Fox On The Rhine

by Douglas Niles

  It’s kind of noisy here in the hospital right now. We had a visit from Rommel himself. He was here to visit his driver, who got wounded, and then made the rounds. He even came to visit us Americans, and I got to shake his hand. He even speaks American. Funny thing, though. You know, he’s the only general I ever met, and he’s on the other side.

  I’ll write more real soon.

  Love...

  He paused, wondering if he should add on a P.S. He remembered the moment a few days previous, after his shoot-down and capture, when the senior Allied POW came by for a visit. “Friend, you’re the luckiest bastard that ever walked the face of the earth,” he said.

  Digger O’Dell looked down at his bandaged body. “How do you figure, Captain?” he said.

  “Why, haven’t you heard? No, I guess you haven’t, not speaking German and all. But the war’s over, at least here!” Digger could hardly believe it. “Over?”

  “Yep. We knocked out the bridges in Dinant, stopped Rommel’s spearhead, and the Desert Fox surrendered.”

  “Son of a bitch!” breathed Digger.

  “No kidding. Son, looks like you’ll be going home. How’s that for a happy new year?”

  The aviator put his hands behind his head and smiled. Now if he could only find a smoke ... “

  GLOSSARY

  Ami German slang for “American.”

  AP Armor-piercing ammunition, fired by tanks, as opposed to HE, or high explosive ammunition,

  biergarten A bar.

  blitzkrieg “Lightning war,” a German-developed technique for rapid offensive warfare using armored forces with air support; first used against Poland in 1939.

  bocage Thick foliage or woodland, often used to describe the Normandy countryside before the breakout in August 1944.

  CCA (CCB) A U.S. armored division’s primary aggressive forces were organized into combat commands. They were normally called Combat Command A (CCA) and Combat Command B (CCB). There was also a Combat Command Reserve (CCR), not addressed in this book. (For more detail, see the Appendix, Nineteenth Armored Division.)

  CP Command post.

  Desert Fox Famous nickname for Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, earned in Germany’s North Africa campaign,

  dog robber Slang term for a personal aide (to a high-ranking official) who is responsible for obtaining scarce supplies, from steaks to nylons, by “robbing dogs,” if necessary,

  feldgrau Field gray, the standard color for the German army, much as olive drab is for the U.S. military,

  feldmarschall German military rank of field marshal,

  feldwebel German military rank, equivalent to U.S. sergeant,

  fuigerspitzengefühl An intuition in one’s fingers; a kind of sixth sense. Often used to describe Rommel’s ability to carry out plans and operations that others would never have thought of in the first place.

  Focke-Wulf Fw-190 A German military fighter,

  gasthaus Literally “guest house,” or inn, normally with a restaurant or bar as well as some guest rooms.

  Gauleiters The regional Nazi Party boss in each Gau (the main territorial unit of the Nazi Party; there were forty-two Gaue in all), responsible for all political and economic activity, as well as for the mobilization of labor and civil defense. There was constant tension between the Gauleiters and the central government and Nazi establishment, usually resolved by Hitler in favor of the Gauleiters.

  Geschwader A fighter air squadron consisting of three fighter Gruppe, each of three Staffeln, or approximately eighty aircraft total. Commanded by a kommodore.

  Gestapo Geheime Staatspolizei, or State Secret Police. Originally created in 1933 under Hermann Göring, the Gestapo was slowly integrated into the SS and gained wider responsibility for criminal police and spy work. The Gestapo’s Section IV B4, headed by Adolf Eichmann, organized the “final solution of the Jewish question.”

  Gruppe A fighter air group consisting of three fighter Staffeln, or approximately twenty-six aircraft total,

  hauptmann German military rank, equivalent to a U.S. Army captain.

  Hitlerjugend The Hitler Youth was a perverse Nazi equivalent to the Boy Scouts, offering Scouting-type activities combined with military training and political indoctrination. Most German males were members during the Nazi years, up until the war’s end. In 1935, Rommel, then an instructor at the War Academy, was attached to the Hitlerjugend for the purpose of improving their discipline but had a falling-out with the head of the organization, Baldur von Schirach, because he felt von Schirach was focusing too much on sports and military training and not enough on education and character development. As a result, Rommel was removed from his position shortly thereafter.

