Chapter 98
Chapter 98
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: The Giant's Awakening (1)
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June 15, 1943. The American merchant ship Benson came under torpedo attack from a German U-boat.
Even though it was in the war zone off the Irish coast, this was unmistakably an American-flagged vessel—and yet the German submarine launched an attack.
The merchant ship sank to the cold floor of the North Atlantic less than thirty minutes after being struck by the torpedo.
“We’re a civilian merchant ship! You can’t just leave without rescuing us!”
The Americans screamed at the distant submarine periscope, but the Germans made no move to rescue anyone and simply departed the scene.
Of the ship’s crew of 120, all drowned in the frigid waters.
The incident was more than enough to set American public opinion ablaze.
There had already been several attacks on American ships in recent months.
Truth be told, given the number of American vessels crossing the Atlantic, incidents like this were inevitable no matter how cautious the Germans were—as long as they refused to abandon their submarine campaign.
What made this case stand out was the death toll, comparable to a major maritime disaster.
‘This is our chance.’
Roosevelt didn’t miss the boiling outrage.
“Y-Yes, it was our fault.”
The German ambassador came pleading, offering massive reparations and even promising to ground all U-boats to prevent a recurrence, but Roosevelt had no intention of entertaining the plea.
Why pass up such a golden opportunity?
The president brushed off the ambassador and made his decision.
The U.S. State Department submitted a declaration of war against Germany to Congress.
The political mastermind Roosevelt rushed to Capitol Hill before the vote, bowing his head to each member and begging for their support.
“Our American citizens were murdered. Isn’t it time for revenge?”
The isolationists tried everything to block the war, but they were powerless against the shifting tide.
“I declare the passage of the declaration of war against Germany as submitted by the government.”
The resolution passed first in the Senate, then in the House.
There were dissenting votes, but they couldn’t overcome the overwhelming majority in favor.
‘Finally, the time has come to deal with that crazy little mustache.’
Roosevelt felt a thrill at the arrival of the moment he’d been waiting for.
“Your Excellency, the speech is ready.”
Soon, Roosevelt formally declared war on Germany before the U.S. Congress.
“The government of the United States, through its ambassador in Berlin, demanded a sincere explanation for the sinking of the merchant vessel. Yet Germany, as always, resorted to irresponsible statements, evasions, and blame-shifting.”
“In light of this, the government of the United States has concluded that it can no longer tolerate Germany’s ceaseless threats to the lives and property of our citizens. Accordingly, the United States declares that a state of war exists between the United States and Germany effective 1:00 p.m. on June 21.”
“Under wartime regulations, the President of the United States assumes the authority and responsibility to mobilize the entire armed forces and resources of the nation. The government will marshal every resource of the country to lead this war to victory.”
The world reacted to America’s declaration of war on Germany as if the Axis powers had just received their death sentence.
Germany, in particular, was dealt a massive blow.
“What the hell? Attacking an American merchant ship without even rescuing survivors—and now America’s declared war on us! What were the Foreign Ministry thinking, letting something like this happen that even they can’t cover up?”
Hitler exploded in rage, and U-boat Commander Karl Dönitz looked mortified as he explained the situation.
“Your Excellency, we didn’t know it was an American ship. In the dead of night with poor visibility, stopping every sailing vessel to check its nationality just isn’t feasible.”
They couldn’t throttle Britain’s supply lines that way from the start.
Hitler snapped at Dönitz’s excuses.
“Then you should’ve at least done the rescue properly. You handed Roosevelt the perfect pretext!”
“That was a measure for the safety of our submarines.”
“What are you talking about?”
“There have been numerous cases where our U-boats were attacked while rescuing survivors from sunk merchant ships. To protect our men’s lives, I had no choice but to order them to abandon rescue operations.”
Dönitz earnestly defended his decision as justified, citing specific examples.
Even Hitler had to admit the logic wasn’t entirely baseless.
“Even so, the Navy crossed the line this time. America was already itching to join the war—you provoked them and dragged us into it? You’ve ruined an already disadvantageous war!”
The generals swallowed hard under Hitler’s scolding.
Dönitz didn’t deny that things had gone awry.
“I’m sorry, Your Excellency. I’ll take responsibility.”
“I don’t even want to look at you—go back to your fleet and stay put.”
In truth, the Americans would have found some excuse to join the war eventually, even without Dönitz.
Hitler knew that, so he didn’t punish him further.
Once Dönitz was dismissed, the tension eased slightly.
“Uh, Your Excellency.”
New Army Chief of Staff Kurt Zeitzler spoke up.
“Go ahead, Chief of Staff.”
“Now that it’s come to this, how about accelerating our offensive operations?”
“Strike the Soviets before America gets involved?”
“Exactly. Wasn’t that our original goal?”
Zeitzler’s suggestion intrigued Hitler.
“You’re right.”
But preparations against the Soviets alone weren’t enough.
