Chapter 41
Chapter 41
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Butterfly Effect (1)
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If you asked who owned Germany right now, nine out of ten people would say the Nazis.
But was the Wehrmacht owned by the Nazis?
Regrettably for the Nazis, the German military was still run by the traditional nobility dating back to the days of the Empire.
The aristocratic Junkers, with their lofty "von" prefixes, had built their own kingdom and rejected any outside interference.
This essence of the German military was on full display during the Weimar Republic when the government scolded the army for refusing to put down a coup.
"The Wehrmacht belongs to whom, exactly?"
"The Wehrmacht belongs to me."
That was the response from General Hans von Seeckt, Chief of the Army Command.
Not the nation's side, but "my" side.
In truth, the Wehrmacht was an independent kingdom within the Empire, beholden to no state.
Hitler was well aware of this reality.
To shake the Junkers' iron grip, the Führer made a point of promoting talented officers from commoner backgrounds, personally backing them when they caught his eye.
Officers like Rommel were prime examples.
He also created the Armed Forces High Command, or OKW, above the traditional Army High Command, OKH, in an attempt to crack their dominance.
Despite these efforts, as of 1940, control of the Wehrmacht remained firmly in the hands of the Junkers.
Even when the German military openly sabotaged plans for an offensive in the west, Hitler was powerless to stop them.
Then, one man stepped forward.
"Führer! I'd like to brief you on the 'Sickle Cut Operation' that will end this war."
The man was Erich von Manstein.
He had been shuttled to dead-end postings after proposing a plan so reckless it bordered on gambling, earning the ire of the army's mainstream faction.
Using Colonel Schmudt, Hitler's chief adjutant, Manstein secured an audience with the Führer and dazzled him with his signature eloquence.
"That sounds promising!"
Hitler slapped his knee in excitement.
Still, the plan seemed too audacious, leaving Hitler hesitant to scrap the existing one. But when the old plan leaked due to an accident, he had no choice but to switch.
With that, the German army finally broke free from the shadow of Schlieffen, who had been Chief of the General Staff during the Empire.
The prior plan, little more than a revision of the Schlieffen Plan, was scrapped. In its place, the Sickle Cut Operation—slicing through the Ardennes to drive the Allies to the Atlantic—was adopted.
While the Germans overhauled their strategy, the Allies based their own Dyle Plan on the leaked German documents, planning defenses up to the Dyle River in central-northern Belgium.
They were confident of victory.
"The Germans won't bring anything more than a bunch of cripples."
The attack routes were obvious, and they had plenty of troops to defend them.
On top of that, Britain's British Expeditionary Force was steadily crossing over. It felt like the "victory" bus that Hitler could have caught had already left the station.
"Hitler missed the bus. If he wanted to win, he should've pushed last year."
Of course, that was nonsense too, but that's what the Allies believed.
Amid the taut tension, the Germans moved first.
It began in Norway.
"Huh? Not Western Europe?"
On April 9, 1940, German forces invaded Norway and Denmark simultaneously.
Denmark knelt in just six hours against the combined assault from sea, air, and land.
"We'll give you our milkmaids and even the Little Mermaid. Just spare us—or wait, you're here to help us?"
Shockingly, Germany attacked under the pretext of "protecting" Denmark.
It was a lie no dog would buy, but they were grateful for even that much fiction.
"If we're gonna lose anyway, maybe that's better?"
Denmark raised the white flag immediately, but Norway held out longer.
Not for any special reason—just that British aid arrived with startling speed.
It was as if they'd prepared an invasion force for the country in advance.
"It pricks the conscience a bit, but we're helping in the end, right? That's a good deed."
Thanks to Britain's swift intervention, the Germans invading Norway faced brutal fighting.
Even Britain and France struggled more than expected.
"What the hell? Why are these German bastards fighting so well?"
The British won at sea, the Germans on land.
As both sides traded fierce blows, war clouds gathered over Western Europe.
On the eve of the fateful May 10, 1940, the Allies deemed it unlikely the Germans would attack through the dense forests of the Ardennes Plateau.
