The Blonde Beast Lives: A Heydrich TL

[jasper the spectator]

The past 3 weeks had been relatively quiet for the Man with the Iron Heart. The intimidation showed by the SS convoy of guards he employed seemed to work, as there had been no assassination attempts since the death of the 6 commandos. Coincidentally, the elimination of said 6 commandos removed the largest potential resistance cell in Prague that could coordinate another assassination attempt. Naturally, he felt that the former option was the main reason there had been no more attempts an his life, compared to the latter.

The lists for people to be arrested and villages to be burned had ballooned to about 10,000 and the village list had around 50 in them. He had allowed the list to grow this large mostly because of a noticeable increase in partisan activity over the past couple of weeks. He suspected that the martyrdom of the Czech commandos in Prague and Operation Anthropoid emboldened the resistance, and he allowed the SD and Gestapo more leeway and time to consolidate their lists.

The plan for the people was that the men would be killed on the spot by the Heer, Gestapo, and SS, and the women and children sent to the concentration and extermination camps further north in Poland, with the children deemed suitable enough for Germanisation being adopted to SS families. He had personally ordered the lists to halt at where they were a few days ago, as while he would have wanted the death toll to be higher to further discourage Czech resistance, he knew he couldn’t do so, for obvious reasons.

There had also been a change in the composition of the Army of Bohemia. Hitler, Keitel, and Jodl left for the Wolf’s Lair when they finished the order for another 5 divisions from across occupied Europe to be redeployed to the Army of Bohemia, while Himmler had his own duties and was hostile to the idea of deploying any more SS divisions to Bohemia without raising new ones, which was discussed when he visited Prague and met Heydrich on June 15. But from the Wolf’s Lair, the OKW ordered another 3 divisions (the 17th, 113th, and 707th) to be deployed to the Army of Bohemia, bolstering its numbers by another 40 thousand, back on June 19.

As for command, finding someone who would command the Heer units was a tough job, but eventually, it was decided that the Heer units of the Army of Bohemia would be placed under the command of Gustav-Adolf von Zangen, who was then promoted to Generaloberst. The 10 (later 13) divisions were also reorganized into 3 corps-level units:
XIX Corps, consisting of the 7th, 17th, 113th, and 187th;
XXXIV Corps, consisting of the 38th, 39th, 65th, and 707th and;
XXI Corps, consisting of the 69th, 106th, 335th, 702nd, and 717th.
The three corps were placed under the command of Hans-Heinrich Sixt von Armin, Friedrich-Georg Eberhardt, and Alfons Hitter, respectively, who were all then promoted to the rank of General der Infanterie.

The command of the 2 SS divisions had been placed under the SS-Gruppenführer of the Prinz Eugen division, Artur Phelps, who was then promoted to Obergruppenführer. The 2 Einsatzgruppen units were put under the command of Obersturmbannführer Ludwig Teichmann, who was promoted to Oberführer.

Back to Heydrich, he had also received a telegram not that long ago from Hitler, saying to him that the 2 of them will have a meeting on July 6 in Berlin, with Himmler also in attendance, so that “we can discuss matters we would have done over a month ago if you hadn’t decided to stay in Bohemia and Moravia after the attempt on your life”. Heydrich had wondered why Hitler chose July 6 instead of June 29, suspecting it was because the simultaneous offensives of Case Blue and Operation Vermin would start on June 29. Ultimately, he had already started thinking of ways to prepare for the first meeting between him, his superior in the SS, and his superior in Germany as a whole, which would have in months. He also felt this would be the moment he would offer his resignation to the Fuhrer and his reassignment to any place he so wished, though he felt Hitler had already planned to reassign him the day of the attempt on his life.

 

[jasper the spectator]

The Czech partisan movement, already severely weakened after Heydrich took over the affairs of the area, were horrified by the events of Operation Anthropoid. Less for the events itself, indeed Gabčík was made a national symbol and martyr to represent the Czech resistance, and “Avenge Anthropoid!” became a constant saying within the resistance. But more for the aftermath. The realization that the boogeyman of the resistance (Heydrich) had survived mortified it, fearing that another set of reprisals and crackdowns similar to when Heydrich first arrived in the protectorate were just around the corner.

