V for Vengeance

by Dennis Wheatley

  Kuporovitch nodded. ‘I’m afraid you’re right about that; but any premature attempt at a revolt would be absolute madness. The Germans are employing a part of their forces now to throw the British out of Greece, but the numbers of the British there obviously cannot be large, and the Greeks and Yugoslavs are so ill-equipped to fight a modern war that it will be quite impossible for them to put up any prolonged resistance. Even while the campaign is in progress Occupied France is still lousy with German troops, and once it’s over they would be able to use the whole of their Army, if need be, to quell any rising here. We shouldn’t stand a dog’s chance.’

  ‘I don’t think you’d stand much chance anyhow,’ Gregory remarked, ‘until the British are in a position to land regular troops on the French coast to support a revolt, and I don’t think there’s the least hope of that this year, or probably even next. For any such landing to be successful, quite apart from the fact that we haven’t yet got sufficient supplies of tanks, our expeditionary force would need complete aerial protection, and although we’ve managed to beat the Luftwaffe on our own ground we’re nowhere near strong enough yet to start a major air offensive.’

  ‘Then someone will have to think up some other idea for dealing a really heavy blow at the Nazis,’ Madeleine persisted; ‘something which will shake them so much that there will be a chance for us to make a successful rising. I’m absolutely convinced that it is the only hope for the people in the conquered territories. If something’s not done within a year at most they’ll be down and out for good.’

  Gregory nodded gravely. ‘You mean that somehow or other we must give an entirely new orientation to the war. There’s a lot in what you say, Madeleine, but how it could be done is just one hell of a problem.’

  ‘If we could only kill Hitler that might do the trick,’ she suggested. ‘The Germans regard him now as a kind of symbol of victory—almost as a god. Time and again he’s gone against his own General Staff; yet he’s managed to pull the chestnuts out of the fire every time. His loss would prove an incalculable blow to them. It would shake their confidence in themselves and that’s what we want.’

  Kuporovitch shook his head. ‘I’m afraid that’s out of the question. The reprisals for his murder would be ghastly beyond belief.’

  Madeleine’s blue eyes were blazing in her white face. ‘What does that matter? If only we could shake the whole Nazi machine to its foundations! If France had fought on thousands of her men would have died on the battlefields. Even if thousands of them should be sacrificed now they would be dying for their country just the same.’

  ‘In view of the fact that we’re waging Total War you’re perfectly right,’ Gregory agreed, ‘but I’m afraid any attempt to assassinate Hitler is a hopeless proposition. He must be the most carefully guarded man in Europe. When I spoke of a new orientation of the war, though, I meant by its spreading to our advantage. For example, if either Russia or the United States came in on our side. How about Russia, Stefan? This pact between Moscow and Berlin is one of the most phoney tie-ups that have ever been entered into. Everyone knows that Russian and German interests are diametrically opposed.’

  ‘Then why didn’t the Russians come in with us at the begining?’ Madeleine asked.

  He shrugged. ‘The Russains didn’t see the fun of pulling our chestnuts out of the fire for us, and we certainly hadn’t deserved that they should. If they’d come in at the kick-off they would have had to take the whole weight of the first great German assault after the Nazis had overrun Poland. Stalin’s attitude in wishing to see the Germans weaken themselves first against Britain and France was perfectly logical. But I don’t think he’d like to see Britain totally defeated, because he knows perfectly well that within a year the Nazis would find an excuse to quarrel with him, and he’d either have to surrender his grain and oil-lands, which are his life-blood, peaceably, or take on the mightiest army the world has ever seen, alone. Now that the Luftwaffe has been knocked about a bit, and the Germans have had to spread themselves so much, to hold down all their conquered territories, what do you think the chances are, Stefan, of Stalin ratting on his pact with Hitler and coming in against him?’

