The Generals

by Per Wahlöö

  Colonel Orbal: Fearfully boring and uninteresting, all this.

  Captain Schmidt: It seems to be difficult today, but I’ll do my best.

  Velder: Every morning at the time when the shelling stopped, we went up to the front line. On the fourteenth of March, we were there as usual. At six o’clock the artillery fire stopped and the general alarm was sounded in the trenches. That’s what had happened at exactly the same time for twenty-six consecutive days. The men went to their posts. They looked pretty apathetic.

  Major von Peters: Well, go on, for Christ’s sake.

  Velder: Go on. The artillery fire never started again. At exactly half-past six the offensive began. First the barricade busters came ploughing through the minefields, then the tanks. Then the infantry in asbestos suits and with flame-throwers. They walked as if through a sea of floating fire. It looked slow. And inexorable. The crew of a machine-gun just near where I was standing were killed and Bartholic and I manned it for a quarter of an hour until we could get replacements. I was quite a good shot and I saw at least ten men fall.

  Captain Schmidt: I must ask the presidium to take special note of what has just been said.

  Velder: It was the first time I’d killed or seriously wounded anyone in the whole of my life. Very strange.

  Captain Endicott: What do you mean, Velder? Very strange that …

  Velder: That I didn’t react at all. Probably poisoned by militarism, as Edner said. We returned to headquarters, Bartholic and I. The atmosphere there was pure doomsday. Plans mostly functioned, the front held all day, but the casualties were alarming. They were above the calculated percentage, Bartholic said. Never forget the look Aranca Peterson gave him. Ludolf reported strong offensives along the whole of his section border too, but said the front line was intact and casualties few. During the night, the offensive weakened, but at about five the next morning, the fifteenth of March, they began again at full strength. By about ten, Oswald’s units had driven a four kilometre long wedge into our positions just north of the motorway. After another hour, we got reports that the front had been broken through and we ordered what was left of the tactical reserve to seal the gap. Casualties were great now and all the first-aid posts overflowing. A little later Edner contacted Ludolf for the last time over the radio. Everything else had ceased to function by then. I’ll try to recall …

  Captain Endicott: He can’t go on much longer.

  Captain Schmidt: We can refer to the section of our preliminary investigation records, number V VII/10A. If you please, Brown.

  Lieutenant Brown: Number V VII/10A. Interrogation of Erwin Velder, number one hundred and sixty-seven. The text gives the radio conversation between Janos Edner and Joakim Ludolf, which took place at about eleven-twenty on the fifteenth of March.

  Edner: Break-through on the front three kilometres north of the motorway.

  Ludolf: How wide?

  Edner: About eight hundred yards.

  Ludolf: I see.

  Edner: We’re beaten. Do you understand? We’re beaten.

  Ludolf: You are perhaps, not us. They made a minor break-through at about nine this morning, but they’ve paid dearly for it. It’s straightened out now.

  Edner: We can’t go on much longer now.

  Ludolf: I see.

  Edner: And you?

  Ludolf: I’m going on. What are you thinking of doing?

  Edner: Capitulating. It’s pointless to allow people who’ve been lured here on false pretences to be slaughtered to no avail.

  Ludolf: There’s not much point in capitulating either.

  Edner: I’ve no choice.

  Ludolf: I see. When?

  Edner: I must speak to Bartholic for a moment.

  There’s a pause mark here.

  Edner: Within four hours. That’s already too much. Several people are dying every minute here.

  Ludolf: O.K. At three o’clock, then. Do this. Can you hear me?

  Edner: Yes.

  Ludolf: Let the units engaged at the front disengage themselves and retreat.

  Edner: But your flank; we’ll expose it.

  Ludolf: Don’t worry. It’ll hold.

  Edner: Hold?

  Ludolf: Yes. Where are you thinking of going yourself?

  Edner: Don’t know.

  Ludolf: You’re welcome to come here. But …

  Edner: Yes?

  Ludolf: Under my command. You’d keep your rank, of course.

  Edner: I have no rank. Anyhow, that’s pointless. I can’t cope any longer.