They were surprised that the initial reprisals largely didn’t target partisans and resistance leaders, as few of them were believed by the Nazis to be associated by the commandos that attempted to assassinate Heydrich. Several conclusions were made by the partisans. One was that they were too weak and that the Nazis deliberately decided they were too little of a threat. Another was that they shouldn’t get complacent and that Heydrich would likely start another wave of reprisals later on that would focus on them and them alone.

Nevertheless, isolated and emboldened pockets of partisans would attempt a series of sabotage operations in the aftermath of Anthropoid, hoping to inspire a general revolt against the occupiers. These sabotage operations targeted rail lines across the Protectorate, alongside in some instances factories. However, these operations largely didn’t do much damage to Bohemian infrastructure. It didn’t help either that Heydrich’s carrot-and-stick policies and reprisal made Czechs wary of challenging Nazi rule, which meant general revolt was off the table.

Heydrich was concerned about this growing threat but hoped it would peter out before it can get wiped out of existence during Operation Vermin. Ultimately, the threat didn’t peter out, but he deemed these attacks as more of a nuisance that would get wiped out soon enough, hopefully.

Meanwhile, in Britain, the RAF command was surprised when Moravec proposed 2 operation ideas he and Beneš had proposed and pondered which ones would be more beneficial and were actually feasible. The next day, Charles Portal, Sholto Douglas, and Arthur Harris, the Chief of the Air Staff, and the Commanders-in-chief of RAF Fighter and Bomber commands met with Moravec and Beneš to discuss the lattermost latter’s ideas to either bomb the German forces or para shoot the Czechoslovak troops to Czechia, both of which could affect Operation Vermin.

Harris immediately opened the meeting up saying he disagreed with the idea to bomb German forces, as he felt the operation would take bombers away from the planned third “thousand-bomber raid” on Bremen. Charles then rebuffed saying that the dates between Operation Vermin and the plan to bomb Bremen were only about a couple of days apart. In spite of that, Harris still voiced his disagreement. For one, because he felt that attacking a few German divisions was less important in the long term than bombing German industry to death.

Moravec and Beneš, deciding that bombing the German forces was a lost cause due to Harris’s stubbornness, then switched the topic over to the plan to parachute the 2,000 Czechoslovak troops from Britain to Bohemia. Charles then told that he and Douglas had turned down the offer. He explained that for one, he felt the operation would be a big waste of planes, as Douglas said the British didn’t really have a fighter plane that can go to Czechia and back, and the amount of anti-air guns and German fighters they would pass by would mean that the planes would most likely be entirely shot down by the time they would reach Bavaria, let alone Czechia.

He also stated that British paratrooping was still relatively primitive, and while Operation Biting was only about 4 months ago, that was a raid on a French coastal town where the paratroopers could be easily rescued by sea, while dropping a couple thousand in a region MUCH farther away where the paratroopers would likely never be able to be rescued was a downright stupid idea. And while he respected Moravec and Beneš and wished Britain could do something to try to affect Operation Vermin, he felt any attempt would be futile at the least.

Moravec and Beneš were shocked by the refusal of both of their plans by the RAF high command. The 2, holding their anger, then thanked Douglas, Charles, and Harris, for meeting with them, and then stormed out of the room. The 2 then went to Beneš’s office and began praying, hoping to God that the now doomed Czech resistance would be able to resist what was coming as much as possible.

 

[jasper the spectator]

The battle plan that Gustav-Adolf von Zangen and his fellow commanders made for Operation Vermin was a pretty straightforward and simple one. As the Army of Bohemia had enough troops that an entire company could patrol a kilometer of the Bohemian border, the plan was to have smaller, battalion-sized individual units be given their own sectors to move in and patrol as a surefire way to keep any Czech partisans from escaping into Slovakia, Poland, or Germany itself.

As for the battle itself, Zangen described the plan as “walk in, shoot any Czech partisans and anyone who attempts to shoot back, wipe the 50 villages located by the RHSA off the map if any of the battalions come across them through either artillery, fire or explosives, arrest the 10,000 that had been listed by the RHSA, rendezvous in the middle of the country, and withdraw.” And that, ultimately wasn’t that far off from the truth.

