I Will Stage A Coup D’état - Chapter 122



Only Noblemtl

EP.122 The goal is Siegfried

Normandy was a nightmare battlefield for the German Wehrmacht.

The Western Panzer Group, which once had ten panzer divisions, had lost most of its tanks to attrition, and the 7th Army, which had been the core of the front line, was barely holding on, barely a skeleton left.

The daily, relentless bombing by the Anglo-American forces and the Allied forces’ attempts to break through were enough to wear down the German forces.

No one knew how long they would have to fight like this.

They said things would get better with time, but that was a complete lie.

“Is it really right to send these children to war?”

German officers felt complicated when they saw the boy soldiers they had brought in haphazardly after lowering the conscription age.

Even though we were short on troops, we didn’t want to send boys aged 17 or 18 to the battlefield.

Even in the midst of all this, the propaganda offensive continued.

“Comrades, we have been deceived by the criminal regime of the Nazis. What is left for us if we do as Hitler says? Let us wake up from our illusions. The thousand-year Reich, the great Germanic Empire, no longer exists. Let us wake up from the dream built on crime and deception. Let us face our guilt and lay down our arms.”

Surrendered German soldiers continued to urge their comrades to surrender.

“I am afraid. I have not been able to sleep properly because of the fear that our homeland, Silesia, might be trampled by the Soviets at any moment. Think about it, gentlemen. Is this really the way to protect our country by blocking the Western Allies? Isn’t it a dangerous choice to hand over the entire country to the Ivans, to those ruthless commies?”

The propaganda was followed by music broadcasts.

It was a song about hometown, lovers, and love.

The more the German soldiers listened to the song, the more they remembered what they had heard in the propaganda.

As they listened to the broadcast and picked up propaganda leaflets every day, the soldiers’ reluctance to surrender gradually decreased.

Then, a shocking incident occurred.

“Let’s go surrender.”

“yes?”

A single non-commissioned officer incited the entire company to surrender.

“No, Sergeant. Isn’t that a bit much?”

“Don’t we have to live too?”

The officer who was supposed to stop this was dumbfounded and said nothing.

“Let’s go.”

The first unit-level surrender occurred on the Western Front.

This incident severely shattered the will of the German 7th Army, which had been barely holding on.

“If they’re surrendering in units, they’ve already given up. Let’s stop too.”

As the German soldiers laid down their weapons, the German front line along the left wing of the Korean army was greatly weakened.

Senior General Gil Tae-hwan, commander of the European Expeditionary Force, did not miss this opportunity.

“Attack! Attack unconditionally! When my orders do not reach you, go on the offensive unconditionally. That is exactly what I want.”

The 1st Marine Division and the 7th Panzer Corps, the best of the ROK Army, made a great breakthrough on the left flank of the German 7th Army and advanced toward Avranches.

“Huh?”

German 7th Army commander Paul Hausser tried to counter the Korean attack, but he did not have enough troops at hand.

Since the troops were not enough to stop the Anglo-American forces who were immediately attacking the center and right wing, Hausser had to keep his eyes open and watch the Korean army break through.

“You must send reinforcements quickly!”

In response to Hausser’s complaints, Hitler authorized the dispatch of the elite Panzer Division.

The Kyeongja Armored Division, armed with about 200 powerful Panzer IV and V tanks, was in itself a major threat to the South Korean army.

But the sky belonged to the Allies.

“Where are you creeping around in the daytime! Do you want to die?”

Allied heavy bombers carpet-bombed German tanks crawling along the road.

The Panzer Division was so frightened by the bombing that they took cover in the forest and did nothing for three whole days.

Meanwhile, South Korean forces continued to advance southward along the Atlantic coast.

When the situation got to this point, Germany also had to make a decision.

“It’s a decisive battle!”

Germany made an ambitious plan to gather all of the remaining armored units of the Western Army and launch a counterattack toward the Atlantic Ocean, cutting off the Korean breakthrough force from the main front.

Of course, this plan was completely discovered by the Allies, who were reading everything about Germany through radio interception, code breaking, aerial reconnaissance, and spies.

