236

Episode 236: What we will fight for (10)

May 22, 1943

Liege, Belgium

Hausser's promotion ceremony was held at the 7th Army headquarters in Liege, Belgium.

Despite being told that only the title would be the same and that Himmler's authority as leader of the SS Empire would remain the same, Himmler mechanically clapped his hands, perhaps in a shocked mood.

Anyway, I have a lot of greed.

Even in actual history, Himmler, who was greedy for power, was famous for holding all the positions he could get his hands on, including Chief of Police, Chairman of the Reichstag, Minister of the Interior, Commander-in-Chief of the National Shock Brigade, and Commander-in-Chief of the German Reserve Forces, in addition to his position as SS Reich Leader.

However, they say that with great power comes great responsibility, and because he could not handle the increased workload, his health was ruined and he was practically sick.

However, my greed for power still persisted and I couldn't give up anything.

On the other hand, Ribbentrop, who was close to Himmler, laughed heartily as if he liked Himmler's sullen expression.

The generals of the Wehrmacht, including Rundstedt and Rommel, openly showed that they were even more displeased than Himmler.

This is despite the fact that, except for Rundstedt, all of them are inferior to Hausser in both age and experience.

From their point of view, I don't like the fact that the SS, who seems to have no foundation, is the commander of the field army, but now that their ranks have become the same, I can't treat them lower, so it must be stressful.

But what should I do? I have no ill feelings towards them, but their feelings are none of my business.

Talented people should be promoted and given bigger tasks.

"How does it feel to be able to raise the marshal's baton you've been looking forward to?"

"I think the position is too much for me. "I'm just grateful."

"Hehe, on days like today, I have to be honest. Now that he is the leader of the SS Reich, who can say anything? Please be honest. Don't you think he has finally reached his rightful place?"

"… … "I won't deny it."

"yes. After all, people should be honest, cancer!"

SS officers, except Himmler, applauded enthusiastically, delighted that the SS had finally found a de facto enemy.

Dietrich kept craving the marshal's baton in Hausser's hand. History also shows that Dietrich coveted the marshal's baton and petitioned Hitler to give him a promotion, and Hitler made Dietrich the Marshal of the People (Volksmarschall) when the Ardennes Offensive was successful. I promised to promote him.

However, as everyone knows, the Great Ardennes Offensive ended in a miserable failure and resulted in Germany's defeat being brought forward by six months.

As for Hausser, he is a talented person with both experience and skills, so there is no problem in taking up the marshal's baton, but Dietrich is a good person, but his skills are a little... … Still, he knew that he was ignorant, so he actively accepted the advice of his subordinates and guaranteed them discretion, so he didn't make many mistakes. Let's consider it first.

Following the promotion ceremony, there was a mock training session using new weapons developed by the Ordnance Bureau.

The most notable weapon among these was the Fa 226 Hornisse (Hornisse) helicopter.

The Fa 223 Drache, the predecessor to the Fa 226, made its first flight in 1940 and was officially mass-produced, but the number of people it could carry was limited to four, excluding two crew members.

Here, the Fa 226 is equipped with an extended fuselage length, a more powerful new engine, and a newly designed rotor.

Fa 226 can simultaneously transport eight armed soldiers or six wounded soldiers on stretchers, excluding two crew members.

It will be very useful as it can land in mountainous terrain or urban areas where transport planes have difficulty landing, unload troops and supplies, and transport injured soldiers to the rear.

It is said that even in the Korean War, many wounded soldiers saved their lives thanks to emergency transport using helicopters.

Even after the training was over, there was no time to rest.

In order to ensure the success of Operation Sea Lion, which was just around the corner, a meeting had to be held with the generals, and it was necessary to review what areas were insufficient in preparation for the operation so far and which areas needed improvement.

***

Metz (Metz in French), a city with the seemingly familiar nickname of Germany's Gate (Deutsches Tor), was a city with a concentrated German-French relationship that had experienced many hardships in many ways.

The city that fell to the Prussian army in the Franco-Prussian War became German territory, but with Germany's defeat and France's victory in World War I, Metz became Metz again.

However, when World War II broke out and France raised the white flag, the city was renamed from Metz to Metz and returned to Germany.

I met Laval and shook his hand in the city that was being taken and taken away like a high-altitude war.

"I am very happy and glad to see you, Mr. President, after a long time."

"I am also happy to meet the Prime Minister."

The reason why French Prime Minister Laval came to his country's old city, now part of Germany, was to reaffirm France's role after the war.

"As I said before, if France contributes greatly to defeating Britain, all of Britain's African colonies will belong to France. "If things really go better than expected, Quebec might become French territory."

"hmm!"

Laval swallowed his saliva, as if he was happy just imagining it. Although it was defeated by Germany and its territory was torn away, its navy became a half-baby, and its prestige fell, if it participates in the British operation, France's position will not only rise from a defeated country to a victorious country, but it will also be able to take care of the vast British colonies in Africa!

