He decided on a formal opening. “General Sikorski, we have a very serious proposition to discuss with you today. Very serious indeed! However, before we can proceed we need your word that what is discussed here, goes no further than this table. I cannot stress how important this is. It is of vital national interest to Poland, Germany and other countries.” He waited for Sikorski’s reaction.
The surprised Polish Prime Minister recovered quickly. He hesitated only a moment. “You have my word, Baron von Altendorf. I am greatly indebted to you personally, and to the current German government, for many things. Even if I personally do not like, or if I disagree with anything you tell me today, it shall not be repeated by me.”
Von Altendorf thanked him. He then outlined, to the greatest degree he was able, what they wanted to do with the Polish armed forces, but without disclosing the reasons why. It sounded implausible even to his own ears. Sikorski would have to trust them.
Sikorski was no fool. The three people with him at the table effectively constituted the German Government, with the most powerful military in the world. He trusted them implicitly, but they were asking him was to play with fire while being soaked in gasoline!
It was several minutes before he replied.
“Gentlemen, as I indicated earlier, I, Wladyslaw Sikorski, have nothing but respect for the government that leads Germany today. Europe is indebted to you for the creation of the European Alliance. Our continent has never been so peaceful or prosperous. I find it hard to say no to what you ask, but at the same time I am very worried about saying yes. To threaten the damned Soviets could stir up a hornets nest. Stalin is a murderous madman. There is no telling how he would react to any provocation. While I am personally not afraid to fight the Russians, my country cannot stand against them. I believe it is only our Alliance membership that has restrained them so far, from invading and occupying the rest of Poland.
Is there nothing further that you are able to tell me that would convince me to take this gamble? I assure you that I would dearly love to co-operate with you, but I need to know that I would not be acting against my country’s best interest.”
His response was both reasonable and understandable. Von Brauchitsch decided to open up just a little. “Would you like the Soviets out of eastern Poland, General?” He asked quietly.
“NOW YOU ARE TALKING,” Sikorsky enthusiastically almost shouted, after he absorbed what von Brauchitsch had said. “Tell me more, please.”
“There is very little more we are able to say, unfortunately. And some things are best left unsaid. It is obvious to you that we have motives for this ‘game’ we want to play. One of the results, provided everything goes according to plan, will be the evacuation of the Soviet troops from eastern Poland and the reunification of you country.
On the other hand, should things go wrong, we have assessed the military risk to Poland, Germany, and the Alliance, and we are all in agreement that the threat of pre-emptive action by the Soviet Union is low.”
The mention of the re-unification of his country had energised Sikorski. They went over the details once more, of what was expected of him. Before he had even realised it, he was committed. He made the decision alone. His government colleagues would not question him. That way the secret was safe!
Later that evening, in the comfort of his own home, he agonised over whether he had acted wisely. But the rewards!
As secretly arranged between von Brauchitsch and Khrushchev, early the following morning the Polish Prime Minister issued a short statement condemning the new Russian monument in Dubno. He specifically used the words ‘Russian’ instead of ‘Soviet’. This was the return signal to Khrushchev that everything was in place.
Two days later the first Polish tank unit was loaded on a train bound for their eastern border. Another five days, and more than half of that country’s armoured vehicles, nearly one hundred modern German Panther and Tiger tanks in total, together with a hundred mobile artillery and rocket launchers, were engaged in military exercises close to the border with Soviet occupied Poland.
Seventy thousand soldiers practiced war games.
Overhead screamed Polish ME262 jet fighters. Let the Russians gaze jealously at these!
The previous two days had seen Soviet troop and armour reinforcements moving to the Polish border. There had also been some redeployment of troops in and around areas close to the border, as well as near the major cities of Moscow and Leningrad.
In response to the ‘unexplained’ Soviet military build-up in Eastern Poland, on Germany’s northern border, Germany felt it necessary, purely as a precautionary measure, to reinforce its troops and armour in northern Germany. Three Luftwaffe ME262 squadrons were also relocated closer to there.
The European Alliance headquarters, in terms of its standing operational protocol, issued a code four alert. This was basically an initial warning to the member countries of a low possibility attack. The highest code alert was one.
This only seemed to aggravate the situation. More soviet troops were moved closer to Poland and northern Germany. And Red Army troops were stationed within Moscow and other cities to prevent any unexpected hostile acts or subversion.
LONDON
A perplexed and worried Winston Churchill called an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss the Polish/Russian crisis. ‘What the hell has brought all this about,’ he wondered. ‘Surely not because the damned Russians unveiled a small monument in a village only a little bigger than the actual monument itself.’