“These idiots don’t even know the place and are rushing into Korea?”

Gil Tae-hwan immediately took up a defensive stance.

Instead, American and British forces attempted to break through the weakened German lines.

On August 7, 1944, four desperately assembled German armored divisions attempted to break through the Korean front lines.

“This is one shot. If we can destroy the Korean army’s armored forces in one shot, we can stabilize the entire front line.”

Hitler ordered the attack with this in mind, but the Korean army was not to be trifled with.

“We have most of what you have. Can you check for me?”

The South Korean army had a large number of anti-tank weapons.

It was on a different level from the expeditionary force hastily put together during the Spanish Civil War.

In particular, the Hyunmoo series of anti-tank self-propelled guns based on 88mm and 105mm guns, which are the mainstay of the Korean military, were virtually the natural enemies of German tanks.

“Shoot!”

South Korean metal chunks flying from 2,500 meters away pierced the steel plates of German tanks.

The Panther V held its ground for a while, but was powerless at ranges less than a thousand meters.

The South Korean tanks were no pushovers either.

The new T-34, equipped with a 75mm main gun and armor-piercing shells licensed from British technology, was capable of destroying most German tanks at ranges of a thousand meters.

The only thing the Germans could rely on was the skill of their tank crews and the experience of their commanders, but this was offset by the overwhelming superiority of their air force, so it was of little help.

German tanks were unable to break through the Korean defenses until the third day of the offensive.

Meanwhile, the 1st Marine Division of the ROK Army continued to break through to the south and prepared to surround the German forces that were on the offensive in a semicircle.

“If we continue like this, we will all be surrounded. Your Excellency the President, please authorize a retreat.”

“How can our army be defeated by the inferior race of yellow people? Stop talking nonsense and just sweep them into the Atlantic Ocean!”

Hitler was furious and ordered another counterattack, but the Germans achieved nothing.

Meanwhile, the Anglo-American forces trapped in Normandy broke through the front line, and the Korean 1st Marine Division also drove the Germans to the point of almost encircling them.

“Really, this won’t do, Your Majesty.”

As the situation reached a critical point, even Hitler had difficulty accepting reality.

“This is only a temporary retreat. Reorganize the front lines and counterattack.”

Whatever the Führer’s orders, the important thing was that a retreat order had been given.

The Germans hastened their withdrawal.

But the most difficult operation in the world was the withdrawal operation.

The retreating German troops were forced into a narrow escape route like a gourd.

Two thousand British and American heavy bombers pounded the narrow road.

“This is massacre.”

The German army was shocked by the Allied bombing that lasted day and night.

There was no scene that showed the Allied Forces’ superiority so clearly as this.

“If we’re going to die like this, let’s just surrender.”

“If it’s a real war anyway, then that’s right.”

Panicked German troops began to surrender unit by unit.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of defeated soldiers abandoned their vehicles and weapons and raised white flags.

The South Korean army expressed satisfaction at seeing a group of German soldiers surrendering while holding propaganda leaflets.

Although it was a little slower than planned, at this rate they would more than reach the German border before October.

The decisive defeat of the German 7th Army on the southwestern front in Normandy led to the collapse of the entire front.

Now each army entered the race towards Paris.

The British forces in the far east had the greatest advantage.

General Bernard Montgomery, commander of the British 8th Army, took advantage of this opportunity to make a name for himself and began to advance towards Paris.

Then, de Gaulle protested strongly.

“Paris is the capital of France. It must be liberated by the French army.”

De Gaulle complained to Eisenhower and Eden, weighing the political implications.

“Well, then let’s leave it to the French.”

After a series of debates, the 1st Armored Division of the Free French Army was cleared to advance on Paris, but that did not stop the competition between the armies.

“It’s either Paris or the German border.”

All the troops tried their best to run just one more step, even dealing roughly with the German prisoners who surrendered.

From mid to late August, it was truly a season of lightning warfare.

The scene was repeated over and over again, with German troops sprinting toward the border to save their lives, and Allied forces chasing them to their deaths.

In this process, it was not the German army but logistics that held the Allied forces back.

“No, why are there so few trucks?”

