State Department analysts had been through them and had in not quite so few words said that these were not only genuine but also supported their own experience. That meant that there was no longer anything that kept him from passing on the summary note at least to the President. Personally Leahy did not like what he saw and sympathised with the British approach to Stalin. Officially he had to support his President who seemed wedded to this dream of a new global organisation that guided by new sets of morals and new power arrangements would create a new world order. Personally Admiral Leahy just did not see it. But it was the President’s dream. He would have to add just another crack to that fragile dream when he presented this file tomorrow. The organisations who submitted it were just too powerful and well-financed for the Democratic Party to ignore them. Although the President had made it clear that he wanted no more of “that stuff” on his desk, Leahy knew that there would be hell to pay if the Party bosses already nervously eyeing the next election heard that that this request from a potentially significant group of swing voters had been ignored.
He was definitely not looking forward to the President’s reaction nor the effect this would have on FDR’s already elevated stress levels. ‘At some stage all this tension will kill him.’ the Admiral wearily thought as he turned out the light.
Chapter 11
‘As fighting all over the globe reaches a climax reaches a climax of fury,
we on the home front must back our fighting men and women to the limit.
… I shall not now make any prediction concerning the length of the war.
My only prediction is that our enemies will be totally defeated before we lay
down our arms.’
Franklin D. Roosevelt
January 9th, 1945[102]
No peace will be unfair when compared to what the Nazis have done to other
nations, but it will be difficult to frame terms which the Germans will regard
as fair. The only solution is to bring the German problem into the European picture.
Willy Brandt, April 1944[103]
4 pm, 31st December
Reichskanzlei
Berlin
The cabinet room was poorly heated and the cabinet members huddled in their overcoats. The central heating had long since given out, and they had decided that there were others who needed the neat more anyway. Chancellor Goerdeler, gratefully sipped the hot coffee from the cup the orderly had placed next to him and surveyed the scene. In many ways he could hardly believe that the men who had gathered around this table in July were still here and still making decisions. The one thing that had changed was that they all had gained a little weight. There had been many arguments and loud disagreements, as befitting a diverse group seeking to make decisions on a consensus basis. Gradually they had gotten used to this again, although some like Leber had certainly regained their combative argumentative nature sooner than others. But they were still here.
Goerdeler knew that many had deep down hardly dared to hope that they would overthrow Hitler in the first place. But it had been done. A few recalcitrant Nazis were still on the run but most of the big fish had been netted and most of the small fish were being fed into the meat grinder of the Eastern Front. Goerdeler had sometimes privately asked himself whether this rather expedient way of making these men disappear dragged him down to the level of the regime that he had replaced. One evening in October he and Leber had had an open discussion about it. Both had their qualms both accepted that it was a ‘practical’ thing to do. Germany needed the manpower, she also needed these men (and some women) gone when it came to account for the sins of the 3rd Reich. Eventually the Germany that succeeded them would have to decide whether having fewer witnesses made it easier dealing with the past. It did not make it right, it was just a short-term solution. One of the many compromises of Government that one made along the way. Snapping out of that train of thought he nodded to von Witzleben to begin.
Rather than his usual habit of heading straight for the wall map, Von Witzleben stood up and began to speak slowly. There was a sense of weariness in his voice they all shared. “Since December 27th we have formally opened our western border and the allies have begun following in most places. The main constraint on their advance eastward into the Reich is now the weather and the state of our transport system. We have been withdrawing the last units, ten rather understrength divisions, from the western theatre and sending them eastward to hold the line. The only units remaining in the western theatre are now about 20 000 military police. Their role is to ensure law and order and to apply martial law to anyone wishing to take advantage of the situation.”
The old Field Marshall looked around. He had opposed Hitler as a German patriot and the defeat of his country pained him deeply. But there was, he had admitted to the Chancellor, no logical alternative for those of the Widerstand, but to accede to the reality of defeat and occupation by the western powers. He knew that most of the men around the table, indeed thousands out there who had bled and suffered for the Reich under whatever banner would be bitter.
“There will be no destruction of weaponry or infrastructure to delay the allied advance. Sites producing military supplies will cease production when the allied advance reaches them. There are some very real implications for our ability to hold the line in the east. Once the Ruhr is occupied – which we expect to happen within two weeks – we will begin to lose the ability to manufacture repair and replace key system. The area that will impact the heaviest is fuel production. Therefore we have placed large numbers of foreign workers and former prisoners of war in the line of advance between the allies and key oil-from-coal production facilities to slow down their advance and allow for maximum production until the very last moment. Nevertheless once the allies have occupied the oil-producing facilities, the Wehrmacht will be running dry some very small reserves; perhaps less than three weeks’ worth of fuel, less for the Luftwaffe. We still control two small oil fields in northeastern Hungary near the Plattensee (Lake Balaton). These can provide about 5% of what we need if we really push them. Effectively we will run out of fuel before we run out of ammunition.”
