The German Peace

by Derek Pennington

  Yet they both felt that the man was not completely happy – inside. They had both approached him about this at different times, only to be told they were wrong, and that he – James – was quite content with his life.

  They had no option but to take him at his word.

  CHAPTER SEVEN - PAX GERMANICA

  1950 - JULY

  Baron von Altendorf was relaxing on one of the garden seats looking out over his family estate. It was a warm beautiful day. The sort of day that made one glad to be alive.

  It was only the previous month that he had, with great regret, retired as Germany’s Foreign Minister, after holding that office for the past ten years.

  Ten eventful years.

  His successor, Konrad Adenauer, was actually older than himself, but one wouldn’t think so, the way he intensely applied himself to his work. He was a man with great energy and committed to decency, diligence, order, Christian morals and values. He had been arrested several times in the 1930s as an opponent of the Nazi regime. The Baron was satisfied that Germany’s foreign affairs were in safe hands.

  Von Altendorf had been deeply saddened by the unexpected and sudden death of his old friend, Walther von Brauchitsch, through a heart attack, in October 1948. ‘Poor Walther,’ he thought. ‘He never did get to retire. Forced by circumstances to be a politician. Something he so despised. Nevertheless,he was the finest politician, and the finest man, I have ever had the honour to meet’.

  The state funeral for the late Chancellor had seen the streets of Berlin thronged with multitudes wishing to pay their last respects to the man who had so ably led them out of war and into years of peace and unprecedented prosperity. The event had unexpectedly drawn more people even than Hitler’s funeral. A fitting tribute to you, Walther.

  Foreign dignitaries from all over the world had been there to pay their last respects. King George VI, Prime Minister Churchill, President Truman, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, and the kings, prime ministers and presidents of every country in Europe, as well as others from South America and the Indian sub-continent. Even Khrushchev had ventured outside of the Soviet Union for this sad event.

  Von Brauchitsch’s successor as Chancellor had been a very reluctant General von Mannstein. The election of von Mannstein displayed how well the Governing Council worked. All of the Ministers, after being given several days to think about it, had unanimously elected the General as being the most suitable to lead Germany. He was not chosen for his politics, or because he had a personal power base. It was simply because he was the best man for the job. The others had put their country before any personal ambition they may have had.

  Von Altendorf had ruled himself out for the leadership, as he intended to retire by no later than 1950. In the meantime he had remained as a sure guiding hand within the Council over the past twenty months since the election of the new Chancellor.

  He cast his mind back over the past ten years.

  The biggest single change, he supposed, was the absolute peace and security in Europe. A peace guaranteed by good governance, prosperity and strong military forces. It was not the illusional peace of countries with their heads buried the sand, such as existed in the mid-thirties during the time of appeasement and misguided pacifism among the political elites.

  Evil takes place when good men and women do nothing!

  Neither was the current world peace guaranteed by ineffectual talk shops like the United Nations. Von Altendorf believed that the Americans now earnestly wished they had avoided this entanglement. Most of its members seemed to be using it as a forum to berate richer countries and at the same time, ask for money!

  Germany and Europe had stood firm and politely ignored them. It is your mess, America. You fix it.

  Since the end of the European War, the ideology of communism had been exposed for what it was, and discredited around the world. It was virtually now non-existent outside of the Soviet Union. And even in that totalitarian country, things were changing, albeit at a slow pace. Nikita Khrushchev had actually advised the Soviet Politburo of the need for ‘de-Stalinisation’ in their country. The Soviet Union was no longer automatically seen as anti-western. Khrushchev had even visited the United States earlier this year.

  Remarkable!

  The arms limitation agreements in Europe were working. Armed forces, including Russia’s, had generally shrunk by at least thirty percent in the last couple of years. The United States was also abiding by the same principles of arms limitations, even though she had never been a signatory to the agreement.

  China and Japan were co-operating more with each other, and the danger of war in the Far East had accordingly receded. They were both still viewed the Soviet Union – and each other - with some suspicion, but the outright hostility of earlier years had diminished.

  It was developments like this that amply demonstrated that competitors or hostile neighbours can, over an extended period of time, learn to co-operate with each other and make war or conflict less likely.

  France, Italy and Holland had shed the bulk of their empires. Britain had granted independence to India, and was also now about to embark on getting rid of other millstones around their neck in Africa.

  In von Altendorf’s view the undoubted greatest success of all in the less decade was that the five most brutal dictators or near dictators in the world, had met the just desserts; Hitler, Mussolini, Tojo, Zedong, and Stalin. ‘And I can personally vouch that your countries and people are much happier and safer now, you evil bastards,’ he whispered to them.

  The inept and corrupt politicians and governments, so evident before the European War, now found little tolerance among the populations of Europe. Perhaps people have matured since the near cataclysm!

  Not only was Europe and the world a safer place, it was also more prosperous. World trade had more than doubled in the last decade, and there was no end in sight of its continued expansion.

  All of these things, Germany, and its Governing Council under Walther von Brauchitsch, had featured in. A fact, of which, von Altendorf was extraordinarily proud.

  Men make history, not the other way around. In periods when there is no leadership, society stagnates. Progress occurs when courageous and skilful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.

  If there was anything that concerned him about the future it was ‘religious bigotry’. After studying the India situation in recent times, and world history for more years than he cared to remember, he had glimpsed the intolerant nature of many Muslim clerics. This may well develop out of control in future years unless the problem is confronted sooner rather than later!

  Germany itself was now the strongest military power in the world. It also had the world’s largest economy. Its aircraft industry, partnered by Great Britain, was producing half of the world’s aircraft.

  The two renowned German military aircraft, the ME262 fighter, and the Junkers Kaiseradler or Canberra medium bomber, were unsurpassed by any other country. The military version of the Starflight airliner was the workhorse of more than twenty air forces.

