"You will recall that Oberst Peron arranged with the commander of the Mountain Troops in San Martin de los Andes--a dedicated National Socialist and friend of Germany--to provide the security for the discharge of the special cargo from U-boat 405 at Samborombon Bay.
"So what I proposed to Peron was that he arrange for a suitable force of these men--say, forty men; two truckloads; about what they provided for Samborombon Bay--to be quietly moved to Tandil on a routine road-march maneuver.
"The Mountain Troops, noticing unusual activity at the late el Coronel Frade's little love nest, would investigate. Ten or a dozen gauchos, even those with prior military service--or perhaps because of that service--would not attempt to resist forty Mountain Troops, especially if they were armed with two water-cooled Maxim machine guns.
"The Froggers would be released, Oberst Peron could claim the credit for their being found and liberated, and Don Cletus Frade would have a good deal of explaining to do."
"That's absolutely brilliant, Herr Cranz," von Gradny-Sawz said.
"So Oberst Peron thought," Cranz said dryly. "But please let me continue. What was brilliant, Herr von Gradny-Sawz, was Raschner's modification to that plan. At Raschner's suggestion, I suggested to Oberst Peron the one flaw in the plan, and the solution for the flaw.
"Actually, if the plan Peron and von Gradny-Sawz thought was so brilliant had played out, it would have left us with the problem of the Froggers being alive. Getting them back to Germany would have been difficult at best, and once there, God only knows what they would have said to save their miserable lives.
"As I was saying, I suggested to Oberst Peron that there was a possible flaw in what he now thought of as his plan: What if, rather than the Froggers, Casa Chica held some dear friends of Don Cletus Frade--or, for that matter, Hansel's mother-in-law, la Senora Carzino-Cormano herself? Oberst Peron and the Mountain Troops would look pretty foolish if they trained machine guns on prominent Argentines having a more or less innocent romantic holiday in the countryside.
"I also proposed a solution to the problem: that the Mountain Troops bring with them Obersturmfuhrer Heitz and half a dozen of the other SS men enjoying the hospitality of the Mountain Troops.
"They could, I suggested, since they knew--and none of the Argentines knew--what the Froggers looked like--"
"How did they know?" von Gradny-Sawz interrupted. "Heitz and his men have never been to Buenos Aires; they went directly to San Martin de los Andes from Samborombon Bay."
"Bear with me, please, von Gradny-Sawz," Cranz said. His tone was icy.
Boltitz thought: Cranz doesn't like Die Grosse Wienerwurst any more than I do. I suspect the only reason he hasn't ordered him back to Germany is that he knows he's going to need a scapegoat sooner or later, and Gradny-Sawz will be the man.
"Before I was interrupted," Cranz went on, "I was saying, I suggested to Oberst Peron that the SS men could identify the Froggers and solve that problem.
"He thought that was a splendid idea. Then, when we had the schedule, Raschner met the little convoy some fifty kilometers from Tandil and had a private word with Obersturmfuhrer Heitz.
"The plan that agreed with Peron, you will recall, was for the Mountain Troops to surround the house and put the machine guns in place. Obersturmfuhrer Heitz would then reconnoiter the house to determine if it actually held the Froggers. If it did, he would return to the road and call for the occupants of the house to give up the Froggers.
"According to the story I got from Oberst Peron, Heitz had just about reached the house when someone fired at him. He naturally returned the fire--"
"Who shot at him?" von Gradny-Sawz asked.
Cranz gave him a withering look.
"That was a little theater, Gradny-Sawz," Cranz said. "His returning the hostile fire was a cue to his men to open fire. Can you grasp that?"
Von Gradny-Sawz did not reply.
"Which they immediately did," Cranz went on. "At that point, Oberst Peron, apparently having decided discretion was the better part of valor, ordered the Mountain Troops back onto their trucks and called to the men manning the machine guns, the storm troopers, to stop firing. Considering the roar of the guns, it is not surprising that they couldn't hear him. Or didn't understand his Spanish. In any event, they continued to fire.
"By the time that was straightened out, they had pretty well shot up the house. In Oberst Peron's professional military opinion, no one in the house could possibly have lived through the machine-gun fire.
