The Generals

by Per Wahlöö

  Velder: Yes, sir.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Where were you?

  Velder: I was standing on the edge of the shore plateau, above the high grass slopes about three quarters of a mile west of Marbella harbour. As you know the land on this stretch of the island rises steeply out of the sea.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Why were you standing on this veritable look-out place?

  Velder: I was on my way to the lighthouse.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: In the course of duty?

  Velder: Yes, sir.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Remember that you’re on oath. Are you telling the truth?

  Velder: Yes, sir.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Stand to attention. How many times do I have to tell you? What kind of duty?

  Velder: I was to leave a message with the lighthouse staff, about a boat that was to board a passing ship.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Is that the truth?

  Velder: Yes, sir.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Remember your oath! Are you speaking the truth?

  Colonel Orbal: What’s going on? Why is he shouting like that?

  Major von Peters: Ssh, Mateo, wait a moment.

  Velder: Yes, sir.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: What would you say if I maintain that I don’t believe you?

  Velder: That you’re wrong, sir.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Don’t be insolent. Keep your head still. So you still maintain that you were going there on an official errand?

  Velder: Yes, sir.

  Commander Kampenmann: May I ask why the Prosecuting Officer is pressing this point so hard?

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Because I doubt the accused’s word.

  Colonel Orbal: Yes, for Christ’s sake, what are you waving that about for, Endicott?

  Captain Endicott: I would like to point out that this point is thoroughly accounted for in the preliminary investigation. There is no material evidence to show that Velder is telling the truth, as the errand referred to is not recorded, but the interrogation-psychologists can find no reason to question the truth of his story.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Interrogation-psychologists are not infallible. Velder, I’ll ask you once more only. Are you speaking the truth?

  Velder: Yes, sir.

  Commander Kampenmann: I can’t imagine that we’ll get much further along these lines.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: I will leave the matter for the moment. So, what did you see from up there?

  Velder: I saw the helicopter flying along the shore from west to east. In the middle of the harbour in Marbella, it turned out to sea. When it got about a thousand yards from the outer breakwater, it sort of heeled over and crashed into the sea. The engines seemed to be still running. Everything happened very quickly. It was three or four minutes past two in the afternoon.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: How was it that you were standing watching so carefully that even now, so long afterwards, you can give such a detailed account of it?

  Velder: We hadn’t had the helicopters all that long. I was curious, sir. And my memory has been well exercised too.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: I think it seems extremely unlikely that you were standing there in order to stare at an aeroplane, when according to your own evidence—do you hear, your own evidence—you were on your way to carry out an important official duty.

  Colonel Pigafetta: It seems to be quite analogous with Velder’s way of carrying out his duties in general, I think. Anyhow, a helicopter isn’t an aeroplane, Lieutenant Bratianu.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: I beg your pardon, sir. Well, Velder, let us continue, even if I’m not satisfied with your answers. On the following evening, the so-called Council met. Were you present?

  Velder: Yes, sir. For some time Osw … the General had got into the habit of asking me to come with him as a personal bodyguard to Council meetings, too.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Asking you? What sort of expression is that? Have you no manners or respect? What had the General done? He had got into the habit of what?

  Velder: Allowing me to go with him to Council meetings as bodyguard.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Who was present at the meeting, apart from the General and yourself? Don’t stand there sleeping, Velder. Answer. I want speedy replies.

  Colonel Orbal: What frightful shouting.

  Velder: The usual, sir. Aranca Peterson, Joakim Ludolf, Janos Edner and Tadeusz Haller.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: I request to be allowed to call Justice Haller as witness.

  Major von Peters: Granted.

  Lieutenant Brown: Justice Haller, do you swear by Almighty God to keep strictly to the truth?

  Tadeusz Haller: I do.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: So you were present at this actual meeting, Mr Haller. Would you be kind enough to tell us what happened there?

  Tadeusz Haller: Well, with some reservations as to failure of memory. This happened almost six years ago, after all.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Naturally.

  Tadeusz Haller: The Council was meeting as usual in the building in Oswaldsburg which was then used as a kind of government office. Today the National Christian Youth Guard’s offices are in the same building. No special agenda was followed at these meetings, and affairs and matters sent in by individual citizens used to be dealt with and discussed, after which decisions were made in one direction or another. Usually the matter was referred back to the person who had sent it in to settle himself.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: And decisions were made by voting?

  Tadeusz Haller: No, that hardly ever happened. Voting is democratic and according to the ideas of the régime of the time, was to be avoided. According to the philosophy developed largely by Janos Edner and Aranca Peterson, unnecessary voting led to situations in which more or less against their own will, people were driven into traps and divided into groups and parties, which came about from an artificial drawing of boundaries and therefore constituted obstacles for personal thinking and a threat to freedom. In actual fact, voting was only brought up once, as far as I remember. That was far earlier and then it was over a suggestion made by General Oswald to purchase motor-vehicles suited to our terrain, jeeps for the militia, seven hundred of them, I think. The members of the Council who later became traitors were opposed to the suggestion and the General himself requested a vote. But it was never carried out. The decision to buy was taken all the same.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: This is of little importance. I apologise for my ill-thought-out question which led to this digression.

