The German Peace

by Derek Pennington

  Within the German Government, the Soviet Union is perceived to be the only potential threat to Germany. Indeed, they see it as a threat to the whole world. Germany is as anti-communist as it ever was.

  While nobody here wants another war, many think one may be inevitable with the Soviets. However, the appraisal of their intelligence services is that this is not likely for at least the next two years. They are keeping a close watch on the situation, but have based their military and strategic review on this thinking.

  The army continues to demobilise its soldiers, but keeps them listed in the Reserves. The immediate aim is a professional and well trained army of considerably fewer than one million men. This could be expanded quickly to four million men, and probably to more than five million, in my judgement.

  Armour and equipment lost in the war is not being replaced immediately. They are using the envisaged two year breathing space to upgrade all equipment, using lessons learnt in the war. The aim is for the German army to be a superbly equipped and trained fighting force by no later than the end of 1942.

  Much the same policy is being pursued with their air force. They are upgrading some of their existing operational aircraft, but have down-graded research and development of conventional piston engine aircraft in favour of jet powered aircraft. The have had a jet aircraft flying for the past year and apparently their aim is to introduce a jet fighter into general service by the end of 1942.

  I am aware that our own jet aircraft programme is nowhere near as advanced. Neither is that of the British.

  Of particular interest to myself is the German navy. Here, there is an even more radical change. They are down-sizing their surface fleet. The superb Battleships Bismark and Tirpitz, together with the navy’s battlecruisers and heavy cruisers, will be sold if buyers can be found, otherwise they will be scrapped. The new philosophy is that the days of the capital ship are over! Except for aircraft carriers.

  Work has started on the completion of the aircraft carrier, Graf Zeppelin, which is eighty five percent finished at the moment. Work had been stopped some time ago on the orders of Adolf Hitler. The Graf Zeppelin is expected to be operational by late 1941 or early 1942. To give you a rough idea, this ship is about the same size as the USS Enterprise.

  I believe designs for improved and larger carriers have been called for with a view to possibly adding another two or three carriers in the not too distant future.

  Newer and bigger submarines are also on the agenda.

  While on the subject of the military, I have to tell you about progress made with General von Mannstein’s dream of a ‘European Alliance’, which, you may remember, I mentioned in my last letter.

  If the rumours I hear are true, General von Mannstein is having some success with his idea. It seems that Norway may already have agreed to join this alliance, and Denmark is about to join. I have even heard that Poland is seriously considering it. My friend Colonel Blackstone, told me that the concept has definitely been discussed in high circles in Britain, but nothing has come of this yet.

  I personally find the whole concept breathtaking. Who knows, maybe it could mean the end of war in Europe!

  Another item of interest I heard, is that Mussolini has been told in no uncertain terms by the German Foreign Minister, to evacuate the land he snatched in Southern France. He has been given a week or so to comply, or his forces will be forcibly ejected, (obviously by the Germans army).

  Under pressure from the Germans, he has already put his invasion plans for the Sudan and East Africa on hold - almost certainly for good. In any case, the Italian troops would have bitten off more than they could chew as Britain began reinforcing those countries once they were warned of Mussolini’s intentions.

  I also heard that Germany will officially withdraw from the Pact of Steel very soon.

  Which brings me to a subject closer to home - Japan. Germany’s Foreign Minister called in the Japanese Ambassador this week. Conjecture is that he is letting them know about German concerns about their continued aggression in China. The Foreign Minister also had a meeting with a senior Chinese diplomat, but I don’t know what transpired.

  Reading between the lines I think Germany’s Governing Council have moved away from the friendly relationship they had with the Japanese in Hitler’s time. The anti-communist stance of Japan must still be valued by Germany, but it is my belief that you will find some German support for American policies with Japan.

  In general, everything seems to have settled down here. Talking to normal everyday people, there is no doubt that Hitler is still revered as the man who gave the Germans back their pride. However, there seems to be few people who regret the demise of Nazism.

  One big surprise was the speedy repeal of all the anti-Jewish laws. Furthermore, political prisoners - which basically means anyone suspected of opposing the Nazi regime - are now being released in droves.

  The economy is picking up and people are feeling confident. There is a widespread feeling of optimism.

  I think the Governing Council are doing a good job.

  Yours respectfully

  Jamie MacLellan

  20 SEPTEMBER

  Von Brauchitsch had instituted separate weekly meetings with the military members of the Governing Council, Generals von Mannstein and Beck. These usually included his own two deputy Ministers, Admiral Donitz and General Kesselring. Occasionally the head of the Abwehr, Admiral Canaris, was invited to attend at his own request. Today was one of those occasions.