"But Oberst Peron hadn't counted on the Froggers being killed at the hands of the Mountain Troops. It would have been embarrassing for the Mountain Troops and for him, personally, if that came out.
"Obersturmfuhrer Heitz heroically volunteered to stay behind with his men when the Mountain Troops drove off. They would make sure that whoever had been in the house was in fact dead, and then deal with the bodies. Then one of the trucks would come back and pick them up.
"The truck returned for Heitz and his men when planned--that is to say, after nightfall. By then the press of his other duties had forced Oberst Peron to return to Buenos Aires, and the Mountain Troops, now all crammed into the other truck, were on their way back to San Martin de los Andes.
"The truck that went back for Heitz was under the command of a lieutenant. He reported to Oberst Peron that they found the bodies of Obersturmfuhrer Heitz and his men in several places on the approaches to Casa Chica.
"Interestingly, there were no bodies in the house, or any blood to suggest that anyone in it had been wounded. It was the lieutenant's professional opinion that the people in the house had been warned of the coming attack and were prepared for it. In the lieutenant's opinion, Don Cletus Frade's gauchos had watched from a distance as the empty house was machine-gunned and as the trucks drove away.
"And then, when Heitz and his men, satisfied there was no one left alive in the house, approached it to make sure the Froggers were among the dead--Heitz's orders were to bury the Frogger bodies somewhere on the pampas where they would never be found--they were ambushed."
He paused to let them consider that.
Then finished: "And now the bodies of Obersturmfuhrer Heitz and his men are buried where they will never be found on the pampas. The Mountain Troops lieutenant correctly decided that that was the option preferable to his having to explain at a roadblock what he was doing with the bullet-ridden bodies of half a dozen men in his truck. And so we have another example of what the Scottish poet Robert Burns had in mind when he wrote, 'The best laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft a-gley.'"
"Our traitor strikes again," von Gradny-Sawz said solemnly.
"You think so, Gradny-Sawz?" Cranz asked.
Boltitz thought: Wienerwurst, you are about to have that foot that's in your mouth shoved up your fat ass.
"Herr Cranz, you yourself said the gauchos had been warned."
"And they probably had," Cranz agreed. "But by whom? Only Sturmbannfuhrer Raschner and I knew the details of the operation. And trust me, Gradny-Sawz, on my SS officer's honor, neither of us betrayed the Fatherland.
"One possibility which must be considered, I suggest, is that, in addition to the gauchos tending the milch cows, there were gauchos elsewhere, and when two army trucks bearing the markings of the Mountain Regiment came down the road, they telephoned to Casa Chica. 'It may be nothing, Pedro,'" Cranz said in a mock Spanish accent, " 'but there are two Mountain Regiment trucks headed your way.' "
"I didn't think of that possibility," von Gradny-Sawz admitted.
"Well, perhaps your talents lie in the diplomatic area, rather than the military," Cranz said. "Nor in the field of intelligence."
Cranz gave von Gradny-Sawz a long moment to consider that, then went on: "So where are we now? The black side of the picture is that the Froggers are not only still alive, but by now are far from Casa Chica.
"And since we must presume that if there were gauchos watching the exercise, they saw both the Mountain Troops and Oberst Peron.
"But
I would rather doubt that they would bring this matter to the attention of the Argentine government. That would put Don Cletus Frade in the awkward position of explaining what he had at Casa Chica that was of such interest to Oberst Peron and, of course, the SS-SD.
"Now, with regard to Major Frade of the OSS: He landed in one of South American Airways' new Lockheed Lodestars at the Aerodromo Coronel Jorge G. Frade in Moron at five past one yesterday afternoon. His copilot was SAA Chief Pilot Gonzalo Delgano.
"They were met by el Coronel Alejandro Bernardo Martin, the Chief of the Ethical Standards Office of the Bureau of Internal Security, and by Sergeant Major Enrico Rodriguez, Cavalry, Retired. They went directly from the airfield to Don Cletus's house across from the Hipodromo on Libertador, which is currently occupied by Oberst Peron. We can presume that the faithful Sergeant Major Rodriguez told Don Cletus what had transpired at Casa Chica as they drove from the airport.
