Ch.240Mr. Dunkirk’s Final Move

* * *

I slightly checked the soldiers’ expressions while pretending to speak with dignity.

Is the Tsar being clingy again? Or perhaps they’re thinking “Ooh, Ana-chan!” – that kind of reaction.

I wanted to confirm which one it was.

“Your Majesty!”

“I will surely bring victory for Mother Tsarina!”

“United States of Greater Russia, hurrah! Tsar, hurrah!”

Just as I expected.

The soldiers willing to throw away their lives for me like devoted fans were still there.

I briefly caught a glimpse of an Asian soldier in the back shouting “Amazing! Ana-chan!” in Japanese, but I’d like to think there aren’t any Japanese Ana-fans who would come all the way here to fight.

Wait, is that actually possible?

Come to think of it, China is currently a barbaric hellscape.

According to reports from the Northern Manchuria Governor, some soldiers are becoming disillusioned with the war and deserting. I wonder if some of them have come to Russia.

Well, whatever. The more devoted fans willing to die for me, the better.

Now, I shouldn’t just focus on the regular soldiers.

The military doctors and nurses have been doing well too.

Without them, injured soldiers wouldn’t be able to go back out and fight.

“The nurses and military doctors have been working hard as well. Without you, there would have been many casualties among these heroes.”

“N-no! We’re just doing what needs to be done!”

Yes, you’re just doing what needs to be done.

But image-making is an important virtue.

“With you coming all the way to the front lines to take care of the soldiers, their morale will never drop! Hahaha!”

“I can’t fight directly like during the Civil War, but I should at least do this much.”

“That Goebbels fellow talked nonsense about serving the people, but in reality, he just hid in a bunker before running away. What a joke.”

Ungern is enthusiastically trashing Goebbels.

Yes, that’s right. If that guy had come to inspect the front lines himself, there might have been fewer surrenders.

But unlike me, he could have died from artillery fire if he went outside.

Well, thinking about it that way, I can understand.

“Your Majesty. The Yugoslav royal family has requested help with their exile to Sweden.”

The Yugoslav royal family exiling to Sweden?

It seems they’ve decided to abandon their country.

“It’s surprising they would ask a country that’s going to erase their own for help in going to a third country. Well, let’s accept. Don’t you appreciate their will to at least preserve their lives?”

“But it seems the king has no intention of leaving.”

“Hmm. That’s quite impudent.”

How dare he say he won’t come out now?

It seems he intends to remain until the end in a place that will be hit by my nuclear weapons, to become a symbol for the Serbian people.

But I have no intention of letting him off.

It might be good to dispatch the Okhrana to Belgrade.

“Let’s send Spetsnaz from the Okhrana. They must capture the king alive.”

Spetsnaz. A term referring to special forces.

My Russian Spetsnaz consists largely of people who served in the Okhrana, organized with those specialized in infiltrating and capturing people.

That’s what I created them for.

So I should use them right now. How impudent. Who does he think he’s defying?

“Wouldn’t it be better to threaten him? Tell him we’ll block his exile route if he doesn’t come quietly.”

That’s a good method too, but I don’t think it’s that great.

“That can wait until after this capture attempt fails. A king who disappears without a word one day. Wouldn’t that make the Serbs despair?”

At the very least, we can capture him after this fails.

Honestly, threats would probably work more cheaply, but if we drag him out through threats, he might try something behind our backs.

Forced into exile by Russian threats.

A king who suddenly disappears while his country faces imminent defeat. Which looks better?

From our perspective, obviously the latter is more delicious, isn’t it?

“I see your point.”

“Then, please proceed with that.”

We’ll have to accept the risk of failure, but anyway, who cares! We can just drop a nuke and be done with it.

History is written by the victors.

There are plenty of people in the world, so we can create a fake Aleksandar and make him into a cross-dressing homosexual.

Then we can drop a nuke.

First, we’ll erase Italy, then it would be good to throw nukes at Yugoslavia and France next.

* * *

London War Office Underground Bunker, England

Winston Churchill, who had recently become a recluse only listening intently to outside news, was shocked to hear that all of Germany had fallen into Russian hands.

