September 6, 1939
Kassel, 9th Military District, Central Germany, Provisional Headquarters of the New Governnt in Frankfurt A day after the Crown Prince and his wife arrived in Frankfurt. The New Governnt had formally welcod the Crown Prince and was now laying out its blueprint for the future.
"Public opinion is now on the side of the New Governnt. Though so who dare not follow the legitimacy of the Hohenzollern Imperial Family still remain in the Nazi Wehrmacht, the army of the New Governnt is loyal to the Imperial Family!"
Doctor Goerdeler was passionately explaining this to the Crown Prince, while the far-right monarchists, thrilled at the thought of re-establishing the empire in this land, nodded along, deeply moved.
Do they truly believe that the public's support for the New Governnt is directed at them and the Kaiser?
"We plan to sweep the dregs of the Nazis from our sacred Germany, bring His Majesty Wilhelm II from the Netherlands, and restore his rightful throne! We are not ushering in an age of mobs, but reopening the age of the Kaiser and the nobility!"
To think that just 80 years before the era I originally lived in, fossils like these still proudly existed among the upper echelons of society. Good grief.
The Crown Prince's reaction, however, was lukewarm.
"I see, Doctor. But it does not seem we are at the stage to discuss such matters just yet."
What's this? Is the Crown Prince trying to play it safe until Germany is completely secured?
But if that were the case, the New Governnt, approaching a week since the coup, was now getting on track.
Not just in Germany, but the international community also seed to think we had ford a relatively stable governnt, as clandestine diplomatic contacts were beginning to co in.
Especially what Foreign Vice-Minister Weizs??cker—now the Foreign Minister of the New Governnt—the Kordt brothers, and I had diligently prepared was on the verge of bearing fruit in Italy.
No matter how I looked at it, the idea that he was testing the waters due to the New Governnt's unstable position didn't explain why the Crown Prince himself had co to Frankfurt to join us.
"I trust His Majesty will be pleased with your loyalty. However, it seems the priority now is to solidify your governnt and win the power struggle against the Nazis."
"Ahem, my apologies, Your Highness."
Doctor Goerdeler looked a bit embarrassed by the Crown Prince's response, but he bowed his head.
"Your Highness is correct. The New Governnt's situation is just beginning."
The New Governnt's Finance Minister and my father, Hjalmar Schacht, spoke up, glancing my way before continuing.
"Fortunately, thanks to the New Governnt's radio broadcasts, public support and response are high, and our budget is healthy thanks to donations and our existing supporters in the business world. However, if we are to be recognized as Germany's legitimate governnt, we must also worry about fixing the economy the Nazis have ruined."
The New Governnt had secured so of Germany's most developed regions like the Ruhr, Frankfurt, and Bavaria without urban damage, donations were pouring in, and the Finance Minister's competence was unquestionable.
Thanks to this, our side beca financially stable in a short ti and had no imdiate money worries, but the problem was the Nazi-controlled territory. Just hearing about it gave
a headache.
"Is Germany's economy that serious?"
"I regret to say, but it has passed the point where the private economy can solve it on its own. The munitions companies have grown excessively large, and if they don't constantly produce weapons, Germany will be flooded with the unemployed."
At my father's answer to the Crown Prince's question, the expressions of the military and monarchist figures turned quite sour, but since no one here knew more about the economy than him, there were no rebuttals.
"Moreover, the Nazis issued fo bills to the munitions companies instead of paynt, promising that the governnt would pay later, thus spending a level of military expenditure that Germany's finances could not handle. The financial state of the companies that have yet to be paid is naturally precarious, and we must prepare for that as well."
North Korean bonds are, of course, junk bonds with no promise of paynt, but should reunification happen, a unified Korea would supposedly have to pay them all back.
Our situation was exactly like that.
"How much do those bonds amount to?"
"Over 20 billion marks."
Everyone in the room was stunned.
The total reparations for 20 years imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles for losing the Great War was 132 billion marks.
At least when that treaty was signed, Germany was a defeated nation and the mark's value was low, but now, thanks to my father's reforms, the mark's value has recovered.
The Nazis really printed those bonds at an insane rate.
Absurdly, the civil war is preventing the collapse of Germany's munitions-dependent economy, but that is nothing more than a temporary fix.
