by Ward Wagher
At night the tempo of the center slowed down a bit. During this time the communications traffic contained mostly routine messages and status reports. The wireless operators often postponed the transmission of non-urgent and wordy documents until the off-peak times. The verbose reports could easily have gone by courier. The guilty officers inflated their sense of self-importance by using the radio, simply because they could.
The importance of the communications center required a general officer to stand the watch. This also meant that the general officer stayed in his office and let the colonels get on with business. Guderian, being a hands-on type, often found himself wandering the work floor and studying the operation. When he had suggested some improvements to the procedures, he was politely told to mind his own business. So, on this evening, he spent his time in the watch office and worked his way through the mounds of paperwork that flowed through.
He glanced at his watch and frowned. He had two more hours before he could escape to his quarters. Involuntarily, he yawned, and when he looked up, he saw the white-haired hausfrau standing before his desk. He jumped to his feet.
“Where did you come from?” he barked.
“Herr General,” the old woman said calmly, “we need you to correct a great wrong.”
“What are you talking about? How did you get in here?”
“Do not summon the guards until we have spoken,” she said.
He felt himself wilting under her oppressive glare. Those who knew Guderian well would have been surprised since they believed he was afraid of nothing.
“Very well, what do you have to say?”
She nodded. “Better. Some of the senior officers are plotting to remove Herr Schloss from the government.”
“The Devil, you say,” he reposted. “How can you know something like this?”
“Jodl and others will move against Schloss tomorrow morning when he visits the OKW headquarters.”
“Are they mad?” he asked. “Schloss just got us out of a war with England on good terms.”
“They fear him because he wants to reorganize the OKW,” she said. “This drove them to action.”
“And the OKW needs to be reorganized. But, why are you talking to me? And who are you?”
Guderian found himself believing the strange old woman in his office. She was frightening and reassuring at the same time.
“I am a friend of Herr Schloss,” she said. “I work to help him succeed.”
“What am I supposed to do? I do not even know if you are telling the truth.”
“Aren’t you known as Schneller Heinz?” she asked. “You can find out what is going on and take action. But you must move quickly.”
He pressed his fingers against the desktop as he leaned towards her. “Very well. I will find out if what you are saying is true. You will, of course, wait here until I can verify things.”
He leaned over and pulled his pistol out of the desk drawer. When he looked up again, the old woman was gone. He quickly stood up and moved to the door. He opened it and looked around, but she was nowhere to be seen. He scanned the office in confusion and wondered if he were losing his mind.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
November 17, 1942; 5 AM
Reich Chancellor’s Apartments
Reich Chancellery
Berlin, Germany
Schloss had awakened early and decided that since he expected a busy day, he would slip into the office early and dispatch some of the mounds of paper that seemed to grow on his desk overnight. He had quietly dressed so as not to awaken Gisela. He moved out into the shadowy apartment. His security force had insisted on sprinkling low-wattage light bulbs around the place and maintained a single guard in the sitting room during the nights. Schloss had objected to having an entire phalanx of guards in the apartments but was unable to maintain complete privacy.
The guard was allowed to sit while on duty. He jumped to his feet as Schloss quietly walked into the room.
“Is everything all right, Herr Reich Chancellor?” the guard asked softly.
“No problems. I decided to get an early start on the day.”
“Very well, Sir. I will summon the guards to accompany you to your office.”
Once again Schloss had been on the losing end of that argument. He was not allowed to leave the apartments, even for the walk to his office, without two guards detailed to his care. As he rolled his eyes, he hoped the guard wouldn’t notice in the shadows. The guard walked to the outer door and opened it. He spoke so quietly it was difficult to hear in the room.
“The guards will be here momentarily, Sir,” the guard said when he walked back in.
“Thank you. I appreciate your diligence.”
“Herr Reich Chancellor, it is an honor to serve you.”
He nodded to the guard, not knowing quite what to say. He walked into the foyer and found his way blocked by a looming presence.
“Where did you come from?” he asked in surprise.
“Herr Schloss, you must be very careful today,” Frau Marsden said.
“I am always careful, Frau Marsden.”
“There are forces abroad in the land, Herr Schloss. They are not your friends.”
“What are you telling me?” he asked with asperity. “I understand that I will never make everyone happy. That simply goes with the job.”
“There are people who wish you ill,” she said. “You must be on your guard. This is particularly true today.”
“Hennie, what is going on?” he heard behind him as Gisela eased up next to him.
“I was hoping not to awaken you, Schatzi. I simply thought I would get an early start in the office.”
“But you need your breakfast.”
“If Herr Schloss will return to the dining room, I will prepare a breakfast,” Frau Marsden said.
Schloss glanced around and noticed the guard standing in the living room, looking amused. Mein Gott. I cannot even start the day without losing an argument.
“I will have some coffee and Danish at the office. All we are doing here is wasting time.”
He turned and kissed Gisela on the cheek. “I will see you tonight, Dearest.”