"I was aware that Oberst Peron had asked el Coronel Martin to bring Frade to him, the idea being that Peron would have a friendly, perhaps even fatherly, word with Frade about the foolishness of attempting to harbor the Froggers.
"Raschner and I, without confiding in Oberst Peron, had come up with an idea to send the Widow Frade an unmistakable message of exactly how dangerous it is to assist traitors to the German Reich. I will get to that shortly."
"The Widow Frade?" Boltitz asked.
"I'll get to that shortly, Boltitz. Pray let me continue."
"I beg pardon," Boltitz said.
Cranz nodded his acceptance of the apology, then went on: "Loche reported that Frade went to see Peron only after Martin very strongly insisted that he do so. Loche also reported that there was nothing on the airplane but cargo, presumably spare parts for the Lodestars.
"Since Raschner has so far been unable to get someone into the Frade mansion on Libertador, I didn't know what had transpired during their short meeting until Peron called me last evening and told me.
"I think we may also assume that el Coronel Martin had heard--possibly before Frade returned--at least something of what transpired. We know, of course, that Chief Pilot Delgano is actually Major Delgano of the Bureau of Internal Security, and that his role with SAA is to make sure that SAA does nothing against Argentine neutrality, with the secondary mission of keeping an eye on Frade generally.
"And knowing that Delgano would inevitably hear of what had happened at Casa Chica, I suspect that Dona Dorotea Frade would report to the authorities that there had been an attack for unknown reasons by a roving band of bandits, or whatever, on the house.
"We just don't know. We will have to find out. Raschner's working on that, and we all know how good our Erich is at that sort of thing.
"We do know what Oberst Peron told me on the telephone last night, and I'm afraid it was proof that once again I committed the cardinal sin of underestimating one's enemy.
"Frade lost no time whatever, it seems, in showing Oberst Peron that he had photographic proof that Peron had been at the machine guns with Heitz and his men, as well as photographs of the bullet-riddled bodies of Heitz and his men.
"He also told Peron that he had photographs of the map SS-Brigadefuhrer von Deitzberg had given him of postwar South America."
"Excuse me?" von Gradny-Sawz asked, visibly confused.
"Oh," Cranz said. "That's right. You weren't made privy to that, were you, Gradny-Sawz?"
Neither was I, Boltitz thought. I have no idea what he's talking about.
But he is intimating that Wienerwurst was the only one who doesn't know.
"No, I wasn't," von Gradny-Sawz said, somewhat petulantly.
Did someone steal your ice-cream cone, Wienerwurst?
"It was a map prepared by the Army Topographical people showing South America after our Final Victory," Cranz explained. "Briefly, Uruguay and Paraguay will become provinces of Argentina."
I will be damned. Is that a fact, or something created to dazzle Peron?
"Frade told Peron that the first time he suspected an attempt was made on his life or on the lives of anyone close to him, the photographs and the map would be placed in the hands of the president of the Argentine Republic and appear in the world's newspapers."
"He's bluffing," von Gradny-Sawz said firmly.
"Possibly, even probably," Cranz said. "But we don't know that, do we, Gradny-Sawz? And do we want to chance he is not?"
Von Gradny-Sawz did not answer.
"Finally," Cranz said, "Frade told Peron he wanted him out of his house by today. And then--after Frade was attacked--he called Peron and said he was going to give Peron the benefit of the doubt, that Peron simply had not had the time to call his German friends off before the attack, but that he suggested that Peron should make that call now."
"What attack on him?" Boltitz asked.
"According to today's La Nacion," Cranz said conversationally, "three criminals bent on robbing the Frade mansion--actually, it didn't say 'Frade mansion'; it said 'a residence on Avenida Coronel Diaz'--were interrupted by alert police and died in a gun battle that followed."
And that explains the message you were going to send to the Widow Frade, doesn't it, you murderous bastard?
"To recapitulate, gentlemen: Both operations--eliminating the Froggers in Tandil and eliminating Frade here--failed. The only good thing to come out of it is that we have further leverage with Oberst Peron.
"We must presume that the Froggers are still alive. That situation is unacceptable. I think we can safely presume that Don Cletus Frade has them. Or at least had them. There has been a report that a British cruiser in Rio de Janeiro took aboard a middle-aged couple, but until we know it was the Froggers, we must presume it wasn't them."
