A Man and a Plane: An Alternate Germany

by Joseph T Major

  Hammerstein had packed Blomberg off, back to Lausanne, under the strictest of orders not to talk to anyone. Blomberg was, he had said, just about totally demoralized. He might well resign from the army. There were rumors about his personal life, too . . .

  His thoughts were suddenly snapped back to the here and now. The counting was over and Göring was staring at the paper the tellers had handed him. For a few heartbeats the silence filled the vast chamber. Then Papen said, sweetly, "Why don't you announce the vote, Herr Reichstagspräsident?"

  More silence answered him. Then Göring said in one breath, "Moved and seconded, meeting adjourned!", brought his gavel down with a crash, and fled from the podium and the hall.

  Amid the subsequent rising tide of comment, one of the tally clerks came to Manfred and informed him, "Herr Reichskanzler, here are the results." Manfred looked at the paper the man had handed him.

  JA 211

  NEIN 247

  His heart sank. Looking over his shoulder Noske said, "Well, we've won another one."

  Manfred was baffled. "What? How?"

  Papen stood at his other shoulder. "Herr Reichskanzler," he said, formally, "the motion was, 'That this house has no confidence in the government.' Yes is no and no is yes here. As I said, you have some things still to learn.

  "There were only about eighty Communists here, so I think Herr Strasser must have pulled in about twenty to thirty members. Wait a minute, here he comes. It was enough, anyhow."

  "How many?" Braun said. Manfred read the figures aloud. "That means some of our people didn't vote," Braun replied. "As long as we've got a government that can progress towards our goals we ought to support it."

  "Like you did with the Deutschland?" Noske said. Not wanting to get into an old squabble -- the Social Democratic members from Reichskanzler Müller on down having been made to vote against the building of the armored ship that the government they supposedly were part of had decided to build, the incident that had done so much to discredit the Social Democrats the way the Center had been discredited by its antics -- Manfred drifted away from his arguing supporters.

  Only to run into Herr Strasser. "Heil Richthofen!" the new supporter of the government said, complete with Roman salute, towering over Manfred and like to overwhelm him.

  "Good morning, Herr Strasser," Manfred said.

  "The course of recent events has proven me right," Strasser went on. "I am pleased to find that a significant number of National Socialists agree with me; the Führer has chosen a dead-end policy. My talks with your advisor General Schleicher have borne fruit. We shall work together to create a true, united, German community."

  Manfred decided not to correct the man's mis-perception. Or was there more than one?

  There was peace in the Reichskanzlei that evening, even though the host and his guests discussed preparations for war.

  "Ernst has been showing me everything. Everything," Rickenbacker said.

  Udet, sitting in the other chair, smiled proudly, and said, "Yes, we have a vigorous aircraft industry, Eddie. But there's the man who made it possible!"

  Manfred said, "Not just me. Herr Junkers, Herr Heinkel, Herr Focke . . . we have many good designers and are working on a plentitude of craft."

  They were sitting in a study in the official residence, occupying three plush chairs in a half-circle, having withdrawn there after a private dinner. It had been a pilots-only evening; not only Noske, but even Bolko and Viktoria, and Adelaide Rickenbacker yet, were about their own several businesses. Manfred wanted to speak with someone who spoke his language (and that didn't mean Eddie's Swiss-German).

  He leaned forward and looked at his old partner. "Eddie, I don't know how much influence you have with your new President. No insult to the old one, but he is leaving office, and the new one, I understand, wants to make his mark on world affairs."

  Rickenbacker shrugged. "Can't say much," he said. "I know him, but only to talk to. Still, he might listen to me."

  "Please try. I would like him to understand the situation. As you have seen, our military buildup isn't just a dream, but something we are working for. I realize that some parts of American opinion still see us as the 'Hun menace'.

  "You have seen what has happened! If the Nazis had been unified, Herr Hitler, or worse yet Herr Röhm, might be in power here, and neither of them would be asking for consent. We need a larger army to be able to defend against internal and external threats.

