Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Munich Conference (2)
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The Sudetenland issue reached its peak in September.
On September 13, the Germans in the Sudetenland rose up in revolt, only to be crushed within a day.
Martial law was even declared.
I received this report while inspecting an army uniform factory and thought, *Here it comes.*
*A few days from now, the Munich Conference will kick off.*
And the world would soon learn once again.
Just how untrustworthy the so-called international arbiters, Britain and France, really were.
Maybe I could buy a little more time before the outbreak of world war.
After much deliberation, I requested a meeting with Tadeusz Romer, the Polish ambassador to Korea.
The Polish ambassador, well aware that I held the real power in this country, didn't refuse the invitation.
"Thank you for accepting my invitation, Ambassador."
I adopted a thoroughly friendly demeanor as I welcomed him.
Not because Poland was the biggest customer for 21st-century South Korea's arms industry—no, it was because this country deserved respect on its own merits.
Poland was a quasi-great power, ranking in the global top ten by national strength in this world's standards.
That's why, right after independence, it had seized territory from the Soviets and Lithuania, and even picked fights with Germany.
"Thank you for your warm hospitality, Your Excellency."
After seating the ambassador, I got straight to the point.
This wasn't a formal occasion, so there was no need to beat around the bush.
"Ambassador, since we're here privately, I'll speak frankly."
"Please go ahead, Director-General. I'm all ears."
"Soon, Czechoslovakia will face the risk of national dismemberment."
At that, the Polish ambassador's face lit up with interest.
The misfortune of their old rival Czechs was Poland's gain.
He was probably thinking something along those lines.
"Warsaw will see their crisis as a chance to reclaim the Teschen region. But they need to remember what comes after Czechoslovakia."
Of course, the Poles weren't fools; they must have already considered what I was saying.
The West Prussia, Poznań, and half of Silesia that they held were ancestral lands the Germans desperately longed to reclaim.
In fact, these were territories the German Empire yearned for even more fiercely than the Sudetenland, which it had never actually possessed.
The ambassador nodded in agreement.
"Warsaw has considered the risk that they might target us after Czechoslovakia."
"That's why, in this crisis, you need to side with the Czechs. It's the path to your country's security."
Of course, even as I said this, I doubted it would work.
Poland was a nation with territorial ambitions rivaling Germany's.
Even knowing they needed to unite with neighbors against Germany and the Soviets, they never hesitated when the chance arose to carve up someone else's land.
Friends like that wouldn't take my advice seriously.
Still, in the hope of delaying war even by a day, I pressed on with my futile pitch.
"Director-General, Poland and Czechoslovakia are in different situations. If France abandons the Czechs, Warsaw will be the only power left in Eastern Europe. They could never afford to abandon us then."
So that was their rationale for enabling France to ditch Czechoslovakia.
"Germany wouldn't dare touch us. If they did, Berlin would have to fight on two fronts again, just like in the last world war."
Yeah, that made sense.
That's probably what they thought.
Which is why they'd end up carving up Czechoslovakia.
"Ambassador, there's one fact you're overlooking."
"What might that be?"
"Poland has an enemy to the east as well, doesn't it?"
Reminding him of the Soviet presence made the ambassador flinch.
The Red Empire in the east and the Polish Republic had fought a massive total war right after Poland's founding in 1919.
Poland had won a hard-fought victory, slicing off large chunks of Ukraine and Belarus, so it was no surprise if the Soviets harbored grudges.
"But the Nazis have anti-communism as their national policy. The Soviets and they cooperating is—"
The ambassador started to reply, then seemed to realize something as he looked at me.
Exactly.
A nation that made anti-communism its creed and joined the Anti-Comintern Pact had secured a non-aggression treaty with the Soviets and gotten their help pounding China.
If such an absurd thing had already happened, what law said Germany and the Soviets— who shared a grudge against Poland—couldn't team up to crush it?
Only then did it seem the Polish ambassador truly grasped the situation.
He fell silent for a moment.
