Chapter 101
Chapter 101
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Valkyrie Operation (2)
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“Excellency! Excellency! A coup has broken out in Germany.”
Jeong Gil’s frantic shouting woke me from the nap I was enjoying for once.
But what did he just say?
A coup in Germany?
It’s only August 1943 right now?
Compared to the original Valkyrie coup, this was way too early.
Nearly a whole year ahead of schedule.
Did the Junkers feel that much of a crisis from America entering the war?
Anyway, we were screwed.
As far as I knew, Germany was in the middle of an offensive, and now a coup in the midst of that—it meant the operation was fucked.
With the German army pulling back without landing any real blows, the Soviets were the big winners here.
Would Stalin, who’d brilliantly defended against the German assault, just sit still?
No way.
He was the type to get excited and order a full counteroffensive.
This felt like an unexpected flag standing for the reds unifying a charred Europe.
Emergency.
“Get the Foreign, Army, and Navy Ministers in here right now.”
“Yes, Excellency.”
I hung up the phone and looked at Jeong Gil.
This was the first time he looked this shaken since the coup.
Even during the counter-coup, it hadn’t been this bad.
“Jeong Gil.”
“Yes, Prime Minister.”
“If we don’t get a foothold in Europe before Germany collapses, it’s all over. All the plans I’ve drawn up will go down the drain.”
“It won’t turn out that badly. Please don’t worry too much.”
Even with Jeong Gil’s reassurance, I couldn’t shake the anxiety.
If Germany fell before we could move, not only would we miss out on plundering tech, talent, and facilities to our heart’s content, but our share of the postwar spoils would shrink dramatically too.
I absolutely couldn’t tolerate that.
A quarter of Germany was our Republic of Korea’s pie.
As Jeong Gil and I pored over the map, worrying about the fallout, the three ministers arrived at the residence.
The moment they entered, I jumped straight into it.
“You’ve all heard the news, so let’s cut to the chase. Minister Won.”
“Yes, Prime Minister.”
“How many Marine reserves can we mobilize?”
Won Yeong-guk thought for a moment before giving a number.
“If we scrape together every available soldier from the China front, we can secure two divisions.”
Two divisions. Who was that enough to impress?
Still, better than nothing.
“Send them to England immediately.”
“Understood.”
The Navy Minister grabbed the phone and started issuing orders.
“Jeong Gil.”
“Yes, Prime Minister.”
“Get the Army prepping new recruits for Russia as soon as their numbers ramp up. For training issues, pull some veterans from the China front to fill in.”
With the situation escalating so fast, we needed to accelerate preparations for deploying to Russia.
“We’ll do that.”
“Foreign Minister, check the mood in Britain and America and report back hourly.”
“Understood.”
I rattled off a bunch of other directives too.
After sending the ministers off, my throat felt parched.
Damn those German bastards.
Why pull a coup right now of all times?
If they were gonna do it, wait until we were fully ready to intervene in Western Europe.
I can’t handle this.
But there was no putting the genie back in the bottle.
“Get the Central Intelligence Director in here.”
In this mess, only Central Intelligence could handle a proper response.
Thirty minutes later, Director Lee Kyung-ho arrived from Geum-su Mountain.
“I heard you called me about the coup.”
“Yeah. It’s extremely serious. Germany collapsing isn’t the problem—the process is. If the Soviets monopolize the spoils, that’s a problem in itself, right?”
“Of course.”
“So here’s the thing. I want Central Intelligence to make contact with the Germans. We need to know how the coup’s unfolding to even make plans, don’t we?”
“You’re right.”
“It’s probably too late to send agents now. Do we have any lines in place on the ground?”
I wasn’t expecting much.
“We’ll need cooperation from the British.”
As expected.
Well, if Central Intelligence could run independent ops in Europe, it’d be the CIA, not KCIA.
“Got it. Stand by.”
I called in my secretary to send a cable to Britain.
“To Prime Minister Anthony Eden. Excellency, this German coup requires active cooperation between our two nations.”
As I was furiously drafting the cable, Jeong Gil brought over the phone.
“It’s the Foreign Ministry.”
“This is Yi Sung-jun. Britain’s proposing talks on recognizing the new German regime? Noted for now.”
One thing was clear now.
The coup faction had no intention of fighting the West.