  "We're not like America, with broad oceans and compliant, pacific neighbors. Eastward is the Soviet Union with all its might. South of us is Italy, with eight million bayonets. And what happens if France is taken over, by the Left or the Right?

  "No, we need to increase our strength to be able to fight back. Herr Noske -- you did meet my Reichswehr Minister? -- said it very well, if were were invaded, with the army we have now about all we could do is stand at the border and wave the appropriate flag at the invader.

  "I am only asking for what my predecessor, Herr Brüning got the agreement to. Ernst, did you give him the details?"

  "Pretty much, but I bet you have all the fine parts in a memo with you," Udet said.

  "Er, triple the size of the army, introduce shorter service and build a reserve, and add a small -- Ernst seemed put out by that -- small air force," Rickenbacker said.

  "Why, Ernst? You would be the man in charge of it."

  "That's what I mean. It should be a large one!" And Udet laughed.

  "We all have to start somewhere. If we start small, it should be clear that we are building a defensive force."

  "Ernst made a point of taking me through Munich, after we saw the Bavarian airplane works," Rickenbacker said. "I think it made your point -- the burned out places, I mean. Haven't you arrested that guy? What's his name, Rum? The one who started the brawl?"

  "The Ministry of Justice is preparing the indictments against the rioting Storm Troopers even now," Manfred said, worried about those pliant judges that were Gürtner's legacy,

  "I'll certainly say what I can. You fellows certainly should have the ability to defend your country against rioters.

  "All the same, I want you to know, even though we're friends and all that, that I'm still concerned -- America is concerned -- about Germany trying to establish dominance in Europe. That was what we came here to end in '17, and we still don't want it now."

  Manfred had been expecting some sort of Wilsonian comment to that effect. He sat back and pondered the question for a moment. "I understand your concern about German dominance in Europe," he finally said. "Ernst, would you mind going with the Rickenbackers to Hamburg? Show them more of the ruins? Eddie, please tell your President, Presidents, that while they might be right to worry about German dominance in Europe, right now I'm not even sure we can ensure German dominance in Germany.

  "The Nazis are, in my view, basically foreign -- a foreign leader, with ideas from abroad. Never mind the Bolsheviks, who put on their overcoats when Stalin gets cold. We have had Bolshevik governments in Germany, and I for one don't want to see them again.

  "The limits at Versailles -- and let me make the point that it was the Social Democrats, never mind the parties to their right, saying these things -- the Social Democrat led government, including Noske, argued that because of the uprisings after the War, those limits were too low. Those limits were passed in the expectation that everyone else would disarm. Germany wouldn't need much of an army, much of a navy, an air force at all, if nobody else had one.

  "As I said, the Soviets, Italy, those aren't likely to heed those considerations. France will remain democratic, we all hope, but they still concern me.

  "For all those reasons we need to increase the strength of the Reichswehr. Moreover, if young men can join the Army, they won't be signing up for the SA or the Rotfront -- that's the Communist storm troops -- disrupting elections and destroying the government."

  Rickenbacker said, "You're getting pretty good at this speechifying thing. I'd better be sure I got your
words down right so I can tell Mr. Hoover and Mr. Roosevelt what all you said. I don't envy you having to deal with those people."

  "It was Ambassador Sackett himself who told my predecessor, Herr Brüning, the good news about our rearmament," Manfred said. "I believe I'll have to go work out the details myself, but as you have seen, we have good arguments on our side.

  "And speaking of that, now that it looks as if our insurrection has died down, I had better go to Lausanne and get the final approval on the permission. Eddie, I hope that your President will lend his support, and I would like you to give my best regards, personally, to Herr Hoover and Herr Roosevelt."

  Rickenbacker got to his feet. "Thanks for being so candid. Yeah, Ernst, I do want to see those places. As long as you let me fly in that new plane Focke and Wulf have."

  Udet grinned. "Want to have a dogfight?"

  They all laughed. "Better not, you might win," Rickenbacker said. "Adelaide wouldn't like that."

