Chapter 79
Chapter 79
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: World War II - What Are We Fighting For (9)
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January 22, 1940
Warsaw, Capital of Poland
“Romania says they won’t sell us any more oil or weapons? What is the meaning of this?!”
Hearing the roar of Inspector General Rydz-Śmigły, Polish Foreign Minister Józef Beck’s face contorted with anger.
“They’re taking issue with our support for Hungary’s abrogation of the Treaty of Trianon.”
Foreign Minister Józef Beck, who had once spearheaded the German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact with Nazi Germany, had been skeptical of Poland’s invasion of Germany from the start.
Now that Germany had broken from fascism, they could have accepted the non-aggression pact offered. With a little more time, his dream of a Międzymorze—an alliance of nations stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea under Polish leadership—might have been realized. But the military, running wild, had ruined everything.
While purchasing arms and oil from Romania, Poland had also promised Hungary approval for abrogating the Treaty of Trianon and the territory of Transylvania to bring them to their side.
But when Poland started the war with Germany and approved the treaty’s abrogation, Hungary’s adversary, Romania, was enraged by Poland’s double-dealing and announced a halt to all sales.
“This was our only chance while Italy is fighting them! If Germany had defeated Italy, it’s obvious we would have been next! Their predecessor, the Weimar Republic, was openly hostile to us!”
“Even Hitler signed a non-aggression pact with us for a time. Since they opposed the Soviet Union by supporting Finland, there was a clear possibility of them joining hands with us, yet you sold our nation’s fate for a miserable scrap of land!”
Watching the Inspector General and the Foreign Minister argue, Prime Minister Składkowski pressed a hand to his forehead.
The Polish military had planned the invasion on the premise that they would capture East Prussia within a month at the latest. They believed that by rampaging across Germany’s vast borders, they could break the will of a nation already exhausted by civil war and its conflict with Italy.
As confident as Poland was, they never seriously expected to win an all-out war against Germany. The idea had always been to secure a single, decisive victory and then negotiate for peace, much like their war against the Soviets.
Because Britain and France had blocked a general mobilization until August, when Hitler’s war threats were at their peak, the Polish divisions were not in the best state of readiness. Moreover, the German civil war had ended far more quickly than anticipated, leaving their hasty preparations for an offensive in utter disarray.
Still, they believed their objective would be easy to achieve with the bulk of Germany’s main forces tied down by the Italian army. However, the German resistance was far stronger than Poland had anticipated.
They had barely managed to launch the invasion with properly supplied guns and fuel thanks to last-minute aid from Romania. Now that this lifeline was cut, the Polish army had to halt its offensive due to concerns about ammunition and fuel depletion.
Prime Minister Składkowski looked to President Mościcki for help, but as always, the president merely watched the situation unfold in silence.
“While we are doing this, Germany’s munitions factories will be churning out tanks and equipment. We can’t trust the non-aggression pact with the Soviets to last forever, either.”
At the Prime Minister’s grim words, Rydz-Śmigły and Beck, who had been on the verge of grabbing each other by the collar, fell silent.
The Soviet Union was still getting a bitter taste of the Winter War from Finland, but even that was a better performance than Poland had expected.
There was no telling how long it would last, and even if the Soviets had yet to end their war with Finland, the possibility that they would strike Poland from behind while it was weakened from fighting Germany was very real.
“Hmph. Foreign Minister, please placate the Romanians by telling them it’s all a misunderstanding and get them to resume the deals. Since Hungary has now switched sides to Germany, couldn’t you stir up concerns that Germany has made some sort of promise to Hungary?”
“…I will.”
Foreign Minister Beck looked deeply dissatisfied with Rydz-Śmigły’s words, but he had no choice.
The same situation that the German army of the original history had faced—a crisis of ammunition depletion from a poorly prepared and reckless offensive—was now repeating itself for Poland. Without Romania’s support, they could not continue their attack.
“Italy has shown a less than impressive performance, and now we can no longer win this war on our own. As things stand, we have no choice but to ask France for help. They won’t want to see Germany grow stronger, either.”
The moment it became clear that Poland’s goal of seizing German territory and teaching them a lesson was nothing more than a foolish delusion, the most realistic alternative they could turn to was France’s entry into the war.
Spurred by the pressure from François de La Rocque’s speech and Poland’s request for protection, Prime Minister Paul Reynaud’s Radical Party cabinet in France, with its strong anti-German sentiment, began to seriously consider intervention.
***
January 24, 1940
Berlin, Northern Germany, Army General Staff Headquarters
“All personnel, attention!”
Ah, this again.
“To the Vice-Chancellor of the Chancellery, salute!”