“That’s because we were busy disembarking the combat troops.”

By mid-August, the Allied forces had received only one-third of the fuel they needed.

This figure would have been impossible if the Air Force had not mobilized aircraft to provide aerial supplies.

As the prospect of reaching the German border by September grew slim, Allied attention turned to Paris.

Free France was also aware of the interests of these allies.

De Gaulle wanted to use this opportunity to show that France could retake Paris on its own, thereby redeeming the face it had lost during the ‘six weeks’.

As French troops advanced toward Paris, Hitler immediately issued a mad order.

“Burn Paris.”

Lieutenant General Dietrich von Choltitz, commander of German forces in Paris, silently refused the Führer’s brutal orders.

Even in the midst of war, I could not agree to the insane order to destroy a historic city.

Choltitz summoned the Swedish Consul General Nordrink and urged the Allies to attack Paris before he could destroy the city.

“Take the city from our hands before Paris burns.”

As French forces began to attack Paris, Hitler became anxious.

“Burn Paris now!”

Hitler repeated the same order nine times.

It meant that I absolutely had to see the city burn.

Hitler asked General Alfred Jodl, the Chief of the Wehrmacht’s General Staff, whether the order had been carried out.

“Is Paris burning now?”

Contrary to Hitler’s expectations, Paris did not burn.

Instead of burning the city as ordered by the Führer, Lieutenant General Choltitz proposed to the Free French forces:

“If you promise to treat our soldiers leniently, we will return the city to you untouched.”

“I will accept the general’s conditions.”

Choltitz surrendered to the French along with the garrison of Paris.

Up until this point, it could be said to be a pretty beautiful story.

But it wasn’t a story with a clean aftertaste.

“Long live the Free French Army! Long live General de Gaulle!”

De Gaulle excluded from the triumphal entry into Paris the North African soldiers who had fought most bravely and fought their way to Paris.

Only pure white soldiers of French origin could enjoy the glory of victory and be hugged and kissed by beautiful white women.

Even among fellow French people, the joy of victory was only felt by white Europeans.

The colonial soldiers were made to realize this fact anew.

*

August was a disastrous month for Germany.

In the Balkans, the Axis power Greece ran to the Allies.

“It was dirty being together, let’s never be on the same team again!”

Türkiye, which had remained neutral during the Great Patriotic War, also declared war on Germany.

“Berlin is considered a place with great food all over the world. I’ll take a picture of it too.”

Meanwhile, Romania, an ally, or rather a puppet state,

“The Soviet communists are killing me. Do you know that if we die, there will be no oil? If you know, please help us quickly!”

He screamed for help.

The Yugoslav and Italian garrisons,

“Tito’s army is approaching 600,000 strong, but you don’t have any support? If we continue like this, we’ll be defeated by them!”

“The number of communist reds has exceeded 300,000. Please come up with a plan. This is not the Republic of Salo, but the Italian People’s Republic!”

Everyone was screaming for reinforcements.

The Eastern Front, where Germany’s fate hangs, is also in chaos.

What’s more, the Allied landings in southern France dashed any hope of maintaining the Western Front.

If you have troops, you can rebuild anything, so what are you going to do?

The German High Command ordered ‘self-rescue’ on all fronts.

“Rebuild yourself like a model general. We don’t have troops.”

“Are those kids in their right mind?”

German commanders on the Western Front had only one path to choose.

“At this rate, we won’t be able to hold out either. We’ll retreat to the Siegfried Line.”

Even holding out along a natural river or mountain range requires troops. If you do that without anything, you will only end up being surrounded by the enemy.

German forces on the Western Front continued to retreat in September.

In contrast, the Western Allied forces, although suffering from logistical problems, continued to advance.

“This is the most Altoran-like German mainland in Europe. It looks mouth-watering.”

By mid-September 1944, Allied forces had reached the pre-war borders of Germany.

The remaining task for the Allied forces was how to break through the Siegfried Line, a powerful line of fortifications built on the German border.

The Allied High Command held close discussions on this issue.