  Major von Peters: The Prosecuting Officer’s apology is accepted.

  Tadeusz Haller: At the meeting, the matter of the crashed helicopter was taken up. The atmosphere grew very irritable, which was unusual. The immediate cause of this was that the newspapers had that same day contained a communiqué on the accident from militia headquarters. I don’t remember the exact words, but …

  Lieutenant Bratianu: I have the communiqué here. I request the officer presenting the case to read it.

  Lieutenant Brown: Appendix V III/12xxx. Communiqué from General Oswald. Oswaldsburg, Militia Headquarters, Wednesday. On account of persistent rumours that an accident has occurred to one of the helicopters belonging to the Militia, it is announced that no unit of our Air Detachment is missing or reported crashed. On the other hand, information has been received from the Coastguard Force that a plane of unknown origin had been seen to crash into the sea. Whether this occurred in international waters or within the country’s territorial waters cannot be ascertained.

  Tadeusz Haller: Yes, that’s much as I remember the text. Janos Edner and Aranca were the ones who criticised the communiqué most. Their motivation was that between fifty and a hundred thousand people, most of whom were foreigners, had seen the helicopter flying low along the shore and had still had it within view when the accident happened. It had happened in the middle of the high season and after midday, when the beaches were packed with people. In addition to that, they added what they called the moral aspect. I remember Aranca Peterson sa
id that lies were an aid which we could use against foreigners and foreign powers, but which should not be used between citizens.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: And what did the General reply?

  Tadeusz Haller: That the event must be kept secret as it would damage our international reputation. It could make the militia look foolish—as it had only three or four helicopters at the time—and involved a loss of prestige which would be difficult to recover. Janos Edner repeated that it was meaningless to try to keep secret an event that about a hundred thousand people had witnessed. The General replied that experience had shown him that that didn’t make the slightest difference.

  Commander Kampenmann: On that point, the General was undoubtedly right. During the Russo-Japanese war in 1904, by a cunning and skilfully carried out manoeuvre, the Russians sank two of the best warships the Japanese had, the Hatsuse and the Yashima, outside Port Arthur. Despite this, by obstinately keeping their losses secret and denying facts, the Japs managed to get the Russians to doubt what they’d seen with their own eyes. So the Russian success could never be followed up.

  Tadeusz Haller: Thanks for the lecture. It says a great deal about military thinking. Edner and Aranca Peterson, however, stuck to their opinion and amongst other things had the audacity to imply that the General was behaving as he did because he feared for his own personal prestige. They also tried to pass the whole matter off as a joke and called the General alternatively childish or senile.

  Colonal Orbal: Peculiar joke.

  Major von Peters: Yes, indeed. That the General didn’t at once arrest the rogues, what!

  Tadeusz Haller: The tone of the Council was very special. In the light of today, it’s rather difficult to understand how this could be so and how a country could be governed in this way.

  Commander Kampenmann: What attitude did the other members of the Council take?

  Tadeusz Haller: Joakim Ludolf was much too drunk to say anything, on the whole. That in itself wasn’t all that unusual. He had a bottle of spirits with him, which he took continuous toll of. Now and again he tried to interrupt or interject something but the only thing he managed to say was phrases like ‘No, stop there’ or ‘Listen a moment’.

  Colonel Pigafetta: What functions did this extraordinary example of the human race fulfil?

  Tadeusz Haller: Ludolf was in charge of several of our overseas connections, absurdly enough.

  Commander Kampenmann: And you yourself, Mr Haller? What did you say?

  Tadeusz Haller: Practically nothing. General Oswald had not yet initiated me into his plans for reform. We were working separately, so to speak.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: How did the meeting end?

  Tadeusz Haller: Edner and Aranca Peterson wanted to send out a message that contradicted the communiqué, but the General maintained sharply that for reasons of secrecy, this should on no account happen, and that the matter mustn’t become known. Finally the others agreed with this, only so as not to cause open disunity, as they put it, but the members parted in obvious discord, which had not happened before. The discussion had then gone on for many hours.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Was Velder present all the time?

  Tadeusz Haller: Yes.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: The defence’s witness.

  Captain Endicott: No questions.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: I would like to bring to the presidium’s notice the General’s words ‘that for reasons of secrecy the matter should not be made known.’ Velder!

  Velder: Yes, sir.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: What did the General say, then?

  Velder: The General said, word for word: ‘Are you so bloody naïve that you don’t understand that I’m right? This must be kept secret, especially now that that communiqué’s already got into the papers. I won’t agree with anything else, do you hear?’

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Velder, I won’t tolerate insolence. You’ve just heard what the General said, according to Justice Haller. What exactly did the General say?

