February 9, 1937
Rivas-Vaciamadrid, southeast of Madrid, central Spain Four days after the offensive began, Colonel Escaz's forces, to which our company belonged, had successfully captured key towns in the south, including Rivas-Vaciamadrid, while Colonel Ricardo Radda's forces had also successfully secured the high ground west of the river in the north.
The real problem was the central army, which should have been the core of the offensive.
If everything had gone as planned, they should have defeated the unsuspecting Republicans and successfully crossed the river.
Of course, there is no such thing as a war that goes according to plan.
"The 11th Division? Enrique Lester? He was from Frunze, wasn't he? You damned Soviet puppet, communist bastard."
"Anyway, the left and right wings have done their job.
All that matters is the center's performance…"
Colonels Escaz and Rada, who had done their part, were in a relatively comfortable position. However, the commander-in-chief of this operation, General Enrique Valera, seed very displeased.
This was understandable, for while the left and right wings were doing their jobs, the central army, far from crossing the river, was defeated by the armored units of the 11th Division of the Republicans led by Enrique Lester, allowing the enemy west of the river to retreat safely.
“You red bastards, I don’t know when you got so used to using tanks.”
When Colonel Asensio, who led the central infantry, reluctantly said a word, Baron Fernando, with his handso mustache, turned his arrows in this direction.
"I appreciate the support, but honestly, the T-26s they're using are far more powerful than the Panzer I! This defeat is purely due to the difference in tank performance!"
"No, they couldn't fight back, so why are they turning this on us?" I felt a cold sweat run down my face as I turned my gaze to the man wearing the lieutenant general's insignia.
“It is said that the performance of the Panzer I tank is inferior to that of the Soviet-made T-26 tank, which is causing difficulties in the Central Army’s advance.”
Lieutenant General Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma of the Army, who heard my words, narrowed his brows with a long, stoic face, and Colonel Wolfram von Richthofen of the Luftwaffe (Air Force), who was standing next to him, whistled.
I am not familiar with Lieutenant General von Thoma, Commander of the Condor Legion Army, but Wolfram von Richthofen was a well-known figure in modern tis.
Curtis LeMay, the Arican bombing nerd and Stone Age enthusiast who indiscriminately bombed civilians and everything in between, claiming to have sent Japan and Vietnam back to the Stone Age, is probably one of the most famous Air Force generals of World War II.
But this Wolfram von Richthofen was a Nazi LeMay, or worse. He openly expressed his wonderfully eccentric sentints about how delighted he was to see a city burning with incendiary bombs.
Frankly, as an Army officer, I couldn't pay much attention to Richthofen, who was in the Air Force. The people attending the eting were all big nas.
The reason I, a so-called "lazy bum," am here in this place where everyone is a lieutenant, even if they can't make a general, is because the adjutant of Lieutenant General Thomas, who was originally in charge of interpreting, was unfortunately hit by shrapnel and carried to the rear.
I was drafted from our unit in Rivasbasia Madrid, where an urgent operational eting was being held, as I spoke both German and Spanish.
So I have to be the interpreter on the scene, blaming each other for the failure of the offensive. Oh my god, why are you doing this to ?
"The Panzer I we provided is, after all, a prototype. Keep in mind that the Condor Legion's support relies primarily on air and artillery support. After all, tanks are infantry support weapons, and minor differences in performance won't determine the success or failure of an operation."
Let's relay Lieutenant General Thomas's remarks, in a more refined manner.
This ti, the Nationalist generals' expressions crumpled. From a modern perspective, knowing that World War II was centered around armored units, especially tanks, this might seem like nonsense, but at least for now, it was accurate.
It's not like you can wage a blitzkrieg with a Panzer I tank that fires two machine guns, let alone a main gun that cos to mind when you think of tanks, and the T-26 that they fear is only equipped with a main gun, so it's just an early light tank.
My modern interest in Germany, especially World War II, and my knowledge of it might help
survive in this damned world.
The Soviet Army, thanks to the far ahead-of-its-ti Mikhail Tukhachevsky, was already emulating blitzkrieg, as were the Republican armored units, which were still operating their tanks and doctrine.
The troops led by Colonel Asensio and Baron Fernando were thrown into confusion by the armored forces that suddenly appeared and were routed.
Even the Soviet Union's flagship tank, the T-34, a main battle tank during World War II, could easily be destroyed without infantry support. Yet, the Soviets were already operating masses of paper-armored light tanks, the T-26, acting like armored cavalry.
If that happens, they will naturally fall prey to infantry flanking attacks or artillery fire. For example, the Pak-36 anti-tank gun or Flak-18 anti-aircraft gun, which our Condor Legion is heavily ard with.
