270

Episode 270: Dark clouds (2)

"They say the Bolsheviks are killing each other like they did five years ago."

When Vlasov, former lieutenant general of the Soviet Army and current first president of the Free Russian Republic, spoke, Prime Minister Rozaevsky, who was sitting across from Vlasov, sneered and said,

"It seems like communists can't survive even for a day without seeing blood."

Vlasov, who had personally experienced the great purges in the past, was shocked.

They lost the war because they executed all the capable officers in a great purge, but they failed to learn any lessons and kept repeating the same thing.

After all, I can't share my habits with others.

However, it was good news for Vlasov that Stalin's nature did not change.

An opportunity has come to unify Russia, which was divided into East and West, and liberate the Russian people.

If a surprise attack were made at a time when the Soviet Union was internally shaken, the Soviet Union would simply collapse.

The Russian people, who are suffering from the never-ending tyranny of the Bolsheviks and the oppressive rule of Stalin, will welcome the Free Russian Army as their liberators, and the Soviet Army, whose capable officers have been executed, will be swept away like fallen leaves in an autumn wind.

Of course, it cannot be said that the Free Russian Army was completely superior to the Soviet Army, but behind Free Russia was Germany.

And hundreds of thousands of German and Axis troops were stationed on the territory of Free Russia.

Now that the war with Britain and America is over, Germany has begun sending its soldiers home, but millions of them are still on active duty.

Therefore, if you were thinking of going to war with the Soviet Union, now was your chance.

"But will Führer Hitler really approve?"

Krasnov, who served as Minister of Defense of Free Russia, spoke.

Although he completely agreed with the idea that Russia should be unified and the Russian people liberated by attacking the Soviet Union, he had doubts about whether Germany would accept Free Russia's plan to attack the Soviet Union.

"The war with Britain and the United States is over, but now there is a second war with the Soviet Union. I think it might be viewed negatively due to Hitler's personality... … ."

"I think the same."

Commander-in-Chief of the Army Siteiphon also agreed with Krasnov's opinion.

"Of course it won't be easy. However, since Fuhrer Hitler also wants the complete destruction of the Soviet Union, I think persuading him will not be that difficult."

Vlasov said. Germany, which suffered greatly from the Soviet Union's preemptive attack, would want to eradicate the Soviet Union if given the opportunity.

If such an opportunity were to arise, there would be no way that Hitler would miss it.

Although he won the war and established Free Russia, Vlasov still had regrets about not being able to liberate all of Russia.

We must use this opportunity to completely eradicate the Communist Party from this land, liberate all Russians, and create a true Russia.

Otherwise, Russia will never escape the status of a satellite state of Germany and will remain in history and the world only as a shield protecting Europe from the waves of communism.

Russia shouldn't be like that. Because Russia had to be Russia.

***

September 23, 1943

New Fuhrer's Residence in Berlin, Germany

"It's been a while, Minister."

"How have you been?"

I shook Taboritsky's hand. Taboritsky, a Russian, German citizen, and member of the Nazi Party, was currently serving as foreign minister in the Free Russian government.

"They say blood is blowing in the Soviet Union these days."

"I know. They are truly ignorant. It's been so long since the war ended that I can't believe I'm seeing blood again.

"I'm embarrassed to be a fellow Russian."

When I started to speak, Taboritsky seemed to have noticed and immediately got to the point.

"Mr. President, this is an opportunity."

"What opportunity?"

"This is a golden opportunity to completely eradicate communism from this land."

"So you're saying we're going to war again?"

Taboritsky nodded.

I knew it. How is it that the prediction was not wrong even by an inch?

"The Soviet Union only has a large land mass and is not prepared for war at all. Even the remaining officers are being killed with their own hands, and the public's antipathy is skyrocketing. And in Siberia and Central Asia, nationalists opposing the Bolsheviks began full-scale resistance.

If we attack the Soviet Union now, we will definitely win. "Better conditions will never come again."

I sipped my cola and looked at Taboritsky's complexion. I couldn't read the false emotion in his eyes.

He was truly convinced that he could win the war if he attacked the Soviet Union now.

"As far as I know, the Free Russian Army doesn't have that many troops. On the other hand, I heard that the Soviet army is several times stronger."

Currently, the total number of Free Russian Forces is approximately 250,000. If a mobilization order is issued, the number will increase further, but the Soviet Union can mobilize such a huge number of troops that the Free Russian Army will look like 'something like that'.

Of course, the numbers may not be as high as those shown during the war due to the nationalists who started rampaging in Central Asia, but it is clear that the Free Russian Army falls short of the entire Soviet Army.

When I pointed this out, Taboritsky readily acknowledged it.