  Jabo German military slang for single-engine fighters (Mustangs, Hurricanes, Thunderbolts, Typhoons, Spitfires, and the like) used by the Americans and British in ground-attack missions.

  Jagdgruppe A German fighter squadron.

  Kettenkraftgrad A small Luftwaffe tractor used to tow aircraft.

  Kriegsmarine The German navy, commanded by Admiral Karl Doenitz.

  leutnant German military rank, equivalent to a U.S. lieutenant.

  Luftwaffe The German air force, built up and commanded by Hermann Göring, with General Adolf Galland as commander of the Fighter Arm.

  Messerschmidt Me-109 A German military fighter.

  Messerschmidt Me-262 Schwalbe/Sturmvogel This high-performance jet fighter was more than one hundred miles per hour faster than the fastest Allied fighter but was held back from full production by Hitler’s thirst for vengeance on the RAF rather than to fight on the Continent. Hitler did not finally approve mass production until January 1945. The military value of this aircraft might have been substantial. Of 1,433 Me-262s built, only about 200 were allowed into action, but in March 1945, six of them shot down fourteen B-17s in a single fight. The fighter version was known as the Schwalbe, or Swallow, the proposed bomber version was known as the Sturmvogel, or Stormbird.

  Night of the Long Knives A program of executions and liquidations carried out against the left-wing socialist elements of the Nazi Brownshirts, or Sturmabteilung (SA) in June 1934. This temporarily reassured the German middle class about Nazi “extremism” and also consolidated Hitler’s control over the party and Germany itself.

  oberst German military rank, equivalent to a U.S. colonel.

  OKW Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, the high command of the German armed forces.

  Operation Valkyrie The July 20, 1944, bomb plot to kill Adolf Hitler and the coup plans that were to have followed, involving the neutralization of all SS and Gestapo installations within the Third Reich, and the takeover of all communications facilities, particularly public radio stations.

  Panzer A German tank,

  panzerarmee A full German tank army,

  panzerfaust An antitank weapon similar to the American bazooka, with less range but able to be operated by a single soldier. It was a simpler weapon, launching a bigger bomb with greater penetrating power,

  panzergrenadiers Infantrymen who worked in close concert with German tanks,

  rathskeller A bar.

  Reichsauftenminister The Reich foreign minister.

  Reichsminister is simply Reich minister, or head of any state ministry, such as Finance or SS. Außen means “outside,” as opposed to, say, the Minister of the Interior. The ß, or “ess-zet,” is a combination of “s” and “z.” It is pronounced as “ss” and is often spelled that way in English transliteration of German (außen=aussen). Similarly, an “umlaut” vowel (ä, ë, ï, ö, ü) is spelled with an extra “e” (Göring=Goering).

  Replacement Army A reserve force of walking wounded, trainees, military school cadets, workers who could be taken from their jobs, and soldiers on sick leave. It was commanded by General Friedrich Fromm, who was a fence sitter with regard to the coup. Stauffenberg was the chief of staff to Fromm,

  scheiss German expletive “shit.”

  schnell German for “quickly.”

  schwalbe See Messe
rschmidt Me-262.

  Schwerpunkt The “decisive point,” a strategic concept identified by military theorist Carl von Clausewitz.

  SHAEF Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, the coordinated United States/British military command headed by General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

  SNAFU Officially an acronym for “Situation Normal: All Fouled Up,” but another “F” word was more commonly used.

  Special Transports The transportation of Jews and others to the death camps as part of the “final solution.”

  SS The Schutzstaffel was the elite striking arm of the Nazi Party, a virtually separate armed force with wide-ranging and independent authority, from protection of Nazi leaders, antisubversion activities, political enforcement, certain military operations, and the administration of “race and population resettlement,” which included the concentration and death camps. SS troops had their own uniform and their own ranks. Heinrich Himmler was the Reichsführer SS, reporting only to Hitler, and a man of enormous power and evil,

  staffel A fighter group of approximately eight aircraft,

  sturmvogel See Messerschmidt Me-262.