The Condor Legion's army units were small in size, but their equipnt was quite impressive, thanks to Hitler, who had just begun rearmant, sending them all kinds of weapons for field testing.
But it wasn't a place for a re second lieutenant to interfere, and there was an interpreter officer on the other side as well.
Since it was a military operation, it was customary for both sides to bring interpreters, and since the other side was listening, I don't know if they would translate it appropriately, but if I carelessly inserted my own opinion, I wouldn't be able to handle the consequences.
Even if I left it alone, it was a lesson I'd naturally accumulated while rolling around in the Spanish Civil War, so I had no intention of being criticized for being a presumptuous lieutenant.
Not yet, at least.
“Tsk, are the Italians here yet?”
"Those laid-back guys said it would take a month to prepare. They won't be able to help with this offensive."
In any case, the ambitious offensive to cut off the road between Spain’s historic capital, Madrid, and the Republican faction’s stronghold of Valencia was soundly blocked, and while we were unable to launch an offensive due to the heavy rain, reinforcents were probably arriving continuously at the Republican strongpoint across the river.
Even I, a re second lieutenant riff-raff, had a gut feeling that this offensive was already a failure, but unfortunately, the Nationalist faction's High Command seed to think otherwise. After a eting with no real substance, the conclusion was this.
“In any case, it's a done deal. There will be so sacrifices, but as soon as the rain stops, we will cross the river and resu the offensive as planned.
Any deviations from the plan will be resolved with a wave-like offensive. Madrid must be liberated from the commies!”
“Death to the commies!”
I felt conflicted.
If a war had broken out in Korea, common soldiers like
would have charged and died a senseless death as a result of a ridiculously stupid operational eting like this.
A second lieutenant's position wasn't much different, but it was a small comfort that, as an adjutant in a dispatched unit, I could avoid such a futile expenditure.
---
Outside, the downpour continued. In this weather, air support was naturally impossible, so there wasn't much for the Condor Legion to do.
As I was leaving with Lieutenant General Thoma and Colonel Richthofen after the eting, a Spanish officer wearing a lieutenant colonel's rank insignia followed us out and struck up a conversation.
“Isn’t it frustrating? They are prudent when they should be swift and bold, and bold when they should give up.”
The lieutenant colonel who said that stared intently at . Was he talking to ?… N-no, he wasn't.
As soon as I translated, Richthofen replied.
“Ah, Lieutenant Colonel Yagüe.
I was just feeling a bit frustrated myself. It would have been great if you had participated in the last offensive.”
Lieutenant Colonel Yagüe. That was a na inside Dietrich's head.
Juan Yagüe. Among the officers of Nationalist Spain, led by figures like Emilio Mola, he was an officer respected by the Condor Legion, almost uniquely skilled in the bold transition between offense and defense.
The German officers were unspeakably arrogant and routinely dismissed the Spanish Army, which had many militarily incompetent political officers, so to be renowned for his competence among the Condor Legion ant his skills had to be the real deal.
Richthofen and Yagüe seed to have a friendly acquaintance, bantering and exchanging trivial stories.
I wish they would also recognize my grievances, having to translate every single one of those trivial tales.
“Well then, I’ll be on my way.
Good work today, Lieutenant Colonel. Second Lieutenant.
You may return to your unit once the Lieutenant Colonel’s business is finished.”
“Yes! Heil-”
Lieutenant General von Thoma, seemingly uninterested, waved his hand dismissively and walked away under an umbrella held by his adjutant.
The so-called Nazi salute was not yet the common salute for the entire Wehrmacht; it was only a recomndation, and conservative Wehrmacht generals did not welco it.
The pride of the German Army generals, veterans who had endured the horrific World War I and the disarmant from the Treaty of Versailles, was more than high enough to ignore a leader who was a re forr soldier.
This is sothing I need to rember.
I still haven't decided exactly what I should do, but no matter how I think about it, fighting as a soldier under the madman Führer Hitler only to burn to death with Germany seems like a crazy thing to do.
Of course, unlike the Army, the Luftwaffe, a group personally created by G??ring, a high-ranking Nazi and Air Force general, was naturally unified in its use of the Nazi salute.
A significant number of the Army soldiers dispatched to the Condor Legion here were young soldiers who hadn't had a chance to earn any decent military rit, so-called 'pro-Nazi' personnel dispatched to build their military rit and careers, and they too were all proudly shouting Heil Hitler, just like the Air Force.
After Lieutenant General von Thoma left, Richthofen continued to converse with Yagüe, mixing in a little halting and awkward Spanish, and Yagüe seed quite pleased, engaging in small talk.
