korea I know?

I don't know anything else, but living under communist rule is an absolute, absolute no-no.

It would be better to live as Hitler one more time!

Because of this, I have even considered sending emissaries to the United States and Britain to suggest Germany's participation in the war, but I have not yet been able to tell anyone.

No matter how much I am the president, if I insist on getting involved in a war just to get the Korean peninsula, will the generals and the people accept it?

Given what has been done so far, I am inclined to favor it, but opposing opinions cannot be ignored.

And the biggest problem is the parties involved: the United States and the United Kingdom. China has a good relationship with us, so they will welcome us with open arms, but the US and UK will be different.

Would Nazi hater FDR accept my offer? Rather, they will be wary, thinking that they are trying to touch the Pacific Ocean after what I have been doing.

Although Britain's Halifax may not have done as well as FDR, it had the potential to reject it because it was reluctant to see its country's influence in the Pacific and Asia diminished.

At the very least, if India falls and the Japanese fleet sails up the Red Sea and threatens the Suez Canal, if the front line stops in Southeast Asia, they will reject my proposal.

Even after conquering Europe, I was forced to wait and see what would happen to the country I was born in. It was frustrating.

The only hope is for Japan to raise the white flag before the Soviet Union enters the war... . There is no way that those who were shouting for 100 million prisoners to be imprisoned before the Soviet Union entered the war would surrender in time even after being hit with nuclear weapons.

"Mr. President? Are you unwell? "Your complexion suddenly worsened."

"… ..Nothing. "I was thinking about something else for a moment."

Either way, it's a problem, that way, it's a problem.

There was hardly an answer in sight.

***

same day

USSR Moscow Kremlin Palace

After Hitler's visit to Moscow,

Another bloody storm swept across the Soviet Union.

The reason is various confidential information obtained through wiretapping.

"Is it you? "You fucking bastard."

"Well, I'm definitely not! "I'm a German spy, how can that be true?"

"Just make excuses to your dead mother. "Be quiet, you dirty reactionary bastard."

"After all, this bitch was a spy! "I said it was suspicious before, but I never thought I'd be exposing my crotch to the Germans!"

"Aaaahhh!!!"

Beria arrested dozens of 'German spies' based on information obtained through wiretapping.

Among the arrested spies were a mix of NKVD agents working in the Kremlin and prominent military figures.

Those arrested on suspicion of being spies were taken straight to the NKVD's basement and subjected to severe torture.

Beating with fists, feet, or clubs was the basic of all, and all kinds of torture, including whipping, waterboarding, electric torture, and beating bare skin with a heated iron, were mobilized to induce confessions from suspected spies.

All of those arrested initially denied the charges against them.

In fact, there were many questions about their whereabouts. According to wiretapping records, there were many cases where people were in other places at the time they were in contact with German spies.

But Beria didn't care about such 'minor errors' at all.

They were guilty from the moment they were mentioned in German conversation.

Otherwise, how could the Germans know about them? Their clothes and appearance are very similar.

The person who was most shocked by this incident was Stalin.

Even in the Kremlin, the heart of the Soviet Union, I would never have guessed that so many German spies were hiding.

Doesn't that mean that even the bedroom is not safe anymore?

"How did you handle this! "You bastard!"

"I'm sorry, Comrade Secretary General!"

Beria, who had expected to hear praise from Stalin for arresting dozens of spies, was shocked when he was met with harsh words and insults.

Only after hearing Stalin's angry shouts did Beria realize his mistake.

The more spies there were, the more it meant that many of them had not been caught until now.

Because of this, Stalin's trust in Beria fell rather than his trust in her.

A German spy infiltrated the Kremlin, and the NKVD was run by someone who didn't even realize it until the wiretapping.

I'd rather leave the fish shop to the cat!

Stalin, who had been hurling various insults and mockery at Beria, who was frozen, finally calmed himself down and looked at the report submitted by Beria.

Who would have thought that even Zhukov, Kuznetsov, and Novikov would have come into contact with the Germans... . Stalin's eyes were dizzy.

Stalin, who had been staring at Beria's report for a long time, finally spoke.

"Where are these three now?"

"For now, we are confining all three people to their homes and deploying NKVD troops to monitor them. As long as you give permission-"

"quiet."

"… .."

Stalin was worried. Kuznetsov and Novikov. I don't know these two, but Zhukov was a little ambiguous.

The only information obtained through wiretapping was Hitler's statement that Zhukov's relative was in contact with a German agent, and that contact was lost thereafter.