"But if we borrow the power of the German and Axis forces, we will be able to wipe out the Soviet army like a fallen leaf. Think about it. A Russia where the Bolsheviks have completely disappeared, a Russia connected from Europe to Vladivostok in the Pacific! If we completely restore the entire Russian territory, we will be able to spread the values of National Socialism even to the far East!"

When the value of National Socialism came out of the mouths of Russians, I felt strange.

Well, Taboritsky was Russian, but he was also a member of the Nazi Party, so it wasn't a very strange picture.

I, too, was not particularly attracted to Taboritsky's proposal.

As Taboritsky said, if the Soviet Union was not completely defeated when the opportunity came, the Soviet Union would one day regain its strength and threaten the security of Germany and Europe.

However, the option of starting a war again when the war was barely over was also not very desirable. Even the conquest of the entire Soviet Union.

Governing the now free Russian territory required a considerable amount of troops, and to govern all of Russia, all German men had to wear military uniforms and carry guns.

Then who runs the factory? Who does the farming?

If it were the real Hitler, he would have given the attack order right away without even thinking about it, but I had a lot to worry about.

First of all, I was not at all interested in building a Lebensraum for the Germanic people, and I did not neglect economic issues like Hitler and the Nazis did.

However, it is also very unfortunate to pass up a golden opportunity to completely drive the Soviet Union out of Europe.

The economy was a problem to attack, but I wondered when an opportunity like this would come to let it go.

"for now… … ."

Taboritski stared at me with a nervous face. Hoping for a positive answer to come out of my mouth.

"I don't think it's an ordinary issue to make a hasty decision."

"Is that so?"

Taboritsky's words were filled with deep regret.

"Mr. President. Please think carefully. If the Bolsheviks are left alive like this, Europe will be swept up in the flames of war again."

"Why don't I know that? However, it is not easy to start a war again when the war ended not long ago. "I think we need to hear other people's opinions through a meeting first."

Taboritsky's eyes came back to life again. Even though no conclusion had been reached, Taboritsky continued to bow his head and express his gratitude.

"Thank you, Mr. President. After all, the Fuhrer also wanted the true liberation of Russia!"

"Oh, well… … ."

weird.

Why do I feel this sense of déjà vu?

***

September 24, 1943

New Fuhrer's Residence in Berlin, Germany

"I am completely against it."

Like a fool who only knew about economics, Schacht immediately opposed it.

"Mr. President. Right now, the German economy is barely holding on. The war has barely ended, but they start another war. "If we start a new war in a situation where focusing only on economic recovery right now is not enough, we don't know when the German economy will get back on track."

"The minister is right. But if not now, I don't know when we will have the opportunity to take down the Soviet Union. "Wouldn't it be better for Germany's future to bring an end to this, even if it means making a little sacrifice, rather than leaving them alone like this and leaving the slightest possibility that they could come back with a bigger disaster?"

I, who wanted to completely end the Soviet Union, or at least drive it out of Europe, secretly talked about threats from the distant future and laid the groundwork for the start of the Great Soviet War, but Schacht did not even flinch.

"The Soviet Union is already incapable of recovery. And isn't there a strong buffer state called Free Russia between Germany and the Soviet Union? Free Russia should be a shield that protects Germany from communists, and we should not act as a spear for Free Russia. "And that at the expense of the German economy."

Shacht gave a lecture on how starting a war now would have a negative impact on the German economy.

When the lecture time exceeded 30 minutes, I forced the lecture to end with the excuse that I needed to hear other people's opinions as well.

"I agree."

"I also agree."

"The economy is important, but isn't completely destroying Germany's enemies a more urgent issue?"

Göring, Brauchitsch and Himmler agreed.

"I am against it."

Leder was the opposite.

In his own words, he said that as Schacht said, enough had been done with the war and that it was time to focus on economic recovery, but he could not shake the feeling that he was against it because it was obvious that even if a war broke out, the Navy would have nothing to do and it would become a sole stage for the Army and Air Force. .

However, it was difficult to refute the statement that the economy came first as the reason.

Funk, the Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs, was naturally opposed, and Todt, Speer, Ribbentrop, and Weizsäcker also opposed it, each citing their own reasons.

Even Keitel, whom he trusted, expressed a negative opinion.

"The Soviet Union is a country that will collapse soon anyway. But is there any need to start a war now and set back the moment when the German economy could be revived? "When the Soviet Union becomes weaker than it is now, the best plan is to strike a final blow and destroy it in one blow."

"But Marshal, it would be great if the Soviet Union were weakened, but isn't there a possibility that it could become stronger?"