As soon as I entered the General Staff operations room, the staff officers saluted me in unison. Once again, I returned the salute stiffly.
Damn it all, I could see Major General Tresckow among the saluting officers, his face looking utterly sour! Manstein, you bastard!
“Th-Thank you for the welcome, General Manstein.”
“Haha, how could I not show my respect to the Vice-Chancellor, when the man you personally recommended achieved such a… *grand* success! Hahaha!”
“Ha, haha…”
Is this man jealous? Is he jealous of General Model?
Regardless of the little farce Manstein and I were playing out, Major General Tresckow shot Manstein a look of pity before lighting a cigarette and putting it to his lips.
Oh, for heaven’s sake. Look at how thick the air is in this room. My eyes are stinging.
To stick two chain-smokers in one room…
I felt a pang of pity for the staff officers marinating in the smell of tobacco. There were no air purifiers in this era. How was I supposed to offer them any comfort?
“Now, please come this way, Vice-Chancellor! The operational plan is ready!”
“Yes. Let’s have a look…”
After their massive offensive into East Prussia was thwarted, the Poles had dug in and showed no signs of movement.
Something was clearly wrong on their end, and Manstein, ever the proponent of the offensive, had drafted a plan. Instead of waiting patiently while the enemy was unable to attack, he proposed striking them with armored units to further delay their reorganization.
“This… looks promising.”
So, the plan was to strike the vulnerabilities in Poland’s defensive lines—which were stretched thin across a vast front after their overextended offensive fizzled out—with armored units from four directions.
And the generals leading them…
“General Oswald Lutz, General Heinz Guderian, General Erwin Rommel, and… General Erich von Manstein. The four of you will be running circles around the enemy.”
“That’s right, Vice-Chancellor! Haha! As you know, Generals Lutz and Guderian are already proven commanders of armored forces! The problem is General Rommel, but well… he’s from the infantry, so you can think of him as a figurehead to boost public morale.”
I let out a small laugh. True, Erwin Rommel came from the infantry. But I wonder, would he really be content as just a figurehead?
This was practically a dream lineup for German armored warfare. But—
I glanced sideways at Manstein and asked.
“Are you also going out yourself, General Manstein? If my memory serves me correctly, it was General Manstein who summoned General von Richthofen from the field just to have an operations meeting—”
“Th-That was a very important operation, you see! Haha! We can all breathe a little easier now, can’t we, Vice-Chancellor! Of-of course, the General Staff will still require my outstanding tactics and brilliant mind, but!”
Manstein made a fuss, then clapped a hand on the shoulder of Major General Tresckow, who was staring into the distance, smoking his cigarette.
“I’ve already drawn up the entire operational plan, so if it’s just a matter of supplementing or managing it, a slightly less, ah, other staff officers will be sufficient! I am confident I can personally demonstrate that as a frontline commander, I am in no way inferior to Mode— I mean, to any commander in the Wehrmacht!”
Oh, for God’s sake. General Tresckow’s face is curdling, you damn Chief of the General Staff!
I quickly grabbed Manstein’s hand from General Tresckow’s shoulder and held it respectfully with both of mine.
Manstein displayed the near-miraculous feat of smiling while his eyes practically rotted with contempt. Wow. Just, wow.
“Of course, I have never once doubted your abilities, General Manstein. I trust that you will lead the vanguard and carry out this operation splendidly.”
“Ooooh, as expected of the Vice-Chancellor! You have a truly remarkable eye for people! Hahahaha!”
“Haha, haha…”
I forced a laugh along with the joyfully laughing Manstein, and soon the staff officers began to laugh as well, their laughter filling the operations room.
Even if this man acts so obsequiously, his rank is still General! I might be the Vice-Chancellor of the Chancellery, but my military rank is Lieutenant Colonel. I can’t exactly spit in the face of such a high-ranking general…
Ah, why is life so exhausting…
Thankfully, General Tresckow seemed to understand my position, as he later looked at me with great pity and offered a word of solace.
“You have it tough, too.”
“…Not as tough as you, General.”
***
January 25, 1940
Berlin, Northern Germany, Government Chancellery
But before we could even begin our offensive, we were met with grim news.
“A report from Abwehr agents. The French are demanding a white peace from us, and are considering entering the war as Poland’s ally if we refuse.”
At the report from Abwehr Director Wilhelm Canaris, all the government officials fell into silence.
Although our forces were being massively reinforced by the general mobilization order, it would still take at least another month, realistically two, for them all to be armed and trained.
Just as we had neutralized Italy’s offensive capacity for the time being and stalled Poland’s advance, waiting only for our troops to be mobilized, the final crisis had arrived.
