September 21, 1939
Kassel, Frankfurt, 9th Military District, Central Germany - New German Governnt Building On the way to the new governnt building, the streets were already filled with mbers of the Freedom Legion and citizens, cheering enthusiastically.
I think I'm starting to understand why the high and mighty chase after power so desperately, becoming pathetic and causing a scene even as they fall.
The joy and welco filling the faces of the people thronging the road as I head to the building in my car—is it truly joy for a freedom they won with their own hands, or is it the result of the incitent by
and my people?
Do they truly understand what they are fighting for? Can Germany beco a normal country without suffering the worst catastrophe of all, World War II, which the Nazis would bring?
For the sake of all the sacrifices we have made, and all those we will have to make in the future, I desperately hope so.
“Long live Free Germany!”
By the ti I arrived, the new governnt building had already been completely retaken.
“Long live the constitutional monarchy!”
Seeing the flag of the German Empire that had hung over the building taken down, replaced by the flag of the Freedom Legion and the black-red-gold flag of the German Republic, I felt an indescribable emotion.
But there were too many problems to solve to get lost in sentint, and I quickened my pace.
Every mber of the Freedom Legion I passed on the way smiled and saluted , making my face tingle in more ways than one.
Damn it, at this rate, I might actually start deluding myself into thinking I'm so great hero.
The leaders of the military junta were gathered in the conference room.
August von Mackensen, in his magnificent hussar uniform, Dr.
Goerdeler, and the generals.
I entered the conference room and gave them a light salute.
“Good to see you, Lieutenant Colonel Schacht. I am August von Mackensen.”
“It’s Major, Your Excellency, the Field Marshal. I never accepted that proposal.”
Mackensen grinned at my words and then asked a question.
“Has His Majesty the Emperor not co?”
“His Majesty stated he has no intention of seeing traitors.”
Mackensen let out a dry laugh at my answer. To them, it might have been loyalty, but it was a loyalty that was ultimately not reciprocated.
“Respected generals, and Doctor. I am sorry, but everyone present in this room is under arrest for high treason.
The formal trial will be postponed until after the unification of Germany is achieved.”
No sooner had I finished speaking than soldiers of the Freedom Legion entered the conference room.
The generals did not resist, but Dr. Goerdeler had a word for .
“Are you happy to have rebuilt a weak Germany in this land?”
“Are you happy to have pushed the new governnt, so painstakingly ford, to the brink of war and endangered the very Hohenzollern imperial family you sought to establish?”
To Dr. Goerdeler, whose face was contorted, I added one more thing.
“Consider yourself fortunate that His Majesty the Emperor is wise. Had he gone along with your short-sighted actions, the last chance for the imperial family to exist in this land would have vanished.”
“You traito…!”
“Hahahaha!”
Mackensen cut off Dr. Goerdeler's furious words with a laugh, then smiled brightly at
and spoke.
“He's quite a piece of work, this one. I say, Schacht.
Could I borrow your pistol?”
Mackensen's tone was as casual as soone asking for a cup of coffee.
“You endangered Germany, and now you wish for an honorable end?”
“If I’m taken alive, the Nazis or the Wehrmacht will interpret it to their advantage and use it as an excuse to attack the new governnt.”
Mackensen said this with a faint smile.
“This old man was indebted to the imperial family, but I took a piece of land from Hitler and kept my mouth shut.
As an honorable Field Marshal of the German Army, far from preventing a civil war, I even endangered Germany out of a greedy desire to leave behind the honor of being a ritorious subject who restored the imperial family.”
Goerdeler looked at Mackensen with a half-despairing face, but he continued as if he had let go of everything.
“Everything happened because this old man went senile, so I cannot let the young ones bear the burden. I should have ended it before you ca, but I got greedy, wanting to see your face just once.
I apologize.”
I handed him my pistol, and Mackensen took off his hussar's cap, set it down, and smiled.