This would be a sweet temptation that France, who was more anxious than Britain to maintain its colony, could not resist.

So give us more troops. As well as food.

Laval, who had already agreed to this point, now presented France's additional position. When I listened to what he was saying, I almost burst into laughter because the content was so absurd.

"Marshal Pétain hopes that you will help Germany reclaim French Indochina after the war."

"Are you talking about diplomatic support or military support?"

"It's both."

Like de Gaulle, Pétain was also French and wanted to regain his country's colony, Indochina. Regardless of whether it is possible.

"It is difficult to dispatch troops, but I will consider renting or donating equipment to France."

"Thank you, Mr. President."

The United States, which was fighting Japan by the throat in the Pacific, would not have allowed France, which had become Germany's henchman, to come to reclaim its colony, but there was no need to tell the truth.

Because the blood of French youth is needed to make German soldiers shed less blood in the process of conquering England.

But Laval wasn't just making noise. Laval appealed for German support, saying that only two divisions of the French army were properly armed.

"Isn't France comrade-in-arms with Germany against Britain? It is questionable whether the French army can properly fight the British army in its current state. "If the French army fails to play its role, the damage to the German army will increase and the war will prolong."

"So, if Germany gives a little help in strengthening the armament of the French army-"

Germany already has a track record of returning some of the equipment it had previously taken from the French troops who participated in the German-German War and providing them with German-made equipment as well.

They must have gotten used to it and now they are asking for it out loud.

"They are asking me if they are coming or not, so now I am really climbing up. "At times like these, I think we need to step up and make sure the relationship between superiors and subordinates is clear."

"That's right, Mr. President. We must never listen to their demands. "This is a matter of German prestige."

Göring was indignant at Laval's request. The reactions of Keitel and Brauchitsch were similar, and Leather was especially strong.

Perhaps they were concerned that if we accepted France's request, we would later be asked to return some of the naval ships they had stolen from France.

"Of course I think so. But now that they have decided to join the Great Britain Front, it is difficult for bad news to come out already."

It was decided to release French weapons that had been confiscated but not used because they were outdated and give them to the French military under the pretext of helping them.

We're not going to use it anyway, so wouldn't it be more useful than having it sit in a warehouse and just collect dust?

When the Soviet communists were fighting the Nazis, they gave the Polish People's Army, which became their henchmen, the same weapons used by their own army, such as T-34s, IS-2s, and Yak planes.

Of course, we are not a country with as much material as the Soviet Union, so we cannot do that much.

Spanish troops sent by Franco, who had promised to participate in the war, also flocked to France one after another.

Spain sent many of its elite divisions, from the Blue Division, which participated in the Eastern Front and was praised by the Wehrmacht as being as brave as the Germans, to the Regulares, a Moroccan unit active in the Spanish Civil War.

This is a bit unexpected.

The UK is concentrating its troops in the Middle East and India, as if it was a good catch.

It seems that Churchill has no doubt that the troops and supplies gathered in France are a deception, and that those in Turkey are real.

In history, Germany was defeated by the Allied forces, but here the exact opposite is happening.

If you ask for reinforcement even now, I will listen... … That can't be possible.

In history, even though Germany wanted to strengthen, the Allied Powers had no intention of doing so, leading to Germany's defeat in the end. On the other hand, here, even if this side strengthens, Britain is kicking it.

It's like digging my own grave.

This is why leaders must be chosen well. If you do something wrong, the country could be ruined.

Of course, electing a good leader does not mean that the country will not fail, but if the wrong leader is elected, the probability of ruin rises vertically.

In the history we know, Hitler's Germany was like that, and here, Stalin's Soviet Union was like that.

And now, the UK is about to be added to that list.

Look forward to it.

***

Britain, deceived by the disinformation planned by Hitler and disseminated by spies and agents of his subordinate SD and Afwehr under SD again, did its best to prevent the non-existent offensive of the German army.

Britain laughed at Germany for concentrating its forces in France.

They have no idea that their code is being deciphered, and they are still trying to deceive us.

They are unaware that they are the ones who are really being deceived.

However, this did not mean that Britain abandoned its mission to defend its homeland.

Preventing the German army's offensive in the Middle East was the top priority, but the British leadership built a strong defense line along the coast, always keeping in mind the possibility of a German invasion of the mainland.

"this way. Come this way."

"It's fucking heavy, man… … ."

"Hey Tom. Stop complaining and come quickly and take this away. "I have to finish this all today."

Although the schedule was delayed due to V2 showers coming in from northern France and Belgium, construction progressed.

Due to the massive exodus of troops and supplies to the Middle East, trenches that should have been three layers were reduced to one layer, and where concrete bunkers should have been, they were downgraded, with open trenches roughly dug with an excavator in place, but whatever.

