Interwar Period – Anschluss (3)

March 11, 1938 – Nuremberg District, 13th Military District, Southern Germany, Regensburg (near the German-Austrian border)

I couldn't sleep well and arrived at Regensburg with tired eyes and an aching body on a train that was ready to burst.

"30th Infantry Regiment! Where is the 30th Infantry Regiment!?"

"Get out of there! We have to unload the tram!"

"No, how can I get out of here!"

What is this… not even a marketplace.

The old and quiet city of Regensburg, a small and beautiful town in southern Germany, was now overrun with equipment, soldiers, and the clamor of chaos.

"This truck is being requisitioned by the 1st Panzer Division under the order of Lieutenant General Heinz Guderian!"

"Hey, you lot! Leave my truck behind!"

"I'm not stealing! I’ll return it later, please just tell the people in charge!"

Meanwhile, every vehicle in town was being requisitioned. No joke.

...a motorized unit requisitioning private cars — this is real history.

I smiled bitterly and grabbed one of the shouting soldiers next to me.

"Where are you assigned?"

"Ah, what crazy b… uhh. Sorry, Captain! I'm with the 46th Division!"

The 46th Division… wasn’t that part of the 4th Corps?

"Do you know where the 11th Corps is?"

"Apologies! I'm in the 4th Corps! No idea about the 11th! ...Captain, do you know where the 4th is?"

"Um… Sorry, just arrived myself. Good luck, Private."

Tomorrow is the start of the operation… can we even do this?

In this chaos, all I could do was sigh.

"Captain! Do you know where the 11th Corps is?"

Now even a Leutnant Colonel came over and asked me.

I saluted and responded.

"I'm sorry, Colonel! I'm also with the 11th Corps, but I haven’t located it yet! Captain Dietrich Shacht!"

The Leutnant Colonel laughed and saluted back.

"This is a mess. Leutnant Colonel Henning von Tresckow."

Henning von Tresckow. The name rang a bell — no, it rang loud.

A core member of the anti-Hitler movement, involved in multiple assassination attempts before Stauffenberg!

"It's an honor to meet you, Colonel. I'm assigned to the 18th Division, but…"

"Oh, good. I'm also with the 18th. I’ve just come back to the field after working in the Chief of Staff office. Take care of me, Captain Shacht."

So he was part of Beck's group, and recently demoted… I didn’t know that, but it made sense, since he worked with Beck and Stauffenberg for Operation Valkyrie.

"Thank you, Colonel! ...But first, we should find our unit."

"That would be the priority."

Together, Leutnant Colonel Tresckow and I wandered through Regensburg until we found the 11th Corps.

On the way, we picked up Leutnant Weinrich Baer, also from the 18th Division. What is this madness?

"Reporting for duty, sir! Leutnant Colonel Henning von Tresckow!"

"Captain Dietrich Shacht!"

"Lieutenant Weinrich Baer!"

The division commander returned our salutes with a crooked smile.

"Well, well… Only 13 of you left. Friedrich Karl Kranz, commanding. This is the most disorderly operation I’ve seen in my entire military career."

We all laughed.

Honestly, I was starting to think we wouldn’t even get to the battlefield.

"Tresckow, you’re taking command of the 30th Infantry Regiment. Get moving. Shacht, you’re in charge of 3rd Company, 30th Regiment. Baer, you’re his lieutenant."

What? 3rd Company? That’s not what I was told.

"Respectfully, Commander, the orders I received—"

He waved it off.

"Ha! The higher-ups are screaming for deployment and you think you’ll wait for officers to come and go by plan? Just fill the gaps and move."

"...Yes, sir."

So basically, plans were already out the window. As soon as you show up, you’re plugged in and sent off.

In any other army, this would be suicide. But the German army, with its Auftragstaktik doctrine, might just pull it off.

"Now get going. You’ll figure it out on the way. Dismissed."

"Yes, sir!"

We left the makeshift barracks and headed for our regiment. I didn’t even get the chance to introduce myself to my company before the complaints rolled in.

"Captain! Our platoon doesn’t even have rifles!"

"Just use the Gewehr 98 or the Kar98. They’re close enough."

"Captain! We don’t have enough tents!"

"Lieutenant Baer, send a runner to HQ. Actually, no — go yourself! All the other units must be in shambles too. Get what you can."

