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1917-January-4-9
Recently I had been forced to do a great deal of work to maintain order in this garbage experiment the Germans had devised.
How to create a completely upside-down state, place the Baltic German minority in power, and leave Latvians, Livonians, Estonians, and Russians as the ruled population even though they formed the majority of this new state.
There was a major difference compared to what had happened in our reality, since the United Baltic Duchy had never possessed Pskov, but now it did, meaning we now had a considerable group of Russians centered around the city. They were still a minority, but it was the same situation as with the Germans and now we had another problem added onto the pile.
Every culture now being governed showed enormous resistance toward the government, because before the last offensive and with Russia collapsing, several pseudo-states had already begun forming, trying to establish independent governments free from Germany. But the German nobility of the region, who controlled power, prevented that by handing authority over to the Kaiser.
That meant there was enormous resentment toward the German occupation that had crushed their dreams of independence, very similar to the Poles, so once again it was time to rule with an iron fist, something that had already begun to define us.
And adding another problem onto my plate, I had also managed to antagonize a generous portion of the Baltic German nobility because I started disarming them and dismantling the local militias they had used to seize control from the young states.
So my attempts to disarm the population had been effective, but soaked in blood. Many Leutnants and Hauptmann had been leading multiple clearing operations across every part of the duchy.
Riga was already clean. During one enormous operation we confiscated almost twenty thousand weapons from the city, both from nobles and civilians. We had retaken Riga and it was now firmly under my control, though the outer districts were showing enormous resistance to the process.
But the true headache was Pskov, a Russian-majority city filled with revolutionaries now trying to destroy the duchy's nobility, destroy the noble who had not even been elected to rule. I pitied whichever idiot ended up inheriting this burning trash heap, but at least I intended to do my job properly and leave the place as pacified as possible regardless of how many deaths it required.
Every day I received reports of killings or urban combat.
Now that I had finally managed to secure a large shipment of grenades taken from the Tenth Army, we possessed all the necessary tools for urban warfare and room clearing, something that had become obvious considering Ernst was proving himself one of the best at it.
Over the past few days he had cleared out and killed more than thirteen hundred partisans while leading assaults against towns and cities across the region, and now I had sent him to Pskov with a large force, because that would become the priority: pacifying Pskov and securing the border, especially now that the socialist government in Russia seemed to be preparing something. I did not know what, but I did not want it to be a return to the war.
''Good, Manstein… you are the most competent man I currently have available for administration, since things in Ruthenia are even worse than here, which means I need to send Ferdinand there. I need you to finish my work here. The man standing before you will temporarily assume the duties of regent of the duchy, Adolf Konstantin Pilar von Pilchau. His responsibility is to create and manage the administration. If you see him doing anything to benefit himself, remove him from office'' I said to Erich von Manstein, who now served under my command.
''Understood, Major Karl. May I ask why he was selected out of the enormous catalogue of nobles offering gifts and invitations in exchange for the position of civilian figurehead?'' the officer asked while glancing sideways at the elderly noble.
''Because he has common sense, which sounds strange considering how few nobles possess any. Most of them came here with ideas about imposing German control while completely ignoring the fact they are minorities trying to enforce reforms through brute force, and in the long term that will only create more problems'' I said while stretching one arm.
''I am well aware many of my peers who enjoy the privilege of noble titles see the locals as little more than serfs, but I have worked with them and seen both worlds. I hope it will be possible for the new government to offer administration for everyone and not merely for Germans. This land belongs to the Latvians, Livonians, and Estonians, but they have always been governed by Germans. Maintaining tradition is more important than the sort of change many are proposing'' the old noble said.
''I assume you have a group of supporters behind you, correct?'' Manstein asked.
''Indeed, primarily highly educated members of the Baltic German nobility, though also individuals from other cultures. Ideally we must begin administering, collecting taxes, and preparing everything for the harvests, since I have had very little time to organize matters because I now have to depart southward'' I said while signing the last documents I needed to finish my work.
''Who will I report to then?'' the German officer asked.
''Hans von Hake. He is my second-in-command and currently manages the security of the Kingdom of Ukraine in my name alongside all the ongoing problems there. Send your reports to him. Just make sure the confiscation process is completed and we should be fine. Hopefully the next duke is elected soon'' I replied while standing up and gathering the belongings I needed for departure.
''I will ensure he receives information regarding those who will participate in our government and we will await the Kaiser's decision regarding who will occupy the position of duke'' Adolf von Pilchau answered.
''If anything happens, inform Hans and he will deal with it while I go fill my boots with sand'' I said while stuffing everything into my backpack and preparing to leave.