First of all, there was no mention anywhere that Zhukov himself had met with a German agent.

Beria insisted that he should be arrested at all costs if there was even the slightest possibility, but Stalin, whose trust in Beria had already been broken, was very reluctant to hear that.

Regardless of his suspicions about Zhukov, Stalin also knew that he had considerable military talent.

He fought and won against the Japanese army at Khalkhin Gol, and was never defeated in a mock battle.

Voroshilov, Tymoshenko, Shaposhnikov, and others all praised Zhukov's talent.

His talent was too precious to bury Zhukov in a situation where war with Germany might break out at any moment.

After careful consideration, Stalin decided to give him a chance.

From now on, no matter where you go, you will be monitored by the NKVD all the time, so if you show any suspicious behavior, you can be executed immediately.

At least now there is no need to kill. Right now.

"Leave Zhukov alone."

"Comrade Secretary General!"

"Same goes for you. "The Kremlin neglected it until it became a den of German spies, and if you hold them responsible, you are no stranger to it."

"… … "

"But just this once, I'll let you go. So don't complain about my decision. If you want to stay in that position for a while, that is. Do you understand?"

"I will keep that in mind. Comrade Secretary General… ."

In this way, Zhukov's life could be extended. But not the rest.

Kuznetsov and Novikov. These two could not be saved.

While Zhukov at least had a chance of getting away with the charges, the charges against these two were all too clear.

Hitler's remarks. This sealed their fate.

"Arrest Kuznetsov and Novikov. "I'll leave the rest up to you."

In addition, there were other high-ranking generals mentioned in the conversation between Hitler and the Germans.

From Mikhail Tukhachevsky, who was already executed and turned into dust, to Konstantin Rokossovsky, who was arrested and sent to the Gulag, to Kirill Meretskov, who was arrested for treason last fall, and so on.

When executing Tukhachevsky, Stalin accused him of being a spy for Nazi Germany.

But I never thought that would be true.

This was a fact that neither Stalin nor Beria, nor even Yezhov, who led the arrest and execution of Tukhachevsky and was himself executed at the end of the Great Purge, knew.

Rokossovsky was arrested on the charge of being a Polish spy.

However, it turned out that he was a German spy, not a Polish one, and that Meretskov had even contacted German spies twice.

I've saved it so far, but there's no need to do that anymore.

Stalin drew a list of these people with a red pencil and threw it to Beria. Beria picked up the documents that had fallen on the ground and bowed his head.

German spies were not limited to generals.

Germany's influence also extended to the scientists responsible for the development of Soviet society.

It was truly a deplorable thing.

Sergey Koryolov, Valentin Glushko, Mikhail Yangel... . All leaked Soviet rocket technology to German spies.

Thanks to the information they passed on, Germany created various rocket weapons.

Bastards who will tear you to death. Stalin gritted his teeth.

Koryolov and Glushko had been arrested a long time ago and were in the Gulag.

Yangel and the rest were still at home.

Stalin sentenced them to death without any mercy.

The crimes are the crime of collaborating with Nazi Germany and selling state secrets, the crime of betraying the people and mocking the nation, the crime of deceiving Stalin, and the crime of being alive.

"Turn it off."

Beria bowed his head politely and left the office. As Beria closed the door, his legs trembled like aspen trees.

Stalin, alone again, put a pipe in his mouth and smoked. And he recalled his conversation with Hitler.

He suggested that he invade Britain to discourage Hitler. If the two countries, the Soviet Union and Germany, join forces, it is not impossible to conquer Britain. The Soviet Union would control Asia and the Indian Ocean, and Germany would control Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, dividing the world in two.

However, Hitler flatly rejected an offer that would have made anyone honest.

No matter how many rhetoric Stalin tried to change his mind, there was no change in Hitler's will.

Stalin was convinced when he saw the expression on Hitler's face.

Hitler will never attack Britain. At least that's what his instincts told him.

And the conversation between Hitler and Guderian also had many suspicious parts.

If Hitler was really worried about war with the United States, it would make sense to focus on naval power such as battleships, submarines, and aircraft carriers to prevent American troops from crossing the Atlantic.

But a new heavy tank?

Isn't this very strange?

Is he really reluctant to go to war because he is afraid of Britain, or more precisely, of the United States behind Britain?

or not,

Is he reluctant to go to war with Britain for some other purpose?

If it's the former, that's good, but if it's the latter... .?