Ch.232Churchill wants to live.

# Manstein sighed, “Hmm, yes, Anton Denikin is certainly over there.”

“Let’s leave Manstein’s matter to Anton Denikin.”

“Turkey has moved down to Egypt, Your Majesty.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Our Chief of General Staff is quite busy bringing this and that.

Well, Ungern, Semyonov, Zhukov, Tukhachevsky, Bermont and others are all at the front lines, so it’s understandable.

Greece, hmm, Greece.

Actually, I originally thought of it as just something to throw to Turkey. But if Turkey is going down to Egypt, that changes things.

“For now, we should keep Greece alive with minimal territory. Giving Egypt to Turkey could be an option too. In exchange, we’ll say we’ll persuade Britain.”

Whether Egypt becomes independent or not, that’s for Kemal to decide.

Seeing how he plans to make Palestine an autonomous region, Egypt will likely become the same.

Or he might even ask us, “Brother, what should we do with Egypt?” That’s possible too.

“That seems like a viable option.”

Initially, my plan only considered the Levant region, leaving the Middle East for future consideration.

But Turkey is performing surprisingly well.

Atatürk is quite a pragmatic figure.

He knows well that even if Turkey grows, it can’t match Russia. And if we’re bound as one sphere of influence in the future, Russia will become even stronger.

So let’s try to adjust the Greece situation.

Bulgaria would probably be satisfied with splitting Serbia with the Danube Federation.

But while Greece might be manageable, Egypt ultimately requires consultation with Britain.

“Since Greece has requested support, let’s install J2 rocket launchers in Greece, the ones we set up in Constantinople, and provide whatever assistance we can.”

“I will see to it, Your Majesty.”

Well, if we asked Kemal to choose between Greece and Egypt, he’d probably pick Egypt.

That’s assuming we promise to negotiate with Britain.

“I think I need to meet with Churchill about this.”

Churchill himself wouldn’t cling desperately to something that’s difficult to maintain.

Rather, at a point when they’re crippled from Dunkirk and unable to manage their colonies, wouldn’t it be beneficial to clean things up before colonial independence fever erupts?

Let’s handle this amicably.

“At this rate, we’ll occupy Communist Germany before the year ends.”

“Yes. The Imperial German Army is handling the occupied territories, so we just need to keep pushing forward.”

There shouldn’t be any issues with rear security since the Imperial German forces, who have reclaimed their homeland, are handling it.

In fact, citizens who suffered under Communist German oppression in those regions are cooperating with the Imperial German Army.

“Hmm, we can afford to take our time. I should consider meeting with Churchill.”

“Churchill, you say?”

“Don’t we need to meet to divide the territories after the war? Anyway, regarding France, tell them to secure their share no matter what they do in this war. No, I’ll send a personal letter first.”

We’re bombing all over Germany, but given my image, we’re mostly just targeting their military.

If Britain can use this to their advantage, who knows what might happen.

Britain still has many excellent elite pilots, right? If they use their air force well, anything is possible.

And another piece of good news has arrived.

“Your Majesty, Kleist’s Communist German forces have raised the white flag.”

Kleist’s Communist German forces facing our 2nd Army Group have surrendered.

Churchill better act quickly or he’ll be in trouble!

# * * *

London War Office Underground Bunker, Britain

Churchill was furious after receiving Anastasia’s personal letter.

He crumpled the letter in his hand but couldn’t bring himself to throw it away.

“Return Gibraltar to Spain and if you want to gain anything, somehow secure even a small share. Ha! These Russians are acting like our masters!”

CRASH!

Instead of the Tsar’s letter, an innocent beer bottle was thrown, leaving only fragments on the floor.

No one said anything.

Despite his drinking, Churchill the Bulldog was trying harder than anyone to protect the British Empire, and even now he was trying to appease Russia to carve up France to quell future public discontent.

The ministers were even betting on what kind of bottle he would throw next.

For members of parliament with little entertainment besides home defense, Churchill’s thrown bottles had become quite the betting subject.

Turkey’s recent occupation of the Suez was enough to twist Churchill’s stomach.

Yet Britain had no ability to reclaim it later, and it was Britain who had packed up and left first out of fear of the Red Army.

At the very least, they needed to secure the authority to punish traitors.

“It seems we’ll have to acknowledge Russia’s dominance after this war.”

“Are you saying we should give up Egypt too? Even Gibraltar?”

How could they abandon everything after losing just one battle?

Churchill could only lament at Mosley’s cautious words.

“Prime Minister, regrettably, we won’t have troops to station in the colonies even after the war.”

“Nnngh.”

“It’s time to be realistic. Since Russia is offering to hand over even part of India as a pro-British state, it might be better to relinquish the colonies before things get worse.”

“Relinquish the colonies?”

“Prime Minister, we can’t even stand up to Turkey. If revolutions break out across all British colonies, we can’t handle it. General Claude Auchinleck, Commander-in-Chief of the British Indian Army, has already reported that the situation in India is concerning. Egypt has also been rife with anti-British sentiment due to communist infiltration. It’s a miracle we’re still receiving oil from Iraq.”

Churchill couldn’t believe the situation.

The mighty British Empire, reduced to this. While he had doubted the profitability of colonies since the Great Depression, what was he to do now?

If he insisted on keeping the colonies, the British people might be influenced by French ideas, call for revolution, and take Churchill’s head.

He needed to relinquish the colonies, protect the homeland, and find ways to extract as much as possible.

That left only France.

“Very well. But I cannot forgive France. Our necks are on the line. If we give up Gibraltar and everything else despite being on the winning side, what will become of us? We must at least tear apart France! Yes, Russia said to secure our share.”

