Survive as a World War II Soldier - Chapter 148



Only Krnovel

#148

India’s struggle against reflection is not something that started yesterday or today, and its history is very deep.

Because of this, Britain was trying to change its ruling process in a way that was appropriate to the changing times and the opposition in India.

The New India Governance Act of 1935 is an example.

However, it is human nature for people to want to lie down when they sit down, and to want to sleep when they lie down.

Although they had obtained direct voting rights and self-government, Indians still had not obtained military or diplomatic powers, and continued to engage in anti-British movements with the goal of complete independence.

This was the background to the nationwide uprising that occurred immediately after the Battle of Imphal.

Of course, this is from an Indian perspective; the British perspective was different.

“What is happening in India?”

“How on earth do the cabinet and the prime minister do their work?”

“Why do Indians act like that? Why on earth?”

In this way, the chaos in India led directly to chaos in the home country. There was only one reason why Churchill was not kicked out during the process.

‘If we kick that kid out, who’s going to take his place?’

‘Prime Minister? You want me to take the blame? Why me?’

‘You have to tell the person who caused the accident to clean it up.’

The ostensible reason given was that it was not good to change the leadership, especially such an important figure as the Prime Minister, in a wartime situation, but the real reason was that no one could be found to replace Churchill.

So what could Churchill, who barely survived as a scapegoat, do?

“In Europe, we have to do some serious fighting against the Germans. What on earth is Monty doing?”

Naturally, it was Montgomery’s job to hound Europe into making up for all this.

in result,

“So that’s why you were so anxious to go to the market?”

“That’s what they say.”

Churchill and Montgomery, who had been at odds with each other right after Normandy, had become best friends again, and that was understandable, because Montgomery was in just as bad a situation as Churchill.

“After the recapture of Paris, I thought I was being pushed back by General Patton.”

“iced coffee.”

Patton had many people who disliked him, both within the US military and outside of it, because of his personality. One of them was Montgomery.

“When I saw them, I thought they were so similar that I didn’t like them that much.”

“Ha, ha. Are you saying that you hate your own kind?”

“okay.”

It’s not that they weren’t similar, but the two had similar narcissistic tendencies, dirty personalities, and even the strategies they advocated as soldiers.

“You’re saying that you’re going to run parallel fronts for hundreds of miles? When on earth are you going to get to Germany?”

“The broad front strategy is garbage. Think about retaking Paris this time. Firepower is the key to mobility.”

They have similar arguments, so they should be able to work together well, but their relationship is not very good. Why? That’s it.

“How many times have you both fought over who should be the leader?”

“Yes. But honestly, it’s not because Patton is one of us.”

“General Montgomery has shown us so little.”

“okay.”

Although McNair was spitting blood behind the scenes, Patton and De Gaulle certainly showed their accomplishments.

Who would have imagined that we would be able to march all the way to Paris in less than a month?

I had trusted Patton to do the job, but even so, the speed of the advance was surprisingly surprising.

In comparison, Montgomery had a lot of talk in North Africa and immediately after Normandy at Caen, but his actual results were lacking.

As a result, Churchill and Montgomery, both in a hurry, forgot their past ill-fated relationship and joined hands.

So Montgomery came to me every other day, whining about wanting to go to the market. If he wanted to go to the market, he could have just gone by himself, so why did he come to me?

Because my pockets are empty.

“Isn’t it universally agreed that our Allied Forces need a new port?”

It wasn’t a mistake. The distance from Normandy to the front line was currently over 600km. Thanks to this, there was plenty of oil in Normandy, but the front line was running out of oil, so the tanks were currently at a standstill.

Marseille, which had been won through Operation Dragoon, was struggling to supply the recaptured France.

“We must obtain a new port in the Netherlands and transform our supply lines.”

“If we deploy airborne troops to occupy key bridges and armored units break through the defense line and connect the points with a line···.”

Montgomery argued for the operation in a powerful voice, demanding that all Allied supplies be diverted to him to support it.

“So what if it fails?”

“Ha, since when have we been afraid of failure···.”

“I’ve always been afraid. That’s why I’ve only done plans that I know won’t fail.”

Montgomery glared at me, dumbfounded, as if he was at a loss for words, but it wasn’t a lie, it was the truth.

After Montgomery left, I gathered my staff.

“So you’re saying we should use the Market Garden as bait to lure the Germans?”

“okay.”

Montgomery and Churchill clamored for a closer port, but honestly, there were other ports available.

“How is the liberation of Antwerp going?”

“We are almost at the Belgian border.”

“According to OSS intelligence, Antwarfen, like France, has a significant internal resistance force.”

“Of course.”

“Yes, the resistance is said to be very organized, especially around Colonial University.”

“Good. We must take Antwerp as soon as possible.”

“All right.”

It is a mystery why the Allies began to utilize Antwerp so late in the history of the original, but if Antwerp had been properly utilized, the Netherlands would not have been needed immediately.

“The question is how completely to occupy the port?”

“If you look at it that way, it’s the same for other ports.”

The Germans had no qualms about destroying the ports on the Atlantic side, since they had no use for them anyway.

“But would those Tommy guys just give up?”

“So you’re saying we should just use it?”

There are countless reasons for Germany’s defeat, but from a military perspective, the Battle of the Bulge is definitely one of the top ones.

And the background to the Battle of the Bulge was none other than Market Garden.

If there had been no Allied failure at Market Garden, namely the miraculous victory of the Walter Model, would Hitler’s reckless operation, the Ardennes Offensive, have been carried out?

Thinking about him, it wasn’t a good idea to just block Market Garden.

“Your Majesty’s idea is not bad. After all, it seems like Tommy’s guys have no intention of giving up.”

