Ch.211The Great Power(?) Defeated by Ethiopia

“The Allied forces are fighting quite poorly. I feel like something big is about to happen somewhere.”

Even though Goebbels might be planning something, Germany’s defensive stance is truly unexpected. And Churchill is moving too hastily.

Is he that afraid of Russia’s participation?

Is the British Empire afraid of Russia’s participation?

Such jokes might emerge in the future.

“Is that how Your Majesty sees it?”

Honestly, it’s just speculation, but considering Churchill’s background, I think he might be in for a major setback.

Just as Nazi Germany’s gamble succeeded, Goebbels’ gamble might succeed too.

“Yes. I think something big is about to explode.”

Communist Germany is probably planning Operation Sickle.

For one thing, Manstein is still there, and with Churchill currently pushing too hard, Communist Germany will likely take a gamble.

If Churchill is directly giving orders to the Allied command headquarters, he must be moving quite desperately.

If you ask why he’s moving like that, the answer is obvious.

It’s because of us, Russia.

Once the American Civil War ends, Russian forces will join this war under whatever pretext.

They might see this as an opportunity while we’re tied up in America.

“For example, what if the Communist German army passes through the Ardennes Forest and circles around?”

I pointed to the lowlands and the Ardennes Forest on the French side of the European map.

Yes, Manstein’s Operation Sickle.

This is what I’m worried about right now.

“Hmm. Wouldn’t it be difficult to pass through the forest?”

“That’s right. Even if they did pass through, wouldn’t France be prepared?”

The military seems to view it negatively.

If the White Army is looking at it this way, Manstein’s Operation Sickle might be quite effective here.

“Hmm.”

Will Operation Sickle from the original history emerge?

But Communist Germany in this world is much weaker compared to Nazi Germany.

Austria and Czechoslovakia, which they should have consumed, still remain as the Austrian Empire.

For the current Communist Germany, Operation Sickle would truly be a desperate last stand.

If Operation Sickle fails, wouldn’t Communist Germany have to close shop?

Wait, if they try this and fail, Germany falling to the Allies is a foregone conclusion, right? Is this really okay? Isn’t it too risky?

No. Let’s think differently. Even in the original history, Operation Sickle was a risky operation.

In this world, Churchill’s Britain would be busy managing its colonies.

But for some reason, I feel like Communist Germany will win this time.

France is already divided internally and could collapse at any moment.

The French Prime Minister seems to want to unite the country through war, but if Germany supports the Communist Party in France, things could be different.

Anyway, France is beside the point, and while Churchill has made many preparations, considering he’s tied up with colonies, he probably doesn’t have as many troops as in the original history.

I believe there were 1.5 million colonial garrison troops. Probably even more.

Even considering that, the French army was said to be right behind populous China and the Soviet Union.

“Hmm.”

No matter how I look at it, I think it will happen.

Goebbels seems to be quite a remarkable figure.

I wonder if he knows that I’m agonizing over this right now.

“If things go as Your Majesty predicts, it would be similar to Renya Mutaguchi’s recent strategy.”

The Black Baron licked his lips and his eyes gleamed.

Wait, surely he’s not treating Renya Mutaguchi as a truly great general?

That man was a real blunder!

Honestly, in East Asian history, there have been few instances of defeating such a large force in the field, so Renya Mutaguchi might be called Japan’s greatest even in the distant future.

They call it an encirclement operation, but in my view, Mutaguchi was just playing around halfheartedly and has now joined the Emperor who’s become a steak.

This is completely different. Moreover, the opponent is a country like France.

Not a low-quality army like China.

I don’t know what the White Army is thinking, but personally, I’m certain Manstein is planning Operation Sickle.

If they don’t execute Operation Sickle now, there’s no other solution.

The question is whether it will be after Churchill’s offensive or before.

Unless Communist Germany is foolish, they will likely attack before Churchill strikes them.

