I Will Stage A Coup D’état - Chapter 98



Only Krnovel

EP.98 The Giant’s Spirit (1)

On June 15, 1943, the American merchant ship USS Benson was torpedoed by German forces.

Even though it was a war zone in the Irish waters, it was clearly an American ship that was attacked by a German submarine.

The merchant ship sank to the cold North Atlantic seabed less than 30 minutes after being hit by a torpedo.

“We are a civilian merchant ship! We should rescue them and go!”

Although the Americans shouted at the submarine’s periscope in the distance, the Germans left the scene without taking any rescue action.

120 of the merchant ship’s crew members drowned in the cold water.

This incident was enough to cause an uproar in the United States.

There have been several attacks on U.S. ships in the past few months.

In fact, given the number of American ships plying the Atlantic, something like this was bound to happen no matter how careful Germany was.

Unless we give up submarine operations.

What made this incident stand out was that the death toll was as high as any other maritime disaster.

‘This is an opportunity.’

Roosevelt never missed a moment when public opinion was boiling.

“It’s all our fault.”

The German ambassador came to Roosevelt and begged him to pay a huge amount of compensation and even to ban U-boat sorties to prevent a recurrence, but Roosevelt had no intention of listening to his plea.

Why would you let this great opportunity slip away?

The president rejected the German ambassador’s appeal and made his decision.

The U.S. State Department sent a resolution to Congress declaring war against Germany.

Roosevelt, a political veteran, ran to the Capitol before the vote and bowed to each member of Congress, begging for their votes.

“Our American people were murdered. Shouldn’t we seek revenge now?”

The isolationists wanted to prevent war at all costs, but in the face of the tension, there was nothing they could do.

“I hereby declare the adoption of the resolution on war against Germany submitted by the government.”

Following the Senate, the resolution was passed in the House of Representatives as well.

There were some dissenting votes, but they were not enough to overpower the overwhelming majority of those in favor.

‘Finally, time to trim that crazy moustache.’

Roosevelt was excited that his long-awaited moment had come.

“Your Majesty, the speech is ready.”

Soon, Roosevelt formally declared war on Germany in the U.S. Congress.

“The United States government, through its ambassador in Berlin, demanded a sincere explanation of the sinking of the merchant ship. Nevertheless, Germany, as always, tried to evade the situation with irresponsible words and actions and shifting responsibility.”

“We, the Government of the United States, have therefore come to the conclusion that we can no longer tolerate the perpetual threat that Germany poses to the lives and property of our citizens. In accordance with this conclusion, the Federation does hereby declare that as of 1 o’clock on the afternoon of the 21st day of June, a state of war exists between the United States and Germany.”

“The President of the United States has the authority and responsibility, under the provisions of the wartime law, to mobilize the entire armed forces and resources of the United States. The Government will mobilize the full resources of the Nation to win this war.”

When the world heard of America’s declaration of war on Germany, it thought the Axis powers had been sentenced to death.

In particular, the shock to Germany was enormous.

“No, because we attacked an American merchant ship and didn’t even rescue it, the US declared war on us! What if we cause an accident that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can’t handle?”

When Hitler became angry, the submarine commander, Karl Dönitz, explained the situation with an embarrassed look on his face.

“Your Majesty, we did not know that the ship that attacked was an American merchant ship. It is practically impossible to stop a ship sailing at night with poor visibility and confirm its nationality.”

From the beginning, if we had operated in that manner, we would not have been able to strangle Britain.

Hitler was irritated by the river Donitz.

“Then you should have at least structured it properly. You just gave Roosevelt an excuse!”

“That was a measure to ensure the safety of the submarine.”

“What does that mean?”

“There were many instances where our U-boats were attacked while trying to rescue the crews of sunken merchant ships. I had no choice but to give the order to abandon rescue operations in order to protect the lives of the men.”

Doenitz, in his own way, preached that his instructions were justified.

I also gave some concrete examples.

Even to Hitler, it wasn’t a completely illogical story.

“Even so, this time the Navy has crossed the line. How can we start a war by provoking the United States, which was already looking for an opportunity to participate? The Navy has ruined an already unfavorable war!”

The generals swallowed their saliva at Hitler’s rebuke.

Doenitz did not deny that things had gone wrong.

“I apologize, Your Majesty. I will take responsibility.”

“I don’t want to see you, so go back to the fleet and report to work.”

In fact, even if it weren’t for Doenitz, Americans would have made up an excuse to go to war at any time.

Hitler knew that too, so he didn’t do anything further to Dönitz.

Only after Donitz was kicked out did the mood lighten a little.

“Your Majesty.”

The new Army Chief of Staff, Kurt Zeitzler, has stepped forward.

“Tell me, President.”

“Now that things have come to this, how about we bring forward our offensive operations?”

“Strike the Soviet Union before the US intervenes?”

“Yes. Wasn’t that the original goal?”

Zeitzler’s story tickled Hitler.

“That’s right, that’s right.”

However, preparations for an offensive against the Soviet Union were not enough.

“Minister of Arms.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“It seems that just preparing now won’t do. Speed ​​up the construction of the sea wall along the Atlantic coast.”

Hitler believed that the only way to win the decisive battle in the west was to limit the landing space for the Allied forces as much as possible.