The United States may have escaped the Great Depression through the New Deal and World War II, but in the end, after the war, didn't even the great Arica suffer from such financial hardship that it had to dismantle the legendary decorated warship, the Enterprise?
At least that was possible for Arica because its mainland suffered no damage at all. If the civil war intensifies and the New Governnt's forces and the Wehrmacht begin an all-out war that turns the German holand into ruins, there will be no solution.
The reason I tried to start a civil war to oust Hitler and the Nazis and turn Germany into a normal country was because it was unavoidable. If it had been possible without such extre asures, who would risk their life to start a civil war in their own country?
Of course, I never wanted Germany to turn into a living hell like Spain, which is why I planned the public opinion war.
The goal of starting a civil war while minimizing all-out conflict by actively exploiting the Wehrmacht's antipathy toward the Nazis is, for now, being precariously achieved.
But this is no ti for the New Governnt to be spouting nonsense about rosy optimism and bringing back the Kaiser.
"Grave indeed. What is the situation on the front and with the Wehrmacht?"
Hearing about the economy, the Crown Prince's face turned serious, and he posed a question to Ludwig Beck.
"As public opinion has shifted in our favor, the front has entered a lull. We have also instructed General Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, who was attacking the SS training facility at Wewelsburg Castle, to simply maintain the siege so as not to provoke the Wehrmacht."
When our armored breakthrough toward Berlin was halted, we also stopped the attack on Wewelsburg Castle.
If the Wehrmacht decides to wage an all-out war against us, we have no way to respond right now, so we can't give them an excuse.
"Have there been no defections yet?"
"There are generals who are considering it, but nothing is confird yet. It seems they are being cautious as the Nazis are propagandizing that Hitler is alive and well."
The Nazi propaganda that Hitler was fine was still being maintained, but Hitler himself had yet to make an appearance on any broadcast.
By this point, the high command was also predicting that Hitler wasn't dead, but was severely injured.
The assessnt was that if he were truly dead, it's unlikely they would insist he was fine for this long.
The repercussions would only be greater when the truth of his death was revealed.
The fate of the handso young Count Blunthal, who was one of the most zealous mbers of the resistance, was still unknown.
As working-level officers, Oster, Tresckow, and I, who had gotten quite close to him, hoped for his safety, but the high command's joy at his feat was fleeting.
"Then, what about the navy?"
The Crown Prince's next question was directed to Admiral Canaris, the head of the Abwehr and a Vice Admiral in the navy.
"The Nazi regi tried to move the 3rd Army of Army Group North, stationed in East Prussia, to Berlin, but the navy refused to cooperate and declared it would remain neutral."
The Kriegsmarine (Nazi German Navy) was very dissatisfied with the Nazi regi.
Having started Plan Z to build battleships and aircraft carriers with the assurance that there would be no war soon, how could they not be dissatisfied when the regi suddenly decided to start a war and diverted a large chunk of the budget to the army?
Furthermore, the conflict between the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Erich Raeder, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, G??ring, over the Graf Zeppelin was infamous.
The legendary ss of building an aircraft carrier and then refusing to provide its aircraft was on par with the notoriously insane inter-service rivalry of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy.
"On the surface, it's neutrality, but it's a great help to us."
The Commander-in-Chief of Army Group North, Fedor von Bock, is a very rigid, Prussian Junker-style general, and as we expected, he has remained in Porania without offering any cooperation to the Nazi regi.
The commander of the 4th Army in Porania, Günther von Kluge, is of the sa mind, and within Army Group North, only Georg von Küchler of the 3rd Army in East Prussia is a figure who subscribes to Nazi racial ideology.
But since the navy isn't providing the transport ships for them to cross, while they call it neutrality, they're halfway on the New Governnt's side.
It must be thanks to Director Canaris's efforts.
"I see.
Your efforts have been great. It has been almost a week since the New Governnt was established.
The Hohenzollern Imperial Family wishes you and Germany a bright future."
"Thank you, Your Royal Highness."
Crown Prince Wilhelm left after saying what amounted to nothing more than pleasantries.
Doctor Goerdeler looked quite displeased after the Crown Prince left, but the first eting with him ended with little gain, rely a grasp of the current situation.
It was a good thing the Crown Prince wasn't fixated on absolute monarchy and playing along with Doctor Goerdeler, but I hadn't expected him to refrain from any interference at all.
Still, he wasn't entirely indifferent to our affairs either.
