Chapter 105
Chapter 105
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Casablanca Conference (1)
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By October 1943, the Soviet army's terrifying advance had finally ground to a halt.
It wasn't due to strong German resistance so much as the Soviets reaching the end of their offensive momentum.
Even so, Germany lost every inch of occupied territory east of the Dnieper River.
In the process, the German 17th Army failed to withdraw in time and ended up trapped on the Crimean Peninsula—a disaster.
Anyway, as German forces were steadily pushed back across Russian soil, the nations riding the Axis bandwagon started crunching the numbers.
To anyone with eyes, the Axis was a sinking ship, and an Allied victory looked all but certain.
Sure enough, even we started getting feelers from Axis allies.
"Greece?"
"Yes, Your Excellency. They're asking if Korean forces could deploy to Greece if the situation calls for it."
Beggars can't be choosers.
"What's Britain's take on this?"
"We need to hear more, but they seem open to considering it positively."
"Got it for now."
I sent off Joo Si-kyung and sank into thought.
Greece.
How should we handle these guys?
Straight-up accepting their switch to the Allies wouldn't fly—not with the French status issue hanging over us.
The French would use Greece as leverage to amplify their own voice.
So, no dice.
'Better to treat them as a collaborator regime.'
Given how Greece had sold minerals to Germany and handled transshipments for them, slapping them with the collaborator label wasn't overkill.
That should muzzle France too.
Fine, let's say we provisionally accept Greece as a collaborator regime pending their "defection."
The real problem came next.
Could we spare the troops to protect them from Axis counterattacks?
'We can't.'
Even if we could, committing our forces to the rugged mountains of the Balkans would be a waste.
Better to husband our strength for the decisive push into Western Europe—that served Daehan's interests.
Let the British, with their Mediterranean obsession, shoulder that burden.
With those pieces in place, only one sticking point remained.
Would Greece's betrayal(?) trigger a premature Axis collapse?
Too quick a downfall for the Axis would spell disaster for the Anglo-American trio.
Unless we wanted to gift Central Europe to the Soviets on a silver platter, we had to pace things carefully.
After running the numbers for a good long while, I had my answer.
"Greece surrendering early doesn't serve the interests of Britain, Korea, or America. We need to drag out negotiations with their government as long as possible."
I hadn't even finished sending the wire to the Prime Minister's office when a reply came back.
"Prime Minister. I fully agree with Your Excellency. We'll stall negotiations with any Axis contacts reaching out to us."
The British, seasoned at running the world, weren't about to choke on half-cooked rice in their haste.
The shrewd politician Roosevelt chimed in with agreement too.
"I concur with Your Excellency. So, when would be the ideal time to bring Greece over?"
The timing for flipping Greece.
I mulled it over.
A way to minimize frontline shock while maximizing our gains.
My calculations went like this.
"How about around October 1944?"
It lined up with the original timeline for Greece's liberation.
I'd picked that date deliberately, factoring in when the Balkans would fall to the Soviets.
"Isn't that a bit late?"
Sure, it looked delayed—I'd grant that.
But striking the balance between Reds and Nazis while maxing our profits meant this was the play.
After going back and forth with wires for ages, we nailed down a final deal.
"Let's bring them into the Allies in August '44."
Not bad.
Speaking of Greece flipping, what about pulling Turkey in at the same time?
"Get Turkey to join?"
Turkey had formally named only Italy as an enemy, staying neutral with the rest of the Axis.
That odd setup stemmed from aligned interests between Turkey and Germany.
Turkey didn't fancy fighting Germany mid-war, and Germany feared the Soviets using Turkey as a gateway to the Balkans.
They'd found common ground there, so no declarations of war.
But change the picture, and minds change too.
With Germany weakened, Turkey had zero reason to keep playing nice.
"We need them in to lighten the load on Allied troops heading into Greece."
That was my thinking—use Turkey to ease the pressure.