“No, the more we block them, the more they will whine that we are interfering with them.”

Most of my staff agreed with my opinion. Looking at Montgomery and the British army, who had been clamoring for days to do it, it was clear that they would put the operation into action as soon as permission was given.

“But to approve an operation knowing that it would fail···.”

That was exactly where the problem was.

“First of all, if we want to minimize the damage, we can’t give them everything they ask for.”

It wasn’t hard to give them the supplies they wanted, but the problem was the airborne troops.

The British wanted our American airborne troops. And I didn’t want to give them to them. Isn’t that obvious?

“But while we expect failure, they don’t.”

“If we fail, we will definitely stumble.”

“That’s right. They’ll find fault with everything, saying things like the distribution was poor and the support was insufficient.”

There was a way to do that too.

“If we were against it and Britain were to carry out the operation on its own, wouldn’t it be different?”

“Yes? But is that possible?”

“Yeah. I think Montgomery will make it possible.”

The eyes of the staff members who had been tilting their heads widened after seeing the appearance of the old woman who had requested an interview with me the next day.

##

When Montgomery heard that we had in mind Antwerp, not the Netherlands, and that we were close to capturing it, he quickly sent out reinforcements.

“I heard you became enemies, so I am late in congratulating you.”

It was none other than Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands.

“It’s been a while.”

She was not a figure who could be easily dismissed like Churchill or Montgomery.

We had a long relationship since the Amsterdam Olympics, long before the war broke out, but more importantly, after the start of the Pacific War, we stood on the side of the United States in organizing resistance groups in Dutch colonies, including Indonesia.

Her assistance was significant in bringing European colonies in the Pacific under the sphere of influence of our American military.

“You know very well how much the Dutch people are suffering. Like France, we will never turn our backs on the Allies or the United States. So···.”

When she arrived in London in May 1940, Queen Wilhelmina, already in her fifth year of exile, looked very old and tired.

Nevertheless, he was still active in the fight against the Nazis.

Not only did he establish a government in exile and buy over 40 Spitfires with his own money, but he also continued to give late-night radio speeches urging the people to resist.

He visited the United States, spoke at the Capitol, and urged support, and even ousted the chancellor who was trying to negotiate with Germany.

Thanks to that, it was not easy to turn down her request as she was still respected and loved as the Queen of the Netherlands.

“We will do our best for the liberation of the Netherlands. But···.”

Even she was not as shameless as Churchill or Montgomery.

“Yes, I know. I know how many Americans are dying in this foreign land. But this is all I can do.

Just as the enemy said that he would be a devil to the enemy at any time for the sake of his country’s soldiers, I too can be shameless for the sake of our people and our country. So please, I beg you.”

“ha.”

I sighed involuntarily. No, I was delighted inside, but on the outside I pretended to be embarrassed.

“Very well. Since Your Majesty is being honest, I will be honest too. The operation that the British Army, including Montgomery, wants to carry out will definitely fail.”

“···”

“I am the one who desires victory more than anyone else. But my even heavier responsibility is to safely return countless sons to their parents’ arms.”

It wasn’t just our American soldiers who opposed the Market Garden.

Major General Stanisław Sosabowski of the Free Polish Army, who like Wilhelmina was forming a government-in-exile, was also opposed.

“This is nothing short of reckless suicide.”

He also grumbled to his staff:

“The British have never seen a German soldier before. That’s why they plan such a reckless operation.”

And this was something that Queen Wilhelmina was not unaware of.

“Is it such a hopeless operation?”

“yes.”

The old queen’s face twisted at my assertion.

“But I do think it is a necessary operation to end the war quickly.”

“What is that···.”

Queen Wilhelmina closed her eyes tightly as she heard my story of using the operation as bait to lure the Germans, just as I had done to my staff.

“What should I do?”

“You just have to testify. You don’t have to lie. Just tell me what happened, without hesitation. That’s enough.”

Later, when the operation failed and the British blamed us, there was testimony that we had opposed it from the beginning, but it was the British who insisted, and that I, too, was fooled by the British’s boasts and went to see General MacArthur to request that the operation be carried out.

In the original history, Major General Sosabowski, who was pushed as a scapegoat immediately after the Market Garden failure, seeks out Montgomery and demands that he tell the truth, saying that he wants to clear his name.

However, Montgomery ignored his request until the end, and the general was kicked out of the army without even receiving his retirement pay or pension, and died working as a communal laborer.

The reason his testimony did not attract public attention was because he was Polish.

But Queen Wilhelmina’s words would be different.

Originally, the content of the speech was important, but isn’t the speaker more important?

Even if it were the same thing, the remarks of Nana and the American officers would be treated as excuses, and it was clear that people like Major General Sosabowski would be accused of being bribed by us.

Especially, isn’t the British specialty something that they do when they think about something and then pass the buck?

“Just tell me the truth. You say it as if it were nothing, but you know what it would cost me and the Netherlands.”

“Churchill or Montgomery? Surely the Queen knows why those two are keeping their seats?”

“I’ve always thought this, but the enemy is too good at politics to just be a soldier. Oh, by the way, didn’t you say he might soon become the owner of the White House?”

“That would only be possible after the war is over.”

So, when I asked her to help end this damned war, Queen Wilhelmina shook her head.

And a few days later, Montgomery was overjoyed when he received the much-desired permission to go to market.

Of course, he didn’t get the American airborne troops he wanted, but Montgomery’s face was full of confidence as he packed up his supplies.

“It won’t be long before I see that face.”

Of course, the one who was most delighted by my muttering was Patton.

“But why do you hate that guy so much?”

“Why do you hate someone? You just hate them.”

I was speechless.

Especially since I see McNair glaring at Patton from behind.

You won’t be disappointed.