November 20, 1939
Hanover, 11th Military District, Northern Germany, Northern Army Headquarters of the New Governnt's National Defense Force
“All units, attention!”
The mont I arrived at the Northern Army Headquarters, which was in charge of the entire front against the Nazis, I was startled.
“To the Vice Minister of the Chancellery, salute!”
At Manstein's verbal command, he and the staff officers of the Northern Army Headquarters present all saluted
in unison.
As I stood stiffly and awkwardly returned the salute, Manstein, who had led the staff's salute, approached
with a broad smile.
“Thank you so much for visiting despite your busy schedule, Vice Minister! It will be a great boost to the military's morale!”
“Ah, yes…”
Regardless of my fluster, Manstein was beaming as if he were genuinely welcoming and grateful.
Where had the Manstein who elegantly wrapped and threw back the words, ‘Do I have to et a Captain riff-raff like you, no matter how much I’ve been demoted?’ gone? Did he get his brain washed?
“…General?”
“Yes, Vice Minister!”
I let out a heartfelt sigh.
“Please, just speak comfortably.”
“Not at all, this is comfortable! Are you not the one His Majesty the Emperor personally appointed, hahaha! Although I may have behaved sowhat inappropriately on the surface, I actually felt from the very beginning that you were destined for greatness, Vice Minister!”
Wow, this is incredible. Erich von Manstein is a truly incredible human being.
I felt a sense of revulsion and quickly gave up.
Worrying about it would only tire
out.
I now keenly understood why Hitler had detested such a capable person so much.
…I really don't want to form any kind of common ground with Hitler.
Being led inside, my face wrinkled on its own. It seed like they had tried to air it out, but the room was steeped in the stale sll of cigarettes.
I wanted to offer my sincere condolences to the staff officers who would be working with him. First Colonel Tresckow, and now him.
Why were there so many chain smokers?
“How is the operation progressing?”
“Smoothly! The enemy has undoubtedly failed to notice our intentions. They have no cards to block our operation, and the encirclent of the 14th Army will be a perfect success.”
“Their Chief of the General Staff must be furious.”
“Hahaha, that Halder fellow must be burning up inside right now!”
Manstein looked quite cheerful as he said that.
Well, on that, at least, I was in agreent.
Franz Halder, who had royally screwed
over during the Munich Agreent, was paying the price dearly.
Franz Halder seed to think we would bypass and attack Berlin, but our target isn't Berlin, but the 14th Army in Prague.
“Proposing to target the 14th Army was indeed a wise decision! A strategy befitting a talented individual scouted from the War Academy!”
“…”
In truth, Manstein’s initial operational plan was to strike Berlin with General Oswald Lutz’s armored unit.
But the other side would desperately try to defend Berlin, and their General Staff wasn't like those incompetents in France, so there was no guarantee of breaking through in one go.
If successful, it would allow an early end to the civil war, but at the very least, an all-out war would certainly occur, and if we couldn't break through before the enemy armored units arrived, we would have had to endure imnse sacrifices.
On top of that, if we were unlucky, there was the concern of being attacked in the flank and rear by the 14th Army.
I proposed that rather than making such a gamble, it would be safer to encircle and neutralize the 14th Army first, even if it was a bit slower, and that it would have a greater impact on the enemy's morale.
The thought was to avoid a situation where we'd get blocked trying to go fast, causing the civil war to beco sluggish, but the military high command didn't seem too keen on the idea. Surprisingly, Manstein actively agreed, and it was approved.
Even the forces that held a grand departure ceremony in Frankfurt did not move to the Berlin front.
They moved via railroad to Nuremberg and are currently bypassing and attacking the south of the 14th Army under the command of General Wilhelm Ritter von Lepp.
The enemy's morale is already at rock bottom, and we have the excuse of an encirclent with no hope of salvation.
No matter how much of a pro-Nazi personnel Wilhelm List is, as long as this is a civil war, he can't stop his soldiers from surrendering.
Once the 14th Army is gone, our available military force will increase dramatically. We would be able to use more troops for the encirclent of Berlin and the defense of Austria.
“Of course, the fact that we can proceed with this operation is all thanks to the dia war you conducted, which made their morale hit rock bottom, isn't it? Haha!”