With that, he worked his way around the mountainous roadblock that was Frau Marsden and then left the apartment. The two guards were waiting and fell in behind him as he headed for the stairs. He tried to avoid the elevator as much as possible. The walk down and up the stairs between his office and apartments was about the only exercise he got.
After Schloss had been at his desk for about five minutes, Willem Kirche bustled in with a Thermos jug of coffee, which he sat on the credenza behind the desk. He poured a cup and set it in front of Schloss. He bustled out of the room and returned moments later with a platter of Danish, which he sat next to the coffee decanter. He slid one of the rolls onto a smaller plate and set that in front of Schloss.
“Don’t you ever sleep, Willem?” Schloss asked.
“Secretaries do not need to sleep, Sir,” Kirche replied. “One never knows when the lord and master will demand something.”
“You can be replaced, you know,” Schloss threatened.
“Of course, Sir,” Kirche said as he retreated out of the office.
Schloss shook his head as he pulled the first item off the stack of paper the comprised the inbox. It seemed like he had never been able to arrive earlier than the secretary. The man arrived early to arrange the overnight messages into the stack of work for the day. Renate had made sure that Kirche’s office was adequately staffed in the face of the increasing workload. Schloss had not noticed a significant reduction of his tasks; however, he had become vaguely aware of the items that Kirche had shuffled off to Peter, or Karl, or even Goering.
The daily military summary showed the English armed forces standing down to a watchful, but not belligerent state. The Luftwaffe was maintaining patrols, but carefully staying at least fifty kilometers from English shores. The Royal Navy had largely returned to port. It appeared they were feverish
ly refurbishing the fleet for an advance into the Pacific. This would be a very different kind of war for them, and Schloss wondered how they would adapt.
Goering was working with the general staff to begin a broad review of all of the German weapons systems. Much of what they had was on the edge of obsolescence at the beginning of the war. The Messerschmitt Swallow was merely the first of a new generation of weapons the Wehrmacht would need to defend the nation. The project would be enormously expensive, although not nearly as expensive as another war.
At 6 AM Kirche slipped into the office and stood in front of Schloss’s desk.
“Yes, what is it, Willem?”
“Herr Schreiber is here and asked if you would have a moment for him.”
“Peter’s here? Of course, have him come in.”
Kirche nodded respectfully and withdrew. Peter then walked in and Schloss stood up.
“Couldn’t sleep, Peter?”
“It must run in the family,” he replied with a grin. “I was hoping to get this report over to Willem to include in the dailies, and here you are up at the crack of dawn.”
“Probably because I lie awake worrying about cleaning up after you.”
“Ha!” Peter laughed. “And how many times have I kept you out of trouble, Hennie?”
Schloss tilted his head to acknowledge the hit. “What was so important you thought I needed to see it first thing?”
Peter unthreaded the straps on his briefcase and slide out a folder, which he handed over to Schloss.
“You might as well sit down, Peter.”
Schloss sat down and opened the folder. One of the unresolved differences during the peace conference was what to do about the governments in exile, which were mostly based in London. Peter had refused to recognize any of them, and so at the conclusion of the treaty, these groups remained an open issue. Leaving them in London was not ideal. It freed the English to scheme with them to create trouble in the conquered provinces. On the other hand, allowing them to return to their homelands would confer legitimacy upon them, and raise other problems.
The English had scotched a previous offer Schloss made to the Moravians, the former leaders of Czechoslovakia, to embark upon some kind of home rule. Schloss and Schreiber had theorized that a degree of home rule would allow Germany to pull back some of the garrison forces, which were expensive to maintain. It also might well reduce the level of unrest among the population of that small land. It was also an experiment that might be applied to other provinces if things worked out.
Agreeing to such would have put a crack in Churchill’s united front against Germany, and he was quick to squelch the idea, even though the Czechs were excited about it. Now, it looked like the tables were turning.
“So, our Moravian friends want to come back to the table, eh?” Schloss said.
“And the English are not in a position to say a thing about it. That much is clear. Otherwise, I don’t think Attlee would have allowed them to send this.”
“This has Margaret’s fingerprints all over it.”
Schreiber sucked on his lower lip as he considered what Schloss had just said. “You may have a point, there.”
“Of course, Peter. I’m always right.”
Peter laughed. “Of course. How could I have forgotten? Seriously, is this something we should consider?”
“Let me ask you this,” Schloss rejoined, “our original reasons to consider this were to split the allies, but there were domestic reasons. Do you think those still hold?”
Peter tapped his fingers on the chair arms as he thought, “I think the reasons are still good. However, if we negotiate with the government in exile, we confer legitimacy upon them.”
“And we’ll start hearing from the others,” Schloss continued. “On the other hand, that very legitimacy is what would make the people in Moravia to accept a settlement.”
“True,” Peter replied, “but, I worry about DeGaulle poking his big nose into this. France is fairly quiet right now.”
