Chapter 23:
April 10, 1938
Linz, on the banks of the Danube River in northern Austria Mussolini, who had blocked the annexation of Austria in 1934, gave his tacit approval after Hitler offered the condition of renouncing Germany's sovereignty over Südtirol (the South Tyrol region, historically Austrian territory, that was ceded to Italy after World War I).
The nominal League of Nations remained silent, and Hitler and the Nazis, having swallowed Austria, began to openly proclaim their claims to the Sudetenland, Danzig, and Memelland, vowing to recover Germany's former territory.
These territories belonged to the sovereign states of Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Lithuania, respectively, and while the international community had yet to show a serious reaction, they would soon realize that Hitler's claims were becoming a tangible threat.
We remained garrisoned in Linz even after Hitler's declaration of Austria's reunification.
For the first few days, even our supplies were inconsistent, so we had to pay residents for lodging and meals, and even officers' vehicles had to be refueled at Austrian civilian gas stations.
Thankfully, as a month went by, the situation was slowly beginning to normalize.
Back in Spain, I had thought the Condor Legion's military discipline was lax due to its liberal atmosphere, being made up of volunteer soldiers in name, but it turned out the Korean army I was used to just had pointless hazing!
The German regular army I actually led was in far greater chaos than the Condor Legion, which had always been exposed to the threat of actual combat.