As for "being a Prussian autocrat" -- during the war I had the pleasure of meeting the Count Frankenberg, an attendant of the old Kaiser. I wish the old man had himself listened to the Count. There was one thing he said that impressed me mightily at the time, and its truth and wisdom have become more and more obvious as time goes on. He told me, "The people around you are only people, from the most supreme to the lowest ranking, and all of them have basic human characteristics." I thought then and think now that those were true words well worth remembering.
Q. What party are you a member of?
A. None, really. It started out with my adhering to the old Prussian tradition of officers being uninvolved in politics, I was never political in the army or afterwards, in my private life. There are officers who fancy themselves politicians -- General von Schleicher, for example, who was very involved in politics even before he became Chancellor. And now he is a senior member of the KGNS, the Strasserites, the so-called "Black Front". But when I myself got into politics, or was drawn into politics, I found that because of my position, in a government with so many diverse factions, it was best not to be committed to any one coalition member. I did not want to be seen as favouring anyone, and not declaring any party allegiance served that end to everyone's satisfaction.
[The People's Party had Herr Stresemann and nowadays the National Liberals have Herr Erhard, Winston said he was really a Liberal and I am inclined to agree -- MvR]
Enough of politics. He looked down the next column and there it was:
Q. Are you still interested in flying?
A. Every weekend. I have flown most of the types of airplanes in our new Air Force. There are some pilots who will not take up any plane unless, they say, I have "proven" it. During the War -- you will excuse me for boasting but I think your readers will find this justified -- during the War we had our new planes tested by combat veterans. I myself did this. My initial successor, Captain Reinhard, died testing a new airplane. This idea was one I myself pressed for, and your pilots tell me that whatever the numbers, during the War we had better quality airplanes than anyone else did.
I own shares in many of the aircraft companies here in Germany. I also own shares in some foreign aircraft companies. I have supported and encouraged them to invest in research and development. We pilots live on the edge of science and we are very interested in its progress. My friend Eddie Rickenbacker has encouraged the development and application of technology not only in airplanes but in automobiles. His automobile was one of the safest on the road -- when he alone made cars with four-wheel brakes his competitors said that those were not safe, but now that he is out of the business, those are commonplace.
Q. What advances do you see in the future of flying?
A. Already we have aircraft that can carry a dozen people in some ease -- though, as a pilot, my standard of "ease" may not be yours -- and I expect this trend will continue. In ten years, fifteen at the most, I expect to see airplanes capable of carrying forty or fifty people across the Atlantic, from Berlin or London to New York or Chicago. Imagine that, just twenty years after Lindbergh first flew the Atlantic!
Q. He followed Alcock and Brown, and they flew across in 1919.
[Now why did I forget that? And talking to an Englishman at that! It must have been wanting to say "twenty years". -- MvR]
A. Well, yes, but I don't think they flew from New York to London, or that distance anyhow.
Getting back to the main topic, I can imagine more personal airplanes becoming common. Fiesler makes a handy little airplane, the Storch -- "Stork" in English -- that can take off and land on a, how would you you put it, a cricket pitch. Amelia Earhart, before her flight last year, was flying an autogyro, an aircraft with a rotor on top instead of wings, and I understand that the Russian-American Sikorsky is working on an aircraft with a powered rotor. So is our Professor Focke. When I was younger I imagined a personal flight suit one could buy, put on, and fly. We may not have that, but we will get closer to it soon enough.
[He really knew about the Stork, given how Carmen was flying him around the country in hers. -- MvR]
They had discussed flying some more, but not thank God anything like the problem with Pemberton-Billing's prejudices -- fortunately he seemed to be less influential at Supermarine now. But he lived in an international world and naturally had to be questioned about it.
Q. Our readers would like to hear your opinions about the world crisis, or crises, the problem making countries of the world. For example, what about Italy?