Crash!

He was so shocked that he dropped and broke the vodka bottle in his hand.

One staff member, who had grown somewhat accustomed to this, burst out laughing with a “Pfft!” despite the serious situation.

“Germany has fallen into Russian hands.”

The country that was effectively the leader of the Red Front in this war has now ended.

So, who will become the master of the German homeland?

“They say they’ll return the homeland to the Kaiser. However, since the Danubian Federation’s goal in this war was the liberation of Germany, won’t they take at least southern Germany?”

Churchill nodded heavily at Mosley’s words.

He wasn’t wrong.

“They will. The Kaiser. Because of that figure’s symbolism, officers from Junker backgrounds under the Communist Party surrendered without putting up a proper fight.”

The Kaiser’s existence exerted tremendous power in this war.

If there had been no Kaiser, and they truly had nowhere to go, the Junkers might have fought to the death under the Communist Party.

But the legitimate Kaiser comes with the Russian army.

“Oh my, it’s our Kaiser! Well, we have no choice. We must surrender.”

This was inevitable. Since they were surrendering to the Kaiser and the German Empire, there wouldn’t be much burden in surrendering. Of course, Russia would have won even without the German Empire. But regardless, the war definitely became easier.

Probably if the Allied offensive had succeeded and Communist Germany had been pushed back, many would have surrendered to the Kaiser in the same way.

“Hmm. It seems we can’t continue like this.”

“Pardon?”

“The Falange Spanish army is crossing the Pyrenees, and Ethiopian forces have landed on the Italian mainland.”

It’s clear that Russia will definitely win this war.

The Italian army will suffer the unprecedented humiliation of surrendering to an African army. France too will be beaten from all sides.

The Free French government in Algeria?

With Indochina torn away by Japan, they can’t do anything, just managing the local Algerians.

But the British Empire is in no position to criticize others right now.

The British Empire’s bombing is no longer very effective.

Germany has collapsed. Next is France, but with the combined forces of France and the remnants of Communist Germany, continuing the bombing would only result in losing air forces.

Yet they can’t just sit still.

“At this rate, we won’t have much to do in this war. We’ve lost a lot, but we won’t be able to gain much.”

“Do you have any good ideas?”

In this case, there’s only one option.

One final strike. One strike using all the remaining power of the British Empire.

If we use just that one strike, it might be possible.

“The French Commune is probably defending against Russia’s attack from the east while blocking Spanish forces from the west, a two-front war. They’ve already suffered damage in the war with Russia, so the north will likely be empty.”

Churchill scanned the northern part of France with his eyes.

What if Britain took the north?

If they gathered all remaining troops for one attack, there might be a chance.

“That’s right.”

“Gather all remaining troops.”

They would gather as many British soldiers who had returned through evacuation operations and Commonwealth troops as possible.

As a final gamble, they would occupy northern France and then later politely ask—not beg—Russia for territory.

Despite appearances, didn’t he and the Tsar have a connection (met once) during the Civil War?

“Are you planning a landing operation by ourselves?”

“Shouldn’t we at least push our troops into the land we’ll eventually take?”

Churchill answered Mosley’s shocked question forcefully.

This would truly be the final gamble and the last operation Britain could undertake in this war.

In the original history, Britain would have received overwhelming support from America, but in this world, America was projecting all its power to defeat the island nation in the Far East, barely managing to import aircraft.

In other words, Britain had to conduct the landing operation alone.

The numbers weren’t impossible.

If the Commune’s soldiers were dispersed, there was a good chance.

British mainland troops and Commonwealth forces. And even Irish mercenaries obtained on the condition of handing over Northern Ireland after the war—they could use them all.

“Then where are you looking at?”

Alan Brooke, feeling he couldn’t stop the Prime Minister, carefully asked.

“If we were to conduct a landing operation, where would be good?”

“Since you want Normandy and Brittany, Prime Minister, we should choose between these two. The question is how far we push the landed forces.”

No matter how he looked at it, they couldn’t go deep into the mainland.

If only the Dunkirk evacuation had gone well, they could have sufficiently challenged France.