His very brief telephone conversation with the German Foreign Minister had ended with him receiving firm reassurance that all would be well, but no real details. Most unlike von Altendorf! His political nose told him there was something more to all this than meets the eye!
In the meantime he supposed he could only accept that the Army Chief-of-Staff had acted correctly in response to the European Alliance alert, by placing the British armed forces on low grade alert. It would be a good reaction test, if nothing else!
Churchill’s cabinet could offer no more explanation or ideas for the sudden European military activity then he could. Were the Russians planning something?
It was all very worrying!
WASHINGTON
The current ‘crisis’ in Europe had demonstrated in no uncertain terms to a concerned President Truman, just how ineffectual the United Nations actually was in the face of the disdain of Europe and Russia. He had called for the body’s first ever emergency debate on the matter. After the debate was over, the US ambassador to the UN had reported only the expected litany of calls by individual member countries for Poland, the Soviet Union and Germany to de-escalate the tension by withdrawing their forces from their respective borders. A resolution to this effect had accordingly been passed by the UN General Assembly.
Truman was almost embarrassed by the lack of reaction on the part of the countries concerned. The UN had simply been ignored. This did not bode well for the organisation’s future. He was beginning to wish he had never pushed the damned concept.
In its first real test, the UN had failed miserably. It was like the old League of Nations all over again.
The US President and his personal advisers considered the military exercises conducted by the Poles as being ‘provocative’, a description not entirely agreed with by the US military. Their position was that Poland had a right to do this, and in any case, communist Soviet Union was no friend of the United States.
The Secretary of State was no help. He confirmed to Truman his bewilderment how something like this could develop so fast. On the face of it, it just didn’t make sense. His talks with his counterparts in Britain, Poland, Russia and Germany had been inconclusive. He advised ‘a wait and see’ approach. Let things cool down.
NORTHERN GERMANY
General Klaus von Altendorf had exercised his tank units at digging in and disappearing from enemy sight. He had gone forward with his officers a kilometre, and then further. He kept turning to search for the conceal
ed positions. They had done well. It was only because he knew where they were that he could actually detect one or two small signs of his force. Tomorrow or the next day, he would move them to a different position and repeat the exercise.
He was satisfied. His men were the best, and the Tiger was a truly superb tank. He almost wished the Soviets would come charging over the border. They would not know what hit them!
He was uncertain why events of the last week had actually got this far. Only a few weeks earlier he had dined with his father and they had talked about how peaceful Europe was, and how the Soviet threat had diminished over the years.
He shook his head. Politics!
TWO DAYS LATER
After introductory sombre martial music, Moscow radio announced in subdued tones that the dearly beloved leader of the Soviet Union, Comrade Stalin, was dead. Apparently he had suffered a severe stroke while in bed during the night, and he had not recovered. This announcement was repeated continually throughout the morning.
It was only much later in the day that another announcement was made. This time to re-assure the Soviet people. Comrades Nikita Khrushchev and Vyacheslav Molotov would, in the interim, form a caretaker government with the Politburo. They had expressed their extreme sorrow at their great leader’s death. He would be sorely missed by all of the Soviet Union’s citizens. The whole of the Soviet Union was in mourning.
“BULLSHIT,” roared General Sikorski alone in his office. Those two bastards murdered the old tyrant. They set it up with the Germans. He laughed out loud. It had been a long time since he had felt so happy. He thanked his God that the Germans were on the side of Poland.
Now we will see if we get the rest of our country back.
BERLIN
The German Governing Council heard the news within the confines of the council chamber. They were unashamedly happy and relieved. Their gambit had worked! The Russian psychopath was dead.
No one shed a tear for the Soviet dictator. Privately though, von Altendorf spared a few minutes thought to the unknown millions of dead innocent Soviet citizens, mindlessly murdered or starved to death by Stalin over the past fifteen years. If there is a God, maybe Stalin will be meeting his victims later.
He only hoped that his successors now lived up to their promises. As a student of Russian history, he fervently hoped the Russian people would finally receive some decent treatment. Something unknown to them throughout their history. After hundreds of years of oppression they deserved a chance for a better life.
Early the following morning, the German Defence Minister issued orders to the military units on Germany’s northern border with Russia, recalling them back to their permanent bases. With immediate effect!
This drew a swift response from the Soviet Army. All their units facing northern Germany were pulled back. The border area resumed its normal quiet rural appearance,
The Poles had halted their military exercises following the news of Stalin’s death. The Polish Air force now recalled all of their aircraft back to their bases. The army pulled back from the border area, and commenced transporting its armoured units back to where they were permanently stationed. Their war games were over.