  The new jet airliner, the Komet, was an unpatrolled success. It had entered service at the beginning of 1950 and was being purchased by the world’s airlines as fast as the factory could turn them out. The jet age had been ushered in by German ingenuity.

  The German national airline, Lufthansa, was considerably larger than the next largest airline in the world. Part of this success was due their unquestioning faith in, first the Starflight, then the Komet.

  If copying is a form of flattery, then the American aircraft manufacturer, Boeing, had flattered the Germans by designing an almost exact copy of the Komet. They were calling it the Boeing 707. It would be ready to enter service in another two years.

  While still on the subject of weapons, after many years of trial and error, the Luftwaffe’s stand-off bomb guidance system had finally been perfected. It was classified as top secret, so von Altendorf knew almost nothing about the technical details. He knew o
nly that it was a reported as a devastatingly effective weapon.

  There were hints of a truly terrible future weapon. A super-bomb being developed in conjunction with the atomic energy project that Albert Speer believed had such great potential. Von Altendorf thought that he would rather not know about it. Let me die with a clear conscience.

  Von Braun had greatly improved his ballistic missiles. The older, intermediate range A4, had a range of up to three hundred and twenty kilometres, accuracy to within one hundred metres, and delivered a one thousand kilogramme explosive warhead. The newer, longer range A5, had a range of up to one thousand kilometres, far enough to reach Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad from Alliance territory. It was accurate to within two and fifty hundred metres and delivered a one thousand five hundred kilogramme warhead.

  Von Braun had said he could design and build bigger missiles with greatly increased range if called upon to do so.

  There was no defence against these weapons. Maybe the Soviets had got wind of them, and it was this that had persuaded them to be co-operative with the west!

  The successful multiple firing of A4 rockets from an experimental U-boat last year, added a new and sinister dimension to sea warfare. Apparently no other nation had, as yet, even contemplated such a thing.

  Perhaps even more spectacular was von Braun’s newest toy, called Bluerock. This was basically a more sophisticated version of the A5 missile, and was designed to lift a small payload into orbit around the earth. Mankind’s first step into space!

  Where this would lead to, von Altendorf did not know. He thought it was unlikely he would live to see any spectacular results from this.

  Baron von Altendorf often wondered what secrets his friend had Walther harboured about the manner of the death of Adolf Hitler. ‘I will never know. Perhaps it is just as well’. He missed his friend.

  On matters closer to home, von Altendorf’s son, Klaus, was now a General, and still commanding tank brigades. It was a source of immense pride to him when he had heard Klaus described as the finest commander of armour since Rommel. To be compared to the legendary Rommel!

  Erica, his beautiful daughter, remained happily married to the Englishman, Jeremy Blackstone, who was now providing invaluable assistance to General Sieckenius. So he had been informed by the Defence Minister.

  They had a permanent home in Berlin, but spent at least every other alternate weekend with their three children, at the family estate. Keeping the old man company. He considered himself very lucky in respect of his family.

  The Baron stared into the distance. So many memories!

  He had now finished writing his memoirs at last. He had decided to call it PAX GERMANICA. The title was inspired by one immutable fact that was crystal clear to him.

  The last decade had been THE GERMAN PEACE.

  THE END

  AUTHORS NOTE

  THE CENTURY OF DEATH.

  With 200 million war and war related deaths in the twentieth century, it could well go down in history as ‘The century of death’.

  Can it happen again? The answer is YES! And will remain so until the world’s weak, incompetent, self-seeking, power-hungry, or just plain corrupt politicians start to learn from history.

  Not that I think there is much chance of that happening!

  ‘LIES, NOTHING BUT LIES’. That is what springs into my mind when I read the latest sayings of politicians. There is a huge gap between the rubbish they utter for public consumption, and what they actually think.

  It is my utter contempt for the vast majority of the world’s ruling elite that partly motivated me to write this book.

  When one looks at the carnage and damage inflicted upon the world by one man, Adolf Hitler, it defies comprehension. His legacy - the communist superpower of the Soviet Union, later followed by communist China - has a baleful effect on the world to this day.

  Without the rise of the communist superpowers there would have been no Korean War or Vietnam War. Chairman Mao would not have caused the deaths of millions of his own citizens through his insane domestic policies. There would be no rogue North Korea with a mad man for a president developing nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them.

  Two years ago I visited my wife’s family in Russia. Really nice, warm hearted, normal people. I subsequently learned that three of her mother’s brothers were sent off to fight the invading Germans in World war II and, along with countless other Russian soldiers, they never returned. The manner and place of their death is unknown to this day.

  Knowing of the bestial treatment meted out to Russian prisoners of war by the Nazis, one can only hope they died on the battlefield.

  This discovery left me with a feeling of infinite sadness. It was also another motivation for me to write The German Peace.

  This book should not be considered an anti-war novel. If a label has to be applied it should be thought of as an indictment of the world’s ruling political elite.

  Could World War II have been avoided? Of course it could! And this is what THE GERMAN PEACE is about. It is the story of what SHOULD have happened.

  Facts, actual events, and real people are woven throughout the story. One thing is for sure, this story is considerably more plausible than the incredible world shattering events that actually happened from May 1940 onwards.

  March 2017

  Table of Contents

  CHAPTER ONE - CONFLAGRATION

  CHAPTER TWO - CONCILIATION

  CHAPTER THREE - CHINESE NEW YEAR

  CHAPTER FOUR - STABILISATION

  CHAPTER FIVE - WINDS OF CHANGE

  CHAPTER SIX - REAPING THE REWARDS

  CHAPTER SEVEN - PAX GERMANICA