The problem with this operation was the possibility of a rescue for the 14th Army from Berlin, but the Wehrmacht's morale is at a level where an offensive is almost impossible, and with Army Group North's 4th Army turning, even that is difficult.
“Not at all.
I only provided the idea; it was General Manstein’s ability to accept it, specifically deploy the units, create the operational plan, and magnificently succeed. I’m glad you are the Chief of the General Staff.”
I’m glad you are our Chief of the General Staff. And I'm glad you 'appropriately' surrendered so that we could entrust you with the position of Chief of the General Staff.
I had spoken ambiguously on purpose, and Manstein flinched slightly but replied with a servile smile.
“Haha, thank you! It is I who was truly moved by your speech, Vice Minister.
I almost cried, you know. I will continue to do my best as the Chief of the General Staff!”
“Cried, you say… Yes, thank you for your toil, General.”
My, my. You have a thick face, General Manstein.
Still, that he accepted my idea of encircling the 14th Army Corps instead of quickly retaking the capital, Berlin, must have been possible because he's the kind of man who likes novelty and has no hesitation in currying favor.
This is truly annoying, yet I'm also grateful.
What an ambiguous person. As I was looking at Manstein with complicated feelings, a staff officer who had taken a call ca to report.
“A ssage from the Abwehr. An agent in enemy territory reports that the 10th Army is preparing to retreat to shrink their defense line.”
Manstein gave a triumphant smile.
“Hahaha, Halder.
You didn't have to go this far for us…”
This was the core reason why Manstein, even after planning the encirclent of the 14th Army, had so thoroughly feigned a bypass of Berlin.
Throughout all tis and all places, the most difficult thing is a retreat battle.
Especially if the morale of the retreating army is at rock bottom, and the enemy forces are compatriots who would gladly accept their surrender.
“It’s General Witzleben’s turn to step up.”
I watched Manstein excitedly pick up the phone and gave a bitter smile.
Seeing Halder retreat the 10th Army, it was clear that Halder was truly convinced Manstein's main attack target was Berlin.
He played right into our hands perfectly.
Damn opportunist, but for now, I'll express my regret.
-
November 21, 1939
Berlin, Northern Germany, High Command of the Ard Forces The Army Chief of General Staff, Franz Halder, was sweating buckets of cold sweat.
“What, did you say, General?”
[Their target was never Berlin from the start.
We’re surrounded.]
Hearing Wilhelm List's miserable words over the phone, Halder felt as if the sky were turning yellow.
The main attack wasn't Berlin?
No, why was he so sure the main attack was Berlin?
Was it because the SD brought back intelligence that they were launching an offensive on Berlin after holding a large-scale departure ceremony?
Or was it because their detached force bypassed towards Stettin in an all-too-obvious maneuver?
Or if not that, was it because an enemy armored unit had entered the gap between Berlin and Dresden?
[Those bastards were determined from the start. This is a thoroughly prepared offensive.
While their armored units draw attention in the north, their infantry units are coming from Nuremberg and heading for our rear. Their armored units are coming down the path we were going to retreat on.
]
Halder felt his strength drain away. No.
It wasn't because of the enemy's actions that he was convinced the offensive was coming to Berlin.
He thought they were in a civil war and would be impatient to end it quickly, so he naturally assud the target of the offensive was Berlin.
With even the Navy turning to their side, the factory zone in Hamburg, which was all that remained, was also lost. If the 14th Army fell, they would be cut off from the production of Czech-made tanks from Bohemia and the factory zone in Silesia.
In reality, it wasn't them who were impatient, but him. No matter how he thought about it, his only hope of turning the war situation around was to repel the offensive on Berlin and achieve a 'decisive victory.
'
He realized he had been subconsciously hoping they would co to Berlin.
What to do now? He had lost all remaining factory zones, and the already rock-bottom morale would drop to a point beyond recovery.
[I did what I could for the Führer. My own head is on the line if I don't surrender right now.
Don't take it too hard.]
To Wilhelm List's words from over the phone, Franz Halder replied limply.
“I wish you good luck…”
Feeling his body go limp like water-soaked cotton, Halder let out a hollow laugh at Keitel and Jodl, who were staring at him, and opened his mouth.