  Ludolf: Listen to me. We’ll open a gap in the barrier into our lines at Point B3, kilometre marking 12 on the autostrad. That’s by the crossroads where the old road turns south. It’ll be opened fifteen minutes from … now.

  Edner: Yes?

  Ludolf: Valuable materials and units and effective fighting men can retreat into the southern sector that way. Do you hear me? Valuable material and effective fighting men. Nothing else.

  Edner: I hear you.

  Ludolf: I want Bartholic’s commandos especially. Every man-jack of them.

  Edner: I see.

  Ludolf: And others who can and will fight. Is the depot at Ludolfsport intact?

  Edner: As far as I know.

  Ludolf: Give orders for it to be evacuated at once. I’ll send as much transport as I can.

  Edner: One moment—I’ll tell Bartholic.

  There is another pause mark here.

  Edner: Yes, that’s done.

  Ludolf: One more thing. Get all the reserves available now to cover the gap.

  Edner: Our reserves are largely already used up.

  Ludolf: I neither can nor want to sacrifice people here. You’ll have to pull the best units out of the front line, as soon as they’ve disengaged themselves. The gap and evacuation line must at all costs be held until the moment you give the cease fire order. Preferably half an hour longer. Those particular units need not be reached by the capitulation order. Jam their radio. Get them to dig in. And give the order at exactly 1600 hours. Wait a minute, Stoloff wants to say something.

  Stoloff: General Edner? This is Colonel Stoloff. I advise you to get the demolition units working at once. Destroy all permanent constructions and all stores you can’t evacuate in the southern sector. The harbour entrance must be mined and blocked and all ships that don’t leave the harbour must be sunk. I myself have made preparations for this earlier on. Three minutes ago I sent group of sixty men over who’ll see to the practical details. That’s all. Good luck.

  Ludolf: Anything else? Regards to Aranca and the others.

  Edner: Wait a minute. Are you sure you’re doing the right thing?

  Ludolf: Yes. Good luck.

  Edner: Same to you.

  Ludolf: One more thing. Make sure he doesn’t take you alive.

  The conversation ended there.

  Captain Schmidt: I am conscious of the fact that it is unorthodox to refer to the testimony of the accused in this form. But under the present circumstances, I consider it valid. Mr Gerthoffer has added a note to the interrogation record, in which he calls Velder’s recall of the conversation ‘a masterpiece of memorising’. He points out that Velder repeated the conversation at five separate interviews, spread over a period of three months, without once changing a single word. Striking evidence of the memory-stimulating effect of the surgical method, he writes.

  Colonel Orbal: You know, Niblack, last night I was sitting thinking about something you said. When you asked von Peters whether he was religious. Well, that was amusing in itself. But then you said that most airmen were religious and it could be a matter of environment. Did you mean that you’re nearer to God when you’re flying?

  Major Niblack: Did I really say that?

  Major von Peters: Go on now, Schmidt. We haven’t got the rest of our lives.

  Captain Schmidt: What happened during the hours between eleven o’clock and five on the fifteenth of March is so well known that we can content ourselves with a brief recapitulation. Th
ere is such an account in the preliminary investigation, Appendix V VII/101x. If you please, Lieutenant Brown.

  Lieutenant Brown: Appendix V VII/101x concerning the disturbances. Summary compiled by the National Historical Department of the General Staff. The text is as follows:

  At midday on the fifteenth of March, combined assault infantry and tank units from the Peace Corps and the National Freedom Army north of the motorway crossed the demarcation line along its whole length and in two places broke through the rebel positions. In order to avoid disintegration, the revolutionary forces began to retreat. The retreat was slow at first and involved defensive fighting, but soon became more and more disorderly and finally grew into flight in certain places. At sixteen-thirty, when the rebel strength’s tactical situation had become extremely precarious, their leader Janos Edner decided to give up.

