Chapter 56: The Oath of Loyalty (3)
Translated by Vine | Proofread by Lust
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< German Civil War – The Oath of Loyalty (3) >
October 11, 1939
4th Military District, Dresden – 8th Army Headquarters, under Army Group South
Colonel General Gerd von Rundstedt, commander of Army Group South and a veteran of the Wehrmacht, had been arrested on charges of colluding with the rebels, based on his call logs with Ludwig Beck.
Following his arrest, Hitler issued an ultimatum through the Wehrmacht High Command, declaring that any failure to attack the New Government forces would be considered collaboration with the rebels.
A heavy silence hung in the air as the key corps and division commanders of the 8th Army gathered. Colonel General Johannes Blaskowitz, commander of the 8th Army, finally spoke.
“It seems we must all make a decision.”
Army Group South consisted of the 8th, 10th, and 14th Armies.
The 10th Army, under the staunchly Nazi Walther von Reichenau, was already engaged with the main force of the New Government army.
Colonel General Wilhelm List, commander of the 14th Army, who had supported the Nazis during the Blomberg-Fritsch Affair, had declared his intention to attack Nuremberg after the arrest of the Army Group commander and the direct order from High Command.
However, Colonel General Johannes Blaskowitz had long resented the Nazi interference in religious and military affairs and was disgusted by their treatment of the Jews.
Now, the regime was attacking its own citizens to start a war and purging the military for disobedience.
“I can no longer stand idly by. To continue following Hitler at this point would be a disgrace to a soldier of our proud nation. What are your thoughts?”
The assembled generals swallowed nervously at General Blaskowitz’s words.
They all understood that the choice they made here would determine not only their own fate, but also the fate of Germany.
“I will stand with you, Commander.”
After a long silence, Lieutenant General Friedrich Olbricht, commander of the 24th Infantry Division, was the first to speak.
He, who had participated in Stauffenberg’s plot in the original timeline, nervously adjusted his glasses, his forehead beaded with sweat, but he spoke first.
Once the first voice of dissent was heard, the decision was swift. All the generals present had learned of the Nazi atrocities through the New Government’s radio broadcasts and newspapers.
“I will follow as well.”
“I agree. We cannot take up arms against His Highness the Crown Prince, or rather, the Kaiser, now that he has sided with the New Government.”
With the two corps commanders, General of the Artillery Wilhelm Ulex and General of the Cavalry Maximilian von Weichs, also expressing their agreement, the remaining division commanders nodded nervously.
“Thank you. Then, to the New Govern— ”
Just as General Blaskowitz was about to speak, the door burst open, and a man rushed in.
“The Führer has ordered a general offensive! What is the 8th Army doing?!”
The intruder was Erich von Manstein, Chief of Staff of Army Group South.
He had delivered Hitler’s direct orders, which had arrived from the Wehrmacht High Command after Rundstedt’s arrest, to each army. Seeing the 8th Army’s inaction, he had come to investigate personally.
General Blaskowitz, recalling Manstein praising Hitler as a great leader on the Führer’s birthday, hardened his expression.
“Manstein, we can no longer follow the Führer.”
“What?!”
As Manstein stared in disbelief, General Olbricht discreetly reached for his pistol.
“If the leader of the regime endangers Germany and fails to honor the loyalty of the Wehrmacht, we will stand with the people and the Kaiser and fight alongside the New Government.”
All the generals, tense and alert, watched Manstein’s reaction, ready to subdue him if necessary.
However, Manstein, his face breaking into a wide grin, exclaimed almost ecstatically.
“Let us go together, Commander!”
“W-What?”
As Blaskowitz and the other tense generals stared in bewilderment, Manstein shouted again.
“I only delivered those orders because that madman threatened to arrest me if I didn’t, after he unjustly arrested General Rundstedt!”
“I-Is that so?”
The generals, who had been ready to subdue him, looked at each other sheepishly. Manstein grabbed Blaskowitz’s hand and spoke excitedly.
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“I knew from the beginning that the New Government was Germany’s only hope! In fact, I’ve been secretly supporting them! I came here believing that you, as true patriots, would understand their cause. Let us go together! They will welcome you with open arms!”
“I-I see. Th-Thank you. I didn’t realize you felt that way.”
While General Blaskowitz was utterly flustered, the other generals, who had no particular connection to the New Government, sighed in relief.
The most relieved of them all, however, was Manstein.
He had been terrified when Rundstedt was arrested for having call logs with Beck and when Erich Hoepner, introduced to him as a New Government sympathizer within the Polish invasion force, was also arrested.
He had delivered Hitler’s orders immediately to avoid suspicion and had come here to press the 8th Army, also to avoid suspicion, but he had never expected things to turn out this way!
He had been about to switch sides when the New Government, which he had expected to collapse quickly after General Lutz’s armored breakthrough was halted, had stabilized through its propaganda campaign, and then the Military Junta’s coup had occurred.
He had missed his chance to defect and was worried about being exposed, especially after the arrests of Rundstedt and Hoepner, but now he was about to achieve the feat of bringing about the 8th Army’s surrender.
“We should move quickly before the Führer becomes suspicious. We’re close to Frankfurt, so we need to inform them that the 14th Army is planning to attack Nuremberg!”
“Ahem, my apologies, Manstein. I misjudged you as a Nazi follower.”
“That’s a compliment to my successful deception to avoid their suspicion, haha!”