  As usual the first item on the agenda was the Soviet Union. The German military had a very large espionage and intelligence gathering operation all over that vast country. Of particular interest were any signs of increasing production of armaments by the Russians.

  Canaris reported that production of the standard tank in the Soviet Army, the T26 light tank, had come to an end as it was now considered obsolete. This would be replaced with a much better design, the T34 medium tank, which was just about to go into production. From what his agents could learn, this was a well-designed tank with a clever combination of firepower, mobility, armour and ruggedness. He believed it was probably superior to Germany’s current main tank, the Panzer lV.

  This was not good news. However the decision had already been made by the Wehrmacht to cease production of the Panzer lV while speeding up the development of the next generation of tanks. Germany’s other medium tank, the older Panzer lll was already being withdrawn from service. Fortunately the existing chassis of this tank was perfect for adaption to a mobile assault gun, for which there was a great need.

  The conclusion was that the German army had by far the strongest tank force in the world at present, and by the time the new Soviet tank was being produced in significant numbers, the new German designs would be rolling of the production lines.

  As regards the Soviet air force, their current operational aircraft were considerably inferior to the German equivalents. They had, however, developed a new ground attack aircraft, the Sturmovik, which was reported to be a formidable aircraft. This was scheduled to be introduced into service sometime next year.

  The Luftwaffe remained the strongest air force in the world, and the new aircraft now being developed would maintain this superiority for the foreseeable future.

  The Soviet navy was unimpressive. Despite the building of a strong Soviet fleet being officially a national priority for some years, progress had been slow. Their large ships consisted of three very old battleships and seven cruisers, three of which were also ancient. They were, however, now starting construction of three more battleships, and had plans for further additions.

  They were considerably stronger than Germany in submarine numbers, though not necessarily in quality of ships.

  However, all three branches of the Soviet armed services suffered from an appalling lack of leadership. This was a direct result of Stalin’s purges in previous years.

  With the Kriegsmarine’s new submarine and aircraft carrier building program, the Sovie
t Navy was not considered to be a significant threat to Germany in the near or medium term.

  This report from Canaris was discussed for the next half hour. The general consensus at the end was that the Soviet Union presented no near term threat to Germany.

  Admiral Donitz spoke next.

  “Following this analysis of the Soviet navy, I can report that we have had great interest in the heavy surface ships we wish to dispose of. The Soviets have expressed interest in purchasing our two battleships, the Spanish would like a battlecruiser and a heavy cruiser, Mexico, Argentina and Turkey each want a heavy cruiser, and the Chinese are desperate to sign a deal for our other battlecruiser. The Japanese also want to talk to us about some of these ships but in view of our new policy of friendship with China, and co-operation with Britain and the United States, I am proceeding slowly with this.

  The good news is that the final sale price of these vessels will be higher than expected. We will not recover the cost of building them, of course, but that is beside the point.

  The bad news is that all the buyers want some form of credit for their purchases, as well as assistance and crew training before handover. The credit facilities they are looking for would be a small initial payment in cash, and the balance paid by way of shipments of agricultural produce and raw materials.

  This is outside my expertise and is something for the Minister for Economics to rule on. I also believe the Ministers of Foreign Affairs or Interior, are better placed than I am to finalise these sales.”

  All present were delighted with this development. Apart from the useful economic boost, the Soviets should view the sale to them of the battleships as a friendly act, and hopefully they would lower their guard a little and re-arm with a little less urgency. Now that German naval policy recognised that the large capital ships were a relic of the past and could easily be dealt with in any future war, a sale to the Russians of Germany’s battleships was very acceptable indeed.

  The sale of a battlecruiser to China would lead to difficulties with the Japanese, but would certainly help to cement the improving relations with Britain and America.

  The only other matter to be discussed was the disbanding of the SS. Von Brauchitsch dealt with this.

  “Unfortunately, due to their culture of elitism, and an obsession with racial superiority encouraged by its previous leader, Heinrich Himmler, there was a great deal of initial resentment among the SS to the idea of their incorporation into the Wermacht. I must say there was also some dissent within the army about being made to accept SS soldiers.

  The investigations into atrocities committed by the SS in Poland and France have resulted in the trial of about two thousand of their troops. The circumstances were examined in great detail. Where the investigators found any extenuating circumstances, the accused individuals were given the benefit of the doubt. The nett result was that only twenty three officers and seventy nine other ranks were found guilty of serious crimes. The officers were executed and the others sentenced to military prison with hard labour for varied amounts of time between five and fifteen years. The remaining nineteen hundred accused, were dealt with relatively leniently. Some received prison sentences and the rest were confined to barracks for sixty days with a loss of pay.

