170

Episode 170: Operation Barbarossa (6)

July 11, 1942

Soviet Vinnytsia

The Southern Army Group, which had been slower in its offensive compared to the Northern and Central Army Groups, continued to advance, as if relieving its sorrow for its hardships.

Uman and Vinnytsia fell in one day.

The Soviet troops stationed in the city abandoned the city and their positions and fled as soon as the German attack began.

When the German army entered the city, the remaining residents of the city held a grand welcome event to welcome their liberators.

Along with the Hakenkreuz, Ukrainian flags, which were prohibited from being raised or possessed under the Soviet Communist Party, were displayed throughout the city.

People who had lost their families due to the oppression of the Communist Party and the resulting famine shed tears as they watched German soldiers marching through the city center while playing marching music. And laughed.

From now on, there will never be a red flag raised in this city again.

"It feels like a festival is taking place."

Kleist smiled shyly as he listened to the shouts and cheers of the Ukrainians who had flocked to welcome the German troops.

The Stöber 40 he was riding in had flowers thrown by residents piled up on the floor and seats. An unknown woman even kissed Kleist on the cheek.

"It is a festival, sir. For them, this moment must be a celebration. "We are finally free from the rule of communists."

Senior General Eberhard von Mackensen, commander of the 1st Panzer Group, who was riding along, joked.

Around his neck was a flower necklace worn by Ukrainian women.

The driver and deputy could not take their eyes off the women dressed in traditional Ukrainian clothing.

Kleist looked at the placards hung around the city.

'Long live Hitler! Long live Bandera! Long live Ukraine!'

***

Ukrainian nationalist Stepan Bandera joined the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) in 1929, when he was 20 years old, and began the Ukrainian independence movement.

He worked more passionately for Ukrainian independence than anyone else in the organization, and was promoted to a high-ranking official of the OUN in 1933.

A year later, in 1934, he assassinated Polish Interior Minister Bronisław Pieracki, who had persistently suppressed Ukrainian independence activists, and Ivan Babi, a former Ukrainian military commander who had banned students from joining the OUN, although he was Ukrainian.

He mercilessly assassinated anyone who opposed the OUN, even if they were Ukrainians.

However, that same year, Bandera was arrested by Polish authorities who were tracking him.

Polish authorities beat and tortured him mercilessly, sentenced him to life in prison, and imprisoned him in a dungeon.

With Bandera's arrest, the OUN suffered a significant blow, and the Ukrainian independence movement seemed to have lost momentum and slowly collapsed.

However, when World War II broke out and the German army invaded Poland, Bandera was released from prison.

Once free, Bandera moved to Cracow, the capital of the Polish protectorate where the Polish Governor-General was located, and reunited with his colleague Andrey Melnik.

However, unlike Bandera, who was an extreme Ukrainian nationalist, Andrei Melnyk, who was a moderate, clashed over the direction of the organization, and Bandera founded the Ukrainian Revolutionary Nationalists (OUN-B) with extremist members who supported him.

In any case, Germany, which had been cooperating with the Soviet Union in many ways, restricted Bandera's activities for fear of diplomatic conflict with the Soviet Union, and he and OUN-B had no choice but to remain quiet for a while.

It was none other than Stalin who opened up new opportunities for Bandera.

With the outbreak of the German-German War, Germany lifted all restrictions placed on Ukrainians living in exile in Germany and began actively supporting them.

Bandera began to rapidly increase his power by gathering Ukrainians, and when Operation Barbarossa began, he followed the German army into Ukraine.

When Vinnytsia fell into the hands of the German army, Bandera and OUN-B declared the independence of Ukraine and the establishment of a Ukrainian national government, and declared that they would make Vinnytsia the temporary capital of Ukraine until the capital Kiev was recaptured.

"The Ukrainians will actively cooperate with the Germans, Excellency Marshal Kleist."

At the communist party headquarters in Vinnytsia, Kleist had a meeting with key OUN-B members who resembled Bandera.

Since OUN-B's supplier was Germany, strictly speaking, they had to follow the instructions and control of the German military, but for efficient control of Ukrainians and future German-Ukrainian relations, it was necessary to treat them as the government of a single country, at least on the surface.

"On behalf of the President, I would like to express my gratitude to the Ukrainian people for their willingness to cooperate."

"It's only natural, considering the kindness that President Hitler bestowed on the Ukrainian people."