  Information about the capitulation was radioed uncoded. When, however, it was clear that the Reds in the southern part of the Eastern Province were not included in the capitulation, General Oswald ordered a continuation of the advance. At about 1800 hours in the afternoon, most of the rebels were fleeing wildly south, though a few groups remained in their positions and refused to give in. Soon after eight o’clock the following morning, the sixteenth of March, motorised units from the Peace Corps advanced into Ludolfsport, where all resistance had ceased. On the other hand, one rebel unit, which had clearly not heard the capitulation order, continued stubbornly to defend a position hastily constructed north of the motorway about fifteen kilometres south-west of Ludolfsport, until nine o’clock the next morning, when it was finally overcome. At this, all organised resistance in the northern part of the Eastern Province ceased. The enemies of the people Janos Edner and Aranca Peterson fled the country, leaving behind them widespread and frightening destruction. The harbour installations, warehouses and many buildings in Ludolfsport had been destroyed, as had the airfield and a large part of the road network. Several fanatical members of the Red militia had fled to the southern sector, to which a large amount of valuable materials had also been transferred.

  Captain Schmidt: I do not think there is much more to add to this matter. We have here, however, also moved on to charge numbers one hundred and three and one hundred and four in the case against Velder, concerning sabotage and furthering escape from the country.

  Commander Kampenmann: You skipped a charge, as far as I can see. Number one hundred and two.

  Major von Peters: Must you interfere with everything, Kampenmann. We’ll never get anywhere at this rate.

  Captain Schmidt: Charge number one hundred and two is of a different nature. From the time point of view, I consider it an advantage at this point to abandon chronological order.

  Commander Kampenmann: I see.

  Colonel Orbal: Do you? If only I could say the same for myself.

  Captain Schmidt: I will return to examining the witness. Is the accused ready, Captain Endicott?

  Major von Peters: It’s absolutely unbelievable how slow everything is. Well, Endicott, haven’t you fiddled about enough? Can the swine speak or not?

  Captain Endicott: We can go on now, sir.

  Velder: We abandoned headquarters at about one, but it took us almost three hours to get to Ludolfsport. There was terrible disorder everywhere. The roads were blocked with people and vehicles and in many places the roads had already been blown up. In Ludolfsport, total chaos reigned. Stoloff’s demolition units from the southern sector had been at work for several hours and now they weren’t only destroying stores and administrative buildings but also shops and ordinary houses. Many people were desperate and in some places people even offered resistance. Janos Edner was furious and ordered the marauders, as he called them, to stop at once, but the officer from the southern sector who was in charge of the demolition work—he was a foreigner, whom none of us had ever seen before—said that he was not under our command and he’d done everything strictly in accordance with his instructions. Then Aranca Peterson and Janos Edner tried to make contact with Ludolf, but it was no longer possible to establish any communications. Soon after three, the harbour-master came to see us. He was very nervous and said that the harbour was completely destroyed. Not even small boats could leave it any longer and anyhow there was nothing left afloat. He urged us to go on to the pilot-boat station fifteen miles north of the town at once, where one of the militia’s patrol-boats was waiting to take us on board. The road there was still open, but if we stayed any longer in Ludolfsport, he couldn’t guarantee our safety. Aranca Peterson said that for the moment there was hardly anything in the whole world that interested her less than her safety. At twenty past three, we all got away in an armoured car, and at ten to four we were at the pilot-boat station. The patrol-boat, which was roughly the size of a small torpedo boat, was ready; all we had to do was to remove the camouflage net and set off. At exactly four o’clock, Janos Edner sent out the capitulation order over the pilot-boat station’s radio transmitter. He just said: ‘To avoid further useless loss of life, I exhort the militia in the northern sector to cease fire. We have shown ourselves incapable of meeting our enemies with their own weapons, namely force and stupidity, and we have reason to be proud of that.’ He was silent for a moment and then he said : ‘Do what you wish.’ At five past four, the patrol-boat moved away from the quay. On board, apart from the crew, were Janos, Aranca, Bartholic, Dana Rodriguez, myself, the harbour-master from Ludolfsport, the driver who had brought us and the staff of the lighthouse and pilot-boat station. The captain was scared of air attacks, but the only planes we saw were two Army helicopters cruising along the coast, recce planes, presumably.

  Major von Peters: Well, why doesn’t he go on? Pull yourself together, Mateo. Don’t go off to sleep again.