A. I met Herr Mussolini in 1934, in Lausanne. There was something, if you will excuse my frankness, hollow about his society. He presented himself as being very modern and scientific but the next moment he would be exulting cruelty and force. Italy, I understand, had a crisis of confidence back in 1922, the way Germany did eleven years later, and as a result he came to power, as the only man who could solve the problem.
I don't doubt that Mussolini is personally popular, or that he means well. He certainly is energetic. But the fact that he needs to dominate so weakens the force of his opinions. I don't need to be all of my own ministers. I learned to delegate when I was commanding a squadron of fighters, and that ability carries over to cabinet government quite well.
I really think Mussolini is heading for a fall. The Italian people can only take these pointless overseas adventures in Abyssinia and in Spain for so long, the Italian government can only afford them for so long.
Q. I understand you were concerned about China, where I was last month.
A. Yes. Our people with Herr Chiang's army report nothing but bad news. The Japanese have adopted a policy of what they call the "Three Alls", where they kill all the people in a place, steal all the property there, and level all the buildings, an extermination order, so to speak. You would think this terror would encourage the Chinese people to resist, out of fear, but it seems to be instilling fear instead. They are destroying what they claim to be preserving. If they joined with the Chinese government, instead of undermining it, they could get the Eastern super-power they profess to be working for. But it would mean having to share primacy.
[If they did half the things Rabe says they did, the Chinese would be fools to forgive them within the next century. Randolph must have seen what they did. -- MvR]
Q. What about the Soviet Union?
A. I myself have had some personal experience with the Bolsheviks. Back in 1918, I was sitting in on our negotiations with them, as sort of a "Chicago enforcer", as they say. Our failure to impress each other was mutual, but at the time my opinion didn't matter much. Later on, when I found out how our then government had helped them get power, I knew it was one of our bigger mistakes. Another one was not knowing about what a mess Mexican affairs were, so we made an offer to Mexico that they were in no position to possibly take up, but it did alienate the United States. Our Foreign Office was dreadfully incompetent back then.
Q. So you are saying the Zimmermann Telegram was for real, then?
A. Of course. My God, Herr Zimmermann admitted he had sent it the day after the Americans released it. The Reichstag debated the matter in open session and passed a resolution praising Zimmermann for his initiative and imagination.
[Eddie believed Papen when he confessed that we really and truly had sent that stupid message. Slim didn't, he still thinks the English made it up, that must have been what Randolph was thinking of. -- MvR]
Q. But I was asking about the Soviets. You say that putting the Bolsheviks in power was a mistake?
A. Yes. They tried to spread into Poland, they tried to spread into India. We ought to be more grateful to Marshal Pilsudski for stopping them at Warsaw. And our domestic Bolsheviks -- in some ways the War did not end here until 1919, the Bolsheviks rebelled and we had to put them down by any means necessary. Herr Noske, my Reichswehr Minister, had held that portfolio then and acted energetically to stop them, decisively, and I take full responsibility now for the results. It was them or us, they would have
made no difference between any of the non-Bolshevik parties if they had gained power. Just as in Russia, where now they are even exterminating all the Bolsheviks who are not Bolshevik enough.
And now, they are spreading all over Eastern Europe and Asia. Back then, Herr Noske said, "I will oppose with all my energy any attempt to introduce the Russian system into Germany." Well, I will oppose with all my energy any attempt to introduce the Russian system into Germany, and I hope that someday the Russian people will dispense with the autocracy of Herr Stalin.
The world today, more than ever, is faced by a crisis of confidence. We can pull together democratically, as Britain, America, and if I may hope so, Germany have done, or autocratically, as Italy and Russia have done. As long as anyone is not free, all of us are a little less free. We must stand together against the Bolshevik and Fascist threat, within our nations and without, and I sincerely believe that if we do, they will back down, and when they back down, they will fail.