  ‘I’m fully convinced that there’s no chance of that at all,’ Kuporovitch replied with a cynical grin. ‘If he’d been going to come in for the reasons which you state he would have come in during the Battle for France, when all the German Armies were fully engaged in the West. All Stalin wants is peace to continue the Five-Year Plans which in another twenty years will make Russia one of the most wealthy and prosperous nations in the world. He knows now that Britain means to fight it out, so he’s sitting fairly pretty. Such a war to the death must continue for another five years at least, and both Germany and Britain will emerge from it utterly exhausted; so even if the Nazis are still in power when it’s over they will no longer have the strength to attack Russia.’

  ‘There, you see!’ Madeleine exclaimed. ‘You admit yourself that with things as they are the war cannot be over for at least another five years. By that time France will have starved to death. We must do something to create an entirely new situation. We simply must—it’s our only hope.’

  ‘I don’t see that we can do anything,’ said Kuporovitch glumly, ‘but there’s the United States.’

  Gregory shook his head. ‘America may come in before it’s finished, but not for a long time yet, and in my opinion she’s not likely to do so unless she feels that Britain is really going under. Of course, President Roosevelt and the Administration are a hundred per cent, for us. I think the majority of Americans are too, but, apart from a few adventurous fellows, they won’t fight unless they feel that they’ve absolutely got to. It’s not sufficiently realised over here either that there are still enormous numbers of people in the States who are definitely Axis sympathisers. Chicago is almost a German city. New York has its great Italian colony. Then there are the Irish, many of whom are by no means pro-British. Back in England we all feel that the President is doing every possible thing he can to help us; but he has to watch every step he takes, and it’s one hell of a big job to educate the isolationists of the Middle West up to the fact that their freedom, lives and property are just as much threatened by Hitler’s bid for world power as our own. Nothing short of a full declaration of war with the employment of the United States Armed Forces could bring about the sort of change in the situation of which we’re thinking, and I’m quite certain that’s not going to happen for a long time.’

  ‘Getting back to Hitler,’ said Madeleine. ‘If we can’t assassinate him, isn’t it possible for us to discredit him in some way in the eyes of his own people? For instance, couldn’t you manage to get some documents faked in London which would prove that Herr Schickelgrubber is really a Jew?’

  ‘That’s a good idea,’ Gregory laughed, ‘but, unfortunately, we can’t carry it into practical application. You see, the entire Press of Germany and all the countries which she has overrun is controlled by the Nazis. They would never allow the publication of the evidence, and to put it over by the B.B.C. wouldn’t do much good, because even if it were true Goebbels would simply laugh it off as British lies and propaganda.’

  ‘You remember Father Xavier, Gregory?’ Kuporovitch remarked. ‘What he said made me think a lot. You remember how he views the struggle as a war in which Christianity must be wiped out unless Hitler Antichrist can be destroyed? Surely enough has not been made out of that, and a new orientation could be given to this Civil War if the heads of the Churches preached a new Crusade—particularly the Pope. A declaration by His Holiness might even cause widespread dissension in the German and Italian Armies. I mean, of course, if the Pope was prepared to go all out, denounce Hitler from his private radio as a menace to all established religion, and call upon every Catholic in the world to give his life, if need be, in exterminating the pagan Nazis.’

  Madeleine nodded. ‘That would be the greatest blow of all which could conceivably be struck to bring about the sort of situation
that I mean.’

  ‘Yes,’ Gregory murmured. ‘That would be the real big stuff. Of course, if the Pope came out on our side like that he’d be seized and imprisoned by the Italians, but plenty of Popes have suffered for their faith in bygone days, so I see no reason at all why His Holiness should not be prepared to now. In fact the stronger the measures taken against him personally the greater would be the effect of his call to battle. He’s certainly no friend of the Nazis, as it is, but I expect he fears that if he raised the whole of the Catholics against them his priesthood would be massacred.’

  Madeleine shrugged. ‘His passivity did not prevent the Catholic priests in Poland being massacred, and the more priests who suffer martyrdom for their faith in the rest of Europe the more intense the indignation of all religious people would be. There would be risings everywhere, and the German garrisons would be butchered overnight by a furiously indignant people. It might mean a blood-bath for a week, but what is that if only it resulted in a quick ending to the war?’