“Let’s take a detour. If we go around to the Netherlands and enter northwest Germany, we won’t have to go straight to the Siegfried Line. If we take a detour and just set foot on the North German Plain, we can get the Germans to surrender by Christmas this year.”

The claims of British 8th Army commander Bernard Montgomery were somewhat harsh.

Eisenhower also thought it was a worthwhile operation if it would be advantageous for an early end to the war.

“It seems like a good plan to me, but what do you think, General Gil?”

Gil Tae-hwan flatly opposed Montgomery’s proposal.

“I disagree.”

“Can you explain why?”

“That’s a reckless gamble.”

Gil Tae-hwan opposed the Market Garden operation proposed by Montgomery.

Field armies such as the German 15th Army, which had been guarding the lowlands, were able to maintain their strength without suffering any major losses.

It was out of the question to attempt an adventurous breakthrough operation against such a powerful enemy.

The terrain itself was unfavorable to the Allied forces.

The complex terrain of canals and rivers did not provide a good battlefield for the Allied forces’ superior armor and mobility.

Gil Tae-hwan thought that rather than jumping into such a mud puddle, it would be a much easier choice to honestly break through the Siegfried Line.

“If South Korea is not willing to cooperate, we will try a joint Anglo-American operation.”

“Please do so.”

Gil Tae-hwan also had no intention of opposing Young-mi’s plan to go all the way to the point of being a jerk.

Anyway, it’s the British and Americans who will die.

Eisenhower arranged the front lines so that the Low Countries would be taken by Britain, the Ardennes by the United States, and the Rhineland and the Sahara by Korea.

On September 15, 1944, Montgomery launched Operation Market Garden with British and Polish forces.

Under the judgment that the German army was weakened, the core of the operation was a three-dimensional infiltration that would drop airborne troops deep into the German front line and quickly advance armored units to link up with them.

At first, the operation went smoothly.

The problem was that their opponents were no ordinary German commanders.

The enemy leader’s name is Walter Model.

He was the best soldier in the German army, called the Führer’s firefighter.

Unfortunately for Britain, the famed rebuilder of the Eastern Front was in Western Europe rebuilding the Western Front.

“Our Anglo-Saxon friends must be making fun of us. But we are not so weak that we cannot resist an attack of this magnitude.”

The model assembled a motley crew of police, coast guard, navy, air force, Waffen-SS, and army troops and launched a counterattack on the British within two hours.

“Huh? The Germans have already gathered and started a counterattack?”

“Yes. I heard that armored units also appeared.”

Because of this, the British forces had to advance into the Netherlands at a much slower pace than initially thought.

“No, our armored units are coming to the rescue too slowly. What are we supposed to do?”

As a result, the British 1st Airborne Division, which was dropped deep into Arnhem, experienced hellish times until relief forces arrived.

The very situation of a mere airborne corps, consisting of mere infantry, fighting an armored division was absurd.

“X, X foot. I can’t take it anymore.”

As a result, a significant number of British airborne troops had to endure the humiliation of laying down their weapons and surrendering to the Germans.

“What? Our kids gave up and ran away?”

Montgomery placed the blame on Stanislaw Sosabowski, commander of the Polish 1st Independent Airborne Brigade.

“The blame for all these defeats lies with the Polish army, which failed to support the British with its poor fighting. Sosabowski’s poor fighting led to the tragedy of Arnhem.”

“No, what the X are you talking about? We did our best.”

“No. You are guilty.”

“No, why?”

“I feel at ease only when you are guilty.”

The Polish 1st Independent Airborne Brigade was vilified despite its bravery in the battle, losing 60% of its men.

No one took Sosabowski’s side in his grievances.

The opponent was the British Empire.

The British government pressured Poland to cover up Montgomery’s mistakes.

“Sosabovsky ruined the fight, right?”

“I admit it. I feel responsible.”

The Polish government in exile, which was supposed to clear Sosabowski’s name, turned a blind eye to Sosabowski’s grievances because it was concerned about the British reaction.

“Wow. Is this the price you pay for sacrificing yourself for your country?”

Sosabowski was forced to take off his uniform unfairly due to Montgomery’s unfavourable treatment.

