Chapter 83
Chapter 83
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 83
Chapter Title: World War II - What Are We Fighting For (13)
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February 5, 1940
Dietrich Schacht's Residence, Frankfurt, Kassel, 9th Military District, Central Germany
Waking up in my Frankfurt residence for the first time in a while, I felt a small sense of relief at the warmth in my arms. My eyes were open, but I had no intention of getting up.
Looking at the pale, naked form in my arms and the golden hair scattered across the bed, I felt the illusion of holding a separate, incredibly beautiful creature.
In moments like this, I could be neither the politician walking a tightrope and racking his brain at diplomatic conferences, nor the man in charge who reviewed and approved military operations, only to grow bitter reading the subsequent loss reports.
The tension and stress of walking a tightrope with the nation's fate at stake were more severe than I could have imagined; without these moments of peace, I wonder if I would have lost my mind long ago.
As I thought this, I gathered Claudia's hair and was about to gently kiss it when she suddenly turned to face me directly.
Ah, you surprised me.
“If you were awake, you should have said something. How long were you planning on staying like that?”
Seeing her blue eyes full of complaint, I couldn't help but laugh.
“Ah, sorry. I just woke up.”
I quickly released the waist I was holding, and she gave a small yawn, then sleepily sat up and stretched.
I watched her for a moment, then pulled her hand to mine and kissed her ring finger.
“I’m sorry.”
“I told you not to worry about it. Besides, having a grand wedding in a situation like this would only earn us criticism.”
“That may be true, but just signing some papers and calling you my wife makes me feel like a pretty bad husband.”
“You’re only just realizing that now?”
Claudia burst out laughing openly as she replied. We were now officially husband and wife, at least on paper, yet she wouldn't even offer an empty compliment...
Then again, she herself seemed unfazed when we filed the papers. It was my mother, Luise Sowa, who was more disappointed than she was.
While I was feeling dejected, she got up, threw on a robe, and pulled me to my feet.
“Come on. Get up, Mr. Vice-Chancellor. You’re a busy man, aren’t you?”
“Ah, yes. Ms. Adjutant.”
I smiled naturally and let her pull me up.
There was a time when I always prepared breakfast and woke her up in this house, but after hiring help in Berlin, I quickly grew lazy. Humans are such fickle creatures.
After a moment of thought, I spoke to Claudia’s back as she sat in her chair, busy getting ready.
“What if... during the election, I just stepped down?”
“You mean not run in the election?”
“Yes.”
Claudia stopped getting ready, turned around, and looked at me with a peculiar expression before speaking.
“Then, I’d have to decide whether to side with the Social Democrats or the Free Democrats, wouldn't I?”
“...Excuse me?”
As I stood there bewildered by her off-topic reply, Claudia tilted her head and spoke again.
“I’d like to try my hand at politics.”
“Ah, no. That’s perfectly reasonable, but are you not concerned at all that your husband is just stepping down?”
“You’d manage just fine even if you stepped down. You have plenty of money, don’t you? If worse comes to worst, I’ll rescue my poor husband. I may not look it, but I’m well-connected and capable.”
“Hah…”
Faced with her supremely confident expression and answer, I was at a loss for words and could only stare at her blankly.
At that, she watched me for a moment and then smiled softly.
“What’s wrong? Have you grown tired of power?”
“Well, a little. From supporting Finland to now being embroiled in a war... And now, the thought of inciting the public to stand against France... the weight of responsibility is too heavy. I keep wondering if I’m truly on the right path.”
The thought often comes to me unexpectedly.
Of course, accepting France's arrogant demands is illogical, but this era itself is one of excessive instability and madness.
The question I once posed to Hungary—whether they were gambling with their people as the stakes—could now be applied directly to me and my government.
I can't shake the suspicion that this situation—desperately trying to avoid war with France while placating the public by securing Danzig—is fundamentally no different from what Hitler did to start World War II.
In the end, instead of stopping the war even if it meant giving up our regime, we chose to continue it, knowing full well that Germans and Poles would die on the battlefield.
Even though a war with France might break out as well.