Since they’ve been defending for a long time, no one would expect Germany to plan something like Operation Sickle.

Well then, all we can do is just observe.

“By the way, I heard there’s also news from Japan today?”

I’m most curious about Japan right now.

I wonder what those guys are up to now.

I threw some bait regarding the United States before, right?

Maybe instead of attacking us with demands like “Give us oil, Russia!”, they’ve shifted their focus elsewhere.

“Your Majesty, Japan’s movements are somewhat suspicious.”

Japan is always suspicious. They’re even hiding their Chinese extermination camps from us.

It’s not very humane of me to just watch this, but I still hope for a reduction in China’s population.

I’m not doing it with my own hands, so I’m not getting my hands dirty, right?

But surely they wouldn’t declare war on Russia at this timing.

“Surely they’re not preparing for war?”

“The Japanese Combined Fleet is heading south, they say.”

Good. That’s fortunate. It’s commendable that they’re not attacking Russia at least.

Wait, the Combined Fleet is heading south?

“Where are they going?”

I’m thinking, no way, right? Could it be what I’m hoping for? Will Japan fulfill my expectations?

Even though I guided them, I didn’t expect them to move this quickly.

No, they’re the kind who would want to start an inevitable war when it’s advantageous.

So there’s a possibility.

Japan is performing better in the war with China than in actual history.

I heard their advance is slow because they’re massacring everyone.

“We don’t know the details yet, but the military believes their destination is Hawaii.”

“Where the U.S. Pacific Fleet is located.”

Right. Where else would the Combined Fleet target?

As members of the Anti-Comintern Pact, they can’t mess with Indochina right now.

So the only option left is the United States.

Since I gave them some information about oil, they might take advantage of the ongoing U.S. civil war.

“It would be good if things go according to plan, but we must prepare for contingencies.”

Honestly, I can’t predict how Japan will move right now.

Especially in times like these.

In this history where the Soviet Union doesn’t exist, I’m trying to use whatever knowledge I have to do something.

“We have 400,000 troops in the Far Eastern Army. Moreover, since Japan launched surprise attacks during the Russo-Japanese War, we’ve issued directives to the Far Eastern Army about this as well.”

“Ah, that’s good.”

Those Japanese, you never know what they’re thinking.

Since they’re conducting extermination operations in China, they probably don’t want to open a two-front war with Russia. But by now, the navy must be itching to move too?

In a situation where they’ve sent all their army to China for the extermination of China, if the navy is to be used somewhere, they would naturally go to a country other than Russia.

Yes, wouldn’t they want to target the United States as I hoped?

After all, even in the original history, Japan attacked the perfectly fine United States to extract oil and tried to negotiate an armistice.

Given that, and with the U.S. still in civil war.

To be precise, MacArthur and Huey Long are in talks to finalize the civil war, but anyway.

They might want to take a shot before this civil war ends.

There’s enough plausibility, right?

“It seems the Allied navy is also on the move.”

The Allied navy, hmm. Is their opponent Italy?

The Communist German navy would only be capable of a fleet-in-being strategy.

“Is it to fight the Italian Mediterranean Fleet? Well, Italy has no reason to confront them.”

If Italy confronts the Allied fleet, they’ll be crushed immediately.

If Italy has any sense, they won’t do anything rash for now.

Or there’s something suspicious that I can’t quite put my finger on. There’s something that comes to mind.

It’s suspicious how weak the Italian army is.

Isn’t the army too weak?

Even though we supported Ethiopia, there’s a relative gap, but the Italian army couldn’t establish Italian East Africa and got beaten.

I wonder if they’ve built up their navy instead—a reasonable suspicion.

Because among the Axis powers, only Italy has a decent navy.

“How strong is the Italian navy?”

“They’ve invested in their navy, but I hear they’re inferior to the British and French fleets.”

Then it’s about naval supremacy after all.

“Are they trying to secure naval supremacy in advance?”