  Colonel Orbal: What’s the matter? What?

  Captain Endicott: The accused will continue in a moment. They say his memories are as if divided up into chapters, like in a book.

  Major von Peters: Who is they?

  Captain Endicott: Mr Gerthoffer.

  Major von Peters: Funny how people never seem to learn to express themselves exactly.

  Velder: As soon as we sailed, Bartholic went below deck, but the rest of us stayed in the stern looking at the island. I thought it was the last time I was going to see it. What the others thought, I don’t know. But I remember their faces were absolutely expressionless. It was winter and a grey misty day. A giant plume of smoke hung over Ludolfsport from the houses and warehouses the demolition patrols had set fire to, and farther north the hangars and petrol and oil tanks on the airfield were burning. The smoke mixed with the clouds and lay like a thick bank of fog over the island. It was quite black, but flashes of light flared now and again, from new fires and explosions, I presume. Dana Rodriguez shivered and said: ‘Our island.’ Then she shrugged her shoulders and went below. Aranca Peterson said nothing and didn’t move a muscle, but Janos Edner said: ‘I still think we were right and we’ve proved it.’ Then we were silent for a while. But we made a few more remarks. ‘This must be regarded as the socialist-liberal-left-radical régime’s collapse,’ said Janos Edner. ‘Are you thinking we shouldn’t have left them in the lurch,’ said Aranca. ‘No,’ said Edner. ‘Why shouldn’t we have done it?’ ‘They believed in us,’ said Aranca. ‘Probably. Now it’s his bloody island, anyhow,’ said Janos. ‘And Ludolf’s,’ I said. The weather was bad and the waves kept coming in over the side, so soon after that I went into the wheelhouse, but Aranca Peterson and Janos Edner stayed in the stern until all that could be seen was a black bank of smoke above the horizon.

  Major Niblack: That’s all very poetic, but I don’t see what it’s got to do with the accused’s crimes.

  Commander Kampenmann: Furthering of escape. He helped those people get out of the country.

  Captain Schmidt: Partly that. But this episode also shows some of the motives behind Velder’s next step towards his downfall, what definitely carried him beyond reach of human kind. This is proved by the fo
llowing. See to it that he continues, Captain Endicott.

  Velder: Normally it would have taken us four hours to get to the nearest neutral harbour, which, by the way, lay in the old so-called mother country, but the weather was so bad that it took us five hours to get there. We asked for asylum and the police directed us to the quarantine station, where we were tied up. The authorities seemed embarrassed and bewildered and there was a lot of ‘phoning back and forth. Finally they said that we were to stay in the quarantine station overnight and we would receive further orders the next day. Before we went on land, the captain of the patrol-boat gathered us together on the deck and said: ‘I’m intending to go back to the island tonight. Anyone who wants to come with me to join General Ludolf may do so. But you’ve only got an hour left. We must get there before it’s light.’ Then we went on land. We were given hot coffee and shown quarters in the quarantine building. Janos Edner and Aranca Peterson said that they were not thinking of returning, because they doubted that Ludolf was acting in accordance with their ideas and principles. Danica Rodriguez said: ‘No. I’ve had enough. It lasted six years, anyhow. And nothing’s ever lasted that long for me before. And I think I know what’s going to happen.’ We talked about it with Bartholic, who said this: ‘I’ve a feeling that I can be more use elsewhere. I’m sorry it didn’t work out better, but I did my best.’ Dana Rodriguez said: ‘No one’s blaming you.’ Bartholic sat in silence for several minutes before answering: ‘It was doomed from the start. To be honest, your ideas aren’t worth fighting for.’ Then Aranca Peterson said: ‘Neither was it the idea that anyone should have to fight for them.’ And that was the last thing I heard her say. ‘And as you see, they play into the hands of the wrong parties all the time,’ said Bartholic. I didn’t even say goodbye, because I saw that both Janos and Aranca understood what I was going to do and I didn’t bother about Bartholic. He could keep his anarchic syndicalism and his specialists. I went down to the quay and on board the patrol-boat and a quarter of an hour later, we cast off and went at slow speed out of the harbour and I don’t think anyone noticed.