Claudia stared at me intently before she spoke.
“No matter who does the job, no one can be a perfect human being, free from failure. And they shouldn't be. If such a person existed, the very system of democracy would collapse, wouldn't it?”
“...I suppose so.”
“No one knows if Poland would have attacked Germany during its civil war even if we hadn't helped Finland. There are no 'what ifs' in history. There is only the history created by our choices. If you could go back to the past, would you turn your back on Finland?”
“...No, definitely not.”
As I gave a bitter smile, Claudia moved a little closer to me and spoke with a smile of her own.
“No one can be a great person to everyone. So don’t look back, just move forward. In a country where even the king called himself the nation’s number one servant, the Vice-Chancellor isn't planning on slacking off, is he?”
“Haha… Of course not, Ms. Adjutant.”
Good grief. Getting certified as a public slave of the state by my own wife. I couldn't help but smile bitterly.
“Now then, let’s do our best today. They say you can only claim you’ve done your best when your own efforts move you.”
“Yes, yes.”
As I walked past Claudia, she whispered softly from behind me.
“I’ll be the one watching your back, so just do what you can. Don’t worry too much. I may not look it, but I have very high standards. I didn't bet on you without thinking.”
The consideration and trust in her words reached me, and my uncertain heart seemed to find its calm. Being with someone who can make me smile so naturally… could it be that damned god’s last shred of conscience?
“...Couldn’t we postpone the speech for just an hour?”
“No.”
The nonsense I spouted, overcome by how lovely my wife was, was mercilessly shot down as expected.
-
February 5, 1940
Frankfurt, Kassel, 9th Military District, Central Germany – City Center
The same place where I had given the departure ceremony speech, back when Frankfurt was still the new government's provisional capital, was once again packed with people.
This time, they were not gathered to fight against their fellow countrymen who followed Hitler, but to stand against a foreign power.
“Welcome.”
“It’s been a while, General von Witzleben. Thank you for your hard work in the recent battle for South Tyrol.”
I exchanged a handshake with Colonel General von Witzleben, whom I hadn't seen in a long time.
He was a man to whom I was grateful, having actively supported the working-level officials, including myself, from the early days of the coup. After gaining fame in the battle for South Tyrol, he had now become one of the most prominent generals of the Fourth Reich, in name and in reality.
“Thank you. Well, the Chief of Staff deserves more credit than I do.”
With that, Witzleben stepped aside.
“General Model.”
General Model, who had achieved unimaginable results in the last battle and been promoted to General of Panzer Troops, grinned and shook my hand.
“Schacht, is this front the target for your next remodeling?”
I was the one who said it, but to hear it from the man himself...
“Hahaha, that's right. But I’d prefer to avoid combat if possible.”
“I agree. We’ll fight if it’s unavoidable, but I’m not keen on sacrificing unprepared soldiers.”
The forty divisions that had just arrived in Frankfurt to defend the Siegfried Line were composed of every last soldier we could scrape together from the forces being trained under our mobilization order.
They had only just finished receiving their equipment, and they would need at least another month of training to fight properly.
For now, however, this was the best we could muster. It was a bitter thought, but this was the maximum force we could deploy to make France hesitate to enter the war.
“The mere presence of you two generals here will boost our troops’ morale and make the enemy think twice before invading. That’s why I had no choice but to ask you to come here.”
“We are soldiers. We simply follow the government's orders.”
General von Witzleben replied without much thought, but his words left a strangely bitter taste in my mouth.
Well, this must be trust. All the more reason for the government to get its act together and choose the right direction.
In place of Generals von Witzleben and Model on the southern front, we deployed General Fedor von Bock and General Günther von Kluge.
The two had worked together in Army Group North and were more than capable, so they should be able to defend without issue, even if Italy made a desperate move.
“So, have you sorted out your thoughts?”
At General Model's question, I gave an awkward laugh. I remembered asking him to return to the front after he had retired, all while showing a lack of confidence myself.
“Not completely, but they’re a little more organized.”
General Model grinned and replied.
