Chapter 163: The Special Diplomatic Envoy

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“Adolf Hitler has just been executed by firing squad,” an officer reported to Akado, arriving with proof of Hitler’s death and photos from the scene. “He was very calm when he died, shouting ‘Heil Führer’ with his last breath.”

“What did the spectators say?” Akado asked.

“The criminal was able to confess his crimes in public and showed remorse. Everyone is now even more convinced that Hitler was a communist,” the officer said with his head bowed.

Akado nodded, then suddenly asked Cindra, who was standing to the side, “How is the matter of changing the national flag progressing?”

“Actually, people are very sympathetic to the Nazi Party’s plight of being used by the Comintern. Many of the Nazi Party’s mid-level cadres have voluntarily merged into the Greater German Party. Things are progressing very smoothly,” Cindra replied. “Therefore, there is a great deal of confidence that the Reichstag will approve the change of the national flag.”

“What about public opinion?” Akado asked. “Is there any resistance among the populace to changing the national flag?”

“According to reports from the SS, the majority of the public is supportive. Many people have already started buying the new swastika flag,” Cindra replied. “Fanny’s side has prepared very thoroughly. The propaganda has been very successful. The swastika flag is no longer a representative of the Nazi Party but has been elevated to a symbol of the unyielding spirit and unity of the German people.”

Akado was about to ask something else when Gascoigne knocked and entered. “My Führer! Top-secret intelligence from Moscow!”

“Moscow?” Akado frowned, wondering what trouble the Soviets were stirring up now. He waved his hand at Cindra and the reporting officer, signaling for them to leave. After the office door was closed, Akado asked again, “What intelligence?”

“My Führer,” Gascoigne said with a grave expression. “This time, we lost a deep-cover agent in Moscow, but he sent back two very important pieces of news. The first is about weapons and equipment. The Soviet Union is beginning to field a new type of tank, with the military designation KV-1. This tank has thicker armor and a larger-caliber gun. It seems to have been specifically developed to counter our tanks.”

Will a thing like the KV tank even be effective? Akado thought with an inward sneer. It seems my technological misdirection and the setbacks the Great Purge brought to the Soviet Union have finally changed some of the historical process. Thinking of this, he asked, “And the other piece of news?”

Gascoigne was a little surprised that the Führer was so unconcerned about the enemy’s new weapon. Given the Führer’s usual level of concern for Germany’s own technical weapons, he should have been someone who paid great attention to the enemy’s technology. But Akado gave him no time to think, so he could only report the second piece of news.

“After repeated confirmation, the Soviet Union is mobilizing troops on the Soviet-Polish border. They seem to be about to launch an attack against Poland,” Gascoigne replied. “The news from high-level sources in the Soviet Union is that in order to consolidate his position in the army, Stalin is preparing to plan a second invasion of Poland to wash away the shame of the defeat in the previous Polish-Soviet War.”

Hearing this news, Akado fell into deep thought. This invasion by Stalin had not happened in history, so he could not judge its outcome. But it was indeed a bold move by Stalin to secure his grip on the military. On the one hand, he could use the invasion of Poland to deploy troops and install his cronies; on the other, he could train the army in preparation for even greater ambitions in the future.

“Is the source of the information reliable?” Akado asked with a frown. He had used intelligence to scheme against the Soviet Union more than once. He didn’t want to be the one who was outmaneuvered in the end.

“The intelligence should be reliable. We have also confirmed some of the information through special channels. There is some more precise information that has not yet been sent back due to time constraints,” Gascoigne said. “If we further expand the intelligence verification, we might expose our agents and alert the Soviet side.”

“Go, ask General von Brauchitsch and General von Bock to come… on second thought, I’ll go to the Wehrmacht High Command myself,” Akado said, standing up. He called out, “Anna! Prepare the car at once! General Gascoigne and I are going to the Wehrmacht High Command! Have Cindra call them and prepare a conference room.”

Soon, Akado met with several of the military’s top leaders in the conference room. When the generals saw the Führer enter, they all stood up and saluted. “Heil Führer!”

“Long live Great Germany,” Akado returned the salute, then walked to his seat and sat down. “Please, be seated.”

“Führer, before you arrived, we also received this intelligence from the intelligence department. We have just discussed it. The key is still the accuracy of this information,” the Chief of Staff, General von Bock, said softly.

