September 21, 1939
Kassel, Frankfurt, 9th Military District, Central Germany - New German Government Building On the way to the new government building, the streets were already filled with members of the Freedom Legion and citizens, cheering enthusiastically.
I think I'm starting to understand why the high and mighty chase after power so desperately, becoming pathetic and causing a scene even as they fall.
The joy and welcome filling the faces of the people thronging the road as I head to the building in my car—is it truly joy for a freedom they won with their own hands, or is it the result of the incitement by me and my people?
Do they truly understand what they are fighting for? Can Germany become a normal country without suffering the worst catastrophe of all, World War II, which the Nazis would bring?
For the sake of all the sacrifices we have made, and all those we will have to make in the future, I desperately hope so.
“Long live Free Germany!”
By the time I arrived, the new government building had already been completely retaken.
“Long live the constitutional monarchy!”
Seeing the flag of the German Empire that had hung over the building taken down, replaced by the flag of the Freedom Legion and the black-red-gold flag of the German Republic, I felt an indescribable emotion.
But there were too many problems to solve to get lost in sentiment, and I quickened my pace.
Every member of the Freedom Legion I passed on the way smiled and saluted me, making my face tingle in more ways than one.
Damn it, at this rate, I might actually start deluding myself into thinking I'm some great hero.
The leaders of the military junta were gathered in the conference room.
August von Mackensen, in his magnificent hussar uniform, Dr.
Goerdeler, and the generals.
I entered the conference room and gave them a light salute.
“Good to see you, Lieutenant Colonel Schacht. I am August von Mackensen.”
“It’s Major, Your Excellency, the Field Marshal. I never accepted that proposal.”
Mackensen grinned at my words and then asked a question.
“Has His Majesty the Emperor not come?”
“His Majesty stated he has no intention of seeing traitors.”
Mackensen let out a dry laugh at my answer. To them, it might have been loyalty, but it was a loyalty that was ultimately not reciprocated.
“Respected generals, and Doctor. I am sorry, but everyone present in this room is under arrest for high treason.
The formal trial will be postponed until after the unification of Germany is achieved.”
No sooner had I finished speaking than soldiers of the Freedom Legion entered the conference room.
The generals did not resist, but Dr. Goerdeler had a word for me.
“Are you happy to have rebuilt a weak Germany in this land?”
“Are you happy to have pushed the new government, so painstakingly formed, to the brink of war and endangered the very Hohenzollern imperial family you sought to establish?”
To Dr. Goerdeler, whose face was contorted, I added one more thing.
“Consider yourself fortunate that His Majesty the Emperor is wise. Had he gone along with your short-sighted actions, the last chance for the imperial family to exist in this land would have vanished.”
“You traito…!”
“Hahahaha!”
Mackensen cut off Dr. Goerdeler's furious words with a laugh, then smiled brightly at me and spoke.
“He's quite a piece of work, this one. I say, Schacht.
Could I borrow your pistol?”
Mackensen's tone was as casual as someone asking for a cup of coffee.
“You endangered Germany, and now you wish for an honorable end?”
“If I’m taken alive, the Nazis or the Wehrmacht will interpret it to their advantage and use it as an excuse to attack the new government.”
Mackensen said this with a faint smile.
“This old man was indebted to the imperial family, but I took a piece of land from Hitler and kept my mouth shut.
As an honorable Field Marshal of the German Army, far from preventing a civil war, I even endangered Germany out of a greedy desire to leave behind the honor of being a meritorious subject who restored the imperial family.”
Goerdeler looked at Mackensen with a half-despairing face, but he continued as if he had let go of everything.
“Everything happened because this old man went senile, so I cannot let the young ones bear the burden. I should have ended it before you came, but I got greedy, wanting to see your face just once.
I apologize.”
I handed him my pistol, and Mackensen took off his hussar's cap, set it down, and smiled.
“Do not become like this shabby old man. I once walked with my shoulders held high in pride, but in death, I shall be forever ashamed.”
A gunshot rang out.
“Aaaaargh!”
While everyone's eyes were on Mackensen, Dr.
Goerdeler screamed, ran to the window, and jumped.
A moment later, a dull thud echoed.
In an instant, the Junker military junta that had seized Frankfurt ended in a three-day reign.
---
“Hey, Schacht.”
After heading down to the basement to check on those who had been detained by the military junta, I had to let out a sigh of relief and a hollow laugh at the same time.
Colonel Tresckow's arm seemed to have been broken from a beating; even with a cast on, he was smoking a cigarette with his other hand and waved at me.
“You’re really something else.”
As I said that, I swept up Claudia, who had run over, into my arms and kissed her.
“You guys are the ones who are really something else,”
Tresckow's icy remark reached my ears, but who cares.
Although the Junkers are men of a rigid chivalry, I was worried that since she’s not exactly a submissive lady, she might have resisted and gotten hurt.
Thankfully, Claudia seemed to be perfectly fine.
Then again, my fiancée is certainly not a fool.
In the brief moment the broadcast station was being taken over, she had shown the divine foresight to help me by sending a telegram to the Frankfurter Zeitung headquarters, telling them to prepare to print the newspaper.
I found out later that when my call was cut off, Admiral Canaris had hesitated to execute the plan.
It seems his own monarchist leanings were the reason, but thanks to Claudia requesting the printing preparations in advance, the newspapers were distributed before the military junta could do anything. Seeing that, even the hesitant Admiral Canaris initiated the operation.
Considering how much I've cooperated with the Abwehr, I feel a little disappointed, but I should be grateful that he, an old-timer and a staunch anti-communist, tolerated the Social Democrats and sided with me instead of the monarchists.
Still, how many times has Claudia saved me from a crisis? At this point, I’m starting to think she might be my goddess of victory.