“Good, I’m looking forward to it. Just as you surprised me when I thought you were just my subordinate diligently following the General Staff course, try surprising everyone again this time.”
“Uh, umm. I’m sorry…”
I have a feeling this is going to be brought up for a long, long time…
As I instinctively hunched my shoulders, General Model slapped my shoulder with his usual powerful force, making a loud thwack.
“Oof!”
“A politician can’t afford to be timid! Go on, act like a man!”
My mentor’s hand hurt like hell every time it struck. But for some reason, my head felt clearer.
-
As I ascended the platform, I could see residents waving the black, red, and gold flags, just as they had at the departure ceremony, and soldiers cheering for me.
The sight of people who would have had to live through an age of iron and blood in Hitler's Germany, now voluntarily filling the streets without any coercion now that Hitler was gone, was overwhelming.
Even those who had remained with the Nazi regime, causing me worry and guilt, were now all together under the new Germany.
These people are the proof that all my efforts, our efforts, were not in vain. They are the driving force that blows away my worries and hesitation.
“My esteemed fellow Germans, I am Vice-Chancellor Dietrich Schacht. It has been a short time, and yet a long time, since the departure ceremony on November 15th of last year, and I stand before you once again.”
The sight of the cheering, noisy crowd falling silent in an instant, simply because I opened my mouth to begin my speech, delivers a thrill greater than any drug.
“It was nothing other than the free will of the German people that brought down the Nazi regime that persecuted Germany. The freedom we have here today was won by your own hands. Our fatherland, the new Germany, was not built by a dictator or by politicians, but by you.”
When I gave the departure ceremony speech, I was filled with hope. I believed that we would soon drive out Hitler and see a peaceful and free Germany.
“I express my deepest gratitude for your dedication and resolve in creating the Fourth Reich. At the same time, I express my regret that we must mourn those who have fallen on the battlefield, unable to proudly hold their heads high or even rejoice in the freedom they fought so hard to win.”
But peace never came. This unstable era, a tangle of myriad interests and madness, ultimately spiraled into war.
I no longer know if it is my responsibility, our responsibility, or perhaps the corrective force of world history itself.
“Our fatherland, Germany, is once again in crisis. As a member of the government responsible for leading you, I feel a deep sense of responsibility for our country’s current situation.”
But even so, we cannot simply stand by.
Whether it is right or wrong, possible or impossible—none of that matters anymore.
“We, our fatherland Germany, never wanted war. And yet, our nation is at war. Proud Germans are dying to defend against their invasion!”
Germany, which rose up to refuse a path of destruction by surrendering to the tides of the era, cannot now tolerate simply conforming to the flow of history.
To hell with some god or the original history. I don't give a damn. The one standing here now is the me of this era, of this world.
The Germany that fell into madness under Hitler's dictatorship, that drove the world into shock and fear with war crimes and mass genocide, does not exist here.
The people looking up at me, listening to this speech, the Germans who have found their freedom—they are the people of this era.
[While we fight a difficult battle against Poland and Italy, French politicians have sent Germany an ultimatum under the pretext of stopping German expansion! But is this a war that we started? No! This is a war against them!]
Pre-recorded English and French versions of Dietrich Schacht's speech were also being broadcast on the radio.
“Not our war, but a war against them. Hmm, that fellow always has a way with words.”
Winston Churchill remarked, popping a piece of bacon into his mouth. He couldn't help but feel as if an idea from his own mind had been stolen, but it was probably just his imagination.
[They say that we threaten the world. Did we threaten Poland, Italy, or France? They see only what they want to see! Proud people of Germany! For what reason did we rise up against Hitler!]
In the Abwehr headquarters, Director Wilhelm Canaris handed a document to Deputy Director Hans Oster.
“Deliver this to the press. Tell them to run a scoop.”
Deputy Director Oster glanced down with cold eyes at a photograph of Heinrich Himmler staying at Mussolini’s villa, then saluted Canaris and left the room.
[We rose up against Hitler precisely to prevent a war with them! We fought against a dictator who drove our nation into an unwanted war and persecuted his own people who opposed him, and we won our freedom! And yet, those who invade us now claim they are preventing a threat from us!]