Brauchitsch nodded. “My Führer, the news of a Soviet attack on Poland does not actually have a great impact on us. We can just sell this information to the Poles and then use General von Rundstedt’s plan to attack France first and win the war.”

In mid-1935, an event occurred that made Germany’s plan to start a war even more complicated: due to the economic crisis, the British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, whose domestic support had been consistently low, finally resigned. The Conservative Stanley Baldwin took over as the new British Prime Minister.

“Right now, Britain is in a complete mess trying to form a new cabinet. If we attack France now, we can gain a military advantage,” von Bock added. Now, everyone was leaning toward the plan of attacking France first, because there was a high probability that the Soviet Union would tie down the variable on the eastern front, Poland, for them.

“What if we wait?” Akado asked, pointing to the map spread on the table. “We wait for the Soviet Union to invade Poland, and then we use a portion of our troops to ‘rob the burning house’ and enter Poland. We partition Poland with the Soviet Union, but publicly, we use the pretext of stopping the westward advance of communism. This way, we can avoid a larger war.”

“My Führer! What if this intelligence is inaccurate? What if the Soviet Union doesn’t make a move against Poland immediately? Wouldn’t we miss the best opportunity for war?” Brauchitsch asked with a frown. He did not want his Wehrmacht to suffer losses due to a muddle-headed decision. “Attacking France wouldn’t have this problem. Poland believes a Soviet invasion is more likely.”

“Attacking France has a timing problem. If we launch a surprise attack on France, even if we win, it won’t end the war, because the main British forces will still be intact and will not compromise easily. And if we slow down the pace of the war to draw the main British forces into the fight, the war will enter a stalemate, and we will lose,” Akado said, shaking his head.

“In that case,” Brauchitsch stood up and said at attention, “my Führer, the army will draw up an operational plan to attack Poland within a week. The air force and navy will need to coordinate with the army’s offensive plan.”

Akado nodded. “Come up with a feasible plan as soon as possible. I will be inspecting the Siegfried Line in the near future to make the French even more wary of our western front. But there is one more thing we need to prepare.”

“We need to secretly send a special diplomatic envoy to contact the Soviets and tell them Germany’s bottom line,” Akado said, pointing at the map. “We want half of Poland, including Warsaw! And we will take back the Danzig Corridor to complete the absolute integrity of German territory!”

“Once the war starts, we will have only about six months to defeat Poland and redeploy our army. If that time passes, the British and French will see through our plan and attack us!” Akado said, narrowing his eyes. “I hope the army can take Poland with the greatest possible speed.”

Everyone stood up and gave a German salute. “Heil Führer! Germany will be victorious!”

“Attack Poland! Send those capitalist watchdogs to their doom!” Stalin sat before a group of generals and said loudly. “Be ready by the end of 1936! In the spring of 1937, we will reclaim the glory that belongs to us!”

Isn’t he just using this opportunity to install his cronies in the army? That damn Khrushchev has just blatantly become a Front Political Commissar. What the hell does he know about military affairs? several generals thought contemptuously, but what they said was a different story. “Great Comrade Stalin! We will definitely win this war against Poland and bring honor to the motherland.”

“The Soviet Red Army is ready,” a general stood up and, pointing to the various units on the map with a pointer, explained, “Our army has concentrated 750,000 men, mobilized 230 tanks and 700 planes, and will advance on Warsaw in five major columns.”

No one was optimistic about this offensive. The Soviet army had hardly trained seriously since the Great Purge. Many experienced commanders had been locked up in concentration camps, and many more had been labeled as anti-communist and directly shot. If the current combat effectiveness of the Red Army was even half of what it used to be, it would be considered good. It was barely enough for defense, let alone an offensive into Poland.

But at this stage, who would dare to tell Stalin a truth he didn’t want to hear? Everyone would rather leave that honor to someone else. So the general explaining the tactics helplessly continued his grand plan. “In the far north, our army’s 11th Army will…”

“Report! Great Soviet leader, Comrade Stalin!” an officer walked into the conference room, interrupting the general’s report. He came before Stalin, stood at attention, saluted, and said, “A secret envoy from Germany has arrived in Moscow. You said to notify you immediately if a German envoy arrived.”

“You see! Our allies have arrived!” Stalin looked triumphantly at the generals who were constantly wiping their foreheads. He stood up and said, “I know many of you are not optimistic about this operational plan! But I am telling you! Through my careful planning, we will surely achieve victory in this operation!”