by gerald hall
“Harold, I wish you the best of luck with all of the work that you are doing back home. I will contact you if I need your skills with the Germans again, of course.”
Chapter Twenty:
Underground Government Facilities
London, England
October 17, 1943
Prime Minister Churchill was looking at the latest reports from British and allied intelligence agents throughout Europe when he came across an obscure report about train movement from Poland to Italy and Greece. He pondered the report for a few moments before asking his assistant to bring in reports about the Nazi concentration camps from just after Hitler’s death. Churchill had been looking closely at German intentions after receiving the first tentative feelers from German officials about a possible peace deal. Harold had sent some information about the German starting positions, but the first series of meetings had not yet been completed. The news from Harold about the German’s proposed ‘Gentleman’s Agreement’ was exciting. But at the same time, it was tempered by the German insistence on regaining territory given up by treaty after the end of the First World War.
There were also some very curious reports coming out of the Middle East as well. Churchill intently looked over the various reports for more than an hour before immediately calling for the senior intelligence analyst for the area in the Middle East that included the Levant, Major Jonathan Wilkins. Churchill also asked for a senior analyst from the Balkans as well. Major Wilkins arrived at the Prime Minister’s office less than an hour later. Major Simon Taggart from the Balkans desk arrived a few minutes later.
“Good afternoon, Gentlemen. Please take seats.”
“Thank you, Sir. What may we help you with?” Major Wilkins asked.
“I was looking at some of these latest reports coming out of the Balkans where the German rail traffic has made some rather dramatic changes. There are hundreds of boxcars coming down from Poland, eastern Germany and elsewhere in Eastern Europe. Their originating points all seem to be starting from places where we have heard that the Germans were sending Jews and other peoples that they considered ‘undesirable’.
Do either of you gentlemen have any idea what the Germans are doing with these trains? Obviously, they are not moving troops down to the Mediterranean with them.” Churchill asked.
“Sir, I believe that the Germans are moving troops, just not to the south. My sources are telling me that German troops are being moved north from Italy, Greece and the Balkans to the northeast instead. There is also an increased movement of weapons and ammunition to the Russian front.” Major Taggart explained.
“So the Germans are sending more troops to the Russian front?”
“Yes, Sir. However, those boxcars are not going south empty. There are new camps popping up all along the Aegean. But they are little more than tent cities surrounded by barbed wire fences. These new camps are beginning to fill up with many tens of thousands of Poles, Russians, Slavs and even some Western Europeans. The element that appear seems to be common to virtually all of them are they are Jews. The common element was that all of this apparently started shortly after Hitler’s death and the consolidation of political and military power within the German High Command.”
“This is very curious, especially with the continued rumors of camps like Treblinka and Dachau being used for forced labor and the mass execution of their prisoners. Why would the Germans want to abandon a labor source in the middle of a war? For that matter, why would they risk the escape of witnesses to war crimes?” Churchill noted while thinking silently that there was some piece to this puzzle that he simply had not seen yet.
“This might actually explain something that has been going on in the Levant, Sir. You know that the Arabs attempted an uprising or Intifada against our authorities a few years ago. Things are getting heated up again all over the areas near Haifa, Hebron and Jerusalem. There are thousands of pamphlets being found telling the Arabs that the Jews are coming to steal their land. The sources of the pamphlets supposed is Amin al-Hussaini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.
These pamphlets are causing all kinds of disruptions within the entire region. Who knows what will happen if the rumors turned out to be real. The local Jewish leaders are trying to play down all of this. However, something about how the Zionist factions have been acting lately is more than a trifle suspicious.” Major Wilkins explained.
Churchill thought about all of this for a few moments before responding.
“Tell me, Major Taggart. Have you seen any indications of increased shipping activity along the Aegean near these new camps?”
“Yes, Sir. We have. The curious part that instead of smaller boats that are better suited for smuggling, these have been larger freighters that have been showing up at ports near these camps. We haven’t been targeting them for bombing simply because they weren’t being used for transporting military equipment. Most of them are older ships that are probably one trip away from the breakers anyway.”
It finally hit Churchill what was happening and the implications for the British.
“Why you brilliant bastards. The Germans are going to ship all of their Jewish prisoners to Palestine and dump them all right in our lap. You know what all of those Jews are going to try to do, especially with so many Zionists among them.”
“Yes, I’m afraid that I do know. That is a hell of a thing for the Jerries to do. They have to know that a mass migration of more than a million and a half Jews to Palestine will utterly enrage the Arab population in the entire Levant, not to mention the Saudis, Iraqis and probably even the Persians. None of the Mohammedans want the Jews to reestablish a Zionist state right on top of land that they have claimed for Islam.” Major Wilkins said with a scowl. He wasn’t even aware of the attempts by the Germans to create another armistice with Britain.