The plan was for a quick advance across the border into the protectorate to shorten the perimeter as much as possible and make sure nothing was getting out of the protectorate without German permission. The village razing and arrests were to be done quickly as the troops would sweep into the protectorate. The hope was that the operation would be that the protectorate would be entirely occupied within 2 days, and the reprisals would be done by the end of the week, afterwards the troops would withdraw from the protectorate and wait for re-assignment.

Zangen and his subordinate corps commanders hoped that pure infantry, artillery, and explosives would be enough to deal with the partisans. And they were largely confident of this claim. As while the only tank detachments they had were a Panzer battalion in the Prinz Eugen division, the Czech partisans were a small enough force that they didn’t even have tanks. And they deemed that even a corps or oversized Waffen-SS division would be enough to deal with the partisans, much less an army’s worth of men. Ultimately, they were confident in total victory and teaching a lesson to the Czechs.

 

[SirHalifax]

This will not end well.

 

[jasper the spectator]

This will not end well.

Yeah.
And spoiler alert, the slaughter will officialy start next chapter.

 

[mattep74]

This is a intresting TL

 

[Major Major]

Is Heydrich being a Neo-Confederate?

 

[jasper the spectator]

Leipzig, Saxony
Gustav Adolf Von-Zangen sits in his command room in Leipzig, the command room of which he can relay orders to the entirety of the Army of Bohemia. He was waiting for the clock to hit 0900, and preparing to relay a message to start Operation Vermin to von Armin (XIX), Eberhardt (XXXIV), and Hitter (XXI), whose corps were garrisoning the Bavarian (for von Armin), Austrian and Slovakian (for Eberhardt), and Saxonian and Silesian fronts (for Hitter) and had their centers of command at Munich, Vienna, and Dresden, respectively. While he was also preparing to relay a similar message to Heydrich, Phelps, and Teichmann, so that they could inform them to go in with their forces,

The past couple of weeks had been stressful for Zangen. He had gone from a WW1 veteran turned relatively unknown divisional commander to the commander of 230,000 men seemingly overnight, now the head of making sure the German vengeance against the Czechs was felt for the attempt on Heydrich’s life. Sure he saw it was at least a little expected, he has rewarded the Iron Cross for his service in WW1 after all, but it still felt unexpected nonetheless. And he still had trouble adapting to the lifestyle. Of having to meet with subordinate commanders every day. Of having to read reports of the state of the hundreds of thousands of troops he had under his command. Of having to organize the logistics to feed and equip said troops. By now, he couldn’t imagine the stress the commanders over in the East were feeling, especially when the big summer offensive to take the Caucasus had just started the day before.

But for now, all of that stress would have to be put on the back burner, even if he hoped he could offer a demotion back to a divisional command after Operation Vermin. But as the time ticked closer and closer down to 0900, he began preparing his telegrams, hoping to get his subordinates the messages as quickly as possible so the operation could commence. As the clock hit 0900, the messages were then sent, and afterwards Zangen began praying to God, to hope that Operation Vermin doesn’t fail.

Near Pilsen
A band of Czech partisans moves through the countryside, constantly wary and looking at their surroundings as if they could get ambushed at any moment. While Operation Anthropoid and the purges afterward largely avoided the partisans and emboldened many groups to attack German installations, many were still cautious, fearing that the Germans would come back stronger than ever.

This particular band of partisans was a decent-sized one, consisting of about a platoon’s worth of men (48 in total), and the group had been active in t he Western region of Bohemia and Moravia for a few months now. By this point, they had been able to kill a good number of lone-wolf German soldiers and were also able to conduct one of the few successful railway sabotage attacks after Anthropoid. And while they had lost some of their men when the Germans counterattacked, they were largely able to escape intact.