I turned my gaze toward Colonel Oster and Colonel Tresckow, but they just shrugged.
What on earth is the Crown Prince thinking?
-
September 10, 1939
Kassel, 9th Military District, Central Germany, Frankfurt - The estate of Dietrich Schacht On a rare Sunday, I was preparing breakfast in the estate I had bought in Frankfurt.
Considering that just last weekend the situation was so urgent I had to catch naps at the broadcasting station, it seems we've overco the crisis well.
The seemingly impossible collapse of Nazi Germany now appears within reach, and though there's a long way to go, the New Governnt is steadily becoming more stable.
"Hmm- hmmm-"
With so breathing room, I even started humming.
The New Governnt, encompassing monarchists, the military, liberals, and social democrats, is cooperating with fewer conflicts than expected under the common understanding of facing the powerful enemy of Hitler and the Nazis.
Doctor Goerdeler and the extremist monarchists still dislike us, but thanks to Crown Prince Wilhelm's unexpected attitude, I could breathe a sigh of relief.
It was a completely unexpected situation, but since it wasn't a bad turn of events for us, I decided to think positively.
I make a cut in the Brot (the German staple bread) I just bought this morning, spread mashed potatoes inside, and stuff it with scrambled eggs and baked bacon, and it's done—
Honestly, it's a rudintary skill, but so what? I'm not a professional chef.
Having finished making breakfast, I went upstairs to the second floor.
"Claudia."
"Ugh, just a little more."
"A cold breakfast is no good, Madam Reporter."
Claudia struggled under the covers for a mont before getting up with a dazed look on her face.
This side of the reporter who exuded such a professional aura is probably sothing only I get to see.
I chuckled and handed her so water.
She took it naturally, drank it, and handed the cup back to
before getting out of bed.
This is now a natural part of our morning routine.
"Mmm- this is delicious."
"I'm glad."
It's really nothing special, a simple dish barely at the level of a hamburger, but Claudia always says it's delicious.
I can't tell if she's just saying that out of consideration for my effort, or if she genuinely ans it.
I had a rough idea from what I saw at her house in Berlin, but her life skills were at a disastrous level.
Never mind cleaning, the only thing she knew how to 'cook' was coffee. Thanks to that, while living together, I naturally took on the cleaning and cooking duties.
She's in charge of the post-al coffee.
Still, well—
Watching her diligently munching while checking the morning paper, the sight of the ring on her finger made
smile automatically.
"What are you so happy about?"
"Oh, nothing. Just because."
Claudia followed my gaze to the ring, and her eyes curved as she smiled brightly.
The house I had bought to hide her in has now beco our ho.
"Are you happy thanks to your fiancée?"
"Haha. It's more happiness than I deserve."
When I answered with sincerity, she blushed slightly but still smiled.
Honestly, when I first fell into Dietrich Schacht's body, I was at a point where I wanted to grab God by the collar and shake him if he was in front of , but now, just a little, a tiny mouse-tail's worth, I might even be thankful.
Even though I've run myself ragged to get here, and things are still precarious, I was prepared to do anything to protect this happiness.
A short while later, as I was finishing my al with Claudia and chatting over a cup of coffee, we had a visitor.
"Hm? Were we expecting any guests today?"
"No—at least I wasn't?"
" neither."
I peeked out the window and saw a man in a suit and fedora at the door.
Surely, this isn't what I think it is, sothing I've seen a lot in period dramas.
Colonel Tresckow's warning flashed through my mind.
I swallowed hard, drew my pistol, and Claudia, as soon as she saw it, quickly hid.
I was inwardly grateful for her quick reaction and opened the door, ready to fire at any mont.
And then, it was my turn to freeze.
The man in his 50s, wearing a simple suit and fedora instead of a splendid uniform, chuckled at .
"What's this? Were you perhaps a Nazi spy?"
"My apologies, Your High—"
"Shh, are you trying to announce it to the whole neighborhood?"
He cut
off and then strode in as if he owned the place.
"Pardon the intrusion. I trust you'll welco ."
While I stood there dumbfounded, the man casually walked in, crossed his legs, and sat on the sofa where Claudia and I had just been drinking coffee.
"Coffee, excellent. May I have a cup as well?"
Crown Prince Wilhelm had barged in on a Sunday morning and was brazenly demanding coffee.
What in the world is this situation?
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