“Do not beco like this shabby old man. I once walked with my shoulders held high in pride, but in death, I shall be forever ashad.”
A gunshot rang out.
“Aaaaargh!”
While everyone's eyes were on Mackensen, Dr.
Goerdeler scread, ran to the window, and jumped.
A mont later, a dull thud echoed.
In an instant, the Junker military junta that had seized Frankfurt ended in a three-day reign.
---
“Hey, Schacht.”
After heading down to the basent to check on those who had been detained by the military junta, I had to let out a sigh of relief and a hollow laugh at the sa ti.
Colonel Tresckow's arm seed to have been broken from a beating; even with a cast on, he was smoking a cigarette with his other hand and waved at .
“You’re really sothing else.”
As I said that, I swept up Claudia, who had run over, into my arms and kissed her.
“You guys are the ones who are really sothing else,”
Tresckow's icy remark reached my ears, but who cares.
Although the Junkers are n of a rigid chivalry, I was worried that since she’s not exactly a submissive lady, she might have resisted and gotten hurt.
Thankfully, Claudia seed to be perfectly fine.
Then again, my fiancée is certainly not a fool.
In the brief mont the broadcast station was being taken over, she had shown the divine foresight to help
by sending a telegram to the Frankfurter Zeitung headquarters, telling them to prepare to print the newspaper.
I found out later that when my call was cut off, Admiral Canaris had hesitated to execute the plan.
It seems his own monarchist leanings were the reason, but thanks to Claudia requesting the printing preparations in advance, the newspapers were distributed before the military junta could do anything. Seeing that, even the hesitant Admiral Canaris initiated the operation.
Considering how much I've cooperated with the Abwehr, I feel a little disappointed, but I should be grateful that he, an old-tir and a staunch anti-communist, tolerated the Social Democrats and sided with
instead of the monarchists.
Still, how many tis has Claudia saved
from a crisis? At this point, I’m starting to think she might be my goddess of victory.
“I’ve made you wait too long, my Host.”
“You deserve a punishnt, my Spokesman?”
“Ah, can I not hope for rcy?”
Seeing her mischievous smile, she is overwhelmingly lovely, but there are too many eyes watching.
What a sha.
I set the giggling Claudia down and turned my gaze, only to et the eyes of my father, Hjalmar Schacht, who was looking at
from behind his glasses with a perpetually expressionless face.
Whoa, that startled .
No matter when I see him, he's just needlessly impressive.
I bowed to him respectfully.
“Congratulations, forr Minister of Finance Schacht.”
Only then did his eyebrows twitch as if to ask what I was talking about. I seriously wondered which news would surprise him more—that he had been dismissed as Minister of Finance, or that I had died—but…
“It is an order from His Majesty the Emperor.
As of today, you are the head of the ergency war cabinet as Minister of the Chancellery.”
My father straightened the tie of his suit, which had maintained its sharp form even while he was imprisoned, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.
Wow, that's a bit creepy.
“To think I'd live to see the day I benefit from you.”
Hey, anyone listening would think I’m a son who's been no help his whole life.
Why is my fiancée laughing? Everyone's so an, really.
---
September 25, 1939
South of the British Isles, London, the capital of Britain The military junta's coup d'état was over in a re three days, but the situations it caused were by no ans so easily concluded.
My father, Hjalmar Schacht, proving himself to be a genius of the century, swiftly convened a war cabinet as Minister of the Chancellery, took control of the new governnt, and brought the chaos under control.
The man who succeeded my father as Minister of Finance was Konrad Adenauer. As the Mayor of Cologne and later the Chancellor of post-war West Germany, he possessed proven administrative skills, so he would be a suitable choice to manage the new governnt's finances.
Ludwig Beck, the Imperial Regent, had undeniably created a dark chapter in his history by succumbing to the military junta, declaring Wilhelm III's ascension, and broadcasting a request for public support. Nevertheless, he was appointed Minister of Defense in the war cabinet.
