I Became Stalin?!

Chapter 162

“…Can we guarantee the stability of the regime if we cooperate here?”

“Yes. If Spain helps Portugal restore its regime and expel the German puppets, Spain can become a US ally again.”

Francisco Gomez, the Spanish foreign minister, slowly stroked his chin and began to ponder.

The situation had been reversed for a long time. 

Germany had tried to lie through propaganda that victory was not far away, but the high-ranking officials of the allied countries knew the truth.

Spain could also grasp the state of the eastern front through the combat reports and secret messages of the Blue Division and other units they had sent.

‘Moscow is not even close to falling, but Berlin is in danger of being captured…’

The Franco regime had massacred hundreds of thousands of its own people with its own hands, but it was another matter to send hundreds of thousands of young men to die in someone else’s war.

Germany had extorted a large amount of materials and manpower by threats, and the countries that resisted were subjected to decapitation operations and puppet states were established. 

Franco, who was fearless in the world, had to tremble with fear at the sight of that intense madness.

When would Germany go crazy and drag the allied governments into the abyss with them? Would the Soviet Union hold only Germany responsible for this war?

So Spain decided to switch sides.

“We know where Salazar is. If the US fulfills its promises, we will allow the US fleet to pass through Gibraltar. And the sovereignty of Gibraltar in the future…”

“Good. As soon as you secure his troops, please notify us through the embassy.”

The Soviet Union was far and the US was close. 

The US was wondering whether to land in Britain, France, or secure Iberia after securing the Azores.

Spain opened the Mediterranean and offered a way to land in Italy, while promising to restore the pro-US regime in Portugal. 

The US, worried about losing all its footholds to project influence on the European continent, accepted the deal.

What if Spain, too, became pro-Soviet or anti-US republican regime, while France leaned towards the Soviets, and the Red Army swept through the Balkans, Germany, and northern Italy?

It was nothing but a nightmare for the US. Britain might remain a loyal ally of the US, but it could not maintain its Middle East-Egypt and Indian colonies in a situation where the Mediterranean became the Soviet sea.

“An empire without India is not an empire!”

Eden, the second-in-command of the current cabinet and the foreign minister, who had succeeded the deceased Churchill, argued.

They needed to make some friends on the European continent somehow. Even if that ‘friend’ had a history of hanging out with the bad boys.

Spain claimed that they had joined the Axis because of Germany’s threats and deception, and that they had not committed any war crimes. 

Franco said that he could ‘nominally’ resign and form a new government with clean-faced ladies who had never been involved in the war.

The US didn’t care. As long as they secured Spain and Portugal, and soon southern Italy and Britain, they would have at least some influence on the European continent. 

That’s what they thought.

The Soviet Union had not yet captured Berlin, and Model was a capable commander, albeit an enemy. He had been pushed back from the Vistula River, but there was still the Oder River in front of Berlin.

If they could lure the French resistance with money and support while Model bought them time, they could secure allies to face the Soviet Union that would expand massively in the future.

“Good. Please fulfill your promise as soon as possible.”

Gomez, the foreign minister, reached out his hand to the bureaucrat of the US State Department. 

The two hands that gripped firmly shook with anxiety over the Soviet expansion.

***

Germany had withdrawn its battleships from the range of aircraft after the Azores had been completely taken by the US.

They hid their precious battleships, which they did not know where they were, and used their submarines and cruisers to prevent the US from landing on the European mainland and opening the second front.

The US had sent its new warships to the Pacific, so Germany had succeeded in stopping the US offensive without building new battleships.

But they couldn’t hide their battleships in the harbor forever.

Bang! Bang! Boom!

The heavy Bismarck’s cannon spewed fire. In the harbor, pieces of boats and rafts were floating dangerously and fleeing to the open sea.

The waters off Königsberg were full of large and small boats. In the open sea, huge battleships fired their cannons at the advancing Soviet army. 

In the near sea, refugees fleeing from the Soviet army were desperately heading west, west on boats full of them.

The Soviet aircraft fought with the German fighters in the sky, but they did not attack the boats.

“Phew, those guys… I feel grateful for some reason.”

“Yeah. Why don’t they attack civilians?”

The German navy crew wondered. Why didn’t the Soviet army attack the refugees? 

The brutal and evil Soviet army they had heard of burned civilians alive and looted their corpses.

But the Soviet planes did not attack the things in the sea. 

They only targeted the Luftwaffe planes.

The battleship squadron, which had been preparing for anti-aircraft fire, relaxed their anti-aircraft alert when the aircraft did not directly target the battleships, and deployed their anti-aircraft gunners to civilian rescue.