“Yes, it would. And we would have to devote more of our limited military resources to try to curtail the bloodshed. The Germans have to know that we can’t afford to turn the ships back either. The world press would have a field day. Any chance of getting help from the Americans would disappear as well if photos would show up with British troops fending off a bunch of ragged Jewish refugees at bayonet’s point. Something this big doesn’t happen overnight. This is why we weren’t seeing this movement of refugees until recently.”
“If we do nothing, the Arabs will also be angry with us. We are extremely dependent upon them for the oil that fuels our ships.”
“We clearly are stuck with a Hobson’s Choice here. Whatever we do, we are going to pay a heavy price for it. I need to be kept appraised on this situation on the off chance that we can find a satisfactory solution. But it seems that the Germans are going to make us comply with the Balfour Declaration, whether we like it or not.”
“It is certainly going to take some of our troops away from the front lines and allow the Germans to free up more personnel of their own to fight the Soviets, Sir. That is one hell of an elegant solution for Germany. You have to admire the Germans for this move. But we have to remember that they have done this sort of thing before in the Great War too when they sent Lenin back to Russia. That stirred up the Bolshevik Revolution and took Russia out of the war.” Major Taggart noted.
“Yes, I remember. That cost us a hell of a lot of lives during that last year of the war too.” Churchill lamented.
“Perhaps this time, the Russians will be the ones paying the butcher’s bill instead of us. That would be only fair after what the Germans did to us before.” Major Taggart wryly commented.
“But what will the Jews do once they do get down to Palestine? We are talking about possibly millions of them arriving there from Europe and the Soviet Union. If conditions for them under the Nazis are anything nearly as horrific as we have heard, the Jews will not be in any mood to make accommodations with anyone. They are going to want their Jewish state right away and will fight to make the borders as defensible as possible. Then, who knows what will happen next.” Major Wilkins noted.
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nbsp; “Right now, you two gentlemen will have the unenviable job of determining what is happening down there and predicting what will happen next. We simply do not have the resources available to deal with another major insurrection in the Mandate.
You have your marching orders now. I will expect regular situation reports from you both.” Churchill finally said.
German High Command Headquarters
Berlin, Germany
October 21, 1943
The atmosphere in the conference room at the German High Command Headquarters was quiet and formal as more than a dozen high ranking admirals, generals and field marshals gathered from the entire German. This meeting had been quietly arranged to conduct operational and strategic planning for the war. All of the participants there were also privy to the details of Adolf Hitler’s death, though some people that would be joining the meeting later had not been included in that piece of very sensitive information.
“The SS troops are getting restless. Some of them are even openly claiming that members of the Wehrmacht were responsible for the death of Hitler. We need to do something about this before this rumor becomes widespread throughout the ranks.” An Abwehr colonel reported.
“I know. Many in the Schutzstaffel gave their personal oath to Hitler himself. They are having a very difficult time serving anyone else, especially with the arrests and executions of so many top officials within the National Socialist Party. Death seems to be the only thing that will break their oath to the late Fuhrer.” General Heinz Guderian explained.
“Then it is death that we must give them. But how? We cannot simply arrest them all and sentence them to death. We would have a revolt even within the Wehrmacht, much less the SS units.” Field Marshall Kesselring replied.
“This is how we must give them the glorious death that they seek. Put all of the SS units on the leading edge of the front line for the attacks on the strongest Soviet positions. We will not abandon them completely. However, we also will not risk the lives of other German soldiers unnecessarily to save them either. The SS will be the bleeding edge of our sword as we strike our final blows to destroy the Bolsheviks. If in the course of battle, the SS is bled completely out, so be it. We want to especially eliminate those Bosnian SS units that were recruited by that Islamic rabble-rouser from Palestine. Any of those fanatics who survive fighting the Bolsheviks will certainly plague us all for years to come.” Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein forcefully said.
A major quickly walked into the conference room and announced that Minister of War Production Albert Speer had arrived.
“Minister Speer, we are very pleased that you were able to come. We have much to talk about concerning the production of vital war materiel. Obviously, our troops continue to deal with severe shortages of equipment, fuel and ammunition.” Manstein noted.
”We are doing the best that we can. Strategic metals and other minerals are still critically short. Recent events have also created another problem. We have lost a considerable amount of affordable manpower as a result of the camps being shut down and the Juden being sent to Palestine. This has created additional production bottlenecks. Herr Field Marshal.”
“I understand that, Herr Speer. However, we had other pressing issues that required us to close down the camps. This eliminates the ‘Juden problem’, that the late Fuhrer focused so much public attention to during his rise to power while freeing up significant transportation assets for the movement of troops and materiel to the Eastern Front. While the Juden and other forced labor assets swelled the numbers of available workers for your factories, the quality of their products dropped precipitously. Many of our tanks and aircraft have broken down in the middle of battle because of the deliberate sabotage inflicted by these unwilling participants in our war industries. We need to employ more loyal Germans in war production rather unreliable foreign labor.”