He had held that position concurrently in the original new governnt, and in any case, since he wasn't a main instigator, we couldn't just cast out the forr head of the new governnt and the spiritual pillar of the army.
If anything, the fact that he'd made a bit of a ss of his own history ant he yielded the leadership of the new governnt to my father without a fuss.
Thanks to Wilhelm III's ascension and Beck's appointnt as Minister of Defense, generals at the front like Witzleben, Hamrstein, Lutz, and Leeb imdiately pledged their allegiance to us and were preparing for a Nazi offensive.
It was truly fortunate that the front-line generals did not join the military junta's coup.
Especially General Witzleben, who I heard had actively opposed the terrorist attack against .
If they had joined and we had to purge them, the new governnt's military would have been paralyzed and unable to do anything.
Fortunately, despite the military junta's coup, the front-line generals maintained their defensive lines without moving their troops. As a result, the Nazis, who had ambitiously declared their revenge, saw the affair end before they could even launch a proper offensive.
With the military junta collapsing in three days and the new governnt becoming even more solid, the Nazis and Hitler must be fuming.
The problem wasn't within the new governnt, but in the diplomatic situation.
Italy's Mussolini was sending love calls to Britain and France, proposing to revive the Stresa Front—the triple alliance of Britain, France, and Italy that had opposed Germany—in order to carve Germany up.
Britain and France reacted coldly to Italy, but they maintained their stance that the revival of the Hohenzollern imperial family was unacceptable.
“Is it still quiet on the Polish front?”
“They issued a statent condemning the Nazis' warmongering, but so far, there has been no statent regarding the new governnt. However, I'm told they are continuing their military deploynt along the border.”
Listening to Foreign Minister Weizs??cker, I fell into thought.
Poland.
In the original history, they were the most tragic victim of World War II, but that was simply because they were caught between two great powers; they are by no ans a ek sacrificial lamb.
After the last great war, while Germany was floundering, Poland invaded all its neighboring countries and carved off their land.
Right now, it is an aggressive military dictatorship.
Originally, Germany would have launched a surprise attack using the Gleiwitz incident as a pretext before Poland had finished its preparations, and with the Soviet Union also joining in, it would have collapsed in an instant—
But thanks to
preventing that, they are, at this very mont, deploying their military to the German border.
The navy refused to transport Küchler's 3rd Army in East Prussia, and Günther von Kluge's 4th Army, along with Army Group North commander Bock, is holding the line on the Polish border, so we have a minimal defensive force.
But will that be enough? For a Poland brimming with baseless confidence, one that boasted until just before WWII that they could easily stop Germany, it wouldn't be strange if they invaded at any mont.
At least they're a devout Catholic country, so they might have flinched thanks to the Pope's support, but they are too belligerent to be optimistic based on that alone.
The reason they're still quiet is likely because they're wary of the Soviet Union.
How will Stalin, who failed to sign the non-aggression pact and is on bad terms with Britain and France, make his move?
“Well then, shall we get going? Hmm, going together with you like this, Minister, feels strange for so reason.”
“Hahaha, it reminds
of when we first t when you were a captain, Vice-Chancellor.”
Though they call it Vice-Chancellor, the Vice-Minister of the Chancellery is essentially the Deputy Pri Minister. It's just tainted by Wilhelm III's bizarre obsession.
It was a teoric rise, to be sure, but no one in the new governnt's leadership made an issue of it.
They were divided between those who acknowledged my contributions and those who respected the Emperor who appointed .
During the Munich Agreent, I was just a captain transferred away by Halder, but now I'm here in Britain as the Vice-Chancellor, to conduct diplomatic negotiations alongside Foreign Minister Weizs??cker.
The change in my position has been so rapid that I can't get used to it, but I set off for the conference hall where the representatives of Britain and France were waiting.
Now then, shall we go et Mr. ‘Peace for Our Ti’?
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