"Yes, sir!"

"Sergeant Major—!"

God damn it. I don’t know either!

If I were in charge of logistics, I wouldn’t be stuck here!

I just wanted to cry.

March 12, 1938 – Regensburg

Austrian Prime Minister Schuschnigg, unable to handle the pressure from the Austrian Nazi Party, had announced a referendum for March 13 to decide on reunification with Germany.

He tried to rig it by limiting voting to older citizens — those less likely to support unification — and excluded the youth who favored Hitler.

But it had the opposite effect, as Hitler had his excuse now — and ordered a "request for intervention" from Austrian Interior Minister Arthur Seyss-Inquart, green-lighting our invasion.

That’s why we were in this mess.

Our battalion, pieced together in chaos, moved out at dawn. But in reality, only Major General Karl Kranz’s 18th Division managed to deploy on time.

The 19th Division, under Leutnant General Schvantes, wasn’t ready. The 18th Artillery Regiment still hadn’t finished unloading.

So in short?

We had no heavy equipment. But we still had to plant a flag in Austria.

Our target: Linz, Hitler’s birthplace.

Thankfully, no other corps had the same objective.

We crossed the Danube via the medieval Steiner Bridge and marched along the river.

The scene on the other side was a circus.

Civilian cars and trucks crowded the road. Stalled trucks caused traffic jams as a stream of Austrian troops poured into Regensburg.

Could anyone else even move today? We were lucky.

Our troops — some sleeping in houses because there weren’t enough tents — looked terrible.

"Captain Shacht, how’s it going? Do you think we can march?"

"Yes, Colonel. It’ll work out somehow."

Leutnant Colonel Tresckow drove around inspecting the regiment. He looked five years older.

No wonder. Yesterday’s chaos must’ve drained him. He used to work behind a desk.

I only had to care about my own company. He had to coordinate a whole regiment.

"...the trench warfare of the past was a nightmare, but this is a nightmare of a different kind."

"Hahaha..."

"Keep it up."

"Yes, sir."

After he left, I sighed watching my exhausted soldiers stumble around.

When I used to read about how even Italian officers mocked the German military’s condition during the Anschluss, I thought they were exaggerating…

But I admit it now — this is pure bullshit.

These fools are the ones who would go on to create the myth of German invincibility in the early days of WWII?

At this point, launching an anti-Nazi propaganda war in Austria might’ve toppled the regime more easily than all our conspiracies.

But then again, the Austrian Nazis were too powerful… and a failed invasion would’ve thrown Germany into even deeper chaos.

Still… I missed the Condor Legion.

March 15, 1938 – Linz, Austria

Despite Tresckow’s fears, we entered Linz without firing a shot.

The Austrian army didn’t resist — they welcomed us and cleared the way. In Linz, hakenkreuz were already flying, and residents greeted us with flowers.

Tired soldiers called it the "Blumenkrieg" — the War of Flowers.

Even I, who knew how history would turn, felt moved by the welcome. The rest of the army was ecstatic.

The Austrians, so eager to embrace Nazi Germany, would later claim it was all Germany’s fault as they burned in the war they helped ignite.

Hitler and Göring visited on their way to Vienna, smiling like they’d come home. The people screamed in joy.

We listened to Hitler’s speech in town:

"As Führer of the German State and Reich, I gladly declare that my homeland has now entered the German Empire! The oldest eastern province of the German people — Österreich — is now, at this moment, the newest fortress of the German Empire!"

While Hitler’s speech blasted through loudspeakers, I saw red paint scrawled on the doors of some houses: "Jude."

"Some foreign media thought we would annex Austria by force! But the Austrians were willing to die for reunification with Germany!"

People cheered. The army clapped. No one seemed to notice the warning signs.

"We did not come to rule, but as liberators!"

Outside, I saw a Jewish family being dragged into the street — bloody, terrified, broken.

"Now no one dares to deny that Austria is Germany! Germany will rule the world! Deutschland über alles!"

"Deutschland über alles!"

As one, the German army, Austrian sympathizers, and townsfolk screamed in triumph. And the Nazis began destroying homes marked as Jewish.

I walked over to Tresckow, who stared at the scene in silence.

"...Our great country can be a disaster for some. Isn’t that right, Colonel?"

Now, it’s time to move.