The platoon had heard of rumors that the Germans were gonna reinvade the protectorate on June 29, the day after Case Blue, in an operation called “Operation Vermin” as a reprisal for the attack on Heydrich. They had decided to wait and see, as they had almost always kept near the border in their movements throughout the region, meaning they could be the first theoretical victims of a German attack. By this point, they were just outside the city of Pilsen, a mere dozen kilometers from the German border, and the time was around 9:10. But as the group waited to rest and check their weapons, they heard jackboots nearby. Realizing Germans were near, the platoon prepared for battle, with their only weapons being rifles stolen from previous battles,

That head start allowed them to hide under the bushes before they let the Germans in sight and let go a volley of bullets, killing 26 German troops. A firefight began and then continued for nearly an hour, and by that point, all 48 of the Czechs had died, but they took with them 52 Germans, decimating the unit they were fighting even if it got reinforcements from another platoon. But the Czech platoon didn’t succeed in slowing down the Germans as Pilsen had already been reoccupied by this point and the Germans were continuing their advance into Czechia. Meanwhile, high command ordered both units to merge and recoup inside the reoccupied Pilsen, hoping to have them back on the frontlines by the second day.

London
Moravec and Beneš were praying inside a private room. Ever since the rejection of both their plans by the RAF high command (who didn’t even report those plans to Churchill), the pair had increasingly resorted to praying to hope through. They knew what was coming, they knew the ruin and destruction that would come, they knew they were powerless to do anything. The RAF wasn’t gonna bomb a place as far away as Czechia, let alone parashoot a couple of thousand men to help the Czech resistance in what was practically a suicide mission. They could parashoot a couple of dozen, which was why that damned failed assassination of Heydrich happened at all, but they weren't gonna parachute a couple thousand.

If only he had been killed on that fateful day over a month ago, they wouldn’t be in this. The Munich Agreement would have been dissolved and they would have been recognized as the real successor to Czechoslovakia. That monster, would have perished as a show of force for the Czechs. Sure the reprisals would still have happened, but at the very least the Germans would not have gotten the idea to reinvade Czechia like they did in 1939. If only that had happened, if only. But now they could sit, watch, and pray in horror as the bloodshed begins.

 

[SirHalifax]

It begins.

 

[jasper the spectator]

At 9 AM on June 29, the assault that had been planned for over a month began as Germany invaded Czechia, now the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, once again. But this time, the Czech nation was completely surrounded, as Slovakia was now a German puppet state, Poland had fallen to Germany years ago and Hungary was a staunch member of the Axis. The resistance was largely disorganized and unprepared for what was to come, and after a limited artillery barrage targetting villages slated for destruction close to the border, hundreds of thousands of men swarmed into the protectorate, preparing to enact Germany’s revenge.

The day the attack began, Joseph Goebbels made a speech to the Reichstag declaring the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was “in a state of rebellion” and that this attack was to “put down the Czech vermin for what they had done to the German people. For attempting to assassinate one of its model Aryans and withholding millions of Germans from the Fatherland” and that by the end “the Czech nation would be nothing but a smoldering ruin, fully incorporated into the Fatherland so that their Untermensch blood shall be cleaned!”.

With the infantry spread out, SS-Gruppenführer Arthur Phelps had decided to concentrate his SS divisions into a spearhead to drive straight to Prague and then the rest of the country, only stopping in Slovakia. The Prinz Eugen division would be the spearhead, led by the captured French tanks that made up its Panzer battalion, while the 1st SS Police Regiment and cavalry of the Florian Geyer would keep the flanks stable and keep the spearhead from being cut off. By noon the spearhead had already reached Prague, with Heydrich allowing the troops passage through the city. He ordered the SS Police Regiment to not make arrests; the city had already been cleared, and he told them to continue following the SS divisions deeper into Czechia. By the evening they were at the Slovak border, even if the trek took a heavy toll on the captured French tanks that needed weeks to be fully operational once again.

The situation repeated itself throughout Czechia. The infantry moved in and quickly dealt with any Czech partisan resistance they could find while capturing towns and cities quickly, with the Police, SS, and Einsatzgruppen following behind, making their executions and arrests while wiping villages off the map for alleged “partisan activity”. By the end of the day the majority of the Protectorate had been “re-occupied”, with only a small pocket in the center of the country uncleared, the Germans having taken only a few hundred casualties, entirely to firefights with Czech partisans.