“We’ve been had.
The 14th Army is surrounded and will surrender soon.”
As Keitel and Jodl both looked aghast, the phone rang again.
“…Halder here.”
A frantic shout ca through to Halder's despairing face.
[Halder, the enemy has launched a massive offensive! We're not even halfway through our retreat preparations, and they're already attacking. This plan must have been leaked!]
It was the voice of Brauchitsch, commander of Army Group South.
An Army Group that couldn't even be called that once the 14th Army was gone. Halder let out a hollow laugh.
Manstein, that son of a bitch, didn't just stop at devouring the 14th Army, he predicted this far?
Ordering them to hold their position now would only have a counterproductive effect.
Once the 14th Army fell, the traitorous 8th Army would be freed, and from the east, Kluge's 4th Army would co as well.
“…Try to retreat while preserving as much of your forces as possible.”
Halder hung up before Brauchitsch could say anything.
Did he lose to Manstein? Without even a proper battle?
“No, that can’t be…”
Halder tore at his hair and hung his head. This wasn't his fault.
It happened because Hitler and the Nazis, those crazy bastards, got caught doing their foolishness.
It happened because that damn bastard Schacht deviously employed tricks to steal the soldiers' will to fight.
If the conditions had been equal, if it had been a fair and square confrontation, there was no way he would have lost…
“Arrrggghhhh!”
Halder swept all the flags off the operation map.
All they had left now was Berlin.
-
November 21, 1939
Southwestern Austria, Southern Tyrol, Austria-Italy Front
“Welco, Major General.”
“Thank you for your struggle for Austria, Your Highness the Prince.”
Prince Wilhelm, the eldest son of Wilhelm III, who had been dispatched to Austria as reinforcents for the National Defense Force, greeted the Austrian Army commander, Major General Karl Eglseer.
“It is an honor to be able to help our compatriots as a mber of the National Defense Force.”
“Thank you for saying so, Your Highness the Prince.”
Although he had originally volunteered for the Italian Front to avoid the possibility of fighting his forr comrades from the Wehrmacht, Wilhelm was genuinely proud to be fighting for the compatriots of Greater Germany, a long-held aspiration of Germany.
“The front is quiet.”
Just as Prince Wilhelm said, the Alps Mountains, which until just a while ago had been restless with gunshots and artillery bombardnt, were silent.
“I believe they are just regrouping their forces since they have only incurred losses with no results, and winter is just around the corner.”
The Austrian Border Guard and volunteer soldiers had fought well despite their poor equipnt, but no matter how rotten Italy was, it was still one of the Great Powers.
With troops that were second-rate at best, they were continuously suffering sacrifices just by blocking them.
They were only able to hold on thanks to the support of the New Governnt and the natural fortress of the Alps Mountains.
“I hope so. Once Hitler is defeated, the National Defense Force will have the leeway to focus on the Italian Front.”
At Prince Wilhelm's words, Major General Eglseer smiled.
“I hope that day cos quickly.
We are all holding on with faith in just that.”
The proud Austrians were enraged by the actions of the Nazis who had agreed to hand over Tyrol to the Italian invaders, especially Hitler, whom they had believed to be a fellow Austrian compatriot.
For now, the Nazi henchn were trying to suppress eastern Austria sohow, but Major General Eglseer believed that the east would soon share their will.
“Then, I hope for a better situation when we next et, Your Highness the Prince.”
“I understand, General. Go safely.
For Austria.”
General Eglseer smiled brightly.
“For the German People, Your Highness the Prince.”
After General Eglseer left, Prince Wilhelm took a Locket (Locket) from his breast, opened it, and looked at the photographs of his beloved wife and children.
Originally the Crown Prince, he had fallen in love with and tried to marry Dorothea von Salviati, a woman of the lower nobility whom he t at university, but his grandfather, Wilhelm II, who had no doubt that the Empire would be rebuilt, furiously opposed it, saying he could not allow ‘mongrel’ blood into the Imperial family.
Prince Wilhelm, nonetheless, pushed through with the marriage to the one he loved, and the price was the revocation of his Right of Succession to the Imperial Throne.
