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17-24 November-1919
''Now I am supposedly not allowed to wear these'' I said, throwing a pile of medals onto the table. ''And officially, I am no longer a military officer. Just a rebel'' I added, reading the telegram I had received from the OHL after refusing to lay down my arms as they had ordered me.
''I suppose we are not either, right?'' Manstein said, beginning to remove the medals from his uniform with far more respect, trying not to damage them.
''If you are going to follow me, of course. If you want to keep those medals, you can go to Germany without any problem… In any case, they are only worthless pieces of metal'' I said, pushing my Pour le Mérite with my finger.
''One of the greatest decorations of the Reich cannot be… a worthless piece of metal'' Manstein said, pressing his lips together.
''It is a way of minimizing all this. It was the least I expected would happen… More things may come, but it is something I will have to get used to while we prepare for the next blow'' I said, stretching my legs and placing them on the desk.
''What will happen now? So far, we have seen how the French and British troops abandoned Poland, since our men acted and quickly surrounded the French forces with such speed and violence that they could not even react when they left their positions'' Manstein said, reading some of the reports from the latest fighting.
''This is temporary. With complete certainty, we will have the British and, above all, the French on top of us trying to expel us from the area. There it will depend on the years of war they carry on their backs. The new governments will not be happy that the peace treaty was broken so quickly and will try to enforce it. So it is only a matter of time before we find troops landing in the Baltic and, if we are unlucky, through the Black Sea'' I said thoughtfully.
''Why unlucky if they invade us through the Black Sea?'' Alexander asked, who was beside us listening to everything.
''Because it would mean the Ottoman Empire gave the British authorization to use the Dardanelles straits. Without that authorization, there should be no entry through the Black Sea area. Romania should have its eyes set on Transylvania. We have resolved all territorial conflicts with them, so I do not think they want to have problems with us in the area. The same with Hungary. They are trying to prevent their country from imploding with so many cultures within its borders, and they do not want their neighbors stealing more territory from them. From what I imagine, they want to recover Croatia, which they consider their land'' I said thoughtfully.
''As long as nothing happens there, we will only have to fortify the Baltic and Poland. As long as we have the collaboration of the Polish president, we should be fine. It was good fortune that the Polish army was shattered and going through a perfect moment of reorganization to strike. And above all, that idea of entering Warsaw by train… a beauty'' Manstein said, kissing his fingers and making a slight noise.
''It was a matter of checking the German army's train schedules. I discovered that many passed through Warsaw to reach Germany, so I assumed no one would suspect anything if we moved several thousand men to take multiple Polish cities at once'' Manstein said, smiling a little.
''I was thinking of negotiating with the Poles, but imposing that treaty on them was better. That way we prevent France and the British from arming the Poles and ending up with a heavily armed neighbor, ready to strike us when the Russian civil war ends and we have to fight on two fronts'' I said, stretching a little more.
''Well, in a certain way, we have neutralized one of our greatest threats temporarily. But what will happen with Germany… what will happen when the government, trying to maintain peace, sends people to hunt us down?'' Manstein said at my words, looking somewhat worried.
''Germany is too busy with the revolts. Although we did something against the Spartakusbund, there are still several groups continuing to protest. Mostly over food prices, inflation and now the lack of work. Since the war ended, millions were left without employment. The military factories that never stopped opening no longer need workers. Rather, they are closing for lack of funds and buyers. And we have Ukrainian grain. Our best weapon'' I said, smiling.
''Yes, but even if our homeland does not send men, there is always the possibility that they allow Entente troops to mobilize through the area and launch strikes from there. We could have major problems if the Entente's response comes from Germany, since they would have a supply line… one that would be impossible to sabotage without earning the hatred of our brothers'' Alexander said seriously.
''I do not think that will happen. It would look very bad among the military forces and nationalist sectors of Germany for foreign troops to be allowed passage through the country. Much more if they establish their logistical systems in the middle of German cities. So it cannot be a real possibility. They will have to come by sea. The British will use their fleet, blockade our ports, which makes no sense, since we trade by land or through the Black Sea, which they will not be able to blockade. They will try to force us to withdraw before launching an offensive'' I said calmly, looking at my officers.
''Karl… a telegraph arrived. Warships flying the British flag have been sighted passing through German waters. They are almost about to reach the Baltic'' one of the Jägerkommandos said, bringing a letter with the reported telegram.
''By sea… Then I think we will be fine. We will have to keep things watched and, when they try to land, hit them with all the machine-gun fire we have available to cause them casualties. Then we will fall back to the countryside and the forests. That way we will fight an irregular war all the time, making them bleed until they realize that the only way to tear us from power is with the total mobilization of their countries. And we all know what that entails: communist, socialist, nationalist revolutions, or whatever they come up with while trying to remove us from power'' I said with a slight smile, standing up.