Q. Just like my father says. Thank you, Baron von Richthofen.
A. Thank you, Mr Churchill.
[Then Randolph said, "He gets very depressed sometimes about the course of affairs. He calls this mood his 'black dog.'" I feel like that sometimes, it's like being pursued by a big white dog, cursing me and trying to shoot me down. -- MvR]
CHAPTER 29
Grafenwöhr, Bavaria, Germany, Monday, June 13, 1938
It was a "live-fire" exercise. The part of the Reichskanzler was played by, well, the Reichskanzler himself, and if anyone thought it funny to see generals taking orders from a major, well, that was how things worked. Since the Reich was hypothetically at war, the Reichskanzler, with memories of Bismarck stuffing himself into his old cavalry uniform to fight the French, had to dress the part. It was, of course, just a coincidence that the very civilian Reichswehr minister had tricked himself out in a leather coat and that flat billed cap that the Social Democrats seemed to like.
They had background. The fictional nation of Angreifer, and it was aggressive indeed. Fictional newspapers explained how diplomatic relations between Angreifer and the Reich had gradually broken down, and how their President Leuchtkäfer had been acting in an increasingly erratic nature. But the last resources of diplomacy were being put forth to prevent a war.
General von Rundstedt, who would command the defense of the Reich, at least in this story, was a bit perturbed about it. He complained to the Herr Minister, to the Herr Reichskanzler, and eventually to the Kaiser. Noske had cited concerns about image, Manfred had said it was good public relations, and Louis-Ferdinand had said it was funny. So the general had grumbled off to his headquarters with comments about how the children were running the show.
The scenario was simple enough: General von Bock would be the Chief Marshal of Angreifer, invading the German Reich with over half the army, but mostly the infantry. General von Rundstedt would defend the country with the assistance of General Lutz, now-General Guderian, and the new armored troops. While no one outright rejected the idea, there was much concern about letting the tin toy boys run off and make a scene. Above, the two nations' air forces would skirmish.
The referee contingent would include the Herr Commander of the Reichsheer himself, Generaloberst von Fritsch (the Kaiser being the Commander-in-Chief of the Reichswehr and each of its forces, Fritsch's position had been renamed, not reconstructed), the "Uncle of the Reichswehr", Prince Eitel-Friedrich, the Commander of the Luftstreitkräfte, Udet (all right, Herr General der Flieger von Udet), and several retired senior officers, who had been vetted by cross-checking with Noske's little black book of Kapp. Hammerstein, for example, who seemed to have recovered from his health problems.
Now the commanders of the army filed into the theater to hear their leaders, civilian and military, speak. Manfred would address the generals first and last: he began by reading the "official" story of the crisis between Angreifer and the Reich and ended by saying, "I have dispatched a high-ranking member of the government to the capital of Angreifer for last-minute negotiations with their President. Oh, you say there's news?"
He went back and sat between Noske and Fritsch, while men removed the podium. The lights darkened and then a movie image flashed on the screen.
President Leuchtkäfer stalked back and forth, his cigar and trademark greasepaint moustache both atwitch with excitement. Udet gave a pleased snort at who entered. "I didn't think the old goat would get Marlene to appear."
"Money, Herr Udet, money," Noske said. "Be quiet."
On the screen, the actress wrung her hands and said, dramatically, "President Leuchtkäfer, on behalf of the women of Angreifer, I have taken it upon myself to make one final effort to prevent war."
"No kidding," Julius said, removing his cigar from his mouth and leering at her.
"I have talked to Ambassador von Papen, and he says Germany doesn't want war either."
"Either."
"He doesn't want war either."
"Either."
"I've taken the liberty of asking the Ambassador to come here because we both felt that a friendly conference would settle everything peacefully. He'll be here any moment."
Julius grinned broadly and began talking about the wonderful prospects of peace -- only to begin arguing with himself about offering his hand to the German ambassador, then having the German ambassador refuse it. (Manfred heard snorts from Noske's direction when Julius, up on the screen, referred to this Ambassador von Papen as a "hyena".)
