Untimely Designs

by gerald hall

  Just before the beginning of another morning marathon session of meetings, Arthur Connelly knocked on the President-elect’s office door before coming in.

  “Sir. We have received a priority telegraph from Prime Minister Churchill. He has received another message from the Germans requesting a meeting to discuss an armistice. Churchill wants to send a representative who won’t necessarily be noticed but who can speak for the Allies.”

  “Does he have someone particular in mind? A diplomat? A prominent political figure? Who?” Dewey quickly asked.

  “It seems that the Germans prefer going through intermediaries from the business community. They have approached us through German and Swedish businessmen in the past. We want to send someone of our own from the business community. He would be someone who is very skilled in the art of negotiation as well as being intimately aware of the current political and military situation.”

  “Who might that be?” Dewey asked again, his curiosity growing.

  “Minister Churchill intends on sending a close friend of his, Mister Harold Cavill, to be his personal peace envoy and negotiator. Apparently, Minister Churchill has a great deal of confidence in this Australian business leader.”

  “Make sure that Prime Minister Churchill knows that we will be supporting him in his efforts against the Axis to the fullest extent possible. Maybe we can win this particular war without ever officially firing a shot.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three:

  Swiss Foreign Ministry Office

  Geneva, Switzerland

  December 26, 1944

  Harold sat there in an empty conference room, waiting for the German delegation to arrive. With him, was one of Churchill’s most trusted aides, Sir Allen Torville. Sir Allen was one of those nondescript people who never was noticed by anyone in the media. But when something important needed to be discussed or a vital message needed to be conveyed, he was there. Harold had quietly met with German representatives seven times in the past fourteen months to discuss the possibility of ending the hostilities between Germany and the Commonwealth. No peace treaty or armistice could be settled upon each time, though no meeting ended without some small measure of success. There were always small compromises or agreements made by the two sides, but these were all kept out of the public eye because of the potential political repercussions. This time, things appeared to be different.

  A German representative briefly walked into the room and spoke in haltingly formal English before immediately leaving.

  “Minister Ribbentrop will be here shortly to speak with you, Sir.”

  “Why did the Germans send Ribbentrop as their representative? He is right up there with the worst of the Nazis from the former regime.” Harold turned and asked Sir Allen.

  “I think that the people in charge now in Berlin must believe that somehow Ribbentrop was actually supportive of their coup against Hitler because so many Foreign Office diplomats were involved. This also included someone that I believe that you are familiar with, the assistant to the German ambassador in Paris.” Torville quietly answered. He assumed that Harold already knew that British Intelligence had learned the real reason behind Hitler’s ouster as well as many of the people involved in it.

  Harold immediately remembered his meeting in Paris with Sigismund Von Braun. It had not produced much initially. But now, Harold was much more hopeful that he would be able to forge a working relationship with Sigismund’s younger brother Werner since the later meeting in Haiphong with Sigismund. But first, Harold would have to deal with Sigismund’s ultimate boss.

  “Well, let’s hope that Minister Ribbentrop will be open to a reasonable resolution to this conflict.” Harold replied.

  Just then, the door to the meeting room opened up. A pair of men dressed in formal business suits immediately entered. One was tall and in his mid-fifties, while the other was half a head shorter and perhaps twenty years younger. Obviously, the younger man was an aide due to the deference that he gave to the elder man. The younger man pointed towards Harold, quietly said something in German to the taller man and then took a step back.

  The towering man with thinning silver hair and a thin smile immediately walked forward with his right hand out.

  “Good afternoon, Herr Cavill. We have heard a great many things about you. We, Germans, had a very good business relationship with you before the war. It was unfortunate that this conflict put an end to that.” Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs Joachim von Ribbentrop said in greeting as he shook Harold’s hand firmly. Ribbentrop’s English was halting, but passible.

  “I have always tried to deal fairly with all of my customers and business partners. War does tend to interrupt many mutually beneficial relationships. My business interests also created many jobs in both of our nations during a time where much of the world was struggling economically. But now, we need to negotiate a peace between Germany and the Allies for benefit of all involved. There has been far too much bloodshed and far too much treasure wasted these past few years. It is time to put an end to this conflict.”

  “I cannot agree more, Herr Cavill. That is exactly why I am here. I have come with a proposal from my government for an armistice that will bring an end to the fighting and return relations among the various countries in Europe to a much more peaceful situation.”

  “We wish this too. But it must be fair for all the people of Europe. Land and property must be returned to their original owners. The rights of all peoples to determine their own fate must be respected by all parties. You must also understand that the people who brought this war upon us must be called upon to answer for their crimes.”

  Ribbentrop visibly shuddered for a moment. An expression of anger briefly appeared before he relaxed to make his response.

  “Be sure, we are already dealing with the criminals within our country. However, if it is necessary and any of them are still alive by the time all of this conflict is over, we will be happy to turn them over for tribunals. We trust that all will be given a fair hearing in a fair court.”

