Chapter 88: Toward Africa (1)

As America’s entry into the war was imminent, the picture became clearer than ever before.

Now it was time to slowly start preparing for intervention in Europe and increase our military strength.

The problem is manpower.

It was obvious that if we massively conscripted workers to secure young manpower, it would disrupt military production.

I first tried to rack my brain.

Among the countries that participated in World War II, Germany and Japan had mobilized a large number of so-called slave labor to supplement their domestic production.

Germany mainly used Western European prisoners of war and Eastern European civilians, while Japan used Koreans and Chinese.

They may be bad examples, but they served as reference cases.

After all, we’re just as bad as them.

If we procure manpower from outside like them, wouldn’t we be able to squeeze out more people?

I immediately summoned the Army Chief of Staff, Colonel Kim Sung-joo, and the Minister of Economy and Industry.

“Your Excellency, did you call for us?”

“It’s about time we start increasing the number of divisions in our Army. We need to increase it by at least 30 to be able to intervene in Europe at the right time, don’t you think?”

This is not something that came out without any thought.

That’s because 30 divisions is the minimum number of divisions needed in the future European intervention plan.

“You’re right, Your Excellency. We need to expand the military from now on, so that we can mobilize troops for operations when needed. It’s a wise decision.”

Colonel Kim Sung-joo obviously wanted to do so.

On the other hand, Kim Soo-shin, the Minister of Resource Industry, was negative about this.

Kim Soo-shin, who came from the civilian bureaucracy, was always negative about the military draining human resources.

But that doesn’t mean it’s bad.

If there’s an opinion like this, there should also be an opinion like that, because it helps make the right judgment.

“Your Excellency, if we massively conscript industrial workers, the workers who are already burdened will find it even harder to endure. How will you cope with the decline in military production capacity?” ṝà𝐍𝘰𝐁ƐS̈

That was the main point I was about to make from now on.

“This is roughly what I’m thinking as well…”

I said what if we bring in 3 million workers from China and Japan and use them in places that require simple labor, such as farms and mines.

Kim Soo-shin expressed concern about this.

“There will be quite a lot of resistance. There will be noise from the conscription stage, so how will you handle it?”

“For now, we’ll use the Kuomintang prisoners of war, and for the workers we’ll bring in next, we can pay them generously, right?”

Even if we paid them generously, considering the wage levels in China and Japan, it was very cheap.

Of course, bringing such low-wage labor into the country would disrupt the domestic wage system.

That’s why we didn’t bring Chinese and Japanese labor into the country before.

But now there was no other way.

The Empire can’t give up the war to take care of the rights and interests of the workers, can it?

“If we fill the 3 million workers needed for simple production jobs with foreign workers, by simple calculation, we will be able to put uniforms on 3 million people. However, considering the manpower required for management and the low productivity of foreign workers, the actual manpower that can be converted to the military will be around 1.5 million. And it’s also a task to bring all those 3 million people and place them, so it will take a considerable amount of time to actually get the job done.”

Kim Soo-shin’s analysis made sense.

It meant that foreign conscription wouldn’t be as helpful right away as we thought.

Well, so what?

Even if it’s manpower gained in the long run, 1.5 million is a tremendous human resource.

If we make divisions of 20,000 men, that’s 75 divisions.

Of course, if we include the combat support units of the corps and field armies above the division level, in reality, we’ll only be able to make a little over 50 divisions, but for us who are in need of even a single division, that’s still a very large force.

“You, even that small amount of manpower is scarce for us. You know that well too, don’t you?”

“Th-that’s true.”

“So prepare the conscription procedures and notify the Japanese Government-General and Nanjing. The future of the Empire depends on this matter, so it must proceed without any setbacks. Do you understand?”

“You can trust me with this, Your Excellency.”

I had Kim Soo-shin, who received the mission, leave first.

Colonel Kim Sung-joo was waiting for my words at attention.

“You, neatly organize the training plan, location, and cost issues and put them on my desk.”

“I will do as you command.”

“And one more thing.”

“Yes, Your Excellency?”

“About our troops stationed in Indochina, we need to send those guys to Africa.”

“Pardon?”

Was it an unexpected story?

But the African theater, where small-scale ground forces are fighting on both sides, is the best place to build up our share.

“We’re not in a position to send a huge army to Europe anyway. You know that too, right?”

“Of course.”

Sending a large-scale ground force to a far distance like Europe was actually a waste of money that only the United States could do.

We were not in a position to spend money like them, so we needed to make a realistic investment in line with our national power in terms of the scale of intervention.

“So, we need to send the Indochina Army and build up achievements in advance.”

Anyway, at the point when we satisfied the boiling public opinion, there was no reason to risk our necks for the occupation of Indochina anymore.