“That will mean that our labor costs will climb dramatically. We would also need to employ more German women into the industrial workforce. This will take many of them away from their traditional childbearing and childrearing responsibilities.”
“ It is better that our tools of war are made with willing German hands than churned out poorly by a slave who has nothing to look forward to but death and the opportunity to cause the deaths of patriotic German soldiers.”
“Herr Field Marshall, to restore some semblance of needed production levels would require recruiting many thousands of workers to replace what we have recently lost as a result of the High Command’s decision.”
“I would rather that we accept slightly lower numbers of armored vehicles with a much higher reliability. My soldiers need to be able to trust that their Panzers will work when they drive onto the battlefield. I reiterate that I would much rather rely upon superior German quality for the tools of war that my soldiers use. If our women do not wish to participate in their patriotic duty, then remind them that the Russian barbarians will not be so kind to our women if the Russians are able to invade the Fatherland.”
“I will do my best, Herr Field Marshall.”
“We would like to hear your report on the progress of advanced weapons under development, Herr Speer.”
“I’m sure that General Galland will be very pleased to hear that production on the new jet fighters is proceeding, though numbers are not as great as we would like.”
“When will we be able to get these new fighters into squadron service? We are still facing weekly heavy bomber attacks by the Englanders. It has been more difficult to intercept the bomber raids since the Englanders began to receive those long-range escort fighters from the Americans.”
“The Englanders and their damned bombers will be dealt with, I assure you. The tools that you require are coming.”
“Danke. You are dismissed, Herr Speer.” Field Marshall Manstein said.
After Minister Speer departed from the conference room, the subject changed to the ongoing peace negotiations.
“Our meetings in Switzerland with the representatives of the Englanders have been somewhat inconclusive. We have offered to cease all offensive operations against England and its Commonwealth. However, the Englanders are insisting that Germany withdraw to its original borders as part of an overall peace accord.”
Guderian laughed for a moment before speaking.
“We all know that our negotiators are sent out with positions that are meant to be a starting point, not the end result. Winston Churchill is well-known to be extraordinarily tough in public. He needs to have the opportunity to maintain that appearance, even if these meetings are being kept out of the world’s view.
Churchill has already made the first step accommodation with us anyway.”
“What do you mean, Herr General?” Manstein asked.
“I am surprised that you did not recognize it already. Churchill did so when he ended protection by the Royal Navy for convoys going to the northern Soviet ports. It is obvious that he wants the Soviet Union destroyed just as badly as we do. We know from his statements prior to the war that Churchill has no love for the Bolsheviks.
However, he must maintain the appearance of still actively conducting offensive operations against us for political reasons. I am certain that this is why the Royal Air Force still sends their heavy bombers weekly to set fire to our cities in spite of the losses that the Englander bomber crews have taken.”
“You don’t think that we should just allow the Englanders to continue to target our women and children with their bombers, do you?” Guderian sarcastically asked.
“Of course, not. But I’m sure that General Galland here would appreciate if we devoted more resources towards the production of new fighters to defend the Fatherland with. We have wasted enough on useless projects like tanks that are too heavy to drive over a bridge and battleships that each use enough steel to equip an entire Panzer Army.” Guderian noted to the chagrin of a few of the Kriegsmarine officers in attendance who still dreamed of having more battleships constructed.
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p; “Yes, if my pilots were given enough fuel and aircraft, we could fend off the Englanders’ bombers from our cities and ports. We could also keep the Bolsheviks’ damned Strumovik’s off of the Field Marshall’s Panzers as well.’ General Adolf Galland said with a ferocious smile.
“General Galland, I already know what aircraft that you want most of all. The new Messerschmitt jet fighters are not quite ready for production though from what I understand.” Manstein countered.
“But with a reallocation of resources by the War Production office, these new jets can be readied and put into production very quickly. I have already flown one of the prototypes of the Messerschmitt. It can outrun anything that the Englanders or even the Americans have in the air. Then let’s see if the Englanders will be flying bombing missions over the Fatherland very often afterwards.” Galland quickly retorted.
“Gentlemen, we must all work together if we are going to successfully bring this war to an end and preserve our Fatherland.” Guderian interjected.
“I agree. Hopefully, we will have accomplished some good out of all of German blood that has been shed. We will then be the masters of our own destiny once again. The time of foreigners controlling our people, from within and without, is coming to an end.” Manstein finally said to end the discussion.
Field Marshal Manstein, like most of the German senior military leaders, was first and foremost a German nationalist. This background distinctly colored his views on the war and on the future of Germany. Right now, his focus is on defeating the greatest threat to the Fatherland. That threat is the Soviet Union.
Port of Haifa
Haifa, Palestinian Mandate
November 3, 1943.