September 15, 1939
Berlin, Northern Germany
“G-Give it to . Give it.”
Hitler, with his hands trembling, demanded the dicine, and his personal physician, Theodor Morell, handed him a painkiller and Pervitin.
Although it was a German brand of thamphetamine, known in the future as the drug Philopon, it was being abused in this era without knowledge of its side effects.
Even after tossing it into his mouth, Hitler had to struggle for a while.
Hitler hadn't opened his eyes for a full ten days after the attack on the Führer's Chancellery, and even after waking, he was gasping in pain, only looking for his drugs.
“Are you sure he will be alright, Doctor? The Führer is showing no signs of improvent!”
“The injuries were so severe that there are aftereffects. We still need more ti.”
Goebbels shot Morell a glare but held his tongue.
The high-ranking Nazis considered Karl Brandt a more reliable physician than Morell, but he had been dismissed by Hitler after opposing Morell's prescriptions, arguing that while they might be effective in the short term, they would ruin the patient in the long run.
“Are we, being pushed back?”
Having barely regained his composure, Hitler asked as if he couldn't believe it, but Hermann G??ring reluctantly nodded.
“They have seized control of all of western, southern, and central Germany, my Führer.
With the Ruhr occupied and the situation at a stalemate, our army's supply lines are not functioning smoothly.”
In the original history, during the invasion of Poland, the German army faced an ammunition shortage crisis in a campaign that lasted only a month.
However, this civil war started with the imdiate loss of the Ruhr, the heart of German industry. While many Wehrmacht forces remained in Nazi territory, it was difficult to give them orders when they couldn't even be properly supplied.
“Furthermore, those Polish bastards are still maintaining a general mobilization order, continuing to build defensive lines and deploy divisions along the border.”
Because of the outbreak of civil war, Nazi Germany had given Poland ample ti to respond.
The Polish army was still mobilizing, and it was thodically carrying out a full-scale deploynt to the German border, sothing that had been impossible in the original history due to a lack of ti and troops.
This was also why the Army High Command couldn't say anything about Fedor von Bock's Army Group North openly ignoring orders and remaining entrenched on the Eastern Front.
If Army Group North were to move to the internal German front, the Polish border would be left wide open.
“Damn those Wehrmacht bastards, they’re traitors too! All of them are traitors!”
With his grand dream of reclaiming Danzig thwarted before his very eyes, having survived death only to be tornted by pain, Hitler was now seized by a terrible paranoia.
With the exception of Erwin Roml, who had risked his life to save him, and Reichenau, who was the first to rush to his side, Hitler suspected every mber of the Wehrmacht.
In reality, most of the Wehrmacht were observing the situation without supporting either side, and the only reason they were still biding their ti was because the Nazi forces were nurous and they lacked certainty.
This was also why, despite having defeated Panzer General Lutz's troops and the enemy's forces being inferior to theirs, the Nazis couldn't counterattack with the SS troops that had defended Berlin or rescue Paul Hausser from the training camp.
If the handful of remaining Nazi loyalist forces were to be annihilated in an offensive, there was no telling when the rest of the Wehrmacht would turn.
“Even the people are on their side, not ours…?”
At Hitler's words, Goebbels nodded bleakly.
Goebbels was undoubtedly a pioneer of propaganda and a possessor of demonic talent, but he had never experienced this type of public opinion warfare before.
Even the democratic nations of this era regarded the public and their opinions as re objects of control. The idea of using the people themselves as a ans of public opinion warfare was sothing they had never conceived.
No matter how brilliant Goebbels was, he couldn't block all the exposés from the masses. Especially not when they were true and accompanied by shocking, real photographs.
For the Nazi Party, which had run rampant by inciting the people's sense of victimhood and hatred with lies and propaganda, being cast as the source of that very victimhood was sothing they had never imagined and could not prepare for.
Furthermore, Dietrich Schacht, their supposed spokesman, was relentlessly engaging in counterargunts and exposés that precisely targeted his own propaganda techniques, as if he understood Goebbels, himself, very well.
Dietrich Schacht knew a great deal about Paul Joseph Goebbels, the master of propaganda who was all too famous in the modern era, but to Goebbels, Dietrich Schacht was a complete unknown.
That absurdity was instilling a sense of defeat even in the greatest and worst genius of the age.
Hitler was left speechless at the sight of Goebbels' face, full of apology.
The only hope for them was for the Führer, who once held absolute support from the people, to appear on broadcast himself, but at the sa ti, it was a terror.
What if, after he painstakingly recovered his body, worn down by drugs and pain, he went on air, and the people turned their backs on him? What would beco of them then?
The driving force of the Nazis was the fanatical support based on the people's sense of victimhood and patriotism. But in a situation where they themselves were being cast as the source of that victimhood, was it even possible to overco this?
