Chapter 195 |
< World War II - Liberation (Wyzwolenie) (8) >
May 11, 1941
The Soviet Union's capital, Moscow – Kremlin Palace
The Soviet wartime system, which had become heavily dependent on the individual known as Stalin, had reached a point where it was impossible to operate without him.
Of course, this wasn't just because Stalin's administrative ability was exceptionally brilliant, but because his disposition, where he couldn't rest unless he personally managed almost every factor, had led to too many things depending on his hand.
Thanks to this, when Stalin secluded himself in his official residence amidst a dire crisis, the Soviet Union reached a state of near-paralysis.
When Khrushchev and Molotov, who had hesitated to the end despite Vasilevsky's pleas, finally went to the General Secretary and begged for his help, Stalin, inwardly satisfied, resumed his duties.
The incident of taking the blame, which Stalin had been concerned about, was voluntarily taken on by Vasilevsky, and the General Secretary responded by sending only Vasilevsky to the Gulag and not holding the other general officers responsible.
Although it was a shocking defeat, there was still a chance if they mobilized all their military force for defensive warfare from now on.
If it was a defensive war for the Soviet homeland rather than a war of aggression, the problem of low will to fight would also be resolved to some extent.
However, contrary to the General Secretary's expectation, the situation was not so easy.
“A-A large-scale civil unrest in Ukraine? At a time like this?”
“That is correct, Comrade General Secretary.
The paratroopers they committed have colluded with Ukrainian reactionaries, and the Allied Forces have also begun their advance into Ukraine.”
At the words of Antonov, who had become Vasilevsky's successor, Stalin quietly put a pipe in his mouth.
The cigarette smoke he exhaled clouded the air before his eyes.
At this moment, for the first time, Stalin thought that he might have been wrong.
'Should I have accepted the peace negotiations proposal, even if it meant carrying out a second Great Purge?'
But worrying about it now wouldn't change anything.
In the end, Stalin just puffed on his cigarette before asking Antonov, whom he favored most in the military.
“…Do you also think there was a problem with my orders in this war, comrade?”
Antonov flinched and fell silent for a moment, but soon answered urgently.
“How could that be, Comrade General Secretary? It must be because the enemies were cunning and stronger than we thought.”
“I see. You may leave, comrade.”
“Then I will take my leave, Comrade General Secretary!”
Antonov quickly saluted and left.
Stalin was not stupid enough to not understand what that brief silence meant.
He had already realized that, unlike Trotsky, he lacked military prowess.
Nevertheless, the military had pandered to him and offered him the title of Generalissimo, and his impatience had ultimately ruined things.
A sense of powerlessness and fatigue crushed him.
Stalin stared at the door with sunken eyes, then slumped in his chair and read the report Antonov had submitted.
No sooner had the Soviet Army been pushed out of Poland than paratroopers were airdropped into Ukraine, and civil unrest erupted.
This couldn't have happened unless they had made preparations beforehand.
And the failure to detect any of it was probably because Stalin had focused the NKVD on other missions and had not managed it properly.
Only after coming this far did Stalin keenly feel his limit.
No matter how capable he was, it was too much to manage the NKVD and even intervene in the military while running the Soviet Union in a state of war.
The moment had come to let go of what needed to be let go.
The military could be left to Zhukov and Antonov.
The problem was the NKVD; even if he kept the organization for monitoring the military separate and under his jurisdiction, the rest would have to be entrusted to someone else.
But to whom?
To whom could he entrust such authority?
Normally, he would entrust it to Merkulov, who had worked under Beria as an NKVD official, or use a trusted subordinate from the Communist Party like Khrushchev…
But for Stalin, who had sensitively detected the cracks forming in his once-absolute power after the Great Purge, it was difficult to make such a choice.
In the end, after flipping through the list of Communist Party members for a long time, Stalin found a suitable person.
An enthusiastic and young party member whose administrative ability was verified, who had been caught up in the Great Purge but was now leading the resistance on the Finnish Front to prove his loyalty to the party.
“…Yuri Andropov…”
Stalin muttered the name, still unfamiliar, and therefore, all the more trustworthy.