  Tommies Slang term for the British,

  universitat German university.

  Vengeance Weapons The Vergeltung (“Reprisal”) weapons, popularly known as the V-1 and V-2 flying bombs, were developed by Dr. Werner von Braun’s engineering team at the Peenemünde plants. The V-1 offensive against London began six days after the Normandy invasion, followed by the V-2 in September. Eisenhower later observed that if the Germans had been able to use the V-1 and V-2 against the Allied landing points, they would have posed a formidable obstacle. The rockets were also used extensively against the port of Antwerp, both before and during the historical Battle of the Bulge, but were not successful in disrupting the Antwerp docks or the landing of Allied troops,

  volksgrenadier The “people’s soldiers,” units of the Replacement Army {q.v.).

  volkssturm The “people’s attack,” or volkssturm, involved the mobilization of every German between the ages of sixteen and sixty capable of bearing arms to defend the Fatherland “with all available means.”

  Waffen SS The military arm of the SS grew to parallel the regular army, with its own panzer units; it actually outnumbered the regular army in some military districts. At its height, there were thirty-eight SS divisions with nine hundred thousand men.

  Wehrmacht The German military establishment.

  Weimar Republic The German government between the fall of the kaiser at the end of World War I and the takeover of the Nazi Party in 1933. Best known for high inflation and social decadence, as illustrated in the movie Cabaret, based on the stories of Christopher Isherwood.

  Westwall A line of German fortifications along the France-Germany border. Incomplete at the time of the Normandy invasion, the fortifications were built up quickly to create a barrier between the advancing Allies and the German homeland.

  Wolfschanze “Wolf’s Lair,” Hitler’s command headquarters for the eastern front. It was located in East Prussia, far from any city, surrounded by woods, heavily guarded, and accessible by only a single road.

  APPENDIXES

  The Plot to Kill Hitler

  There were several plots to assassinate Adolf Hitler. The final and best known of these was the Bomb Plot.

  On July 20, 1944, German conspirators led by Colonel Count Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg carried out what became known as the Bomb Plot against Adolf Hitler. Stauffenberg carried a briefcase containing a bomb into Hitler’s conference room at Wolfschanze, Hitler’s field headquarters. He placed the briefcase on the floor under a massive oak table as close to Hitler as he could get it, then left “to make an urgent call to Berlin.”

  Lieutenant General Heusinger was briefing Hitler on the situation on the eastern front. Colonel Brandt, Heusinger’s aide, moved to the table into the spot where Stauffenberg had stood, where his foot brushed against the briefcase. He tried to move the briefcase with his foot, but it fell over on its side. So he reached down and moved the case to the other side of a thick concrete support holding up the table, away from Hitler.

  At 12:42 P.M. the bomb exploded. Although several people, including Colonel Brandt, lost their lives in the explosion, Hitler received only superficial wounds.

  Believing that Hitler was dead, the conspirators attempted a military coup in Germany, but their own indecision as well as the later information that Hitler had survived, doomed the plot. The Gestapo took a bloody revenge against everyone who was even remotely suspected of being in the plot. Between six hundred and one thousand Germans lost their lives, many under the cruelest tortures.

  The name of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the Desert Fox, who had been gravely wounded on July 17 when his staff car was machine gunned on a Normandy road by an Allied fighter plane, appeared on a conspirator’s list as a candidate to be president of the Reich. Other conspirators, under torture, denounced Rommel. Rommel denied these charges, and there is no evidence that Rommel was directly implicated in the Bomb Plot. It is possible he was aware of some portions of the conspiracy, but that is far from certain.

  Because of Rommel’s military and popular reputation, he was not arrested immediately but was offered instead the chance to commit suicide to avoid arrest. On October 14, 1944, Rommel took poison and died instantly. He was given a state funeral. He never returned to command the German forces on the western front.