After being shot and surviving death, the Germany he had controlled his entire life was slipping from his grasp, his hands and feet bound.
Hitler felt as if he were trapped in a nightmare.
“A-Ask Mussolini for help.”
In the end, the last person Hitler turned to was the man he admired, the pioneer of fascism, Duce Mussolini of Italy.
-
September 16, 1939
Lazio, Central Italy, Ro, the capital of Italy
“It seems our mustached friend is quite desperate.”
Benito Mussolini, a large man with strong features, spoke with a smile.
Unlike Japan, which was rely an ally of Germany through its entry into the Anti-Comintern Pact, Italy was Germany's official ally due to the Pact of Steel, signed on May 22, 1939.
However, Mussolini, the Duce (leader) of Italy, was actually quite pleased with Hitler's misfortune.
He had been inwardly jealous that Hitler had turned Germany into a great power that captured the attention of all of Europe while Italy was struggling with the aftereffects of the Ethiopian War.
He was, after all, the original fascist, and Hitler was nothing more than a greenhorn latecor.
“This is what happens when you can't even manage your own internal affairs and just pursue reckless expansion.”
Foreign Minister Count Ciano and Chief of Staff Badoglio, unsure how to react to Mussolini's gloating over his ally's misfortune, looked at each other and sighed. In the end, Ciano, being in a slightly better position to speak, stepped forward.
“What do you intend to do, Duce?”
Mussolini's answer to the question from his son-in-law and Foreign Minister was concise.
“Of course, we must help him.
He is our ally, after all. As for compensation, hmm.
Wouldn't Austria be enough?”
“What? Do you think those people, obsessed with German nationalism, will easily accept that?”
Mussolini burst out laughing at Ciano's question.
“What? Hahaha! Has there ever been such a thing as ethnicity or race? Can such a thing even exist? It doesn't.
What's important is the state and the people who live within its territory.”
Mussolini said, then grinned.
“If they don't like it, tell them to hang themselves on the gallows. They've stirred up all of Europe, so they have no other allies.”
It was not sothing one would say to an ally, but Mussolini had secretly always considered Austria, where fascists were already strong, to be within his sphere of influence.
That was why in 1934, he had declared he would stop Hitler's attempt to annex Austria, even if it ant going to war.
Although he had been forced to join hands with the only one left, Hitler, after being diplomatically isolated and suffering humiliation at the League of Nations before withdrawing due to the invasion of Ethiopia, there was no need to remain loyal if that ally had beco crippled.
“But Duce, they are currently in a civil war.
If we get involved here, we might give Britain or France an excuse to intervene.”
Count Ciano's point was valid, but Mussolini's face soured.
“Those damn British and French! Those filthy schers who trip up Italy at every turn!”
The contempt Italy and Mussolini held for Britain and France was deep-rooted.
Italy had shed considerable blood in the last World War, albeit belatedly, but as a victorious nation, they received only a fraction of the promised compensation: South Tyrol and the Istrian Peninsula.
It was a level based on Italy's contribution, having only joined late in the war and only fighting properly against the Austro-Hungarian Empire while suffering repeated defeats against the German army, but the Italians nonetheless felt they had been robbed of their rightful reward by Britain and France.
“If only those stupid Frenchn had taken our hand, things would have been so much easier!”
It wasn't as if Mussolini had done nothing while the German civil war was underway.
The new German governnt, which had risen under the banner of eradicating fascism, had put him on alert as well, and Mussolini had reached out to France.
The proposal was for Italy and France to join hands and strike while Germany was in disarray, with Italy taking Austria and France taking the west bank of the Rhine River.
But France rejected the proposal. While the two countries were already on bad terms due to conflicts over islands in the diterranean, Mussolini's recent actions were a major factor.
Joining hands with Mussolini, who was diplomatically isolated due to the invasion of Ethiopia and his withdrawal from the League of Nations, had openly sided with Hitler at the Munich Agreent, and had forcibly annexed the small nation of Albania.
For France, it was a move that risked making an enemy of Britain.
The optics of joining with fascists to attack a Germany in the midst of a civil war against fascists were also terrible for France, which had recently been in an uproar over the atrocities committed by fascists in the Spanish Civil War.
“With all due respect, Duce, our army has not yet recovered from its losses in the invasion of Ethiopia and the Spanish Civil War.”
Marshal Pietro Badoglio, the Chief of Staff of the Italian Army, who had been silent until then, spoke up.
“I dare say, the current state of our army makes it difficult to guarantee victory in any war in Europe…”
“What are you talking about, Marshal! Could Spain have won its civil war without our Italian army of steel!”
The old marshal fell silent at Mussolini's roar.
After his predecessor, Emilio De Bono, was dismissed for his sluggishness in the Ethiopian invasion, Mussolini also took on the role of Minister of War, bringing the military under his influence.