-bang!!

"Fuck you, British bastards!"

"Long live Ireland! "Death to the British pigs!"

-Tata tata!!!

The IRA in Northern Ireland also worked harder. Concerned about information leaks, Germany did not tell the IRA that German troops would soon land in Britain, but only told them that they needed to turn Britain's attention to the success of their offensive in the Middle East.

Arthur Harris, a bomber enthusiast called Bomber Harris or Butcher Harris, devoted himself to bombing, heedless of the soaring losses of bombers and pilots every day.

All cities where the Germans and the Axis powers that help the Germans live must be burned down.

Because only then can the British Empire win the war.

Even at the moment when the ratio between bombers produced in factories and bombers shot down over Europe began to boil over, his beliefs did not change.

And Churchill gave full support to Harris' claim.

Thanks to Churchill's plea, the United States had no choice but to increase the number of troops to defend Burma, and the British troops, who replaced the American troops, moved to Balochistan.

"what the. Why do we have to do what those tea bastards have to do?"

"Don't you know that? Britain is at war with Germany, but Germany is not fighting with us. "It's because we can't fight on behalf of the British."

The American soldiers, who had been well-fed and well-rested in the rear of India, complained that they had been deployed to the front line instead of the British army, but since Roosevelt had made the decision and Marshall had given instructions, they had to shut up and follow them.

The Allied Forces, led by the U.S. Army and the National Revolutionary Army, launched a major counterattack in the Imphal area.

"It's an attack by Yankees!"

"Hey you idiot! Can't you see that flag? "Those guys are Gina!"

Since the National Revolutionary Army was armed with American weapons provided by the United States, it was easy for the Japanese military to misunderstand them.

To avoid accidental explosions by friendly aircraft, the M4 Sherman, with its engine cover covered with a red flag, advanced and spewed fire, and National Revolutionary Army soldiers with Stahlhelms on their heads and M1 Garands in their hands charged into the Japanese trenches.

"Suppress the enemy machine guns!"

"Why kill them!"

German-style divisions, trained with great care by Falkenhausen and German military instructors, took the lead in the counterattack, and the U.S. Army advanced side by side, keeping pace with the National Revolutionary Army.

The first goal was to recapture Imphal, which had been lost to the Japanese, and cut off the Japanese army extending toward Kohima.

"They have side feet at 2 o'clock. "Wipe it out with machine guns!"

"All right!"

As the Sherman's turret rotated, the Japanese squad fell into a hive of bullets.

The P-47 Thunderbolts of the U.S. Army Air Corps first overturned the Japanese position before the Army could head in earnest, so the Japanese forces on the defensive line were half destroyed.

-Kang!

"Enemy attack ricochet!"

"Fire armor-piercing bullets!"

"Hit!"

Hago, who was lucky to survive the merciless attack of the Thunderbolt squadron, was grilled on a barbecue by a single shot from Sherman's 75mm armor-piercing bullet.

The infantrymen who charged while shouting "Tenno Heika Banzai" were showered with bullets and annihilated.

A counterattack by the US Army and the National Revolutionary Army on behalf of the British Army gradually drove the Japanese army out of Imphal and advanced towards Burma.

Upon hearing the news, Churchill felt deep frustration and sadness at having to entrust the noble task of recapturing the British Empire's colonies to another country's military, rather than feeling grateful for the American and Chinese troops shedding blood on behalf of the British army.

"If it weren't for those damn Jerrys… … ."

This is all because of Hitler. Britain is suffering this humiliation because he started a war.

Even if we could prevent an offensive in the Middle East, we were worried about how to counterattack next, but for now, we decided to only think about defense in the Middle East.

If we defend the Middle East to prevent Germany from reaching India, rebuild the damaged army, navy, and air force with the support of the United States, and attempt a surprise landing somewhere in France or the Mediterranean with the rebuilt army, we will be able to shake up Hitler's Germany.

Although it is difficult and painful now, the ultimate winner will be England.

It was the same when fighting Napoleon, and wasn't Britain ultimately victorious in World War I, which turned Europe into a new hell called trench warfare?

It is clear that Hitler's Third Reich, which Britain is currently fighting against, is a powerful enemy on a different level from the past empires that Britain has faced so far.

Even Churchill had to admit this.

But Britain is stronger than those braggarts about the Third Reich, Great Germany, and all that.

Take a look at the map. Is there anywhere in the world that doesn't have the Union Jack? There is no way Britain, which has spread out across the world, will lose against Germany.

I had no doubt that I believed that.

"dismissal! "Mr Prime Minister!"

June 6, 1943.

"The German army… … The German army... … !"

"Jerry what? "Say it straight."

"The Germans have landed in Britain!"

Churchill's hopes, which had never been broken since the start of the war, were cruelly shattered.