''We will make the respective preparations to protect the Duchy's ports and beaches, but there are too many feasible zones for a landing'' Manstein said, observing the maps of the beaches and ports that could fall under the control of the Entente forces.
''Yes. The islands are lost. If they wish to capture them, there is nothing we can do there, since we do not have a navy with which to deny them the sea, nor many ways to destroy ships while they are in the area. I had ordered the construction of naval guns to raise a strong coastal defense system, but they have taken too long to manufacture them. Ukraine had nothing of the sort, so it may take a couple more months to install them and be able to hit the British and French ships we will have vacationing here with force… So we will move about three divisions of the occupation forces and distribute camouflage uniforms of the period'' I said, crossing my arms while observing my officers.
''I will order those forces brought immediately. We will also bring artillery and install it in possible naval landing zones. There are some points that could be used to raise enemy camps, so we will have to secure them with artillery pieces'' Manstein said, pointing to some port cities and beaches that were feasible zones for a landing.
''Nor should we worry too much if they take the cities. If they try to enter, we will make them bleed for every meter. Our men are already preparing for possible naval invasions. Besides, I very much doubt they will try to bombard the cities if their objective is to liberate the peoples from the German yoke. It would not be very pretty to hand the new government cities turned into ruins by their own artillery'' Alexander said very calmly.
''It is not something I would like to reach, but I also do not think they will try to bombard the cities for that same reason. Well, prepare everything. Gather the equipment as it leaves the factories and, as long as we keep receiving funds from the sale of food to the Russians, Ottomans and other countries, we will be able to keep paying the salaries without resorting to our reserves'' I said, leaving the room.
The following hours were filled with great movements of troops and equipment, while we tried to make the number of men under my command stretch as far as possible.
Ukraine did not need such a large garrison, and a large part of those military forces had not stopped growing because of the policy of encouraging German colonization in Ukrainian territory. That was why I could dispose of many of the forces stationed there without affecting the occupation too much.
In Ruthenia, the situation was different. Although there was a larger garrison than necessary, preparations were also being made against a possible Russian offensive. The additional forces were preparing the terrain, digging trenches and raising a defensive system with our resources to avoid a surprise attack from the east.
But Riga was the busiest city of all. It was the logistical center of the Duchy and was interconnected with the entire railway system that had been built during the attempt to urbanize the territory. All shipments were arriving through multiple railway lines.
Trucks and armored automobiles from Kiev, ammunition and steel from the Donbass, large quantities of leftover food from the harvest that had not been sold, stockpiles of supplies to provision several positions and tons of medical equipment gathered for any eventuality.
In the midst of all those preparations for the British invasion, the blockade was formalized when about one hundred fifty ships of the British Navy formed a cordon in the Baltic, accompanied by a small number of French vessels.
We had tried to lay mines, but we suffered from that problem called not having factories dedicated to producing them. That was why the little that had been manufactured in an explosives plant, with a design created in great haste, was simply used to block access to some ports that were still not watched nor within sight of the enemy fleet.
A day passed until I finally began receiving the Entente's threats. I had to surrender immediately to face justice, and they were giving me deadlines on how I was to surrender and where the weapons had to be left.
The time limit passed without any answer. They tried to confirm whether I had received the message, but we kept ignoring all communication, since that gave us more time to continue laying mines at sea.
Already on the second day of the blockade, we received another telegram, this time from the French. It sounded more aggressive, but in reality, it was more of the same: threats so I would comply with the peace treaty.
I would have liked a more visual form of communication, since I would have liked to think about the reaction of the Entente officers if I answered their threats with a thumbs-up, but I had to settle for sending received as a reply.
While the time they themselves had given me passed, we continued preparing more defenses. We had brought a lot of planes that we did not return to Germany, and modifications had begun so they could launch torpedoes. In addition, the Red Baron was still with us. The man wanted to keep fighting and was happy that we were the ones continuing the struggle, so his presence helped many trained pilots not to leave. We also tried to send letters through our operatives to attract the Baron's old comrades.
We were preparing naval torpedoes for operations in case the enemy ships overextended themselves.
The next threat was that, if I surrendered peacefully and released the prisoners, they would annul the war crimes charges against me. Apparently, they wanted to try me for the horrible treatment British troops had suffered in the Ottoman theater and for Lawrence's death, in addition to some supposed orders of mine to gas French villages.
Obviously, I did not accept that farce. Nothing prevented them from judging me anyway.
Finally, they grew tired of dealing with me, and we watched as the ships began approaching the port of Riga, entering closer and closer toward the coast.
We quickly began moving artillery and anti-tank guns toward the coast to at least damage the ships. At the same time, we prepared the planes to try to attack any target that separated from the rest.
It did not take long before we saw a mass of small vessels beginning to approach. I gave the order to open fire to kill once they were close to the port.
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