---
May 13, 1941
Pinsk, a city in eastern Poland
Pinsk, where Georgy Zhukov's headquarters had been located, was now filled only with the wreckage that indicated the Soviet Army's former presence.
After Colonel General Ewald von Kleist's Mobile Army Group had swept through like a storm, the main force of Army Group Centre finally entered the city of Pinsk, which had been occupied only by surrendered Soviet prisoners of war and the troops managing them.
“Wiwat Polska!”
“Long live the Inspector General of the Armed Forces!”
“Long live the Allied Forces!”
Roger Michael, who had entered with them as a staff officer of Army Group Centre, also accepted the flowers thrown by the smiling residents with a slightly bewildered face.
He quietly smelled the flowers.
“How is it, feeling good?”
At the affable voice of Hans Krebs, Roger also smiled and nodded.
“Yes, it's nice, Chief of Staff.”
He couldn't understand what the Poles were saying with their smiles, but their pure goodwill and gratitude made him happy.
So much so that even the corner of the mouth of the extremely strict German Army Group Centre commander, Fedor von Bock, was slightly relaxed.
So much blood had been shed. The war was not yet over.
But at the very least, the Polish territory that had been occupied by the Soviet Union had finally met its liberation.
At least for this moment, old grudges were forgotten, and the German Army and Polish Army were equally welcomed as a liberating Allied force.
---
May 16, 1941
Warsaw, the capital of Poland
The Ukrainian Uprising, a collaboration between Deputy Director Oster, Colonel Skorzeny, and the Ministry of Propaganda, was quite successful.
The horribly defeated Soviet Army was unable to respond properly to the sudden Ukrainian Uprising, and while they were in chaos, the Mobile Army Group was advancing into Ukraine.
…Clemens must be among them. He must be going through a lot.
I can't say for sure yet, but I can consider Operation Liberation to be almost a success.
“Minister of Defense.”
“Inspector General.”
The face of Sikorski, whom I met again, was quite relaxed.
The stern, solemn, and serious person who always exuded tragic beauty and charisma whenever I saw him, at least his facial expression has softened a bit.
Not only that, but the faces of most of the Polish personnel were blooming with smiles.
They finally succeeded in driving the Soviet Army out of Polish land, so it's understandable.
Watching them made me feel a little better too.
“The operation is proceeding smoothly. I'm thinking of sending a prisoner exchange proposal to the Soviet side soon, what do you think?”
Sikorski nodded at my words, then furrowed his glabella slightly.
“We should. But is it necessary to treat those invader prisoners so well?”
“Haha…”
Thanks to the Ministry of Propaganda giving the German Army tremendous warning about the treatment of prisoners and civilians, there have been few incidents, but the ones who are really itching to treat the Soviet prisoners harshly are the Polish Army.
Of course, the Polish Army frankly has more than enough reason to, and thanks to that, Germany is handling the management of the Soviet prisoners.
For the Soviet prisoners captured by the Polish Army, all I can do is offer a moment of silence…
“We must abide by international law.
…That's just lip service. It's absolutely necessary to prepare for the unlikely event that the Soviet Union accepts the prisoner exchange.”
Perhaps the surrender leaflet prepared by the Ministry of Propaganda had some effect, as we captured a whopping 700,000 Soviet prisoners in this battle.
Including the prisoners we already had, it's close to a million, so managing them has become a headache.
“It would be great if they agreed.”
Sikorski's tone was half worry, half expectation.
The Soviet Union captured quite a few Polish and German prisoners during the invasion of Poland and Rundstedt's failed offensive.
The Polish prisoners, in particular, must be a considerable number, and for Poland, which has already suffered great damage, a prisoner exchange is desperate.
I saw the possibility as about fifty-fifty.
As long as we've provided them with a faint justification, it's possible the Soviet Army, in urgent need of its regular army, would agree to a prisoner exchange.
No matter what a human butcher Stalin is, in a situation where every single soldier is precious, surely he wouldn't execute or send 700,000 soldiers and their families to the Gulag, would he?
It doesn't matter to us if we exchange prisoners at a 1:1 ratio, or even a little more generously in some cases.
If the prisoners return and go straight to the Gulag, it's unfortunate for them, but it's not our problem.