Goerdeler leaned forward “This means that we must do everything within our power to speed up the allied advance across the Reich. The further they get, the fewer people will fall under the shadow of Bolshevism, and here I specifically include non-Germans like Poles, the Hungarians and the Balts. Minister Speer has already been instructed to redeploy hundreds of non-essential personnel to the repair and maintenance of the main rail lines. “The latter inclined his head, preferring to keep quiet. His mind increasingly on the day of reckoning which he was sure would come with the arrival of the allies in Berlin.
”Now that the Americans have at last stopped going after our rail lines, we can move the very last of the Flak units eastwards. Civilian authorities must co-operate fully with the allies and ensure that there are no lengthy delays in the handover local administration and power to allied control. Any politician trying to grandstand will be costing the freedom of hundreds possibly thousands of people. You have all read the proclamations we are about to publish. Popitz and Leuschner have chaired the committee that drafted them. Now’s your last chance to say something material about them. And I am only entertaining material issues not comment.“ There were no comments and no additions.
Leber picked up where von Witzleben paused and explained the various details of the special teams that were being placed at key railway points to assist the western forces in their advance westward. The first proclamations indicating that the regime intended to help the allies speed across the Reich to save the East had started going out around Christmas and there had been muted reaction among the population. The purpose of this meeting really was to wrap up the affairs of Government and get ready to hand over control of Germany when the western allies reached Berlin.
At the end everyone chimed in to record this or the other deep thought for posterity. But in reality they had all already
bowed to the inevitable. They had succeeded in replacing Hitler, but not attained the peace they sought. Now Germany would be occupied and from that some form of peace, and hopefully a future would come.
So this is it, Claus Stauffenberg, as always seated next to Speer, thought to himself. We are depending on our former opponents to save us from our enemy. This is how it will end. We are beaten and are now truly at the mercy of the western allies.
31st December 1944
Czestochowa,
southwestern Poland
The men that gathered in Czestochowa’s town hall’s grand room felt rattled. For two months they had acted as a provisional cabinet in situ in Warsaw, representing the Polish Government in exile, gradually restoring polish control over parts of the country. In mid-December an offensive by 5th and 8th Armies of Zhukov’s 1st Byelorussian Front had pushed across the Vistula at 30 kilometers south of Warsaw at Magnuszew. A few days later Zhukov’s 47th Army had crossed the Vistula just north of the Polish capital at Modlin forcing them to relocate all civilian functions of government. Now Bor and Okulicki and the others were living as refugees, along with the surviving inhabitants of Warsaw.
Although units of the Home Army and the Wehrmacht still tenaciously clung to the Vistula shore along central Warsaw itself, the polish capital was in danger of being bypassed by the Red Army. Twice in the past weeks, Zhukov had pushed his tanks across the Vistula and twice they had been beaten back by the FallschirmPanzer Division Herman Goering, supported by hastily assembled Panzer battlegroups. To the north Warsaw, though the Russian bridgehead over the mighty River had not been crushed. Aware that it offered the Red Army a springboard from which to cut off all Wehrmacht units in Eastern Prussia, German High Command had with Bor’s agreement redeployed 1st and 2nd SS panzer against the Modlin bridgehead and supported it with nearly 200 88mm Flak guns. But the danger remained. The Red Army which had been caught off guard by Wintererwachen the month before was regaining its confidence.
The civilians around the table had little to argue about, Poland was still at war, partially with itself. For after a brief interlude, Stalin had brought the Polish troops in Russian uniform back and deployed them in the offensive against southern Poland. Everywhere it seemed to Bor, looking at the map that lay on the table, Poland was shrinking.
“The problem remains that London is still not carrying out its treaty and alliance obligations towards us. They continue to recognize our Government in London but not our presence here.” Okulicki was fuming. Over the past weeks the old war horse had performed miracles organizing the nearly 70 000 Home Army members into something resembling a formal military again. He had also raised another 8 000 volunteers from the various labour camps the Germans had opened. Already some 6 000 of them had become casualties in the defence of Warsaw against the Russians. He had lost another 2500 in the fighting around the Magnuszew bridgehead.
“What is London waiting for,” he turned to Bor and the politicians. There were helpless shrugs all around. “If it weren’t for the Germans giving us heavy equipment and foreign currency to buy food, it would be over.” They had benefited from the largesse of Berlin who had provided them with foreign currency – mostly British pounds – with which to purchase food from South America through Spanish intermediaries. It did not sit well with some.
“Have we become vassals of yet another master?” The representative from the Peasants Party was a touchy person, always looking to take the patriotic high ground. The generals ignored him.
Bor instead began his report back from the telephone discussion with Berlin. “Based upon what General Stauffenberg and Foreign Minister Trott told me, the Germans have now opened their borders to get the western allies into their territory. He tells me that contrary to previous planning whereby they hoped to delay this until some form of peace had been negotiated, they have simply run out of resources to hold on. Their offensive in November did not lead to a stabilization of the front as hoped. In fact they have lost most the ground gained already. The Americans have consistently refused to get formal about negotiations and so we find ourselves once again in a familiar position. We Poles are the meat in the sandwich, hoping that someone else will help in our salvation. We gambled and achieved incredible things when we rose in Warsaw. Due to the sacrifices of the Home Army, the Government now controls virtually half of the former territory of the Republic. But we are still at war. Even the agreement with Berlin is that of a ceasefire, legally it is nothing more.”