The international reaction came in quickly. Stalin offered a “moment of solidarity” from the Soviet Union for the Czechs as Slavic brothers also facing Nazi oppression, encouraging the entirety of Slavdom to fight the Nazis with all the might they can muster, using examples of Soviet valiance against the Germans thus far in the Great Patriotic War as motivation. The Czech government in exile in London led by Moravec and Beneš vehemently condemned Operation Vermin as a “slaughter of the Czech people and identity” and petitioned the British government to do something as an act of retaliation. But the British avoided making an official statement for now, only further angering Moravec and Beneš who were still bitter after everything that happened with the RAF High Command weeks ago.

 

[SirHalifax]

And… that was much quicker than I anticipated. I was expecting something like a Warsaw Uprising spread across all of Czechia.

 

[Whiteshore]

Assuming Czechoslovakia still falls under the Soviet sphere of influence, what would be interesting would be how Operation Vermin's aftermath and results affect Sovietization of the country and all that, especially as Czechoslovakia was the slowest of the Eastern Bloc countries to be "Sovietized" IOTL.

 

[jasper the spectator]

Assuming Czechoslovakia still falls under the Soviet sphere of influence, what would be interesting would be how Operation Vermin's aftermath and results affect Sovietization of the country and all that, especially as Czechoslovakia was the slowest of the Eastern Bloc countries to be "Sovietized" IOTL.

I doubt i'm gonna push this TL that far, even now idk how long i'll have Heydrich survive for (even if he's going to France within the next few chapters at the least), but i can imagine 2 things:
1. Stalin's show of support for the Czechs during Operation Vermin could tip public opinion in Soviet favor.
2. Continued British inaction could push the Czechoslovak government in exile to pursue closer ties to the Soviets over the Allies.

 

[Whiteshore]

I doubt i'm gonna push this TL that far, even now idk how long i'll have Heydrich survive for (even if he's going to France within the next few chapters at the least), but i can imagine 2 things:
1. Stalin's show of support for the Czechs during Operation Vermin could tip public opinion in Soviet favor.
2. Continued British inaction could push the Czechoslovak government in exile to pursue closer ties to the Soviets over the Allies.

So Sovietization of Czechslovakia would probably be a quicker process than OTL (where it was only achieved in 1948 whereas Sovietization in other Eastern Bloc countries like Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria was achieved in 1946-1947)?

 

[jasper the spectator]

So Sovietization of Czechslovakia would probably be a quicker process than OTL (where it was only achieved in 1948 whereas Sovietization in other Eastern Bloc countries like Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria was achieved in 1946-1947)?

With a more cooperative public and a more supportive government in exile alienated by British inaction, they could pull it off. I do hope someone more knowledgeable can weigh in on this though, again, I doubt I'm gonna push this timeline any farther than the Nuremberg trials assuming Heydrich survives that long.

 

[jasper the spectator]

On the noon of June 30, the German advance resumed as the Army of Bohemia moved into the small area in the center of Czechia they hadn't yet re-occupied. The morning had been spent completely clearing the already "re-occupied" areas, with the village burning and executions made by the Army of Bohemia and it's police units being done with record speed. These village burnings refined Nazi anti-partisan tactics and doctrine, and influenced Nazi anti-partisan warfare throughout Europe, particularly in Belarus where Curt von Gottberg used refined tactics learned from Vermin to horrifying degrees in his series of anti-partisan operations throughout the region.

The Holocaust was also implemented to its purest degree so far in the Protectorate up to this point. By now about 6,000 Jews had already been transported further East, the vast majority going to Lodz with some having gone to Minsk. And the Theresienstadt Ghetto was housing thousands of Jews already. But that still left tens of thousands of Jews within its borders, and Operation Vermin intended to rectify that. In the middle of the night, the Germans rounded up the remaining Jews within the re-occupied areas. The elderly (Jews older than 65) and "prominent" Jews were sent off to Theresienstadt Ghetto, which would have its non-Jewish population expelled to accommodate them and future residents consisting of Jews from Germany and Austria. The younger ones were mostly deported further East, either to the death camps in Poland which had been expanded by Operation Reinhard, or to execution sites in German-occupied areas in the Soviet Union, with a small handful being moved to Theresienstadt to be used for forced labor.