It was a bit surprising that Richthofen could speak even a little Spanish; he said he had been learning it little by little on-site.
In the middle of their conversation, a man holding an umbrella approached, folded it, and asked in Spanish with a distinct Arican accent.
“A pleasure to et you, Lieutenant Colonel Juan Yagüe, is it? I am John T.
Whitaker, an Arican journalist. Could you spare a mont?”
Richthofen, who seed to have understood the words 'Arican' and 'journalist', imdiately scowled and shut his mouth.
From the perspective of the regular army under a dictator, that is, the German Wehrmacht, it was unthinkable for such a civilian to be in a military operation zone.
But the Nationalist High Command had no intention of hiding their actions, and the Republican faction was also trying to achieve a diplomatic victory through a dia war using foreign journalists and reporters, so these kinds of people were everywhere in Spain.
Even in this era, reporters would go through fire and water to find an opportunity to make a na for themselves, and there was also the reality that security was difficult to manage in the Spanish Civil War, where the front line was a ss and operational areas were not clearly separated from civilian areas.
“It's about the operation that took place in Badajoz last August.
There are rumors that civilians, amounting to 10% of the city's population, were killed on your orders, Lieutenant Colonel Yagüe. Excuse , but is that true?”
Honestly, in Korea, the image of a reporter was so bad that it brought to mind 'trashy reporter', but perhaps because this person was in the middle of a living hell like this civil war, the question was bluntness itself.
Well, I couldn't tell if that was truly the sense of duty of a democratic journalist, or if he just needed a sensational article.
I reflexively tried to translate for Richthofen, but he imdiately noticed and raised a hand to stop .
Co to think of it, the German military's presence in Spain was a semi-secret. I was almost screwed.
Lieutenant Colonel Yagüe… surprisingly, replied kindly with a good-natured smile.
“Ah, of course we killed them.”
For a mont, neither I nor Whitaker could control our facial expressions, but Lieutenant Colonel Yagüe continued, unfazed.
“Oh, I don’t know what answer you were expecting, but should I have abandoned the front line I had advanced so far, just to take 4,000 commie prisoners of war back to base? Or, should I have just left them and advanced, only to be surrounded by Badajoz, which would have beco a commie city again at my back?”
Whitaker couldn't hide his stiff face, but he showed his professionalism by writing down everything Lieutenant Colonel Yagüe said, and the Lieutenant Colonel continued, still with that good-natured smile.
“This is war, Mr. Yankee.
Those commie bastards killed and raped innocent priests and nuns, and in Toledo, they took the son of the proud Colonel Moscardó hostage and threatened him to betray his fatherland. They are simply paying the price.”
Having said that, Yagüe added with the smile of a friendly neighborhood mister.
“And I am very proud to be a patriot standing at its vanguard.”
With a stiff face, Whitaker wrote down everything Lieutenant Colonel Yagüe said and then gave a casual thanks for the interview. He glanced our way for a mont, but perhaps realizing from our attitude that we wouldn't agree to an interview, he left imdiately.
Not long after Whitaker left, a ssenger ca from the High Command looking for Yagüe and took him away, and only then did Richthofen, who had been bothering , let
go, telling
I'd done a good job.
Under my umbrella, I was walking toward my unit, not on the well-drained streets of Seoul with its neat tiles, but on the muddy, swamp-like roads of Spain.
Honestly, even from my modern person's perspective, if you only listen to Lieutenant Colonel Yagüe's words, I don't think he's entirely wrong. A civil war has already broken out, and if you can't avoid war, sacrifices may be necessary.
But does that justify massacring residents who were just standing by and then bragging about it so proudly?
It’s a good thing that crazier bastards like Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan appeared, and the experts in delivering democracy were already on the verge of exhaustion from dealing with them; otherwise, Spain would have been wiped off the map just like Nazi Germany.
These guys, both during and after the civil war, didn't even bother to hide their massacres, brazenly carrying them out within their own country, slapping on all sorts of labels like political prisoners.
I was once again made aware that this was an age of barbarism wearing a modern mask. Ha, damn it, I want to go back to Korea!!
On the way, I made eye contact with a girl watching from between the curtains of her house, and she flinched and quickly drew them shut.
When this downpour stops, before the offensive begins, the ‘commies’ of this town will also be 'cleaned up', just as Yagüe did in Badajoz.
I'm now slowly starting to accept that I'm a German facing the shitty World War II.
It doesn't seem like there will be a miracle like, "Wake up and tada! I'm back in Korea!"
In that case, I had to think about how to escape this shitty situation of being on a train to hell I never wanted to board.
And the conclusion that cos so naturally is that under this insane Nazi regi, nothing can be accomplished.
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