  ‘You’re right again,’ Gregory smiled, ‘but unfortunately in this case I’m afraid we’re up against Vatican politics. One must remember that Dictators are here to-day and gone tomorrow, whereas the Papacy goes on for ever, and its policy does not consider this year or next, but deals in centuries. The Pope’s advisers have probably come to the conclusion that even if Hitler wins this war he will find the whole world too big to swallow, and the Nazis will bust, as a result of their conquests. In that case, after having had to go underground in Europe for a few years, the Roman Church would come into its own again, and emerge stronger than ever on account of the persecution that it had suffered. In any case, there’s no way that I know of in which we can bring practical pressure to bear on the Pope, so it seems to me that we’re getting outside practical politics.’

  ‘I agree,’ declared Kuporovitch, ‘but how about Communism? Much could be done, I believe, if a campaign could be launched to foster Communism in the German Army. In the last war it was the spread of Communism by the German troops, who had been indoctrinated with it during their garrisoning of the territories that they overran in Russia, which contributed just as much as the British Blockade to the final collapse of Germany. I’ve always maintained, too, that in the present war, if Stalin did decide to come in against Germany, it would not be by force of arms. He would send over the Red Air Force with millions of leaflets, and thousands of German-speaking parachutists would be dropped to raise the German workers against the Prussian military caste who have always been his nightmare. Of course, Stalin would not attempt anything of that kind until Germany appeared to be actually on the point of collapse and the occupied territories already in a state of revolt; but if he ever attacks Germany at all I’m certain that is the way he will do it.’

  Gregory grinned. ‘You’ve sabotaged your own suggestion by saying that he would never do it until Germany is already on the verge of anarchy. In the meantime, what hope have we got of spreading Communism in the German Army on a scale large enough to do any good?’

  ‘I’m afraid I must leave you now,’ said Madeleine, standing up. ‘I must get off to my job at the nursing-home. But I do feel terribly strongly about this, Gregory, and when you get back to London please talk it over with all the cleverest people you know. It’s infinitely more important than things like this little revolt in Iraq, or even the slaughter that’s going on in Greece just now. Some way must be devised to deal a really mighty blow against Hitler and the Nazis during the coming year, or by the time that the British are really strong enough to come to the rescue of all the wretched millions in Europe it will be too late.’

  When they had seen her off and settled down again Kuporovitch said with a sigh: ‘Poor darling! She would give her own life without hesitation, I believe, if she could bring the downfall of the Nazis even one day nearer. It is strange to see such bitterness and fanaticism in one so young and beautiful, but her fiance’s death made a terrible impression on her, and just as I was beginning to hope that she was becoming a little less obsessed with her desire for vengeance above all else, her mother dies of cold. That, too, of course, she puts down to the Nazis, although they were only indirectly responsible. God knows I hate the brutes enough myself, but to overcome a wild beast one must keep calm, and I dread this spirit in Madeleine, fearing always that it will land her one day in some awful danger. After all, what the freedom-fighters have been doing is not so bad, and it’s no good crying for the moon. This desperate urge of hers to precipitate some form of crisis is not only impracticable but damnably dangerous.’

  ‘On the contrary, Stefan, she’s right,’ said Gregory quietly. ‘I’m sorry to say that back in England we have far too many complacent people, who believe that just because we won the Battle of Britain last autumn we’ve only got to sit tight now, and in due course Hitler will bust himself.

  ‘He won’t bust himself—why should he? Since his extraordinary victories of last summer the German Army and people have been behind him as never before, and now that he controls such a vast area of territory our Blockade may still prove a nuisance, but that alone can’t possibly overcome him. Whoever may have to go short of things you may be quite sure that the Germans will be the last to suffer. You can bet too that by this time their agricultural experts are hard at it all over the place planning to raise bumper crops next summer. They’ve masses of labour, more than they know what to do with, now that the Armies of the countries they have overrun have been disarmed and disbanded. Too many people are saying that time is on our side—it’s not any longer, at least not as far as rescuing the people of Europe from their oppressors is concerned.