Back to the attack, with the Germans now having a more concentrated dispersion of troops due to the far shorter border, they repeated the tactics of yesterday, with the infantry moving in to re-assert German control over areas while dealing with partisans. While the Security forces followed closely behind, destroying the few remaining villages that hadn't been destroyed already, capturing Jews and deporting them elsewhere, and dealing with partisan resistance that hadn't been dealt with by the infantry. By the evening, the protectorate had been completely re-occupied. The Army of Bohemia spent the next few days clearing all pockets of resistance they could still find, with the remaining partisans having been cleared while the remaining arrests were made. By July 1, Heydrich proclaimed to Hitler in a letter "Czechia has been cleaned Mein Fuhrer".

The overall death toll from the Operation has been generally agreed to be close to at least 40,000-50,000. The vast majority had come from the clearing of villages, with around 85% of the arrested dying either in forced labor or later executions. And the Operation also cleared the nascent partisan movement in Czechia and short-circuited it to the point where it didn't grow later in the war like most of the other partisan movements in German-occupied countries. The death toll would over double if it were to include the deaths from Czech Jews due to the deportations.

Back to Heydrich, Hitler responded with a surprisingly stern letter, to his surprise, telling him he was relieved of his duties as Acting Reichsprotektor of the Protectorate and that he should meet him in Berlin on July 3. Heydrich felt this was the moment he had been dreading since the day he almost died. He had pondered about resigning and agreeing to where Hitler was gonna send him the day those damned commandos died, but he decided against it. He considered doing it again the day of Operation Vermin, but he decided to wait, until now. Was this the request the Fuhrer was talking about back on that fateful day? He would find out soon enough.

 

[jasper the spectator]

Reinhard Heydrich quickly and nervously walks down the halls of the New Reich Chancellery on the way to the Fuhrer’s office, pacing his way through whoever’s in his way. It had been months since he had last been there, back when the Fuhrer first appointed him as Deputy Reich Protector of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. He had done alot in the months since then, largely pacifying the Protectorate by employing tactics to keep the population under control and crushing any resistance in his wake.

He thought of that fateful day over a month ago, when he was supposed to come here for a meeting with the Fuhrer but almost lost his life in the process. After that, he sought to crush any and all resistance left in the Protectorate before he’d acquiesce to Hitler’s recalling and told the man himself about it. And after he surprisingly agreed and planned a whole operation with the SS and Heer to re-invade the protectorate, he felt relief for the first time since before the assassination, even more so when the supposed assassins were found in a basement and killed.

He had contemplated writing to Hitler and telling him he’d be ready to be recalled out of the protectorate several times since then, but never did it, deciding to wait til after Operation Vermin ended to go do that. But to his surprise, it seemed Hitler might have known about this, which was why that letter 3 days ago was such a shock, he didn’t think he knew. But if he did, only god knows what would happen next. But Heydrich forced that fear out of his mind as he approached the door, and as he knocked on the door, he nervously entered the room, with Hitler sitting at his table.

“Heil, Mein Fuhrer!” he greeted Hitler with as he saluted him.

“Guten Tag, Heydrich. Nice to see you again.”

“So, what did you want me to do back in May?”

“I’d knew you’d say that, and well, i wanted to recall you to Berlin that fateful day, so i can send you to France and Belgium?”

“France and Belgium? Why Mein Fuhrer?

“I wanted you to keep a hold of both countries, France in particular. Partisans over there haven’t done as much damage compared to other places yet, but in case the resistance becomes stronger later on, i want you to go there to nip it in the bud. That means crushing the resistance using the same tactics, policies, and reprisals you used in Czechia. But of course, that plan was interrupted when you almost got killed, and while i didn't want you stay longer in the protectorate, i decided to wait til after Operation Vermin to recall you, so you could properly deal your revenge on the Czechs. I've largely revised my original plan after that, which included adding Belgium under your jurisdiction."

"Well that's ironic, i've considered telling you i was ready to be recalled since the assassins were killed, but also decided to wait until Operation Vermin was over before I'd do that."