Major General von Tresckow, looking over a tactical map next to an ashtray overflowing with cigarette butts, listened to the radio and quietly exhaled a plume of smoke.
To think that the greenhorn who had grabbed him in Austria, a near-stranger, and passionately argued that Hitler must be stopped, would actually finish Hitler off and become a figure respected by the people.
Who could have imagined it?
[They are nothing more than invaders who attacked us under the delusion that we, who fought for freedom and peace, had grown weak! But did we try to avoid war because we were weak? No! In Austria, in Italy, in Poland! Those invaders are facing a thorough and overwhelming defeat!]
The foreign correspondents gathered in the Frankfurt square were capturing photos of the soldiers and citizens listening to Dietrich Schacht’s speech.
[Proud people of Germany! Why do we fight! Is this a war we started to satisfy the ambitions of politicians, to gain a mere scrap of land for our nation? We are fighting simply to defend our freedom against them, a value we reclaimed through great hardship, even spilling the blood of our fellow countrymen!]
A reporter from France, while planning to write an article titled ‘The Warmonger Threatening France and the Fanatics Burning with Hostility,’ couldn’t help but shudder at the fervor of the soldiers and citizens filling the square.
[But does the fact that we have the strength to defend ourselves mean we are a threat to France? We have already renounced our western territories lost in the last Great War! Is it because we do not miss that land? Is it because we fear them? It is neither!]
Walter Model listened to the speech of the man who was both his student and now a high-ranking government official, watching the soldiers who responded to his words.
Unlike the audience's reaction to one of Goebbels’s meticulously prepared speeches, their response was scattered and disorderly, but in that, they looked free.
[We simply did not wish to shed German blood by going to war with France again! But who is it that threatens that peace now! In the war to end all wars, for what purpose did the blood flow to cover the earth and fill the trenches!]
The Commander-in-Chief of the French Army, Maurice Gamelin, who was listening to the speech with French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud, clicked his tongue as he heard the broadcast of Dietrich Schacht's speech, recorded in fluent French.
“Hmph, as if a wet-behind-the-ears punk who never even experienced the Great War knows anything.”
[For what reason do their politicians cry out for a war for their country! If they truly understood the horrors of the battlefield, they could not do so! No one has the right to drive countless people to their deaths in the name of the state!]
But the former Prime Minister of France, Édouard Daladier, lowered his head as he listened to Dietrich Schacht’s speech.
[People of the world! If you are crying out for war, do you truly hold a value that you must protect even in death? What is it you intend to fight for! Is there truly a cause for which you, your comrades, and your families should stain your hands with blood on the battlefield, to kill and be killed?]
“To die for one’s country is not a glory, but—”
The words of Baron Carl Gustaf Mannerheim, commander of the Finnish forces currently fighting well against the Soviets, were cut off by Finnish President Kyösti Kallio.
“Be quiet for a moment, please. I want to hear the rest.”
[I dare to declare that no such cause exists anywhere. Whether they are your countrymen or the enemy’s, there is no such thing as a person who deserves to die. Neither territory stained with the blood of men nor honor decorated with any amount of rhetoric holds enough value to compensate for that death.]
“I-Is France’s entry into the war not yet decided?”
“They say it has not been decided yet.”
Former Prime Minister, Lieutenant General Sikorski, watched with pity as the Inspector General of the Polish Armed Forces, Rydz-Śmigły, tore at his hair. Sikorski shook his head and muttered softly.
“What in the world is this war for…”
[Nevertheless, if there are those who cry out for war, let them remember that the ruin of that war will one day judge them as well. May God bless the Reichswehr, who are struggling to protect our fatherland and our freedom, and all nations fighting against invasion.]
After Dietrich Schacht's speech ended, the room was wrapped in silence.
François de La Rocque, who had been sitting with his legs elegantly crossed, sipping wine, paused as if savoring the afterglow, before, after a moment, he began to clap slowly and dryly.
“Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. So that man is my enemy, France’s enemy.”