They planned to reconcile with the West and keep fighting the Soviets.
In the original history, the Valkyrie plotters had pushed similar pro-West policies.
A pro-West, anti-Soviet coup faction.
Was recognizing them beneficial?
I shook my head.
Ridiculous.
Separate peace was nonsense to begin with, and we couldn’t give Nazi Germany a chance to survive as militarist Germany.
If Germany weathered this crisis, next time they’d be waving nukes around.
A tech-savvy giant North Korea in the heart of Europe.
The thought alone was horrifying.
Better the reds redden Germany than a Nazi Germany Season 2 with nukes.
I picked up the phone again.
“Foreign Minister. Tell the British we can’t recognize the new regime. Yes. Separate peace is absurd. It’ll destroy trust with the Soviets too. Handle it that way.”
That settled the Republic of Korea’s diplomatic stance.
We absolutely would not recognize the coup regime.
No talks with the Germans either.
So what was our position?
Betting on the Nazis winning.
Ironic, but for us to maximize gains, the Nazis had to crush this coup.
If the plotters won, it’d only weaken Germany’s cohesion and accelerate the Empire’s collapse.
Then Stalin would be the only one laughing.
I couldn’t allow that picture.
If someone’s laughing, let me join in.
“Prime Minister. A cable from the British Prime Minister’s office.”
Wait, I just gave instructions to the Foreign Ministry.
No helping it—I read the Prime Minister’s office cable.
“To Prime Minister Yi Sung-jun. We agree with Your Excellency’s policy against separate peace. However, if the current regime change in Germany opens a path to dialogue with less bloodshed, recognizing them isn’t a bad idea. We seek Your Excellency’s wise judgment for the free world.”
What the hell were these guys up to all of a sudden?
I thought for a second.
Britain wasn’t the type to go easy on Germany.
They’d tear them apart if they could.
So it wasn’t about the Germans—it was some external factor.
No need to think hard.
The Brits were scared of the reds right now.
Fear of those red boys seemed to have pushed Britain into a let’s-talk-to-Germany-first stance.
“Doesn’t that contradict our unconditional surrender position?”
“We can demand unconditional surrender publicly while negotiating terms under the table. Prime Minister, just yield this once.”
“We can’t agree. America won’t either.”
America, just stepping into the ring, wouldn’t stop here.
“Prime Minister, let’s at least talk.”
The British PM clung persistently.
Fine.
Okay.
I’d concede talks.
But nothing more.
I instructed the British that we agreed to talks but nothing violating the Three Allied Principles.
“Of course.”
An hour later, the phone rang from the Foreign Ministry.
“This is Yi Sung-jun. What? Hitler’s alive? Got it.”
Hitler was alive.
That one phrase decided everything.
In the original Valkyrie Operation, Hitler had talked down the coup’s key units with a single phone call.
His position as military supreme commander and head of state gave him that power.
Even Park Han-jin, if he’d evaded my grasp and rallied the military, could’ve taken my head with one call.
The Brits were in for empty efforts.
Why bother talking to those doomed bastards?
What a waste of time.
“The coup’s finished.”
Still, this coup wouldn’t leave us empty-handed.
“Director.”
“Yes, Prime Minister.”
“Beyond tracking the coup faction, there’s more for you to handle.”
“Please instruct me.”
“With Germany in chaos from this, send out the agents to Switzerland as soon as they’re ready.”
“May I ask Your Excellency’s intent?”
My intent was simple.
Now that everyone knew Germany was doomed, it was time to bait the trap early.
“Impersonate the Anglo-Americans and set up cells in advance. Won’t it be easier to lure people later?”
Luring talent worked best when voluntary.
Through tricks or booze.
To do that, we needed the setup to deceive.
“If that’s Your Excellency’s intent, we’ll prepare.”
“How many can we send?”
With the short defection window, I figured maybe ten at most.
“We have about thirty who’ve completed ideological training.”
Huh? That many?
Pretty efficient for crash courses.
Probably bribed them with food while brainwashing.
“That’s plenty. Make sure their IDs hold up—be thorough.”
“We will.”
I hung up and stretched.
That covered all the measures for this bolt-from-the-blue coup.
Now, just wait for the results.
‘Please wrap it up quietly if possible.’
My humble wish to the rebels staging the coup.