Chapter 16: Interwar Period – Starting Line
Translated by Vine | Proofread by Lust
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Franco, who had initially considered Germany a lesser power compared to Italy, began to show immense favor towards them after the Condor Legion’s significant contribution in the Battle of Brunete.
He wasn’t involved in diplomatic affairs, so he didn’t know the specifics, but he assumed Germany would secure various concessions, such as mining rights, as they had in the original timeline.
The insatiable Nazis would exploit this goodwill to the point that Franco would refuse to join the Axis powers in World War II.
Time flowed like water.
He received Model’s recommendation, fought in a few minor skirmishes, and secured his admission to the War College. He was also promoted to Captain.
It was an unusually rapid promotion, considering he hadn’t even been a Lieutenant for a year. He was grateful to Model, Richthofen, and the other Condor Legion superiors who had championed his contributions in the Battle of Brunete, particularly his role in implementing the 88mm anti-aircraft guns.
His initial impression of Richthofen had been that of a madman, raining incendiary bombs on civilians. But Richthofen had unexpectedly shown him favor, and he now felt a sense of gratitude.
If Richthofen were to remain a patriotic, albeit hawkish, soldier, Germany would have to avoid situations where they rained incendiary bombs on civilians.
And then there was Colonel Walther Model.
He had tried to impress Model due to his pre-existing admiration for the man, but he had received far more than he had anticipated.
The War College was merely a means to return to Germany quickly. He hadn’t been particularly enthusiastic about it. However, having received Model’s recommendation, he couldn’t afford to fail the General Staff course.
He desperately needed connections within the military.
His father, Hjalmar Schacht, had some influence in anti-Hitler circles, but he was still a peripheral figure.
With World War II looming and the future uncertain, he couldn’t afford to slack off at the War College and risk expulsion, or simply use it as a ticket to Berlin and disappear. He shuddered to think of Model’s reaction.
He didn’t want to make an enemy of one of Germany’s most prominent generals, even if he succeeded in overthrowing the Nazis.
The memory of Model’s cold stare through his monocle still sent shivers down his spine.
He had endured the long and brutal Spanish Civil War, and finally, it was time to return to Germany.
—
October 24, 1937
Salamanca, Nationalist-held territory, West-Central Spain
“To the Captain!” Clemens raised his beer mug.
“Cheers!” The men echoed, raising their mugs.
It was a strange feeling, seeing them all laughing and enjoying themselves.
Just a few months ago, they had been fighting in hell.
“Hey, Captain. Why the long face on a day like this?” Clemens clinked his mug against his, interrupting his thoughts.
He grinned at Clemens, “It’s nothing… Clemens… Company Commander?”
“Heh… Say that again, Captain.”
“Haha… As many times as you want. Company Commander Fleck?”
“Hahaha! All thanks to having a good comrade like you!”
Clemens, recognized for his service as his adjutant, had been promoted to Lieutenant and appointed as his successor.
“Aren’t you a little too happy, Clemens?”
“What? When am I supposed to be happy if not now?”
“Hehehe… You’ll be dealing directly with Chief of Staff Model now. I’m out of here, so good luck, Company Commander.”
“Ugh… suddenly, I have a stomachache…”
He chuckled at Clemens’s feigned distress and took a swig of beer. Ah, this is good!
He would soon be leaving for Germany, and he wouldn’t see Clemens and his men again.
He believed Clemens, cautious yet loyal, would be a better company commander than him, whose modern sensibilities often led to rash decisions.
He savored the morcilla, a Spanish blood sausage he privately called “sundae,” and looked around at his men.
This was one thing he would miss about this godforsaken place. He couldn’t find anything like this in Korea, not yet, anyway.
Speaking of which…
They had been celebrating for a while, but everyone was busy enjoying themselves.
Shouldn’t they be doing something special, like… a 21st-century-style send-off?
But there was no sign of anything like that. Just a bunch of German men, young and old, drinking beer and devouring food.
“What was I expecting…”
He shouldn’t have expected emotional displays from the most stoic people in the world.
“Clemens… you’re the only one…”
“What? What’s wrong, comrade?”
How could he explain Korean sentiments?
“…Nothing. Let’s drink!”
He was about to grab his comrade and drink himself into oblivion, but Clemens waved him off.
“Oh, sorry.”
“…Huh? You’re usually never this reluctant.”
“I have a… date. Ah, here she is!”
He turned and saw an attractive woman with tanned skin and brown hair approaching them with a smile.
“Dietrich, let me introduce you. This is Rafaela Diaz. My girlfriend.”
“Hello, Captain Schacht. Clemens has told me a lot about you.” She spoke in fluent German, albeit with a Spanish accent.
“…Hello…”
“Hehehe… isn’t she beautiful? I met her at the party after the Battle of Jarama!”
Ah, the party he had declined to attend…
“Oh, you…”
“….”