  Velder: That a contradiction mustn’t be sent out for reasons of secrecy and that the matter mustn’t be made known.

  Major von Peters: That’s right, Bratianu. Exactness before everything else.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: So you heard your most senior officer express an opinion which to you as a soldier constituted a direct order.

  Colonel Orbal: Oh, God, now he’s started shouting again.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: And how did you carry out this order? How, I’m asking you. Stand up straight, man!

  Velder: Yes, sir.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: What do you mean by ‘yes, sir’? Do you mean the fact that you not only passed on a state secret to what you called your family and several other people, but you also reported the matter to a foreign journalist whom you visited?

  Velder: Yes …

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Shut up, you swine. Don’t take liberties. You offended against the secrets act and were guilty of illicit intelligence activity. You gave information on the armed forces to a person who was probably an agent for a foreign power. This you have admitted.

  Velder: Yes, s …

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Shut up, I said. I appeal to the presidium to exhort the Defending Officer to discipline his … client.

  Major von Peters: Endicott, I’ve already pointed out that you are responsible for the accused’s behaviour and discipline before his superiors.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: You realised, Velder, that the General already suspected that the helicopter had been sabotaged and that it was vital to the security of the nation that the espionage that lay behind this deed should be put an end to. It is tempting to go once again into the question of why you were standing on the highest point between Marbella and the lighthouse, with the lighthouse within view. Thus it is also tempting to go into the question of who it was who committed sabotage. But I’ll desist.

  Colonel Pigafetta: Yes, Endicott. What do you want to say?

  Captain Endicott: I would like to say that the wreck was raised and that the notes from the technical investigation by the Wrecks Commission have been kept. These point to the helicopter having crashed because of a faulty manoeuvre.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: With all due respect to the presidium, I must say you surprise me, Captain Endicott? The Wrecks Commission? Appointed by whom? Technical investigation? Carried out by whom and under whose direction? By the nation’s most dangerous enemies, Captain Endicott. By the traitors.

  Captain Endicott: And it wasn’t Velder who visited the foreign newspaperman, but the other way round.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: You’re probably wrong, but that detail is of no importance. Velder? So you confess to offending against the secrets act and carrying out illicit intelligence activities?

  Velder: Yes, sir. I confess.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: And with that you consider that you’ve come off lightly, I suppose. But you’re deceiving yourself. Honoured members of the presidium, I will now proceed to the amplification of the charge, a point which in my opinion has been unsatisfactorily accounted for in the preliminary investigations. I maintain that even at this time Erwin Velder was conspiring against General Oswald and thus also against the security of the State; that his offence against the secrets act and his illicit intelligence activities in actual fact were only a small part of a far more serious crime: preparation for high treason. I am sure that the accused will deny this, but I do not accept that.

  Major von Peters: This looks like coming to something. Go on.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Velder, do you admit that even at this time you had already decided in your own mind to deceive General Oswald in every way and that you were seeking to take his life?

  Colonel Orbal: At first he was shouting, and now he’s whispering. What did you say, Bratianu?

  Lieutenant Bratianu: That Velder was planning high treason and wished the General’s death. I asked the accused if he admitted it. Well, Velder, do you admit it?

  Velder: Yes, sir.

  Lieutenant Bratianu
: What? What? It’s not that simple, Velder. Expound on your confession.

  Velder: Perhaps I hadn’t realised it before, mostly because the matter wasn’t taken up during the interrogations. But you must be right, sir. I’m convinced that already then I had lost confidence in Oswald and his ideas, which grew more and more clear to me and seemed more and more frightening.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: What … what do you mean by the expression ‘I’m convinced that’, and what do you mean by not saying General Oswald, anyhow?

  Velder: I beg your pardon, sir. I confess without reservations. I knew already then that I was going to turn against General Oswald.

  Colonel Pigafetta: What’s the matter with you, Bratianu? Don’t you feel well? The charge can be laid before the court now, can’t it?

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Pray forgive me, sir. A temporary giddiness. Probably from an old wound. It is over now.

  Commander Kampenmann: The accused has confessed. Are you laying the charge before the court?

  Colonel Orbal: It can’t ever be a good thing to shout like that.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: There is just one more detail. Velder, do you regret anything? Do you realise how appalling your actions were? How base and treacherous? How vile you were?

  Velder: Yes, sir.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Turn towards the President of the Court and explain what you feel.

  Velder: I regret my crimes and realise how appalling, base and treacherous my actions were. I also realise my vileness.

  Major von Peters: Fine. Lay the charge before the court now, Bratianu.

  Colonel Orbal: Yes, do that.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: I request to be allowed to lay the charge before this special court martial.

  Major von Peters: Granted. This is going along fine. We can more or less finish for today, Mateo.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Already?

  Colonel Orbal: What? Yes, of coarse.

  Major von Peters: Short working day, Bratianu. The fruits of a good job done.

  Colonel Orbal: The parties may leave.

  * * *