Churchill clicked his tongue in regret.

Well, it couldn’t be helped. If that had happened, he wouldn’t be planning this operation now.

“Anyway, our job is done if we just occupy the north.”

Just the north. Just the region they had eaten during the Hundred Years’ War. Considering the British army’s situation…

Alan Brooke pointed to Brittany, on the western tip of France, on the map.

“Then wouldn’t Brittany be better?”

“Brittany? Why?”

“According to our reconnaissance aircraft, Brittany has coastlines favorable for landing. No fortresses either. For just one successful landing in France in our current situation, this is the only place.”

One landing to end it all.

Not a bad method. Brittany wasn’t bad, but Churchill was also interested in Normandy, which was closer to Paris.

If things went very well, he thought they might be able to use this.

“Then what about Normandy?”

“It’s neither here nor there. Neither good nor bad, but there are fortresses, and the French Commune army might divide some forces to come this way. If you want both Brittany and Normandy, it’s better to land in Brittany and advance to Normandy than to land in Normandy where we might have to fight the Commune army.”

At this point, even just landing was a truly reckless operation for the British army.

But if not now, they would never be able to do it.

“You mean it would be troublesome.”

So going deep wasn’t possible, and just eating the north was just right?

“First, after landing in Brittany, we secure supply lines with the fleet and decide whether to advance further inland based on the eastern front situation.”

Alan Brooke drew a line with his finger from Brittany to Normandy.

With Commonwealth forces concentrated on defending the British Isles, they had troops gathered by pulling in every last resource.

“They will already judge that we’re just holed up on the mainland. Then, is there a possibility of landing in Brittany and reaching Normandy?”

If they were going, they should go all at once.

In one go, they would occupy northern France and rightfully make it British Empire territory.

This much the public would surely accept.

“If we aim for when the Spanish front and Russian front become intense, it will be possible.”

“We must succeed. Understood?”

The British Empire’s post-war status would depend on this.

“Yes, Prime Minister.”

Churchill’s eyes sparkled more brilliantly than ever before.

Mr. Gallipoli? Mr. Dunkirk? No?

In this operation, he would become a war hero who ended the war by striking the back of the French Commune’s head with an axe.

He would bring divine punishment to the French who dared betray the British Empire.

Free France? What’s that? Is it something to eat?

* * *

Meanwhile, the Spetsnaz who infiltrated Belgrade were dumbfounded.

The infiltration was too easy, even for an easy infiltration.

Perhaps they didn’t care who came in since they were surrounded anyway.

“Huh, they’re only defending Belgrade, yet security is this lax?”

“They probably relaxed when the encirclement thinned.”

“Good grief. What pitiful fellows.”

“The surveillance of the king seems more lax than expected too.”

Belgrade was filled with nothing but despair.

Yugoslavia, isolated among great powers. With only Belgrade remaining, facing the country’s imminent defeat, there was no life in the citizens’ eyes.

Only the military was still active.

“Since the military is monopolizing everything, that makes sense. With a shortage of soldiers, they can’t afford to allocate soldiers to guard a figurehead.”

Fortunately, while the interior of Belgrade was busy with defense preparations, no one recognized the Spetsnaz disguised as soldiers.

“Who are you!”

Breaking into the king’s office wasn’t difficult.

At most, one or two soldiers were no match for them, even if they were armed.

“You don’t need to know. You’ll be the king of a fallen nation anyway. You’ve been active for too long.”

These Serbs had been too active for their status.

The Spetsnaz resented these Yugoslavians, or rather Serbians, who had been able to grow this large thanks to Russia’s support during the Great War, yet didn’t show their faces during the civil war.

Especially since the Spetsnaz were teenagers during the Civil War who had joined through the Okhrana, they felt this pain more than anyone.

Actually, if pressed, one might say, “What does your help have to do with Yugoslavia?” But Russia merely supported them as the elder brother of the Slavs. Conversely, Serbia didn’t help Russia when it was in trouble.

Naturally, wouldn’t they resent that?

Aleksandar realized who had sent them from the Spetsnaz’s rude remarks.

“Did the Russian Tsar send you?”