If they're deployed to the front lines, they'll become messengers spreading the word about the gap between the two armies and the generous treatment of prisoners they witnessed firsthand.
If Stalin refuses, we'll use it for propaganda, saying he abandoned his people who were isolated while fighting for their homeland.
What I'm worried about is…
How many of the Polish and German prisoners they're holding are actually safe.
In the original history, Germany and the Soviet Union divided Poland in half and occupied it, and the Soviets carried out the Katyn Forest Massacre, annihilating Polish officers and intellectuals…
This time, there was less time for that, and Beria, the main culprit of the Katyn Forest Massacre, was purged, so I can only hope that didn't happen.
Be that as it may.
It's been amicable so far, but I'm sorry, I have something to say.
I looked at Sikorski and opened my mouth.
“Then it seems we need to start discussing the matter we couldn't talk about before and the demand for the end of the war.”
Sikorski's face turned a little sour, but he didn't show a strong negative reaction.
Instead of Sikorski, the Polish Foreign Minister, Józef Beck, spoke.
“…I see. Your country has always wanted Upper Silesia back, hasn't it.”
“Haha…”
The time had come to resolve the Upper Silesia issue that had been postponed and postponed.
Until now, with half of Poland's territory occupied, asking for Upper Silesia in exchange for Belarus was nothing more or less than a provocation, but now the most urgent fire has been put out.
From my stance, I've done my part just by holding back the Junkers and conservative politicians, including my father, who have been insisting we take it back immediately.
“I understand.
We will need to have a discussion, so please arrange for talks.”
“Thank you, Inspector General.”
Now, it's not me, the former Vice-Chancellor, who will conduct the talks arbitrarily, but I should entrust it properly to Mr. Heuss, the Prime Minister, and Kort, the Foreign Minister.
Still, since both of them tend to listen to my opinion, I intend to request the consideration of getting Upper Silesia back once the war is definitively over and Belarus is secured.
Reducing the weapon payment Poland has to make in exchange for handing over Upper Silesia depends on Poland's diplomatic power.
“Then, if there are no other agenda items, I will take my leave.”
Sikorski glanced at the Polish government officials at my words and then stood up.
I thought we'd just shake hands, but Sikorski gave me a Polish-style salute with just two fingers.
“…Thank you for the faith you have shown us until now, Minister of Defense.”
It's a little embarrassing when this man says it like that…
I imitated him and gave a two-finger salute. Was it for fatherland and honor, or something? It's strange for me, a German, to do it, but—
“Thank you for the struggle and honor Poland has shown, Inspector General.”
I can honestly be happy that the choice to take his hand when Poland was at its most desperate was not wrong.
---
When I came out after the meeting, a familiar voice called me.
“Schacht.”
“General Tresckow?”
This man was in Warsaw? I thought he was at the General Staff…
Tresckow, taking a drag from his cigarette, grinned and answered my unasked question in advance.
“I was dispatched to manage the prisoners.”
“Ah, I see.”
He's second in rank only to Manstein at the General Staff, and he's doing this kind of work?
…No, perhaps he volunteered for it.
“But what brings you to me?”
No matter how I look at it, it doesn't seem like a chance encounter, but rather like he was waiting for me.
“There are some prisoners who want to meet you, so I came to ask.”
“Prisoners, want to see me?”
“Yes.
They're both general-officer class, so I thought I should check.”
“General officers, huh.
Hmm, for defection?”
Honestly, it's a bit tricky.
The grand strategy I've established is, in the end, not to advance into the Soviet Union.
Unless they're applying for German naturalization, I'm not too keen on a situation where we create something like a Free Russian Army, as the Nazis did in the original history, instigate things, and end up in an all-out war with the Soviet Union.
Of course, I'm just the Minister of Defense, and I can't decide everything, so I'll have to hear the opinions of Mr.
Heuss, the Prime Minister, and the military…
“Well, since I'm here, I might as well meet them. Who are they?”
General Tresckow handed me a document.
“Lieutenant General Andrey Vlasov.”
I think I've heard the name somewhere, but honestly, I'm not sure.
There are so many Soviet generals.
But when I saw the next page, I couldn't help but stop.
“…Enrique Líster… Lieutenant General.”