Survive as a World War II Soldier - Chapter 152



Only Krnovel

#152

“So, is the general that dissatisfied with our US military intervention?”

“Then wouldn’t it be so?”

“Well, let me ask you one question. Was our intervention a hindrance or a help?”

“Well, it wasn’t a bother.”

Montgomery, who couldn’t bring himself to lie that he was in the way because we were fighting so well, responded in a grumpy tone.

“But even without your help, the operation would have certainly been successful.”

“Yes, I guess so.”

I didn’t think so at all, but I nodded my head vaguely and smiled back at Montgomery, who had an arrogant expression on his face.

“But you know, thanks to us, didn’t the British soldiers’ sacrifices decrease? If it were me, I would be more willing to accept the sacrifices of the soldiers reduced thanks to us than the achievements lost. I guess you’re not a general.”

Are you saying that you are so blinded by your major that you don’t even think about the sacrifices of the soldiers?

Are you thinking of rejecting help from other armies and pushing your soldiers to their deaths because of that pride?

Montgomery, the complete opposite of me, said that he would not hesitate to scream like the devil if it meant saving even one more of his country’s soldiers.

Only then did Montgomery realize what he had said and began to ramble on in confusion.

“I, that’s not what I meant···.”

No, that’s not it. That’s it.

Just a moment ago, the British journalists were glaring at me as if I were their enemy. But now it was not me they were glaring at, but Montgomery.

Goodbye Monty.

So Montgomery had to leave the battlefield alone, a lonely old man blinded by his heroic achievements.

The reason for Montgomery’s retirement was publicly announced as health reasons, but those in the know knew.

That the health problem is not physical.

Even though Montgomery was blown up like that, the war wasn’t over yet.

Dutch port cities were still full of booby traps and mines left behind by the Germans, and the Army Air Corps had to devote more energy to delivering food than to fighting the Luftwaffe.

Of course, there was some good news.

The news was that Walter Model had gone east again, and that this had put the brakes on the relentless advance of the Soviet Army.

“I don’t know if I should be happy about this.”

“At least Washington will be happy.”

“really?”

“I bet my father-in-law in the White House is having a blast.”

“Well, wasn’t Germany’s downfall a foregone conclusion anyway?”

That’s it. A war with an end in sight.

Now it was time for a new war to begin, to get one more bite of the pie.

And before that new war, there were countries with internal strife: none other than Britain and France.

First of all, England.

“Should we leave Churchill like this?”

“Yes. How many times has this happened already?”

“The Soviets are really pushing Germany hard right now.”

“At a time like this, I guess I have to be mindful of America’s feelings···.”

Even before Market Garden, the argument that Churchill should be replaced, or more precisely, that Churchill should clean up his own mess, had gained ground, but not now.

“I can’t let that guy shit himself any more.”

What made them anxious more than anything was the fact that the war seemed imminently coming to an end.

Any idea that Britain could ever enjoy the same status as before in the postwar world had long since been abandoned.

Any author with a brain knew that the United States would be the center of the world in the future.

But the British interpreted it in their own way:

“Isn’t America an inseparable entity from us?”

“That’s right. Even though we became independent, the history we had up until then doesn’t go away.”

“sure.”

Although there are some differences from Canada and Australia, which remain as Commonwealth countries, isn’t the United States still an Anglo-Saxon country that uses ‘English’?

So, if the United States becomes the world’s most powerful country, Britain should be in a similar position as its older brother and run the world in a different way.

Their judgment was based on their experience after the end of World War I.

At the time, the United States was still a large, second-rate country, and even after the war, it was only dreaming about national self-determination and the United Nations.

Above all, America’s weakness lay in its political system.

“A royal family like us should be able to hold its own and maintain balance…”

“They don’t have anything like that.”

“Citizens who know nothing are being swept here and there, shaking up domestic politics···.”

The American political system, divided into two parties, the Democratic and Republican, made it difficult to implement consistent policies.

“Well, it’s not like there aren’t people like Roosevelt who break convention and stay in power for a long time···.”