  “We would insist on nothing more or less than that. The world needs to know that justice for the millions who have lost their lives will be done. Those who are accused will be allowed to defend themselves in open court. The world will be the witness to a fair and just process, I promise.”

  “That is fair enough, Herr Cavill. Now, shall we proceed to the core of the German armistice proposal?”

  “Yes, Minister. Please Do. That is the reason why we are all here.” Harold quickly replied.

  Minister Ribbentrop began to lay out a detailed outline where a ceasefire in Western Europe would immediately begin. This would be followed by a phased withdrawal of German forces and their allies from first, the Low Countries, then Norway and Denmark and finally France. Germany would be returning to its original borders established prior to the beginning of the First World War along with a substantial buffer of land in what had been Poland and Czechoslovakia.

  After Ribbentrop concluded, he handed Harold and Sir Allen, documents detailing the German plan. Harold studied them for a few minutes before looking up and responding.

  “Minister Ribbentrop, I can tell you right now that as your proposal stands, the Commonwealth and her allies will not accept it.

  “What are the primary aspects of our proposal that you find unacceptable, Herr Cavill?

  “There are several areas that must be included before we can take your proposal to our leaders. First, Germany cannot be allowed to claim any lands that had not legitimately belonged to it. While we would be willing to accept the pre-1914 borders, we cannot allow Germany to maintain possession of any land beyond that. Moreover, the peoples of any of the lands beyond Germany’s borders must be allowed to have full self-determination without any interference by any external parties from the east or west.”

  Ribbentrop grimaced for a few moments at Harold’s words.

  “What makes you think that you have the means to contest the territorial requirements of the German stat
e?”

  “The fact that the United States is finally in the process of a full military mobilization and will soon be sending substantial numbers of troops to assist us in forcing you to give up all illegally acquired territory. Of course, this will mean that many more Germans will die and you will be in a far less favorable negotiating position when the Americans arrive.” Harold quickly replied.

  “I see.” Ribbentrop said before pausing. The German Foreign Minister betrayed no emotion in his expression this time. He then turned and quietly discussed in German with his assistant before facing Harold and Sir Allen once again.

  “We are willing to return to our pre-1914 borders but will not relinquish one additional centimeter of German land. This is something that I cannot compromise on.

  You said that there are several areas at issue here. What are the other ones that you wish to discuss, Herr Cavill?”

  “Germany must return all property, military and civilian, that it has seized. The military property must be returned to the original state from which it had been acquired. This includes all warships such as the battleship Jean Bart and the aircraft Joffre. There needs to be a general reduction in all German military forces to a level consistent with legitimate self-defense needs. The terms will not be as extreme as those imposed upon Germany in 1918. But they are nonetheless necessary if Germany’s neighbors are to feel secure within their own borders.

  All industrial equipment taken must also be returned as well. In the case of personal belongings and wealth that have been seized, it must all be accounted for and returned, either to its original owners or to their heirs.”

  Ribbentrop was likely surprised at the details of Harold’s response. Harold was also alluding in his latter statement specifically to the property of the Jews that had been sent to the death camps.

  Once again, Ribbentrop turned and quietly discussed in German with his assistant before facing Harold and Sir Allen once again. Obviously, the other German was someone with much more authority than a mere assistant to the Foreign Minister.

  “What would the final price be for your support of our peace offer, Herr Cavill?” Minister Ribbentrop asked.

  “You must turn over your entire nuclear and chemical weapons program over to international control. You will also have to turn over all Nazi officials for trial and Germany must return to its prewar borders.”

  “I know nothing about such weapons programs, Herr Cavill. As far as the people who used to lead our country, we are already bringing them to justice for their crimes. This we can do within the context of our original proposal as well.”

  “Fortunately for me, I already know that these programs exist. The people who sent you also know about these weapons programs as well. There are many here who do not trust that you will bring all of these criminals to justice. We would prefer to do this ourselves.

  You know what we want out of this now. Go back and tell this your leaders.”

  Ribbentrop and his ‘assistant’ left the building and were walking towards a waiting car. Once inside, they began to discuss the meeting.

  “It was damned arrogant of the Englanders to threaten us. Do they think that we will all fall into line once we hear someone cry out ‘The Amerikaners are coming!’?’ Colonel Maximillian Arndt growled in disgust. He had been appointed to be the German General Staff’s direct representative to the peace negotiations, although his instructions had been to never address the Allied delegation directly.

  “Maybe. But we have been virtually exhausted by the campaign against the Bolsheviks on the Eastern Front. Even if we succeed in eliminating the Soviet Union as a threat, it would take us years to build up the troops and materiel to be able to effectively hold off a combined Anglo-American military force. Yes, our scientists have promised all sorts of new weapons. But if the Americans can build ten tanks and ten aircraft for every one that we build, they will still overwhelm us. Then, they will possess all of the fruits of our excellent scientists and can write all of the rules concerning the fate of our people.