Clemens kissed Rafaela on the cheek, left his half-eaten food, and stood up, arm in arm with her.
“We’re heading back to the front soon, so we’re spending some time together today. Enjoy yourselves.”
“Oh, you’re so impatient… Congratulations on your promotion, Captain!”
“Thank you…”
They left before he could respond.
…Seriously?!
His adjutant had been romancing a girl while he was busy being a company commander?!
And he was ditching him for a date on his last night?!
“…Ha…”
He glanced around the room. Lieutenants Ross and Beckermann flinched when they met his gaze.
Sergeant Kohr was already passed out drunk.
The other men were too busy drinking and making merry to notice him.
He sighed and stood up, “I’ll leave you to it. Enjoy yourselves.”
“Oh, no! Thank you for everything, Captain!”
“It was an honor serving with you!”
The platoon leaders and the other men finally noticed him and started clamoring, but none of them asked him to stay.
He felt a lump in his throat.
…He was deeply disappointed in them.
November 3, 1937
Hamburg, a port city in Northwest Germany
After mentally berating the traitorous Clemens, he arrived in Germany by ship from Cadiz.
It felt strange to say he had returned to his “homeland,” given Dietrich’s memories and his own identity as Yoon Sung-il. But at this point, Dietrich was Yoon Sung-il, and Yoon Sung-il was Dietrich.
As he disembarked, he saw a 20th-century Germany, vastly different from the Germany he had visited as a tourist in the 21st century.
Hamburg, despite having suffered a great fire, had risen to become Germany’s wealthiest city. But this Hamburg was completely different from the one he knew. This city, in the original timeline, would be reduced to ashes by Allied bombing.
He made his way to the train station, relying on Dietrich’s memories. In the city square, a man wearing a swastika armband – presumably a Nazi Party member – was giving a fiery speech to a crowd.
“Why should the great German nation be defeated?! Because we are weak?”
“No!” The crowd roared.
“That’s right! It’s all because of the Jewish-Bolsheviks! Those damned devils stabbed us in the back! If not for their treachery, we would never have lost the Great War!”
“That’s right!”
In Spain, he only had to worry about adapting to the Nazi salute. But here, it was being shoved in his face. This was Nazi Germany.
“Fortunately, God has sent us a truly great leader to save Germany from these dark times! With our Führer, our Germany, the fatherland of the Aryans, will reclaim its rightful glory! Heil Hitler! Sieg Heil!”
“Sieg Heil!”
Would these people still be chanting “Sieg Heil” when they were being thrown into the meat grinder against the Soviets as members of the Volkssturm?
Would they even be able to imagine such a future? He had come to Germany to prevent it. He had to act quickly.
His father, Hjalmar Schacht, would soon be removed from his positions as Minister of Economics and Plenipotentiary for War Economy. And in the following year, a series of events would propel Germany, and the world, towards World War II.
In January 1938, the Blomberg-Fritsch Affair, a scandal involving fabricated accusations against high-ranking military officials, would lead to a purge of the military leadership and consolidate Nazi control over the armed forces.
After that, it would be a domino effect: the Anschluss (annexation of Austria), the Munich Agreement, the occupation of Czechoslovakia, and the invasion of Poland.
He didn’t know the exact date of his father’s dismissal, but it was the result of his power struggle with Hermann Göring, Hitler’s second-in-command. There was nothing he could do about that.
The Blomberg-Fritsch Affair, however, was a fabricated scandal orchestrated by Göring and Himmler to weaken the army and strengthen the SS.
He had considered trying to prevent it, but aside from the fact that a mere captain couldn’t possibly stop it, many of the key figures in the anti-Hitler resistance would join the movement only *after* the affair.
The leaders of the resistance weren’t motivated by some grand humanitarian ideal to save the Jews and restore Germany. Some might have been, but most were simply disgruntled members of the old guard who had been sidelined by Hitler and wanted to seize power for themselves.
They weren’t the heroic figures depicted in later West German accounts or movies, fighting for democracy and the people.
Many of them were monarchists or aristocratic officers.
But he still needed their support to overthrow the Nazis, which meant, paradoxically, the Nazi purge of the military had to happen.
And World War II wasn’t solely Hitler’s doing. Even without the Nazi fanatics, most, if not all, of the German military…
…were eager to reclaim the Polish Corridor, a former German territory that separated East Prussia from the rest of Germany.
They had opposed the war only because they feared a confrontation with France and Britain before rearmament was complete, not because they were against invading Poland.
In fact, given sufficient preparation, the German military would have started World War II even without the Nazis.
“Haha… Isn’t this too difficult?”
He had survived the hellish Spanish Civil War, only to be told,
‘Congratulations, you made it! But that was just the tutorial. The real game starts now!’
The future seemed daunting.
He was on a fast train headed for World War II. The Anschluss, the first stop, was only four months away.
The invasion of Poland, the start of World War II, was less than two years away.
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