Chapter 58
Chapter 58
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: The German Civil War - Eve of the Decisive Battle (2)
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October 30, 1939
Southern Finland, the capital city of Helsinki
Finnish President Kyösti Kallio and Prime Minister Risto Ryti were receiving the Soviet People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Vyacheslav Molotov.
“Welcome, Commissar Molotov.”
Having received reports that Soviet troops were being deployed along the Finnish border, they could not hide their tension. Molotov, in contrast, wore an air of utter nonchalance.
“A pleasure to meet you, Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister.”
Molotov greeted them with a casualness unbefitting their station as heads of state, then sat down before he was even offered a seat.
However, neither Kallio nor Ryti could bring themselves to point out his rudeness and simply took their own seats.
Finland, a small nation nestled by the Baltic Sea and the Scandinavian Peninsula, was once a colony of the Russian Empire. The Soviet Union was born from the revolutionary flames that had consumed that same empire.
The disparity between the two nations was just that vast.
Molotov deliberately took his time, letting Kallio and Ryti wait, before pulling out a list of demands he had prepared in advance.
“Comrade General Secretary Stalin has sent me to resolve the situation in which the security of Leningrad, the sacred ground of the Russian Revolution, is being threatened by your ‘counter-revolutionary’ country.”
Finland had declared independence during the Russian Civil War, which erupted from the communist revolution. Unlike Russia, Finland had successfully crushed the communist revolution within its own borders.
So, while Molotov’s jibe about Finland being counter-revolutionary was understandable, the notion that Finland—the weakest of the three Scandinavian nations of Sweden, Norway, and Finland—posed a threat to the Soviet Union was utterly absurd.
President Kallio took the document Molotov offered and began to read.
As he read, President Kallio’s long mustache began to tremble, and soon it was shaking in time with his entire body, which quivered with rage.
“Cede Karelia, Lapland, the islands in the Gulf of Finland, and the Åland Islands, and lease all major ports for over thirty years? Is this some kind of joke, Commissar?”
Karelia was Finland’s largest industrial zone and most densely populated region.
To demand the seizure of the nation’s core regions and islands under the pretext of proximity to Leningrad, and to demand the use of all major ports for over thirty years, was tantamount to making Finland a Soviet colony.
Hearing President Kallio’s words, Ryti’s face turned pale. Molotov, however, replied with casual ease.
“Whether it is a joke or not is for the Kremlin to decide. So, what is your answer, Mr. President?”
President Kallio, though trembling with fury, fell into deep thought. The difference in national power between Finland and the Soviet Union was beyond comparison.
Molotov, who brought this proposal, and Stalin, who sent him, must have known that Finland could not possibly accept these terms. What they truly wanted was to devour Finland whole.
Meanwhile, Baron Mannerheim, the hero of the Finnish Civil War and a brilliant commander, was a staunch aristocrat who was dissatisfied with the democratic government and the poor state of the Finnish army. He was constantly threatening to resign.
With Mannerheim’s resignation letter currently sitting on his desk, being forced to answer such a humiliating demand—one that would surely lead to war if refused—was an unbearable burden.
President Kallio deliberated for a long time, but for him, a respected leader who had built his career on consensus politics and enjoyed nationwide support, surrendering and selling out his motherland was unthinkable.
Kallio closed his eyes for a moment in contemplation, then glared at Molotov and gave a short reply.
“No.”
Molotov smirked as if he had expected this and opened his mouth.
“I see. I hope you will not regret that decision.”
Molotov rose from his seat and looked down at President Kallio, who remained seated with a grim expression, and declared.
“My role here is finished. The Red Army will do the rest of the talking.”
With those final words, Molotov departed.
“Mr. President…”
At Ryti’s worried glance, Kallio forced a bitter smile, his face still stiff.
“It seems I’ll have to appease that Mannerheim fellow again. And the Foreign Ministry will be busy. Let us appeal to the international community for help…”
Faced with the threat of an overwhelming power, all Finland could do was play its best hand and hope for aid from other nations.
-
November 6, 1939
Kassel and Frankfurt, 9th Military District, Central Germany
Time flew by, and it was now early November. The Italian front was holding out better than expected, thanks to the rugged Alps and the Italian army's incompetence, but casualties were still mounting.
Even the Iron Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, once said that no one who has looked into the eyes of a soldier before a battle can take war lightly.