“So what do we do now?”
“The funny thing is that we are the lucky ones, the Russians have occupied pretty much all of Latvia, except for a small part of the coast and most of Lithuania. They occupy Bulgaria, Rumania, Greece, most of Yugoslavia and the southern half of Hungary. The answer to your question is I do not know.”
“We hope and pray for a miracle, the best case is that the Anglo Americans get here before the front collapses. If they get this far, there is a fair chance Stalin will break off the alliance no matter what Roosevelt promises him from Washington. In the meantime we must help the Germans defend our homeland. Poland is not yet lost.“
“Roosevelt” one of the group sighed. They had placed high hopes in the American President and had been abandoned. Many recalled the excitement when Premier Mick had communicated the Presidents assurance to protect Poland’s independence after their meeting early in the year only to have it all exposed as a lie through the meeting with Molotov in Moscow. It hardly mattered that they had managed to get their side of the story and of the American President’s role in giving away their territory despite the Atlantic charter principles, into the American press. Roosevelt had still won the election. He still directed US policy. Since the Germans had stopped opposing supply flights over their territory some humanitarian aid had reached Warsaw and its starving population, but its value was more symbolic since America refused to recognize the regime and the British were still upset over the abrupt departure of the Polish flyers with their planes. Also some journalists had availed themselves of the air connection and now were generating sympathetic stories of the brave stand that was being made.
Okulicki pulled his overcoat tighter around his shoulders because the Polish Government building lacked any form of heating other than a roaring fireplace at the end of the conference room. “We do indeed need a miracle.”
31st December 1944
10 Downing Street
London
Eden wondered when Churchill would collapse under the sheer weight of the issues facing him. Once again the Premier was nursing a cold and remained huddled up in bed at Downing street, unable to join his wife Clementine in their country estate. In the past weeks the end of the war in Europe seemed to be approaching but Churchill had felt setbacks such as the one in Greece as a real personal humiliation. The rings around his eyes had become deeper, his skin pasty. His relationship with Roosevelt was also no longer what it had been. It seemed the post war dangers that he had warned about had arrived sooner than even he had expected and had caught him unprepared. On the economic front it was clear that their relationship with America hung by a thread, with Morgenthau’s memorandum circulating, the bitter wrangling over access to German secret weaponry, and then of course the fate of Eastern Europe particularly Poland; which was why Eden had come to see Churchill.
There had been a short, curt phone call the day before and it had not resolved anything. Roosevelt had vacillated on the Morgenthau memorandum, and Churchill had fumed about America’s unwillingness to help in Greece or Yugoslavia. It had been , as he told Eden, ‘a thorough waste of time.’
By contrast Churchill’s spirits had briefly lifted when he pulled out a map and studied the troop movements over the past 48 hours. “We are across the border on a wide front, Anthony. We are into Germany! I still struggle to believe it. And you know Anthony we have lost less than 100 men in Europe since 1st of August. The CIGS sent me a memo yesterday to that effect. They had expected 50 -75 000 casualties to push the Germa
ns back this far. It has been worth it.“ A coughing fit overtook Churchill and he buried his face in a handkerchief. When he looked up again his eyes hard a fire that Eden had not witnessed in a while.“ Anthony, we did the right thing! When I consider what is happening in the Balkans, the fact that Germany will be occupied but not destroyed will possibly be our salvation in years to come”
Eden regarded his boss for a second. Contrary to Churchill he considered himself a more reserved person, better able to view matters objectively, coldly if you will. But he too could not deny the sentiment. “Yes PM we did the right thing… Now the matter of Poland, more specifically its Government needs discussion. You do realise that we still formally recognize the Republic’s Government and that will create certain complications as we occupy Germany and decide to move eastward towards Poland.”
“Stalin has signalled any change on that puppets crowd of his?”
“The Lublin Committee, now restyled as a provisional people’s government. No, PM he has not. As a matter of fact he claims that it is the sole legitimate sovereign government of Poland as expressed by the ‘mass outpouring of support witnessed in the liberated territories.”
“Is that what they call it these days? Remind me Anthony, we never did anything to signal even tacit acceptance of recognition?.”
“Absolutely none”
“Good, because her Majesty’s Government will stick by its treaties.”
“PM there is the matter of the Polish flyers and planes who went to Warsaw without authorization.”
There was a glint in Churchill’s eye as he pushed himself upward in bed. “The Polish Premier is of course still insisting that that was an unauthorised action?”
“Indeed he is” the tone of Eden’s voice could have curdled butter. He had never forgiven Premier Mick the grandstanding session. Both had known that the Polish pilots had not acted alone, but there had been precious little he had been able to do about the barefaced lie. That was diplomacy. What infuriated him even more was that at times Churchill seemed to admire the sheer audacity of the move.
The Valkyrie Option Page 65