''It shall be done, Major'' Manstein replied while Adolf merely nodded.
I left my office in Riga and immediately headed for the train station, since I now had to travel south to support the operations aimed at reaching the Suez Canal and threatening or closing it depending on the situation.
Taking the train toward Berlin, I brought a thousand men from the Jägerkommandos with me, though most of my trusted officers stayed behind since I had placed all of them in important positions throughout the region to maintain order, especially in Ruthenia where there were many protests from people demanding freedom and an elected government instead of the fake parliamentary monarchy that had been imposed in Ukraine.
Now I was heading toward the burning sun of the Levant. Winter should make it more tolerable, though I suspected the cold nights after sunset would become the worst part.
The trip to Berlin was as fast as possible. Within a single day we were already in the heart of the empire where I received the orders I was expected to follow while the western front once again bogged down even after the offensives at Verdun. Although much territory had been gained during the offensive, they had been unable to exploit the breakthrough and were forced to continue defensive operations and dig secondary trench systems.
The front seemed stalled now that the main efforts were concentrated against the Italians.
The Eighth and Ninth Armies were deployed there alongside several Austro-Hungarian armies, and everything pointed toward Italy being on the verge of collapse under the sheer weight of troops flooding the front. They had barely been capable of handling Austria-Hungary alone, and now that two German armies had arrived, Italy was finished.
Once in Berlin, something happened that brought a smile to my face because it meant something had changed.
I had been promoted to Oberst.
A double promotion.
It went hand in hand with my assignment to the southern front alongside the Ottoman Empire, the same offer they had mentioned earlier, but it also meant Hindenburg himself must have approved my promotion, though for the moment the old bastard seemed to be behaving more reasonably.
I doubted it would last permanently since I had grown used to the man throwing shit at me whenever he had the opportunity.
In addition to that, I was assigned another two thousand men, selecting the most veteran troops from the eastern front to accompany me south where they would spend the coming months dying under the heat, since my assignment would last several months.
All of this came with a large amount of my personal equipment for the region, including specially prepared uniforms for the expedition based on camouflage colors suited for desert terrain.
At least a thousand men were now properly equipped, which I originally believed would be the extent of it because the promotion itself had completely surprised me.
One of my latest innovations, rather than simply improving existing equipment, was a kill flash, a honeycomb-shaped structure designed to hide the reflection of a sniper scope considering we would be operating in a region flooded with sunlight for most of the day. They were incredibly important and absurdly simple to produce. You practically just needed a mold at the steelworks and suddenly you had a device capable of saving your life at the cost of making aiming slightly more annoying.
With everything prepared, we boarded the train toward Konstantiniyye, since the railway connecting us with the Ottoman Empire had finally been completed using Serbian prisoners of war as labor.
It was vital for the flow of resources that the railway function properly so both empires could trade and cooperate as efficiently as possible.
So for several days we traveled through the lands of the Central Powers, passing through Dresden, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Niš, and Sofia.
I spent much of the journey observing the winter landscape while also witnessing the scars left behind by the war, especially in Serbia. Even though the campaign there had ended long ago, the region still looked devastated, enormous craters filled with snow and frozen mud stretching across the countryside.
Destroyed villages and shattered towns lined the route, many of them visibly ravaged by artillery bombardments with almost no reconstruction underway since Serbia no longer possessed a Serbian government, only an Austro-Hungarian administration determined to squeeze every last drop from the Serbs in order to repay the costs of the war.
The Bulgarian side looked far more rebuilt because they were actively trying to integrate the territories into their domain due to the considerable Bulgarian population living in the lands they had seized.
After several days of travel, stopping only briefly to stretch our legs and relieve ourselves before continuing onward, we finally arrived in the Ottoman Empire.
It felt strange seeing the place.
Many of the structures followed architectural patterns similar to those found in the other empires I had visited, but the region clearly possessed far more imposing Islamic structures dominating the skyline.
I stood there observing the city.
For me it felt strange to see something like this because I had grown accustomed to seeing ruins whenever I found myself in a Muslim country, so witnessing something that had not been reduced to rubble by explosives or abandoned decay felt oddly refreshing.
The moment I stepped off the train, a delegation of Ottoman officers approached to receive us since we would need to take a ferry to cross into Anatolia before continuing toward our destination.
''Greetings, German allies. In the name of the Sultan, I welcome you to his city'' the Ottoman officer said in poor German, though he was clearly making an effort.
''Thank you. From what I understand, we will remain here for a day before crossing the sea tomorrow. By any chance, is there someone connected to military logistics? I possess weapons that may interest the Sultan'' I replied with a smile.
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