“That’s funny too. It’s not even a dictatorship…”

“That’s right. If that’s the case, then just establish a king.”

“Anyway, it’s impossible for the imitators to keep up with the real us.”

Roosevelt, who received a lot of criticism for running for three terms, will not run for a fourth term, so those who succeeded him will…

“Anyone but Roosevelt would be better.”

“sure.”

But as time went by, the British people’s expectations began to go awry.

America was no longer the America they knew.

Above all else···.

“MacArthur is the problem.”

The news that MacArthur, who was even more difficult to deal with than Roosevelt, was being considered for the next presidential election was enough to make them nervous.

That wasn’t the only bad news.

“MacArthur is MacArthur, but de Gaulle is a bigger problem.”

“ha.”

There was nothing that was not a headache, starting with India. The biggest problem among them was the change in the position of de Gaulle and France.

France, the country that lives in its own way, and the United States, the country of reaction.

Who would have thought that these two would get along so well?

##

Everyone gathered there looked at him in shock at de Gaulle’s words about making Algeria independent.

“Algerian independence?”

“Yes. It’s a promise, so I have to keep it. Why are you so surprised?”

So, I did make a promise.

When the French mainland was completely taken over by Nazi Germany and a government in exile was established in the colonies, everyone was watching the Allied forces, including Britain and the United States.

But if we recover Algeria, it will be easier to invade the mainland across the Mediterranean…

“He, he’s keeping that promise?”

“So the great France must become a liar?”

“No, but···.”

De Gaulle snickered as he heard a greeting that said Algeria was not a colony but mainland France.

“Don’t you know it when you look at India? How many of those Algerians really believe they are French?”

“but···.”

“There are many people who have crossed over from Europe to Algeria, but only about one in ten. And most of them are concentrated in coastal cities.”

“That is true, but if we give up Algeria, France will….”

“If you want to get ahead of other countries, you have to act first. The old way of exploiting colonies to fill the mainland is now a thing of the past. If you are obsessed with that, you will never be able to become a leading country.”

De Gaulle then cited the Philippines as an example.

“Look at America. It has brought all the other countries in Asia into its sphere of influence, led by the Philippines.”

“Well, since both we and the Netherlands have given up···.”

“Let’s be honest. You’re not giving up, but you think we can control them if they resist?”

What was the banner that the United States raised while fighting Nazi Germany?

Humanity, a right future, things like that.

But colonial imperialism? Will the Americans tolerate that? Even if it’s okay now, how long will it be okay?

The faces of those gathered darkened at de Gaulle’s question.

“I’m not saying that we should make them independent right away. How long did it take the United States to make the Philippines independent? And even though the Philippines is independent, they are still under the influence of the United States. And they did it voluntarily. Is there anything we can’t do?”

What particularly moved people’s hearts were the following words:

“If we continue to act foolishly and cannot let go of the past, we will never be able to surpass England.”

De Gaulle and France, who recognized that the United States was an insurmountable wall, had no other goal than to have one person below ground and ten thousand people above ground.

There was one opponent he absolutely had to overcome: England.

“The British will never give up India. If we actively pursue Algerian independence then….”

“The Indians will resist more fiercely.”

“Yes. So even if the British bastards raise their hands and feet in India···.”

“There is bound to be a gap between us, the pioneers.”

Everyone nodded to de Gaulle’s words that in order to become America’s best friend, we must first follow the values ​​they pursue.

“But will the citizens actually accept this···.”

“It’s not the citizens who are the problem, it’s the opposition that will surely be foaming at the mouth in opposition.”

It wasn’t difficult for ordinary citizens to create public opinion if they played with the media to some extent.

But the problem was the opposition. Weren’t they the ones who would even oppose for the sake of opposing?

“Who would listen to the words of traitors who collaborated with the Nazis?”

“!”

Where can you find someone who doesn’t have even a speck of dust left when you shake them?

Even if they don’t know it, if you search thoroughly, including their families, there won’t be anyone who doesn’t get caught.

