September 3, 1939
Northern Germany, 3rd Military District Berlin-Brandenburg, Combat Zone near Potsdam The sound of cannon fire struck the ears in succession, and the engine noise of a swarm of tanks shaking the ground filled the battlefield.
[Charge, charge! Berlin is right before our eyes! For the Fatherland!]
[Enemy defense line ahead!]
Panzer General Oswald Lutz's unit was engaged in a fierce skirmish almost near Berlin.
“For the Fatherland! Heil Hitler!”
An SS soldier who had picked up a grenade and rushed at a tank turned into a lump of at by machine gun fire and collapsed with that death cry.
“Ugh, aaaaaah, take cover-”
The grenade he dropped powerlessly rolled into the trench of his unlucky comrades, scattering blood and shrapnel with an explosion.
Although the stopping power of the infantry unit, scraped together from the Berlin Reinforcent Army, SS, and even the police by gathering everything available, was not that high, Panzer General Lutz's unit was suffering not insignificant losses.
[It's a Stuka!]
[Damn it! Vincente is hit!]
The Stuka roared with a sound that tore the atmosphere, dive-bombing and turning the tank into a burning coffin in its entirety.
In the face of dive bombing that struck the tank's most vulnerable top armor with aerial bombs, the New Governnt Army, which lacked an Air Force entirely, had no way to respond.
The roar of the Stuka, famous as the terror of the Allied Forces in the early stages of World War II, the 'Trumpet of Jericho', was tearing apart the ears and morale of the compatriots.
“Do not hesitate! Do not waver! Brave Panzer gentlen, our victory is right before our eyes!”
General Lutz, whose eyes were bloodshot from rushing almost without sleep since setting out, continued to encourage them over the radio, but the enemy's resistance was gradually increasing.
[Enemy armored unit at 3 o'clock-]
The report was cut off with an explosion.
[General! It's a Panzer IV! We can't handle it with our tanks!]
“Damn it all. Have they arrived already…”
The response was faster than expected.
Even assuming they could use the railroad, General Lutz clicked his tongue thinking this was on the level of preparing and departing almost as soon as they heard the news, when a radio ssage flew into his tank.
[This is Major General Georg-Hans Reinhardt of the 14th Corps, 4th Panzer Division! The rebel army is to surrender imdiately!]
Since they were tank crews belonging to the sa German military, they knew each other's frequencies inside out, and the enemy used that to directly urge the tankers to surrender.
[General, what do we do!]
“The operation has failed. If they are the vanguard, the 10th Army will storm in soon.”
Panzer General Oswald Lutz spoke despondently, feeling the strength drain from his fatigue-ridden body that he had been whipping with stimulants and caffeine.
“We will deploy a front line with the infantry units following behind.”
General Lutz and the armored unit had advanced magnificently even with early model tanks like the Panzer I and II, but they could not overco the enemy who had scraped together every possible military force and the air support, and their rush toward Berlin was blocked.
---
September 4, 1939
Northern Germany, 3rd Military District Berlin-Brandenburg, Potsdam 10th Army Garrison If one asked if the situation of the 10th Army, which had forced the retreat of the New Governnt Army's armored unit rushing toward Berlin, was good, it wasn't either.
Major General Walther Model, the 4th Army Corps Chief of Staff, had persuaded the hesitant Brauchitsch to get permission for the 10th Army's movent, and while moving, he planned the operation with 10th Army Chief of Staff Friedrich Paulus, successfully deploying the 10th Army rapidly and performing the great feat of blocking the enemies.
However, there was no such thing as joy on his face, and he was listening to the broadcast flowing from the radio with a miserable face while holding his forehead.
[Thank you for summoning your courage like this. May I ask your na?]
The female voice coming from the radio was quite familiar to Model as well.
Claudia Jung, she was an acquaintance of his subordinate Dietrich Schacht, whom he cherished and supported in his own way.
When the news broke that she was a suspect in the murder case of Minister Ribbentrop, Walther Model had briefly pondered the connection between her and Schacht, but soon kept silent.
Soldiers do not involve themselves in politics. That was what he had learned as a direct subordinate of General Seeckt and had kept all his life, and apart from that, he did not want to doubt a subordinate he cherished.
[It's Julia. Julia Bauer.
]
[Miss Bauer, I see. Miss Bauer, how did you co to be imprisoned in Buchenwald Concentration Camp?]
[I, I don't know well either.
I was just a housewife living in Dresden. I only heard that my cousin got on the wrong side of Doctor Goebbels.
]
The woman nad Bauer sounded like an ordinary person who had never done an interview or anything of the sort, but Claudia skillfully conducted the interview.
[I see.
Miss Bauer, what did you experience there?]
[It was hell. We barely washed and barely ate, doing only forced labor.