“However, Duce, I also agree with the opinion that Italy is not yet ready for war.”
Mussolini seed to ponder for a mont at his son-in-law's words, but his conclusion was already set.
“But we can't just leave that new German governnt be.
Are they not the ones who have raised the banner of eradicating fascism? We have the pretext of helping an ally, and it's a golden opportunity to bring the leadership of fascism from Germany back to Italy!”
The relationship between Germany and Italy had not been very good until just recently. In the original history, there was no blood-brother-like trust between the two countries just because they were Axis powers.
Mussolini had been forced to stand by and watch Germany expand.
He didn't want to miss the chance to reverse his position of having to be content with re assurances from Hitler to renounce claims on South Tyrol (originally southern Austrian territory).
And why couldn't the entirety of Austria, not just South Tyrol, beco Italian territory? Unlike Hitler, he had no interest in nationalism or racialism.
The Austrian fascists would be happier under the glory of the great ancient Ro that Italy would rebuild anyway.
The intervention of Britain and France was a concern, but was the pie not too delicious to give up for that reason alone?
However, as Mussolini was indulging in pleasant thoughts, he received unexpected bad news.
“Urgent news!”
Mussolini, with a puzzled look, took the telegram from the aide who had rushed in, read it, and then crumpled it up.
“Damn it! For that anachronistic authoritarian to interfere like this!”
-
September 17, 1939
9th Military District Kassel, Frankfurt, Central Germany
“Extra, extra!”
Freshly printed, hot-off-the-press newspapers were flying around Frankfurt.
[The Pope Supports the New Governnt! Adolf Hitler is an Enemy of the Catholic Church!]
[God's Justice Lies with the New Governnt!]
Foreign Minister Ernst von Weizs??cker had to engage in a tug-of-war for two weeks after the start of the civil war to make this happen, but he had managed it, just barely.
The Black Orchestra, being n of an older generation, held religious authority in high regard and had been consistently in contact with the Pope, both in the original history and here.
However, Pope Pius XII had just been testing the waters between the Nazi governnt's Vatican ambassador, Diego von Bergen, and our side's Weizs??cker, and was unwilling to rashly support either side.
He was known as the last authoritarian pope, with a strong obsession with authority, and he did not want to do anything that would tarnish the Pope's dignity by rashly supporting one side.
But I knew sothing that the people of this era did not yet know.
The rumor about a nun whom the Pope greatly trusted and favored—my advice, which the Foreign Ministry tried on a whim, succeeded splendidly.
Instead of asking the Pope for support, we contacted Pascalina Lehnert, who was at that ti nothing more than a common secretary nun.
She was an individual who was absolutely trusted by Pius XII and shared the sa authoritarian tendencies. She would later beco a heavyweight known by the formidable title of "the Pope's Pope" in the Vatican, managing the Vatican's political affairs on behalf of Pius XII, despite being a re nun.
We emphasized the reality that the churches of Bavaria, where she was born and raised and where Pius XII had served as a bishop, were being transford into a religion for Aryans, according to the tastes of the Nazis under their oppression.
The persuasion that the new governnt would liberate the church from the Catholic persecution of the Nazi regi, and that the Vatican's support for this would directly lead to a rise in the church's authority, worked perfectly.
While the fact that we had already gained international public opinion and the people's support by sufficiently publicizing the Nazis' evil deeds was a big part of it, Pope Pius XII, unable to resist a sufficient justification and the persuasion of the nun he cherished and trusted, issued an official statent supporting us.
The Nazi side, unable to do anything, tried to ignore it, but their agitation was obvious.
The first to support the new governnt after the outbreak of the civil war was none other than the Vatican, and in this era, the influence of religion was by no ans negligible.
In particular, Bavaria, which they used as their base, and Austria, which we had not yet secured and had left alone due to the strong influence of the Nazi Party, have very high proportions of Catholics.
Furthermore, Italy, the fascist ally of the Nazi regi, is also a renowned Catholic country, being the seat of the Vatican.
By receiving the Pope's support, we shook the foundations of the Nazis and greatly weakened the justification for Italy, which was watching us with covetous eyes.
And now that we have secured the support, we can now actively promote the Protestant leaders of the Confessing Church we had been saving, and sway the Protestant believers of Northern Germany as well.
Sorry to the Pope who supported us, but there's no problem, as he's not going to ruin his own authority by withdrawing his support just because Protestants are supporting us.
The Abwehr agents did eventually confirm Hitler's survival.
But the Nazis' hands and feet were already almost completely tied.
“Now, shall we see what kind of splendid final struggle Hitler can put up?”
Two years and seven months after I fell into Dietrich Schacht's body, the collapse of the Nazis is approaching.
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