To this day, the Imperial family did not recognize his wife and daughters. At least his mother understood him and his family, but even his father had turned his back on him.
Ironically, even now that the governnt of the democrats whom Wilhelm II so despised had nominally rebuilt the Imperial family, his grandfather was denouncing the New Governnt, which had given up on his own restoration to the throne and arbitrarily enthroned the Crown Prince as Emperor, as traitors.
“The day will co when they are recognized.”
Prince Wilhelm said so, kissed the photograph, and put the locket back.
The ousting of Hitler, which he thought was hopeless after the failure of the conspiracy during the Munich Agreent, was now in sight, and his close friend Blunthal, whom he thought was dead, was alive and well, was he not?
“Everything will be fine now.”
But in the Prince's eyes, he saw black dots in the distant sky rapidly approaching. Looking at them through the telescope hanging around his neck, the Prince was startled and shouted.
“Air raid!”
“Hah, ergency, ergency!”
They had experienced many air raids while fighting a defensive battle leaning on the Alps Mountains, but this ti was different.
Prince Wilhelm could not hide his horror as he saw the swarm of airplanes covering the sky in black rapidly approaching.
“Take cover!”
The soldiers, who were comfortably outside the trench in the rare mont of quiet, were scared out of their wits and tried to jump into the trench, but the swiftly approaching enemy aircraft opened up with strafing fire from their machine guns, riddling the soldiers who couldn't jump in ti with bullets.
As blood splattered and pierced dolls collapsed, Prince Wilhelm shouted into the transceiver installed inside the trench.
“Headquarters, Headquarters! This is the 5th Battalion! Enemy aircraft air raid! A large-scale air raid unlike anything we’ve seen befo-”
Wilhelm's words were cut off as his body was swept away by the shockwave of an explosion that went off right next to him.
“Cough, Ugh, Gack…”
Slamd against the trench wall and writhing from the shock, Wilhelm barely managed to get up, and in his eyes were the soldiers who had beco corpses strewn inside the trench, lying with their eyes open.
And even at that mont, dozens of enemy aircraft passed over his head with a deafening roar.
“Oh God…”
The enemy aircraft that had instantly shredded the defense line and passed by were clearly heading for Tyrol.
As the Prince tried to sohow pull his body, still suffering from severe pain, together, and before the barely surviving soldiers could even co to their senses, shouts, screams, and gunshots began to ring out from all directions.
“Avanti!”
“Attacco!”
Prince Wilhelm looked down blankly at the completely shattered transceiver, then picked up the Lee-Enfield rifle a dead soldier had dropped.
Then, looking out of the trench, Wilhelm could see a scene of the Italian Army, on a scale on a different level than before, surging forward like a wave.
He imdiately flattened himself in the trench.
It was hard to tell if his hands were shaking from the severe pain or from fear.
With a trembling hand, he took out the locket and kissed it again.
“Dorothea, Felicitas, Christa…”
Only after repeating the nas of his wife and daughters could he barely find his calm.
Only then did he realize that blood was flowing from one of his ears, and that the noise filling the battlefield sounded as if it were coming from a far-off place.
“Your Highness the Prince, you must esca-”
The adjutant who had run to find him in that scene of carnage collapsed, spewing blood, before he could finish his words. Even his shout seed to co from a distant place, giving it a sense of unreality.
What ca to mind at this mont was, funnily enough, his father's face. The man who had nad him after his grandfather, Emperor Wilhelm III.
Would that dry, heartless man look after his wife and daughters if he died?
At the very least, if he tarnished the prestige of the Imperial family with a cowardly act like surrendering to the enemy, his family would never be recognized as mbers of the Imperial family. With a trembling hand, the Prince gripped the rifle again.
“The Hohenzollern royals do not surrender.”
Muttering it like self-hypnosis, the Prince poked his head out of the trench and shot at the nearest soldier.
“Aargh!”
With the aningless thought that humans from different languages scream the sa, the Prince chanically pulled the bolt and fired again.
Another one.
The Prince saw an Italian soldier shouting sothing at him and tried to pull the bolt again, but his sweat-soaked hand slipped, and he lost his grip on it.
What is this, if I’m going to die, at least in sty-
The Prince's thought was cut off with a gunshot.
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