“And, I kind of like him being in London,” Schloss said with a smile. “He causes more trouble for the English than he does for us. I think Churchill hated him.”
“What would you like to do then?” Peter asked.
“Thank them for their approach and tell them we are considering it. I think we need to bring the council into this.”
Peter nodded. “I understand. If we do this, it represents a fundamental shift in our thinking and our policy. We have to prepare the ground carefully.”
“Exactly.”
Peter stood up. “I need to get out of your way and over to the mound of paper on my desk. You’re meeting with the OKW today?”
“Yes, later this morning. Hermann has not been able to move them and asked for my gentle ministrations.”
“Did he use those words?” Peter asked with a broad grin.
“Of course not. Except, of course, if he heard me say it first.”
Peter laughed. “I suppose I should be more charitable towards Our Big Hermann. He is actually more competent than people generally realize.”
“To a point, Peter. You will note that I am getting involved because he really does not know how to manage obstreperous subordinates. Clearly, I am much better at that.”
Peter rolled his tongue around in his cheek. “I’m not even sure I want to answer that, Hennie.”
“And very wise of you.”
§ § §
November 17, 1942; 10 AM
OKW Headquarters
Berlin, Germany
Goering had arranged for the full OKW committee to be at the meeting. Schloss sat at the head of the long table, and Goering sat at the foot. There was a lot of tension in the air, and Schloss sensed Keitel’s discomfort when he greeted the general. Jodl seemed to radiate animosity. Schloss supposed it was natural since they perceived that Goering was fishing in their pond. Any military organization was shot through with politics. Because of Hitler’s strategy of playing one member off against the other, the politics in the OKW were lethal.
Schloss opened his folder and looked down at the typed agenda that Goering’s people had provided. He assumed that the OKW people had secured a copy from someone in Goering’s office because the leadership did not look curious.
“The reason I am here today, meine Herren,” Schloss began, “is to address your lack of cooperation with the Reichsmarshall.”
“The reason he has not seen cooperation,” Jodl responded heatedly, “is because he does not know what he is talking about.”
Schloss stopped speaking and stared at Jodl. The uncomfortable silence dragged out in the room. Finally, he continued.
“Perhaps you are aware, Herr General, that the Reichsmarshall was acting at my direction.”
“Nevertheless, he barges in, gives orders and confuses everyone. We cannot have that, Herr Reich Chancellor.”
“Who does he give orders to, Herr General?”
“To Keitel. To me.”
“And these orders confuse you?” Schloss raised his eyebrows. “It seems to me that someone with your length of service knows how to communicate effectively. Herr Reichsmarshall, did General Jodl or Keitel ask for clarifications on your directives?”
“No, Herr Reich Chancellor, they did not,” Goering responded immediately.
Perhaps I was unfair in suggesting Hermann couldn’t manage people. He is playing his role to perfection this morning, Schloss thought.
“What was it about his directives that confused you, Herr General?” Schloss asked.
“Why they made no sense,” Jodl was shouting, now. “We won the war for Germany, and now he wants to dismantle the leadership. Of course, it was confusing.”
“Did you have an alternate suggestion, Herr General?” Schloss asked softly.
“I propose we not throw away that which is working well for us. If the Untermenschen in England and Russia see us in disarray, they will be tempted to attack us.”
“What you say may well be true,” Schloss c
onceded.
“Of course, it’s true!” Jodl said. “There is no reason to replace a general staff that is well drilled and knows what it is doing.”
“I’m not proposing to replace the entire general staff,” Schloss said. “I believe what we were suggesting was initiate a policy where we would regularly rotate senior officers through the OKW. If we accompany that with the necessary training, we would have a much larger cadre of trained officers. Why would you have a problem with that?”
“I see that you do not understand, Herr Reich Chancellor.” Jodl stopped and gave him a sly look. “Perhaps it is because you are not as familiar with the government and the OKW as you appear.”
“And why is that, Herr General?” Schloss asked.
“Perhaps, it is because you are an impostor. You arranged the removal of our legitimate leaders for your own purposes.”
Schloss rolled his eyes and shook his head. He hoped he had conveyed a healthy degree of exasperation.
“Oh, come off it, Jodl,” Goering shouted. “No serious German believes those fables. I seriously wonder about your judgment if you give these things consideration.”
“And if you go along willingly with this charlatan, you are a fool, Herr Goering.”
Goering turned puce and slammed his hands on the table as he surged to his feet. “That’s it Herr General. You have completely destroyed the ability for anyone to take you seriously. General Keitel, please relieve General Jodl of his position and place him under arrest.”
“General Jodl,” Keitel said, “you will leave this room immediately, and confine yourself to quarters. We will deal with this later. Herr Reich Chancellor, you have my most sincere apologies for this unseemly outburst.”
Jodl quietly got out of his chair and walked around the table to the double doors between the conference room and hallway. He pulled open doors.
“You know what to do,” he said into the hallway.