  We have to end this while we still have enough bargaining chips left to utilize, Colonel. Now, we must go back to Berlin and explain this to the General Staff and our civilian leaders.”

  One week later, Harold and Sir Allen were summoned once again by Churchill to go back to Geneva to meet with Ribbentrop again. The Germans had sent word that they wished to meet again. Harold imagined that the German High Command had finally achieved all that it wanted, especially with the news reports of new governments being formed in the former Soviet Republics. The names of the leaders of these governments all belonged to men who had fought against the Soviets at some point according to the news reports. That made it very likely that they also owed much of their position from their association with the Germans and would be allied with the latter in some manner.

  Churchill wanted Harold to give a formal response to the original German proposal, though he largely agreed with what Harold articulated during the previous meeting. But the Germans had beaten Churchill to the punch with a revised proposal of their own. This time, Ribbentrop and his ‘assistant’ were waiting on Harold and Sir Allen when the latter arrived.

  Minister Ribbentrop stood up to shake hands with Harold and Sir Allen. Immediately upon taking seats, Ribbentrop began to present his country’s position.

  “My leaders have examined your response to our peace proposal. They wish for me to present a counter-proposal for you to take back to Minister Churchill. It essentially mirrors what I explained in our previous meeting but with provisions that you suggested in our first meeting. We are willing to return back to Germany’s pre-1914 borders and to hand over any surviving war criminals to you for your tribunals. However, if you do not have conclusive evidence that a person has personally committed a war crime, we reserve the right to maintain custody of certain people that we deem to be vitally important to our nation’s future. This is particularly true of our leading scientists and engineers. The German people will desperately need them in order to peacefully rebuild our nation.

  Do not worry, Herr Cavill. There will be more than enough people with innocent blood on their hands handed over to your leaders to satisfy even the most aggrieved person’s sense of vengeance.

  Our territorial demands are not excessive, Herr Cavill. Austria, the Sudetenland and all those parts of Poland that were not part of Germany prior to 1914 will be graciously allowed to determine their own destiny. I’m sure that the Poles will be more than happy to now reclaim lands that the Bolsheviks and the Czars before them had stolen from Poland decades before. We are also not demanding the return of our African colonies that were also taken from us as part of the Versailles Treaty.” Ambassador Ribbentrop insisted while quietly biting his tongue because of his pre-war refusal to even consider Poland to be a legitimate state.

  “Perhaps so, but we will have to see concrete assurances that the Poles will have the full right of self-determination. We do not want them to have a puppet government forced upon them by Berlin.

  There is also the matter of France. They must also regain full national sovereignty as well as a full restoration of any and all of their property.”

  “All military, industrial, cultural and financial properties have to be returned to their original owners. This also includes anything taken from the other nations that you conquered like Norway, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands.” Harold declared before continuing. This was something that he had brought up during the first meeting and also wanted to reiterate this time as well.

  “This will also include the French navy ships that were built and completed in French shipyards during the Occupation, such as the Jean Bart and Joffre. We know that you had intended to incorporate them into the Kriegsmarine, but were unable to move them safely to a port in Germany yet.”

  Ribbentrop grimaced at the mention of the two French aircraft carriers. With the heavy losses of German heavy ships during the early part of the war, the Kriegsmarine wanted very badly to hang onto tho
se two particular warships. Even though French steel, weapons and manpower were used in the completion of these warships, German Reichmarks paid for most of the construction expenses. It was also upsetting to know just how much the Allies knew about Germany’s plans for those ships and other elements of their political, scientific and military plans.

  This set of meetings continued on a daily basis for an entire week. In the end, Harold, Sir Allen and the Germans finally hammered out an armistice agreement that Harold felt would be fair for all sides. He then flew back to London to present the agreement to Churchill.

  “The Germans have agreed to a general reduction in their armed forces, although they have completely refused to go down to the levels that had been specified in the Versailles Treaty. They have also stood their ground concerning the possession of tanks, aircraft and submarines. They want to keep the weapons, but are willing to significantly reduce their overall numbers as part of the final agreement.” Harold explained to the Prime Minister.

  “Harold, do you think that we can maintain the peace with an armed Germany?” Winston asked.

  “Yes, I do. It’s not like we have a lot of choice here though. The French are not going to be very happy about it, obviously. But they have done little to help us against the Axis powers in the past four years beyond the efforts of their underground Resistance and the Free French forces operating here and in Indochina. So I believe that the French have little say in the matter.

  The Low Countries would simply be happy to have the Germans leave. I believe that everyone in Europe is tired of war, not to mention being financially bankrupt. War is a very expensive business, both in blood and in treasure. None of us can truly afford it any longer.

  We simply have to find a way to keep everyone here from feeling that they have some sort of lingering grievance. It may be impossible to completely achieve. But the Germans’ sense of having been unfairly made the scapegoat for the First World War as a result of the Versailles Treaty is what ultimately led to this conflict.”