  ‘That’s where Madeleine has hit the nail on the head. By the time the Germans themselves are down to really short rations, so that our bombing will reduce them to a state where they find themselves properly up against it and start to squeal for peace, everyone else in Europe will have died from starvation.

  ‘It may have been that belief which caused our Government to send troops into Greece with the idea of establishing a new front in Europe. I don’t know, but in my view it was very wrong and completely futile. The few divisions that we could send can’t possibly stand up against the vast weight of the German Army, so they’ll only be slung out again with a further loss of prestige for Britain, and a useless sacrifice of highly trained personnel and valuable material. Total War is Logical War, and chivalry is not logic, so by the Greek adventure we are only making our position worse than it was before; but because our people have gone the wrong way to work it doesn’t alter the fact that we dare not sit still. Unless the war is to drag on for ten years and end in the utter exhaustion of both sides with a peace of compromise, something has got to be done to give it an entirely new orientation.’

  ‘I admit that you convince me,’ Kuporovitch murmured. ‘Here I have been too close to things, and with no one to, talk to who understands the wider aspects, so as a result of the last few months I have become a cabbage. Are you very tired, or shall we talk some more? It is only by hammering these things from every angle that one sometimes gets somewhere.’

  ‘No, I’m not tired,’ Gregory said. ‘These last few months I’ve stored up enough sleep to do on quite small doses for a while, but I’d like another drink.’

  ‘Right then.’ Kuporovitch stood up, and going down to the cellar returned with two more bottles. They talked then of the High Direction of the war, going round the world and back again, staring for hour after hour at a map which Kuporovitch had pinned up on the wall of the dining-room, as they tried to forecast what Hitler’s next move might be; and assessed the chances of one country or another coming in against or with him. Both of them were extremely well informed on military matters and had a first-class knowledge of history and geography; so, allowing for the ingenuity, speed and determination with which the Nazis always struck, they were able to assess within a reasonable degree the possible result of new moves upon the vast chessboard.

  It was after four o’clock
in the morning when they had reached the conclusion that there was only one move on the board which would mean checkmate to Hitler within a foreseeable period, and that upon whether it was made or not hung the lives of all the millions that Hitler had enslaved.

  The difficulties of creating such a situation as would force that move to be made were immense, but these two men had never allowed difficulties to deter them from any project upon which they had agreed, and when they at last went up to bed they had already decided upon the measures which they must take in the hope of bringing about the desired move.

  For the next few days there was nothing that Gregory could do, as before he could initiate his plan he had to see Lacroix and secure the Colonel’s agreement and co-operation, so he spent most of his time wandering about Paris talking to casual acquaintances that he picked up in the bars and getting a line on the feeling of the population of Paris for himself.

  As most people had foreseen, affairs in Greece were going badly. The small but gallant Imperial Army was being forced back by sheer weight of men and metal. All organised resistance in Yugoslavia had already been overcome, and the Greeks too were now in a bad way. On April the 22nd their Army of the Epirus, consisting of a quarter of a million men who had covered themselves earlier in the year with such undying glory in Albania, was forced to surrender through lack of supplies and being cut off from its bases.

  It was on that day that Lacroix again arrived in Paris, and Kuporovitch was notified by Ribaud of a meeting which was to be held that night. A few minutes before ten, with Gregory beside him, he entered the house in the Avenue d’Orléans.

  Lacroix welcomed Gregory with the utmost enthusiasm, congratulating him on his escape from death and the excellent recovery he had made. The conference then took place, and when it was over Gregory told Lacroix that he and Kuporovitch wished to talk to him in private; so the three of them went into a small library adjoining the big room in which the meetings were held, and when they had sat down Gregory put forward his proposals.