  Manfred said, "Yes, and Eddie, please tell your wife that you both are invited to dinner tomorrow with my brother Bolko -- you remember Bolko, don't you? -- and his wife Viktoria, my hostess, and me of course. They must have met at the reception."

  It would be a good farewell before Lausanne.

  CHAPTER 9

  Lausanne, Switzerland, Wednesday, March 15, 1933

  The official party had nearly had one more member. Last Thursday, General von Schleicher had tried to run the obstacle course of Bodenschatz's office, citing his work at splitting the Nazis and before that laying the foundation for the rearmament demarche. Manfred wouldn't see him, either.

  As it was, cheering crowds had seen them off at the railway station on Friday. He presumed that many of those cheering crowds were courtesy of the Stahlhelm, but it looked good in the papers. Bolko had called them in Lausanne: "Hugenberg is going all out: 'Richthofen To Restore the Reich's Honor', the headlines say."

  Manfred had said, "And what does Dr. Goebbels say: 'Jew Traitor Selling Out Aryans'?"

  Yesterday he had received copies of the newspapers. The photo of the delegation had been carefully cropped to show just Manfred and Neurath. This was a masterpiece of photographic work, since Papen and Noske had also been there. "The Foreign Minister, the Reichswehr Minister, those I can understand," Hugenberg had said at the Cabinet meeting. "But Franzchen?"

  "He will keep our Reichspräsident informed," had been Manfred's reply, invoking the sacred name to calm the recalcitrant minister. The person keeping Hindenburg informed was Bolko, whose job it was to keep him safely away from SA, Schleicher, and other such potential problems. Papen's job was to keep the other Richthofen brother informed. Papen had said nothing at the cabinet meeting in the face of this flat-out lie Manfred had uttered. Perhaps Papen was right and he was learning the fine art of mendacity.

  This would be his first essay at diplomacy. He would not be the only head of government there; the other countries had sent their Foreign Ministers, but Signor Mussolini had taken that portfolio in his own government. The confrontation might be interesting.

  He had something to prove, and how better than to let the other countries see him, not as Richthofen the air ace, or Richthofen the air industrialist, but as Richthofen the national leader. But he needed to talk with the man he needed most, and distrusted almost as much, as they sat and waited for the session of the disarmament conference to begin.

  "Let me see if I have this right," he said to Papen. "M. Paul-Boncour was Premier and Foreign Minister until the end of January, right?"

  "Right."

  "Then his government fell. Now M. Daladier is Premier, but Paul-Boncour is still Foreign Minister."

  Papen smiled thinly. "You're learning," he said. "I never said the governmental arrangements there made any sense."

  "And Sir John Simon is British Foreign Minister, and the new American Secretary of State is Mr. Cordell Hull."

  "Sir John I am familiar with. I don't know this American; he is from their South.

  "I believe the British prime minister, MacDonald, when he visited Italy last week, said he would propose that Germany be allowed to have a military as large as France. I expect that limit will please our Herr Noske no end. I should sit on your more modest plans, Herr von Richthofen -- they will appear to be a wise compromise, once the French start bawling for the continued subjugation of 'les Boches'."

  "I can understand that," Manfred said. "I don't agree with it, but I can understand it. You'd think they were working for Herr Hitler, that they wanted to make him popular and justified."

  There was a knock on the door. Neurath entered and said, "If your Excellency will come down to the plenary session, it is about to begin."

  This time he would not be interrupted by bellows of "SIEG HEIL!" The interruptions would be more subtle, he feared. Of course the Italian leader would wish to appear to be a significant player in world affairs. That affair in Austria, now, that should give him a chance to try to break the Duce away from wanting to favor the Nazis.

  He was recognized to speak, and with some trepidation, which he dared not show, got to his feet. He was used to putting on a good face; pretending that all was well when the nation was falling apart, the Allies were sending up dozens of planes for every one they had, and his headache was about to blind him. There were certain similarities, he thought, and looked over the assembled ministers as if they had been eager pressmen, wishing to hear how the Red Battle-Flyer would sweep the air clear of Germany's enemies. He could use French or English, and he had English . . .