Bandera and the OUN had their activities restricted by the German authorities until the outbreak of the German-German War, but there was still no great ill will.

For fear of conflict with the Soviet Union, they only limited anti-Soviet activities and did not interfere much with other activities.

Germany continued to ignore the Soviet Union's numerous requests for repatriation of Ukrainians who came into exile across the border.

Above all, with the war still in full swing, we did not know when we would end up in trouble if we offended Germany, our water holder.

Not only did Germany not yet recognize Bandera's Ukrainian national government as Ukraine's only official government, but there were several Ukrainian organizations other than OUN-B that received German support.

Except for the fact that Bandera had the highest approval rating among Ukrainians, there was no reason for Germany to give them special treatment.

Therefore, Bandera and OUN-B worked diligently to win the favor of the German authorities.

"The President has decided to recognize your Ukrainian national government as the official government of Ukraine."

"Is that true?"

The expressions of Bandera and OUN-B high-ranking officials brightened at Kleist's words. With the approval of Hitler's Fuhrer, from now on they were the only legitimate government in Ukraine, no matter what anyone said.

Also, since Germany has recognized Ukraine's independence, other countries will also recognize Ukraine as an independent country.

Ukraine will finally be recognized by the world as a proud independent country.

"Instead, there is a condition. If you accept all the conditions presented from now on, the President will recognize you and treat you as an ally. "If you refuse, it will be a different story."

The Ukrainian delegation's expressions darkened drastically when they heard that if they did not accept the conditions, everything could be returned to nothing.

Bandera asked vaguely, trying to feign composure.

"What are the conditions, Excellency Marshal?"

"First of all, I hope that the President will also accept Andrei Melnik's OUN as a member of the Ukrainian government. "Your Excellency the President's request is to form a government that embraces the opinions of all Ukrainians, not just some of them."

Ukrainians' support was overwhelmingly higher for Bandera than for Melnik, but Melnik's OUN was also a formidable force.

Above all, unlike Bandera, who was an extremist who said that in order to prevent political chaos in Ukraine, all other ethnic groups living in Ukraine - especially Jews and Poles - should be expelled or killed, Melnyk was a moderate who opposed deportation and massacre.

Kleist, as well as the Führer, liked the moderate Melnik more than the radical Bandera, but the Ukrainians' support for Bandera was so absolute that they had no choice but to recognize Bandera as the head of the Ukrainian government.

However, even so, there was never any intention to accommodate everything to him. The only thing that was disappointing was that it was not Germany, the source of the Bandera money.

"Second, strictly prohibit the massacre of Poles and Jews living in Ukraine. It's not like you don't know what resentment you Ukrainians have against the Poles. Right now, we, Germany, have suffered a great deal of humiliation from the Poles."

"Then why are you opposed to killing those pig-like Poles?"

Bandera asked. Bandera couldn't understand why the Germans, who were as hostile to Poles as they were to Ukrainians, would order them not to kill Poles.

Shouldn't it be the opposite?

"Are you asking because you don't know? If you try to kill the Poles, do you think they will take it easy? Of course, they will fight tenaciously just to survive, and Ukraine will become confused. And why would the Poles only fight with you? They will also aim their guns at our German troops who support you. What a waste this is when we are busy fighting the Bolsheviks on the front lines right now.

And the President has officially ruled out racism. Whether you are a Jew, a Pole, or a Russian, you believe that you should be treated as a human being regardless of race. That is why the Fuhrer did not spare any support for the independence of Ukraine, which has nothing to do with Germany?"

"I am really grateful for that. So what do you plan to do with these Poles and Jews? If nothing else, the Ukrainian people will refuse to allow them to continue living in Ukraine."

"Don't worry about that. They plan to transfer them all to the Polish Protectorate. There is no need for you to get blood on your hands. Do you understand?"

"Then what… ."

The Ukrainian delegation, which had no intention of living with the Jews and Poles they so hated as their neighbors, was somewhat relieved to hear that the German military would take care of them.

Although I felt despondent at not being able to kill those abominable people, it was a cheap price to pay for recognition of Ukrainian independence.

"All right. Let's do that. What are these next conditions?"

"For the complete victory of Germany and Ukraine, please provide unconditional cooperation so that the Wehrmacht can freely use Ukraine's resources, materials, and manpower. "If only the three conditions above are strictly fulfilled, Germany will respect Ukraine's will for the remaining matters and will not spare any support necessary to establish a Ukrainian government."