"Huh, maybe you could've been in France right now if you were just confident enough to tell me."
"Anyways, you’ve already been relieved of your position of Reichsprotektor in Bohemia. Afterward, you'll have to go to Paris to assume your position of Higher SS and Police Leader in both Occupied France and the Reichskommissariat for Belgium and Northern France, but you won’t be appointed as Reichskommissar or Military Commander in either of these areas. I've already arranged a meeting between you, Falkenhausen, and Stülpnagel to discuss how to implement your policies from Czechia in France and Belgium, how to create a coordinated effort to destroy the resistance, and other things, which will happen on the 8th. Make sure you attend."

“Got that, Mein Fuhrer. What else do you want me to do in France?”

“First, i want you to intensify the Nacht und Nebel decree’s implementation. Your SD has largely been responsible for carrying out this decree, so transfer more SD agents to France so we can carry out more of these operations.”

“Second, fully implement the Final Solution in France and Belgium. As of now, there are still over 300,000 Jews in France and around 66-75,000 in Belgium. For now, you should focus on deporting all of the Jews in our occupied zone and the Reichkomimissariat further East, mostly to the death camps, we’ll deal with the Jews in Vichy France later on.”

“And third, you should help in fully constructing the Atlantic Wall. I’ve already ordered the creation of this over 3 months ago, but little progress has been made. I want you to go and use your authority to help construct the Atlantic Wall, preferably by using your SS and Police forces to help man defenses along the wall. That way we can keep those pesky Jewish puppets in London and Washington from stepping foot on Europe ever again.”

“That’s about all i have to say, and these topics (and several more) will be covered at that meeting on the 8th. Do you still have questions, Heydrich?”

“I have a couple of questions. First, what will happen to the troops in the Army of Bohemia?”

“I’m gonna meet with Himmler, Keitel, and Jodl again, alongside Phelps, Teichmann, Zangen, von Armin, Eberhardt, and Hitter again on the 6th to determine the redeployments of the Army of Bohemia’s units. Most of them will likely return to their previous occupation zones, so expect a few divisions coming your way, but there’s a chance a couple could be sent to Case Blue.”

“Ok, next, who will replace me as Reichsprotektor?”

“So, Nuerath had attempted resigning in 1941, and i have re-reviewed his request and accepted it, largely so that lenient weasel can’t return as Reichsprotektor. For his replacement, i’ve decided on replacing him with Karl Hermann Frank. He has been Secretary of State and Chief of Police under Nuerath, and had hoped to become Acting Reichsprotektor after i relieved Neurath before i chose you."

“That’s a great choice, Mein Fuhrer. He has helped me a lot in implementing the reprisals i’ve done on the Czechs since the attempt, especially the deportation of the Jews during Operation Vermin. And i’ve had a good working relationship with him, so much so i could call him a friend. He’d do great in keeping the Protectorate under control after i’m gone.”

"And finally, remember when you said awhile ago that the 2 of us should meet in July 6 with Himmler? What happened to that?"

"It was mostly a change of plans brought by Operation Vermin ending a lot faster than i expected. After i got reports that it was done, I decided that i was gonna meet with you separately and that i was gonna meet with Himmler later on. I don't really know what he feels about that, but i can't imagine he's too mad."

"Ok, i think that's all Heydrich, you're dismissed."

"Ok, Mein Fuhrer, i promise once i'm done France and Belgium will be purged of both resistors and undesirables. Heil Hitler!"

 

[Whiteshore]

"Ok, Mein Fuhrer, i promise once i'm done France and Belgium will be purged of both resistors and undesirables. Heil Hitler!"

This is not a good sign, especially with what happened in Bohemia lately.

 

[jasper the spectator]

This is not a good sign, especially with what happened in Bohemia lately.

Even if i'm not sure if Operation Vermin increased the overall death count of the Holocaust (the general estimate of how many Jews were rounded up is around 75,000, based on what numbers i could find) if Heydrich is able to repeat those deportations with the French and Belgian Jews (which he'll definitely try to), given how many of them survived the war IOTL, the results won't be pretty.

 

[SirHalifax]

Well, RIP to a good chunk of the French population.