In the end, this is what war is. Whether you win or lose, there will always be sacrifices.
Now, I judge the state of the war only by the numbers in reports, but the horrors of the battlefield I witnessed with my own eyes are unforgettable.
Everyone in the new government agreed that we had to end the civil war and narrow the front to Italy. Our Reichswehr was in the midst of preparing an offensive operation to deliver the final blow to the Nazis.
The enemy’s armored forces were still superior to ours, but Panzer IVs had begun to be deployed to front-line units, and we expected the Panzerjäger IIIs to somehow compensate for our lack of anti-tank capabilities.
The problem was air superiority. We were manufacturing fighter planes in the territories we controlled.
But pitting rookie pilots who knew nothing of air combat against the elite Luftwaffe, seasoned by the Spanish Civil War, would be a pointless waste of precious lives and aircraft. It was a hopeless situation.
I wondered if Richthofen was cursing my name right now. I had secretly hoped he would join our side, but I suppose that was too much to expect from an air force that was practically an extension of the Nazi Party.
Without an air force, we had to rely on anti-aircraft guns as a stopgap measure. But frankly, knowing that the anti-aircraft guns of this era were not very reliable on their own, I had little faith in them.
Worrying about our inferiority in the air wouldn't solve anything. I had no choice but to trust Manstein and the generals of the Reichswehr.
I had been through the General Staff course at the War College myself, so I was interested in the operation, but there was no way my tactical skills were superior to theirs.
A combination of long hardship and good fortune had elevated me to a position of power in the new government, but that didn't make me a superman skilled in all fields, nor should I aspire to be one.
The best I could do was to help the members of the new government use their abilities in the right direction or to come up with ideas they might not have considered due to the limitations of their time.
“What are you thinking so hard about?”
“Oh, just… a lot of work to do.”
Take my aide and fiancée, for example. As a journalist, she seemed far more capable than me, even with my memories of the modern era.
Claudia rolled her eyes at my words and let out a small laugh, then fixed her gaze on the people approaching us. The ones we had been waiting for had arrived.
“It’s been a while. Schacht, uhm—Vice-Chancellor.”
“It’s good to see you, Mr. Brandt.”
I smiled and shook Willy Brandt’s hand. We were meeting again after several years, since the Spanish Civil War. Back then, I never could have imagined that our meeting would lead me to Claudia.
“It’s been a long time, Claudia.”
“Good to see you, Will. You’re always working hard.”
Willy Brandt moved to embrace Claudia quite naturally, but when she subtly stepped back, he looked embarrassed and then flinched upon seeing me.
Seriously, I was well aware that man was a womanizer, but…
*Sigh.* Still, thanks to him, Claudia had believed my wild stories, and things had turned out well, so I would let it slide this once.
“Ahem, my apologies. We’re the same age and have been comrades for a long time, so it’s just a habit.”
Your excuse is making it even weirder, you idiot. Not that I could say that out loud.
Claudia gave an ambiguous smile, and I turned my attention to the man who had come with Willy Brandt.
Willy Brandt was the same age as Claudia, in his mid-twenties, but the man with him looked to be in his fifties or sixties. He seemed too old to be a colleague.
“Excuse me, but who is this gentleman?”
Before Brandt could react, the man introduced himself and offered me a handshake.
“Haha, with such talented young people, the future of German social democracy is bright. My name is Väinö Tanner. I am a member of the Social Democratic Party of Finland, and also the Minister of Finance.”
“He has also served as the Prime Minister of Finland.”
*I’m not exactly a social democrat,* I thought idly, but upon hearing his introduction and Willy Brandt’s addendum, I was taken aback and accepted his handshake. Damn, he was a big shot.
“Welcome to Frankfurt, Mr. Minister. I apologize for not preparing a proper reception, as we had not been notified of your visit.”
“Not at all. The fault is mine for arriving without prior notice.”
Still, for a former prime minister to show up so suddenly—what on earth was going on?
Even Claudia, who was usually composed, was stiff with surprise. I had no choice but to glare at Willy Brandt, the cause of this situation.
“Uh, well. It’s a bit complicated to explain, so let’s find a place to sit first.”