He looked around the room.
"Any questions, comments?"
"We have to get rid of Frade," von Gradny-Sawz said solemnly.
"You think so, Gradny-Sawz?" Cranz asked softly.
"To me it is self-evident."
"Let me tell you what is self-evident to me, Gradny-Sawz, and probably to these other gentlemen. We have been sent a message by el Coronel Martin. And that message is that he knows we have failed, for the second time, to remove el Senor Frade from the scene. Otherwise, you see, Gradny-Sawz, el Senor Frade would be facing criminal charges for manslaughter. He could probably successfully plead self-defense, but it would be all over the newspapers.
"If that happened, people would ask, Gradny-Sawz, who could possibly want to assassinate the son of one of Argentina's beloved sons, who was himself assassinated. Give your imagination free rein, Gradny-Sawz, and guess who would come under suspicion. The French, perhaps? The Uruguayans?
"Do you think it's possible people would suspect us? And if that came to pass, do you think that Frade's photographs, sure to be introduced at his trial, would serve to confirm that suspicion?
"Our mission, Gradny-Sawz, is to ensure the Argentines think of Germany as an honorable ally in the battle against the godless Communists. Having it come out that we are even remotely connected with the assassination of el Coronel Frade, the two failed assassination attempts on his son, and the incident at Casa Chica would hardly serve to confirm the image we are trying to project, would it?"
Von Gradny-Sawz looked very uncomfortable.
"Well, I'll tell you what, Gradny-Sawz," Cranz went on. "You come up with a plan that absolutely precludes the possibility that photographs of Juan Domingo Peron with a group of SS personnel at a machine gun, the bodies of those SS personnel sometime later, riddled with bullets, and a map showing what looks like the Third Reich's plans for South America appearing in La Nacion or any other newspaper, and I will give you permission to eliminate Don Cletus Frade yourself.
"And while you're doing that, I will inform SS-Brigadefuhrer von Deitzberg that it is my professional judgment that this American OSS sonofabitch poses an immediate threat to Operation Phoenix and the other operation and has to be dealt with. I will seek SS-Brigadefuhrer von Deitzberg's wise advice and dir
ection on how to do that, as I can think of no way to do anything that would not cause an international incident that would pose serious problems to Operation Phoenix.
"Except, of course, to send Boltitz home with von Wachtstein to charm the sonofabitch as best they can, and to learn as much as they can about what he's up to. Understand, Gradny-Sawz? The Yankee OSS sonofabitch has got us cornered. And I'm not going to be the man responsible for the failure of Operation Phoenix."
He let that sink in a moment, then stood up.
His right arm snapped out in front of him.
"Heil Hitler!" he barked, then marched out of the room.
[SEVEN]
Estancia San Pedro y San Pablo
Near Pila
Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
1230 13 August 1943
Don Cletus Frade, wearing khaki trousers and a yellow polo shirt, came out onto the shaded verandah of the big house carrying a bottle of Bodega Don Guillermo Cabernet Sauvignon '39, two long-stemmed wineglasses, a long black cigar, and a corkscrew bottle opener.
Two people hurried after him. One was a plump female in her late forties wearing a severe black dress, Elisa Gomez. The other was Enrico Rodriguez, wearing a business suit and cradling his twelve-gauge Remington Model 11 riot gun in his arms. Around his neck was a leather bandolier of brass-cased double-aught buckshot shells.
"All you had to do was ring, Don Cletus," Elisa Gomez chided him as she took the bottle from him. Her tone suggested that the chief housekeeper of Estancia San Pedro y San Pablo was not in awe of its patron.
"I humbly beg your pardon," Frade said, deeply insincere.
She shook her head, quickly uncorked the wine, poured a taste in one of his glasses, and waited for his reaction. He swirled the wine, sniffed at the glass, and finally took a sip. And grimaced.
"I think I've been poisoned," he announced.
She shook her head, filled the glass, and marched into the house.
"Enrico, why do I think she doesn't like me?" Frade asked.
"Don Cletus, she loves you," Enrico said, and then added, "And you know it."
The Honor of Spies Page 8