In fact, if things had gone this way, Sosabowski would have ended up living as an unknown factory worker in England.

However, South Korea highly evaluated Sosabowski’s ability, which he displayed in the Market Garden operation that ended in failure.

Korean Expeditionary Force Commander Gil Tae-hwan sent an officer to quietly bring Sosabowski to him.

Gil Tae-hwan comforted Sosabowski by offering him tea.

“I know that the general is being treated unfairly, the general knows it, and the world knows it. Still, it’s regrettable that things have turned out this way.”

“I have abandoned my country, so what can I do? I have no choice but to take responsibility for my subordinates.”

“So, what I’m saying is, have you ever thought about going to Pyongyang and working there?”

Sosabowski was surprised.

“Do you want me in Korea, when I am already a waste? Why? I am a person who is stamped on England.”

“Well, what’s the big deal? Korea is not a weak country that would bow its head to the glare of Britain. It’s a country where people who need it can come and talk to us.”

Sosabowski felt moved by Korea’s offer.

Although he was forced to take off his military uniform, he was unable to live without the military.

After talking with Gil Tae-hwan for a long time, Sosabowski decided to try working in Korea.

Of course, these recruitments were not limited to the Polish generals who became scapegoats.

Gil Tae-hwan also occasionally reached out to high-ranking German officers and civil servants who had been taken prisoner.

The price is a pardon at the war crimes trial.

Although it may be a bit odd to be tolerant of fascist war criminals, it was necessary to include as many Germans as possible in order to rule German territory in the future.

‘If we want to quietly rule over southern Germany, we will ultimately need the hands of the Germans.’

Gil Tae-hwan remembered His Excellency Lee Seong-jun’s instructions.

There must be no noise in German governance.

In order to get as much as possible from Germany, it had to be governed so softly that the people did not feel the presence of Korean troops.

For that to happen, the presence of German collaborators was essential.

The Allied Forces also had a vague feeling when they saw Korea’s attitude.

“Koreans, are you already thinking about the post-occupation era?”

Of course, that wasn’t a stupid thing to do.

The Koreans’ preparedness was commendable in that they prepared for the occupation in advance.

While the British were reeling from the aftermath of Market Garden, the Americans had some breathing room.

The American military also gradually began to prepare for military administration in the German-occupied territories.

“First, we need to decide to what extent we will use the criminals.”

As with anything, you need standards when using people.

In Korea, the standards for using people were based on Lee Seong-jun’s standards.

If it helps Korea’s national interest, I use it, if not, I spit it out.

However, a liberal democratic country like the United States could not imitate the standards of a military dictator like Lee Seong-jun.

“For official occasions, let’s use friends who can be de-Nazified and washed. Let’s use friends who are a bit more dirty behind the scenes.”

The United States also did not punish the war criminals harshly.

However, I was a bit conscious of what other people thought.

The United States was simply thinking of giving up on the big war crimes that could not be washed away.

That was the difference with Lee Seong-jun.

And, the most important part.

“If they are talented people in the field of science and technology, let’s take them regardless of whether they are war criminals.”

Scientists and engineers are always taken along.

This was an area that even the morally savvy United States had no choice but to turn a blind eye to.

Take, for example, Fritz Haber, the man who invented poison gas for Germany during World War I.

Considering the price paid for the blood of the Entente soldiers killed by Fritz Haber, is it right to put him on trial for war crimes?

That wasn’t it.

A man like Fritz Haber could have saved two billion people by creating nitrogen fertilizer.

If we punish them simply for being Nazi scientists, we will lose the talent we could have taken.

The United States was also calculating to that extent.

‘They’re going to take all the Koreans anyway, so why would we throw away our talented people?’

The Allies were thorough competitors in this regard.

To win this competition, you had to break through the Siegfried Line before your opponent.

‘In that respect, Korea has the advantage.’

The Siegfried Line that Korea had to break through was a single layer, but the US had to break through two layers, and on top of that, there was the unfavorable terrain of the forest.

Still, there was nothing that couldn’t be done with a powerful air force.

The United States was confident of victory in the Siegfried Breakthrough race.