Amazingly, the Soviets responded to the Polish withdrawal with alacrity. In just one day, the entire recent influx of troops and tanks had disappeared, leaving only the scant border guards who had always been stationed there. No Soviet aircraft were to be seen in the skies near the border.
LONDON - 5 FEBRUARY
Churchill was totally relaxed and he sipped his whisky slowly. Smoke curled from his cigar parked in the ashtray. He was delighted with the news of the demise of that evil bastard Stalin. The last of the world’s twentieth century brutal dictators.
He could not help but keep smiling.
He wasn’t sure how they had done it, but he knew the Germans had somehow orchestrated the whole border confrontation thing. He was tempted to telephone von Altendorf and congratulate him. ‘Better not. Don’t want to embarrass him. At a suitable time in the future, I will let him know that I am not fooled!’
He sincerely hoped Russia’s new joint Tsars, Khrushchev and Molotov, would be more reasonable and enlightened than their predecessor. He was actually optimistic about this.
He chuckled contentedly as he lifted the glass to his lips and silently toasted the Germans.
WARSAW - 20 FEBRUARY
General Sikorski frowned at the letter he held. He had to read it three times, it was such an unbelievable communication.
It had been delivered to him in person, by the Soviet Ambassador to Poland.
Essentially it stated that the Supreme Soviet Council had reviewed the past and current position of the Soviet Union with regards to its place in international affairs, and its relationship with its neighbours.
In 1939 Poland had been invaded without cause or warning, by the Fascist dictator, Adolf Hitler. To ensure that the gallant Polish people were not totally submerged by the Fascist horde, the Soviet Union had extended their protection to them by temporarily occupying the eastern portion of their country.
They noted that Poland had been a country free of the Fascist yoke for some years now. In that time they had clearly demonstrated that their country was economically and socially stable, and had developed a competent government.
The Soviet Supreme Council believed that eastern Poland no longer needed the protective hand of the Soviet Union.
In the spirit of friendship and international brotherhood, the Polish Government was invited to send their representatives to Moscow to discuss terms for an orderly withdrawal of Soviet forces from the eastern part of Poland, as well as normalisation of trade, and other matters of mutual concern.
‘Hypocritical bastards,’ Sikorski thought. Then a great smile spread across his face. “WE DID IT!” he yelled. His secretary poked her head through the door, thinking he had called her. He rose from his desk, grabbed her and hugged her in a release of emotion. “WE DID IT, PAULINA.” He said no more, and, confused, she went back to her work.
Sikorski had an urgent telephone call to make to the German Foreign Minister.
BERLIN
Von Altendorf reported to the Governing Council about the ecstatic telephone call he had received from General Sikorski. The Polish prime Minister was ebullient in his praise for the German Government. He expressed the undying gratitude of all Poles for bringing about the re-unification of their country. He declared that Poland was the best friend and most loyal ally of Germany, and would be so for the rest of time.
Von Altendorf failed to mention that at one point Sikorski had been so overcome with emotion, he actually started weeping. Most embarrassing. Most un-German!
The new Soviet leaders had now delivered on two of their promises, the demise of Stalin, and a free Poland. ‘Operation nothing’ had been a complete success.
Their third commitment, to meaningful arms reduction talks, was on the agenda. The date for the first meeting between the two countries was set for early March. Khrushchev, Molotov and Marshall Zhukov would represent the Soviet Union. Von Brauchitsch, von Altendorf and von Mannstein would be there for Germany.
The venue would be the same as before, the old palace outside Istanbul.
There were no pre-conditions. Any subject concerning armaments could be tabled for discussion. This did not mean that in practice everything actually would be open for negotiation. The Soviets did not have a history of openness.
Von Altendorf saw little problem with the actual principle of arms limitation being agreed upon. He was, however, sceptical about the Soviets accepting the need for indisputable verification. This would require independent inspectors on their territory. Completely unacceptable to the paranoid Soviets.
Allow foreign subversives on the sacred soil of Mother Russia. Never!
They would just have to see how it all worked out at the conference. At least they were talking!
LONDON
Churchill was extremely pleased to hear about the
impending Polish re-unification and the arms limitation talks. The missing pieces to the ‘Polish crisis’ puzzle had now been supplied. What an unbelievably cheeky ploy! And it had worked!
His admiration for the Germans was almost unlimited. Once again he reminisced about how close the British and Germans had come to tearing each other apart a few years ago. Madness!
He earnestly wished his German counterparts good luck in their talks with the notoriously difficult Russians. He would follow their progress with great interest.
He made a mental note to invite the German Chancellor for a state visit to Britain, if the impending general election was won by his Conservative Party and he remained Prime Minister.
The German Peace Page 37