Although it was unfortunate that he could not take care of the thorny Polish pigs and Jews, Bandera had no reason to object since the German army said that it would take them from Ukraine to Poland.

If they turned into partisans as Kleist warned, it would be a huge headache.

Above all, the support of the German military was absolutely necessary for the complete liberation of Ukraine.

It would be difficult for the Ukrainian people to completely drive out the Soviet army from Ukraine through their own efforts.

It was as if the answer had been decided before negotiations began. Bandera nodded.

"I understand, Excellency Marshal. "I will accept all of them."

"A wise choice."

***

July 14, 1942

New Fuhrer's Residence in Berlin, Germany

Bandera accepted all our demands.

Bandera and the OUN-B were extremely friendly to Germany, but the problem was that they were too radical even by Nazi standards.

In reality, Bandera's OUN-B actively cooperated with the Nazis' Holocaust policy, committing massacres against Poles and Jews in various parts of Ukraine in order to turn Ukraine into a nation exclusively for pure-blood Ukrainians.

As time passed, OUN-B's radicalism went beyond Germany's control and indiscriminately killed even Polish people who cooperated with Germany. The Nazis, fed up with their radicalism, attacked the OUN-B leadership, including Bandera. was arrested and transported to Germany.

Then, OUN-B began a resistance movement not only against the Soviet Union but also against Germany, leading to oppression from both sides.

At the end of the war, in 1944, Germany released Bandera and resumed cooperation with the OUN-B, but it was of little help as Ukraine had already been taken back by the Soviet Union.

Since I am not a real Hitler, I have no intention of randomly killing Ukrainians and turning them into slaves, but I also have no intention of standing by and allowing genocide to occur.

There are humanitarian issues, but we also do not want to leave the extremists unattended and end up with partisans infesting the rear, tying up precious military forces in the rear.

On the surface, it emphasizes the solidarity and harmony of Ukrainians and uses the moderate Melnik and OUN to keep Bandera and OUN-B, which can turn to extremism at any time, in check.

This was the Ukrainian operation strategy that Rosenberg and I established.

On July 13, Bandera himself was sworn in as President of Ukraine, and his close associate and senior OUN-B official Yaroslav Stechko was sworn in as Prime Minister of Ukraine.

Melnyk was promoted to the position of permanent advisor to the president and head of the Ukrainian National Council, a position that was in fact created specifically for him.

There may have been many internal noises, but Bandera faithfully followed Germany's instructions.

In return for cooperation, I instructed Kaitel to dispatch the necessary personnel and provide equipment to establish the Ukrainian army.

Keitel selected Ukrainian volunteers from converted Soviet prisoners of war to join the Ukrainian army, dispatched instructors to train the new Ukrainian army, and donated weapons, ammunition, and equipment captured from the Soviet army to the Ukrainian army.

Since it would take a good year to deploy the Ukrainian army to the front line, or more than six months at the earliest, it was concluded that Soviet-made equipment, which was not needed immediately and could cause supply chaos, was donated to arm the Ukrainian army.

Since there are quite a few former Soviet soldiers in the Ukrainian military, they will be more familiar with Soviet-made weapons than German-made weapons.

Not only Ukraine, but also the Baltic countries and Belarus are preparing for independence.

The exile governments of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, who had fled to Sweden after being annexed by the Soviet Union, entered Germany in June and began cooperating, and preparations were in full swing to form a provisional government in Belarus in Minsk, which had been captured by our forces.

The government-in-exile of the Belarusian People's Republic, which existed for a short time before the Bolshevik invasion, was living in exile in Prague.

When Germany annexed the Czech Republic, they made a statement that they would not cooperate with Germany no matter what, and in fact, they have refused to cooperate of any kind to this day.

Therefore, the new regime to be established in Belarus was planned to be a completely new government, not the exile government in Prague.

The establishment of the Ukrainian national government and the preparations for independence in the Baltic countries and Belarus were printed in leaflets and distributed throughout the Eastern Front.

For the soldiers and local residents who were forced to wear Soviet military uniforms under the pressure of the Communist Party, the news of the independence of the country they were born in would bring about a great change in their feelings in many ways.

In addition, I planned another new operation that would demoralize the Soviet Army and the Soviet people and put Stalin on the back burner.

I already thought of the name of the operation.

'The name is Zeppelin.'