I don't even know how many people died working until the mont of their death. Those who said they couldn't work anymore died horribly.
]
In front of General Model, who was listening to the radio while holding his forehead, stood Captain Dietrich Schacht's enlistnt buddy and War Academy batchmate Klens Fleck, and Captain Roger Michael.
[That is a cruel thing.
]
[I-I will never forget it for the rest of my life. A pastor from Austria said forcing labor on people was unjust, and he was crucified upside down on a cross and died.
On, one day, they stripped a woman naked who begged she couldn't do it anymore because it was too hard, and threw her into the guard dog kennel as feed! Sob…]
[It's alright, Miss Bauer. You are safe now.
]
[Why did we have to suffer such things? We weren't even Jewish! We were just ordinary Germans! What did we do so wrong to be dragged to such a place…]
Bauer on the radio eventually burst into tears. The sound of Claudia soothing her was heard for a mont, and then the voice of a man whom everyone here knew very well flowed out.
[The Nazi regi has endlessly sung of the enemy within Germany. First it was the Jews and Communists, then the Social Democrats, and then the labor unions! When they were all taken away and there were no more enemies to hate, they cried out for war and have oppressed and massacred everyone opposed to the regi!]
Listening to the unfamiliar voice of the man he thought was a friend he knew well, Klens wore an expression of not knowing what to say.
[We must face it now! Not the enemies of Germany they sang of, but that they themselves are Germany's greatest threat! What we, the New Governnt, are waging is not a struggle to seize power! It is a resistance to regain Germany's freedom and survival!]
Model, who was listening to the voice of the subordinate he cherished, slowly moved his hand to the radio's button.
[Subjugation under dictatorship, or freedom against oppression! We stand at a crossroads of choice! Those who choose freedom, please join the New Governnt! The Freedom Corps will gladly welco you-]
Model turned off the radio and chuckled.
“I didn't know that friend had a talent for this kind of thing too. I should have recomnded him as a politician, not for the General Staff.”
Klens Fleck and Roger Michael broke into a cold sweat at their superior officer's joke.
Model let out a sigh, leaned deeply back into his chair, and asked as if tossing it out.
“Did you guys know?”
“We weren't directly invited, but thinking about it now, it seems he tested the waters a few tis.”
“Uh, I think so too.
Major General. Since I didn't answer very positively…”
Model laughed despondently at the two n's answers.
“I see.”
Just when he thought the man was finally finding his place after being demoted, this ti the subordinate he personally recomnded is a Major and spokesperson for the rebel army, no, the New Governnt.
It was truly an act of ingratitude beyond asure, but for so reason, Model didn't even feel like getting angry.
Soldiers do not intervene in politics and are unconditionally loyal to the regi.
Apart from his beliefs, he was a person with enough sensibility to listen to his subordinates' grievances and counsel them seriously.
Model wasn't so indifferent that he couldn't understand why the subordinate he cherished was doing that, even after hearing the New Governnt's radio.
Dietrich Schacht had been evaluated as sowhat emotional since Spain.
It is impudent that he committed such an act without saying a word to him once, but even if he had spoken, Model wouldn't have agreed.
Did he not know the true state of the Nazi regi? He probably didn't know it entirely. He just chose not to pay attention and not to know.
However, even he, who held the belief that soldiers unconditionally obey the regi, no longer had the heart to treat the New Governnt Army as a rebel army and order their subjugation.
Walther von Reichenau's 10th Army defeated the New Governnt Army heading for Berlin, but the morale of the subordinate units that needed to launch a counterattack was hitting rock bottom, and insubordination was continuing.
The Wehrmacht was tied down not by the Iron Cavalry, the armored units put forward by the New Governnt, but by civilians and journalists who had suffered under the Nazi regi.
---
September 5, 1939
Central Germany, 9th Military District Kassel, Frankfurt Radio Broadcasting Station The Frankfurt station seized by the New Governnt was broadcasting continuously day after day.
Even as the hosts and interview subjects kept changing, the broadcast did not end.
When Claudia got tired, Editor-in-chief Heuss took over, and when he got tired, Branch Manager Habenstein took over; there were many others to conduct interviews.
“Forr Mayor of Cologne, Konrad Adenauer, it is an honor to et you like this.”
“Hah, put away that title illegally taken by the Nazis.
I work as the Provisional Governor of Cologne-Ruhr in the New Governnt now.”
In between broadcasts where survivors of concentration camps exposed Nazi atrocities and received comfort for their wounds, we were deliberately inserting interviews with influential politicians.
“Aha, I see. Governor Adenauer, how did you co to join the New Governnt?”
“When I was working as Mayor of Cologne, Hitler beca Chancellor and the first thing he said was to hoist their flag, the Hakenkreuz.
