Mid-September 1944, outskirts of Vienna.
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
A massive army was marching imposingly down the road.
Only, this imposing army wasn't the Allies—it was the captured Hydra Corps.
Allied soldiers marching in vehicles, armored cars, and tanks on both sides of the road looked at this spirited army and, for a moment, began to doubt who the defeated side really was.
"Look at these guys—even after being defeated, they still march with pride!" General McGinnis said, swaying slightly in the front passenger seat of a jeep, speaking to Josh who was seated in the back.
American military officers liked to sit in the front passenger seat out of habit, so there was no hierarchy implied by seat positions as in typical political settings.
Josh and his party had flown with General McGinnis to a battlefield airport on the outskirts of Vienna. Escorted by guards, they were heading into the city.
On the way, they happened to encounter this Hydra Corps unit of about 100,000 prisoners being escorted by the Allies.
"Has the Allied side decided how to handle these POWs?" Josh asked, watching the unit with a thoughtful look.
"Of course. According to General Eisenhower's orders, these prisoners will first be screened by the newly formed Austrian provisional government to identify the Austrians. The rest will be sent to the Rhine camps," General McGinnis said casually. "Why? You interested in them?"
"Of course I am. A well-trained, orderly group like this would make excellent factory labor, don't you think?" Josh said with a slight smile.
"Hahaha, classic capitalist talk. But I like it. If you're serious, I'll put in a word. Though you can't take all of them, half should be no problem. But we're talking tens of thousands—can you handle that? Don't cause any trouble!" McGinnis asked.
To the American military, whether German or Hydra POWs, it didn't really matter. Their fate was ultimately decided by high-ranking officers.
Though the fighting had been fierce, apart from Jewish people, there was little deep hatred toward Germans—mostly just burdens.
Before time-traveling, Josh had once read an online article claiming that nearly five million POWs were held in American-built Rhine camps, and 750,000 died in just three months.
The article was well-written and included citations, so many believed it.
But where did that 750,000 figure come from?
It originated from the 1989 book Other Losses: An Investigation into the Mass Deaths of German Prisoners at the Hands of Eisenhower by Canadian author James Bacque.
And who was Bacque? Not a statistician or historian—just a Canadian novelist.
When the book was published, it caused an uproar in Western WWII historical circles.
Soon after, many historians pointed out the book's flaws—mainly that Bacque counted released prisoners as dead, so the real number was only in the tens of thousands.
After the war, wealthy and connected Germans often paid to ransom family members.
Occupying forces also needed cheap labor.
So many of the mysteriously missing prisoners were simply released through employment or ransom—just like what Josh was doing now.
From the U.S. military's perspective, this eased supply burdens and generated income—why not?
And it wasn't just the U.S. fudging numbers—the Soviets had similar issues.
Online rumors claimed the Soviets captured 4 million Germans, of which 2 million died in Siberia.
But what was the truth?
Nearly half of those four million were troops from Axis satellite states, who were mostly released or converted into puppet state armies after re-education.
Only about two million were German or Austrian, and although many were held longer and used as labor, the death toll never reached two million.
But propagandists simply subtracted those two million early releases and added them to the death toll to smear the Soviets.
More reliable data came from German sources, showing 400,000–500,000 POWs died or failed to return postwar, with only 300,000+ dying in Eastern Europe and a little over 100,000 in Western Europe.
And most of those in Western Europe weren't killed by Americans, but by the French, Belgians, and Dutch—who had been brutalized by the Nazis during the war.
"I can definitely handle it. I'll just need some time. Until then, General, I'll need to borrow some manpower from you," Josh said with a smile.
Managing tens of thousands of POWs without incident would be a nightmare for most people—but for Josh, it was very doable.
He just needed to pick high-ranking officers with enough influence and send them to Yuri for some "training"—then everything would be under control.
"The only issue might be housing. But I believe Ms. Ophelia will help me with that, right?" Josh turned to Ophelia beside him.
"Of course, Mr. Kane. It's an honor as an ally," Ophelia responded with a smile.
McGinnis watched the back-and-forth and clearly noticed the change in their relationship.
But he just shrugged and didn't dwell on it. Young people—these things happen.
And just like that, with a few words, the fate of tens of thousands of POWs was decided by Josh and McGinnis.
As they spoke, their convoy slowly entered Vienna.
Upon entering the city of music, Josh's ears were filled with Beethoven's symphonies… not a hallucination, but actually from seven or eight tuxedoed performers on the roadside.
"Where is the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts?" Josh suddenly asked Ophelia, looking at the performers.
"Uh… in the city center," Ophelia answered, confused by the question.
"What, Josh, are you into art?" McGinnis asked curiously, turning around.
"Oh, not really. I just think that when it comes to this world war, the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts might be half to blame!" Josh said with a smirk.
This internet joke of the future had never been heard in this era so both of them were baffled but even the driver perked up his ears.
Josh smiled and explained the origin of the joke.
Immediately, General McGinnis burst into loud laughter.
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