  A report on the matter was forwarded to the Foreign Affairs Minister for him to use in whatever way he sees fit in negotiations with the Poles. I hope they will now consider this matter closed.

  The bulk of the SS, all fifty thousand of them, were offered the choice of applying to join the regular army, or demobilisation. Thirty thousand of them chose the army.

  It was quite an undertaking. Lecturers had to be found and speedily trained within the army.

  “The ex-SS applicants had to go back to school for a week”, von Brauchitsch said with a smile. “It was a one week intensive series of lectures and debates about the new German order and society. Particular attention was paid to many of the errors in Nazi ideology, although there was never any direct criticism of Hitler himself. The object was to re-educate them to a point where they could accept the new, post Nazi society and policies in Germany. Anyone who could not do so, would not be eligible for the army, which is, after all, the defender of our society.

  Nearly a quarter of these soldiers at the school failed in the judgement of the lecturers. A further five thousand just walked away after the lectures were finished. Only eighteen thousand eventually completed an application to join the Werhmacht. Bearing in mind that the army is down-sizing, fewer than half of these applicants were accepted. All good, battle hardened soldiers.

  That, gentlemen, is the end of the SS”.

  It was time to finish the meeting. They all suffered from a never ending burden of work. But there was one more item to be considered. General Beck looked at Admiral Canaris, prompting him to speak.

  Canaris had a long history of opposition to the Nazis. He had even contemplated a plan to kidnap and unseat Hitler as early as the beginning of 1939. At that time the high ranking military in Germany believed Britain would declare war on Germany if Czechoslovakia, or what was left of it, was attacked. That would have given the German military the pretext they believed they needed, to act. Unfortunately when Czechoslovakia was eventually attacked and occupied, the weak political leaders of Britain and France did nothing. And so a glorious opportunity to spare Europe from war was lost.

  He had become even more anti-Nazi after personally witnessing war crimes in Poland by the SS, including the burning of a synagogue with two hundred Polish Jews inside. He was also fiercely anti-communist.

  Canaris now spoke. “I have to bring a matter of grave concern to the attention of this gathering. I first discussed it with General Beck two weeks ago, but since then things seem to have become worse.”

  He had the absolute attention of all present.

  “It has come to my knowledge that following the dismemberment of the SS, someone immediately started a sort of fellowship movement for ex-SS soldiers. Mostly disgruntled soldiers, I might add. It isn’t exactly a secret movement, but they are also not openly advertising it. Recruiting more by word of mouth. Even so, membership already stands at ten thousand and is growing daily. My source tells me that there will be twenty thousand very soon, with an overall target of thirty thousand members.

  Now it `may be a perfectly innocent organisation, people just keeping alive their old comradeship. But the idea of twenty or thirty thousand well trained soldiers, all imbued with Nazi ideals, does not sit comfortably with me. I decided to keep an eye on them.

  There is definitely some money behind it. Then I started to pick up whispers through my agents and others, of certain people very discretely spreading lies about the Governing Council. To them it seems that Germany is being disarmed and will soon be defenceless. The sailors on the battleships and other heavy units have been told their ships will be sold or scrapped and they will be discharged from the navy without compensation or pensions. Another story circulating is that the territories conquered by the shedding of German blood, are being handed back to our enemies. That sort of rubbish.

  Oh, I nearly forgot, the members of the Governing Council are also lining their own pockets out of the tax money paid by ordinary hard working Germans.”

  Canaris saw the faces of his audience set hard.

  “As a matter of urgency I set my agents to trace who was behind this, and ascertain what it might be leading up to. It took a lot of gentle sifting through information, subtle prodding of different people, a little arm twisting here and there, putting together all the pieces. Everything I learned, pointed to one man.” He paused.

  “And do we have a name for this man?” Von Brauchitsch asked.

  Canaris’ answer stunned them. “Field Marshall Hermann Goering.”

  It took a few minutes to absorb this shocking news. Canaris was questioned at length. All eventually accepted that his appraisal appeared to be absolutely correct. Then, with grim determination, they laid their plans.

 
There would be no outward display that they were aware of anything out of the ordinary going on. It would be business as usual. Only the military members would be party to the secret for the time being.

  Security around all members of the Governing Council and the Deputy Ministers would be discretely boosted, but obviously not around the President of the Council. An empty barracks, previously belonging to the SS, and close to the government chambers, would become the new regimental home of one of the army’s battle hardened regiments. Every soldier trusted by the General.

  Admiral Canaris and the Abwehr would increase their surveillance of the troublemakers in general, and attempt to infiltrate the subversive cells. Goering and his confidants in particular, would be monitored carefully. Von Brauchitsch and Canaris were in complete agreement about what had to be done.

  In the meantime, the Military Council would meet every few days to review the situation.