“I’ve made you wait too long, my Host.”
“You deserve a punishment, my Spokesman?”
“Ah, can I not hope for mercy?”
Seeing her mischievous smile, she is overwhelmingly lovely, but there are too many eyes watching.
What a shame.
I set the giggling Claudia down and turned my gaze, only to meet the eyes of my father, Hjalmar Schacht, who was looking at me from behind his glasses with a perpetually expressionless face.
Whoa, that startled me.
No matter when I see him, he's just needlessly impressive.
I bowed to him respectfully.
“Congratulations, former Minister of Finance Schacht.”
Only then did his eyebrows twitch as if to ask what I was talking about. I seriously wondered which news would surprise him more—that he had been dismissed as Minister of Finance, or that I had died—but…
“It is an order from His Majesty the Emperor.
As of today, you are the head of the emergency war cabinet as Minister of the Chancellery.”
My father straightened the tie of his suit, which had maintained its sharp form even while he was imprisoned, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.
Wow, that's a bit creepy.
“To think I'd live to see the day I benefit from you.”
Hey, anyone listening would think I’m a son who's been no help his whole life.
Why is my fiancée laughing? Everyone's so mean, really.
---
September 25, 1939
South of the British Isles, London, the capital of Britain The military junta's coup d'état was over in a mere three days, but the situations it caused were by no means so easily concluded.
My father, Hjalmar Schacht, proving himself to be a genius of the century, swiftly convened a war cabinet as Minister of the Chancellery, took control of the new government, and brought the chaos under control.
The man who succeeded my father as Minister of Finance was Konrad Adenauer. As the Mayor of Cologne and later the Chancellor of post-war West Germany, he possessed proven administrative skills, so he would be a suitable choice to manage the new government's finances.
Ludwig Beck, the Imperial Regent, had undeniably created a dark chapter in his history by succumbing to the military junta, declaring Wilhelm III's ascension, and broadcasting a request for public support. Nevertheless, he was appointed Minister of Defense in the war cabinet.
He had held that position concurrently in the original new government, and in any case, since he wasn't a main instigator, we couldn't just cast out the former head of the new government and the spiritual pillar of the army.
If anything, the fact that he'd made a bit of a mess of his own history meant he yielded the leadership of the new government to my father without a fuss.
Thanks to Wilhelm III's ascension and Beck's appointment as Minister of Defense, generals at the front like Witzleben, Hammerstein, Lutz, and Leeb immediately pledged their allegiance to us and were preparing for a Nazi offensive.
It was truly fortunate that the front-line generals did not join the military junta's coup.
Especially General Witzleben, who I heard had actively opposed the terrorist attack against me.
If they had joined and we had to purge them, the new government's military would have been paralyzed and unable to do anything.
Fortunately, despite the military junta's coup, the front-line generals maintained their defensive lines without moving their troops. As a result, the Nazis, who had ambitiously declared their revenge, saw the affair end before they could even launch a proper offensive.
With the military junta collapsing in three days and the new government becoming even more solid, the Nazis and Hitler must be fuming.
The problem wasn't within the new government, but in the diplomatic situation.
Italy's Mussolini was sending love calls to Britain and France, proposing to revive the Stresa Front—the triple alliance of Britain, France, and Italy that had opposed Germany—in order to carve Germany up.
Britain and France reacted coldly to Italy, but they maintained their stance that the revival of the Hohenzollern imperial family was unacceptable.
“Is it still quiet on the Polish front?”
“They issued a statement condemning the Nazis' warmongering, but so far, there has been no statement regarding the new government. However, I'm told they are continuing their military deployment along the border.”
Listening to Foreign Minister Weizsäcker, I fell into thought.
Poland.
In the original history, they were the most tragic victim of World War II, but that was simply because they were caught between two great powers; they are by no means a meek sacrificial lamb.
After the last great war, while Germany was floundering, Poland invaded all its neighboring countries and carved off their land.
Right now, it is an aggressive military dictatorship.
Originally, Germany would have launched a surprise attack using the Gleiwitz incident as a pretext before Poland had finished its preparations, and with the Soviet Union also joining in, it would have collapsed in an instant—
But thanks to me preventing that, they are, at this very moment, deploying their military to the German border.
The navy refused to transport Küchler's 3rd Army in East Prussia, and Günther von Kluge's 4th Army, along with Army Group North commander Bock, is holding the line on the Polish border, so we have a minimal defensive force.
But will that be enough? For a Poland brimming with baseless confidence, one that boasted until just before WWII that they could easily stop Germany, it wouldn't be strange if they invaded at any moment.
At least they're a devout Catholic country, so they might have flinched thanks to the Pope's support, but they are too belligerent to be optimistic based on that alone.
The reason they're still quiet is likely because they're wary of the Soviet Union.
How will Stalin, who failed to sign the non-aggression pact and is on bad terms with Britain and France, make his move?
“Well then, shall we get going? Hmm, going together with you like this, Minister, feels strange for some reason.”
“Hahaha, it reminds me of when we first met when you were a captain, Vice-Chancellor.”
Though they call it Vice-Chancellor, the Vice-Minister of the Chancellery is essentially the Deputy Prime Minister. It's just tainted by Wilhelm III's bizarre obsession.
It was a meteoric rise, to be sure, but no one in the new government's leadership made an issue of it.
They were divided between those who acknowledged my contributions and those who respected the Emperor who appointed me.
During the Munich Agreement, I was just a captain transferred away by Halder, but now I'm here in Britain as the Vice-Chancellor, to conduct diplomatic negotiations alongside Foreign Minister Weizsäcker.
The change in my position has been so rapid that I can't get used to it, but I set off for the conference hall where the representatives of Britain and France were waiting.
Now then, shall we go meet Mr. ‘Peace for Our Time’?