##

I wasn’t the only one surprised by the changes in France.

Even Roosevelt, who knew nothing about history, said something like this.

“You said it was Patton who captured De Gaulle? How about bringing that guy to Washington after the war is over?”

Let me just tell you that Bradley and McNair, who read together Roosevelt’s message that it would not be a bad idea to leave the diplomatic work to him, shook their heads in horror.

Anyway, the political issues weren’t important. We could worry about that later.

The more urgent task was to break through the Siegfried Line and advance into Germany proper.

The Siegfried Line, a line of fortifications built by Nazi Germany on its border with the Netherlands before the war began to counter France’s Maginot Line, was a defensive line comparable to the Hindenburg Line, a line of trenches built by Germany during World War I.

The official German name is Westwall, and it is also called Dragon’s Teeth after the shape of the sharp, triangular anti-tank obstacles they laid down.

As can be seen from the fact that it was friends with the Maginot Line, the Siegfried Line was not particularly meaningful in terms of fighting a defensive battle.

It was the same in that it was useless, unlike Maginot and Siegfried, who had invested money and had a crazy name, just because they got along with each other.

However, both of them are no joke in terms of their name value, and thanks to this, the opponent judges that it will be extremely difficult to break through them.

Instead of the solid concrete wall of the Maginot Line, Germany implemented a sickle-cut operation that went around farther and stabbed soft Belgium, and the Allies also tried to bypass the Siegfried Line.

The original reason for implementing the Market Garden was not simply to gain access to the Dutch ports and open up the supply chain that was as clogged as arteriosclerosis. The ultimate goal of the Market Garden operation was to bypass the Siegfried Line.

At the time, Eisenhower wanted to hit the Ruhr industrial zone across the relatively flat lands of Northern Europe.

“Ruhr! If we occupy the industrial area of ​​Ruhr, the Jerry bastards won’t be able to build tanks or planes.”

“But there is the Siegfried Line.”

“Ha, ha. Don’t worry. Why would you stick your head into the Siegfried Line?”

“If we get the Netherlands, we’ll have a port and a way around the Siegfried Line!”

But in the original history, the Market Garden ended in a giant dig, and the Allied forces were forced to stick their heads into the Siegfried Line they had been trying to avoid.

Thus the Battle of Aachen and the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest took place.

Of course, it was not the Siegfried Line that broke the American army’s brains, but the large-scale street fighting in Aachen and the subsequent fighting in the winter forests.

Fortunately, Operation Market Garden was a huge success, so the option of going headfirst into winter forests like Aachen or Hürtgen, as was the case in the original history, became a secondary option.

Instead, the conquest of the Ruhr could have been attempted via the route that Eisenhower had so desperately wanted but never been able to take in the history of the original country.

“Oh, but before we advance, there was something I had to do first. I almost forgot.”

“What is that!”

“bombing.”

My words seemed to remind everyone of the bombing of the city centers that would be conquered in the future.

But the bombing target I had in mind was not the city.

“Dam. Let’s burst the dam first.”

“Huh? Why the perfectly good dam···.”

“Why don’t we just leave them and go near the river? What do you think they’ll do?”

The place we wanted to use as an advance route was downstream.

The Ruhr, the Meuse, and the Rhine.

Wasn’t artificially causing floods for defense along rivers a very traditional method that has been passed down from ancient times?

Even Eulji Mundeok of Goguryeo and Gang Gamchan of Goryeo did not hesitate to build a temporary dam and then burst it if there was no dam.

“What would happen if the Germans opened the gates of the Ruhr Dam just as we approached?”

Infantrymen attacked by the dampness in midwinter would complain of frostbite, and the sloppy mud would make the tank tracks stiff and unable to move.

As I said before, cleaning up after something happens is second-rate.

If you’re first-class, you should prevent such a situation from happening in the first place.

“If we blow it now, won’t the water drain out by the time we get there?”

“!”

Anyway, it’s the devil’s voice that I’m hearing right now, so it’s nothing more than bursting a dam.

The road not taken