When I said I didn't want to, Hitler asked to et
in person, and I said I didn't want that either. So he dissolved the Cologne City Council, claid I abused power when I was mayor, took my house, and confiscated my accounts.”
Adenauer, who had a lot of pent-up grievances, chatted enthusiastically in his uniquely blunt yet gruff tone. It was refreshing to see even Claudia, who was skilled at interviews, looking slightly overwheld.
“I was released quickly because they locked
up without much evidence, but after that, those damned bastards kept threatening
and harassing , saying I was engaging in activities opposing them. I don't know what power they think this old man has.”
“That must have been hard.”
“Leaving aside the hardship, it made
angry.
Everyone knows that Rhinelanders aren't kind. And I'm from the Rhineland.
Those damned bastards kept saying I was engaging in activities opposing them, so I joined the New Governnt to actually do it!”
At Adenauer's words, the people around chuckled.
“There are all sorts of people in this place called the New Governnt.
There are liberals, plenty of Prussian Junker lords whom I dislike, and there are also the Social Democrats whom I cursed excitedly as Commies during the Weimar era.”
“Fufu, yes.
We didn't like Governor Adenauer very much either.”
Adenauer scoffed at Claudia's words and finished his statent.
“I never imagined we would gather in one place and join forces like this, but we have gathered with one goal. If it is to drive out the dictator who ruined Germany, I can gladly lend this old hand even to people I don't like.”
“Cooperation even if it ans setting aside ideological differences for the sake of freedom. Thank you for your words, Governor Adenauer.”
I clapped and gave a thumbs up to Claudia and Governor Adenauer who finished the interview.
Of course, I didn't have the certainty that I would win a one-on-one speech battle against Goebbels, the so-called genius of propaganda.
But why would we engage in such a reckless confrontation that only a dictator would do, while pursuing liberal democracy?
The victims who suffered from Nazi atrocities were endless no matter how much we peeled back, and the interview volunteers, initially few, were increasing day by day.
The Germans under Nazi rule were absolutely not without complaints.
They just kept their mouths shut because they had no ans or thod to speak.
Who said it? That democracy is the violence of the majority.
Instead of a reckless head-on confrontation, we were pushing fair and square with numbers.
Goebbels' flashy speeches and the frenzy of the audience are partly due to his own genius, but they are the result of thoroughly controlled and prepared staging.
But we can screw over what he is preparing with great care just by bringing in anyone who has been burned by the Nazis and interviewing them.
The inexperience of the people appearing in the interviews feels easier to empathize with and more authentic to the people who are tired of flashy Nazi-style propaganda, and the grief and screams they experienced are raw condemnations we don't even need to laboriously prepare.
No matter how high-flying a genius of propaganda Goebbels is, it is impossible to refute every single one of the experiences these countless people are chattering about all day long.
And it would be even harder for a totalitarian dictatorial regi to bring in ordinary people and broadcast sothing that stimulates emotions.
The high command expressed considerable concern about what we were trying to do, but thanks to the support of the Abwehr including Director Canaris and Deputy Director Oster, and Beck's permission, the broadcast that started was achieving huge success.
The royalist conservative figures, who were very displeased when they first heard the broadcast, shut their mouths for now as the Freedom Corps visibly swelled with the support of citizen volunteers and donations began to pour in.
Rather, Ludwig Beck and Director Canaris promoted
to Major, saying my rank was too low to be doing broadcasts.
Having gained trust for now, I was inserting key figures from each ideological camp into interviews to expand the spectrum of forces joining the New Governnt.
“To think a day would co when I'm in the sa boat as you in my lifeti.”
“I didn't know you people had enough brains to renounce Marxism either.”
Seeing Kurt Schumacher, a major leader of the SPD but still in a wheelchair after suffering hardships in Dachau, shaking hands with his longti political enemy Adenauer with a reluctant look after the interview, I chuckled.
In my position knowing history, seeing how much those two slandered each other as political enemies in West Germany, it really feels fresh.
Anyway, the civil war has now entered a new phase.
Manstein's operation plan certainly helped us rapidly seize western Germany, but expecting a blitzkrieg unfolded without air superiority to be a fluke that captures Berlin was unreasonable.
In the first place, our forces were too small to aim for victory through military power, and over there, they have a galaxy of fad commanders of the Wehrmacht.
But if the Ruhr and public opinion are with us, the story is different.
No matter how mighty the Nazi's Wehrmacht is, it is aningless if they don't move according to their will, and our troops will gradually increase while receiving ample equipnt poured out from the Ruhr.
Just as I was thinking that, Branch Manager Habenstein called .
“Captain Schach… Ah, Major. They're asking you to co to headquarters.”
Why are the high-ranking people looking for ?
“Crown Prince Wilhelm is arriving in Frankfurt soon.”
Ah, what was bound to co has co.
Reviews
All reviews (0)