“Thank… thank you!”

“You’ve been through a lot. From now on, our navy will escort you safely.”

The sailors politely brought the civilians who climbed up the long ladder into the ship. 

A young sailor, who was not even young, carried a heavy bundle of an old woman who had just come up and bowed politely.

“Excuse me… where is this ship going?”

“Huh? Oh…”

The sailor hesitated at the sudden question, but an officer who was supervising next to him snapped.

He was either more anxious about the Soviet army not pushing in, or dissatisfied with the battleship being mobilized for such a mission, not a battle. 

He was rude to everyone, whether civilians or subordinates.

“This ship is retreating to Stettin. You will board a train there and gather near Berlin.”

“Oh no, that’s not good…”

“What?”

The old woman shook her frail, twig-like hand. The sailor and the officer both looked at her, and she spoke in a voice that sounded like she was about to cry.

“The Soviets, the Soviets said in their flyers… don’t go to Berlin, go somewhere else…”

“Oh, ma’am, that…”

“Are you falling for the enemy’s propaganda?”

The sailor tried to wrap his arms around the old woman who had said something she shouldn’t have and take her inside, but the officer’s face hardened and he pulled out his pistol.

The old woman collapsed on the floor with a scream, but the officer didn’t care and walked towards her with his gun drawn.

“Defeatism is punishable by death!”

“Sir, sir!”

The surrounding civilians were startled, but the officer ignored them and pointed his gun at the old woman who was shivering on the deck.

“Any last words…?”

[Attention, German civilians who are escaping. Attention, German civilians.]

A few Soviet planes that had been modified for broadcasting started to broadcast propaganda in German from the sky. 

Everyone, from the officer who was aiming his gun, to the sailor who was trying to stop him, to the old woman who had collapsed, looked up at the sky and saw the Soviet planes painted red flying away.

“Anti-aircraft gunners, to your positions! All anti-aircraft gunners, return to your posts!”

[We, the Soviet army, have no intention of harming German civilians. We repeat, the Soviet army has no intention of harming German civilians. We promise that there will be no hostility towards the refugees who are escaping!]

The refugees murmured. 

The Soviet army had not attacked them as they ran away.

There were people who had come from the outskirts of Königsberg, and others who had come from further inland, but none of them complained of the Soviet army’s brutality towards civilians.

Was it true that the Soviets would not commit war crimes against civilians? 

The people doubted that, but they didn’t dare to say it out loud in front of the prickly officer.

The battleship prepared and fired its anti-aircraft guns, but the Soviet army left their last words and ran away to the land.

[Refugees and civilians, do not go to Berlin for your safety. We warn you for the last time. Refugees and civilians, for your safety…]

Tatatatatata! The whole fleet started to fire their anti-aircraft guns, and the Soviet propaganda was no longer audible.

But it was obvious that almost all the civilians had heard that. 

The officer who was staring blankly at the eastern sky where the broadcasting plane had disappeared clenched his teeth and shoved his gun roughly into his holster.

“Even if you don’t say it, we all heard it, so let’s just pretend it never happened. You! If you don’t want to get involved in unnecessary trouble, you’d better not do what you did before.”

“Yes! I understand!”

The young sailor lifted up the old woman who was still speechless and trembling on the floor and handed her the bundle again.

“Grandma, please go in.”

“Thank… thank you… young man…”

The people who had fled together held each other’s shaking legs and hearts and headed to the rear, to the rear.

Where should they go if Berlin was not safe either? Or was this also a Soviet plot? The people had all kinds of doubts.

The soldiers were not without suspicion either.

“Why do they want to prevent the refugees from going to Berlin?”

“…”

A general asked that question, but no one could answer it. They just repeated what they had said before.

“Maybe they don’t want the refugees to work in Berlin as labor force.”

“Maybe they want to stir up unrest in the city.”

“…”

This time, the general closed his mouth. 

That was the mainstream interpretation in the intelligence department.

And the fact that it was mainstream implied that there was also a non-mainstream interpretation. 

The non-mainstream interpretation that the intelligence department whispered was a bit more frightening.

“The Soviet army has been acting very gentlemanly so far. The war crimes against civilians reported by the Soviet army are extremely minimal compared to their propaganda, and this, along with the previous offer of a gentleman’s agreement by Stalin, the former secretary-general…”

One analyst said that, and many people glared at him as if he was praising the enemy’s monster, but the expert was an expert after all. 

He didn’t blink an eyebrow and pushed his argument to the end.

“This could also be a measure to reduce civilian casualties. Maybe there could be some indiscriminate attack on Berlin…”