"Would a country that lost a war, had to pay huge compensation, and was carrying out bloody purges among itself become powerful? "It is comparable to Germany."

uh… … Is that also true?

I overlooked it because every time he opened his mouth, only flattering comments came out, but as one of the leading economic experts in the Defense Forces, he was extremely knowledgeable in his field of expertise.

After Schacht, Professor Keitel's second economics lecture began, and another 30 minutes had passed, and I had no choice but to raise my hands.

Schacht and Keitel did not stop there, but raised their voices saying that it was urgent to reorganize the defense force, which had been enlarged by the war, as a huge budget was being spent on maintaining it.

"The war is over, and now there is no country in Europe that can threaten Germany."

"Now the Defense Forces also need reform. "We must drastically reduce the size of the military and redirect the remaining budget to revitalizing the civilian economy."

The meeting convened to discuss the re-invasion of the Soviet Union suddenly transformed into a place to discuss military reduction and innovation.

***

I also agreed with Schacht's argument that the military should be reduced and reorganized to suit the new era.

The only difference is when the time will be decided.

Schacht insisted on reducing the military as quickly and expeditiously as possible and conserving the budget for maintaining the military.

In order to do so, they argued that not only should the hundreds of divisions organized during the war be disbanded, but all but 8 of the 20 Waffen-SS divisions should be disbanded, and the ships owned by the Navy should also be disposed of.

Himmler and Raeder were outraged by Schacht's claims.

Himmler argued that the 20 divisions of the Waffen-SS were all elite divisions, so disbanding them would only cause greater damage to the German army as a whole, and Raeder also did not want to let go of the grand fleet that he had built after much effort.

Except for the fact that the Waffen SS was acting as one of Himmler's means of maintaining power, the number of 20 divisions was acceptable.

As Himmler said, the Waffen-SS was an elite division in which only carefully selected personnel could join, so it would have been a bit of a waste to just disband it like other Wehrmacht divisions.

Each and every one of the 9 battleships owned by the Kryx Marine was valuable, but the problem was that the battleships were money-grubbing hippopotamuses. Battleships originally cost an astronomical amount of money to build, but just maintaining them costs a huge amount of money.

Of course, the war is over, and there is no need to use battleships on the Eastern Front, which will become Germany's main battlefield in the future.

Therefore, in Schacht's eyes, the battleship was now nothing more than a waste of money, a waste of money that was rarely put to use.

"Don't you know that the battleships of our Navy are protecting Europe from the Yankee armies?"

In response to Schacht's statement that battleships should be dismantled or sold to reduce the burden on the national treasury, Raeder fiercely protested, even raising a blood clot in his neck.

"The moment we dismantle the battleships with our own hands, the Yankees will immediately land in Europe with a large army. How can you not know that!"

"Do you have any idea how much money it costs to maintain those battleships? If you leave the battleships behind, what are you going to use them for now? Are you going to use it to invade America, or are you going to use it to catch fish? "If you're going to use it for fishing, there are smaller, more efficient boats out there, right?"

"Have you said everything now?"

"Stop, stop. Why are these people so angry? "Both of you, please calm down."

I feel very sorry for Leder, but honestly, I wanted to side with Schacht.

battleship. It is an ideal item for showing off national power, especially in times of war, and it is a very reliable thing to have along with an aircraft carrier, but it costs too much money to maintain it.

Even Cheon Jo-guk, famous for Show Me the Money, dismantled many ships due to cost issues after World War II, but it is very burdensome for Germany, whose economic power is inferior to that of the United States, to have 9 battleships.

And in the future battlefield, the value of battleships has faded, but their necessity has not increased.

In other words, it is an item that will cause more harm than good if you have it in the future.

However, there was some truth to Leder's question about how to respond when the international situation suddenly changes after decommissioning a battleship.

The US president is still anti-fascist Wallace, the war is in full swing in the Pacific, and less than a month has passed since the signing of the peace treaty with the US.

Even if they mobilize all the battleships they have, it would be impossible to attack the U.S. mainland, let alone occupy Iceland, but on the other hand, it is also true that the presence of these battleships prevents the U.S. from daring to attack Europe again.

Taking these points together, I proposed a compromise. For now, let's maintain the battleships until 1945 and decommission them sequentially starting in 1946.

"What will change if we fight with each other blushing right now? Even if it takes some time, putting our heads together and thinking together won't yield good results. "Let's discuss this issue slowly."

"… … All right."

Although the meeting ended in a slightly different way compared to when it first started, the conclusion was that an immediate re-invasion of the Soviet Union was unreasonable due to various circumstances.

But no one knew.

The 'opportunity' will come sooner than you think.