To do so, it was necessary to expedite the completion of the ‘Atlantic Wall’, which protected the Atlantic coast.

“We will try to return as much material and supplies as possible.”

The President was very impatient and urged his ministers.

The United States, the giant living across the Atlantic, is stretching and glaring at Germany.

The Führer felt greatly threatened by this fact.

The Junkers, who were on Hitler’s opposing side, also felt the same way as the Führer.

Now the only chance to save the country was a few months’ delay before American intervention.

Catch Hitler before the chance to get things back on track is completely gone.

The Junkers’ eyes gleamed fiercely at the Führer.

*

South Korea was no different in its shock at the United States’ declaration of war.

Now even pro-Axis intellectuals are unable to achieve a moral victory.

“If the United States of America had joined the coalition, it would have been inevitable that the Axis would have been defeated.”

Even if we exclude Korea, can Germany win the war when three of the five major powers are enemies?

If that had been possible, Germany would have won World War I under much better conditions.

“Maybe we were wrong and Lee Seong-jun was right.”

As everyone kept their mouths shut like clams, the production of militaristic hormones that had been steadily supplied to Korea also stopped for a while.

This should have happened a long time ago.

Hahaha.

When I read the report that the scholars had kept their mouths shut, I felt as if all the tension from ten years ago had been lifted.

Now, all that’s left is to watch Germany, whose time limit has been reached, fall behind.

I was going to be very busy from now on.

Looking at the spread of communism that was turning all of Europe red, I was a little nervous that the wave of post-war communism might be stronger than expected.

Was the picture like this in the original translation or webtoon?

However, I did not think that the Cold War picture itself would collapse.

Now that the United States, the strong brother of democracy, has arrived, no matter how hard the communists fly and fight, they will not be able to expand their influence west of Germany.

If that happens, we will be hit with the ‘Unthinkable’ (Note: A plan by the Western Allies at the end of World War II to launch a preemptive strike against the Soviet Union and push it back to its original borders).

The Soviet Union would have noticed that too.

If not?

America will take care of that too.

Anyway, since a new friend has arrived, it’s only natural to welcome them.

I sent a telegram to Washington, expressing my welcome for America’s joining the anti-German front.

“Thank you, Your Excellency the Prime Minister, for your hospitality. We, the United States of America, also pledge to contribute as a member of the coalition.”

It’s a simple promise, but why is it so strong?

Is this the weather of the Celestial Empire?

But America is only on our side for this moment.

In our country, there is no such thing as a ROK-US alliance.

The current alliance was only a temporary alliance to defeat the Axis.

When the common enemy disappears, the potential hostility returns.

We must not forget that fact.

I feel like smoking.

It’s been a long time since I put a cigar in my mouth.

“Your Majesty. Is there anything bothering you?”

Phew.

“America is a problem.”

“America? Aren’t those guys on our side now?”

“Okay. Just for a moment.”

As the nicotine coursed through my brain, my mind became clearer.

‘Well, anyway, America prioritizes the communists over us.’

As long as the Reds are alive, the United States will treat us the same way it treated China, its second-largest enemy during the Soviet era.

To that extent, it’s okay.

Depending on how you handle the relationship, you could even do something like ping-pong diplomacy.

Even though we share the same capitalist and democratic (?) ideology as South Korea, we will be able to communicate better.

‘I don’t know what will happen, so I guess we need to start working on improving our relationship from now on.’

I picked up the phone right away.

“Korea Ilbo, President Cho Joong-dong vs. President Cho.”

When I called Jo Joong-dong for the first time in a long time, he was surprised.

“There’s nothing special here, but I need you to go to the US as my special envoy. Okay. Go and meet with US congressmen, have lunch, check out the atmosphere, and tell them that this Lee Sung-jun is friendly to the US and wants to improve relations. Okay.”

I decided to give Cho Joong-dong a special envoy badge and send him to the United States.

Since it seemed like the US would feel burdened if a politician was sent, they decided to send Jo Jung-dong, a journalist who had relatively less burden.

Of course, as the president of Korea’s largest daily newspaper, Cho Joong-dong was also anti-politician.

So he was the right person.

Even if we assume that improving relations is achieved through Jo Jung-dong, it seems that other routes of approach are also necessary.

“Director Jung-Jeong? Chief Lee? Come to the Prime Minister’s residence within 30 minutes. Okay.”

The idea was to give Lee Kyung-ho of Jungjeong an opening to lobby the United States.

Anyway, since this is a country where lobbying is legal, there shouldn’t be a problem with throwing some money at the political world.

And then, what else should I do?

“ah.”

One thing just occurred to me.

Stalin.

There was a need to give a little push to the red friend who would be fighting over equity ratios with the United States in the future.

“Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

If the Reds were going to be a longer-lasting ally than the United States anyway, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to give Stalin some wisdom for a while.

It wasn’t war-related advice, of course.

The idea I’m trying to give is,

“Let’s establish a base in Türkiye before the US gets involved. We have to make everything a fait accompli, so the West can’t find fault with it.”

It was all a trick to increase the aggro of the communists.

Okay, that was it.

If you’re afraid of America, just put someone in front of you who can fight against it instead.

That’s how I think we should deal with America.