“Minister of Armaments.”
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
“What we’re doing now won’t cut it. Speed up construction of the Atlantic Wall along the Atlantic coast.”
Hitler believed that limiting the Allies’ landing zones as much as possible was key to victory in the west.
To achieve that, they needed to rush completion of the “Atlantic Wall” defenses along the coast.
“I’ll redirect as many materials and resources as possible.”
The Führer, gripped by intense anxiety, prodded his ministers.
America—the giant across the Atlantic—was stretching its limbs and glaring at Germany.
The Führer felt a profound threat from that reality.
The Junkers on the opposite side of the table sensed the same peril.
Their chance to save the fatherland was limited to these fleeting months before American intervention.
They had to seize Hitler before the opportunity vanished entirely.
The Junkers’ eyes gleamed with sharp intent toward the Führer.
*
Daehan was just as shocked by America’s declaration of war.
Even pro-Axis intellectuals could no longer delude themselves with spiritual victories.
“If the United States has joined the Allies, Axis defeat is inevitable.”
Without Daehan, three of the five great powers were now enemies—could Germany still win?
If that were possible, they would’ve triumphed in World War I under far better conditions.
“Maybe we were wrong, and Lee Seong-jun was right.”
Everyone clammed up like oysters, and the steady flow of militarist hormones to Daehan ground to a halt.
It should’ve happened much sooner.
Heh heh heh.
Reading the report that the scholars had finally shut their mouths felt like clearing a decade’s worth of pent-up frustration.
All that was left was to watch the terminally ill Germany collapse.
Things were about to get very busy.
The red tide sweeping across Europe suggested postwar communism might surge even more fiercely than expected, which was a bit unnerving.
Was it like this in the original history or webtoons?
Still, the Cold War framework itself wouldn’t collapse entirely.
With mighty democratic big brother America descending, the reds couldn’t expand westward no matter how hard they tried.
If they did, they’d face “Unthinkable”—the late-war Western plan to preemptively strike the Soviets and push them back to their original borders.
The Soviets had to have the sense for that.
If not?
America would handle it.
In any case, with a new friend arriving, it was only proper to extend a welcome.
I sent a telegram to Washington expressing delight at America’s entry into the anti-German front.
“We thank Your Excellency the Prime Minister for your warm welcome. The United States pledges to contribute as a member of the Allied nations.”
Just a simple promise—yet why did it feel so reassuring?
Was this the might of the Heavenly Kingdom?
But America was on our side only for this moment.
Daehan had no such thing as a Korean-American alliance.
This alliance was purely temporary, formed to defeat the Axis.
Once the common enemy was gone, we’d revert to potential adversaries.
I couldn’t forget that.
Craving a smoke.
I lit a cigar for the first time in a while.
“Your Excellency, is something troubling you?”
Exhale.
“America.”
“America? Haven’t they just joined our side?”
“Yeah. For now.”
The nicotine cleared my head.
‘Well, America prioritizes the reds over us anyway.’
As long as the reds were around, America would treat us like they did Communist China back in the Soviet era days—second only to their primary foe.
That was fine.
We could even play ping-pong diplomacy if we handled relations right.
Daehan shared capitalism and democracy(?) ideology with them more than China ever did, so communication would be smoother.
‘Who knows how things will play out, so I need to kick relationship improvements into high gear now.’
I picked up the phone.
“Connect me to Chosun Ilbo’s President Cho Joong-dong. Put Cho on the line.”
I called Jo Joong-dong after ages, and he was startled.
“No big reason—just go to America as my special envoy. Yeah, meet some congressmen, have lunch, gauge the mood, and tell them Lee Seong-jun means well toward America and wants to advance relations. Got it.”
I decided to send Jo Joong-dong to America with special envoy credentials.
Sending a politician might make them wary, so I chose the less intimidating journalist Jo Joong-dong.
Of course, as publisher of Korea’s top daily, he was half a politician anyway.
That made him perfect.
Even if we tested the waters with Jo Joong-dong for relations, I needed other channels too.
“Intelligence Agency. Director Yi? Get to the Prime Minister’s residence in thirty minutes. Yes.”
I planned to have KCIA’s Yi Kyung-ho open some lobbying doors in America.
Lobbying was legal there, so sprinkling money around Congress wouldn’t cause issues.
And what else?
“Ah.”
Something occurred to me.
Stalin.
I needed to give the red friend—who’d soon be vying for influence with America—a little push.
“Foreign Ministry.”
If the reds would outlast America as allies, sharing some wisdom with Stalin for the time being wasn’t a bad idea.
Not advice on the war, of course.
The idea I offered was:
“Set up bases in Turkey before America butts in. Make it a fait accompli, and the West won’t be able to complain.”
Just a ploy to ramp up red aggression.
Yeah, that was it.
If America scared me, I’d just put someone else in front to take the hits.
That was my plan for dealing with America.