This Brandt fellow was supposed to be a great West German Chancellor, but for some reason, my impression of him worsened every time I saw him…
-
I had summoned Willy Brandt, who was in Norway, to discuss the preliminary work for bringing back the social democrats, anti-Nazi activists, and intellectuals who had fled Germany to escape Nazi persecution after the civil war ended.
The list of intellectuals and scientists who had left Germany under the Nazi dictatorship was too long to name, with the most famous being none other than Einstein himself.
Among them, the social democrats were quite organized, having formed an international body called the ‘Labour and Socialist International.’
Moreover, my connection through Claudia and Willy Brandt made them easy to contact. Welcoming back not only Germans but also foreigners who could not yet return to their home countries would be the perfect way to promote the new Germany as a place that guaranteed freedom of thought, regardless of nationality.
Simply overthrowing the Nazis by force wouldn't immediately cure Germany of its nationalist fervor and turn it into a normal country. In fact, the aftermath of toppling Hitler and the Nazi regime would likely be even more troublesome.
The modern German atmosphere of reflection and atonement for Nazi atrocities only truly took root long after the devastating Second World War, following events like Brandt’s ‘Kniefall von Warschau’ and the 68 movement.
And now, that very same Willy Brandt had brought me this new headache. We had moved to a more private setting, but Brandt still looked sheepish under my incredulous gaze.
“Haha, please don’t be too hard on him, Vice-Chancellor. Though there is an age gap, I too am a social democrat and have known him for some time, so I took the liberty of asking for this favor.”
“In that case, Mr. Minister, are you visiting merely as an acquaintance of Mr. Brandt?”
Tanner’s expression turned bitter at my words. Of course not. This was not a time for the Finnish Minister of Finance to be leisurely traveling with an acquaintance.
The Soviet Union’s demand for Finland's submission was already known throughout the world. Finland was appealing to the international community for help, but the responses had been lukewarm at best.
The Soviet proposal was indeed rude and threatening, but the Soviets hadn't actually declared war yet, and most countries secretly expected Finland to be crushed in an instant.
I knew about the Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland, but I hadn't expected Stalin to target Finland so quickly after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact fell through, putting Poland on the back burner for now.
Just as in the original history, the ‘Man of Steel,’ Generalissimo Stalin, was not one to sit back and test the waters.
“Finland’s fate hangs in the balance, so our Foreign Ministry has been stretched thin. I apologize for that.”
“And making an official appeal to the new German government, which is in the midst of a war, would be politically burdensome, wouldn’t it?”
It was no exaggeration that Finland’s Foreign Ministry was swamped as the international community turned a blind eye, but it was also absurd to ask for help from a Germany that was itself at war.
An official request would only look bad if it were rejected, and it could also antagonize countries like France, which already harbored ill feelings toward us.
“Heh, well, that is certainly part of it. But to be frank, there was also a bit of personal interest and hope involved.”
Personal interest and hope? Wondering what he meant, Tanner looked at me steadily and began to speak.
“I heard that it was you, Vice-Chancellor, who provided the German social democrats with the idea of abandoning Marxism and shifting towards a more moderate approach—the reform of capitalism.”
I glanced first at Claudia, then back at Willy Brandt, who shrugged and nodded.
“That’s true, but…”
“Heh heh, I too have held such beliefs while leading the Social Democratic Party of Finland. So, I became interested in you, a young man with similar ideas, and I heard from my friend Brandt here that you seem to understand the value of ideology and just causes.”
So that was why he had come to see me before making an official visit.
Väinö Tanner, his face etched with the wrinkles of time, looked at me with desperate eyes and said.
“We are well aware that your country is at war, but I must shamelessly ask for your help. Finland is in dire need of assistance in any form. We lack even enough rifles to arm our soldiers, yet not a single country has offered to help us.”
The Winter War, fought between Finland and the Soviet Union. In the original history, the Finns proved themselves to be a warrior nation, fighting valiantly against overwhelming odds, but in the end, they were defeated.
Finland had earnestly appealed to the international community, but most nations looked away. It was only after Finland surprisingly held its ground that some meager aid began to trickle in, but it was too little, too late. They had fought fiercely but were forced to surrender due to a lack of ammunition.
“If this continues, Finland will suffer immense losses the moment the invasion begins. I want to at least ensure our soldiers can fight with proper weapons, but we lack everything.”
We, on the other hand, had purchased a large number of surplus rifles from Spain on the cheap and were receiving Lee-Enfield rifles from Britain, so we actually had a decent stockpile of German-made rifles.