“Yes, sir.”

Churchill stared at Brittany and Normandy on the map of France hanging on the wall.

To carve up mainland France, they needed at least that much. And to achieve that, they needed to use whatever they had.

With a sudden idea, Churchill turned to Air Marshal Arthur Harris, who had been watching him cautiously.

Arthur Harris had probed northern Germany with the air force after the Dunkirk evacuation (failure), worried that Germany might plan an invasion.

“Everyone, think about this. What if we reclaim part of this region that we occupied during the Hundred Years’ War?”

“Can you persuade Russia? And what about the Free French government?”

“Hah, Free France? They won’t bring back our 400,000 dead soldiers. We’ve already sent all the French soldiers in our territory over there because they were suspicious. We need to extract something. If we achieve nothing in this war, do you think only my head will roll? The entire cabinet will fall.”

That was true. If they ended the war without accomplishing anything, the marshals of the Allied Command who directed the evacuation would be lucky to survive.

And Churchill could realistically flatter Anastasia to carve up even a small piece of France.

Would the Tsar want those frog-like people who constantly overthrow governments and switch sides to maintain their homeland intact?

Even if Europe unifies under Russian order, the French would still be revolutionaries.

So if he could persuade Anastasia, he was willing to do anything.

Of course, he needed to achieve some military accomplishments first.

“Aren’t the French Commune and Communist German air forces all fighting against the Danube Federation and Russia’s White Air Force?”

“Yes, that’s correct. But I understand the air superiority has already passed to Russia’s new fighters.”

Whatever those propeller-less fighters were, they must be quite remarkable.

Even the Communist Germans and French Commune were moving their aircraft, which said it all.

That meant the German and French Commune homelands were quite empty.

So Churchill thought of a clever move.

‘What about bombing the French and German communist homelands?’

Fortunately, unlike the original history, there was no Battle of Britain, and they had elite pilots who had fought Communist German aircraft since the Allied days.

In other words, they had many capable pilots.

They needed to use them to strike Germany, even if just a little.

“Air Marshal Arthur Harris.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Regrettably, we must acknowledge those Slavs’ dominance. And they say if we want to maintain our position as a victorious nation, we must achieve military accomplishments. Commonwealth forces would break ties with us if we landed them, and if we sent the Home Guard, they might behead us. So all we have left is the air force.”

Battleships couldn’t cross land to raid German territory, so the air force was their only hope.

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“We need to destroy Communist Germany’s production capacity. Looking at their situation, they’re exhausted trying to stop Russia. Can’t we exploit this opportunity?”

Arthur Harris understood what Churchill was suggesting.

In fact, Harris had been thinking deeply about this.

Britain could only act through its navy and air force, but the communists wouldn’t cross the sea. So only the air force remained.

They needed to make a decisive strike with the air force.

Arthur Harris pointed to several German cities on the map.

“Cologne, Dresden, and Hamburg would be our main targets.”

“Continue.”

Churchill nodded eagerly, as if grasping at hope.

“Dresden has already been damaged by the Danube Defense Force’s air force bombings, but Communist Germany anticipated Dresden would be bombed and is producing weapons in Cologne and Hamburg. Hamburg alone has over 100 factories supplying materials, and Cologne is also producing many supplies for Communist Germany in this war.”

Were there such places?

Wait, why hadn’t they bombed them until now?

“You mean we haven’t bombed such places until now?”

“The air defense facilities were formidable, and those communist interceptors fiercely defended them. But…”

“But?”

After a pause, Arthur Harris cautiously continued.

“Now they’ve moved all their anti-aircraft facilities and interceptors to face Russia and the Danube.”

In other words, the cities producing communist supplies were completely defenseless?

Then there was a possibility.

They had found a way to torment those communists.

“You mean they’re empty! Then our air force would suffer fewer casualties. Destroying hundreds of factories and military complexes would be enough.”

Churchill finally looked satisfied, as if relieved of a long-standing indigestion.

Given Russia’s momentum, they would clearly tear those communists apart within the year.

Even if Britain prepared to assist Russia, they would miss the timing.

But if they could severely disrupt the communists’ weapons production, wouldn’t the war end faster?

“However, to completely destroy these places, we need to strike all at once. That would cause significant civilian casualties.”

In the original history, the Dresden bombing caused severe civilian casualties, leading to backlash even within the Allied nations.

The Americans were particularly critical because they conducted precision bombing, while the British bomber squadrons were treated as inhuman.

Although Churchill shifted the responsibility to Arthur Harris, the Churchill here needed to do something.

Civilian casualties? Weren’t they all communists anyway?

Communists couldn’t be considered civilians.

If he could weaken those German communists’ war capabilities and deliver a strong blow from behind, Churchill would sell his soul to the devil.

So Churchill decided to justify this bombing operation in a different way.

“Russia has always claimed that communists are vermin. Even if they were fellow Russians, if they were Bolsheviks, they were subjected to human experiments or pushed into deadly construction projects. Prime Minister Adolf Hitler of the Danube killed communists without hesitation. The Tsar has officially declared communists as vermin, so we don’t need to consider them civilians. I approve the operation if we can destroy the factories completely, regardless of how many Jerries die. Bomb everywhere necessary!”

“Yes, sir.”

Britain had only evil left.

If they were in a position to lose everything, shouldn’t they at least cling to Russia and enjoy an equal position as a victorious nation?

Yes, they needed to sweep away the red plague completely.

Because of those communists, the British Empire had collapsed, so they needed to bomb every German city and tear France apart.

On March 13, 1942, a merciless large-scale bombing of Cologne and Hamburg began.