“On what grounds do those bastards intend to strike us?! We are fighting a defensive war!”
Ludwig Beck, a Junker of the military establishment, displayed his undisguised anger and hostility toward France.
“The independence guarantee France provided to Poland when Hitler was threatening them is still valid. In principle, so is Britain’s. If we intend to demand Polish territory, it could serve as a forced pretext.”
At Foreign Minister von Weizsäcker’s words, the government officials could not hide their anger.
“Hmph, they call it an independence guarantee, but they attacked us first. It’s just an excuse. They mean to stop Germany before it grows any stronger.”
Everyone present agreed with my father, Hjalmar Schacht’s, statement. Of course, in the original history, Poland had also technically been the first to attack, even if it was based on a fabrication.
The reason France could still declare war to protect Poland, citing the independence guarantee, was that Germany’s diplomatic reputation had hit rock bottom and the French public was enraged.
Germany had already pushed the Western world’s patience to its breaking point by abrogating the Treaty of Versailles, carrying out the Anschluss, and then, despite piling on the aggression with the Munich Agreement, breaking it to devour Czechoslovakia.
And we, who had started a civil war to stop Hitler and restored the Hohenzollern monarchy, had inherited that diplomatic reputation wholesale.
Things had improved somewhat with Britain through practical ties, and our relations with the United States were decent enough after promising democracy and supporting Finland, but that didn’t make them allies who would actively help us when we were being invaded.
On the other hand, our relationship with France was not much different from that in the original history. We were sworn enemies, implacable foes.
After all, we had abrogated the Treaty of Versailles, restored the Hohenzollern monarchy, and then screwed over France by winning over Britain, giving them nothing in return.
It would be strange to expect the proud French, with their pathological fear of Germany, to remain quiet indefinitely.
“If we go to war with France, can we win?”
In response to the concerned question from Minister of Labor Kurt Schumacher, Ludwig Beck narrowed his brow and answered.
“Realistically, it would be difficult right now.”
In the original history, France surrendered in six weeks.
But that was the result of the unexpected success of the sickle-cut plan, a series of coincidences, and French blunders.
With history already so twisted, betting Germany itself on the gamble that France would make the same mistakes was too great a risk.
While the French army was not objectively superior to Germany’s, we were not in a position to commit our full strength against them.
We were already stretched thin dealing with the Italian and Polish fronts, to the point of needing to negotiate with Hungary. Taking on the French army, which was three times the size of Poland’s by numbers alone, was out of the question.
“Our border with Poland is too vast. We have too many troops tied down there, making a full-scale war with France impossible at this time.”
When I chimed in, the expressions on the officials’ faces grew even grimmer.
We were already short on troops to cover the entire Polish border, forcing us to postpone the campaign against Italy and retreat. France joining the war in that state would lead to catastrophic results.
Furthermore, while it would be tough to fend off a reckless French push, it would be even more fatal if they instead defended along the Maginot Line and began to blockade our trade.
The Reichsmarine was still building the Bismarck, and even if the Tirpitz were completed, we could not hope to win a full-scale naval battle against the French Navy. That would immediately cut off our lifeline: the fuel and trucks we were purchasing from the United States.
For now, we weren’t facing a food shortage since we hadn’t resorted to mobilizing 150 divisions like Nazi Germany, but with the Soviet Union alienated, the cutoff of trade with the best food-exporting nation could become a problem at any time.
We were not in a position to trample over neutral Belgium to invade France, nor could we afford to throw ourselves against the Maginot Line.
If things went that way, the war would play out exactly as France had intended when they built the Maginot Line after the First World War.
“We must prevent France from entering the war, at least until we can secure Poland’s surrender.”
Of course, if we caved and accepted a white peace, there would be no war with France. But that would not only cause our government to implode, but it would also likely lead to the re-emergence of an even more reckless Germany.
My father, Hjalmar Schacht, stared at me intently and asked.
“Is that possible?”
Well, if you ask if it’s possible, I’m not certain either, but we have to try even if it fails. That’s why I’ve placed so much importance on diplomacy, even at a cost.
“Britain will ultimately prefer to maintain a balance of power, one way or another, and the older generation in France is still haunted by the horrors of the last Great War. So, if we can eliminate all the pretexts they could use as a justification, I’d say we have a fighting chance.”
From the moment we overthrew the Nazis, everything has been a precarious tightrope walk. A self-deprecating smile threatened to form on my lips.
It seems it’s time to go all out again—propaganda war, diplomatic war, everything we’ve got.
“I will contact the Czechoslovak government-in-exile. The time has come to liberate them.”