To us, they were just rifles, but to them, even that was a desperate need. If I could, I would want to help, even if only in a small way.
Though the war was famous for Finland's grit and the Soviet Union's incompetence, it was ultimately the story of a small nation fighting a lonely battle before being crushed.
It reminded me of Korea during this era, a colony under Japanese rule, and simply turning a blind eye left a bitter taste in my mouth.
The fact that he had approached me with a personal request rather than through formal diplomatic channels might have been a calculated move, thinking a young and inexperienced person would be more susceptible.
But my position left little room for personal feelings. In the end, I had to represent the interests of the new German government.
“I understand your country’s situation, but as you know, the new German government’s circumstances are not exactly comfortable either. We are at war not only with our internal enemies but also with Italy, and since Poland has rejected our non-aggression pact, we consider them a potential adversary.”
That was the problem. Italy was one thing. But if Poland were to get involved, a Germany weakened by civil war could not afford to take them lightly.
In the original history, Poland surrendered within five weeks of the invasion, but that was after a fully prepared German army launched a surprise attack. Even then, they held out until the Germans worried about running out of ammunition, only collapsing when the Soviet army also invaded.
But right now, Poland was still increasing its military strength without demobilizing, while our heavy industry in Nazi-controlled territories was likely paralyzed.
If Poland were to attack us, it would give us a pretext to solve the intractable Danzig problem, but no one knew how many lives would be lost to win that war.
Furthermore, Britain and France, having guaranteed Poland’s independence, would surely try to intervene in some way. I had to remember that in the original history, even though the Gleiwitz incident was used to frame Poland as the aggressor, Britain and France still declared war on Germany when Nazi troops marched into Polish territory.
The decisive battle with the Nazis was certain to cause heavy losses. We also had to fight Italy, and with the French elections approaching, was I willing to spill countless more lives in a two-front war with Poland just to take Danzig?
Personally, I wanted to avoid a war with Poland at all costs, at least until the war with Italy was over. The only comfort was that they had another enemy in the Soviet Union.
“Perhaps Poland would lend a hand, considering you face a common threat?”
“They have already rejected our request for an alliance.”
Tanner’s face was grim as he said this, and my own expression hardened. What on earth were they thinking, rejecting that?
Did they think Finland wouldn't be a useful ally and decided to buy time? Or worse, were they planning to strike us while the Soviet Union was busy devouring Finland?
“That is regrettable.”
Extremely regrettable, for both Finland and us. In that case, we would have to prepare for a potential Polish invasion.
“I sympathize with Finland’s situation, but the new German government is not in a position to provide aid without any benefit. And it’s not something I can decide on my own, even if I wanted to.”
It was a bitter thought, but at this point, it almost seemed better for Poland if Finland fell quickly, to prevent them from acting rashly.
Ah, I hated myself for being so calculating.
As Tanner’s face fell, Willy Brandt spoke up.
“Are you sure there would be no benefit?”
Drawing everyone’s attention, Brandt continued.
“In the end, all these so-called free and democratic nations are just watching as the communists invade a small country. Being the first to extend a helping hand in the midst of our own war would be a powerful symbol. It would be the most effective way to announce that Germany has become a normal country again, a member of the international community.”
His playboy tendencies masked a sharp political mind, one befitting the man who would initiate German reunification. Brandt had a point.
At the very least, there might be no better publicity for announcing Germany’s return as a free nation and a member of the international community, for regaining our diplomatic standing and calling back the intellectuals who had fled.
“It doesn’t have to be significant aid. We just need one country, any country, to start the support and show its solidarity.”
Tanner’s desperate words deepened my dilemma.
If we, in the midst of our war, announced even meager support for Finland, the so-called nations of the free world would likely not remain idle. It would become a competition of prestige, with everyone scrambling to offer aid for show.
That must be why Finland, rejected by every other nation, had come to us—a country at war, but one that had at least raised the banner of freedom—and was pleading so desperately.
If we supported Finland and gained diplomatic standing as a member of the free world, it would also slightly reduce the chances of Britain or France intervening rashly in the event of a future war with Poland.
But doing so would mean sending weapons to another country during our own war, even if they were surplus, and we would have to be prepared to earn Stalin’s ire before our own civil war was even over.
What should I do?
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