“There’s no need to worry about that.”

Even if the Italian Mediterranean Fleet is somewhat threatening, it doesn’t seem like the Allied navy would lose.

Looking at the forces, if Britain is determined, they can defeat the Italian navy.

“Well, that’s unfortunate for our navy.”

Does this mean we don’t need to deal with the Italian navy?

Not just Britain, but the French fleet would also be there, so this can’t be ignored.

Unless by some miracle the British Mediterranean Fleet gets completely destroyed.

Only Kolchak is in a pitiful situation.

“Your Majesty, Italian forces have withdrawn from Ethiopia.”

“Is that so?”

That makes sense. After all, with their main forces fighting France alongside Germany, the African forces would be overwhelmed.

I suspect Ethiopia will also try to make a move.

“The Emperor has personally captured tribal chiefs who surrendered to the Italian Red Army, driving out the Italian forces.”

“Wow, Mussolini is truly a fool.”

So Ethiopia not only repelled them but successfully counterattacked.

If Ethiopia has succeeded in counterattacking, then in this history, Mussolini becomes someone who couldn’t even defeat Ethiopia.

Even if they had established control, they would have lost it again during World War II, so it’s all the same.

In the future, Italy will be known as the fool who couldn’t even defeat Ethiopia.

At least Japan, which defeated Russia, had firearms that were ahead of Russia’s and a fleet that was of better quality than Russia’s with British help, so they were in a position to win in the Far East.

But Italy has now lost twice.

Of course, for the second time, they received help from us, Russia.

In fact, weapon support or sales are often provided by countries that want to check the enemy when war breaks out.

“Ethiopia. Ethiopia.”

I tap the desk with my finger, thinking.

The Ethiopian army led by Emperor Haile Selassie must be elite.

Especially since, unlike in the original history, Ethiopia wasn’t occupied by Italy and even managed to counterattack and hold out.

“Your Majesty, why are you thinking about this?”

“I’m wondering if there’s a way to make use of Ethiopia.”

Ethiopia has a considerable military force.

It seems like they could be useful as a force to be used in case of emergency. After all, the fact that they’ve survived until now can’t be attributed solely to Russian weapons.

The current Ethiopian army might be comparable to European armies.

With Ethiopia’s help, we could harass Italy in North Africa.

“You’re talking about the Anti-Comintern Pact you mentioned before.”

“Yes. Ethiopia must have exerted considerable effort fighting Italy, but their army would have become elite.”

Then we can have them bring their forces to help us in case of need.

Of course, we’d have to attach some conditions.

“Indeed, they seem to display quite impressive combat capabilities for an African army.”

“It would be good to use Ethiopia to attack Italian colonies.”

“Oh, indeed. That makes sense.”

Emperor Haile Selassie must also harbor resentment against Italy.

If we offer appropriate compensation, he might readily agree.

It’s enough if they just harass Italy from below.

The lesson we can learn from Ethiopia is that what matters in the end is an unbreakable spirit.

Emperor Haile Selassie would have been a good example for many colonies.

While communist revolutions might break out in the colonies of the colonial empires where the red seed has been sown, we could aim for a new structure with this Ethiopia-related matter.

“We won’t get along with Britain for long anyway.”

Regardless of how this war turns out, unless Britain is completely destroyed, they will try to compete with Russia again after Communist Germany is captured.

By then, they might realize that colonies are becoming less economically viable.

But we should prepare for the possibility that they might still cling to their colonies.

“Although Britain is vexing, isn’t it too early to be hostile?”

“That’s right.”

Of course, the Russian navy is currently far behind.

Although the German Empire, which had an excellent navy, dropped out and split with Communist Germany, some warships are part of our fleet, so we might still be in the world’s top five, but our fleet can’t overwhelm Britain.

But we can prepare.

Yes, for example, we can promote Ethiopia’s victory, a country that almost became a colony, everywhere.