There were reports pointing to Sedan as the main thrust, but imagining a push through the woods, exposing both flanks, was a stretch.
Under the Allies' miscalculation, the German offensive began.
"Men, it's time to advance."
The Germans launched attacks across a broad front, from the Netherlands in the north to the Franco-German border in the south.
In the chaos, the Allies pegged the main effort not at the Ardennes, but northern Belgium.
"These guys are Schlieffen diehards to the end. They can't escape the Schlieffen Plan."
Supreme Allied Commander Gamelin pointed north.
No need, then, for the strategic reserve to linger in the south.
"Move them north."
That decision doomed them to defeat across Belgium.
"No, the main attack's coming through Sedan! Where the hell are the reserves going!"
With the reserves shifted north, nothing stood to block Army Group A's breakthrough through the Ardennes.
At the game's outset, the Allies had every advantage.
Superior numbers to Germany, powerful tanks, favorable defensive lines and terrain, a solid plan—nothing was lacking.
Yet after just 72 hours, it had all fallen apart.
The Allies finally grasped the situation too late.
"We're screwed."
They scrambled every available aircraft to bomb bridges the Germans had seized, hoping to halt the advance.
"Yeah, anti-aircraft fire."
The Germans' dense flak positions made short work of the Allied bombers.
Ground counterattacks failed too.
"What, you expect us to attack without orders?"
It wasn't the 21st century, but in an era of radio, orders still came via couriers delivering papers by hand.
"Are you guys fighting World War I or something?"
It was like a turn-based RPG where the Germans moved four spaces while the French were hobbled to one.
Even when orders arrived, they couldn't execute smoothly.
Some units charged on command while others just watched.
Repeated blunders drained French strength.
After the disastrous failure of the 55th Infantry Division's defense—the most critical—the French prepped another major counterattack.
But.
"Why are you so damn slow? Half a day past schedule—how do you expect this to work?"
The French couldn't launch on time.
"We saw you coming."
The Germans hunkered down and repelled the assault easily.
While the French dithered, the Germans tore through them toward the Atlantic.
The Sickle Cut was reaching its crescendo.
Up to here, history diverged little from the original.
Had fate not changed, the Germans would have halted at the Atlantic coast on orders.
But here came the variable.
Adolf Hitler created it.
'The pathetic thing about Korea's powerbroker Lee Seong-jun is that he stopped at the gates of Nanjing. When victory demands boldness, hesitation forfeits the prize.'
Hitler took the opposite lesson from Lee Seong-jun abandoning Nanjing.
Even if negotiating with the British, crush them first.
OKH generals voiced concerns over Hitler's audacious push.
"Advancing with our flanks so exposed risks a counterattack. It could undo all our gains."
"Führer, greed is the enemy. Now's the time to preserve our panzer strength that won this victory."
The generals pressed hard for a halt, but Hitler ignored them.
'They want to turn me into another Lee Seong-jun. Not a chance.'
He had zero intention of settling for a crippled victory.
"I've already given the order. Kleist's panzer group knows no halt. Advance until the enemy is fully encircled."
Hitler resolutely commanded the strangling of the Allies.
On May 19, 1940, Maxime Weygand replaced the inept Gamelin as Supreme Commander, but it was too late.
The Netherlands had fallen. Nearly a million Allied troops, squeezed between Belgium and northern France, teetered on the brink of encirclement by closing German pincers.
"What in God's name happened in nine days?"
Weygand couldn't hide his shock.
He tried a desperate counterattack, to no avail.
On May 24, 1940, Dunkirk—the last hope for the isolated Allies in northern France—fell.
The Allies were speechless in this nightmare.
Nearly a million troops—Belgians, French, British—were trapped, awaiting capture.
"We've lost this war."
French will to fight in the early campaign evaporated.
Britain was just as stunned.
Winston Churchill, Prime Minister for just two weeks since May 10, bellowed from his office.
"Gaulish thieves! Return my Expeditionary Force!"
Contrary to Seong-jun's expectations, the Allies hurtled toward annihilation.