Then Papen came in and Julius bellowed at him, "SO! You refuse to shake hands with me!" and slapped him with a pair of gloves.
The lights came up again and this time for real, dressed the same as he had been on the screen, Papen entered, with a dignifiedly miffed look on his face. He crossed the stage, approached Manfred and the commanders, clicked his heels, and said, formally, "Herr Reichskanzler, I regret to inform you that President Leuchtkäfer has rejected with contempt our final attempts at mediation. Angreifer has declared war and mobilized."
He hadn't been too thrilled about the original idea to begin with. "Herr Marx is a clown," he had said. "It will be . . . disagreeable."
Manfred said, "We want to project anything but the old image, the ferocious unappeasable Hun. Imagine that you are asking Herr Wilson not to declare war on the Reich and he slaps you."
Papen thought about it for a while. Then he said, "Ach, the sacrifices one makes in one's country's service."
It didn't help that afterwards Julius said, "You know, this guy could do even better than Louis Calhern in villain roles."
He himself had a list of his own commanders who would be the better for a knock on the head from Arthur. General von Reichenau, for example, who had been far too close to Röhm even before Blomberg had found it proper to retire from the army. (Noske had assigned Blomberg to sit at a desk at the Bendlerstrasse, with nothing to do, and had made a habit of snarling at him when he came in in the morning and when he left at night. After two months of ministerial scowls, his health had broken down, officially, and Hammerstein had "reluctantly" accepted his retirement.)
Many of the armored units were at half-strength, but production looked to fill that lack by the end of the year. The primary beneficiary of the new expansion was the air force, which was also getting the new monoplanes from Bavarian Aircraft and Heinkel.
The first day or two went according to the old way, with the Angreifer Army pressing forward, while the Germans prepared for a counterstrike. The outstanding commander of the Angreifer Army was a Wurttemburger who had been with the mountain troops during the War and was again now; General von Bock had had to call his enthusiastic Oberst Rommel back two times or more when he took the Gebirgsjägerbrigade too far behind enemy lines.
Then, Rundstedt launched an offensive with his last resources. General Lutz's Panzer Group penetrated into the center of the Angreifer army, making a great bulge, the tanks leading the way and the infantry spreading out after them. Lutz's chief of staff Manstein -- General Beck of the Truppe
namt had been enraged when asked to offer up his two best staff officers to the Luftstreitkräfte, and had been only slightly mollified when Udet had taken Wever and left Manstein, only to lose Manstein to the Panzergruppe -- took over command of a unit when the referees ruled its commander wounded in action, and captured a town that had held out at the junction of three crucial roads, in spite of the garrison commander, Oberst Hoth, refusing to surrender.
The chief American observer, a Colonel Patton, had cursed fluently over the lack of similar standards in his own country. "The Goddamned American Army would stand up about two Goddamned minutes in the field against this," he said. "Our Goddamned army is about effective against this mobile warfare as a load of horseshit. The War Department has nothing but crap between its ears. God damn it, Major, don't they salute in your Goddamned army!?"
Manfred saluted, saying, "I believe you too were in the cavalry, Colonel?"
He had come forward with the referees to see how this remarkable advance was doing. The British had sent a more senior team of observers, including Colonels Hobart and le Martel. (Their General Fuller, he had been given to understand, had become an adherent of Mosley, and had retired.)
The American colonel suddenly realized who he had rebuked, "I feel like a horse's ass," he said.
"No matter. Didn't you ride in the 1912 Olympics? Pity, we could have met earlier. I would have been in our equestrian team in 1916 . . ." and they talked horses for a while. Anything to calm him down, make the Americans not feel intimidated by the Evil Huns.
The horse talk was interrupted after a while. "Oberst von Manstein reporting, Herr Reichskanzler," that individual said. "I was informed you wished to see me."
A Man and a Plane: An Alternate Germany Page 44