Manstein, completely at ease, smiled smugly.
He did regret not treating Dietrich Schacht, that mere captain, better, now that he had become the spokesperson and then a key figure in the New Government.
Even though his defection was a little late, securing the 8th Army’s surrender should be enough to guarantee him the promised position of Chief of the General Staff.
As always, luck was on his side. He was certainly better than that thief Halder.
–
October 12, 1939
Western Germany, 11th Military District, Hanover, SS Training Facility, Wewelsburg Castle
“Ugh!”
SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser nearly fell from his chair as he jolted awake. Blinking against the bright light, it took him a while to regain his bearings.
“Haa…”
The bright light stabbed at his dry eyes like knives, and he weakly raised a hand to shield them, his body heavy with hunger and fatigue.
It had been nearly six weeks since the coup.
The training facility’s food supplies had run out long ago, and the airdrops promised by Göring had barely kept them from starvation.
Even that was no longer possible. Unable to bear eating while his men starved, he had begun skipping meals, but his aging body wasn’t coping well.
The Luftwaffe, facing shortages of parts and supplies, had announced that further airdrops were impossible and promised a counteroffensive to rescue them.
That had been three days ago.
Hausser, fighting dizziness, pushed himself up and stumbled out of his office.
His adjutant, once plump but now alarmingly thin, was asleep at his desk outside, his face etched with exhaustion.
Hausser left him undisturbed and made his way outside.
The soldiers, who had once looked at him with respect and proudly shouted “Heil Hitler,” now merely glanced at him, with only a few managing a salute.
Some were too exhausted to even lift their arms. While it was disrespectful for soldiers to not salute their superior, Hausser ignored it and continued walking.
A young SS-Untersturmführer approached him and saluted.
“Heil Hitler!”
“Heil Hitler.”
SS-Untersturmführer (Junior Assault Leader) Heinrich Springer, after saluting, began his report with a desperate tone.
“General, we had more desertions last night.”
Hausser closed his eyes tightly.
“I’m sorry, but we can’t hold on any longer, General. We’ve reached our limit.”
Springer’s words felt like a death sentence.
During the chaotic Weimar Republic, following the collapse of the German Empire, he had believed that Hitler and the Nazis would restore Germany to its former glory.
He had abandoned his promising career as a general staff officer in the Wehrmacht to join the Nazi Schutzstaffel (SS) and had played a key role in transforming it into a proper military force.
“It’s my fault.”
He knew what the SS, nurtured by the Nazi Party, was doing. He had pretended ignorance, but at his rank, it was impossible to avoid the truth.
He didn’t particularly hate Jews, but he knew that the SS he had trained was persecuting them brutally.
He believed himself to be an honorable soldier, yet he had turned a blind eye to the crimes committed by the Nazis in his own country.
He had considered it a necessary evil for the regime that would make Germany great again. He had placed his faith in them, pledged his loyalty, and believed he had to follow them, regardless of their actions.
“These innocent young men are paying for my sins.”
“General…”
And these men, trained by him and indoctrinated with his beliefs, had become the Nazis’ obedient tools.
He had transformed these fresh-faced young men, who had joined out of admiration for the uniform or a desire to serve their country and advance their careers, into what they were now.
He had turned them into blind followers, obeying the Führer and the Party without question, even if it meant endangering Germany, even if it meant committing inhumane acts.
They were pathetic. While he felt ashamed after listening to the New Government radio broadcasts, some of them felt nothing, only expressing anger and hatred towards the traitors who opposed the Führer and the Party.
Could that fanaticism be considered true loyalty? And even if it was, what had they received in return?
It had been six weeks, almost six weeks, since they had been trapped here. Enduring this time in a mere training facility, not even a proper military base, wasn’t the heroic resistance portrayed by Nazi propaganda.
It was a miserable and desperate struggle fueled by nothing but stubborn pride.
Their once-splendid uniforms were now filthy and stained. Their unwashed, tangled hair and the stench emanating from them made them look like refugees.
What had the Führer and the Nazis done to save his starving men? Were they even trying?
“What have I done?”
Hausser covered his face with his hands. He had once felt a sense of pride knowing that his men called him “Papa” behind his back.
However, he, the man they trusted and followed, was a coward, unworthy of such a title. He had excused the Nazis’ atrocities as necessary evils for the good of Germany, distancing himself from responsibility.
Even when he learned of the atrocities committed by the soldiers he had trained, he had defended them instead of correcting them.
This was the result. He had taught them to obey the regime without question, and now, the wrath of the German people, enraged by the truth, was consuming him and his men.
He had been driven to this point by his fear of questioning the value of his loyalty, a fear that outweighed his concern for the suffering of those oppressed by the regime and his men.
Until the very end, he had refused to acknowledge the futility of his and his men’s loyalty to the Führer and the Nazis, clinging to the hope of a rescue that would never come.
But it was over now.
Only now did he realize that he hadn’t been holding on out of loyalty, a duty as a soldier, but out of a refusal to admit his mistakes.
“Springer.”
Heinrich Springer flinched at the dry, cracked voice of the Obergruppenführer, the man he had revered as the father of the SS, but he straightened up and answered.
“Yes, General.”
“Tell them… I will surrender, if they guarantee the safety of my men.”
< German Civil War – The Oath of Loyalty (3) > End
ⓒ Carcassonne
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