  "The promise of the Treaty of Versailles," he said (how odd he could say that without gagging), "was that all countries should end this wasteful spending on arms, bring it to heel. Such spending, such competition, was considered to have contributed to the tragedy of the War. The distinguished British delegates will recall how their fleet expenditures escalated seemingly without limit. Ours certainly did.

  "This promise has failed in both means. We live in a hazardous world, one where good will is well-meaning but without force. In China, in a half-dozen other places around the world, the threat of force rages on unchecked. Even closer to home, nation is still pitted against nation, the threats of old quarrels have not been settled by the new order of things.

  "In my country, this failure is all the more keenly felt. As we in Germany have so tragically seen, our Reichswehr is not adequate to even defend against the internal menace. We have been forced to improvise, to stretch the limits of our obligations, to temporize and patch.

  "Germany has rejoined the community of nations; we have renounced the folly of war and won the benefits of peace. But now we must have the means with which to defend ourselves, as the others here defend themselves!"

  Polite applause greeted the speech of the German Chancellor. But he had a card up his sleeve. Or in his portfolio. He now presented the proof of his argument, waving the paper before the delegates.

  "This is the agreement proposed by my predecessor Herr Brüning, the agreement that the Herren delegates of Britain, France, and Italy, and even the representative of the United States, agreed to after the last minute. My predecessor had won the prize for his efforts and had it snatched from his grasp. As a result, the past year in Germany has been one of turmoil and unrest. The political extremists of both colors, both sides, have reaped the harvest of this failure, emboldened by the weakness of the forces that defend order and democracy in Germany.

  "You now see more than ever that this increase in arms, far from being a harbinger of aggression, is a safety measure, a plan that will prevent the German Reich from falling into the hands of outlaws and radicals. Had the current limits been put into force just a little earlier, our country would have been unable to defend itself against the Bolsheviks who had taken power in Bavaria, who were bidding to seize power in the entire nation."

  Noske only needed to sit behind him to bear witness to that last statement. This relationship worked well for the present situation, too. Would this rearmament the per
sonable young new Reichskanzler was begging for be entrusted to a shaven-headed, brutish oaf of a Prussian military autocrat? Obviously not.

  "I ask only for what you have already given. Less, even, for we do not even seek what Mr. MacDonald of Britain would give us. Our needs are not the same as those of France; we want only what we need for ourselves. If I may quote a motto of our old nation, 'suum cuique'; to each his own. All we want is our own. This is a lesson we have learned in a hard school.

  "Distinguished ministers, I ask you to ratify this agreement, and I pledge my word, and the honor of the respectable people of the German Reich, that the honor of the German Reichswehr will be the defense of the peace of Germany, of Europe, and of the whole world."

  Noske was grinning. "So much for the Nazis!" he said, gleefully. "We can throw their rants down the watercloset now. Get the young men away from that poison they're pouring out, give them something to do."

  They were all in the sitting room of the German Chancellor's suite. While none of them were actually drunk, Manfred would have been afraid to fly with any one of them, including himself.

  "How quickly they gave in," he said.

  "They had already done so," Papen said, quickly. "Brüning had it done. Some people . . . however, it has worked out well in the end."

  Neurath got to his feet, glass in hand. "A toast! To our Chancellor, who wins victories in diplomacy as he did in the air!" he said, and all the others drank to that.

  Manfred said, "And now the hard part. Paying for all this.

  "Not to mention that I have to meet with the Duce. Only heads of government here and all that. Good God, look at the time! Papen, you too!"

  The Duce had a villa complete with throngs of splendidly-uniformed Fascist Militia to serve as side boys and footmen, where he would graciously receive the new German Chancellor in true Fascist glory. He himself came out the front door as their car drew up, splendid in his Fascist uniform, his head freshly shaved, and his great jaw jutting out.