  All because a foot bumped a briefcase …

  On Alternate History

  Isaac Asimov, in his seminal time travel novel The End of Eternity, articulated the key principle that should govern “alternate history” or “what-if” novels such as this: the concept of the “minimum necessary change” (MNC) that produces the “maximum desired result” (MDR). From seemingly trivial incidents can great transformations occur, as shown in stories from Ward Moore’s classic Bring the Jubilee to the recent Gwyneth Paltrow movie Sliding Doors.

  The Bomb Plot against Adolf Hitler on July 20, 1944, really happened as described in this book up until the moment when Colonel Brandt attempts to move the bomb-containing briefcase under the table. In reality, Brandt slid the briefcase farther under the table and behind a concrete stanchion, a barrier heavy enough that the blast failed to kill Hitler. Our MNC (minimum necessary change) was to have Brandt stifle a sneeze at that moment, and therefore not to move the fateful briefcase. This results in the successful assassination of Hitler, the MDR (maximum desired result) that drives the rest of this story.

  The bomb plotters, in spite of their undoubted heroism and idealism, were evidently the original “gang that couldn’t shoot straight.” It’s highly unlikely their intended coup would have succeeded even if the bomb plot had come off as originally planned.

  There is no evidence for Himmler’s countercoup described in the book as Operation Reichsturm, but we believe it not to be inconsistent with his character, especially considering Göring’s weakness as a potential führer. Likewise, the idea that Himmler concludes a separate peace with Stalin is our invention, but it seemed to us to be a logical move, one of the few ways to give Nazi Germany any chance whatsoever, even a slim one, and also the only way to bring real suspense to the final moments of our alternate World War II in Europe.

  Our real historical figures are described accurately to the extent possible; their actions and words in the post-assassination story are of necessity invented but are to the best of our abilities faithful to the personalities involved.

  The Nineteenth Armored Division

  The U.S. Nineteenth Armored Division is an imaginary unit, but it is structured and manned as if it were a real division, and placed into the existing Allied military structure. It was not unusual for a division to be moved from control of one army to another, as happens to the Nineteenth in this book. Manning and equipment levels described in the text represent initial levels.

  It should be noted that the corps level of command, existing between division and army headquarters
, exerted a great deal of operational influence in U.S. Army operations during WWII. For sake of our story and characters we have for the most part ignored this level of military organization. For the same reason the third combat command of a typical U.S. armored division (Combat Command R, or reserve) has been omitted from our tale.

  Consolidated/Ford B-24H Ford’s Folly

  While less well known in the popular imagination than the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, the Consolidated B-24 Liberator was a powerful heavy bomber that was critical to the Allied strategic bombing efforts in World War D. The B-24H cruised at 290 miles per hour, with a 2,100-mile range carrying 5,000 pounds of bombs.

  To maximize production of the aircraft, it was built not only by Consolidated Aircraft, but by Ford Motor Company as well, in their Willow Run plant.

  There was a real airplane named Ford’s Folly. It was the first B-24H put into service from Ford’s Willow Run plant, served in the 392nd Bomb Group, 578th Squadron, 8th Air Force, and was flown on its final mission by “Rudd’s Ruffians,” Odell F. Dobson (coauthor Michael Dobson’s father) serving as waist gunner. At the time it was shot down near Koblenz on September 11, 1944, it had flown seventy-nine missions--more than any other American bomber in the European theater. Only two members of the crew survived: Dobson and Roger Clapp, the radio operator; they completed the final months of World War II at Stalag Luft IV and, later, on a forced march through much of what is now Poland. The amazing true story is told in Bruce Lewis’s Four Men Went to War, published by Leo G. Cooper in the United Kingdom and by St. Martin’s Press in the United States. We also drew on original source material, consisting not only of Odell Dobson’s oral history tapes but also of eyewitness accounts from Don Scharf and Bob Tuchel (who were in the plane directly behind Ford’s Folly when it was shot down) for real information on the final moments of a doomed airplane.