Well, he'd gotten the message, so no need to belabor the point.
I offered him a handshake.
"Ambassador, please make sure to relay my advice to Warsaw."
"Thank you, Director-General. I've received valuable counsel."
Of course, his personal buy-in didn't mean Warsaw would be convinced.
Regrettably, Warsaw's regime was another military dictatorship that lived and died by face-saving.
Would those guys pass up a popularity-boosting "opportunity to reclaim lost territories"?
*Anyway, I hope they make the wise choice.*
It was a sincere wish.
On September 15, 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain visited Munich.
Word was, Hitler was demanding the cession of all German-inhabited areas.
Hitler really was a madman.
The problem was that Britain viewed such lunatic demands positively.
By September 18, talk of partitioning Czechoslovakia surfaced.
Britain pressured the Czechs to cede the German areas.
On September 21, Czechoslovakia capitulated, and the Sudetenland handover became a done deal.
The international arbiters Britain's first judgment was a bloodbath.
Czechoslovakia lost its core industrial and fortress zone in one fell swoop, while France and the Soviets—finally roused to resist Germany—could only watch their ally get dismantled.
Germany might light the fuse for world war, but Britain was the one stacking the kindling.
Czechoslovakia was finished.
Britain and France guaranteed independence for the remaining territories, but what good was that?
Asking a turtle to fight Germany after stripping its shell and munitions industry was absurd.
At least Hitler wasn't satisfied with the concessions from the conference.
*That bastard really deserves payback.*
On September 22, he demanded immediate occupation of the ceded areas, plus territorial concessions from Poland and Hungary.
Even our dear international arbiters, Britain and France, couldn't stomach that anymore.
"Proclaim general mobilization."
As Czechoslovakia issued mobilization orders, Germany came whining to us for support again.
"Your Excellency! This is the moment to show Pyongyang's backing. If Korea raises its voice from the east, Germany can secure victory with ease!"
Not me—go talk to that fascist clown Mussolini in Rome.
I rephrased that sentiment into a polite, diplomatic 30-line masterpiece.
After sending the German ambassador packing, the British and French ambassadors showed up.
"You wouldn't possibly support Germany's position, would you?"
Ah, these guys were here to check the bill.
"Of course not. Korea will stay out of European affairs. Rest assured."
I gave them a firm assurance.
Dealing with all these European envoys left me thinking the Czech crisis needed to wrap up fast, one way or another.
*Come to think of it, isn't this how the Europeans fucked everything up—by just wanting it over?*
On the 24th, France declared mobilization; on the 26th, Hitler talked war, making the world think World War II was about to erupt right then.
*Someone, anyone, fix this mess.*
Just as the world seemed ready to scream, a savior(?) appeared.
"I've come to end this war."
Benito Mussolini took the stage at the conference.
And the conference ended in Hitler's victory.
Germany got the Sudetenland, Poland got Teschen, Hungary got southern Slovakia.
Poland had ignored my advice.
Idiots.
With Poland jumping in sword drawn, Czechoslovakia plummeted from a top-ten mid-tier power to a near-dead weakling in an instant.
The lesson from all this was simple.
Security isn't guaranteed by others.
And Korea had no one guaranteeing its independence or forming alliances (Germany was a quasi-ally, Japan a protectorate).
*If the only thing we can trust is our own strength, then poison sting strategy it is.*
The national grand strategy employed by my beloved 21st-century homeland, South Korea.
Facing overwhelming China, Japan, and Russia in raw power, the homeland had built massive firepower to ensure deterrence.
"Go ahead, try me. I'll die, but you'll be crippled too. You call yourself a great power? Got the guts for a round?"
China could rampage on the other side of the globe but never dared touch Korean soil because Korea's military might was too daunting.
We needed to follow our homeland's strategy.
*Didn't think they'd be useful, but I guess we have to mass-produce tanks and self-propelled guns after all.*
At minimum, enough armored forces to overwhelm the Soviet Far East Army.
I ordered the Army General Staff to draft a five-year plan for armored force development.