Of course, they'd get their cut as compensation.
Roosevelt and Eden signed off.
"Sounds good. That paints a much better picture."
We'd just settled Greece's fate with a handful of cables.
Even if Athens made up its mind, their position wouldn't budge until our timeline hit.
And if it did shift, it'd still be under the collaborator tag.
Tough break, but what could you do?
Blame their bad luck being born next door to a thug like Germany.
Anyway, our Allied consensus locked in our Greece policy.
Now it was just time to paint in the details.
I phoned the Foreign Ministry and rattled off instructions.
"From now on, compile any negotiation intel coming through Switzerland or Sweden and send updates every four hours. Right—drag those talks out indefinitely. It's all squared away with the Anglo-Americans, so handle it that way. Yep."
Alright, time to chat with Stalin too.
The steel-mustached bastard was probably riding high after a big win—hope he didn't balk.
Even as I thought that, I fired off the wire.
"Secretary General Stalin. Congratulations to Your Excellency and the Union on your victories. I'd like to discuss our alliance and troop deployment between our nations. As this is sensitive, I request a prompt reply."
A bit early, maybe, but we needed to prep for Europe deployment soon.
The danger zone had passed, so sending forces shouldn't rock the boat much.
"Prime Minister Yi Seong-jun. I welcome Your Excellency's alliance proposal and confirm our willingness to accept your expeditionary forces."
Of course Stalin wouldn't turn down reinforcements.
The sticking point was the power-sharing.
I nudged the command issue.
I wanted independent operational control if possible, but Stalin threw on the brakes.
"That would disrupt frontline coordination and hinder timely responses to enemy counterattacks. The fundamental principle of war is unified command under a single leader—like how a pack of sheep led by a lion beats a pride led by a sheep."
Stalin made his opposition crystal clear.
No surprise—he wasn't desperate like the British.
With eight million troops shoving the front forward, why grovel for Korea's twenty divisions and half a million men?
After a marathon tug-of-war, I wrung out a few concessions.
1. Korean forces form a separate front army.
But they follow Stavka's (Soviet High Command) strategic directives.
2. Areas captured by Korean forces are held temporarily by them until NKVD units arrive.
Limited to German territory only.
3. Korean forces deploy solely along the axis from the Baltics to East Prussia.
Plenty of qualifiers made it half-baked in places.
But snagging even that much felt like a win.
"Secretary General. Thank you for Your Excellency's concessions. We commit to deploying Korean forces by June 1944."
"Prime Minister Yi Seong-jun. I trust Your Excellency's word and look forward to unwavering friendship ahead."
The Red boss played it more gentlemanly than expected.
Maybe he still thought crushing the Wehrmacht would be tough.
Could be.
Nah.
"The Reds are coming in softer than expected—what's their angle?"
"Probably figuring their casualties are too high."
"Casualties, huh. Not a bad guess."
Insignificant compared to the original timeline, but Soviet losses were still massive.
Ten million dead, civilians and soldiers combined—Stalin might be warming to Korean troops as a way to ease that.
But that couldn't be the whole story.
Even in the original, with 29 million dead, the Soviets gobbled up everything, defying the West.
No, they knew damn well how strong their hand was now.
Like us, they'd fielded feelers from Axis allies too.
They'd tested the waters, negotiated, sized up their leverage.
From that angle, Stalin had no reason to go soft.
Unless... prep for the Casablanca Conference?
That might be it.
With Roosevelt joining the Allies, we'd soon convene in Casablanca.
At a Big Four Allied summit, the Soviets stood alone.
Korea, Britain, America—all capitalist.
If Stalin was cozying up to avoid being the odd man out, it tracked.
Let's team up military dictatorship against military dictatorship and commie dictatorship, right?
If that's his olive branch, I'd play nice too.
What about the shit I dumped on them before? That's then, this is now.
When's the world ever black-and-white?
I tasked Jeong Gil with prepping for the Casablanca Conference.