As long as we left a small number of formal occupation troops on the surface, we could deceive the public, so withdrawing troops was not a problem at all.

“But, Your Excellency, if we withdraw a large number of troops from Indochina, won’t public security become difficult?”

But do we have to worry about that?

The Reds will make some noise, but the local French army will take care of that.

When we occupied Indochina, we disarmed the French colonial army and then returned their weapons.

The reason was simple.

Maintaining public order is your job.

We also kept the colonial governing body intact, so managing Indochina was France’s responsibility.

In that context, I was thinking of abandoning Indochina.

It’s not mine anyway, so why should I risk my neck for it?

“Don’t worry about it. That place is not worth spitting on.”

When the Reds start to multiply in earnest, that place will become a terrible green hell.

It was enough to let the French manage such a terrible hell.

“I will do as you command. Then I will instruct General Baek to prepare for the African expedition.”

“Do that.”

Anyway, with this, we were ready to fully intervene in the war in the west.

No, there was one thing left.

Prior coordination.

We needed to sort out the issue of whose command our troops would be under when they were dispatched to Africa.

To say it in advance, I didn’t dislike Richard O’Connor1, the commander of the British 8th Army.

O’Connor was not only a seasoned field soldier but also one of the leading experts in desert warfare in the British Army.

With a commander like this, it wasn’t bad to entrust the army to him.

However, this was only from an individual perspective.

In order to fight for the share in the future, we needed to take a strong stance on the command authority issue.

Ah, aren’t there many cases where they ruin the war while fighting political battles during the war?

Well, that’s true, but we’re so advantageous that we can afford to be a little relaxed.

It means that we won’t be at a disadvantage even if we give the Nazis a point or two.

Moreover, there was no need to worry about that on the African front.

Why?

Germany was now investing all its power in the German-Soviet war and had no room to reinforce its troops in Africa.

In other words, only ‘Italian troops’ were swarming in Africa.

There are vending machines of victory points swarming around, spitting out achievements as you hit them, so how can we concede the command of this good fight?

I strongly argued to the British side that the Korean Army should exercise command independently.

“In the history of the Empire, there has never been a case where our soldiers served under an allied army.”

It was a lie.

Of course, the British weren’t easy either.

“For the operational efficiency of the Allied forces, a single commander must exercise command authority. This is such an obvious basic principle on the battlefield.”

Ah, who doesn’t know that?

I know, but I’m making a fuss to fight for achievements.

“Prime Minister, Britain and Korea have different cultures and military systems. In this environment, it’s not easy for the two armies to work together properly. Instead, it would be helpful for mutual cooperation to move separately while maintaining close contact.”

That’s sophistry.

Where in the world these days can you find such a thing?

Even the German and Italian armies, who are biologically incompatible, had a sharp increase in combat efficiency once they were sorted out under Rommel’s command.

It was obvious that we and the British would be better than that.

“No, Prime Minister.”

I kept repeating what I had to say as if I was talking to a wall.

“Prime Minister, this is the position of our Empire.”

The human recorder strategy was efficient.

Anthony Eden2, being a gentleman, must have never experienced this kind of reckless tantrum before, so he accepted my condition with some conditions.

“Then, let’s do it like this. Instead of the British 8th Army and the Korean 5th Army (African Expeditionary Force) acting in a horizontal position, please agree to formally be under the command of the British Middle East Command.”

“Thank you for your concession, Prime Minister.”

Anyway, the Middle East Command had plenty of places to worry about besides the Egyptian front, such as Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Arabia.

So even in the original history, Rommel’s real match was not the Middle East Command, but the British 8th Army.

To this extent, it was no exaggeration to say that we had obtained equal rights.

Oh, I’m full.

I didn’t even eat, but I felt full of the abundant achievements that the Italian army would provide.

If, by any chance, the British attack Libya before we go, that would be a problem in itself.

I remembered and sent an additional telegram.

“In case the British suffer damage from conducting an independent operation, let’s settle the match after the Korean reinforcements arrive, shall we?”

“We were thinking the same. Ethiopia needs to be sorted out first.”

Ah, Ethiopia and Italian Somaliland.

Indeed, Britain needed to clean up there first.@@novelbin@@

Then, it wouldn’t matter.

Only then could I put my mind at ease.

1. General Sir Richard Nugent O'Connor, KT, GCB, DSO & Bar, MC (21 August 1889 – 17 June 1981) was a senior British Army officer who fought in both the First and Second World Wars, and commanded the Western Desert Force in the early years of the Second World War. He was the field commander for Operation Compass, in which his forces destroyed a much larger Italian army – a victory which nearly drove the Axis from Africa, and in turn, led Adolf Hitler to send the Afrika Korps under Erwin Rommel to try to reverse the situation.2. Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1955 until his resignation in 1957.

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